Active Ownership

Review of Financial Studies (RFS), Volume 28, Issue 12, pp. 3225-3268, 2015.

Fox School of Business Research Paper No. 16-009

55 Pages Posted: 1 Oct 2012 Last revised: 19 Mar 2016

See all articles by Elroy Dimson

Elroy Dimson

University of Cambridge - Judge Business School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Oğuzhan Karakaş

Cambridge Judge Business School - Finance Subject Group; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Xi Li

London School of Economics

Date Written: August 7, 2015

Abstract

We analyze an extensive proprietary database of corporate social responsibility engagements with U.S. public companies from 1999-2009. Engagements address environmental, social, and governance concerns. Successful (unsuccessful) engagements are followed by positive (zero) abnormal returns. Companies with inferior governance and socially conscious institutional investors are more likely to be engaged. Success in engagements is more probable if the engaged firm has reputational concerns and higher capacity to implement changes. Collaboration among activists is instrumental in increasing the success rate of environmental/social engagements. After successful engagements, particularly on environmental/social issues, companies experience improved accounting performance and governance and increased institutional ownership.

Keywords: Engagement, corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental, social, and governance (ESG), socially responsible investing (SRI), universal ownership, shareholder activism

JEL Classification: G15, G23, G34

Suggested Citation

Dimson, Elroy and Karakaş, Oğuzhan and Li, Xi, Active Ownership (August 7, 2015). Review of Financial Studies (RFS), Volume 28, Issue 12, pp. 3225-3268, 2015., Fox School of Business Research Paper No. 16-009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2154724 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2154724

Elroy Dimson (Contact Author)

University of Cambridge - Judge Business School ( email )

Trumpington Street
Cambridge, CB2 1AG
United Kingdom
+44 700 607 7390 (Fax)

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Oğuzhan Karakaş

Cambridge Judge Business School - Finance Subject Group ( email )

University of Cambridge
Trumpington St.
Cambridge, CB2 1AG
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/faculty-a-z/oguzhan-karakas/

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://ecgi.global/users/o%C4%9Fuzhan-karaka%C5%9F

Xi Li

London School of Economics ( email )

Department of Accounting
Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.lse.ac.uk/accounting/people/xi-li

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