Where do-gooders meet bottom-liners: Disputes and resolutions surrounding socially responsible investment

Abstract

Purpose

Much of the management research on socially responsible investment (SRI) consists in demonstrating how SRI is good for business and good for society. But the belief that business and market-based strategies will bring positive social and ecological change is far from natural and results in disputes. This study shows how SRI proponents have to develop and combine arguments in order to construct and defend a valid and plausible discourse on SRI that could resist the critiques and appease the disputes resulting from its institutionalization.

Methodology

We collect articles in the media to identify the SRI controversies. For these disputes, we look at the attempts of SRI to give a robust justification of the particular arrangement it promotes, vis-à-vis a public audience, and we discuss possible resolutions.

Findings

SRI focuses on appealing to conventional finance with a market logic, resulting in very few challenges of the legitimacy of the existing institutional order. In a few cases, SRI seeks a resolution based on a competing principles resulting in hybrid constructions of compromises, which could be consolidated by SRI models and tools.

Implications

The results contribute to a better understanding of SRI as it is perceived today, and of how the disputes around its mainstreaming may unfold in the future. This helps us clarify our expectations towards SRI and shows that if we want to address shortcomings in finance, we should probably not rely on SRI as it is defined and practiced in the 21st century.

Citation

Dumas, C. and Michotte, E. (2014), "Where do-gooders meet bottom-liners: Disputes and resolutions surrounding socially responsible investment", Socially Responsible Investment in the 21st Century: Does it Make a Difference for Society? (Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 119-148. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2043-905920140000007005