Evaluation of the Cultural Environment’s Impact on the Performance of the Socially Responsible Investment Funds

Socially responsible (SR) mutual funds match financial and environmental, social, and governance criteria in their portfolio management strategies. Several studies have examined the behavior of these funds in terms of return–risk, obtaining very different results. The present study discusses previous results and shows how these funds often outperform their conventional counterparts. Rather than the SR (or non) character of a mutual fund, a relevant explanation for this behavior is the cultural environment in which the fund operates. Thus, the ethical framework or corporate social responsibility used by the fund and its management must be assessed by considering the cultural context of the fund. This notion is the main contribution of this paper.