The role of accounting in ideological conflict: Lessons from the South African divestment movement

Responsible Investing of Pension Assets: Links between Framing and Practices for Evaluation

“…RI was initially derived from moral principles defended by religious organisations (such as the Methodist church) which were screening out companies with morally reprehensive activities from their investment targets (in particular companies involved in ''actions of sins'' such as: alcohol, tobacco or gambling activities (Louche and Lydenberg 2006). The modern form of RI has evolved from these moral and religious roots and expanded in the 1970 and 1980s, particularly with the spotlight at that time on anti-apartheid divestment debates, in order to try to promote social change and to influence the behaviour of corporations (Arnold and Hammond 1994;Louche and Lydenberg 2006). These motivations included ethical and ''social'' aspects, hence the common title of ''socially responsible investing (SRI)'' which gained traction since the second half of the 1990s.…”

“…It appears, then, that either the inroads made by the RI community have not kept up with the increase in unsustainable practices, or, that the RI process itself has been ineffective at producing meaningful change. Pension funds, with their high political profile, long-term investment horizon, large asset base, and frequent association with the labour movement have made them appear to be ideal settings for the application of various forms of RI (Arnold and Hammond 1994;Neu and Taylor 1996). While for many years, the fiduciary obligation of pension funds has been cast as the single most important barrier to success in their implementation of RI, this legal barrier has been at least partially removed since the publication of the Freshfield's report in 2005 which concluded that the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in investment analysis was legally acceptable (Freshfields 2005;UNEPFI 2009).…”

Corporate social reporting: segmentation and characterization of Spanish companies

“…However, although the open information policy of the companies is usually guided by the necessity to justify certain business actions (see, e.g., Arnold and Hammond, 1994;Neimark, 1992;Patten, 1992;Deegan and Rankin, 1996) typical of certain sectors of business activity (see, e.g., Cowen et al, 1987;Freedman and Jaggi, 1988;Roberts, 1992;Adams et al, 1995Adams et al, , 1998Hackston and Milne, 1996;Deegan and Gordon, 1996), until now no study has contrasted the relationship existing between the similarity of the corporate social information issued by the companies and the characteristics of size, sector, environmental sensitivity and profi tability that defi ne them.…”

The role of college and university faculty in the fossil fuel divestment movement

“…Calling for divestment of specific types of companies has a long and storied history (Arnold and Hammond 1994, Siew Hong Teoh et al 1999, Schueth 2003, Ansar et al 2013. Many participants in the fossil fuel divestment movement have referenced the success of targeting investments in South Africa during the anti-apartheid movement of the 1960s through the 1980s.…”

“…Many participants in the fossil fuel divestment movement have referenced the success of targeting investments in South Africa during the anti-apartheid movement of the 1960s through the 1980s. (Arnold and Hammond 1994, Tutu 2014, Gelles 2015, Solomon 2015. Recent research comparing the South African boycott, tobacco divestment, and fossil fuel divestment found that the impact of stigmatization associated with divestment has been larger than any direct financial consequences on targeted companies (Ansar et al 2013).…”