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Ethical Screening and Financial Performance: The Case of Islamic Equity Funds

Author

Listed:
  • Yunieta Nainggolan

    (Queensland University of Technology)

  • Janice How

    (Queensland University of Technology)

  • Peter Verhoeven

    (Queensland University of Technology)

Abstract

Whether ethical screening affects portfolio performance is an important question that is yet to be settled in the literature. This paper aims to shed further light on this question by examining the performance of a large global sample of Islamic equity funds (IEFs) from 1984 to 2010. We find that IEFs underperform conventional funds by an average of 40 basis points per month, consistent with the underperformance hypothesis. In line with popular media claims that Islamic funds are a safer investment, IEFs outperformed conventional funds during the recent banking crisis. However, we find no such outperformance for other crises or high volatility periods. Based on fund holdings-based data, we provide evidence of a negative curvilinear relation between fund performance and ethical screening intensity, consistent with a return trade-off to being more ethical.

Suggested Citation

  • Yunieta Nainggolan & Janice How & Peter Verhoeven, 2016. "Ethical Screening and Financial Performance: The Case of Islamic Equity Funds," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 83-99, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:137:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-014-2529-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2529-5
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    Cited by:

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    4. Mohsin Ali & Wajahat Azmi, 2016. "Religion in the boardroom and its impact on Islamic banks' performance," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 83-88, November.
    5. Alexakis, Christos & Kenourgios, Dimitris & Pappas, Vasileios & Petropoulou, Athina, 2021. "From dotcom to Covid-19: A convergence analysis of Islamic investments," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Pirgaip, Burak & Arslan-Ayaydin, Özgür & Karan, Mehmet Baha, 2021. "Do Sukuk provide diversification benefits to conventional bond investors? Evidence from Turkey," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    7. Hoang, Thi-Hong-Van & Zhu, Zhenzhen & El Khamlichi, Abdelbari & Wong, Wing-Keung, 2019. "Does the Shari’ah screening impact the gold-stock nexus? A sectorial analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 617-626.
    8. Ali I. El Saleh & Doureige J. Jurdi, 2021. "Stock performance under alternative Shariah screening methods: Evidence from Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4339-4388, September.
    9. Jonathan Peillex & Sabri Boubaker & Breeda Comyns, 2021. "Does It Pay to Invest in Japanese Women? Evidence from the MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 595-613, May.
    10. Jitmaneeroj, Boonlert, 2023. "Time-varying fund manager skills of socially responsible investing (SRI) funds in developed and emerging markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Khan, Abdullah & Rizvi, Syed Aun R. & Ali, Mohsin & Haroon, Omair, 2021. "A survey of Islamic finance research – Influences and influencers," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    12. Iván Arribas & María Dolores Espinós-Vañó & Fernando García & Paula Beatriz Morales-Bañuelos, 2019. "The Inclusion of Socially Irresponsible Companies in Sustainable Stock Indices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, April.
    13. Ahmed Elnahas & Ghada Ismail & Rwan El‐Khatib & M. Kabir Hassan, 2021. "Islamic labeled firms: Revisiting Dow Jones measure of compliance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5-6), pages 988-1021, May.
    14. Azmi, Wajahat & Mohamad, Shamsher & Shah, Mohamed Eskandar, 2020. "Ethical investments and financial performance: An international evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Jawadi, Fredj & Jawadi, Nabila & Idi Cheffou, Abdoukarim, 2019. "A statistical analysis of uncertainty for conventional and ethical stock indexes," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 9-17.
    16. Andrikopoulos, Andreas, 2020. "Delineating social finance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    17. Elnahas, Ahmed M. & Kabir Hassan, M. & Ismail, Ghada M., 2017. "Religion and mergers and acquisitions contracting: The case of earnout agreements," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 221-246.
    18. Peillex, Jonathan & Erragragui, Elias & Bitar, Mohammad & Benlemlih, Mohammed, 2019. "The contribution of market movements, asset allocation and active management to Islamic equity funds’ performance," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 32-38.
    19. Azmi, Wajahat & Mohamad, Shamsher & Shah, Mohamed Eskandar, 2018. "Nonfinancial traits and financial smartness: International evidence from Shariah-compliant and Socially responsible funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 201-217.
    20. Grira, Jocelyn & Labidi, Chiraz, 2021. "Banks, Funds, and risks in islamic finance: Literature & future research avenues," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    21. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach, 2019. "A survey of Islamic banking and finance literature: Issues, challenges and future directions," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 484-496.
    22. Ali, Mohsin & Azmi, Wajahat, 2016. "Religion in the boardroom and its impact on Islamic banks' performance," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 83-88.
    23. Sangki Lee & Insu Kim & Chung-hun Hong, 2019. "Who Values Corporate Social Responsibility in the Korean Stock Market?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-14, October.
    24. Abdullah Muhammad Ahmed Ayedh & Muhammad Iqmal Hisham Kamaruddin & Amir Shaharuddin, 2019. "Challenging the Current Shariah Screening Methodology Assessments in Kuala Lumpur Shariah Index (KLSI)," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 9(4), pages 253-268, October.
    25. Lars Hornuf & Gül Yüksel, 2022. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Investments: A Meta-Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 9724, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ethical investments; Ethical screening; Fund performance; Islamic equity funds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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