A bibliometric analysis of ESG performance in the cooperative banks: from the current status to future directions

ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 1 2(89) • 2024 eISSN 2957-0395 A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ESG PERFORMANCE IN THE COOPERATIVE BANKS: FROM THE CURRENT STATUS TO FUTURE DIRECTIONS Zbigniew Korzeb (ORCID: 0000-0001-9690-3842) – Department of Management, Economy and Finance, Bialystok University of Technology Paweł Niedziółka (ORCID: 0000-0002-1659-7310) – Institute of Banking, SGH Warsaw School of Economics Danuta Szpilko (ORCID: 0000-0002-2866-8059) – International Department of Logistics and Service Engineering, Bialystok University of Technology Antonio de la Torre (ORCID: 0000-0001-7839-0385) – Department of Financial Economics and Operations Management, University of Seville, Spain Correspondence address: o. Stefan Tarasiuk Street 2, 16-001 Kleosin, Poland e-mail: [email protected] Zbigniew KORZEB • Paweł NIEDZIÓŁKA • Danuta SZPILKO • Antonio de la TORRE Economics and Environment • No. 2(89) 2024 • pages: 1-16 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study is to systematise research on the ESG activities in cooperative banks. Its objective is also to create thematic clusters of research directions dedicated to ESG performance in cooperative banks. The study is based on a bibliometric analysis of articles from Scopus and Web of Science between 2010 and March 2024. Our results allow the identification of 13 clusters of research directions dedicated to ESG performance. The research idea is justified by the importance of sustainable banking and the need to systematise knowledge on ESG practices in cooperative banks and to identify areas where in-depth research is needed. The originality of the study consists in that we do not refer to a specific geographical area, method and period, but on the basis of citation rates and the number of publications focusing on a given issue, and identify research directions that create space for further in-depth research. KEYWORDS: cooperative banks, ESG, bibliometric analysis ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 2 Introduction In Europe, the beginning of the savings and credit cooperative movement is considered to have been initiated by the activities of Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, setting up credit cooperatives in the cities for the petty bourgeoisie, and Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, carrying out analogous activities in the countryside for poor farmers, which took place in the 19th century (Engelhardt, 1990; Aschhoff, 1982). Their main aim was to create institutions to meet the immediate financing needs of small entrepreneurs, workers and peasants and to encourage these groups to accumulate savings on favourable terms. The reason for doing so was primarily to make the poor strata of society independent of the usurious interest rates commonly applied at the time to granted loans. Co-operative banks were intended to reinvest profits in the local market, supporting its development, and their competitive advantage was their knowledge of the specifics of economic activity in a given region and tailor-made risk assessment procedures with an important role of behavioural aspects. Associated with cooperative banking is the concept of social banking, which aims to create a social or environmental benefit (Weber, 2011). Today, cooperative banks represent a significant segment of the credit institution market in Europe. In countries such as France, Austria, Finland, and Germany, they account for more than 20% of the deposits and loans of the entire sector (EACB, 2019). They provide their services to approximately 227 million customers, i.e. almost 50% of the entire population of the European Union (EACB, 2023). Two different groups of cooperative banks have developed in Europe. On the one hand, these are multinational corporations loosely based on cooperative principles, and on the other, smaller banks with a local focus of activity (Cornée et al., 2018). According to the theory, cooperative banks are widely seen as sustainable alternatives to commercial and investment banks focused on stakeholder value creation. Cooperative credit banks (CCBs) prioritise the stakeholder value model over the shareholder value model, aiming to generate profits to sustain their business for the benefit of the community rather than solely focusing on maximising profits (Ayadi et al., 2023). Through their activities and specific business model, cooperative banks have placed sustainability at the centre of their identity. Their customers are individuals, farms, businesses and local government institutions, mainly in rural areas and small and medium-sized towns. They are, therefore, strongly linked to the particular regions in which they operate. Cooperative banks are actively involved in the financing of many investment projects, directly influencing the development of infrastructure and the social economy in their area of operation (Giagnocavo et al., 2012). At the same time, they support the development of local communities and initiatives undertaken for their benefit: environmental, cultural or sporting. A rather underestimated feature of regional support by cooperative banks is the reinvestment of profits in the regions in which they have been earned. The aim of this article is to systematise academic research on the evaluation of ESG activities undertaken by cooperative banks. The systematic literature review was based on a bibliometric analysis of articles retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science databases. The search was limited to material published between 2010 and 15th March 2024. After applying limiting criteria in the search process, 244 records were retrieved from Scopus and 182 from Web of Science. After removing duplicates, a set of 232 unique literature items was extracted for further analysis. This study presents an analysis of the current status and future potential research directions resulting from the identified research gaps. It presents a number of findings, including the most productive authors, organisations, countries and journals, the most cited articles and the distribution of keywords. In addition, a map indicating how the topic of ESG risk in cooperative banks (keywords) has evolved over the years is presented. The results of the study allow the identification of 13 clusters of research directions dedicated to ESG performance in cooperative banks. The research problem addressed by this study boils down to the question of which ESG risk management issues in cooperative banks have been addressed in the academic research conducted to date, how they can be systematised and whether there are any significant research gaps. The paper fills a research gap in the area of bibliometric analysis of cooperative banks by finding, summarising, and analysing existing studies that identify ESG issues. Its objective is also to create thematic clusters of research directions dedicated to ESG performance in cooperative banks. This research idea is needed for the following reasons. Firstly, the growing importance of sustainable ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 3 banking and ESG risk analysis as a distinct research area calls for a comprehensive review of the existing literature. Secondly, the study makes use of much broader databases than previous bibliometric analyses, i.e. both Web of Science and Scopus, which allows a comprehensive approach as well as the diagnosis and categorisation of existing trends in the research in question. The remainder of this article is structured as follows. Section 2 reviews the most significant literature (literature review). Section 3 describes the methodology employed, i.e., the bibliometric analysis procedure that consists of database, keywords and criteria selection, data selection, quantitative analysis, and finally, the creation of thematic clusters. Section 4 and 5 present and discuss the results obtained. Section 6 summarises and presents the main conclusions reached as well as stresses the originality of the study and its practical implications for different groups of stakeholders. Literature Review The operating model of cooperative banks differs from typical commercial banks. The most important specific principles include (i) member ownership – the bank is owned by cooperative members who are also its customers; (ii) democratic governance based on the “one person – one vote” principle; (iii) they are predominantly local banks whose presence supports the local community and the development of the region, (iv) cooperative banks operate on the basis of relationship banking and concentrate their activities in rural areas and smaller towns, providing their products and services mainly to farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises and households, (v) making profits is essential for the development of the banks while maximising profits is not their main task, a large part of the net profits has to be retained, vi) cooperative banks have a long tradition of commitment to sustainability and social values (Poli, 2019; Cornée et al., 2018; Lang et al., 2016). By basing their business strategies on their core operations – deposits and loans – and distancing themselves from complex investment banking instruments, cooperative banks have been able to avoid the situations faced by most commercial banks in the wake of major global financial crises (Meyer, 2018; Fiordelisi & Mare, 2014; Birchall, 2013). The operating strategy of cooperative banks, based to a large extent on long-term relationships with their customers, who are quite often also their owners, is fairly frequently cited as an explanation for this trend. Catturani et al. (2016) emphasise that cooperative banks are known for their local relationship lending, whereby they collect soft information about borrowers that helps to reduce agency costs related to moral hazard and adverse selection. At the same time, the personal relationships of cooperative bank staff tend to play a far greater role than the large-scale customer acquisition as well as product and service sales programs practised by commercial banks through costly marketing campaigns. This local knowledge and flexibility give local institutions a considerable advantage over commercial banks, whose lending process is increasingly reduced to a standardised calculation of creditworthiness by artificial intelligence or IT applications and making a credit decision on this basis. Cooperative banks also take advantage of the created niche for customers that commercial banks are not interested in. This applies, in particular, to “informationally opaque” borrowers and even financially excluded customers, such as start-ups, customers operating in risky or unattractive sectors from the point of view of commercial banks, customers with irregular income or who earn their income in a non-standard way (Waupsch, 2017; Becchetti et al., 2016; Catturani et al., 2016). It should be noted, however, that this type of relationship banking is not burdened with any risks. Indeed, it may contribute to an increase in credit risk and a deterioration of the bank’s credit portfolio by weakening the quality of credit monitoring and the reliable classification of customers into individual credit risk groups, failing to notice or underestimating warning signals regarding the financial condition of borrowers or the default on debt servicing, procrastinating on debt collection and restructuring measures, inadequately identifying indications of loan impairment or verifying the value of accepted collateral, etc. In addition, due to the local scope of their activities, cooperative banks tend to have less diversified portfolios, which may lead to concentration risks resulting from excessive exposure to a single entity or sector. However, it seems that the biggest problem of cooperative banks is their concept of doing business based on the principle: “We have always done it this way, and it was fine”. In many banks there is ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 4 a noticeable reluctance to implement modern products and services. Cooperative banks, therefore, tend to be followers of the directions set by commercial banks rather than initiators of new solutions. It also seems that quite often, the management boards of cooperative banks do not have sufficient knowledge of the use of tools such as artificial intelligence, Big Data technologies, cloud computing, deep learning, etc. The progressive development of technology and the increase in customer expectations of modern financial services present banks with financial challenges that not all cooperative banks are able to meet. Small cooperative banks have limited business opportunities due to a small customer base in their area of operation, low bank headcount and thus organisational problems, and lack of adequate funds for development and investment. They, therefore, do not have the capacity to change their business model, even if it does not work under current conditions. Nevertheless, this does not change the fact that the majority of the conducted studies unequivocally point to the positive impact of cooperative banks on development in their business and community environment (Agostono et al., 2021; Coccorese & Shaffer, 2021). For example, research conducted in the Polish market by Hasan et al. (2017) indicates that the strong position of cooperative banks fosters new business creation and weakens financial constraints for SMEs. In this regard, they also note that local markets with a clear presence of cooperative banks favour investment and SME development. The same authors (2019) also note that an increase in the number of cooperative banks reduces the growth of unemployment and stimulates the long-term growth of SMEs. Changes that empower local cooperative banks and probably favour the use of the relationship banking model have had a positive impact on SMEs’ access to debt and investment. Sometimes, however, there appear different findings. Hakenes et al. (2015) find that regional savings banks have a positive and significant effect on regional development, proxied by the growth rate of business registration. This effect is particularly strong in relatively poor regions. Also, El Hancha Sfar & Ben Ouda (2016), who analysed the impact of 88 regional cooperative banks in France practising in 26 different regions for the period 2006-2012, note that their study does not suggest that cooperative banks provide more advantages compared to conventional banks. They do, however, establish a positive impact on economic growth. Bernini and Brighi (2018) also acknowledge that the presence of cooperative banks influences local development but show a negative relationship between the development of local economies and the number of their branches. In summary, cooperative banks are generally institutions that, through their nature of operation and specific business model, are identified with sustainability. The profit made is only a means to achieving goals that are strongly connected to local communities. Cooperative banking is also based on relationality, whereby customers and employees can count on greater support and understanding of their needs. Research methods Table 1 shows the operationalisation of the process used in this article, with the application of the bibliometric analysis method. To enhance the precision of the search, specific restriction criteria were applied. The search was limited to materials published between the years 2010 and 2024. Articles, conference materials, books, book chapters, reviews, editorial articles, and early access publications were qualified for in-depth analysis. However, publication types such as retracted articles, conference reviews, notes, errata, and letters were excluded. Additionally, articles in languages other than English (e.g., Spanish, Ukrainian, Polish) were also excluded. The search results are detailed in Table 2. The search for the terms (“cooperative bank*” OR “co-operative bank*”) and (ESG OR “environment*” OR “social*” OR “governance*” OR “business model*”) across the entire set of articles yielded 244 records from Scopus and 182 records from Web of Science. After applying restriction criteria, 195 records from Scopus and 152 from Web of Science were obtained. Full records in *csv format were downloaded from each database and then consolidated into one file, resulting in a total of 347 records. After the removal of duplicates, a subset of 232 unique records was selected for further analysis. ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 5 Table 1. Methodology of bibliometric analysis No. Task Scope 1. Database selection Web of Science, Scopus 2. Keywords selection („cooperative bank*” OR „co-operative bank*”) AND (ESG OR „environment*” OR „social*” OR „governanc*” OR „business model*”) in topic 3. Criteria selection Period: 2010-2024 Document types: articles, proceedings papers, conference papers, books, book chapters, reviews, early access Language: English 4. Data extraction, removal of duplicates Criteria for deleting duplicates: DOI, title, authors 5. Quantitative analysis of the results Scope: number publications per year, document types, the most productive authors, institutions, countries, journals 6. Identification of research areas Visualisation of the most frequent keywords 7. Creation of thematic clusters Visualisation of thematic clusters Table 2. Search result Stage WoS Scopus Research query TS= („cooperative bank*” OR „co-operative bank*”) AND (ESG OR „environment*” OR „social*” OR „governanc*” OR „business model*”) TITLE-ABS-KEY („cooperative bank*” OR „co-operative bank*”) AND (ESG OR „environment*” OR „social*” OR „governanc*” OR „business model*”) Number of articles before inclusion criteria 182 244 Number of articles after inclusion criteria 152 195 Source: authors’ work based on the Scopus and Web of Science databases [20-03-2024]. Utilising the dataset obtained, analyses were carried out to investigate the frequency of publications within specific time intervals and identify the most prolific authors, institutions, countries and journals. The studies also aimed to pinpoint articles with the highest citation count. Furthermore, a keyword analysis was performed, based on which a co-occurrence map of keywords related to the ESG field in cooperative banks was created. The VOSviewer software (version 1.6.20) was employed to develop the map. Additionally, an extra thesaurus file was prepared to eliminate duplicated terms with similar meanings (e.g., corporate social responsibility and CSR) or terms unrelated to the study (e.g., article, condition, research, analysis). This file was prepared based on a review of the publication collection. Results of the research Between 2010 and 2024, a notable volume of publications surfaced in both databases (Figure 1). Interest in the subject commenced an accelerated ascent around 2022. The cumulative count of citations for publications registered within the Scopus database reached 2284, while in Web of Science, it reached 1841. There were 49 publications in Scopus and 29 in Web of Science that did not receive citations. In the Web of Science and Scopus databases, the main form of publication was articles (representing 89.5% and 71.3%, respectively). In contrast, in the Scopus database, book chapters accounted for a significant part (19.5%). Conference papers, reviews and early access materials accounted for a marginal contribution. The distribution of publications based on document types is shown in Figure 2. ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 6 Figure 1. Number of publications in the field of ESG in cooperative banks in the Scopus and Web of Science databases (indexed from January 2010 to March 2024) Source: authors’ work based on the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Figure 2. Type of documents of publications in the field of ESG in cooperative banks in the Scopus and Web of Science databases (indexed from January 2010 to March 2024) Source: authors’ work based on the Scopus and Web of Science databases. In this examination, Migliorelli and Costa have emerged as the most productive authors, each contributing 7 publications. Regarding geographical dispersion, the bulk of the works emanate from Italy (51), with France (26) and the United Kingdom (26) trailing closely behind. In terms of institutional affiliations, the Università di Trento (13) and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (11) have emerged as the foremost contributors. As for the journals with the highest output, the Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics occupies the premier position with 13 publications. This is followed by Contemporary Trends in European Cooperative Banking Sustainability Governance Digital Transformation and Health Crisis Response with 11 publications, and New Cooperative Banking in Europe: Strategies for Adapting the Business Model Post-Crisis securing 7 publications. A detailed enumeration of the most productive authors, institutions, countries, and journals within the domain of ESG in the banking sector is encapsulated in Table 3. Figure 1. Number of publications in the field of ESG in cooperative banks in the Scopus and 55 99 10 14 24 7 19 14 20 12 26 18 3 43 8 6 8 16 21 8 14 16 12 14 17 4 1 65 11 10 12 21 26 9 24 20 20 14 30 21 3 0 10 20 30 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Scopus Web of Science Unique records Figure 2. Type of documents of publications in the field of ESG in cooperative banks in the 136 139 1 6 15 8 58 38 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Web of Science Scopus Articles Review Proceedings Paper Early Access Book Chapter ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 7 Table 3. The most productive authors, organisations, countries and journals No. Item Number of publications [%] Authors 1. Migliorelli, M. 7 3.0 2. Costa, E. 7 3.0 3. Lamarque, E. 6 2.6 4. Pesci, C. 5 2.2 5. Catturani, I. 4 1.7 Countries 1. Italy 51 22.0 2. France 26 11.2 3. United Kingdom 26 11.2 4. India 22 9.5 5. Germany 17 7.3 Organisations 1. Università di Trento 13 5.6 2. Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne 11 4.7 3. Prague University of Economics Business 5 2.2 4. UniversitàdegliStudi di Salerno 5 2.2 5. Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli 5 2.2 Journals 1. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics 13 5.6 2. Contemporary Trends in European Cooperative Banking Sustainability Governance Digital Transformation and Health Crisis Response 11 4.7 3. New Cooperative Banking in Europe Strategies for Adapting the Business Model Post Crisis 73.0 4. Journal of Business Ethics 5 2.2 5. Sustainability (Switzerland) 5 2.2 Note: [%] — percentage of the total 232 publications. Source: authors’ work based on the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The total number of citations for works centred on ESG within the banking industry reached 1841, according to the Web of Science, and 2284, according to Scopus. Within the array of the ten most referenced studies, two appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics. The publication garnering the most citations, amassing 235 in Scopus and 212 in the Web of Science, was a 2015 piece by Köhler (2015) entitled “Which banks are more risky? The impact of business models on bank stability”. This was closely followed by a 2014 study by Fiordelisi and Mare, “Competition and financial stability in European cooperative banks”, and a 2018 investigation by Singh and Srivastava, “Predicting the intention to use mobile banking in India”, with their respective citation tallies in Scopus being 193 and 179, and in the Web of Science, 182 and 119 (Table 4). Within the scope of the bibliometric analysis, keywords frequently associated with the theme of ESG in cooperative banks were extracted. This analytical procedure employed the VOSviewer software. The ensuing collection included 199 words or phrases that were mentioned at least five times across the keywords of the 232 articles reviewed. ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 8 Table 4. The most cited articles in the field of ESG in cooperative banks No. Authors Article title Journal Citations Scopus WoS 1. Köhler (2015) Which banks are more risky? The impact of business models on bank stability. Journal of Financial Stability, 16, 195-212. 235 212 2. Fiordelisi and Mare (2014) Competition and financial stability in European cooperative banks. Journal of International Money and Finance, 45, 1-16. 193 182 3. Singh and Srivastava (2018) Predicting the intention to use mobile banking in India. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 36(2), 357-378. 179 119 4. Aramburu and Pescador (2019) The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Loyalty: The Mediating Effect of Reputation in Cooperative Banks Versus Commercial Banks in the Basque Country. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(3), 701-719. 129 107 5. San-Jose et al. (2011) Are Ethical Banks Different? A Comparative Analysis Using the Radical Affinity Index. Journal of Business Ethics, 100(1), 151-173. 101 73 Source: authors’ work based on the Scopus and Web of Science databases. This compilation further included words that were synonymous or repetitive (e.g., ‘bank’, ‘banks’), as well as terms irrelevant to the study or not directly related to its core theme (such as ‘article’, ‘analysis’, ‘state’, ‘research’). A thesaurus file was meticulously prepared and employed to organise the word set efficiently. The key search terms ‘cooperative banks’ and ‘ESG’ were intentionally omitted from this collection. The terminology and abbreviations with similar meanings were harmonised, and terms extraneous to the study were eliminated. The streamlined collection eventually comprised 117 keywords. The most frequent terms and their connections are depicted in Figure 3. Figure 3. Keyword co-occurrence map in the field of ESG in cooperative banks Source: authors’ work using VOSviewer software. Figure 3. Keyword co-occurrence map in the field of ESG in cooperative banks ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 9 Discussion The conducted bibliometric study confirmed the diversity of scientific areas – undertaken by researchers – related to the sustainability of cooperative banks. The results of the survey allow the identification of 13 clusters of research directions devoted to ESG performance in cooperative banks (Table 5). Table 5. Research directions dedicated to ESG Performance in Cooperative Banks No. Category Specification Examples of research 1. Strategy business model Migliorelli and Lamarque (2023); Groeneveld (2020); Meyer (2018) differences between commercial and cooperative banks Kuc and Teply (2023); Jaeger et al. (2016); Köhler (2015) ESG and CSR Zedda et al. (2024); Venanzi and Matteucci (2022); Bevilacqua (2022) development Lamarque (2018) social capital Oh and Yoon (2021); Catturani et al. (2016) 2. Organization profile form of business: cooperatives, joint stock companies Beccalli et al. (2023); Arginelli (2023) one share – one vote system Botta and Colombo (2020); Ferretti et al. (2019) 3. Corporate governance board Ghosh and Ansari (2018); D’Amato and Gallo (2017); Boscia et al. (2015) business culture Alińska and Szelągowska (2019); Minto (2016) organizational culture Abawa and Obse (2024) reputation De Nicola et al. (2021) 4. Financial stability resilience against the effects of crises Karafolas and Kleanthous (2019); Manitiu and Pedrini (2017); Becchetti et al. (2016); Chiaramonte et al. (2015) 5. Financial area performance measurement Vishnu et al. (2020); Manetti and Bagnoli (2013) profitability Hanzlík and Teplý (2022); Ossola et al. (2016); Diaconu (2015) capital adequacy Wang et al. (2022) efficiency Ayadi et al. (2023); Algeri et al. (2021); San-Jose et al. (2018) 6. Propensity to bank risk risk management policy Fiordelisi et al. (2022); Bénet et al. (2022); Clark et al. (2018) ESG risk and climate-related risk Flögel et al. (2023); Caselli (2022) credit risk Qi et al. (2022); Nitani and Legendre (2021); Golec (2018) operational risk Gupta (2021) 7. Environmental area education of bank customers Kuchciak and Wiktorowicz (2021) green products Heinemann et al. (2018) 8. Social area/ local communities bridging social exclusion Panakaje et al. (2023); Singh et al. (2022); Lal (2019) redressing regional imbalances Moreno and Chaves Ávila (2021); Kovács (2018); Gautam (2017) 9. Employment practices and decent work employment practices in place Piasecki (2020); Raj and Julius (2018); Suganthi and Senthilkumar (2015) diversity and equal opportunities Ferraro and Cristiano (2022); Bossler and Schild (2016); Groeneveld (2011) employee training Piasecki (2021) 10. Customer relations customer-advisor relationship Monti et al. (2014) customer loyalty Damberg et al. (2022); Aramburu and Pescador (2019) 11. Communication with stakeholders reporting Veltri et al. (2023); Thomas and Marinangeli (2016) channels and forms of communication Veg-Sala et al. (2022); Kozłowski and Kuchciak (2021); ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT 2(89) • 2024 DOI: 10.34659/eis.2024.89.2.809 16 Veltri, S., Cristiano, E., & Ferraro, O. (2023). Examining the quality of the consolidated mandatory non-financial statements of a cooperative banking group: A longitudinal analysis. 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Mission and Profitability of Social Banks. SSRN. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1957637 Zedda, S., Modina, M., & Gallucci, C. (2024). Cooperative credit banks and sustainability: Towards a social credit scoring. Research in International Business and Finance, 68, 102186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2023. 102186 Zbigniew KORZEB • Paweł NIEDZIÓŁKA • Danuta SZPILKO • Antonio de la TORRE ANALIZA BIBLIOMETRYCZNA DOKONAŃ BANKÓW SPÓŁDZIELCZYCH W OBSZARZE ESG. AKTUALNY STAN WIEDZY I PRZYSZŁE KIERUNKI BADAŃ STRESZCZENIE: Celem artykułu jest usystematyzowanie badań nad działaniami z obszaru ESG w bankach spółdzielczych, atakże stworzenie tematycznych klastrów kierunków badań poświęconych wynikom ESG. Badanie opiera się na analizie bibliometrycznej artykułów z baz Scopus i Web of Science w okresie od 2010 do marca 2024 roku. Wyniki pozwalają na identyfikację 13 klastrów kierunków badań poświęconych ESG. Idea badania jest uzasadniona znaczeniem zrównoważonej bankowości ipotrzebą usystematyzowania wiedzy na temat praktyk ESG w bankach spółdzielczych oraz zidentyfikowania obszarów, w których niezbędne są pogłębione badania. Oryginalność naszego podejścia polega na tym, że nie odnosimy się do konkretnego obszaru geograficznego, metody i okresu, ale na podstawie wskaźników cytowań i liczby publikacji koncentrujących się na danym zagadnieniu, identyfikujemy kierunki badań, które tworzą przestrzeń do dalszych pogłębionych badań. SŁOWA KLUCZOWE: banki spółdzielcze, ESG, analiza biblio metryczna