3: Discussion and Future Prospect

In today’s finance literature, SRI has become a prominent term. The importance of financial markets in international development has grown. The current financial constraints and the largest-ever rescue and recovery aids granted in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic external shock are leveraging the demand for transparency and accountability of finances. For the future, economists and trend analysts attribute the emergence of SRI the potential to lift entire market industries onto a more socially conscientious level.

Given the rising demand for social responsibility within market systems, the common body of knowledge on SRI is fairly limited. Empirical studies on SRI are rare with the current body of research primarily targeting at efficiency and financial correlates of SRI. The insights on socially responsible investors address demographic variables and lifestyle factors, but mainly neglect socio-psychological motives. While market studies foremost focus on economic fundamentals, the knowledge on socio-psychological components of socially responsible financial decision making is scarce. Mild attention has been paid to financial opinion leaders’ view of SRI given their potential to support and advocate for innovative financial options. In addition, until today the contributing factors to the rise of SRI and success factors of financial social responsibility are unexplained.