Fund Loyalty Among Socially Responsible Investors: The Importance of the Economic and Ethical Domains

Jared Peifer ()

Journal of Business Ethics, 2014, vol. 121, issue 4, 635-649

Abstract: The corporate social responsibility literature has emphasized the importance of both economic and ethical domains of corporate behavior. Analyzing unprecedented survey data from investors in a socially responsible (SR) mutual fund, this article considers how economic and ethical concerns shape shareholder investment behavior. In particular, this article analyzes levels of investor fund loyalty, defined as the continued investment in a mutual fund despite the belief that one is earning a lower return on investment. Building upon existing research that shows SR fund assets are more stable than conventional fund assets, this article leverages within respondent comparisons to clarify that dual investors (i.e., those who invest in both SR and conventional funds) are more loyal to their SR fund than to their conventional fund. This suggests that a corporation’s ethical behavior attracts more patient investment capital, an important consideration for any corporation that is deciding to what degree it should engage in corporate social responsibility. In addition, this article empirically demonstrates that economic motivations reduce SR fund loyalty and that ethical motivations induce SR fund loyalty. This evidence that ethical motivation is associated with fund loyalty advances research on morality in the market by yielding empirical evidence to a largely theoretical debate. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; Customer loyalty; Ethical consumption; Socially responsible investing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:121:y:2014:i:4:p:635-649

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1746-7

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