FinTech-Driven Corporate Sustainability Performance: A Systematic Review, Practical Insights, and Future Research Agenda

This paper synthesizes the existing literature on the integration of fintech into the sustainability field, revealing opportunities, challenges, and outcomes associated with fintech adoption within non-financial industries. A systematic literature review (SLR) following PRISMA guidelines, critically analyzing 130 research articles of ABDC-listed journals indexed in the Scopus database. The thematic analysis identifies five main clusters: (1) fintech and global sustainability performance, (2) fintech and environmental sustainability, (3) fintech and social sustainability, (4) fintech and corporate governance, (5) fintech and ESG controversies. The results suggest that the adoption of fintech contributes to stakeholder satisfaction by mitigating environmental degradation, social concerns, and managing ESG controversies. However, Fintech alone is insufficient to build a strong green identity, as its positive impact may not be sustained in the long term. This underscores the importance of developing an ethical culture and strengthening digital governance to enhance the resilience of ESG practices enabled by fintech-related transformations. The review concludes that further analysis is needed to legitimize the role of the fintech sector in targeted sustainability agendas. In this regard, and drawing on technological, organizational, and environmental (TOE) factors, we propose a comprehensive and integrated framework that combines digital transformation philosophy with a long-term ESG vision. It explains the main phases of integrating emerging fintech innovations into companies' ESG procedures and operations. Therefore, the proposed hybrid model should enable leaders, managers and investors to leverage fintech for more effective ESG strategies within a vulnerable ecosystem.