Socially responsible investments in mutual funds

Abstract

This paper aims to add a contribution to the socially responsible investments (from now on called “SRI”) research by examining the significance of this type of investment in terms of ethical or financial prior behavior. Using the sample of the European market of socially responsible investment funds, we first explore the SRI market dimension compared to the global data on SRI. We also investigate whether ethical recognition is more important than financial performance. Applied to the European socially responsible investment fund market, the paper investigates the difference between these two aspects of behavior and underlies the importance of socially responsible investments in promoting a sustainable development.