Eng-Tuck Cheah

Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility Attitudes: The Demography of Socially Responsible Investors

Demographic characteristics of socially responsible investors (SRIs) are likely to play a significant role in shaping their perceptions and behaviour concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR). This paper identifies demographic characteristics of SRIs and explores the relationship of these characteristics with their CSR attitudes. We analyse, using generalized ordered logistic regression, the questionnaire responses of 2464 SRIs from 20 countries. The results demonstrate that younger and female SRIs are more likely to believe that a companys social and environmental performance is as important as its financial performance. Female SRIs and those with high incomes are the most likely to believe that companies should be as responsible to their shareholders as to the broader society. In addition, younger SRIs, those with high incomes and those who have attained higher education levels regard socially responsible companies as at least as profitable as other companies. The benefits which companies can derive from understanding the demographic profile of SRIs are examined, including a potentially lower cost of capital, improved CSR rankings and business policy formulation and communication consistent with CSR views held by specific groups of SRIs.

Stock market capitalization and financial integration in the Asia Pacific region

The Stock Market Capitalization (SMC) of a country, defined as the aggregated market value equity of companies in the respective equity market, is commonly used to measure the widening and deepening of stock market activity. SMC also influences economic growth predictions and public consensus concerning the value of the stock market. However, no previous work has examined the role this variable plays in the process of financial integration. This article provides an argument for the use of SMC as a means of deciding which countries are acting as leaders in creating a fully integrated equity market in the Asia Pacific region. A total of 12 countries in the Asia Pacific region were divided into ‘Emerging Market’ and ‘Advanced Market’ equity blocks. We examine the relative size of the speed of adjustments derived from the error correction models following the Engle–Granger two-step procedure framework and apply the Granger causality test. The results suggest that Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) possesses the necessary credentials to act as market leader. In fact, Hong Kong SAR appears to be the only contender for market leader of both the ‘Emerging Market’ and ‘Advanced Market’ equity blocks.