Business Ethics and Legal Factors in MSME Development: A SLR

Abstract

This study examines the development of research on business ethics and legal factors in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through a systematic literature review of Scopus-indexed publications. The study aims to identify the main themes and research trends in this field and to examine how business ethics and legal factors contribute to MSME development, sustainability, and business practices. Using the PRISMA 2020 framework, 75 articles published between 2017 and 2026 were selected from the Scopus database based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer to examine keyword co-occurrence, density, temporal trends, network relationships, and thematic clusters. The findings indicate that the literature is predominantly organized around business ethics, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, MSME development, and organizational governance. The overlay analysis reveals a shift from earlier research emphasizing ethical practices and governance toward emerging themes including sustainability, ethical leadership, ESG, innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and eco-innovation. Legal and regulatory factors appear as a comparatively fragmented dimension, represented through tax compliance, financial reporting, certification, business law, regulatory compliance, and Islamic economic law. The network and thematic analyses further show that business ethics is closely connected with sustainability, leadership, governance, stakeholders, and innovation, whereas legal factors are more strongly associated with compliance, accountability, and institutional requirements. The study concludes that business ethics and legal factors represent complementary dimensions of MSME development and highlights the need for integrated research connecting ethics, legal compliance, governance, and sustainable MSME development.