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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 June 2024

Amisha Gupta and Shumalini Goswami

The study examines the impact of behavioral biases, such as herd behavior, overconfidence and reactions to ESG News, on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) decisions in the…

Abstract

Purpose

The study examines the impact of behavioral biases, such as herd behavior, overconfidence and reactions to ESG News, on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) decisions in the Indian context. Additionally, it explores gender differences in SRI decisions, thereby deepening the understanding of the factors shaping SRI choices and their implications for sustainable finance and gender-inclusive investment strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs Bayesian linear regression to analyze the impact of behavioral biases on SRI decisions among Indian investors since it accommodates uncertainties and integrates prior knowledge into the analysis. Posterior distributions are determined using the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique, ensuring robust and reliable results.

Findings

The presence of behavioral biases presents challenges and opportunities in the financial sector, hindering investors’ SRI engagement but offering valuable opportunities for targeted interventions. Peer advice and hot stocks strongly predict SRI engagement, indicating external influences. Investors reacting to extreme ESG events increasingly integrate sustainability into investment decisions. Gender differences reveal a greater inclination of women towards SRI in India.

Research limitations/implications

The sample size was relatively small and restricted to a specific geographic region, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other areas. While efforts were made to select a diverse sample, the results may represent something different than the broader population. The research focused solely on individual investors and did not consider the perspectives of institutional investors or other stakeholders in the SRI industry.

Practical implications

The study's practical implications are twofold. First, knowing how behavioral biases, such as herd behavior, overconfidence, and reactions to ESG news, affect SRI decisions can help investors and managers make better and more sustainable investment decisions. To reduce biases and encourage responsible investing, strategies might be created. In addition, the discovery of gender differences in SRI decisions, with women showing a stronger propensity, emphasizes the need for targeted marketing and communication strategies to promote more engagement in sustainable finance. These implications provide valuable insights for investors, managers, and policymakers seeking to advance sustainable investment practices.

Social implications

The study has important social implications. It offers insights into the factors influencing individuals' SRI decisions, contributing to greater awareness and responsible investment practices. The gender disparities found in the study serve as a reminder of the importance of inclusivity in sustainable finance to promote balanced and equitable participation. Addressing these disparities can empower individuals of both genders to contribute to positive social and environmental change. Overall, the study encourages responsible investing and has a beneficial social impact by working towards a more sustainable and socially conscious financial system.

Originality/value

This study addresses a significant research gap by employing Bayesian linear regression method to examine the impact of behavioral biases on SRI decisions thereby offering more meaningful results compared to conventional frequentist estimation. Furthermore, the integration of behavioral finance with sustainable finance offers novel perspectives, contributing to the understanding of investors, investment managers, and policymakers, therefore, catalyzing responsible capital allocation. The study's exploration of gender dynamics adds a new dimension to the existing research on SRI and behavioral finance.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 May 2023

Emmanuel Asafo-Adjei, Anokye M. Adam, Peterson Owusu Junior, Clement Lamboi Arthur and Baba Adibura Seidu

This study investigates information flow of market constituents and global indices at multi-frequencies.

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates information flow of market constituents and global indices at multi-frequencies.

Design/methodology/approach

The study’s findings were obtained using the Improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (I-CEEMDAN)-based cluster analysis executed for Rényi effective transfer entropy (RETE).

Findings

The authors find that significant negative information flows among sustainability equities (SEs) and conventional equities (CEs) at most multi-frequencies, which exacerbates diversification benefits. The information flows are mostly bi-directional, highlighting the importance of stock markets' constituents and their global indices in portfolio construction.

Research limitations/implications

The authors advocate that both SE and CE markets are mostly heterogeneous, revealing some levels of markets inefficiencies.

Originality/value

The empirical literature on CEs is replete with several dynamics, revealing their returns behaviour for diversification purposes, leaving very little to know about the returns behaviour of SE. Wherein, an avalanche of several initiatives on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) enjoin firms to operate socially responsible, but investors need to have a clear reason to remain sustainable into the foreseeable future period. Accordingly, the humble desire of investors is the formation of a well-diversified portfolio and would highly demand stocks to the extent that they form a reliable portfolio, especially, amid SEs and/or CEs.

研究目的

本研究擬審查多頻率的及為市場成份的信息流和全球指數。

研究設計/方法/理念

研究人員使用基於改良完全集合經驗模態分解自適應噪聲(Improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise)的聚類分析法,取得Rényi有效轉移熵,藉此得到研究結果。

研究結果

我們發現、於大部份多頻率,在持續性股票和傳統股票間有顯著的負信息流動,這會增加多樣化的益處。這些信息流大部份是雙向的,這強調了股票市場成份及其全球指數在構建投資組合上的重要性。

研究的局限/啟示

我們認為持續性股票市場和傳統股票市場大多為異質市場,這顯示了市場的低效率,而且這低效率的程度頗大。

研究的原創性/價值

關於傳統股票的實證性文獻裡是充滿了變革動力的,這顯示了它們以多樣化為目的的回報行為。這使我們對關於持續性股票的回報行為、認識變得實在太少了。於此,大量的企業社會責任的新措施不斷提醒各公司、要本著企業社會責任的理念去營運;但投資者需清晰明白他們為何需在可見的將來保持可持續性。因此,他們卑微的願望是一個較好的多樣化投資組合得以形成,故此他們高度要求股票要有組成可靠投資組合的性質和能力,特別是在持續性股票和/或傳統股票當中。

Details

European Journal of Management and Business Economics, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2444-8451

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 February 2024

Luca Pedini and Sabrina Severini

This study aims to conduct an empirical investigation to assess the hedge, diversifier and safe-haven properties of different environmental, social and governance (ESG) assets…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to conduct an empirical investigation to assess the hedge, diversifier and safe-haven properties of different environmental, social and governance (ESG) assets (i.e. green bonds and ESG equity index) vis-à-vis conventional investments (namely, equity index, gold and commodities).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examine the sample period 2007–2021 using the bivariate cross-quantilogram (CQG) analysis and a dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) experiment with several extensions.

Findings

The evidence shows that the analyzed ESG investments exhibit mainly diversifying features depending on the asset class taken as a reference, with some potential hedging/safe-haven qualities (for the green bond) in peculiar timespans. Therefore, the results suggest that investors might consider sustainable investing as a new measure of risk reduction, which has interesting implications for both portfolio allocation and policy design.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first that empirically investigates at once the dependence between different ESG investments (i.e. equity and green bond) with different conventional investments such as gold, equity and commodity market indices over a large sample period (2007–2021). Well-suited methodologies like the bivariate CQG and the DCC multivariate GARCH are used to capture the spillover effect and the hedging/diversifying nature, even in temporary contexts. Finally, a global perspective is used.

Details

Studies in Economics and Finance, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1086-7376

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 December 2023

Susana Pasamar, Mar Bornay-Barrachina and Rafael Morales-Sánchez

This paper empirically addresses the effect of coercive, normative and mimetic pressures on sustainability results, focussing on the three dimensions of the triple bottom line…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper empirically addresses the effect of coercive, normative and mimetic pressures on sustainability results, focussing on the three dimensions of the triple bottom line approach: environmental, economic and social. The mediating role of compliance, analyser or proactive corporate strategies towards sustainability is also considered.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses developed in this study were tested using data from a sample of private companies from two industries: manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, and manufacture of basic metals.

Findings

The results confirm the role played by institutional pressures for sustainability in explaining the involvement of organisations in economic, social and environmental aspects. The mediating effect of corporate strategy is also confirmed, although only for environmental aspects.

Originality/value

Research into sustainability development is evolving rapidly; however, few studies have explored its diffusion amongst organisations from a triple bottom line perspective by considering the role of different current external pressures, the corporate strategy and the diverse results.

研究目的

本研究擬對強制壓力、規範壓力和模仿壓力對可持續性成果的影響進行實證研究。研究的焦點放在三重底線法的三個層面上,即是環境層面、經濟層面和社會層面。研究人員亦探討尋求可持續性的承諾、分析儀和積極主動的公司戰略的中介作用。

研究方法

研究人員測試其建立的各項假設; 使用的數據取自兩個企業的私人公司的樣本,它們是製造化學品和化學產品的企業,以及製造基本金屬的企業。

研究結果

研究結果確認了尋求可持續性所帶來的制度壓力,在解說企業於經濟、社會和環境三方面的參與上所扮演的角色。研究結果亦確認了公司戰略的中介作用,唯這只見於環境的層面上。

研究的原創性

探討可持續性發展的學術研究發展迅速,唯當中較少從三個基本的角度去探討可持續性發展在組織內的傳播; 本研究考慮了目前各種外來壓力、公司戰略和不同的結果所扮演的角色,以彌補這研究差距。

Details

European Journal of Management and Business Economics, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2444-8451

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 May 2024

Javier Andrades, Manuel Larrán Jorge, Maria Jose Muriel and Maria Yolanda Calzado

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it identifies whether sustainability reporting has become an institutionalized cultural norm in the daily routines and organizational…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it identifies whether sustainability reporting has become an institutionalized cultural norm in the daily routines and organizational practices of Spanish public hospitals. Second, it finds out why sustainability reporting has become (or not) an institutionalized norm in the Spanish public hospital field.

Design/methodology/approach

To accomplish the research aims, the authors have adopted a qualitative method approach by combining two main data sources: (1) a documentary analysis of reports published by 60 Spanish public hospitals that consistently maintained their commitment to this activity over the past 10 years; and (2) a semi-structured interview with seven hospital managers and with seven participants from professional organizations.

Findings

The authors have found that sustainability reporting has not become an institutionalized practice in the Spanish public hospital setting. Based on the notion of normativity, the findings indicate that the institutional conditions that support the emergence of a norm are not met (Bebbington et al., 2012). In particular, the lack of a coherent normative framework, the absence of congruence with previous similar practices and the lack of clarity in the norm explain why a reporting norm has not emerged. Currently, the societal context has not developed an appropriate discourse around the development of sustainability reporting in the Spanish public sector.

Originality/value

The contribution of this research is double: (1) From a practical level, this paper contributes to the accounting literature by analyzing the development of sustainability reporting practices in the public sector; (2) According to the notion of normativity, the novelty of this paper is to explore whether a sustainability reporting norm emerges in Spanish public hospitals.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

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