Purpose: Despite its importance, the literature on women financial inclusion (WFI) remains fragmented due to the absence of a comprehensive review that consolidates the intellectual structure of the field. This paper examines the intellectual structure of the topic and gives a complete overview of the research undertaken so far in the field.Design/methodology/approach: A bibliometric study of 235 Scopus-indexed publications, including citation analysis, keyword network analysis, co-authorship analysis and reference co-citation analysis using VOSviewer was performed.Findings: The study identified major contributors to the field (the most prolific author was Ghosh, S.), the leading journals in the field (the World Development), the geographical locations where research in the field is concentrated (India is the leading country) and the organisations focussing on green consumer research (leading organisation: The World Bank, USA). In addition, four significant themes that describe the body of information about women's financial inclusion were found.Originality/value: This study provides policymakers and academic scholars with fresh insights at a higher level into this burgeoning topic. Such insights would aid in the development of initiatives to address women's financial inclusion concerns.Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2022-0438.

A bank, particularly in developing countries like Turkey, is one of the most important institutions in the financial sector. Therefore knowing the factors affecting the performance of banks is important for the development of the sector. One of the factors affecting the risk and profitability of banking sector is the internal factors of the banks. The aim of this paper is to investigate the board of directors’ characteristics and its effect on risk level measured by non-performing loans and on bank performance measured by asset profitability using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator. Data from nineteen deposit banks for the period 2012–2018 were used. The result of the study determined that the board size, foreign board members and the independent board members have an effect on both non-performing loans and the return on assets.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the causality between the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) score, which is the component of banks’ performance obtained from ESG activities, and the capital costs, market values and bankruptcy risk of banks. For this purpose, 117 banks with fully accessible data from 29 developing countries were included. Design/methodology/approach: In the methodology part of the study, the panel causality test developed by Emirmahmutoglu and Köse was used based on the periods 2015–2022. First, the cross-section test and delta tests were performed. Then, Levin, Lin and Chu, Breitung, Im, Pesaran, Shin, Fisher ADF and Fisher-PP panel unit root tests and Emirmahmutoglu and Köse panel causality test were performed. Findings: As a result of the analyses, bidirectional causality was observed between ESG and weighted average cost of capital of private banks. Similarly, bidirectional causality from ESG to company market capitalization and from ESG to the risk indicator ZSCORE was determined in both private and state banks. The results reveal that ESG components should also be considered in relation to financial performance. In this respect, it is expected to guide regulatory and supervisory institutions in the establishment of regulations and guidelines regarding the determination and promotion of ESG practices that will increase capital efficiency and reduce corporate financing costs. Originality/value: Focusing on ESG activities has ceased to be an arbitrary situation for banks. In today’s competitive conditions, financial institutions are turning to strategies that differentiate them from their competitors, such as ESG, as they have difficulty maintaining customer loyalty. Based on the lack of focus on structure differentiation before, the main research question of this study is whether the private and public structure will cause a difference in the effect of ESG activities on bank performance and cost.