Optimistic framing increases responsible investment of investment professionals

Dan Daugaard; Danielle Kent; Maroš Servátka; Lyla Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-50965-w

Optimistic framing increases responsible investment of investment professionals

Dan Daugaard, Danielle Kent^*, Maroš Servátka, Lyla Zhang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

55 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The global warming crisis is unlikely to abate while the world continues to collectively fund the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Carbon divestment is urgently needed to ward off the impending climate emergency. Yet responsible investments still only account for a modest share of global assets. We conduct an incentivized artefactual field experiment to test whether framing divestment as a social norm, communicating it by a person with perceived credibility and expertise (a messenger), and highlighting optimistic attributes bolster responsible investment. Our subjects are investment professionals who have significant influence over the allocation of funds. We provide evidence that optimistic framing increases responsible investment. Assuming a comparable effect size, the observed increase would represent a $3.6 trillion USD global shift in asset allocations.

Original language	English
Article number	583
Pages (from-to)	1-9
Number of pages	9
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-50965-w
Publication status	Published - Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2024, The Author(s). Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

Social norms
Learned helplessness
Moral judgment
Climate
Psychology

Access to Document

10.1038/s41598-023-50965-wLicence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 1.02 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{439aabc2ba8f491e9a183671685b4591,

title = "Optimistic framing increases responsible investment of investment professionals",

abstract = "The global warming crisis is unlikely to abate while the world continues to collectively fund the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Carbon divestment is urgently needed to ward off the impending climate emergency. Yet responsible investments still only account for a modest share of global assets. We conduct an incentivized artefactual field experiment to test whether framing divestment as a social norm, communicating it by a person with perceived credibility and expertise (a messenger), and highlighting optimistic attributes bolster responsible investment. Our subjects are investment professionals who have significant influence over the allocation of funds. We provide evidence that optimistic framing increases responsible investment. Assuming a comparable effect size, the observed increase would represent a $3.6 trillion USD global shift in asset allocations.",

keywords = "Social norms, Learned helplessness, Moral judgment, Climate, Psychology",

author = "Dan Daugaard and Danielle Kent and Maro{\v s} Serv{\'a}tka and Lyla Zhang",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} 2024, The Author(s). Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

year = "2024",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1038/s41598-023-50965-w",

language = "English",

volume = "14",

pages = "1--9",

journal = "Scientific Reports",

issn = "2045-2322",

publisher = "Springer, Springer Nature",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Optimistic framing increases responsible investment of investment professionals

AU - Daugaard, Dan

AU - Kent, Danielle

AU - Servátka, Maroš

AU - Zhang, Lyla

N1 - Copyright © 2024, The Author(s). Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2024/1

Y1 - 2024/1

N2 - The global warming crisis is unlikely to abate while the world continues to collectively fund the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Carbon divestment is urgently needed to ward off the impending climate emergency. Yet responsible investments still only account for a modest share of global assets. We conduct an incentivized artefactual field experiment to test whether framing divestment as a social norm, communicating it by a person with perceived credibility and expertise (a messenger), and highlighting optimistic attributes bolster responsible investment. Our subjects are investment professionals who have significant influence over the allocation of funds. We provide evidence that optimistic framing increases responsible investment. Assuming a comparable effect size, the observed increase would represent a $3.6 trillion USD global shift in asset allocations.

AB - The global warming crisis is unlikely to abate while the world continues to collectively fund the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Carbon divestment is urgently needed to ward off the impending climate emergency. Yet responsible investments still only account for a modest share of global assets. We conduct an incentivized artefactual field experiment to test whether framing divestment as a social norm, communicating it by a person with perceived credibility and expertise (a messenger), and highlighting optimistic attributes bolster responsible investment. Our subjects are investment professionals who have significant influence over the allocation of funds. We provide evidence that optimistic framing increases responsible investment. Assuming a comparable effect size, the observed increase would represent a $3.6 trillion USD global shift in asset allocations.

KW - Social norms

KW - Learned helplessness

KW - Moral judgment

KW - Climate

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85181443957&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-023-50965-w

DO - 10.1038/s41598-023-50965-w

M3 - Article

C2 - 38182708

AN - SCOPUS:85181443957

SN - 2045-2322

VL - 14

SP - 1

EP - 9

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

M1 - 583

ER -

Optimistic framing increases responsible investment of investment professionals

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this