From Efficiency to Systemic Transitions: Mapping the Evolution of Sustainability‐Oriented Business Research Toward Circular Economy, Net‐Zero, and ESG

Abstract

Sustainability‐oriented business research increasingly treats circular economy, ESG governance, and net‐zero transitions as complementary pillars of systemic transformation. However, prior bibliometric reviews have largely examined these domains separately, leaving unresolved the question of whether they are becoming integrated within a shared knowledge architecture or developing as parallel research streams. This study examines 472 peer‐reviewed journal articles and review papers published between 1995 and 2026 to assess how three transition lenses are coordinated: system design through the circular economy; governance and accountability through ESG/SDGs; and transition targets through net‐zero and decarbonization. Its novelty lies not in observing fragmentation, which is partly expected in a growing interdisciplinary field, but in formalizing that fragmentation as a quantifiable, statistically benchmarked coordination problem. The central finding is that cross‐lens coupling has declined steadily over time and remains lower than degree‐preserving null‐model expectations. This indicates nonrandom differentiation across the knowledge streams, despite rhetorical convergence in policy and managerial discourse. The study does not treat bibliometric fragmentation as direct evidence of firm‐level, policy‐level, or transition failure. Rather, it identifies a knowledge‐architecture gap that may limit the availability of integrated conceptual guidance for circular business‐model redesign, ESG accountability, supplier governance, capital allocation, and decarbonization strategy. By reframing fragmentation in this way, the study offers a diagnostic framework for assessing whether sustainability‐oriented business knowledge supports integrated strategic action across circularity, ESG accountability, and net‐zero transformation.