IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i7p2047-d220514.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Inclusion of Socially Irresponsible Companies in Sustainable Stock Indices

Author

Listed:
  • Iván Arribas

    (Department of Economic Analysis, Universitat de València, ERI-CES, IVIE, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

  • María Dolores Espinós-Vañó

    (Business School, Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, 46022 València, Spain)

  • Fernando García

    (Business School, Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, 46022 València, Spain)

  • Paula Beatriz Morales-Bañuelos

    (Department of Business Studies, Universidad Iberoamericana, 01219 Ciudad de México, Mexico)

Abstract

Social rating agencies implement complex filters to identify the companies with the best sustainable and social performance and help investors select the companies for their sustainable portfolios. This study analysed whether companies that are defined as ethical, sustainable and socially responsible by those agencies actually deserve this label. More specifically, the inclusion in the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World of companies that have been involved in controversies according to the Thomson Reuters Eikon database was studied. The results show that the inclusion of irresponsible companies in the DJSI Index is a fact. This outcome is in line with previous studies that criticise the methodologies applied by social rating agencies and those which outline the similarity of sustainable and conventional portfolios. The results may explain the contradictory conclusions regarding the performance of sustainable and conventional mutual funds in numerous studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Iván Arribas & María Dolores Espinós-Vañó & Fernando García & Paula Beatriz Morales-Bañuelos, 2019. "The Inclusion of Socially Irresponsible Companies in Sustainable Stock Indices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2047-:d:220514
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2047/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2047/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emiel Duuren & Auke Plantinga & Bert Scholtens, 2016. "ESG Integration and the Investment Management Process: Fundamental Investing Reinvented," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 525-533, October.
    2. Miriam Jankalová & Radoslav Jankal, 2017. "The assessment of corporate social responsibility: approaches analysis," Post-Print hal-01861040, HAL.
    3. I. Girerd-Potin & S. Jimenez-Garces & Pascal Louvet, 2014. "Which Dimensions of Social Responsibility Concern Financial Investors?," Post-Print halshs-01333409, HAL.
    4. Isabelle Girerd-Potin & Sonia Jimenez-Garcès & Pascal Louvet, 2014. "Which Dimensions of Social Responsibility Concern Financial Investors?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(4), pages 559-576, June.
    5. Christophe Revelli & Jean-Laurent Viviani, 2015. "Financial performance of socially responsible investing (SRI): what have we learned? A meta-analysis," Post-Print halshs-01141295, HAL.
    6. Bertrand, Philippe & Lapointe, Vincent, 2015. "How performance of risk-based strategies is modified by socially responsible investment universe?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 175-190.
    7. Halkos, George & Skouloudis, Antonios, 2016. "Corporate responsibility and national institutions: A quantitative assessment," MPRA Paper 70210, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Lean, Hooi Hooi & Ang, Wei Rong & Smyth, Russell, 2015. "Performance and performance persistence of socially responsible investment funds in Europe and North America," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 254-266.
    9. Sirkku Hellsten & Chris Mallin, 2006. "Are ‘Ethical’ or ‘Socially Responsible’ Investments Socially Responsible?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(4), pages 393-406, July.
    10. Maria Teresa Lamata & Vicente Liern & Blanca Pérez-Gladish, 2018. "Doing good by doing well: a MCDM framework for evaluating corporate social responsibility attractiveness," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 267(1), pages 249-266, August.
    11. I. Girerd-Potin & S. Jimenez-Garces & P. Louvet, 2014. "Which Dimensions of Social Responsibility Concern Financial Investors?," Post-Print halshs-01026389, HAL.
    12. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2011. "Is ethical money financially smart? Nonfinancial attributes and money flows of socially responsible investment funds," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 562-588, October.
    13. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Post-Print halshs-02007374, HAL.
    14. Maria J. Charlo & Ismael Moya & Ana M. Muñoz, 2017. "Sustainable Development in Spanish Listed Companies: A Strategic Approach," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 222-234, May.
    15. Gunther Capelle-Blancard & S. Monjon, 2012. "Trends in the literature on socially responsible investment: Looking for the keys under the lamppost," Post-Print hal-00733402, HAL.
    16. Yuchao Xiao & Robert Faff & Philip Gharghori & Byoung-Kyu Min, 2017. "The Financial Performance of Socially Responsible Investments: Insights from the Intertemporal CAPM," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(2), pages 353-364, December.
    17. I. Girerd-Potin & S. Jimenez-Garces & Pascal Louvet, 2014. "Which Dimensions of Social Responsibility Concern Financial Investors?," Post-Print halshs-01337706, HAL.
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7349 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Sabastian Utz & Maximillian Wimmer, 2014. "Are they any good at all? A financial and ethical analysis of socially responsible mutual funds," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 15(1), pages 72-82, February.
    20. Fernando Muñoz & Maria Vargas & Isabel Marco, 2014. "Environmental Mutual Funds: Financial Performance and Managerial Abilities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(4), pages 551-569, November.
    21. Pieter Jan Trinks & Bert Scholtens, 2017. "The Opportunity Cost of Negative Screening in Socially Responsible Investing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 193-208, January.
    22. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    23. Monica-Violeta Achim & Sorin-Nicolae Borlea & Codruţa Mare, 2016. "Corporate Governance and Business Performance: Evidence for the Romanian Economy," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 458-474, June.
    24. Suhong Li & Thomas Ngniatedema & Fang Chen, 2017. "Understanding the Impact of Green Initiatives and Green Performance on Financial Performance in the US," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 776-790, September.
    25. 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.
    26. Gbenga Ibikunle & Tom Steffen, 2017. "European Green Mutual Fund Performance: A Comparative Analysis with their Conventional and Black Peers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 337-355, October.
    27. Maria J. Charlo & Ismael Moya & Ana M. Muñoz, 2015. "Sustainable Development and Corporate Financial Performance: A Study Based on the FTSE4Good IBEX Index," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 277-288, May.
    28. Yunieta Nainggolan & Janice How & Peter Verhoeven, 2016. "Ethical Screening and Financial Performance: The Case of Islamic Equity Funds," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 83-99, August.
    29. Reddy, Krishna & Mirza, Nawazish & Naqvi, Bushra & Fu, Mingli, 2017. "Comparative risk adjusted performance of Islamic, socially responsible and conventional funds: Evidence from United Kingdom," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 233-243.
    30. Lesser, Kathrin & Rößle, Felix & Walkshäusl, Christian, 2016. "Socially responsible, green, and faith-based investment strategies: Screening activity matters!," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 171-178.
    31. Miriam Jankalová & Radoslav Jankal, 2017. "The assessment of corporate social responsibility: approaches analysis," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 4(4), pages 441-459, June.
    32. 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.
    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. Jinhwan Kim & Hyeob Kim & HyukJun Kwon, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility Activity Combinations for Sustainability: A Fuzzy Set Analysis of Korean Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Xiao-Guang Yue & Yan Han & Deimante Teresiene & Justina Merkyte & Wei Liu, 2020. "Sustainable Funds’ Performance Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Guillermo Badía & Fernando Gómez‐Bezares & Luis Ferruz, 2022. "Are investments in material corporate social responsibility issues a key driver of financial performance?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3987-4011, September.
    4. Mustafa K. Yilmaz & Mine Aksoy & Ekrem Tatoglu, 2020. "Does the Stock Market Value Inclusion in a Sustainability Index? Evidence from Borsa Istanbul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-22, January.
    5. Sandra Escamilla-Solano & Antonio Fernández-Portillo & Jessica Paule-Vianez & Paola Plaza-Casado, 2019. "Effect of the Disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility on Business Profitability. A Dimensional Analysis in the Spanish Stock Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Zhang, Ziwei & Fu, Hu & Xie, Shiqi & Cifuentes-Faura, Javier & Urinov, Bobur, 2023. "Role of green finance and regional environmental efficiency in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 407-415.
    7. Valeria D’Amato & Rita D’Ecclesia & Susanna Levantesi, 2022. "ESG score prediction through random forest algorithm," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 347-373, June.
    8. Mirela Clementina Panait & Marian Catalin Voica & Eglantina Hysa & Alfonso Siano & Maria Palazzo, 2022. "The Bucharest Stock Exchange: A Starting Point in Structuring a Valuable CSR Index," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, February.
    9. Zhang, Dangli & Narbaev, Timur & Cheng, Jiexian & Aliyeva, Abuhayat, 2023. "How natural resources collaboration affects the pollutants level and economic growth: Novel evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    10. Fernando García & Jairo González-Bueno & Francisco Guijarro & Javier Oliver, 2020. "Forecasting the Environmental, Social, and Governance Rating of Firms by Using Corporate Financial Performance Variables: A Rough Set Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    11. Muhammad Ikram & Qingyu Zhang & Robert Sroufe & Marcos Ferasso, 2020. "The Social Dimensions of Corporate Sustainability: An Integrative Framework Including COVID-19 Insights," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-29, October.
    12. Fernando Gómez-Bezares & Wojciech Przychodzen & Justyna Przychodzen, 2019. "Corporate Sustainability and CEO–Employee Pay Gap—Buster or Booster?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-15, October.
    13. Devon Reynolds & David Ciplet, 2023. "Transforming Socially Responsible Investment: Lessons from Environmental Justice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 53-69, February.
    14. Pablo Vilas & Laura Andreu & José Luis Sarto, 2021. "The Convergence between Sustainability and Conventional Stock Indices. Are We on the Right Track?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-11, July.

    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. Sangki Lee & Insu Kim & Chung-hun Hong, 2019. "Who Values Corporate Social Responsibility in the Korean Stock Market?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-14, October.
    2. Luluk Widyawati, 2020. "A systematic literature review of socially responsible investment and environmental social governance metrics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 619-637, February.
    3. Khan, Muhammad Arif, 2022. "ESG disclosure and Firm performance: A bibliometric and meta analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Dan Daugaard, 2020. "Emerging new themes in environmental, social and governance investing: a systematic literature review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1501-1530, June.
    5. Remmer Sassen & Anne-Kathrin Hinze & Inga Hardeck, 2016. "Impact of ESG factors on firm risk in Europe," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(8), pages 867-904, November.
    6. Gregor Dorfleitner & Christian Kreuzer & Christian Sparrer, 2020. "ESG controversies and controversial ESG: about silent saints and small sinners," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(5), pages 393-412, September.
    7. Estapé-Dubreuil, Glòria & Ashta, Arvind & Hédou, Jean-Pierre, 2016. "Micro-equity for sustainable development: Selection, monitoring and exit strategies of micro-angels," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 117-129.
    8. Marzhan Beisenbina & Laura Fabregat‐Aibar & Maria‐Glòria Barberà‐Mariné & Maria‐Teresa Sorrosal‐Forradellas, 2023. "The burgeoning field of sustainable investment: Past, present and future," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 649-667, April.
    9. Patricia Crifo & Elena Escrig-Olmedo & Nicolas Mottis, 2019. "Corporate Governance as a Key Driver of Corporate Sustainability in France: The Role of Board Members and Investor Relations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 1127-1146, November.
    10. Ved Dilip Beloskar & S. V. D. Nageswara Rao, 2024. "Screening activity matters: Evidence from ESG portfolio performance from an emerging market," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 2593-2619, July.
    11. 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.
    12. Ramiz ur Rehman & Muhammad Zain ul Abidin & Rizwan Ali & Safwan Mohd Nor & Muhammad Akram Naseem & Mudassar Hasan & Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad, 2021. "The Integration of Conventional Equity Indices with Environmental, Social, and Governance Indices: Evidence from Emerging Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-27, January.
    13. Díaz, Antonio & Escribano, Ana, 2021. "Sustainability premium in energy bonds," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    14. Fernando Muñoz & María Vargas & Ruth Vicente, 2021. "Style-changing behaviour in the socially responsible mutual fund industry: consequences on financial and sustainable performance," Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 1027-1051, February.
    15. Martinez Meyers, Susana & Ferrero-Ferrero, Idoya & Muñoz-Torres, María Jesus, 2024. "ARE sustainable funds doing the talk and the walk? An ESG score analysis of fund portfolio holdings," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 1526-1541.
    16. Naqvi, Bushra & Mirza, Nawazish & Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Porada-Rochoń, Małgorzata & Itani, Rania, 2021. "Is there a green fund premium? Evidence from twenty seven emerging markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    17. Jonathan Peillex & Sabri Boubaker & Breeda Comyns, 2021. "Does It Pay to Invest in Japanese Women? Evidence from the MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 595-613, May.
    18. Mario Vaupel & David Bendig & Denise Fischer-Kreer & Malte Brettel, 2023. "The Role of Share Repurchases for Firms’ Social and Environmental Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(2), pages 401-428, March.
    19. Haifei Wang & Hongjun Wu & Peter Humphreys, 2022. "Chinese Merchant Group Culture, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Cost of Debt: Evidence from Private Listed Firms in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    20. Łukasz Dopierała & Magdalena Mosionek-Schweda & Daria Ilczuk, 2020. "Does the Asset Allocation Policy Affect the Performance of Climate-Themed Funds? Empirical Evidence from the Scandinavian Mutual Funds Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, January.

    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:11:y:2019:i:7:p:2047-:d:220514. 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.