January 2025
A Sustainable Future recently interviewed Andrew King, Allen and Kelli Professor in Information Systems, for a podcast episode discussing how sustainable investing is facing its own replication crisis.
The replication crisis refers to the difficulty of replicating key academic findings, undermining research credibility. In ESG research, methodological flaws and inflated results are common, often driven by pressures to publish significant findings, leading to practices like P-hacking and selective reporting. Political motivations and financial backing from green investors make ESG studies particularly vulnerable, causing flawed research to be widely cited. King discusses how critiquing these studies has led to professional challenges, including journal rejections and strained relationships.
“There are now getting to be more people interested in this replication improvement of our empirical methods, new forms of journals, improved reporting. So, I think there’s hope, but it’s hope at the kind of green seed level,” King adds.
King stresses the importance of transparency and rigor in sustainability research, urging researchers to embrace constructive criticism and ensure their findings are truly reflective of the data to help move the field forward.