Integrating sustainability goals into the balanced scorecard: a bibliometric analysis of the sustainability balanced scorecard

PurposeThis study aims to analyse international publications about the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) and the need to integrate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into a Balanced Scorecard (BSC), identifying trends in evolution and future research opportunities.Design/methodology/approachBased on bibliometric techniques, the outputs obtained in the Web of Science (n = 65) and Scopus (n = 80) databases were analysed in the bibliometrix R package to map and systematically review the literature. After removing duplicates, this paper obtained a final output of 96 articles.FindingsThe interconnection between SDGs and BSC is a pertinent and emerging topic in academic and business circles. Therefore, there has been a growing number of publications on SBSC in recent years, particularly in countries such as Qatar, Taiwan, Portugal, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia. Researchers in these countries have analysed the SBSC, Corporate Sustainability, Corporate Social Sustainability and Performance Evaluation as their main research themes. This research identifies four main research clusters: Strategy and Performance, Model Management Indicators, Balanced Scorecard Decision-Making and, finally, SBSC.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on Sustainability, BSC and SDGs. It can be useful for researchers and organizations that intend to integrate SDGs into a BSC and design an SBSC.