IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v42y2017icp1504-1515.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socially responsible: Are they profitable?

Author

Listed:
  • Syed, Ali Murad

Abstract

This study provides the evidence of the performance of SRI funds in the UK and in France both before and during the financial crisis. We find that in the pre-crisis (2004-2007) period all French and UK funds outperformed the market. According to the modified Sharpe ratio, French and UK funds also outperformed during the crisis period (2007-2009) when compared with relative market benchmarks. This result is not confirmed by the Jensen alpha or the Treynor ratio, but these instruments did not indicate significant underperformance. Overall, our results show that while there is no significant difference in financial performance between SRI funds and non-SRI funds.

Suggested Citation

  • Syed, Ali Murad, 2017. "Socially responsible: Are they profitable?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1504-1515.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:42:y:2017:i:c:p:1504-1515
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2017.07.090
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531916305177
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2017.07.090?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N. Kreander & R.H. Gray & D.M. Power & C.D. Sinclair, 2005. "Evaluating the Performance of Ethical and Non‐ethical Funds: A Matched Pair Analysis," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7‐8), pages 1465-1493, September.
    2. Michael Schröder, 2007. "Is there a Difference? The Performance Characteristics of SRI Equity Indices," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1‐2), pages 331-348, January.
    3. repec:dgr:rugsom:01e17 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Alan Gregory & John Matatko & Robert Luther, 1997. "Ethical Unit Trust Financial Performance: Small Company Effects and Fund Size Effects," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 705-725.
    5. Alan Gregory & John Matatko & Robert Luther, 1997. "Ethical Unit Trust Financial Performance: Small Company Effects and Fund Size Effects," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 705-725, June.
    6. Fama, Eugene F, et al, 1969. "The Adjustment of Stock Prices to New Information," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, February.
    7. Craig Israelsen, 2005. "A refinement to the Sharpe ratio and information ratio," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(6), pages 423-427, April.
    8. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "Socially responsible investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1723-1742, September.
    9. Josep Lozano & Laura Albareda & M. Balaguer, 2006. "Socially Responsible Investment in the Spanish financial market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 305-316, December.
    10. 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.
    11. Plantinga, Auke & Scholtens, Bert, 2001. "Socially responsible investing and management style of mutual funds in the euronext stock markets," Research Report 01E17, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    12. Angeles Fernandez-Izquierdo & Juan Matallin-Saez, 2008. "Performance of Ethical Mutual Funds in Spain: Sacrifice or Premium?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(2), pages 247-260, August.
    13. N. Kreander & R.H. Gray & D.M. Power & C.D. Sinclair, 2005. "Evaluating the Performance of Ethical and Non-ethical Funds: A Matched Pair Analysis," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7-8), pages 1465-1493.
    14. Jobson, J D & Korkie, Bob M, 1981. "Performance Hypothesis Testing with the Sharpe and Treynor Measures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(4), pages 889-908, September.
    15. Alan Gregory & Julie Whittaker, 2007. "Performance and Performance Persistence of 'Ethical' Unit Trusts in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(7-8), pages 1327-1344.
    16. 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. Schabek, Tomasz, 2020. "The financial performance of sustainable power producers in emerging markets," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1408-1419.
    2. Ford, Jansson M. & Gehricke, Sebastian A. & Zhang, Jin E., 2022. "Option traders are concerned about climate risks: ESG ratings and short-term sentiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    3. Brzeszczyński, Janusz & Gajdka, Jerzy & Schabek, Tomasz, 2021. "How risky are the socially responsible investment (SRI) stocks? Evidence from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) companies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    4. Ben Ameur, Hachmi & Jawadi, Fredj & Jawadi, Nabila & Cheffou, Abdoulkarim Idi, 2020. "Assessing downside and upside risk spillovers across conventional and socially responsible stock markets," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 200-210.
    5. Pablo Durán-Santomil & Luis Otero-González & Renato Heitor Correia-Domingues & Juan Carlos Reboredo, 2019. "Does Sustainability Score Impact Mutual Fund Performance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, May.

    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. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7347 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Sebastian Lobe & Christian Walkshäusl, 2016. "Vice versus virtue investing around the world," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 303-344, March.
    3. Muñoz, Fernando, 2016. "Cash flow timing skills of socially responsible mutual fund investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 110-124.
    4. Gregor Dorfleitner & Michaela Leidl & Johannes Reeder, 2012. "Theory of social returns in portfolio choice with application to microfinance," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(6), pages 384-400, December.
    5. Derwall, Jeroen & Koedijk, Kees & Ter Horst, Jenke, 2011. "A tale of values-driven and profit-seeking social investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 2137-2147, August.
    6. Jedynak Tomasz, 2017. "Is it Worth Being Good? – The Efficiency and Risk of Socially Responsible Investing in Light of Various Empirical Studies," Financial Internet Quarterly (formerly e-Finanse), Sciendo, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, September.
    7. Javier Gil-Bazo & Pablo Ruiz-Verdú & André Santos, 2010. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Mutual Funds: The Role of Fees and Management Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(2), pages 243-263, June.
    8. Xing Chen & Bert Scholtens, 2018. "The urge to act: A comparison of active and passive socially responsible investment funds in the United States," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1154-1173, November.
    9. Sebastian Rathner, 2013. "The Influence of Primary Study Characteristics on the Performance Differential Between Socially Responsible and Conventional Investment Funds: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 349-363, December.
    10. Shafiqur Rahman & Cheng-Few Lee & Yaqing Xiao, 2017. "The investment performance, attributes, and investment behavior of ethical equity mutual funds in the US: an empirical investigation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 91-116, July.
    11. Nakai, Miwa & Yamaguchi, Keiko & Takeuchi, Kenji, 2016. "Can SRI funds better resist global financial crisis? Evidence from Japan," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 12-20.
    12. Nicholas Apergis & Vassilios Babalos & Christina Christou & Rangan Gupta, 2019. "Are there Really Long-Run Diversification Benefits from Sustainable Investments?," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 18(2), pages 141-163, September.
    13. Pablo Durán-Santomil & Luis Otero-González & Renato Heitor Correia-Domingues & Juan Carlos Reboredo, 2019. "Does Sustainability Score Impact Mutual Fund Performance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-17, May.
    14. Rathner, Sebastian, 2012. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Investment Funds: A Meta-Analysis," Working Papers in Economics 2012-3, University of Salzburg.
    15. Belghitar, Yacine & Clark, Ephraim & Deshmukh, Nitin, 2014. "Does it pay to be ethical? Evidence from the FTSE4Good," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 54-62.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Miwa Nakai & Tomonori Honda & Nariaki Nishino & Kenji Takeuchi, 2013. "An Experimental Study on Motivations for Socially Responsible Investment," Discussion Papers 1314, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    19. Fernando Mu�oz & Ruth Vicente & Luis Ferruz, 2015. "Stock-picking and style-timing abilities: a comparative analysis of conventional and socially responsible mutual funds in the US market," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 345-358, February.
    20. Leite, Paulo & Cortez, Maria Céu, 2014. "Style and performance of international socially responsible funds in Europe," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 248-267.
    21. Leite, Paulo & Cortez, Maria Céu, 2015. "Performance of European socially responsible funds during market crises: Evidence from France," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 132-141.

    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:eee:riibaf:v:42:y:2017:i:c:p:1504-1515. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ribaf .

    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.