IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v15y2006i3p200-214.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ignorant advice – customer advisory service for ethical investment funds

Author

Listed:
  • Ulf Schrader

Abstract

Ethical investment is a growing but still small market in many countries. One obstacle for further diffusion is the lack of information transparency. The actors with the highest potential to improve transparency and to develop ethical funds into mass market products are large retail banks. To realize this potential they have to meet a high service quality standard in their financial advice about ethical funds. Based on a mystery shopping study in Germany, this paper reveals that large retail banks are not yet ready to act as diffusion agents for ethical funds. No advisor demonstrated the initiative to inform customers proactively about ethical funds and some bank employees even falsely denied their existence. Additionally, the scope and accuracy of the information provided was very limited. If banks want to change this situation they can apply a range of strategic, instrumental, and transformational marketing measures. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ulf Schrader, 2006. "Ignorant advice – customer advisory service for ethical investment funds," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 200-214, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:15:y:2006:i:3:p:200-214
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.525
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.525
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.525?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mackenzie, Craig & Lewis, Alan, 1999. "Morals and Markets: The Case of Ethical Investing," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 439-452, July.
    2. Hesselink, M. & van der Wiele, A., 2003. "Mystery Shopping: In-depth measurement of customer satisfaction," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2003-020-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    3. Nelson, Phillip, 1970. "Information and Consumer Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(2), pages 311-329, March-Apr.
    4. Alan M. Wilson, 1998. "The Use of Mystery Shopping in the Measurement of Service Delivery," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 148-163, July.
    5. Thomas Koellner & Olaf Weber & Marcus Fenchel & Roland Scholz, 2005. "Principles for sustainability rating of investment funds," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 54-70, January.
    6. Stephen A. Ross, 1989. "Institutional Markets, Financial Marketing, and Financial Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 541-556, July.
    7. Darby, Michael R & Karni, Edi, 1973. "Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 67-88, April.
    8. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:3:p:541-56 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Glen Dowell & Stuart Hart & Bernard Yeung, 2000. "Do Corporate Global Environmental Standards Create or Destroy Market Value?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(8), pages 1059-1074, August.
    10. Schröder, Michael, 2003. "Socially Responsible Investments in Germany, Switzerland and the United States: An Analysis of Investment Funds and Indices," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-10, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gunnar Gutsche & Bernhard Zwergel, 2016. "Information barriers and SRI market participation – Can sustainability and transparency labels help?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201624, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    2. Nadine Strauß, 2021. "Communicating Sustainable Responsible Investments as Financial Advisors: Engaging Private Investors with Strategic Communication," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    3. David Risi & Falko Paetzold & Anne Kellers, 2021. "Wealthy Private Investors and Socially Responsible Investing: The Influence of Reference Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-24, November.
    4. Claudia Tarantola & Paola Vicard & Ioannis Ntzoufras, 2012. "Monitoring and Improving Greek Banking Services Using Bayesian Networks: an Analysis of Mystery Shopping Data," Quaderni di Dipartimento 160, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods.
    5. Matthew Haigh & James Guthrie, 2010. "Management practices in Australasian ethical investment products: a role for regulation?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 147-163, March.
    6. Ana Garcia-Bernabeu & Antonio Benito & Mila Bravo & David Pla-Santamaria, 2016. "Photovoltaic power plants: a multicriteria approach to investment decisions and a case study in western Spain," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 245(1), pages 163-175, October.
    7. Ballestero, Enrique & Bravo, Mila & Pérez-Gladish, Blanca & Arenas-Parra, Mar & Plà-Santamaria, David, 2012. "Socially Responsible Investment: A multicriteria approach to portfolio selection combining ethical and financial objectives," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 216(2), pages 487-494.
    8. Kristin Heinemann & Bernhard Zwergel & Stefan Gold & Stefan Seuring & Christian Klein, 2018. "Exploring the Supply-Demand-Discrepancy of Sustainable Financial Products in Germany from a Financial Advisor’s Point of View," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Heena Thanki & Sweety Shah & Harishchandra Singh Rathod & Ankit D. Oza & Dumitru Doru Burduhos-Nergis, 2022. "I Am Ready to Invest in Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) Options Only If the Returns Are Not Compromised: Individual Investors’ Intentions toward SRI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    10. Andreas G.F. Hoepner & John O.S. Wilson, 2012. "Social, Environmental, Ethical and Trust (SEET) Issues in Banking: An Overview," Chapters, in: James R. Barth & Chen Lin & Clas Wihlborg (ed.), Research Handbook on International Banking and Governance, chapter 24, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Emma Avetisyan & Kai Hockerts, 2017. "Consolidation of the ESG Rating Industry as an Enactment of Institutional Retrogression," Post-Print hal-01695693, HAL.
    12. Felipe Arias Fogliano de Souza Cunha & Erick Meira de Oliveira & Renato J. Orsato & Marcelo Cabus Klotzle & Fernando Luiz Cyrino Oliveira & Rodrigo Goyannes Gusmão Caiado, 2020. "Can sustainable investments outperform traditional benchmarks? Evidence from global stock markets," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 682-697, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. K. Pappalardo, 2022. "Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 201-238, June.
    2. Dhaval M. Dave, 2013. "Effects of Pharmaceutical Promotion: A Review and Assessment," NBER Working Papers 18830, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Gu, Yiquan & Rasch, Alexander & Wenzel, Tobias, 2022. "Consumer salience and quality provision in (un)regulated public service markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Cai, Dapeng & Jørgensen, Jan Guldager, 2017. "Mutual Recognition for Sale: International Bargaining over Product Standards," Discussion Papers on Economics 1/2017, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    5. Jhunjhunwala, Tanushree, 2021. "Searching to avoid regret: An experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 298-319.
    6. Marco Costanigro & Yuko Onozaka, 2020. "A Belief‐Preference Model of Choice for Experience and Credence Goods," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(1), pages 70-95, February.
    7. Fabienne Chameroy & Jean-Louis Chandon, 2011. "Are All Labels Ethical? [Les labels sont-ils tous éthiques ?]," Post-Print hal-02092068, HAL.
    8. Bester, Helmut & Ouyang, Yaofu, 2018. "Optimal procurement of a credence good under limited liability," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 96-129.
    9. Charity, Nabwire Ephamia Juma, 2016. "Economic Analysis Of Consumers’ Awareness And Willingness To Pay For Geographical Indicators And Other Quality Attributes Of Honey In Kenya," Research Theses 265574, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    10. Haucap, Justus, 2017. "The rule of law and the emergence of market exchange: A new institutional economic perspective," DICE Discussion Papers 276, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    11. Earl, Peter E., 2012. "Experiential analysis of automotive consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 1067-1072.
    12. Ngobo, Paul-Valentin & Jean, Sylvie, 2012. "Does store image influence demand for organic store brands?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 621-628.
    13. Sharon Horsky, 2006. "The Changing Architecture of Advertising Agencies," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 367-383, 07-08.
    14. Langinier Corinne & Babcock Bruce A., 2008. "Agricultural Production Clubs: Viability and Welfare Implications," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-31, December.
    15. David Bardey & Denis Gromb & David Martimort & Jérôme Pouyet, 2020. "Controlling Sellers Who Provide Advice: Regulation and Competition," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 409-444, September.
    16. Hayam Wahba, 2010. "How do institutional shareholders manipulate corporate environmental strategy to protect their equity value? A study of the adoption of ISO 14001 by Egyptian firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 495-511, December.
    17. José Manuel Álvarez Zárate (Editor), 2016. "¿Hacia dónde va América Latina respecto al derecho económico internacional?," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 860, August.
    18. Jan-Peter Kucklick & Jennifer Priefer & Daniel Beverungen & Oliver Müller, 2023. "Elucidating the Predictive Power of Search and Experience Qualities for Pricing of Complex Goods – A Machine Learning-based Study on Real Estate Appraisal," Working Papers Dissertations 112, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    19. Reardon, Thomas & Codron, Jean-Marie & Busch, Lawrence & Bingen, R. James & Harris, Craig, 1999. "Global Change In Agrifood Grades And Standards: Agribusiness Strategic Responses In Developing Countries," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 2(3-4), pages 1-15.
    20. Onozaka, Yuko & Saue, Vegar Veseth & Costanigro, Marco, 2018. "The Moderating Effect of Heterogeneous Beliefs on Consumer Preferences for a New Food Technology: The Case of Modified Atmospheric Packaging," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274068, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:15:y:2006:i:3:p:200-214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.