When ESG Becomes Strategy: Concept and Research Agenda for Strategic Moralizing in Global Value Chains
提出“战略道德化”概念，基于99篇文献综述，将环境与ESG道德主张视为战略资源，归纳出三种模式，并探讨其对责任分配、治理结构和权力关系的影响，为管理者和政策制定者提供启示。
ABSTRACT Research on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and sustainability practices in global value chains has increasingly emphasized the role of moral claims, yet existing insights remain fragmented across the literatures on greenwashing, governance, and corporate responsibility. This article develops the concept of Strategic Moralizing to explain how organizations mobilize environmental and ESG‐related moral claims as strategic resources in global value chains. Drawing on a systematic literature review of 99 peer‐reviewed articles, the study synthesizes dispersed findings and advances a typology of three modes of Strategic Moralizing: symbolic moralization, boundary‐shifting moralization, and governance‐embedding moralization. The analysis demonstrates that moral claims extend beyond signaling and decoupling, functioning as mechanisms that reallocate responsibility, structure governance arrangements, and shape power relations across value chains. Building on this typology, the article develops a set of theoretical propositions concerning the durability, dynamics, and strategic consequences of different modes of moralization. It further outlines a future research agenda that connects firm‐level strategy with multitier governance, countervailing power of weaker actors, and emerging geopolitical dynamics. By conceptualizing moral claims as strategic resources rather than purely normative constraints, the article contributes to research on sustainability strategy, ESG governance, and global value chains and offers implications for managers and policymakers engaged in the design and regulation of ESG practices.