There is an increasing demand for socially responsible investment (SRI), and SRI screens are an important source of information for investors. Yet, little is known about the relationship between investors' attitudes, use of SRI screens, and actual SRI behavior. To examine this relationship, we...

This dissertation explores the mechanisms of institutional change in practice. The institutional change under study relates to the progressive penetration of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) criteria into conventional investment funds, a phenomenon which appeared during the 2000s, known as...

In 2006, the United Nations Global Compact launched Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and the Japanese Ministry of Environment advocated financial mechanisms for environmental protection. We find that institutional ownership in 2005 is positively related to the probability of...

This article investigates the theory of universal investors and their ability to be agents for socially responsible investing (SRI), with particular regard to the Canadian context. The influential theory depicts large financial institutions as motivated to reduce the social and environmental...

A widely held view among policymakers, corporate executives and the media is that short-termism among institutional investors is increasingly prevalent. However, some institutional investors are increasingly vocal about taking a long-term approach, and these investors care about environmental,...

Institutional investors appear to have selective preferences regarding corporate social responsibility. They appear indifferent to the presence of positive environmental (E) and social (S) indicators, but underweight stocks with negative ES indicators. This asymmetric pattern is particularly...

We study the effect of environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores on the portfolio allocations of institutional investors. Using a unique data set, we find that institutional investor holdings (as measured by 13F filings) are strongly driven by the ESG quality of companies. While...