Attitudes and Sustainable Investment Behavior of Millennials in China and Germany: Recommendations for Investment Providers

This chapter explores the influence of pro-social attitudes, perceived consumer effectiveness and trust variables on sustainable investment behavior with the aim to explain the preference of German and Chinese Millennial investors (those who are born between 1980 and 1996) for sustainable investments. A total of 113 German (from Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg) and 111 Chinese (from Da-Wan-Qu, Guangdong Province) Millennials participated in the study by completing an online survey. The results show that sustainable investment behavior of the German participants is significantly influenced by the factors of perceived consumer effectiveness, pro-social attitudes and trust. For the Chinese respondents, trust is the central influencing factor for sustainable investment. Further analysis of the cultural variable collectivism indicates expected attitudinal differences between the Chinese and German subsamples, although these differences are almost all statistically non-significant. Other differences were observed regarding expectations of the level of risk and profitability of sustainable investments. The chapter concludes with recommendations to effectively address relevant investor concerns in both countries.