Dow Jones Islamic Index firms: how profitable are they?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the operating performance of Dow Jones Islamic Index (DJII) firms vs non-DJII firms. It also explores the impact of the 2007–2008 financial crisis on the operating performance of firms included under DJII relative to a comparable set of firms (i.e. industry-size matched) that are not included in the DJII. Design/methodology/approach - The final sample consisted of 1,128 unique firms (or 5,669 observations) in the DJII sample and 9,501 unique firms (or 55,889 observations) in the non-DJII sample. The paper uses a unique dataset from S&P’s Compustat North America database during the period of 2005–2014. This study uses univariate tests complemented with multivariate regression analysis to gain further insight into the influence of Shariah compliance on the operating performance of firms during the crisis. Findings - The paper shows that DJII firms were more profitable than non-DJII firms during the sample period. In addition, DJJI firms’ profitability was not affected as much during the financial crisis as non-DJII firms. This finding is robust to various model specifications and to alternative definitions of operating profitability. Research limitations/implications - Corporate governance and managerial characteristics and the possible effects of these on operational performance are not considered herein. Practical implications - Investors and fund managers could benefit from investing in Islamicly permissible equity funds when constructing investment portfolios in regard to asset allocation and policy responses to financial crises. Originality/value - The present paper uses a unique sample and timeframe to show that the characteristics that makes a firm Shariah-compliant also leads to much higher operating profitability and reduces the impact of the financial crisis on firm profitability.