What do we know about socially responsible investments?

D. Häfner, F. Kiesel and L. Wirthmann

Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) from Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL)

Abstract: This paper offers a comprehensive literature review on the motives and performance of socially responsible investments. We review 74 leading articles published between 1984 and 2016 and categorize the current literature into three major fields of studies which are of broader scientific interest: investor level, company aspects, and institutional perspective. The motivation to conduct this review stems from two sources: First, the increased treatment of ethical investments in literature makes a permanent observation mandatory. Second, the availability of new sources for socially responsible investment (SRI) data allows for more sophisticated approaches in the scientific examination of SRI impact. We find that across the literature there is no general under- or outperformance of SRIs in comparison with conventional investments. Moreover, the engagement in SRIs is mainly motivated by non-financial goals such as risk mitigation or overinvestment, yielding behavioral and agency problems.

Date: 2017-11-14
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Published in Zeitschrift für Umweltpolitik und Umweltrecht 4 (2017-11-14) : pp. 299-331

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dar:wpaper:90075

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