The potential of impact and integral investing for sustainable social development and the role of academia in their dissemination

Abstract

With the increasing challenges our society faces, ranging from environmental issues to the current coronavirus crisis, interest in a new way of investing, known as impact investing, has also been increasing. In addition, recently, an even more conscious way of investing, known as integral investing, has appeared. In this article, the concepts of impact investing and integral investing are described and compared and their positive impacts on society are documented. The importance of people and leaders with corresponding ethics, morals, and personal values for the success of the investments is explained. As both impact and integral investing have the potential to meet the challenges of present-day society and to contribute to its further sustainable development, they should be addressed in academic research and higher education. Therefore, this article seeks to answer the question of whether these concepts are reflected in academia. To answer this question, a bibliometric analysis was conducted. The findings show that there is a modest but growing academic interest in impact investing and very little interest in integral investing. Reasons to take these topics into account in research and education are discussed in the final part of the article.