Lars Hornuf and co-authors receive an award for their recent study on sustainable investment decisions

Professor Lars Hornuf and his two co-authors, Professor Christoph Merkle and Professor Stefan Zeisberger, have been awarded the Prix Spécial du Jury Académique by AF2i. The Association Française des Investisseurs Institutionnels is a renowned French professional association representing institutional investors.

Their research project examines, through a field experiment involving real clients of a robo-advisor, whether investors are more likely to choose sustainable portfolios when these are presented as the default option. The researchers find that a sustainable default increases the share of investors selecting sustainable investments from 23% to 36%. At the same time, expected financial returns remain the most important driver of investment decisions, and only a small minority of investors are willing to sacrifice a substantial portion of returns for sustainability.

The study also shows that the effect persists over time. The vast majority of investors maintained their original choice even months later, highlighting the powerful influence of default options in the context of financial decision-making.