Table 1.

Examples of externality and SDG research in international business.

Externality	SDG	SDG theme	SDG targets	IB study examples
Positive externality
Increasing knowledge	4	Education	Target 4.3. Ensure equal access to affordable education	Eweje (2006)
	9	Innovation	Target 9.5. Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in developing countries by 2030	Alcácer and Chung (2007), Almeida and Phene (2004), Inkpen, Minbaeva, and Tsang (2019), Jin, García, and Salomon (2019), Lorenzen, Mudambi, and Schotter (2020), Spencer (2008)
Increasing wealth	1	Poverty	Target 1.4. Ensure that the poor and the vulnerable have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services by 2030	Ansari, Munir, and Gregg (2012), Asakawa, Cuervo-Cazurra, and Un (2019), Halme, Lindeman, and Linna (2012), Kolk et al. (2018), Kolk and van Tulder (2006), London and Hart (2004), Maksimov, Wang, and Luo (2017)
	5	Gender equality	Target 5.5. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership	Chelekis and Mudambi (2010), Eden and Wagstaff (2021), Hermans, Newburry, Alvarado-Vargas, Baldo, Borda, Durán-Zurita, Geleilate, Guerra, Morello, Madero-Gómez, and Olivas-Lujan (2017), Koveshnikov, Tienari, and Piekkari (2019), Terjesen, Aguilera, and Lorenz (2015), Toh and Leonardelli (2012)
	8	Child labor	Target 8.7. End child labor in all its forms by 2025	Cho, Fang, Tayur, and Xu (2019), Kolk and van Tulder (2002, 2004)
	8	Employment discrimination	Target 8.5. Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities	Wu, Lawler, and Yi (2008)
	8	Working conditions	Target 8.8. Protect labor rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers	Berkey (2019), Distelhorst, Hainmueller, and Locke (2017), Egels-Zanden (2014), Lorenzo, Esqueda, and Larson (2010), Meyer (2005), Radin and Calkins (2006), van Tulder et al. (2009)
Increasing health	2	Food security	Target 2.3. Double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers and indigenous peoples through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, and knowledge	Gold et al. (2013), Santangelo (2018)
	3	Communicable diseases	Target 3.3. End the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases	Flanagan and Whiteman (2007), Shandra et al., (2011), Sidibe (2020), Van Cranenburgh and Arenas (2014)
	3	Non-communicable diseases	Target 3.4. Reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases	Gertner and Rifkin (2018), Palazzo and Richter (2005), Tempels, Blok, and Verweij (2020)
	3	Environmental health	Target 3.9. Reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination	Jorgenson (2009)
Negative externality
Reducing the overuse of natural resources	6	Water access	Target 6.4. Ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity by 2030	Acosta, Kim, Melzer, Mendoza, and Thelen, (2011), Hills and Welford (2005)
	7	Sustainable energy	Target 7.1. Ensure access to affordable and reliable services	Akter et al. (2017)
	13	Climate change	Target 13.3. Improve human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction	Huang, Kerstein, and Wang (2018), Kolk and Pinkse (2008), Patnaik (2019), Pinkse and Kolk (2012)
	15	Biodiversity	Target 15.5. Take action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats and halt the loss of biodiversity	Boiral and Heras-Saizarbitoria (2017)
	15	Natural resources	Target 15.1. Ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems	Narula (2018), Shapiro et al. (2018)
Reducing harm to social cohesion	10	Marginalized populations	Target 10.2. Promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status	Newburry, Gardberg, and Sanchez (2014)
	10	Migration	Target 10.7. Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people	Barnard et al. (2019), Piteli, Buckley, and Kafouros (2019), Reade, McKenna, and Oetzel (2019), Vaaler (2011)
	11	Natural disasters	Target 11.5. Significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses caused by disasters	Ballesteros, Useem, and Wry (2017), McKnight and Linnenluecke (2019), Mithani (2017), Oh, Oetzel, Rivera, and Lien (2020), Zhang and Luo (2013)
	16	Violence and conflict	Target 16.A. Strengthen capacity in developing countries to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime	Branzei and Abdelnour (2010), Li and Vashchilko (2010), Liu and Li (2020), Oh and Oetzel (2017)
	16	Corruption	Target 16.5. Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms	Bertrand, Betschinger, and Laamanen (2019), Cuervo-Cazurra (2006, 2008a, 2008b), Montiel, (2012), Uhlenbruck, Rodriguez, Doh, and Eden (2006)
	17	Tax evasion	Target 17.1. Improve domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection	Akamah, Hope, and Thomas (2018), Gokalp, Lee, and Peng (2017), Jones (2018)
	17	Partnerships	Target 17.17. Promote effective public, public–private and civil society partnerships	Oetzel and Doh (2009), Prashantham and Birkinshaw (2020), Ritvala, Salmi, and Andersson (2014), Yakovleva and Vazquez-Brust (2018)
Reducing over-consumption	12	Waste management	Target 12.5. Substantially reduce waste generation by 2030	King and Shaver (2001)
	12	Industrial pollution	Target 12.6. Encourage transnational companies to adopt sustainable practices	Christmann and Taylor (2001), Li and Zhou (2017), Rugman and Verbeke (1998), Surroca et al. (2013)
	12	Global sustainability certifications	Target 12.6. Encourage transnational companies to adopt sustainable practices	Husted, Montiel, and Christmann (2016), Maksimov et al. (2019), Montiel, Husted, and Christmann (2019), Orcos, Pérez-Aradros, and Blind (2018)
	14	Ocean pollution	Target 14.1. Prevent and reduce marine pollution by 2025	Dauvergne (2018)