Large, listed companies are under increasing pressure to respond to critical issues such as climate change, modern slavery, and the protection of First Nations' heritage. Much of this pressure is exerted by civil society actors through corporate governance mechanisms, including leveraging shareholder rights to lobby firms. At the heart of this process sit largely understudied actors, proxy advisors, who advise large institutional investors on whether to support civil society's claim‐making on companies. The proxy advising industry is an influential duopoly that advises almost all institutional investors globally. This article advances our understanding of how norms are formed to become established market practices. It maps the relational power structures that govern ethical investment and reveals the capacity of proxy advisors to contribute to the cascading of ethical investment norms. In doing so, we argue that markets are not solely guided by exogenous forces but are reflective of the web of social relations between actors. We conclude that despite historically being seen as neutral experts in their role in advising institutional investors, proxy advisors should be viewed as political actors with significant influence over the outcome of social movement campaigns.

中文翻译：

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代理顾问在道德投资运动中的政治影响：引导看不见的手


大型上市公司在应对气候变化、现代奴隶制和保护原住民遗产等关键问题方面承受着越来越大的压力。这种压力大部分是由公民社会行为者通过公司治理机制施加的，包括利用股东权利来游说公司。这一过程的核心是基本上未被充分研究的行为者，即代理顾问，他们就是否支持公民社会对公司的主张向大型机构投资者提供建议。代理咨询行业是一个有影响力的双头垄断，为全球几乎所有机构投资者提供咨询。本文促进了我们对规范如何形成成为既定市场实践的理解。它描绘了管理道德投资的关系权力结构，并揭示了代理顾问为道德投资规范的级联做出贡献的能力。在此过程中，我们认为市场不仅仅受外生力量的引导，而且反映了参与者之间的社会关系网络。我们得出的结论是，尽管代理顾问历来被视为中立的专家，在为机构投资者提供建议方面，代理顾问应被视为对社会运动活动的结果具有重大影响的政治行为者。