Does ESG information impact individual investors’ portfolio choices?

Catharina Janz, Rainer Michael Rilke and B. Burcin Yurtoglu

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 234, issue C

Abstract: We use an online asset market experiment to study whether ESG information affects the portfolio choices of retail investors. We find a significantly higher portfolio allocation to stocks with ESG information in the order of 14 percentage points compared to a control group where no ESG information is released. ESG information impacts retail investors regardless of its association with one of its components (Environment, Social or Governance) and degree of detail. In contrast to survey-based evidence on the importance of socio-demographic characteristics and personal traits, our results provide very limited evidence that such characteristics meaningfully correlate with portfolio reallocations in response to ESG information.

Keywords: ESG; Corporate social responsibility; Environmental; Social; Governance; Investor behavior; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G18 G30 G34 G39 K22 K29 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:234:y:2025:i:c:s016726812500126x

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107007

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