Performance Evaluation of Conventional and Sustainable Pension Funds in Türkiye Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The results obtained by analyzing the financial performance of sustainable investments help to break down investors' negative prejudices about this investment philosophy. Although the number of studies in this area has reached a satisfactory level in developed markets, there are serious deficiencies in emerging markets. The fund kind and methodology differentiate this study from the literature. The study examines the performance of sustainable pension funds in the Turkish market, using MCDM of entropy, TOPSIS, and GRA. Including 3 sustainable and 19 conventional pension funds, the study covers the period between 2017 and 2021. The findings reveal that TOPSIS and GRA results are consistent. Although the performance ranking of sustainable funds fluctuates, it is observed that, in general, sustainable funds do not lag behind the performance of conventional funds and may even outperform them. Moreover, they have maintained their performance and outperformed conventional funds during periods of domestic crisis. However, a similar situation was not observed during the COVID-19 period.