− Norms are conceptualized in different ways by ESG–Agency scholars, including as regulatory instruments, as part of the surrounding structure, as the outcome of a legitimation procedure, or as an expectation of the researcher. − Actors who engage with norms exercise agency by shaping, strategically interpreting, and using, as well as managing other actors’ interpretations of norms.− Future research could benefit from more explicitly theorizing the interaction of agency and norms by integrating existing empirical insights and increasing the geographic diversity of scholarship.