Are Socially Responsible Investors Different from Conventional Investors? A Comparison Across Six Countries

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the differences between socially responsible investors (SRI) and conventional investors in six countries. We show that differences are seen more often in investor attitudes and behaviour rather than in other criteria such as demographics. SRI investors appear to care more about social criteria rather than financial and shareholder interests and are more likely to punish firms for poor social performance as consumers as well as in their investment choices. All investors believe that good corporate social performance leads to good financial performance but conventional investors do not appear to follow this through in their portfolios. Market context also appears to be important.