A Review of the Research on Financial Performance and Its Determinants

To carry out the review, the study was designed in such a manner as to enable us to: (a) identify the degree of interest that researchers displayed for scientific grounding of concepts they operate with and (b) identify the degree to which new lines of research have been shaped on determinants of financial performance. Based on a sample of 45 articles which analyzed the corporate financial performance, published during 2014–2019, was established a database which details: the researches’ topic; dependent and independent analyzed variables (and the indicators used for their assessment); samples; sources of data and periods in which they have been collected; results of the research; and authors’ contributions in defining the concept of performance. In terms of study’s first aim, we have shown that authors are concerned with grounding concepts with which they operate, but they mostly focus on the determinants and not on the financial performance. In terms of determinants of the financial performance, the study reveals that the research is more detailed and they extend the analyses with new variables (such as ethics of stakeholders, corporate lobbying, corporate culture, green credit or non-financial reporting) for explaining the dynamics of the financial performance.