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India is an emerging economy and one of the preferred investment destinations for environmental, social and governance (ESG) fund issuers. Institutional investors invest retail investors’ money, and hence, it becomes imperative for ESG fund managers to understand the social investment preferences of retail investors. This study aims to compare the Indian socially responsible (SR) investors and conventional investors in terms of their socially responsible investment (SRI) awareness level, opinions about broad and specific ESG issues, investment behavior and demographics. In addition, this paper makes an attempt to have a deeper insight into Indian investors’ behavior toward SRI by segmenting the Indian retail investors based on their SRI awareness level, attitude toward ESG issues and intention to accept lower financial returns, and choices made by them as consumers.

After collecting the data through the survey method an independent t-test is used to compare SR investors with conventional investors. Chi-square has been used to analyze the data related to demographics, and cluster analysis is used to identify segments among Indian retail investors.

The results indicated that Indian SR investors’ SRI awareness level is more, they are more concerned about broad and specific ESG issues, they are more into faith-based investing, and are responsible consumers vis-à-vis conventional investors. As per demographic, SR investors are in the middle age group of 30–40 years, male, hold a postgraduate degree and have an annual income of 10–20 lakhs in comparison to conventional investors. The results of cluster analysis indicated that Indian retail investors can be classified into three groups based on their SRI awareness, intention to sacrifice financial return, attitude toward ESG issues and choices made by them as consumers.

Results have implications for national and international fund managers, policymakers, regulators and society. These results will help mutual fund companies to provide curated SR mutual funds as per the behavior and choice of retail investors and penetrate the Indian investment market more deeply.

This research study contributes to the literature on SRI by identifying the differentiating characteristics of Indian SR and conventional investors and segmenting Indian retail investors on the basis of their SRI awareness, the importance of ESG issues and choices made by them as investors and consumers.

Introduction: This chapter is intended to link the embracing strategy of ‘socially responsible investment’ with the apparent cause of economic destruction ‘financial crimes’. Today’s financial world is not always associated with ethics and morality, but it does not mean rising investments cause rising financial crimes. Socially responsible investing (SRI) has been rising, and many of today’s investors are interested in tracking ethically sound companies. Investors find a great way to invest around many investment opportunities, while socially responsible investors work with little social cause. This increasing literacy over SRI notably helps to reduce investments in unethical grounds which in turn reduces financial crimes.

Design/methodology: This work is premised on desk research. Conceptual and documentary methods were used in the study. The tertiary data source has been used in the study to develop a template describing the working of SRI in fixing financial crimes.

Findings: Findings of this study detail: a breakdown of industries that comes under SRI, channels of financial crimes, impact of SRI on financial crimes, and design an action plan for more effective environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-based investments to fix problems of financial crimes in the Indian economy.

Practical implications: The model of SRI has unfolded these days. While the purpose of these funds differs, they generally swear off the weapons industry and avoid ‘sin stocks’. In-depth analysis of this study area enables building quality investment strategy among investors and thereby helps to combat financial crimes.

Socially responsible investment (SRI) is a niche and upcoming investment strategy in India. Very few researches have been conducted on SRI in the Indian context. This study identifies the SRI awareness level, attitude towards the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, willingness to invest in SRI avenues and obstacles in SRI investment decision-making by Indian retail investors. The second objective was among the awareness, attitude, willingness, obstacle, and demographic constructs to identify the most significant variables that impact an individual investor's SRI decision in India. .

Data for the study have been collected through a self-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics are used to identify the importance of variables for individual investors. This paper used the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to understand the factors impacting individual investors' SRI behavior. Binary logistics regression analysis is used to recognize the variables that affect an individual investor's SRI decision.

The descriptive statistics indicate a low level of SRI awareness; the majority of the investors agreed that ESG issues are significant in investing and showed a willingness to invest in SRI avenues. However, the investors were not willing to accept lower returns from SRI. The majority of investors found, lower returns on SRIs, no tax benefit, lack of information about SRIs, and low liquidity as important obstacles in SRI investing. Binary logistics regression results indicated that awareness about SR/ESG indices, awareness about SR/ESG funds, and willingness to invest in SRI avenues significantly impact investors' SRI decisions but demographic variables have no significant impact on SRI decision-making.

This study has implications for the ethical/SR mutual funds managers, policymakers, government, and international asset management companies. The study finds an urgent need for increasing awareness about SRI among individual investors in India. The study suggests that the issuers must provide adequate information about SRI avenues and probable risk and returns involved in these, while the regulators must make efforts to educate investors in India.

The context of the present study is original because hardly any of the earlier studies conducted in India have tried to find out the individual investors' SRI awareness level, investors' willingness towards SRI, investors' attitude towards ESG issues, and obstacles faced by investors in socially responsible investing.

This study analyses the role of individuals' objective financial knowledge in shaping preferences for ethical intermediaries and sustainable investments in Italy. Another goal of this study is to assess the impact of individuals' misperceptions about their own financial knowledge and to test for gender-related differences in attitudes towards socially responsible investing (SRI).

Using nationally representative microdata from the Bank of Italy’s “Italian Literacy and Financial Competence Survey” (IACOFI), the authors use probit models, extended to account for potential endogeneity issues, to assess the causal effects of financial knowledge and confidence on stated preferences for SRI. Empirical models also allow to explicitly assess the moderating role of gender on the effects of financial knowledge and confidence on attitudes towards sustainable investing.

Results indicate that individuals' preferences for sustainable finance significantly increase with financial knowledge, suggesting that inadequate financial competencies represent a barrier to participation in SRI. At the same time, lack of confidence in one’s own financial knowledge significantly hampers attitudes towards sustainable investments. Furthermore, the authors show that women have a greater preference for sustainable finance than men and point out that financial knowledge and confidence exert heterogenous effects on attitudes towards SRI.

This study provides several contributions to the literature on SRI. First, the authors give evidence of the causal effect of financial knowledge on preferences for both ethical financial intermediaries and sustainable investments. Moreover, this is the first study to investigate the role of financial underconfidence bias in shaping individuals' SRI attitudes. Finally, extending previous research, the authors assess differences in SRI preferences between women and men and provide novel evidence on gender-related heterogeneity in the effects of financial knowledge and underconfidence.

This study examines current dynamics, consolidates current knowledge, elicits trends, identifies and analyzes primary research clusters, and offers future research directions for mutual fund marketing.

Using bibliographic information from the SCOPUS database, this study used sequential bibliometric (143 documents) and content analyses (37 documents). Bibliometric analysis aids descriptive analysis and science mapping, while content analysis facilitates identifying and analyzing research clusters and provides future research directions.

The study identifies publication trends, the most relevant authors, and journal articles and unveils the knowledge structures of the field. Analysis of bibliographic coupling reveals the following significant clusters: (1) socially responsible investing and investor preferences, (2) investor factors and traits and investment decisions; (3) external factors, mutual funds' performance and proxy information; (4) the role of disclosures and ratings in shaping investment choices, and (5) cognitive biases, information processing errors and investor behavior. Finally, it offers future research directions.

Using different databases, bibliometric analysis tools, study periods or article screening criteria for the study might yield different results. However, this study's significant findings are robust to such alternatives.

This study summarizes primary clusters and identifies gaps in the current literature, which helps scholars, practitioners, regulators and policymakers understand the nuances of mutual funds marketing. Future studies may focus on the role of online and offline integration, using neuroscience for data m and contemporary investment behavior models.

This is the first study to apply a two-stage sequential hybrid review of articles published over the last decade in high-quality journals, enabling an analysis of the depth and breadth of mutual funds marketing research.

This study aims to examine the herding behavior of socially responsible exchange traded funds (SR ETFs) in comparison to conventional ETFs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To test for herding behavior, the authors use the cross-sectional absolute deviation and a quadratic market model.

During the pandemic, investments in socially responsible financial products grew rapidly. And investors in the popular SR ETFs herd during this special period, while holders of conventional ETFs did not.

Investors in socially responsible investments must do their own research and make their own financial decisions, rather than follow the crowd, especially during extreme events like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The evidence shows that, during the pandemic, socially responsible ETFs behaved in line with theoretical predictions of herding, that is, herding is more significant during extreme market conditions.

The main goal of this paper is better understand the risk/return trade-off of investing in socially responsible investment funds (SRIF) and green investment funds (GIF).

To achieve our aim a green investment fund portfolio, a socially responsible investment portfolio and a conventional fund (CF) portfolio from the United States of America (USA) were selected to compare the efficiency of these three different portfolios, by using Value-Based Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology.

The results point out that SRIF and GIF are more efficient than CF. For five years, the CFs have not outperformed the GIF.

The results suggest that there is a growing awareness on the part of investors that sustainable companies are the companies that will allow a better quality of life and a more sustainable environment. It seems that somehow managers and investors are aware that the market will compensate them for thinking about a cleaner and more equitable world.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the applicability of Preference Similarity Theory (PST) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) in identifying the target audience and developing effective marketing strategies, particularly in non-Muslim countries, to increase the market growth and reach of sukuk to broader investor groups and provide recommendations for such strategies.

After separately examining the effects of PST and PMT on marketing sukuk, recommendations are presented from a shared perspective of these two theories.

The findings of this study suggest that understanding the values, beliefs and perceptions of potential investors is crucial for effectively marketing sukuk investments, especially in non-Muslim countries. The PST and PMT provide useful frameworks for tailoring sukuk offerings and communicating effectively about the risks and benefits of sukuk investments to attract investors who identify with the values and beliefs embodied in sukuk.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the marketing of sukuk in non-Muslim countries. This study is also the first paper to discuss sukuk in the context of PST and PMT. In addition, this study is expected to guide banks in the marketing of sukuk.