On the heterogeneity of sustainable and responsible investors

摘要

We demonstrate that German retail investors have very heterogeneous requirements pertaining to 'sustainable investments' as a group, based on a representative survey (n = 1014). According to investment behavior we identify three investor groups: 'Sustainable and Responsible' (SR) investors, and conventional investors that are either 'generally interested' (INT) or 'not interested' (CONV) in investing in ethical-ecological investments. The most frequently selected screening criteria are identical for SR, INT and CONV investors. However, measures of intra-group and inter-group heterogeneity indicate that these three groups are heterogeneous with very individual demands regarding sustainable investments. Therefore, it is more important to aid the investor in his search for a fund that meets his screening preferences than to create a fund that tries to anticipate investor groups' screening preferences.