Preferences of retail investors and institutions for corporate social performance

I examine the preference of investors for corporate social performance (CSP). The evidence suggests that retail stock investors tend to be attracted to companies that have CSP strengths in community, employee relations, corporate governance and human rights. As a group, institutions tend to express their CSP preference through negative screening. Aggregate institutional holdings are not positively associated with CSP strengths, but are negatively associated with CSP weaknesses in diversity, environment, human rights and product. The negative screens used by most types of institutions focus on diversity and human rights. The holdings of specific institutional types such as banks, investment companies and pension funds are positively correlated with various CSP strengths, while those of insurance companies and investment advisors are not.