Are Ethical Investors Real?

This paper deals with the issue of just who are ethical or socially responsible (SR) investors. It reports investigations into the demographic characteristics and motivations of a group of investors who have invested in an unequivocally ethical investment in a public corporation involved in nature conservation in Australia. It further tackles the issue of whether such investors are in fact donors, not genuine investors, by splitting the sample of shareholders according to their ranking of financial considerations (dividends, capital growth, financial stability and portfolio diversification needs) and testing for independence. Little supporting evidence was found to substantiate the view that ethical investors are in fact donors.