Commitment among ethical investors: An experimental approach

Recent studies have highlighted two apparent `contradictions' in the behaviour of ethical investors: it is not unusual for people to waive the interest on their ethical investments but say they would invest more if the interest rate was raised and it is common for people to invest both in ethical and standard funds. Lewis and Mackenzie have proposed that these contradictions can be resolved using the ideas of framing and mental accounts. The current paper uses an experimental approach to explore these issues. Participants took part in a role-play of a consultation with a `virtual' financial advisor. This was setup on the World Wide Web. Participants used the Netscape browser to provide financial and other information to the financial advisor. They were then presented with a variety of investment choices. The study revealed that ethical investors were generally committed to ethical investment, and kept such investments even if they performed badly or were ethically ineffective.