Institutional investors have been flexing their muscles on corporate governance issues this year. So why do individual investors continue to be so disengaged on these matters?

A recent analysis of investor voting at annual shareholder meetings highlights a striking contrast between the views of institutional investors and those of individuals. It was conducted by Broadridge Financial Solutions, a technology and data analytics firm and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditing and professional services firm, and it compared the votes of endowments, pension funds and mutual funds with those of retail investors at almost 3,400 annual meetings between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year.

The analysis found that even as more institutions are voting their shares against corporate management on environmental matters, executive pay and board diversity, individuals’ votes are more likely to support the executives.

Consider the figures. Of the shares voted by institutions this year, 54 percent favored shareholder proposals urging companies to make disclosures about the effects of climate change on their businesses. But only 10 percent of shares held by individuals were cast in support of these proposals.