Sustainability Reporting Determinants in European Emerging Economies: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

The emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) constitute a distinct institutional context, marked by the post-communist legacy, the European integration process and the pressures generated by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD, 2014/95/EU) and, more recently, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD, 2022/2464/EU). Although sustainable reporting has acquired the status of a regulatory obligation at European level, academic research on the specific determinants of this practice in CEE remains fragmented. Existing global systematic reviews (Hahn & Kuhnen, 2013; Arkoh et al., 2024) confirm a geographical bias in favor of advanced economies, and the only SLR focused on developing countries (Farisyi et al., 2022) does not cover the post-NFRD European context.

This article aims to: (1) critically synthesize the literature on the determinants of the adoption and quality of sustainable reporting in CEE, for the period 2000-2025; (2) analyze the theoretical and methodological frameworks used; (3) assess the consistency of results across studies; and (4) formulate a research agenda structured around the gaps specific to the post-CSRD CEE context.

The study applied the PRISMA 2020 protocol. 1,643 records were identified in the Scopus and Web of Science databases (2000-2025). After applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria and assessing methodological quality, the final corpus comprised 30 studies. Thematic analysis followed Braun and Clarke (2006); and bibliometric analysis used VOSviewer.

The main determinants confirmed in CEE are: firm size (78% of studies), foreign ownership structure (72%), quality of corporate governance (67-64%), NFRD/CSRD regulatory obligations (69%) and sectoral pressures (61%). Profitability and financial leverage show inconsistent results, in line with global findings. A specific CEE conclusion: post-NFRD reporting shows high formal compliance, but materiality and quality still lower than the Western European average, explained by symbolic legitimacy (Suchman, 1995).

The article provides the first SLR dedicated exclusively to CEE for the period 2000-2025, integrating the post-CSRD context. Compared to similar studies (Farisyi et al., 2022; Arkoh et al., 2024; Igwe et al., 2023), it is differentiated by: a strict geographical focus on CEE, updated temporal coverage, explicit analysis of cross-study consistency, and the proposal of a hybrid theoretical framework. Five major gaps are identified and a research agenda is proposed over three time horizons.