The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs

Companies play an important role in sustainable development. While many companies have incorporated ESG initiatives into their strategies, the specifc impact of these eforts on the SDGs remains unclear, especially regarding how these initiatives are prioritized or aligned within corporate strategies...

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Authors: López Cabarcos, María Ángeles, Ziane, Ydriss, López Pérez, María Luisa, Piñeiro Chousa, Juan Ramón
Format: article
Publication Date:2025
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
Repository:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/42435
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42435
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:ESG
SDGs
Sustainable behaviour
Ethical commitment
Business ethics
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spelling The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGsLópez Cabarcos, María ÁngelesZiane, YdrissLópez Pérez, María LuisaPiñeiro Chousa, Juan RamónESGSDGsSustainable behaviourEthical commitmentBusiness ethicsCompanies play an important role in sustainable development. While many companies have incorporated ESG initiatives into their strategies, the specifc impact of these eforts on the SDGs remains unclear, especially regarding how these initiatives are prioritized or aligned within corporate strategies. Despite the common relationship between ESG practices and sustainability, limited research has investigated how ESG strategies contribute to the SDGs. This paper aims to assess the ethical commitment of organizational practices, analysing how the combination of fve ESG-related variables (ecological impacts, access and afordability, labour practices, product design and lifecycle management, and business ethics) leads to a positive contribution to the SDGs among 137 companies belonging to EUROSTOXX and S&P500 indexes. A fsQCA analysis has been conducted, distinguishing between ESG variables with internal, external, human and non-human connotations. The fndings highlight that the combination of all these variables rather than isolated ESG practices is essential to achieve the SDGs. Although diferences are shown between the companies belonging to the two indexes, ethical governance, environmental issues and labour practices have emerged as the most relevant ESG variables for achieving sustainable goals. This study provides a better understanding of what and how ESG initiatives can contribute to the SDGs, helping companies and policy makers identify the ethical approaches to consider when designing strategies to advance towards sustainable performance.SpringerUniversidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Economía Financeira e Contabilidade20252025-04-2320252025-04-23journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10347/42435reponame:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostelainstname:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/424352026-06-15T12:47:27Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs
title The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs
spellingShingle The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs
López Cabarcos, María Ángeles
ESG
SDGs
Sustainable behaviour
Ethical commitment
Business ethics
title_short The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs
title_full The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs
title_fullStr The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs
title_full_unstemmed The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs
title_sort The Ethical Commitment of Business Strategy: ESG‑Related Factors as Drivers of the SDGs
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv López Cabarcos, María Ángeles
Ziane, Ydriss
López Pérez, María Luisa
Piñeiro Chousa, Juan Ramón
author López Cabarcos, María Ángeles
author_facet López Cabarcos, María Ángeles
Ziane, Ydriss
López Pérez, María Luisa
Piñeiro Chousa, Juan Ramón
author_role author
author2 Ziane, Ydriss
López Pérez, María Luisa
Piñeiro Chousa, Juan Ramón
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Economía Financeira e Contabilidade
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv ESG
SDGs
Sustainable behaviour
Ethical commitment
Business ethics
topic ESG
SDGs
Sustainable behaviour
Ethical commitment
Business ethics
description Companies play an important role in sustainable development. While many companies have incorporated ESG initiatives into their strategies, the specifc impact of these eforts on the SDGs remains unclear, especially regarding how these initiatives are prioritized or aligned within corporate strategies. Despite the common relationship between ESG practices and sustainability, limited research has investigated how ESG strategies contribute to the SDGs. This paper aims to assess the ethical commitment of organizational practices, analysing how the combination of fve ESG-related variables (ecological impacts, access and afordability, labour practices, product design and lifecycle management, and business ethics) leads to a positive contribution to the SDGs among 137 companies belonging to EUROSTOXX and S&P500 indexes. A fsQCA analysis has been conducted, distinguishing between ESG variables with internal, external, human and non-human connotations. The fndings highlight that the combination of all these variables rather than isolated ESG practices is essential to achieve the SDGs. Although diferences are shown between the companies belonging to the two indexes, ethical governance, environmental issues and labour practices have emerged as the most relevant ESG variables for achieving sustainable goals. This study provides a better understanding of what and how ESG initiatives can contribute to the SDGs, helping companies and policy makers identify the ethical approaches to consider when designing strategies to advance towards sustainable performance.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-04-23
2025
2025-04-23
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42435
url https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42435
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Springer
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Springer
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
instname:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
instname_str Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
reponame_str Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
collection Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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