Collaborative investor engagement with policymakers: Changing the rules of the game?

Applying universal ownership theory and drawing on multiple-case studies, this article analyzes what drives institutional investors to engage with government entities and what challenges they find in the process. We relied on document analysis and conducted twelve semi-structured interviews with representatives from asset owners, asset managers, investor associations, and academia. We identify a trend that investors conduct policy engagement to fulfill their fiduciary duty, improve investment risk management, and create an enabling environment for sustainable investments. As for engagement challenges, investors report the longer-term horizon, a perceived limited influence toward governments, the need for capacity building for investors and governments, as well as the difficulty in accessing government representatives. This research contributes to fill a gap in the literature on this new form of investor activism as a growing number of investors engage with sovereign entities on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.