IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v31y2024i5p4995-5011.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do socially responsible indices outperform conventional indices? Evidence from before and after the onset of Covid‐19

Author

Listed:
  • Renu Jonwall
  • Seema Gupta
  • Shuchi Pahuja

Abstract

According to traditional portfolio theories constraints, restrictions, and screens applied in portfolio selection reduces the diversification opportunities which can impact financial performance. Is this true in the case of socially responsible investment (SRI)? To answer this, present study analyzes the performance of Socially Responsible (SR) indices in comparison to conventional indices in an emerging economy. The uniqueness of the study is that it analyses the performance of Shariah, ESG, and thematic indices in a single study. Further, the study measures the impact of Covid‐19 on them. Comparative performance evaluation was conducted by using absolute return analysis and risk‐adjusted measures namely, Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, tracking error, information ratio, capital asset pricing model (CAPM), Fama–French three‐factor, and Carhart's four‐factor models. The Structural break was identified, hence analysis was conducted for the total period (January 2017–March 2023) and two sub‐periods, that is, pre and post‐Covid‐19 period. No significant difference was found between the returns of SR indices and conventional indices as against the benchmark index on the basis of absolute return analysis. Sharpe ratio and Treynor ratio both were having negative values for all the SR and conventional indices. Tracking error for all the SR and Conventional indices were very low. The CAPM and both multi‐factor models univocally pointed toward the underperformance of all the SR (except S&P BSE 100 ESG index which had equal performance) and both conventional indices against the benchmark index. Noteworthy point is that only Shariah indices gave the highest returns during post‐Covid period. This research will help in deepening the SRI in the capital market. Companies should increase their ESG scores and make efforts to be listed on the SR indices. Policymakers should announce some kind of rebates, or recognition for star‐performing companies in the field of sustainability to encourage other companies to adopt SR practices in their business operations. The novelty of the current study is that it adds to the socially responsible literature by analyzing the performance of Shariah, ESG, and Thematic indices and conventional indices in a single study in the fastest‐growing economy of India and analyses the impact of Covid‐19 on this performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Renu Jonwall & Seema Gupta & Shuchi Pahuja, 2024. "Do socially responsible indices outperform conventional indices? Evidence from before and after the onset of Covid‐19," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4995-5011, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:31:y:2024:i:5:p:4995-5011
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2839
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2839
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2839?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Céline Louche & Kyoko Sakuma, 2008. "Socially Responsible Investment in Japan: Its Mechanism and Drivers," Post-Print hal-01098061, HAL.
    2. Ľuboš Pástor & M Blair Vorsatz & Jeffrey Pontiff, 0. "Mutual Fund Performance and Flows during the COVID-19 Crisis," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 791-833.
    3. Riikka Sievänen & Hannu Rita & Bert Scholtens, 2013. "The Drivers of Responsible Investment: The Case of European Pension Funds," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 137-151, September.
    4. Fernando García & Jairo González-Bueno & Javier Oliver & Nicola Riley, 2019. "Selecting Socially Responsible Portfolios: A Fuzzy Multicriteria Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-14, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Amir Amel-Zadeh & George Serafeim, 2018. "Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey," Financial Analysts Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 74(3), pages 87-103, July.
    7. Fernández, Manuel Salazar & Abu-Alkheil, Ahmad & M. Khartabiel, Ghadeer, 2019. "Do German Green Mutual Funds Perform Better Than Their Peers?," Business and Economics Research Journal, Uludag University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, vol. 10(2), pages 297-312, April.
    8. David J. Collison & George Cobb & David M. Power & Lorna A. Stevenson, 2008. "The financial performance of the FTSE4Good indices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 14-28, January.
    9. Michael Schröder, 2007. "Is there a Difference? The Performance Characteristics of SRI Equity Indices," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1‐2), pages 331-348, January.
    10. Jonathan Peillex & Loredana Ureche-Rangau, 2016. "Identifying the Determinants of the Decision to Create Socially Responsible Funds: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 101-117, June.
    11. M Dharani, 2011. "Equanimity of Risk and Return Relationship between Shariah Index and General Index in India," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 2(5), pages 213-222.
    12. Monica Billio & Michele Costola & Iva Hristova & Carmelo Latino & Loriana Pelizzon, 2021. "Inside the ESG ratings: (Dis)agreement and performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1426-1445, September.
    13. 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.
    14. Javier Gil-Bazo & Pablo Ruiz-Verdú & André Santos, 2010. "The Performance of Socially Responsible Mutual Funds: The Role of Fees and Management Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(2), pages 243-263, June.
    15. Nofsinger, John & Varma, Abhishek, 2014. "Socially responsible funds and market crises," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 180-193.
    16. Mahfooz Alam & Valeed Ahmad Ansari, 2020. "Are Islamic indices a viable investment avenue? An empirical study of Islamic and conventional indices in India," International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(3), pages 503-518, June.
    17. Agarwalla, Sobhesh Kumar & Jacob, Joshy & Varma, Jayanth R., 2013. "Four Factor Model in Indian Equities Market," IIMA Working Papers WP2013-09-05, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    18. 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.
    19. John M. Griffin, 2002. "Are the Fama and French Factors Global or Country Specific?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(3), pages 783-803.
    20. 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.
    21. Broadstock, David C. & Chan, Kalok & Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Xiaowei, 2021. "The role of ESG performance during times of financial crisis: Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    22. 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.
    23. Bert Scholtens & Riikka Sievänen, 2013. "Drivers of Socially Responsible Investing: A Case Study of Four Nordic Countries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 605-616, July.
    24. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    25. Hussein, Khaled A., 2004. "Ethical Investment: Empirical Evidence From Ftse Islamic Index," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 12, pages 22-40.
    26. Rob Bauer & Jeroen Derwall & Rogér Otten, 2007. "The Ethical Mutual Fund Performance Debate: New Evidence from Canada," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 70(2), pages 111-124, January.
    27. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    28. Karen Paul, 2017. "The effect of business cycle, market return and momentum on financial performance of socially responsible investing mutual funds," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(3), pages 513-528, August.
    29. Jonathan Peillex & Loredana Ureche-Rangau, 2016. "Identifying the Determinants of the Decision to Create Socially Responsible Funds: An Empirical Investigation," Post-Print hal-03680597, HAL.
    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. 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.
    2. Federica Ielasi & Monica Rossolini, 2019. "Responsible or Thematic? The True Nature of Sustainability-Themed Mutual Funds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Lestari, Jenjang Sri & Frömmel, Michael, 2024. "Socially responsible investments: doing good while doing well in developed versus emerging markets?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. José Luis Miralles-Quirós & María Mar Miralles-Quirós & José Manuel Nogueira, 2020. "Sustainable Development Goals and Investment Strategies: The Profitability of Using Five-Factor Fama-French Alphas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Fang, Fei & Parida, Sitikantha, 2022. "Sustainable mutual fund performance and flow in the recent years through the COVID-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    6. Azmi, Wajahat & Mohamad, Shamsher & Shah, Mohamed Eskandar, 2020. "Ethical investments and financial performance: An international evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Ghoul, Sadok El & Karoui, Aymen, 2022. "Fund performance and social responsibility: New evidence using social active share and social tracking error," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Laura Fabregat-Aibar & M. Glòria Barberà-Mariné & Antonio Terceño & Laia Pié, 2019. "A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis of Socially Responsible Funds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, May.
    9. Francisco Climent & Paula Mollá & Pilar Soriano, 2020. "The Investment Performance of U.S. Islamic Mutual Funds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, April.
    10. El Ghoul, Sadok & Karoui, Aymen, 2017. "Does corporate social responsibility affect mutual fund performance and flows?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 53-63.
    11. Helen Chiappini & Gianfranco Vento & Leonardo De Palma, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Sustainable Indexes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    12. Nakai, Miwa & Yamaguchi, Keiko & Takeuchi, Kenji, 2016. "Can SRI funds better resist global financial crisis? Evidence from Japan," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 12-20.
    13. 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.
    14. Papathanasiou, Spyros & Koutsokostas, Drosos, 2024. "Sustainability ratings and fund performance: New evidence from European ESG equity mutual funds," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    15. Guillermo Badía & Luis Ferruz & Maria Céu Cortez, 2021. "The performance of social responsible investing from retail investors' perspective: international evidence," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 6074-6088, October.
    16. 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.
    17. Juan Carlos Matallín-Sáez & Amparo Soler-Domínguez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2016. "Does socially responsible mutual fund performance vary over the business cycle? New insights on the role of ethical strategy focus and green industry idiosyncratic risk," Working Papers 2016/03, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    18. Dumitrescu, Ariadna & Järvinen, Jesse & Zakriya, Mohammed, 2023. "Hidden Gem or Fool’s Gold: Can passive ESG ETFs outperform the benchmarks?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:corsem:v:31:y:2024:i:5:p:4995-5011. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.