IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/finrev/v56y2021i2p251-278.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can hedge funds benefit from corporate social responsibility investment?

Author

Listed:
  • Jun Duanmu
  • Qiping Huang
  • Yongjia Li
  • Garrett A. McBrayer

Abstract

We explore the extent to which hedge funds incorporate corporate social responsibility (CSR) considerations in the development of their investment strategies. Using an asset‐weighted composite measure of CSR by fund, we examine the difference in financial performance between hedge funds with high CSR investment relative to those with low CSR investment and document no significant difference. Yet, we find that hedge funds increase their exposure to high‐CSR investments over our sample period, specifically postfinancial crisis. We find that the increases in CSR investment are associated with lower return volatilities in the future. Additionally, hedge funds with higher weighted CSR scores exhibit significantly lower risk factor loadings than funds with lower weighted CSR scores. Our results suggest that hedge funds are able to derive benefits by using CSR considerations as a form of risk mitigation in their investment policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun Duanmu & Qiping Huang & Yongjia Li & Garrett A. McBrayer, 2021. "Can hedge funds benefit from corporate social responsibility investment?," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 251-278, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:finrev:v:56:y:2021:i:2:p:251-278
    DOI: 10.1111/fire.12261
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12261
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/fire.12261?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. Gao, Lei & Wang, Ying & Zhao, Jing, 2017. "Does local religiosity affect organizational risk-taking? Evidence from the hedge fund industry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-22.
    2. Koedijk, Kees & ter Horst, Jenke & Borgers, Arian & Derwall, Jeroen, 2015. "Do Social Factors Influence Investment Behaviour and Performance? Evidence from Mutual Fund Holdings," CEPR Discussion Papers 10740, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Vikas Agarwal & Wei Jiang & Yuehua Tang & Baozhong Yang, 2013. "Uncovering Hedge Fund Skill from the Portfolio Holdings They Hide," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(2), pages 739-783, April.
    4. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "The price of ethics and stakeholder governance: The performance of socially responsible mutual funds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 302-322, June.
    5. Henke, Hans-Martin, 2016. "The effect of social screening on bond mutual fund performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 69-84.
    6. El Ghoul, Sadok & Karoui, Aymen, 2017. "Does corporate social responsibility affect mutual fund performance and flows?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 53-63.
    7. Agarwal, Vikas & Ruenzi, Stefan & Weigert, Florian, 2017. "Tail risk in hedge funds: A unique view from portfolio holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(3), pages 610-636.
    8. Benson, Karen L. & Humphrey, Jacquelyn E., 2008. "Socially responsible investment funds: Investor reaction to current and past returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1850-1859, September.
    9. Manuel Ammann & Christopher Bauer & Sebastian Fischer & Philipp Müller, 2019. "The impact of the Morningstar Sustainability Rating on mutual fund flows," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), pages 520-553, June.
    10. Alexander Kempf & Peer Osthoff, 2007. "The Effect of Socially Responsible Investing on Portfolio Performance," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 13(5), pages 908-922, November.
    11. Edmans, Alex, 2011. "Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 621-640, September.
    12. Frazzini, Andrea & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2014. "Betting against beta," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 1-25.
    13. Dyck, Alexander & Lins, Karl V. & Roth, Lukas & Wagner, Hannes F., 2019. "Do institutional investors drive corporate social responsibility? International evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(3), pages 693-714.
    14. Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2017. "Social Capital, Trust, and Firm Performance: The Value of Corporate Social Responsibility during the Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1785-1824, August.
    15. Deng, Xin & Kang, Jun-koo & Low, Buen Sin, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder value maximization: Evidence from mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 87-109.
    16. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    17. Itzhak Ben‐David & Francesco Franzoni & Augustin Landier & Rabih Moussawi, 2013. "Do Hedge Funds Manipulate Stock Prices?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(6), pages 2383-2434, December.
    18. Martijn Cremers & Antti Petajisto, 2006. "How Active is Your Fund Manager? A New Measure That Predicts Performance," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2370, Yale School of Management, revised 01 May 2009.
    19. Samuel M. Hartzmark & Abigail B. Sussman, 2019. "Do Investors Value Sustainability? A Natural Experiment Examining Ranking and Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(6), pages 2789-2837, December.
    20. Andrew Ang & Robert J. Hodrick & Yuhang Xing & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2006. "The Cross‐Section of Volatility and Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 259-299, February.
    21. Arno Riedl & Paul Smeets, 2017. "Why Do Investors Hold Socially Responsible Mutual Funds?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(6), pages 2505-2550, December.
    22. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    23. Aragon, George O., 2007. "Share restrictions and asset pricing: Evidence from the hedge fund industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 33-58, January.
    24. Bollen, Nicolas P. B., 2007. "Mutual Fund Attributes and Investor Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 683-708, September.
    25. Nofsinger, John & Varma, Abhishek, 2014. "Socially responsible funds and market crises," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 180-193.
    26. John M. Griffin & Jin Xu, 2009. "How Smart Are the Smart Guys? A Unique View from Hedge Fund Stock Holdings," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(7), pages 2331-2370, July.
    27. Bauer, Rob & Koedijk, Kees & Otten, Roger, 2005. "International evidence on ethical mutual fund performance and investment style," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1751-1767, July.
    28. Borgers, Arian & Derwall, Jeroen & Koedijk, Kees & ter Horst, Jenke, 2013. "Stakeholder relations and stock returns: On errors in investors' expectations and learning," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 159-175.
    29. Chen, Yong, 2011. "Derivatives Use and Risk Taking: Evidence from the Hedge Fund Industry," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 1073-1106, August.
    30. Stephen J. Brown & William N. Goetzmann & James Park, 2001. "Careers and Survival: Competition and Risk in the Hedge Fund and CTA Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(5), pages 1869-1886, October.
    31. Jie Cao & Sheridan Titman & Xintong Zhan & Weiming Zhang, 2020. "ESG Preference, Institutional Trading, and Stock Return Patterns," NBER Working Papers 28156, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Titman, Sheridan, 1993. "Returns to Buying Winners and Selling Losers: Implications for Stock Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 65-91, March.
    33. Greg Filbeck & Timothy A. Krause & Lauren Reis, 2016. "Socially responsible investing in hedge funds," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(6), pages 408-421, October.
    34. Krüger, Philipp, 2015. "Corporate goodness and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 304-329.
    35. Borgers, Arian & Derwall, Jeroen & Koedijk, Kees & ter Horst, Jenke, 2015. "Do social factors influence investment behavior and performance? Evidence from mutual fund holdings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 112-126.
    36. K. J. Martijn Cremers & Antti Petajisto, 2009. "How Active Is Your Fund Manager? A New Measure That Predicts Performance," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(9), pages 3329-3365, September.
    37. Kempf, Alexander & Osthoff, Peer, 2007. "The effect of socially responsible investing on portfolio performance," CFR Working Papers 06-10, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    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. Malik, Ihtisham A. & Chowdhury, Hasibul & Alam, Md Samsul, 2023. "Equity market response to natural disasters: Does firm's corporate social responsibility make difference?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    2. Huang, Qiping & Li, Yongjia & Lin, Meimei & McBrayer, Garrett A., 2022. "Natural disasters, risk salience, and corporate ESG disclosure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Mustafa O. Caglayan & Umut Celiker & Gokhan Sonaer, 2022. "Disagreement between hedge funds and other institutional investors and the cross‐section of expected stock returns," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 663-689, August.
    4. Peng, Hongfeng & Zhang, Zhenqi & Goodell, John W. & Li, Mingsheng, 2023. "Socially responsible investing: Is it for real or just for show?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Jonghyuk Bae & Natalya Khimich & Sungsoo Kim & Emanuel Zur, 2023. "Can Green Investments Increase Your Green? Evidence from Social Hedge Fund Activists," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(4), pages 781-801, November.

    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. Dumitrescu, Ariadna & Järvinen, Jesse & Zakriya, Mohammed, 2023. "Hidden Gem or Fool’s Gold: Can passive ESG ETFs outperform the benchmarks?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Nofsinger, John R. & Sulaeman, Johan & Varma, Abhishek, 2019. "Institutional investors and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 700-725.
    3. Gao, Ya & Xiong, Xiong & Feng, Xu, 2020. "Responsible investment in the Chinese stock market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    4. Henke, Hans-Martin, 2016. "The effect of social screening on bond mutual fund performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 69-84.
    5. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2021. "Sustainable investing in equilibrium," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 550-571.
    6. Ghoul, Sadok El & Karoui, Aymen, 2022. "Fund performance and social responsibility: New evidence using social active share and social tracking error," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    7. Luluk Widyawati, 2020. "A systematic literature review of socially responsible investment and environmental social governance metrics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 619-637, February.
    8. El Ghoul, Sadok & Karoui, Aymen, 2017. "Does corporate social responsibility affect mutual fund performance and flows?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 53-63.
    9. Hooi Hooi Lean & Fabio Pizzutilo, 2021. "Performances and risk of socially responsible investments across regions during crisis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3556-3568, July.
    10. Zhichuan Frank Li & Saurin Patel & Srikanth Ramani, 2021. "The Role of Mutual Funds in Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 715-737, December.
    11. Nofsinger, John & Varma, Abhishek, 2014. "Socially responsible funds and market crises," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 180-193.
    12. Mehmet Balcilar & Riza Demirer & Rangan Gupta, 2017. "Do Sustainable Stocks Offer Diversification Benefits for Conventional Portfolios? An Empirical Analysis of Risk Spillovers and Dynamic Correlations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-18, October.
    13. Maretno A. Harjoto & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Marcus A. Nilsson, 2022. "Bondholders’ returns and stakeholders’ interests," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1271-1301, November.
    14. Dan Daugaard, 2020. "Emerging new themes in environmental, social and governance investing: a systematic literature review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1501-1530, June.
    15. Vincenzo D'Apice & Giovanni Ferri & Mariantonietta Intonti, 2021. "Sustainable disclosure versus ESG intensity: Is there a cross effect between holding and SRI funds?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1496-1510, September.
    16. Federica Ielasi & Monica Rossolini, 2019. "Responsible or Thematic? The True Nature of Sustainability-Themed Mutual Funds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, June.
    17. Guillermo Badía & Luis Ferruz & Maria Céu Cortez, 2021. "The performance of social responsible investing from retail investors' perspective: international evidence," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 6074-6088, October.
    18. Beatrice Boumda & Darren Duxbury & Cristina Ortiz & Luis Vicente, 2021. "Do Socially Responsible Investment Funds Sell Losses and Ride Gains? The Disposition Effect in SRI Funds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-14, July.
    19. van Dooren, Bono & Galema, Rients, 2018. "Socially responsible investors and the disposition effect," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 42-52.
    20. Juan C. Reboredo & Luis A. Otero González, 2022. "Low carbon transition risk in mutual fund portfolios: Managerial involvement and performance effects," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 950-968, March.

    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:finrev:v:56:y:2021:i:2:p:251-278. 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: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efaaaea.html .

    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.