Institutional change in the making – the case of socially responsible investment

Citation

Arjalies, D.-L. (2013), "Institutional change in the making – the case of socially responsible investment", Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Vol. 9 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jaoc.2013.31509aaa.002

Institutional change in the making – the case of socially responsible investment

Article Type: Doctoral abstracts From: Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Volume 9, Issue 1

Purpose – SRI (Mainstreaming) refers to the introduction of non-financial criteria (such as carbon emissions) into the investment processes in efforts to generate better financial performance over the long term. To date, no research has explicitly examined whether and why demands for SRI impact the calculative devices (Callon, Millo, and Muniesa, 2007), practices and the logics of asset management. Calculative devices refer to tools and techniques such as financial models and financial criteria. How and why SRI has expanded into the asset management sector? Have asset management logics and practices evolved towards more social responsibility? If not, why not? And, in particular, what is the role of calculative devices in this transformation?

Design/methodology/approach – This thesis builds on an ethnographic case study (2006-2009) conducted as an SRI analyst in a French asset management company, based on three types of data collection: participative observation, semi-structured interviews (47) and documents and secondary data.

Findings – Firstly, the thesis explains how and why SRI has expanded into France. It demonstrates that this phenomenon has resulted from the action of a collective (social) movement, driven by financial players. Secondly, it studies how an asset management company (re)designs its equity investment processes, in response to SRI. It demonstrates that actors reshape their practices, calculative devices and logics through the transformation of an epistemic object, which is an object under research (Rheinberger, 1992). Lastly, it shows that the logics of fixed-income investment cannot be transformed according to SRI, contrary to those of equity investment. It argues that the lack of relevant calculative devices prevents actors from transforming their practices. It also advances that the potential evolution of logics depends on the perceived practical relevance of the idea conveyed at the institutional level.

Research limitations/implications – From a theoretical perspective, it would be interesting to further explore the recursive relationship between social, institutional and practice change. Additionally, it would be nice to conduct further research on this topic at the European and global level.

Practical implications – First of all, it seems essential to get a better understanding of whether and how non-financial criteria, such as those conveyed by SRI can trigger change among financial and management practices towards more sustainability. In particular, tools such as calculative devices, norms or standards are expected to play a key role in this transformation. In addition, this thesis helps us understand why it is so difficult to be long-term oriented in fixed-income investment, which is of major importance regarding the ongoing debt crisis.

Originality/value – The thesis confirms previous research on the considerable role played by models in the shaping of markets and enriches institutional theory by showing the major role calculative devices play in the evolution of logics. In doing so, the thesis demonstrates that the attentiveness of accountants to the mediating role of instruments in the interplay between practices and institutions provides a useful opportunity for interchange between institutional theory and accounting research.

Discipline area

Management accounting

Awarded institution

ESSEC Business School and University Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense

Supervisors

Philippe Lorino and Nicolas Mottis

Diane-Laure ArjaliesAccounting and Control Department, HEC Paris