Do sustainably managed pension savings foster sustainable investments? Evidence from a field experiment

Abstract

Pension funds increasingly consider sustainability issues in their asset allocation, and, in general, beneficiaries have been shown to approve of this shift in their pension savings. We assess the prevalence of spillover effects once beneficiaries learn about the sustainability orientation of their pension assets using beneficiaries of a Swiss-based pension fund (n=573). Our results suggest a strong priming effect, with participants investing significantly more in a sustainable investment option after being made aware of the general importance of sustainability. However, when we additionally inform them that their pension fund pursues a distinct sustainable investment strategy, allocations to the sustainable option decrease to levels of a control group without additional information available. This finding indicates that explicitly communicating the sustainability strategy of pension funds can lead to a rebound effect in the form of licensing among beneficiaries.