Spillover Effects in SRI Fund Families

This paper investigates spillovers in cash flow to SRI funds within the fund family due to the existence of a star (poor) performing peer SRI fund. Using a sample of SRI funds domiciled in the U.S. and considering survivorship, we find a positive spillover effect from having a star SRI fund on the monthly cash flow of their SRI siblings. However, the reverse is not found in the presence of a poor SRI performer. The spillover effect is more pronounced in SRI funds with a lower opportunity set, as shown by the higher contribution of the star (poor) performers to the flow of combined-ESG and environmental funds. Having a star conventional fund provides insignificant contributions to the flow of SRI siblings, suggesting that SRI investors are concerned only with the performance of SRI funds. Further, the magnitude of the spillover effect in SRI fund families is lower than in conventional fund families