Performance and Resilience of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) and Conventional Funds during Different Shocks in 2016: Evidence from Japan

Socially responsible investing (SRI) reap the benefits of a social consensus and is often presented as a solution to conciliate finance and sustainable development. This article investigates the performance and resilience of both socially responsible and conventional funds listed in the Japan Investment Trust Association (JITA) during two economic shocks (the U.S. election and Brexit) in 2016. To see the immediate reaction in fund performance around different shocks, an event study with market model using ordinary least square (OLS), an event study with market model using exponential generalized autoregressive heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) and an event study with Fama–French multi-factor model was used to avoid common features of return data such as non-normality, heteroscedasticity, and cross-correlation. This study found that the recent U.S. election had a significant positive effect whereas the Brexit referendum event had a significant negative shock on fund returns in Japan around the event window. It is evident from the empirical findings that, compared to conventional funds, socially responsible funds were more resilient to uncertainty around the recent U.S. presidential election whereas conventional funds were more sensitive during the Brexit referendum. The important implications of these findings are the optimal strategies of institutional or individual investors who have direct or indirect exposure to the fund volatility risk in Japan.

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Is knowledge alone enough for socially responsible investing? A moderation of religiosity and serial mediation analysis

Qualitative Research in Financial Markets ◽

10.1108/qrfm-11-2020-0218 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Pooja Mehta ◽

Manjit Singh ◽

Manju Mittal ◽

Himanshu Singla

Keyword(s):

Socially Responsible Investing ◽

Partial Least Square ◽

Least Square ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Socially Responsible ◽

Content Type ◽

Responsible Investing ◽

Serial Mediation ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

Purpose This study aims to test the serial mediation effect of attitude toward socially responsible investing (SRI) and social investing efficacy (SIE) on the relationship of knowledge about SRI with the intention to invest in SRI along with moderating effect of religiosity. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a quantitative analysis approach, wherein the data has been collected from 569 north Indian retail investors. Partial least square (PLS)-structural equation modeling has been applied in this study using the latest version of SmartPLS (v. 3.2.8) software to examine the complex model of serial and moderated mediation. Findings Attitude toward SRI and SIE significantly and serially mediate the relationship between knowledge about SRI and intention to invest in SRI. Also, the interaction effect of religiosity with knowledge about SRI is significant only for SIE and not for attitude toward SRI. Research limitations/implications The study is cross-sectional in nature conducted only on the north Indian investors. Besides knowledge, there can be many other personal or social aspects that might affect SRI intention that have not been taken into the study. Practical implications The results suggested that the companies, financial advisors and governmental bodies can improvise upon social and environmental performance reporting so that investment in SRI can be promulgated. Social implications The paper concludes that religious-minded people are more open to the idea of investing in SRI. India, being is a religious-minded country, the results of this study suggest that there is good potential for the development of SRI in India. Originality/value Empirical evidence regarding the relationship of SRI intention with its determinants is limited in Asian countries. Prior literature mainly provides evidence from developed countries where social and governance systems are comparatively stronger. The study provides evidence for the bright future of SRI in India, where investor’s beliefs are dominated by their religious values.

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Performance of Socially Responsible Portfolios Across Sectors in Indian Stock Market

Think India ◽

10.26643/think-india.v19i1.7787 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 01-09

Author(s):

Vanita Tripathi ◽

Varun Bhandari

Keyword(s):

Stock Market ◽

Stock Returns ◽

Factor Model ◽

Sharpe Ratio ◽

Market Model ◽

Socially Responsible ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Responsible Investing ◽

Indian Stock Market ◽

Three Factor

The question of whether socially responsible stocks outperform or under-perform general stocks has been of keen interest for various researchers and academicians. This paper seeks to empirically examine the performance of socially responsible portfolios across various sectors and index of socially responsible and general companies in Indian stock market. We have taken up S&P ESG and CNX NIFTY as the indices of socially responsible and general companies respectively. ESG index has been classified into six different sectors on the basis of GICS. Performance has been evaluated in terms of risk, return and various risk-adjusted measures like Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, Double Sharpe ratio, Modified Sharpe ratio, M2 measure, Jensens alpha, Famas decomposition measure, etc. We have also checked whether market model is sufficient to explain cross sectional variation in stock returns or we need Fama-French three factor model. The study period ranges from January 1996 – December 2013 and it is further divided into different sub-periods. We find that socially responsible stocks across IT, FMCG and financial sectors are well rewarding in Indian stock market by generating significantly higher returns and outperforming the two indices on the basis of risk-adjusted measures employed during 18 year period and different sub-periods. The results uphold even with the use of market model and Fama-French three factor model by generating highest significant excess returns. There is no empirical evidence on the performance evaluation of socially responsible portfolios across different sectors. Hence this study is first of its kind. This will help investors in selecting best sector for investment in socially responsible companies. Significant higher returns of ESG index and socially responsible stocks across different sectors make Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) a better investment vehicle for investors in India. This is the time when general companies should change their approach and agenda towards CSR and start considering ESG issues as their investment themes. The regulators, policy makers and mutual funds should come up with different socially responsible products and sectoral indices to initiate the movement of SRI across different sectors in India.

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Performance of Socially Responsible Portfolios Do Economic Conditions Matter?

Journal of Commerce and Accounting Research ◽

10.21863/jcar/2015.4.1.002 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Varun Bhandari ◽

Vanita Tripathi

Keyword(s):

Factor Model ◽

Socially Responsible Investing ◽

Sharpe Ratio ◽

Economic Conditions ◽

Socially Responsible ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Responsible Investing ◽

Market Portfolio ◽

The Impact ◽

Three Factor

In a first of its kind, this paper examines the performance of various socially responsible stocks portfolios as compared to general stocks portfolios and market portfolio using return and various risk-adjusted measures over the period January 1996 - December 2013 and over different business economic conditions. Besides the conventional risk-adjusted measures, we have also used modified Sharpe ratio, double Sharpe ratio, M2 measure, alpha based on three factor Fama-French model and Famas decomposition measure. Further we have checked for the impact of economic conditions (recession or boom) on the alpha and slope coefficients. We have also examined whether single factor CAPM is sufficient to explain cross sectional variations across portfolios or we need a multi-factor model (like Fama-French three factor model). We find that despite having higher risk, socially responsible stocks portfolios generated significantly higher returns and hence outperformed other portfolios on the basis of all risk-adjusted measures as well as net selectivity returns during both recession and boom periods. The results uphold even with the use of Fama-French three factor model for estimating excess returns. The empirical results, besides augmenting the existing literature on performance evaluation, clearly indicate that investors in India have become more socially conscious as the stock market is rewarding socially responsible companies well in terms of higher returns (on risk adjusted basis). The study supports the view that socially responsible investing is boon for investors in India. Therefore, regulators, policy makers and mutual funds should construct and make available various socially responsible investment products to initiate the movement of socially responsible investing in India.

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Performance of Socially Responsible Portfolios Across Sectors in Indian Stock Market

International Journal of Business Ethics in Developing Economies ◽

10.21863/ijbede/2016.5.1.013 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Vanita Tripathi ◽

Varun Bhandari

Keyword(s):

Stock Market ◽

Stock Returns ◽

Factor Model ◽

Sharpe Ratio ◽

Market Model ◽

Socially Responsible ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Responsible Investing ◽

Indian Stock Market ◽

Three Factor

The question of whether socially responsible stocks outperform or under-perform general stocks has been of keen interest for various researchers and academicians. This paper seeks to empirically examine the performance of socially responsible portfolios across various sectors and index of socially responsible and general companies in Indian stock market. We have taken up S&P ESG and CNX NIFTY as the indices of socially responsible and general companies respectively. ESG index has been classified into six different sectors on the basis of GICS. Performance has been evaluated in terms of risk, return and various risk-adjusted measures like Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, Double Sharpe ratio, Modified Sharpe ratio, M2 measure, Jensens alpha, Famas decomposition measure, etc. We have also checked whether market model is sufficient to explain cross sectional variation in stock returns or we need Fama-French three factor model. The study period ranges from January 1996 December 2013 and it is further divided into different sub-periods. We find that socially responsible stocks across IT, FMCG and financial sectors are well rewarding in Indian stock market by generating significantly higher returns and outperforming the two indices on the basis of risk-adjusted measures employed during 18 year period and different sub-periods. The results uphold even with the use of market model and Fama-French three factor model by generating highest significant excess returns. There is no empirical evidence on the performance evaluation of socially responsible portfolios across different sectors. Hence this study is first of its kind. This will help investors in selecting best sector for investment in socially responsible companies. Significant higher returns of ESG index and socially responsible stocks across different sectors make Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) a better investment vehicle for investors in India. This is the time when general companies should change their approach and agenda towards CSR and start considering ESG issues as their investment themes. The regulators, policy makers and mutual funds should come up with different socially responsible products and sectoral indices to initiate the movement of SRI across different sectors in India.

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Understanding Socially Responsible Investing and Its Implications for Islamic Investment Industry

Journal of Emerging Economies and Islamic Research ◽

10.24191/jeeir.v7i1.6015 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Mohd Nizam Barom

Keyword(s):

Investment Decision ◽

Socially Responsible Investing ◽

Clear Understanding ◽

Socially Responsible ◽

Responsible Investment ◽

Developed Economies ◽

Responsible Investing ◽

Screening Strategies ◽

Investment Process ◽

Islamic Investment

Understanding Socially Responsible Investing and Its Implications for Islamic Investment Industry // // // // // Social, ethical and environmental concerns have been used as important consideration for investment decision by an increasing number of investors. This can be seen by the size and growth of the socially responsible investment (SRI) industry in the developed economies. At the same time, scholars and commentators of Islamic finance have also called for Islamic investment industry to learn from the experience of SRI in incorporating social responsibility issues in the investment process, in line with the ethical principles of Islam and the overall objective of the Shari’ah (Maqasid al-Shari’ah). This would require Islamic investment sector to have a clear understanding of the SRI industry in order to effectively benefit from its experience. This is particularly critical due to the significant diversity of investors and complexity in the issues and strategies adopted in the SRI industry. Hence, this paper adds to the Islamic investment literature by providing an extensive and systematic survey of SRI industry in terms of its (i) underlying motivations and values; (ii) issues of concerns; (iii) types of investors; and (iv) screening strategies. It then synthesizes these components within the context of the ‘value-based’ investors. This synthesized framework offers a useful tool for Islamic investment practitioners to understand the theoretical and practical aspects of SRI. Subsequently, the paper highlights important implications of the findings for Islamic investment industry in terms of the issues that it needs to consider in emulating SRI practices and a number of lessons that it can learn from the SRI experience.

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