Exploring the heterogeneous perceptions and drivers of sustainable investment decisions among individual investors in an emerging economy

Four main heterogeneous preferences emerged from our analysis: long-term economic outcomes, environmental factors, ethical and religious preferences, and societal welfare. The primary drivers identified were cultural values, religious values, herding bias, and selective perception bias. Our findings show significant differences in ESG motivations, especially in the weight given to ethical, religious, and societal factors, between value-based investor behavior in emerging economies and that in Central Europe.