IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p7548-d589476.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fund Ratings of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) Funds: A Precautionary Note

Author

Listed:
  • Pornanong Budsaratragoon

    (Chulalongkorn Business School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand)

  • Boonlert Jitmaneeroj

    (Chulalongkorn Business School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand)

Abstract

We examine fund ratings of socially responsible investing (SRI) equity funds in emerging and developed markets by validating the assumptions of the equally weighted U.S. News mutual fund scorecard and the causal interrelations among its rating agencies—Morningstar, Lipper, Zacks, CFRA and TheStreet—for improvement priorities. In so doing, we apply a novel interdisciplinary methodology including cluster analysis, classification analysis, partial least squares structural equation modeling and importance performance analysis. We find evidence against the U.S. News assumptions, as individual rating agencies have unequal effects and exhibit the causal relationships among one another. We suggest emerging (developed) market fund managers allocate their resources—which are often limited—with the first priority to improving fund ratings of CFRA (Zacks), followed by Zacks (CFRA), TheStreet (Lipper), Lipper (Morningstar) and Morningstar (TheStreet). The positive causal relationships among rating agencies indicates that investors consider multiple rating agencies of the U.S. News for investment decisions, rather than simply use any single one of these rating agencies or their equally weighted aggregation. Interestingly, we find disagreement among rating agencies, with Zack (TheStreet) displaying rating deflation for emerging (developed) market funds. Disagreement among rating agencies may increase the monitoring effort of fund managers who usually “shop” for additional ratings in the hope of maximizing their average ratings.

Suggested Citation

  • Pornanong Budsaratragoon & Boonlert Jitmaneeroj, 2021. "Fund Ratings of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) Funds: A Precautionary Note," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-25, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7548-:d:589476
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7548/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7548/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nyakabawo, Wendy & Miller, Stephen M. & Balcilar, Mehmet & Das, Sonali & Gupta, Rangan, 2015. "Temporal causality between house prices and output in the US: A bootstrap rolling-window approach," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 55-73.
    2. Grupp, Hariolf & Schubert, Torben, 2010. "Review and new evidence on composite innovation indicators for evaluating national performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 67-78, February.
    3. Mugerman, Yevgeny & Hecht, Yoel & Wiener, Zvi, 2019. "On the failure of mutual fund industry regulation," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 51-72.
    4. Chong Huang & Fei Li & Xi Weng, 2020. "Star Ratings and the Incentives of Mutual Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 1715-1765, June.
    5. Murthi, B. P. S. & Choi, Yoon K. & Desai, Preyas, 1997. "Efficiency of mutual funds and portfolio performance measurement: A non-parametric approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 408-418, April.
    6. Delis, Manthos D. & Mylonidis, Nikolaos, 2011. "The chicken or the egg? A note on the dynamic interrelation between government bond spreads and credit default swaps," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 163-170, September.
    7. Brandouy, Olivier & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2015. "Frontier-based vs. traditional mutual fund ratings: A first backtesting analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 242(1), pages 332-342.
    8. Alan C. Acock, 2013. "Discovering Structural Equation Modeling Using Stata," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, number dsemus, March.
    9. Edward Tower & Wei Zheng, 2008. "Ranking mutual fund families: minimum expenses and maximum loads as markers for moral turpitude," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 55(4), pages 315-350, December.
    10. Edwin J. Elton & Martin J. Gruber & Christopher R. Blake, 2001. "A First Look at the Accuracy of the CRSP Mutual Fund Database and a Comparison of the CRSP and Morningstar Mutual Fund Databases," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2415-2430, December.
    11. Skreta, Vasiliki & Veldkamp, Laura, 2009. "Ratings shopping and asset complexity: A theory of ratings inflation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(5), pages 678-695, July.
    12. Chen, Andrew N.K. & Wang, Shin-Yun & Yu, Po-Lung, 2014. "Evaluating multi-criteria ratings of financial investment options," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 46-58.
    13. Budsaratragoon, Pornanong & Jitmaneeroj, Boonlert, 2020. "A critique on the Corruption Perceptions Index: An interdisciplinary approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. Lozano, Sebastián & Gutiérrez, Ester, 2008. "Data envelopment analysis of mutual funds based on second-order stochastic dominance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 230-244, August.
    15. Manuel Ammann & Christopher Bauer & Sebastian Fischer & Philipp Müller, 2019. "The impact of the Morningstar Sustainability Rating on mutual fund flows," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), pages 520-553, June.
    16. Zeng, Yamin & Yuan, Qingbo & Zhang, Junsheng, 2015. "Blurred stars: Mutual fund ratings in the shadow of conflicts of interest," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 284-295.
    17. Blake, Christopher R. & Morey, Matthew R., 2000. "Morningstar Ratings and Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(3), pages 451-483, September.
    18. Vinod, H. D., 2004. "Ranking mutual funds using unconventional utility theory and stochastic dominance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 353-377, June.
    19. Prem C. Jain & Joanna Shuang Wu, 2000. "Truth in Mutual Fund Advertising: Evidence on Future Performance and Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 937-958, April.
    20. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean & Lu Zheng, 2005. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Effects of Expenses on Mutual Fund Flows," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(6), pages 2095-2120, November.
    21. Boonlert Jitmaneeroj, 2017. "Beyond the equal-weight framework of the Social Progress Index," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(12), pages 2336-2350, December.
    22. Morey, Matthew R. & Morey, Richard C., 1999. "Mutual fund performance appraisals: a multi-horizon perspective with endogenous benchmarking," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 241-258, April.
    23. Glawischnig, Markus & Sommersguter-Reichmann, Margit, 2010. "Assessing the performance of alternative investments using non-parametric efficiency measurement approaches: Is it convincing?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 295-303, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Solórzano-Taborga, Pablo & Alonso-Conde, Ana Belén & Rojo-Suárez, Javier, 2018. "Efficiency and Persistence of Spanish Absolute Return Funds || Eficiencia y persistencia de los fondos de retorno absolutos españoles," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 25(1), pages 186-214, Junio.
    2. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Mounir, Amine & de Woestyne, Ignace Van, 2011. "Non-parametric frontier estimates of mutual fund performance using C- and L-moments: Some specification tests," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 1190-1201, May.
    3. Juan Carlos Matallín-Sáez & Amparo Soler-Domínguez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2019. "Does active management add value? New evidence from a quantile regression approach," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(10), pages 1734-1751, October.
    4. Lin, Ruiyue & Liu, Qian, 2021. "Multiplier dynamic data envelopment analysis based on directional distance function: An application to mutual funds," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 1043-1057.
    5. Brandouy, Olivier & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2015. "Frontier-based vs. traditional mutual fund ratings: A first backtesting analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 242(1), pages 332-342.
    6. Sepideh Kaffash & Marianna Marra, 2017. "Data envelopment analysis in financial services: a citations network analysis of banks, insurance companies and money market funds," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 253(1), pages 307-344, June.
    7. Martin Branda, 2016. "Mean-value at risk portfolio efficiency: approaches based on data envelopment analysis models with negative data and their empirical behaviour," 4OR, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 77-99, March.
    8. Babalos, Vassilios & Philippas, Nikolaos & Doumpos, Michael & Zompounidis, Constantin, 2011. "Mutual funds performance appraisal using stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis," MPRA Paper 37953, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Babalos, Vassilios & Mamatzakis, Emmanuel C. & Matousek, Roman, 2015. "The performance of US equity mutual funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 217-229.
    10. Zhou, Zhongbao & Jin, Qianying & Xiao, Helu & Wu, Qian & Liu, Wenbin, 2018. "Estimation of cardinality constrained portfolio efficiency via segmented DEA," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 28-37.
    11. Lin, Ruiyue & Li, Zongxin, 2020. "Directional distance based diversification super-efficiency DEA models for mutual funds," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    12. Babalos, Vassilios & Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Philippas, Nikolaos, 2012. "Efficiency evaluation of Greek equity funds," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 317-333.
    13. Tarnaud, Albane Christine & Leleu, Hervé, 2018. "Portfolio analysis with DEA: Prior to choosing a model," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 57-76.
    14. Vassilios Babalos & Michael Doumpos & Nikolaos Philippas & Constantin Zopounidis, 2015. "Towards a Holistic Approach for Mutual Fund Performance Appraisal," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 35-53, June.
    15. Xiao, Helu & Zhou, Zhongbao & Ren, Teng & Liu, Wenbin, 2022. "Estimation of portfolio efficiency in nonconvex settings: A free disposal hull estimator with non-increasing returns to scale," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    16. J. Carlos Matallín-Sáez & Amparo Soler-Domínguez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2013. "Does active management add value? New evidence from a quantile regression," Working Papers 2013/01, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    17. Ioannis E. Tsolas, 2020. "The Determinants of the Performance of Precious Metal Mutual Funds," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-10, November.
    18. Goriaev, Alexei & Nijman, Theo E. & Werker, Bas J.M., 2008. "Performance information dissemination in the mutual fund industry," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 144-159, May.
    19. Liu, Wenbin & Zhou, Zhongbao & Liu, Debin & Xiao, Helu, 2015. "Estimation of portfolio efficiency via DEA," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 107-118.
    20. Brandouy, Olivier & Briec, Walter & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2010. "Portfolio performance gauging in discrete time using a Luenberger productivity indicator," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1899-1910, August.

    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:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7548-:d:589476. 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.