Are 'ethical' or 'socially responsible' investments socially responsible?
Journal of Business Ethics 66 (4):393 - 406 (2006)
| Abstract | In this article we discuss whether it pays to invest ethically. Our aim is to examine corporate social responsibility from philosophical, moral and practical points of views. We focus on two main issues related to ethical investments. Firstly we discuss the moral dilemma of how capitalism has changed its shape in today’s world and from ‘blaming the business’ there is a general attempt to use the markets to promote ethics values and corporate social responsibility. Secondly, we analyze the growth of ethical investment funds in the UK today, and their performance, and highlight some of the institutional investors involved in the management of ethical funds. We discuss whether ethical investments really succeed in reducing the conflict between profit-making and social responsibility as they promise or whether they use commercial rhetoric and market mechanism to merely sell us our own perceived values back. We conclude that the paper has a key contribution in setting the scene for future research in an area that is evolving and of fundamental importance to companies, investors and various stakeholder groups. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,631 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesSilvana Signori (2009). Ethical (Sri) Funds in Italy: A Review. Business Ethics 18 (2):145-164.
Tim Benijts (2010). A Framework for Comparing Socially Responsible Investment Markets: An Analysis of the Dutch and Belgian Retail Markets. Business Ethics 19 (1):50-63.
Joakim Sandberg (2008). The Ethics of Investing: Making Money or Making a Difference? Dissertation, University of Gothenburg
Maria Ceu Cortez, Florinda Silva & Nelson Areal (2009). The Performance of European Socially Responsible Funds. Journal of Business Ethics 87 (4):573 - 588.
Derek Yach (2001). Healthy Investments in Investing in Health. Journal of Business Ethics 33 (3):191 - 198.
Ronald Paul Hill, Thomas Ainscough, Todd Shank & Daryl Manullang (2007). Corporate Social Responsibility and Socially Responsible Investing: A Global Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics 70 (2):165 - 174.
Katherina Glac (2009). Understanding Socially Responsible Investing: The Effect of Decision Frames and Trade-Off Options. Journal of Business Ethics 87:41 - 55.
Terrence Guay, Jonathan P. Doh & Graham Sinclair (2004). Non-Governmental Organizations, Shareholder Activism, and Socially Responsible Investments: Ethical, Strategic, and Governance Implications. Journal of Business Ethics 52 (1):125-139.
Jonathan McLachlan & John Gardner (2004). A Comparison of Socially Responsible and Conventional Investors. Journal of Business Ethics 52 (1):11-25.
Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan (2007). Socially Responsible Institutional Investment in Private Equity. Journal of Business Ethics 75 (4):395 - 416.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads31 ( #39,249 of 548,941 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #37,438 of 548,941 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
