Investor Behaviour in Green Investments: A Comprehensive Review of Perceptions, Biases, and Decision Processes (International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research)

Summary

• This thematic review synthesises 71 scholarly works published between 2015 and 2025 examining retail investor behaviour in green investments.p.1
• The global green bond market expanded from $0.8 billion in 2007 to over $143 billion by 2018.p.1
• Publications from 2022 to 2025 account for over 57% of the 71 documents included in the corpus.p.5
• Indian studies form the largest single country cluster, representing approximately 28% of empirical papers.p.5
• Fintech adoption explained 9% of variance in green investment willingness among retail investors.p.7
• Financial access through fintech explained 13% of variance in preference for socially responsible products.p.8

Key insights

1. Pro-environmental attitudes are necessary but insufficient for green investment participation without green financial literacy and institutional trust.p.1
2. Loss aversion creates an asymmetry where the perceived financial risk of underperformance consistently dominates anticipated environmental benefits.p.2
3. Social influence serves as the most powerful driver of green investment behaviour among investors in Sri Lanka.p.8
4. Female respondents show higher green investment awareness and participation than male counterparts within equivalent income and education cohorts.p.8
5. Corporate green bond issuance increases the quantity of green innovation but does not necessarily enhance its quality.p.9
6. The existing literature lacks longitudinal and panel study designs required to establish causal relationships over time.p.10