Fostering sustainable investments through micro-investing platforms

Claudia Gonzalez-Arcos; Cristyn Meath; Peter Popkowski Leszczyc; Ernan Haruvy; Jake An

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-48452-3

Fostering sustainable investments through micro-investing platforms

Sci Rep. 2023 Dec 1;13(1):21194. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-48452-3.

Authors

Claudia Gonzalez-Arcos^{1

2}, Cristyn Meath³, Peter Popkowski Leszczyc², Ernan Haruvy⁴, Jake An⁵

Affiliations

¹ Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile.
² University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
³ University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. c.meath@business.uq.edu.au.
⁴ McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
⁵ University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia.

Abstract

We uncover the underlying factors that influence perceived trade-offs between sustainability and financial returns and risks, and the resulting real-world investment behaviour of micro-investors. Given the direct-to-consumer nature of new age investment platforms, the context for our study is framed within a consumer-centric context. Through a survey and conjoint experiment (383 investors), and analysis of actual investment decisions (for 89,744 micro-investors), we show that individual motives-specifically sustainability values and feelings of empowerment-are key drivers for sustainable investments, influencing willingness to forgo financial returns and the duration of investment. We provide practical implications for fostering sustainable investments through micro-investing platforms.