This article studies the case of the socially responsible investment industry in France. This case accounts for how the socially responsible investment category and practices have successfully moved from the margins of the industry in the late 1990s to become mainstream over two decades. We bring to the forefront the importance of three complementary factors in the process of causing corporations to transition toward more sustainable businesses: the role of investors and, in particular, institutional investors; the importance of the presence of a clear category definition and of intermediary organizations, providing ratings, scores, and other calculative devices; and the role of governments and regulators. With other studies, this case stresses the fundamental influence of investors in how corporations manage sustainability transitions.
ArjalièsD.-L. (2010). A social movement perspective on finance: How socially responsible investment mattered. Journal of Business Ethics, 92, 57-78.
2.
ArjalièsD.-L.BansalT. (2018). Beyond numbers: How investment managers accommodate societal issues in financial decisions. Organization Studies, 39, 695-725.
3.
ArjalièsD. L.DurandR. (2019). Product categories as judgment devices: The moral awakening of the investment industry. Organization Science. Manuscript submitted for publication.
4.
AuvrayT. (2018). Evolution de l’acitonnariat en France: 1977-2017 [The evolution of shareholding in France: 1977-2017]. Revue d’Économie Financière, 2(130), 73-98.
5.
BaronD. P. (2012). Business and its environment (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
6.
BoltanskiL.EsquerreA. (2017). Enrichissement: Une critique de la marchandise [Enrichment: A critique of the goods]. Paris, France: Gallimard.
7.
CavacoS.CrifoP. (2014). CSR and financial performance: Complementarity between environmental, social and business behaviours. Applied Economics, 46, 3323-3338.
8.
ChatterjiA. R.DurandD. I.LevineS.TouboulS. (2016). Do ratings of firms converge? Implications for managers, investors and strategy researchers. Strategic Management Journal, 37, 1597-1614.
9.
ClarkG. L.HebbT. (2004). Corporate engagement: The fifth stage of capitalism. Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 59, 142-169.
CowtonC. (1999). Playing by the rules: Ethical criteria at an ethical investment fund. Business Ethics: A European Review, 8, 60-69.
12.
CrifoP.DiayeM. A.PekovicS. (2016). CSR related management practices and firm performance: An empirical analysis of the quantity–quality trade-off on French data. International Journal of Production Economics, 171, 405-416.
13.
CrifoP.ForgetV. (2015). The economics of corporate social responsibility: A firm-level perspective survey. Journal of Economic Surveys, 29, 112-130.
14.
CrifoP.MottisN. (2016). Socially responsible investment in France. Business & Society, 55, 576-593.
15.
CrifoP.RebériouxA. (2016). Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility: A typology of OECD countries. Journal of Governance and Regulation, 5, 14-27.
16.
CrifoP.Sinclair-DesgagnéB. (2014). The economics of corporate environmental responsibility. International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, 7, 1-19.
17.
DavisG. (2009). The rise and fall of finance and the end of the society of organizations. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23, 27-44.
18.
DéjeanF. (2005). L’Investissement socialement responsible: Etude du cas français [Socially responsible investment: Study of the French case]. Paris, France: Vuibert.
19.
DéjeanF.GiamporcaroS.GondJ.-P.LecaB.PenalvaE. (2013). Mistaking an emerging market for a social movement? A comment on Arjaliès’ social-movement perspective on socially responsible investment in France. Journal of Business Ethics, 112, 205-212.
20.
DéjeanF.GondJ.-P.LecaB. (2004). Measuring the unmeasured: An institutional entrepreneur strategy in an emerging industry. Human Relations, 57, 741-764.
21.
DelmasM. A.EtzionD.Nairn-BirchN. (2013). Triangulating environmental performance: What do corporate social responsibility ratings really capture?Academy of Management Perspectives, 27, 255-267.
22.
DelmasM. A.LyonT. P.MaxwellJ. W. (2019). Understanding the role of the corporation in sustainability transitions. Organization & Environment, 32, 87-97.
23.
DelmasM. A.ToffelM. (2008). Organizational responses to environmental demands: Opening the black box. Strategic Management Journal, 29, 1027-1055.
24.
DimsonE.KarakaşO.LiX. (2016). Active ownership, Review of Financial Studies, 28, 3225-3268.
25.
DurandR.KhaireM. (2017). Where do market categories come from and how? Distinguishing category creation from category emergence. Journal of Management, 43, 87-110.
26.
EtzionD.FerraroF. (2010). The role of analogy in the institutionalization of sustainability reporting. Organization Science, 21, 1092-1107.
27.
European Commission, European Union. (2001). Promoting a European framework for Corporate Social Responsibility (Green Paper). Brussels, Belgium: Author.
28.
Eurosif. (2012). Eurosif European Survey 2012. Retrieved from http://eurosif.org
29.
Eurosif. (2016). Eurosif European Survey 2016. Retrieved from http://eurosif.org
30.
Eurosif. (2018). Eurosif European Survey 2018. Retrieved from http://eurosif.org
31.
FrynasJ.StephensS. (2014). Political corporate social responsibility: Reviewing theories and setting new agendas. International Journal of Management Reviews, 17, 483-509.
32.
GeorgallisP.DowellG.DurandR. (2018). Shine on me: Industry coherence and policy support for emerging industries. Administrative Science Quarterly. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0001839218771550
33.
GiamporcaroS. (2006). L’investissement socialement responsable entre l’offre et la demande: Analyse et enjeux de la construction sociale d’une épargne politique [Socially responsible investment between supply and demand: analysis of and issues in the social construction of “political saving], (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00357511/document
34.
GiamporcaroS.GondJ.-P. (2016). Calculability as politics in the construction of markets: The case of socially responsible investment in France. Organization Studies, 37, 465-495.
35.
GondJ.-P. (2006). Contribution à l’étude de la Performance Sociétale de l’Entreprise: Fondements théoriques, construction sociale, impact financier [Contribution to the study of corporate social performance. Theoretical foundations, social construction, financial impact.] (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Toulouse I, Toulouse, France.
36.
GondJ.-P.BoxenbaumE. (2013). The glocalization of responsible investment: Contextualization work in France and Quebec. Journal of Business Ethics, 115, 707-721.
37.
GondJ.-P.IgalensJ.BrèsL. (2013). Rendre compte du social: l’art du compromis performatif. Revue Française de Gestion [Accounting for social issues: The art of performative compromise], 39, 201-226.
38.
GondJ.-P.O’SullivanN.SlagerR.ViehsM.HomanenM.MosonyiS. (2018). How ESG engagement creates value for investors and companies: Principles for Responsible Investment. Retrieved from https://www.unpri.org/download?ac=4637
IgalensJ.GondJ.-P. (2005). Measuring corporate social performance in France: A critical and empirical analysis of ARESE data. Journal of Business Ethics, 56, 131-148.
44.
IoannouI.SerafeimG. (2015). The impact of corporate social responsibility on investment recommendations: Analysts’ perceptions and shifting institutional logics. Strategic Management Journal, 36, 1053-1081.
45.
KnudsenJ.MoonJ. (2017). Visible hands: Government regulation and international business responsibility. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
46.
KurtzL. (2008). Socially responsible investment and shareholder activism. In CraneA.MattenD.McWilliamsA.MoonJ.SiegelD. S. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility (pp. 249-267). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
47.
LamontM. (2012). Toward a comparative sociology of valuation and evaluation. Annual Review of Sociology, 38, 201-221.
48.
LoucheC.LydenbergS. (2006). Investissement socialement responsable: Différences entre Europe et Etats Unis [Socially responsible investment: Differences between Europe and the United States]. Revue d'Economie Financière, 85, 81-105.
49.
LyonT.DelmasM.MaxwellJ.BansalT.Chiroleu AssoulineM.CrifoP.. . . WijenF. (2018). CSR needs CPR: Corporate sustainability and politics. California Management Review, 60(4), 5-24.
50.
MarkowitzL. (2007). Structural innovators and core-framing tasks: How socially responsible mutual fund companies build identity among investors. Sociological Perspectives, 50, 131-153.
PaolellaL.DurandR. (2016). Category spanning, evaluation, and performance: Revised theory and test on the corporate law market. Academy of Management Journal, 59, 330-351.
58.
Penalva IcherÉ. (2010). Amitié et régulation par les norms: Le cas de l’investissement socialement responsible [Friendship and regulation by standards: The case of socially responsible investment]. Revue Française de Sociologie/French Review of Sociology, 51, 519-544.
59.
ReineckeJ.ManningS.von HagenO. (2012). The emergence of a standards market: Multiplicity of sustainability standards in the global coffee industry. Organization Studies, 33, 789-812.
60.
SchererA.PalazzoG. (2011). The new political role of business in a globalized world. Journal of Management Studies, 48, 899-931.
61.
SchererA.RascheA.PalazzoG.SpicerA. (2016). Managing for political corporate social responsibility: New challenges and directions for PCSR 2.0. Journal of Management Studies, 53, 273-496.
62.
SchmidtV. A. (2003). French capitalism transformed, yet still a third variety of capitalism. Economy and Society, 32, 526-554.
63.
SchmidtV. A. (2016). Varieties of capitalism: A distinctly French model? In ElgieR.MazurA.GrossmanE.AppletonA. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of French politics (pp. 606-635). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
64.
SineW.LeeB. (2009). Tilting at windmills? The environmental movement and the emergence of the U.S. wind energy sector. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54, 123-155.
65.
SlagerR.GondJ.-P.MoonJ. (2012). Standardization as institutional work: The regulatory power of a responsible investment standard. Organization Studies, 33, 763-790.
U.S. SIF. (2016). Sustainable and responsible investing trends in the United States. Washington, DC: Author.
68.
UseemM. (1996). Investor capitalism. New York, NY: Basic Books.
69.
WhitleyR. (1999). Divergent capitalisms: The social structuring of change of business systems. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
70.
WijenF.ChiroleuM. (2019). Controversy over voluntary environmental standards: A socioeconomic analysis of the Marine Stewardship Council. Organization & Environment, 32, 98-124.
71.
YanS.FerraroF.AlamandozJ. (2018). The rise of socially responsible investment funds: The paradoxical role of the financial logic. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59, 442-473.
