Text Mining Analysis of ESG Management Reports in South Korea: Comparison With Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The essential value of sustainability has warranted firms to disclose their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) visions. We conducted a significant data analysis using text mining to assess Korean companies’ ESG perceptions in accordance with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) suggested by the United Nations. Bigram frequency, term frequency–inverse document frequency, semantic network, and convergence of iteration correlation analyses were performed in this study. The results indicate that Korean companies focus on consumer protection, especially digital human rights. However, efforts toward global partnerships, as emphasized by the SDGs, were not apparent. These results suggest important ESG values for countries advancing toward the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will ultimately contribute to global cooperation and sustainable development.