IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i9p5325-d804746.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of COVID-19 on Investors’ Investment Intention of Sustainability-Related Investment: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xin Xu

    (School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

  • Yi Xie

    (Department of Agribusiness and Food Industry Management, Huntley College of Agriculture, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA 91768, USA)

  • Feng Xiong

    (School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
    Center for Accounting Studies, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

  • Yan Li

    (School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

Abstract

This paper investigates how investors respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly regarding their intention to invest in sustainability-related investment (SRI) funds. We conduct two experiments online with participants who have experience with stock and fund investments. The first one includes 292 participants, which aims to explore investors’ attitudes and investment intention of different sustainability-related components, and the second one includes 432 participants, which aims to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affects individuals’ attitudes and investment intention. Our results show that investors tend to invest in SRI funds when the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic is salient. Specifically, we find that although investors perceive environmental issues to be more important than economic and social issues, their investment intention of economic-focused SRI funds significantly increases in response to the COVID-19 pandemic threat. These findings suggest that fund managers can focus on particular types of investors when designing SRI funds, such as active investors with a preference for technical analysis and young female investors with a high level of income and education.

Suggested Citation

  • Xin Xu & Yi Xie & Feng Xiong & Yan Li, 2022. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Investors’ Investment Intention of Sustainability-Related Investment: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-37, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5325-:d:804746
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5325/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5325/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bastien Drut, 2010. "Sovereign Bonds and Socially Responsible Investment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 131-145, April.
    2. Ľuboš Pástor & M Blair Vorsatz & Jeffrey Pontiff, 0. "Mutual Fund Performance and Flows during the COVID-19 Crisis," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 791-833.
    3. Claire Woods & Roger Urwin, 2010. "Putting Sustainable Investing into Practice: A Governance Framework for Pension Funds," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Benedict Sheehy & Federica Farneti, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Sustainable Development and Corporate Sustainability: What Is the Difference, and Does It Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    5. 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.
    6. de Villiers, Charl & van Staden, Chris J., 2010. "Shareholders’ requirements for corporate environmental disclosures: A cross country comparison," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 227-240.
    7. Alan Lewis & Carmen Juravle, 2010. "Morals, Markets and Sustainable Investments: A Qualitative Study of ‘Champions’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 483-494, May.
    8. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    9. Ahmed Al‐Hadi & Bikram Chatterjee & Ali Yaftian & Grantley Taylor & Mostafa Monzur Hasan, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility performance, financial distress and firm life cycle: evidence from Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(2), pages 961-989, June.
    10. Wei Yu & Ying Zheng, 2020. "The disclosure of corporate social responsibility reports and sales performance in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1239-1270, June.
    11. Buzby, Stephen L. & Falk, Haim, 1978. "A survey of the interest in social responsibility information by mutual funds," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 3(3-4), pages 191-201, October.
    12. Omura, Akihiro & Roca, Eduardo & Nakai, Miwa, 2021. "Does responsible investing pay during economic downturns: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    13. Qiu, Yan & Shaukat, Amama & Tharyan, Rajesh, 2016. "Environmental and social disclosures: Link with corporate financial performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 102-116.
    14. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjo Koskinen & Shuai Yang & Chendi Zhang, 2020. "Resiliency of Environmental and Social Stocks: An Analysis of the Exogenous COVID-19 Market Crash," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 593-621.
    15. Kevin C. H. Chiang & Gregory J. Wachtel & Xiyu Zhou, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Growth Opportunity: The Case of Real Estate Investment Trusts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 463-478, March.
    16. Yung-Ming Shiu & Shou-Lin Yang, 2017. "Does engagement in corporate social responsibility provide strategic insurance-like effects?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 455-470, February.
    17. Olga Hawn & Aaron K. Chatterji & Will Mitchell, 2018. "Do investors actually value sustainability? New evidence from investor reactions to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI)," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 949-976, April.
    18. Mirza, Nawazish & Abbas Rizvi, Syed Kumail & Saba, Irum & Naqvi, Bushra & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2022. "The resilience of Islamic equity funds during COVID-19: Evidence from risk adjusted performance, investment styles and volatility timing," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 276-295.
    19. Ding, Wenzhi & Levine, Ross & Lin, Chen & Xie, Wensi, 2021. "Corporate immunity to the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 802-830.
    20. Magnus Jansson & Anders Biel, 2011. "Motives to engage in sustainable investment: a comparison between institutional and private investors," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 135-142, March/Apr.
    21. Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2013. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Firm Value: The Role of Customer Awareness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1045-1061, May.
    22. Danny Z. X. Huang, 2021. "Environmental, social and governance (ESG) activity and firm performance: a review and consolidation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 335-360, March.
    23. Sanjay Ramchander & Robert G. Schwebach & KIM Staking, 2012. "The informational relevance of corporate social responsibility: evidence from DS400 index reconstitutions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 303-314, March.
    24. 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.
    25. Stern, David I. & Common, Michael S. & Barbier, Edward B., 1996. "Economic growth and environmental degradation: The environmental Kuznets curve and sustainable development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 1151-1160, July.
    26. Maobin Wang & Chun Qiu & Dongmin Kong, 2011. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Investor Behaviors, and Stock Market Returns: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 127-141, June.
    27. Takahashi, Hidenori & Yamada, Kazuo, 2021. "When the Japanese stock market meets COVID-19: Impact of ownership, China and US exposure, and ESG channels," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    28. 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.
    29. Yucheng Ji & Weijun Xu & Qi Zhao, 2019. "The real effects of stock prices: learning, disclosure and corporate social responsibility," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(S2), pages 2133-2156, November.
    30. Chelsea Galoni & Gregory S Carpenter & Hayagreeva Rao & J Jeffrey Inman & JoAndrea Hoegg, 2020. "Disgusted and Afraid: Consumer Choices under the Threat of Contagious Disease," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 373-392.
    31. Isabelle Ducassy, 2013. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Pay Off in Times of Crisis? An Alternate Perspective on the Relationship between Financial and Corporate Social Performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(3), pages 157-167, May.
    32. Kate E. Jones & Nikkita G. Patel & Marc A. Levy & Adam Storeygard & Deborah Balk & John L. Gittleman & Peter Daszak, 2008. "Global trends in emerging infectious diseases," Nature, Nature, vol. 451(7181), pages 990-993, February.
    33. Clune, Conor & O’Dwyer, Brendan, 2020. "Organizing dissonance through institutional work: The embedding of social and environmental accountability in an investment field," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    34. Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Lisa Schopohl, 2020. "State Pension Funds and Corporate Social Responsibility: Do Beneficiaries’ Political Values Influence Funds’ Investment Decisions?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 489-516, September.
    35. Nilsson, Jonas & Nordvall, Anna-Carin & Isberg, Sofia, 2010. "The information search process of socially responsible investors," Sustainable Investment and Corporate Governance Working Papers 2010/10, Sustainable Investment Research Platform.
    36. Lin Liao & Guanting Chen & Dengjin Zheng, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility and financial fraud: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(5), pages 3133-3169, December.
    37. Tracy Artiach & Darren Lee & David Nelson & Julie Walker, 2010. "The determinants of corporate sustainability performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(1), pages 31-51, March.
    38. Peter Wright & Stephen P. Ferris, 1997. "Agency Conflict And Corporate Strategy: The Effect Of Divestment On Corporate Value," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 77-83, January.
    39. O'Dwyer, Brendan & Owen, David L., 2005. "Assurance statement practice in environmental, social and sustainability reporting: a critical evaluation," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 205-229.
    40. Asger Lau Andersen & Emil Toft Hansen & Niels Johannesen & Adam Sheridan, 2020. "Pandemic, Shutdown and Consumer Spending: Lessons from Scandinavian Policy Responses to COVID-19," Papers 2005.04630, arXiv.org.
    41. Henry Petersen & Harrie Vredenburg, 2009. "Morals or Economics? Institutional Investor Preferences for Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 1-14, November.
    42. Pengpeng Yue & Aslihan Gizem Korkmaz & Haigang Zhou, 2020. "Household Financial Decision Making Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(10), pages 2363-2377, August.
    43. Bauer, Rob & Smeets, Paul, 2015. "Social identification and investment decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 121-134.
    44. Joanna Sawicka & Elżbieta Marcinkowska, 2022. "The Effect of CSR Environmental Initiatives on Purchase Decisions—A Cross-Regional Study in Poland and Ukraine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    45. Alaa Aldowaish & Jiro Kokuryo & Othman Almazyad & Hoe Chin Goi, 2022. "Environmental, Social, and Governance Integration into the Business Model: Literature Review and Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, March.
    46. Crifo, Patricia & Forget, Vanina D. & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2015. "The price of environmental, social and governance practice disclosure: An experiment with professional private equity investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 168-194.
    47. Paul C. Godfrey & Craig B. Merrill & Jared M. Hansen, 2009. "The relationship between corporate social responsibility and shareholder value: an empirical test of the risk management hypothesis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 425-445, April.
    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. Olga V. Khmyz, 2024. "Sustainable Investments and Divestments by Global Institutional Investors," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 1, pages 96-108, 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. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    2. Amrou Awaysheh & Randall A. Heron & Tod Perry & Jared I. Wilson, 2020. "On the relation between corporate social responsibility and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(6), pages 965-987, June.
    3. Yi, Yuyang & Zhang, Zongyi & Xiang, Cheng, 2022. "The value of CSR during the COVID-19 crisis: Evidence from Chinese firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Luo, Di, 2022. "ESG, liquidity, and stock returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Soon‐Yeow Phang & Hien Hoang, 2021. "Does positive CSR increase willingness to invest in a company based on performance? The incremental role of combined assurance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(4), pages 5631-5654, December.
    6. Ferriani, Fabrizio, 2023. "Issuing bonds during the Covid-19 pandemic: Was there an ESG premium?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Fariha Jahan & Jungmu Kim, 2023. "Does the Shield Effect of CSR Work in Crises? Evidence in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, June.
    8. Qian, Kun & Shi, Bingjie & Song, Yunling & Wu, Hao, 2023. "ESG performance and loan contracting in an emerging market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Bae, Kee-Hong & El Ghoul, Sadok & Gong, Zhaoran (Jason) & Guedhami, Omrane, 2021. "Does CSR matter in times of crisis? Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Quang Trinh, Vu & Duong Cao, Ngan & Li, Teng & Elnahass, Marwa, 2023. "Social capital, trust, and bank tail risk: The value of ESG rating and the effects of crisis shocks," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    11. Eisenkopf, Jana & Juranek, Steffen & Walz, Uwe, 2021. "Responsible investment and stock market shocks: Short-term insurance and persistent outperformance post-crisis?," SAFE Working Paper Series 329, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    12. 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).
    13. Wagner, Alexander F. & Glossner, Simon & Matos, Pedro Pinto & Ramelli, Stefano, 2022. "Do institutional investors stabilize equity markets in crisis periods? Evidence from COVID-19," CEPR Discussion Papers 15070, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Nils Engelhardt & Jens Ekkenga & Peter Posch, 2021. "ESG Ratings and Stock Performance during the COVID-19 Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-15, June.
    15. Fang, Fei & Parida, Sitikantha, 2022. "Sustainable mutual fund performance and flow in the recent years through the COVID-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    16. Giovanni Cardillo & Ennio Bendinelli & Giuseppe Torluccio, 2023. "COVID‐19, ESG investing, and the resilience of more sustainable stocks: Evidence from European firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 602-623, January.
    17. Xu, Nana & Chen, Jiaqi & Zhou, Fangzhao & Dong, Qing & He, Zhifang, 2023. "Corporate ESG and resilience of stock prices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Olga Hawn, 2021. "How media coverage of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility influences cross‐border acquisitions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 58-83, January.
    19. Wang, Kai & Li, Tingting & San, Ziyao & Gao, Hao, 2023. "How does corporate ESG performance affect stock liquidity? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    20. Bannier, Christina E. & Bofinger, Yannik & Rock, Björn, 2019. "Doing safe by doing good: ESG investing and corporate social responsibility in the U.S. and Europe," CFS Working Paper Series 621, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5325-:d:804746. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.