RT Article
T1 Bias in Mission-Driven Finance: Discrimination or Mission Drift?*
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 203
IS 1
SP 91
OP 106
A1 Cozarenco, Anastasia
A1 Szafarz, Ariane 1958-
A2 Szafarz, Ariane 1958-
LA English
YR 2026
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1948058340
AB There is a growing focus on the issue of inequitable lending practices. It has been demonstrated that institutions with a social mission are not exempt from the potential for negative bias. This paper contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, we present a theoretical framework for elucidating the nature of bias for mission-driven lenders, who prioritize lending to specific disadvantaged groups. This framework clarifies the distinction between discrimination, which is defined with respect to ethical principles, and mission drift, which is associated with a specific social mission. This classification helps to rigorously assess the nature of identified biases. Second, we test for bias in lending outcomes using data from a European microfinance organization (MFO), with a social mission to prioritize unemployed loan applicants. The findings suggest that the mission-driven lender is subject to both discrimination and mission drift. The results indicate the presence of two discriminatory biases: (i) against women holding European Union (EU) citizenship in comparison with EU men and (ii) against unemployed women in comparison with unemployed men. The evidence of mission drift stems from the negative bias against unemployed women in comparison with employed women. These three biases are consistent with unconscious gender stereotypes. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed in the conclusion, along with avenues for further research, particularly in the detection of bias in fintech lending.
K1 C12
K1 C44
K1 D63
K1 Discrimination in lending
K1 Ethical finance
K1 G21
K1 Gender
K1 J15
K1 J16
K1 Migrants
K1 Mission drift
K1 Unemployed
DO 10.1007/s10551-025-06020-x