Social responsibility in micro, small and medium enterprises: a bibliometric analysis from 1972 to 2021

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a bibliometric study on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). A descriptive-comparative scope was used to analyze a total of 380 research papers published from 1972 to 2021 in several scientific journals using the following criteria: temporal evolution, journal, authorship, nature, methodologies, and approaches. The results show that the scientific publications increased significantly as of 2009; the Journal of Business Ethics stands out for the most significant number of publications; in addition, the journals’ countries with the highest scientific production were the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Regarding the authorship criterion, Laura J. Spence resulted with the greater number of contributions on the subject. Finally, the predominance of the quantitative methodology and a non-experimental research design in the publications is noteworthy; furthermore, the most recurrent approach studied was the CSR practices in MSMEs. Keywords: CSR; MSMEs; Systematic Review; Bibliometric Analysis.