IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v153y2018i2d10.1007_s10551-016-3356-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Elevating the Role of Divestment in Socially Responsible Investing

Author

Listed:
  • Cedric E. Dawkins

    (Dalhousie University)

Abstract

The divest movement has focused attention on strategic and ethical differences in the practice of socially responsible investing (SRI) and highlighted an unnecessary bifurcation of best-of-class engagement and divestment. Although best-of-class engagement is favored as a contemporary and pragmatic approach, this paper calls for a more pronounced recognition of absolute dealbreakers and divestment as an underpinning for best-of-class engagement. After linking divestment and best-of-class engagement to their foundations of absolutism and relativism, respectively, I critique best-of-class engagement and argue that without a distinct and explicit role for divestment, best-of-class strategies are ethically and strategically fraught. Following a discussion of which types of issues suggest divestment or best-of-class engagement, I identify the Norway Government Pension Fund as a noteworthy example, and posit that divestment and engagement are best presented and employed in tandem, particularly for issues that have yet to be addressed by law and convention.

Suggested Citation

  • Cedric E. Dawkins, 2018. "Elevating the Role of Divestment in Socially Responsible Investing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 465-478, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:153:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3356-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3356-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-016-3356-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-016-3356-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Berry & Joan Junkus, 2013. "Socially Responsible Investing: An Investor Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(4), pages 707-720, February.
    2. Derwall, Jeroen & Koedijk, Kees & Ter Horst, Jenke, 2011. "A tale of values-driven and profit-seeking social investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 2137-2147, August.
    3. Säve-Söderbergh, Jenny, 2010. "Who lets ethics guide his economic decision-making? An empirical analysis of individual investments in ethical funds," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 270-272, May.
    4. Landier, Augustin & Nair, Vinay B., 2008. "Investing for Change: Profit from Responsible Investment," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195370140.
    5. Matthew Lee & Jillian Kohler, 2010. "Benchmarking and Transparency: Incentives for the Pharmaceutical Industry’s Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(4), pages 641-658, September.
    6. Teoh, Siew Hong & Welch, Ivo & Wazzan, C Paul, 1999. "The Effect of Socially Activist Investment Policies on the Financial Markets: Evidence from the South African Boycott," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(1), pages 35-89, January.
    7. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "The price of ethics and stakeholder governance: The performance of socially responsible mutual funds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 302-322, June.
    8. Aggarwal, Reena & Erel, Isil & Ferreira, Miguel & Matos, Pedro, 2011. "Does governance travel around the world? Evidence from institutional investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 154-181, April.
    9. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7349 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Sudheer Chava, 2014. "Environmental Externalities and Cost of Capital," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2223-2247, September.
    11. Marco Becht & Julian Franks & Colin Mayer & Stefano Rossi, 2010. "Returns to Shareholder Activism: Evidence from a Clinical Study of the Hermes UK Focus Fund," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Governance, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. William Pasewark & Mark Riley, 2010. "It’s a Matter of Principle: The Role of Personal Values in Investment Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(2), pages 237-253, May.
    13. Andrea Chegut & Hans Schenk & Bert Scholtens, 2011. "Assessing SRI fund performance research: Best practices in empirical analysis," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 77-94, March/Apr.
    14. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2014. "The Effects of Corporate Social Performance on the Cost of Corporate Debt and Credit Ratings," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 49-75, February.
    15. Gunther Capelle-Blancard & S. Monjon, 2012. "Trends in the literature on socially responsible investment: Looking for the keys under the lamppost," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00733402, HAL.
    16. Simone Colle & Jeffrey York, 2009. "Why Wine is not Glue? The Unresolved Problem of Negative Screening in Socially Responsible Investing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(1), pages 83-95, February.
    17. Josep Lozano & Laura Albareda & M. Balaguer, 2006. "Socially Responsible Investment in the Spanish financial market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 305-316, December.
    18. Rupert Allen & Hugues Letourneau & Tessa Hebb, 2012. "Shareholder engagement in the extractive sector," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 3-25.
    19. Aris Solomon & Jill Solomon & Megumi Suto, 2004. "Can the UK Experience Provide Lessons for the Evolution of SRI in Japan?," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 552-566, October.
    20. Bauer, Rob & Koedijk, Kees & Otten, Roger, 2005. "International evidence on ethical mutual fund performance and investment style," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1751-1767, July.
    21. Stephen Fowler & C. Hope, 2007. "A Critical Review of Sustainable Business Indices and their Impact," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(3), pages 243-252, December.
    22. Aaron K. Chatterji & David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel, 2009. "How Well Do Social Ratings Actually Measure Corporate Social Responsibility?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 125-169, March.
    23. R. Freeman & Kirsten Martin & Bidhan Parmar, 2007. "Stakeholder Capitalism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 303-314, September.
    24. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    25. Benjamin Richardson & Wes Cragg, 2010. "Being Virtuous and Prosperous: SRI’s Conflicting Goals," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 21-39, 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. Olivier Boiral & David Talbot & Marie‐Christine Brotherton, 2020. "Measuring sustainability risks: A rational myth?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2557-2571, September.
    2. Marupanthorn, Pasin & Nikitopoulos, Christina S. & Ofosu-Hene, Eric D. & Peters, Gareth W. & Richards, Kylie-Anne, 2024. "Mechanisms for implementing fossil fuel divestment in portfolio management with impact on risk, return and carbon reduction," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Johannes Lundberg, 2022. "Agency Theory’s “Truth Regime”: Reading Danish Pension Funds’ Decisions Regarding Shell from the Perspective of Agency Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Rohleder, Martin & Wilkens, Marco & Zink, Jonas, 2022. "The effects of mutual fund decarbonization on stock prices and carbon emissions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    5. Kumari Juddoo & Issam Malki & Sudha Mathew & Sheeja Sivaprasad, 2023. "An impact investment strategy," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 177-211, July.
    6. Christian Hecker, 2021. "How Should Responsible Investors Behave? Keynes’s Distinction Between Entrepreneurship and Speculation Revisited," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(3), pages 459-473, July.
    7. 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.
    8. Maria Folqué & Elena Escrig-Olmedo & Teresa Corzo Santamaría, 2024. "Integration of Advanced Sri Practices Into the European Asset Management Industry: A Survey of Drivers," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, March.
    9. Diego P. Guisande & Maretno Agus Harjoto & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Conall O’Sullivan, 2024. "Ethics and Banking: Do Banks Divest Their Kind?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 191-223, June.
    10. Joel Diener & André Habisch, 2022. "God’s Stewards: A Global Overview of Christian-Influenced Mutual Fund Providers," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-24, November.

    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. 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.
    2. Christian Gollier & Sébastien Pouget, 2022. "Investment Strategies and Corporate Behaviour with Socially Responsible Investors: A Theory of Active Ownership," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(356), pages 997-1023, October.
    3. Volker Lingnau & Florian Fuchs & Florian Beham, 2022. "The link between corporate sustainability and willingness to invest: new evidence from the field of ethical investments," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 335-369, September.
    4. 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.
    5. Lars Hornuf & Gül Yüksel, 2022. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Investments: A Meta-Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 9724, CESifo.
    6. Luis Ferruz & Fernando Muñoz & María Vargas, 2012. "Managerial Abilities: Evidence from Religious Mutual Fund Managers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(4), pages 503-517, February.
    7. Gunther Capelle†Blancard & Stéphanie Monjon, 2014. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Funds: Does the Screening Process Matter?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 20(3), pages 494-520, June.
    8. Lapanan, Nicha, 2018. "The investment behavior of socially responsible individual investors," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 214-226.
    9. Zerbib, Olivier David, 2019. "The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 39-60.
    10. 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.
    11. Guillermo Badía & Maria C. Cortez & Luis Ferruz, 2020. "Socially responsible investing worldwide: Do markets value corporate social responsibility?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2751-2764, November.
    12. Borgers, Arian & Derwall, Jeroen & Koedijk, Kees & ter Horst, Jenke, 2015. "Do social factors influence investment behavior and performance? Evidence from mutual fund holdings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 112-126.
    13. 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.
    14. Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Lisa Schopohl, 2018. "On the Price of Morals in Markets: An Empirical Study of the Swedish AP-Funds and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 665-692, September.
    15. Oscar V. De la Torre-Torres & Evaristo Galeana-Figueroa & José Álvarez-García, 2018. "Efficiency of the Public Pensions Funds on the Socially Responsible Equities of Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, December.
    16. Incheol Kim & Hong Wan & Bin Wang & Tina Yang, 2019. "Institutional Investors and Corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance Policies: Evidence from Toxics Release Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4901-4926, October.
    17. 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.
    18. Thomas Walker & Kerstin Lopatta & Thomas Kaspereit, 2014. "Corporate sustainability in asset pricing models and mutual funds performance measurement," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 28(4), pages 363-407, November.
    19. repec:ehu:cuader:24426 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Delâtre, Chloë, 2022. "Désinvestissement des combustibles fossiles: quelles conséquences pour la gestion de portefeuille ? [Fossil fuel divestment and portfolios implications]," MPRA Paper 114633, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. 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.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:153:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3356-7. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.