[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-123129-en":3,"doc-seo-123129-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},123129,7971461740886,"Theodore","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2",8,"Research & Report","Predictors of Sustainable Investment Motivation - An Interpretable Machine Learning Approach - Research Article","This study investigates determinants of retail investors’ allocation of capital to sustainable financial products, with a focus on Germany given its sustainability commitment, enabling regulation, and rapid market growth. Two surveys from 2020 by 2° Investing Initiative and Choyze GmbH, in collaboration with the German Environment Agency, form a measurement-invariant combined dataset. Using generalized linear modeling and interpretable machine learning, the analysis finds three overlapping motivation components—personal values, social/environmental impact, and investment return—while sociodemographic factors show weaker and inconsistent effects.","Please cite the Published Version  \nSosnovskikh, Sergey , Valko, Danila and Meyer-Alten, Raphael (2025) Predictors of Sustainable Investment Motivation: An Interpretable Machine Learning Approach. Sustainable Development. ISSN 0968-0802  \nDOI: [https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3387](https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3387)  \nPublisher: Wiley  \nVersion: Published Version  \nDownloaded from: [https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/638484/](https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/638484/)  \nUsage rights:  Creative Commons: Attribution 4 .0  \nAdditional Information: This is an open access article published in Sustainable Development, by Wiley.  \nEnquiries:  \nIf you have questions about this document, contact [openresearch@mmu.ac.uk. Please](openresearch@mmu.ac.uk. Please) include the URL of the record in e-space. If you believe that your, or a third party’s rights have been compromised through this document please see our Take Down policy (available from [https://www.mmu.ac.uk/library/using-the-library/policies-and-guidelines](https://www.mmu.ac.uk/library/using-the-library/policies-and-guidelines))  \nSustainable Development  \nRESEARCH ARTICLE  OPEN ACCESS   \nPredictors of Sustainable Investment Motivation: An Interpretable Machine Learning Approach  \nSergey Sosnovskikh1  | Danila Valko2  | Raphael Meyer-Alten3   \n1Faculty of Business and Law, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK | 2OFFIS—Institute for Information Technology, Oldenburg, Germany | 3Choyze GmbH, Hannover, Germany  \nCorrespondence: Sergey Sosnovskikh ([s.sosnovskikh@mmu.ac.uk](s.sosnovskikh@mmu.ac.uk))  \nReceived: 25 July 2024 | Revised: 30 January 2025 | Accepted: 2 February 2025  \nKeywords: Germany | green investment | interpretable machine learning | investment motivation | predicting motivation | socially responsible investment | sustainable investment motivation  \nABSTRACT  \nThis study investigates the determinants influencing retail investors' capital allocation to sustainable financial products, focusing specifically on Germany—a pertinent case due to its strong commitment to sustainability, supportive regulatory environment and substantial market growth. We utilised two surveys conducted in 2020 by the 2° Investing Initiative and Choyze GmbH in collaboration with the German Environment Agency to obtain a measurement invariant combined dataset. Utilising robust and generalised linear modelling and interpretable machine learning techniques, our analysis identified that three primary motivation components—personal values, social and environmental impact and investment return—exhibit significant overlap. The findings demonstrate that investment motivations are consistently predicted by sustainability interests. In contrast, sociodemographic factors (age, gender, education, household income) exhibit inconsistent patterns across investment motivations and exert weaker influence. As a result, we propose robust models to predict sustainable investment motivation and highlight their consistency and applicability in the green finance sector.  \n1 | Introduction  \nThis study examines the motivations driving retail investors to incorporate environmental, social and ethical considerations into their decisions. Amid global industrialisation's environmental and social challenges, there has been a growing interest in Socially Responsible Investments (SRI), especially in Western Europe and the United States. Between 2018 and 2021, the assets under management (AUM) of sustainable funds experienced a consistent increase, culminating in a peak in December 2021. However, by June 2022, AUM had declined to approximately 2.8 trillion US dollars. By 2023, the AUM of sustainable funds had rebounded, reaching 3.36 trillion US dollars (Statista, 2023) .  \nThe growth ofSRI can be explained by both demand and supply factors. Some studies suggest that SRI investors are less driven by past financial performance than conventional investors  \n(Renneboog et al. 2008a) and are more influenced by personal values than financ","cbCaipvR6kcFkHFM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipvR6kcFkHFM","pdf",1289153,1,19,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Sustainable investment and retail investor motivation\n## Trends in sustainable fund assets under management (AUM)\n## Demand and supply explanations for SRI growth","[{\"question\":\"What is the main focus of this study?\",\"answer\":\"The study examines what drives retail investors to allocate capital to sustainable financial products, with emphasis on sustainable investment motivation in Germany.\"},{\"question\":\"How are the data collected and prepared for analysis?\",\"answer\":\"Two 2020 surveys from 2° Investing Initiative and Choyze GmbH, developed with the German Environment Agency, are combined into a measurement-invariant dataset for analysis.\"},{\"question\":\"Which factors best predict sustainable investment motivation?\",\"answer\":\"The results show that sustainability interests consistently predict investment motivations, and the three motivation components—personal values, social/environmental impact, and investment return—display significant overlap.\"}]","Predictors of Sustainable Investment Motivation - An Interpretable Machine Learning Approach - Research Article | PDF",1785814772,48,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"predictors-of-sustainable-investment-motivation-an-interpretable-machine-learning-approach-research-article","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,54,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/predictors-of-sustainable-investment-motivation-an-interpretable-machine-learning-approach-research-article/123129/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-04",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What is the main focus of this study?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The study examines what drives retail investors to allocate capital to sustainable financial products, with emphasis on sustainable investment motivation in Germany.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How are the data collected and prepared for analysis?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Two 2020 surveys from 2° Investing Initiative and Choyze GmbH, developed with the German Environment Agency, are combined into a measurement-invariant dataset for analysis.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"Which factors best predict sustainable investment motivation?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The results show that sustainability interests consistently predict investment motivations, and the three motivation components—personal values, social/environmental impact, and investment return—display significant overlap.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":137},"General","general"]