SRI in South Africa: A melting-pot of local and global influences

Abstract

Purpose

The anti-apartheid movement represented a cornerstone for socially responsible investors in the 1970s and 1980s driven by the willingness to promote lasting social change. What happened next in terms of socially responsible investing (SRI) in the free South Africa? This chapter explores the local development of SRI in South Africa post-apartheid.

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth literature review combined with a content analysis 73 SRI funds’ investment mandates were undertaken to investigate the local development of SRI in South Africa over the period 1992–2012.

Findings

Mechanisms of local divergence and global convergence have both shaped the phenomenon of SRI in South Africa. SRI in South Africa represents a melting-pot of societal values anchored in a local developmental and transformative political vision, some local and global Islamic religious values, and worldwide SRI and CSR homogenisation trends.

Originality/value

This chapter is the first attempt to outline the mechanisms of local divergence and global convergence that have moulded SRI in a democratic South Africa.

Citation

Giamporcaro, S. and Viviers, S. (2014), "SRI in South Africa: A melting-pot of local and global influences", Socially Responsible Investment in the 21st Century: Does it Make a Difference for Society? (Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 215-246. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2043-905920140000007009