IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/vfsc20/224542.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How relevant are economic preferences and personality traits for individual sustainable investment behavior? A framed field experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Gutsche, Gunnar
  • Wetzel, Heike
  • Ziegler, Andreas

Abstract

This paper analyzes the determinants of socially responsible investing (SRI) at the individual investor level. We examine data from an incentivized framed field experiment, which was part of a survey among a representative sample of financial decision makers in German households. Thus, we provide a new approach to elicit preferences for SRI. We further extend the set of potential determinants of SRI and consider all economic preferences according to Falk et al. (2018) and the Big Five personality traits. The analysis reveals that these factors are only of minor relevance in comparison to financial literacy, environmental values, and social norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Gutsche, Gunnar & Wetzel, Heike & Ziegler, Andreas, 2020. "How relevant are economic preferences and personality traits for individual sustainable investment behavior? A framed field experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224542, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224542
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/224542/1/vfs-2020-pid-39105.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rossi, Mariacristina & Sansone, Dario & van Soest, Arthur & Torricelli, Costanza, 2019. "Household preferences for socially responsible investments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 107-120.
    2. Samuel M. Hartzmark & Abigail B. Sussman, 2019. "Do Investors Value Sustainability? A Natural Experiment Examining Ranking and Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(6), pages 2789-2837, December.
    3. van Rooij, Maarten & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Financial literacy and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 449-472, August.
    4. Arno Riedl & Paul Smeets, 2017. "Why Do Investors Hold Socially Responsible Mutual Funds?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(6), pages 2505-2550, December.
    5. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2008. "Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 413-417, May.
    6. Gerhard, Patrick & Gladstone, Joe J. & Hoffmann, Arvid O.I., 2018. "Psychological characteristics and household savings behavior: The importance of accounting for latent heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 66-82.
    7. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    8. Gunnar Gutsche & Anja Köbrich León & Andreas Ziegler, 2019. "On the relevance of contextual factors for socially responsible investments: an econometric analysis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(3), pages 756-776.
    9. Hong, Harrison & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2012. "Red and blue investing: Values and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 1-19.
    10. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2011. "Individual Risk Attitudes: Measurement, Determinants, And Behavioral Consequences," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 522-550, June.
    11. Anke Becker & Thomas Deckers & Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & Fabian Kosse, 2012. "The Relationship Between Economic Preferences and Psychological Personality Measures," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 453-478, July.
    12. Gunnar Gutsche & Bernhard Zwergel, 2016. "Information barriers and SRI market participation – Can sustainability and transparency labels help?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201624, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    13. Jonas Nilsson, 2008. "Investment with a Conscience: Examining the Impact of Pro-Social Attitudes and Perceived Financial Performance on Socially Responsible Investment Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(2), pages 307-325, December.
    14. Maarten C.J. van Rooij & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob J.M. Alessie, 2012. "Financial Literacy, Retirement Planning and Household Wealth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(560), pages 449-478, May.
    15. John Beshears & James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian & Katherine L. Milkman, 2015. "The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(3), pages 1161-1201, June.
    16. Lorraine Whitmarsh, 2008. "Are flood victims more concerned about climate change than other people? The role of direct experience in risk perception and behavioural response," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 351-374, April.
    17. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2009. "Homo Reciprocans: Survey Evidence on Behavioural Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(536), pages 592-612, March.
    18. Conlin, Andrew & Kyröläinen, Petri & Kaakinen, Marika & Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta & Perttunen, Jukka & Svento, Rauli, 2015. "Personality traits and stock market participation," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 34-50.
    19. Dimitris Georgarakos & Roman Inderst, 2011. "Financial Advice and Stock Market Participation," BCL working papers 51, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    20. Ziegler, Andreas, 2019. "The Relevance of Attitudinal Factors for the Acceptance of Energy Policy Measures: A Micro-econometric Analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 129-140.
    21. Boyce, Christopher & Czajkowski, Mikołaj & Hanley, Nick, 2019. "Personality and economic choices," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 82-100.
    22. Claudia Schwirplies & Andreas Ziegler, 2016. "Offset carbon emissions or pay a price premium for avoiding them? A cross-country analysis of motives for climate protection activities," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(9), pages 746-758, February.
    23. repec:ecj:econjl:v:122:y:2012:i::p:449-478 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Almlund, Mathilde & Duckworth, Angela Lee & Heckman, James & Kautz, Tim, 2011. "Personality Psychology and Economics," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-181, Elsevier.
    25. Kaustia, Markku & Torstila, Sami, 2011. "Stock market aversion? Political preferences and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 98-112, April.
    26. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2012. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Risk and Trust Attitudes," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 645-677.
    27. Richard H. Thaler & Shlomo Benartzi, 2001. "Naive Diversification Strategies in Defined Contribution Saving Plans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 79-98, March.
    28. Jacksohn, Anke & Grösche, Peter & Rehdanz, Katrin & Schröder, Carsten, 2019. "Drivers of renewable technology adoption in the household sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 216-226.
    29. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & Benjamin Enke & David B. Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2017. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences," NBER Working Papers 23943, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & Benjamin Enke & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2018. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(4), pages 1645-1692.
    31. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "Trusting the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2557-2600, December.
    32. Iván Barreda-Tarrazona & Juan Matallín-Sáez & Mª Balaguer-Franch, 2011. "Measuring Investors’ Socially Responsible Preferences in Mutual Funds," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(2), pages 305-330, October.
    33. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    34. Gherzi, Svetlana & Egan, Daniel & Stewart, Neil & Haisley, Emily & Ayton, Peter, 2014. "The meerkat effect: Personality and market returns affect investors’ portfolio monitoring behaviour," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PB), pages 512-526.
    35. Bucciol, Alessandro & Zarri, Luca, 2017. "Do personality traits influence investors’ portfolios?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-12.
    36. Bucher-Koenen, Tabea & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2011. "Financial literacy and retirement planning in Germany," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 565-584, October.
    37. Bhat, Chandra R., 2018. "A new flexible multiple discrete–continuous extreme value (MDCEV) choice model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 261-279.
    38. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    39. Ziegler, Andreas, 2017. "Political orientation, environmental values, and climate change beliefs and attitudes: An empirical cross country analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 144-153.
    40. Andreoni, James, 1990. "Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(401), pages 464-477, June.
    41. Harrison Hong & Jeffrey D. Kubik & Jeremy C. Stein, 2004. "Social Interaction and Stock-Market Participation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(1), pages 137-163, February.
    42. Jeffrey R. Brown & Zoran Ivković & Paul A. Smith & Scott Weisbenner, 2008. "Neighbors Matter: Causal Community Effects and Stock Market Participation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1509-1531, June.
    43. Matthew Hood & John Nofsinger & Abhishek Varma, 2014. "Conservation, Discrimination, and Salvation: Investors’ Social Concerns in the Stock Market," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 5-37, February.
    44. Miwa Nakai & Tomonori Honda & Nariaki Nishino & Kenji Takeuchi, 2018. "Psychological characteristics of potential SRI investors and its motivation in Japan: an experimental approach," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 349-367, October.
    45. Bauer, Rob & Smeets, Paul, 2015. "Social identification and investment decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 121-134.
    46. Gutsche, Gunnar & Ziegler, Andreas, 2019. "Which private investors are willing to pay for sustainable investments? Empirical evidence from stated choice experiments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 193-214.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arnold, Fabian & Jeddi, Samir & Sitzmann, Amelie, 2022. "How prices guide investment decisions under net purchasing — An empirical analysis on the impact of network tariffs on residential PV," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gunnar Gutsche & Heike Wetzel & Andreas Ziegler, 2020. "Determinants of individual sustainable investment behavior - A framed field experiment," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202033, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    2. Gutsche, Gunnar & Wetzel, Heike & Ziegler, Andreas, 2023. "Determinants of individual sustainable investment behavior - A framed field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 491-508.
    3. Gunnar Gutsche & Miwa Nakai & Toshi H. Arimura, 2021. "Individual Sustainable Investment in Japan," RIEEM Discussion Paper Series 2006, Research Institute for Environmental Economics and Management, Waseda University.
    4. Beate Fischer & Gunnar Gutsche & Heike Wetzel, 2020. "Who wants to get involved? Determinants of citizens’ willingness to participate in German renewable energy cooperatives," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202027, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    5. Gutsche, Gunnar & Nakai, Miwa & Arimura, Toshi H., 2021. "Revisiting the determinants of individual sustainable investment—The case of Japan," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    6. Andreas Ziegler, 2020. "New Ecological Paradigm meets behavioral economics: On the relationship between environmental values and economic preferences," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202020, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    7. Ziegler, Andreas, 2021. "New Ecological Paradigm meets behavioral economics: On the relationship between environmental values and economic preferences," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    8. Gutsche, Gunnar & Ziegler, Andreas, 2019. "Which private investors are willing to pay for sustainable investments? Empirical evidence from stated choice experiments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 193-214.
    9. Gunnar Gutsche & Andreas Ziegler, 2016. "Are private investors willing to pay for sustainable investments? A stated choice experiment," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201640, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    10. Gunnar Gutsche & Anja Köbrich León & Andreas Ziegler, 2016. "On the relevance of psychological motives, values, and norms for socially responsible investments: An econometric analysis," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201641, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    11. Brunen, Ann-Christine & Laubach, Oliver, 2022. "Do sustainable consumers prefer socially responsible investments? A study among the users of robo advisors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    12. Groh, Elke D. & Ziegler, Andreas, 2022. "On the relevance of values, norms, and economic preferences for electricity consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    13. Elke D. Groh & Andreas Ziegler, 2021. "On the relevance of values, norms, and economic preferences for electricity consumption," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202107, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    14. Gunnar Gutsche & Bernhard Zwergel, 2020. "Investment Barriers and Labeling Schemes for Socially Responsible Investments," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 72(2), pages 111-157, April.
    15. Breitkopf, Laura & Chowdhury, Shyamal K. & Priyam, Shambhavi & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah & Sutter, Matthias, 2020. "Do economic preferences of children predict behavior?," DICE Discussion Papers 342, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    16. Toshi H. Arimura & Elke D. Groh & Miwa Nakai & Andreas Ziegler, 2022. "The causal effect of private and organizational climate-related identity on climate protection activities: Evidence from a framed field experiment in Japan," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202229, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    17. Bucciol, Alessandro & Zarri, Luca, 2017. "Do personality traits influence investors’ portfolios?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-12.
    18. Bauer, Rob & Smeets, Paul, 2015. "Social identification and investment decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 121-134.
    19. Gunnar Gutsche, 2019. "Individual and Regional Christian Religion and the Consideration of Sustainable Criteria in Consumption and Investment Decisions: An Exploratory Econometric Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(4), pages 1155-1182, July.
    20. Thilo K.G. Haverkamp & Heinz Welsch & Andreas Ziegler, 2022. "The Relationship between Pro-environmental Behavior, Economic Preferences, and Life Satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from Germany," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202204, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Socially responsible investing; economic preferences; personality traits; framed field experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles
    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224542. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfsocea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.