Dr. habil. Bernhard Zwergel
Bernhard Zwergel is a research fellow at the Chair of Sustainable Finance (Prof. Dr. Christian Klein) at the Faculty of Business Administration (University of Kassel). Currently his research interests focus on the analysis of the behavior of private and institutional sustainable investors. Furthermore, his research deals with sustainability ratings and the performance measurement / design of sustainable portfolios, funds and indices.
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Scientific publication
Finance Research Letters: Rating changes revisited: New evidence on short-term ESG momentum
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings are mainstream in sustainable finance. This paper provides important evidence on the effects of ESG rating changes on companies’…
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Corporate Finance: New evidence on German retail investors: The desire to make an impact
To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, massive investments in the real economy are needed. We propose providing long-term interest subsidized loans to companies…
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The Accounting Review: Spillover effects of tax avoidance on peers’ firm value
This research examines spillover effects of tax avoidance on peers’ firm value using the setting of the European Commission’s state aid investigations of private letter…
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Journal of Business Ethics: Active first movers vs. late free-riders? An empirical analysis of UN PRI signatories’ commitment
Joining voluntary thematic initiatives can be a means for firms to legitimate their business activities. However, a lack of review mechanisms could create incentives for…
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Journal of Asset Management: The effect of environmental sustainability on credit risk
The European Commission has proposed establishing a framework that redirects capital to sustainable investments in order to foster sustainable economic growth. A key proposal from…
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Business Strategy and the Environment: Integrated reporting of environmental, social, and governance and financial data: Does the market value integrated reports?
The concept of reporting nonfinancial information within the annual report, so-called Integrated Reporting (IR) is a rising topic in reporting practice. Supporters claim that IR…
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Schmalenbachs Business Review: Investment Barriers and Labeling Schemes for Socially Responsible Investments
Given the increasing role of socially responsible investing (SRI), but still limited participation of individual (i.e. small, retail) investors, the objective of this study is…
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Credit and Capital Markets: Drivers of Socially Responsible Investments Across Europe
The European Union wants to foster the sustainable growth of the economy by using the financial markets as an intermediary. Thus, politicians need to know…
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Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment: On the heterogeneity of sustainable and responsible investors
We demonstrate that German retail investors have very heterogeneous requirements pertaining to ‘sustainable investments’ as a group, based on a representative survey (n = 1014). According to…
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Journal of Business Ethics: Individual and regional Christian religion and the consideration of sustainable criteria in consumption and investment decisions: An exploratory econometric analysis
The concept of sustainable and responsible (SR) investments expresses that every investment should be based on the SR investor’s code of ethics. To a large…
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Journal of Applied Accounting Research: Board composition and corporate risk-taking: a review of listed firms from Germany and the USA
Corporate governance is a crucial factor when considering excessive corporate risk-taking. Since corporate boards play such an important role in corporate governance, the purpose of…
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Corporate Finance: Sustainable and conventional mutual funds: Do they really differ?
This study empirically analyzes the claim that sustainable funds are masked conventional funds for a small part of the German equity fund market. Additionally, we…
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Corporate Ownership and Control: The Effects of Ownership Concentration on Sustainability: A Case of Listed Firms from USA, UK and Germany
Concentrated ownership has been speculated to play a direct role in leading firms to focus more on long-term sustainability. Concentrated ownership, however, can take many…
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BuR – Business Research: Comparing those who do, might and will not invest in sustainable funds – A survey among German retail fund investors
In this paper, we empirically examine whether superior performance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) results in lower credit risk, measured by credit ratings and zero-volatility spreads (z-spreads).…
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Journal of Banking & Finance: Corporate social responsibility and Eurozone corporate bonds: The moderating role of country sustainability
In this paper, we empirically examine whether superior performance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) results in lower credit risk, measured by credit ratings and zero-volatility spreads (z-spreads).…
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Qualitative Research in Financial Markets: Private ethical fund investors across countries and time: A survey-based review
This paper aims to provide an overview of the literature to point out similarities and differences among private ethical investors across countries and time. Over…
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