The information search process of socially responsible investors

Abstract

The market for mutual funds targeted at private investors has shown an incredible growth since the middle of the twentieth century. The industry has come a long way from its modest beginnings in the mid-1900s, when fewer than 50 mutual funds existed in America.1'2 Today thousands of funds exist, and as many as 45 per cent of US households own mutual funds.1 Alongside, or perhaps because of this growth, the market for investment services has also experienced an increasing product diversification. Private investors now have an abundance of different types of mutual funds to choose from as different mutual funds target different industries, regions, types and sizes of companies.