Impact Risk in Impact Investing: A Systematic Review of Impact Risk Drivers and Governance Responses and an Integrative Framework
Loading...
Files
Size: 554.4 KB, File format: Adobe PDF
Date
Authors
Islam, Syrus M
Cui, Claire
Supervisor
Item type
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
This study systematically reviews impact risk in impact investing to identify its dimensions, drivers, governance responses, and interrelationships. Drawing on a qualitative thematic analysis of 56 articles published between 2011 and 2025, the review integrates previously fragmented research on impact‐related risks. We define impact risk as risks arising from the pursuit, governance, measurement, and public claims about impact that threaten the realization, credibility, or social license of impact‐oriented investments. The findings identify five interrelated dimensions: positive impact risk, negative impact risk, impact evidence risk, impact accountability risk, and impact legitimacy risk. For each dimension, the review synthesizes its principal drivers and governance responses. The findings further show that these risks form an interdependent system characterized by risk amplification, risk conversion, and risk mutual reinforcement. The study contributes a five‐dimensional classification of impact risk and an integrative framework explaining how these risks interact, providing a foundation for examining impact risk as an interdependent governance problem.
Description
Keywords
0502 Environmental Science and Management, 1501 Accounting, Auditing and Accountability, 1503 Business and Management, Business & Management, 3501 Accounting, auditing and accountability, 3502 Banking, finance and investment, 3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour, impact governance, impact investing, impact risk, risk amplification and conversion, risk drivers, risk mutual reinforcement
Source
Business Strategy and the Environment, ISSN: 0964-4733 (Print); 1099-0836 (Online), Wiley. doi: 10.1002/bse.71473
Publisher's version
Rights statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Permanent link
Collections
Endorsement
Review
Supplemented By
Referenced By
Creative Commons license
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License