Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Alexander Dyck
Author-Name: Karl V. Lins
Author-Name: Lukas Roth
Author-Name: Hannes F. Wagner
Title: Do Institutional Investors Drive Corporate Social Responsibility? International Evidence
Abstract: This paper assesses whether shareholders drive the environmental and social (E&S) performance of firms worldwide. Across 41 countries, institutional ownership is positively associated with E&S performance with additional tests suggests this relation is causal. Institutions are motivated by both financial and social returns. Investors increase firms’ E&S performance following shocks that reveal financial benefits to E&S improvements. In cross-section, investors increase firms’ E&S performance when they come from countries where there is a strong community belief in the importance of E&S issues, but not otherwise. As such, these institutional investors transplant their social norms regarding E&S issues around the world.
Classification-JEL:G15, G23, G30, M14
Keywords: Social Responsibility, Institutional Investors, Social Norms, Culture
Length: 60 pages 
Number: 1873
Creation-Date: 2018
File-URL: https://repec.unibocconi.it/baffic/baf/papers/cbafwp1873.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 562
Handle: RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp1873