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This study aims to draw on instrumental and ethical theories to offer a quantitative review of the extant literature on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)–small-medium enterprises (SMEs) performance relationship through a meta-analysis.

Empirical studies from 57 independent peer-reviewed articles, including 66,741 firms, were sampled and analysed. Both subgroup and meta-regression analyses (MARA) were used to test the hypotheses of the study.

The authors' results demonstrated that social-oriented, economic-oriented and environment-oriented CSR activities have a positive, significant influence on overall, financial and non-financial performance of SMEs; however, the effect of social-oriented CSR activities is the strongest. Moreover, the impact CSR dimensions have on non-financial performance is stronger than on financial performance. Additionally, findings showed that the association between CSR and SME performance is positively and significantly influenced by contextual factors (i.e. sector and region of study) and methodological factors (i.e. performance measurement, study type, theory usage, sampling size and operationalisation of constructs).

The study is the pioneering meta-analytic review on the CSR–SME performance relationship, thereby clarifying the anecdotal results, synthesising the fragmented empirical studies and exploring the contextual and methodological factors that may account for between-study variance. Following the study's findings, the authors delineate insightful suggestions for future scholarship and fine-grained managerial implications for practitioners.

This paper examines the status and evolution of green innovation research from 1948 to 2018.

Using a systematic review of 293 peer-reviewed scholarly articles, the authors classify journal outlets, publication trends, research methods (research type, approach, design), themes/topics focus, country and regional distribution and theoretical perspectives, identifying main trends. They apply mixed methodologies, integrating both content and descriptive analyses.

Results reveal the following critical conclusions: (1) publication trends disclose a steady growth of interest in green innovation research in the last decade (2011–2018), with most of the articles appearing in top-ranked journal outlets; (2) empirical studies involving quantitative surveys dominate the field over other methods like experiments, case studies (qualitative) and conceptual models; (3) research themes/topics are multi-perspectives, covering management and strategic dimension of green innovation (e.g. green innovation integration and adoption strategy; collaboration and networking in green innovation; green innovation management systems, green supply chain management, etc.), performance (financial, non-financial and both), drivers/antecedents and consumer green behavior; however, the “management and strategy” papers are by far higher; (4) studies are preponderately multi-country focused, concentrated in Europe and Australasia, with a low concentration in emerging markets like Africa and South America; And (5) the field lacks the adoption and development of novel theories. So far, the research fields principally focus on the “Porter hypothesis” and resource-based view in terms of the theory-driven studies. Based on these findings, knowledge gaps are identified, as are limitations and actionable agenda for future research.

As the first systematic review to adopt a comprehensive, holistic approach in synthesizing and summarizing research vis-à-vis the phenomenon of green innovation, the study offers practitioners and researchers an insightful understanding of the relevant issues that have been investigated on green innovation, thereby anchoring the evolutions for further sustainable-oriented research and improvement in management practices.