It’s the news, stupid! The relationship between news attention, literacy, trust, greenwashing perceptions, and sustainable finance investment in Switzerland

Figures & data

Figure 1. Responses to the question ‘How did you find out about sustainable finance (click all that apply)?’; n = 675.

Table 1. Descriptives for all variables.

Variables	M	SD	Min	Max
Age	3.67	1.49	1	6
Gender	1.54	0.50	1	2
Education	11.36	5.11	3	19
Income	5.07	1.63	1	8
Children	0.58	0.49	0	1
Living Area	2.20	0.83	1	3
Environmental Behavior	3.57	0.79	1	5
Climate Change Awareness	3.67	1.00	1	5
Discussion Frequency SF	2.15	.98	1	5
Financial Literacy	2.32	0.83	0	3
Sustainable Finance Literacy	1.40	1.31	0	4
SF News Attention	1.95	0.85	1	5
Economic News Attention	2.71	1.04	1	5
Trust in SF	2.82	0.79	1	5
Greenwashing Perceptions	2.86	0.93	1	5
Likeliness to Invest in SF	2.79	1.23	1	5

Notes. Sample after listwise deletion; n = 537; coding of variables: age: 1 = 18-15, 2 = 26-35, 3 = 36-45, 4 = 46-55, 5 = 56-65, 6 = 66 or older; gender: 1 = female; 2 = male; education: 1 = not finished primary school, 2 = primary school, 3 = 10th grade, 4 = secondary, junior high and high school, 5 = basic professional training, 6 = apprenticeship or vocational baccalaureate, 7 = teachers’ seminar, school for teaching professions, 8 = technical schools, 9 = gymnasium matura schools, 10 = second apprenticeship, 11 = vocational baccalaureate for adults, 12 = high school diploma for adults, 13 = Master’s diploma or diploma or post-diploma from a higher technical school, 14 = university colleges – basic studies, 15 = technical colleges (FH), teacher training colleges – Bachelor, 16 = universities, federal institutes of technology (ETH) – Bachelor, 17 = universities of applied sciences (FH), colleges of education – Master’s, diploma, 18 = universities, Swiss federal institutes of technology (ETH) – Master’s, 19 = doctorate, PhD; income: 1 = under 15,000 CHF, 2 = between 15,000 and 29,999 CHF, 3 = between 30,000 CHF and 49,999 CHF, 4 = between 50,000 CHF and 74,999 CHF, 5 = 75,000 CHF and 99,999 CHF, 6 = between 100,000 CHF and 149,999 CHF, 7 = between 150,000 CHF and 300,000 CHF, 8 = over 300,000 CHF; children: 0 = no; 1 = yes; living area: 1 = urban; 2 = suburban, 3 = rural.

Table 2. Zero-Order Correlations Among All Key Variables and Control Variables

Variables	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1. Likeliness to Invest SF	–
2. Sustainable Finance Literacy	.27***	–
3. SF News Attention	.42***	.39***	–
4. Trust in SF	.17***	.05	.13**	–
5. Greenwashing Perceptions of SF	−.26***	−.10*	–.24***	−.20***	–
6. Environmental Behavior	.23***	.10*	.31***	−.01	−.22***	–
7. Climate Change Awareness	.31***	.10*	.31***	.03	−.36***	.63***	–
8. Financial Literacy	.21***	.34***	.21***	−.04	−.08	.03	.05	–
9. Economic News Attention	.27***	.44***	.60***	.07	−.05	.01	.01	.28***
10. Discussion Frequency SF	.24***	.25***	.57***	.03	−.21***	.32***	.32***	.10*	.36***

Notes. n = 537; ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Table 3. Antecedents of key variables.

Antecedents of Key Variables
	Sustainable Finance Literacy	Sustainable Finance News Attention	Trust in Sustainable Finance	Greenwashing Perceptions
Sociodemographics
Age	−.01 (.04)	−.02 (.02)	−.16** (.03)	−.09* (.03)
Gender	−.04 (.11)	−.002 (.05)	.01 (.07)	.06 (.08)
Education	.20*** (.01)	−.05 (.01)	−.11* (.01)	−.03 (.01)
Income	.07 (.03)	.04 (.02)	−.03 (.02)	−.001 (.02)
Children	−.01 (.12)	−.01 (.06)	.04 (.08)	.05 (.09)
Rural Living	−.05 (.06)	−.001 (.03)	−.02 (.04)	−.06 (.05)
Climate Change (CC)
Environ. Behavior	.01 (.08)	.13*** (.04)	−.03 (.06)	.06 (.06)
CC Awareness	−.002 (.07)	.09* (.03)	−.03 (.05)	−.32*** (.05)
Discussion Freq. SF	.05 (.06)	.30*** (.03)	−.09 (.04)	.06 (.05)
Literacy
Financial Literacy	.18*** (.06)	.01 (.03)	−.08 (.04)	−.08 (.05)
SF Literacy	–	.09** (.02)	.05 (.03)	−.01 (.03)
News Attention
SF News	.14** (.08)	–	.14* (.06)	−.15* (.07)
Economic News	.23*** (.06)	.45*** (.03)	.07 (.05)	−.10 (.05)
Mediators
Trust	.04 (.06)	.06* (.03)	–	−.19*** (.05)
Greenwashing	−.01 (.06)	−.07* (.03)	−.22*** (.04)	–
R^2	32.4%	57.6%	9.3%	20.1%

Notes. Cell entries are final-entry ordinary least squares (OLS), standardized Beta ($\beta$) coefficients; standard errors in parentheses; n = 537 (after listwise deletion); bolded results are within normal confidence intervals based on 5,000 bootstraps; coding of variables: gender: female = 1; male = 2; children: 0 = no; 1 = yes; living environment: 1 = urban; 2 = suburban, 3 = rural; * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Table 4. Regression analyses predicting the likeliness to invest in SF.

	Likeliness to Invest in Sustainable Investment Products
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5
Block 1: Socio-demographics
Age	−.02 (.04)	−.07 (.04)	−.08 (.04)	−.11* (.04)	−.10* (.04)
Gender	.14*** (.11)	.15*** (.10)	.12** (.10)	.09* (.10)	.09* (.10)
Education	.09 (.01)	.07 (.01)	.02 (.01)	.02 (.01)	.03 (.01)
Income	.13** (.03)	.13** (.03)	.10* (.03)	.08* (.03)	.08 (.03)
Children	−.06 (.13)	−.05 (.12)	−.04 (.12)	−.04 (.11)	−.04 (.11)
Rural Living	−.06 (.06)	.01 (.06)	.02 (.06)	.02 (.06)	.02 (.06)
R^2	6.9%
Block 2: Climate Change (CC)
Environ. Behavior		.06 (.08)	.06 (.08)	.04 (.08)	.05 (.08)
CC Awareness		.24*** (.06)	.23*** (.06)	.21*** (.06)	.17** (.06)
Discussion Freq. SF		.14** (.05)	.11* (.05)	−.03 (.06)	−.03 (.06)
R^2		18.7%
Block 3: Literacy
Financial Literacy			.07 (.06)	.05 (.06)	.05 (.06)
SF Literacy			.14** (.04)	.07 (.04)	.06 (.04)
R^2			21.0%
Block 4: News Attention
SF News				.29*** (.08)	.25*** (.08)
Economic News				.03 (.07)	.04 (.06)
R^2				26.2%
Block 5: Mediators
Trust					.10** (.06)
Greenwashing					−.10* (.05)
R^2					28.5%

Notes. Cell entries are final-entry ordinary least squares (OLS), standardized Beta ($\beta$) coefficients; standard errors in parentheses; n = 537 (after listwise deletion); bolded results are within normal confidence intervals based on 5,000 bootstraps; coding of variables: gender: 1 = female; 2 = male; children: 0 = no; 1 = yes; living environment: 1 = urban; 2 = suburban, 3 = rural; * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Figure 2 .Conceptual model of the relationship between SF news attention, sustainable finance literacy and the likeliness to invest in sustainable finance investment products, mediated by trust in sustainable finance and greenwashing perceptions. Results are from final-entry ordinary least squares (OLS) (see Tables 3 and 4), standardized Beta ($\beta$) coefficients; standard errors in parentheses; n = 537 (after listwise deletion); bolded results are within normal confidence intervals based on 5,000 bootstraps; controlled for age, gender, income, education, having children, living area, environmental behavior, climate change awareness, and discussion frequency about SF; * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Table I. Antecedents of key variables – predictive mean imputation.

Antecedents of Key Variables
	Sustainable Finance Literacy	Sustainable Finance News Attention	Trust in Sustainable Finance	Greenwashing Perceptions
Sociodemographics
Age	−.003 (.03)	.01 (.02)	−.10*** (.02)	−.04 (.03)
Gender	−.13 (.09)	.01 (.05)	.04 (.07)	.21** (.07)
Education	.05*** (.01)	−.01 (.005)	−.01* (.01)	−.001 (.01)
Income	.03 (.03)	.02 (.02)	−.01 (.02)	−.005 (.03)
Children	.02 (.10)	−.04 (.05)	.10 (.08)	.09 (.08)
Rural Living	−.11* (.05)	−.01 (.03)	−.02 (.04)	−.07 (.04)
Climate Change (CC)
Environ. Behavior	−.05 (.07)	.10** (.03)	−.03 (.05)	.06 (.06)
CC Awareness	.03 (.06)	.07* (.03)	−.01 (.04)	−.31*** (.04)
Discussion Freq. SF	.04 (.05)	.26*** (.03)	−.03 (.04)	−.02 (04)
Literacy
Financial Literacy	.30*** (.05)	.02 (.03)	−.10** (.04)	−.09* (.04)
SF Literacy	–	.06** (.02)	.03 (.03)	−.03 (.03)
News Attention
SF News	.23** (.08)	–	.11* (.06)	−.14* (.06)
Economic News	.30*** (.06)	.35*** (.03)	.06 (.04)	.05 (.05)
Mediators
Trust	.05 (.05)	.06* (.03)	–	−.24*** (.04)
Greenwashing	−.05 (.05)	−.05* (.023)	−.19*** (.03)	–

Notes. Cell entries are final-entry ordinary least squares (OLS), unstandardized beta ($\mathrm{B}$) coefficients; standard errors in parentheses; n = 675 (using predictive mean imputation); coding of variables: gender: 1 = female; 2 = male; children: 0 = no; 1 = yes; living environment: 1 = urban; 2 = suburban, 3 = rural; * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Table II. Regression Analyses Predicting the Likeliness to Invest in SF – Predictive Mean Imputation.

	Likeliness to Invest in Sustainable Investment Products
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5
Block 1: Socio-demographics
Age	−.02 (.04)	−.05 (.03)	−.06 (.03)	−.09* (.03)	−.07* (.03)
Gender	.29** (.09)	.32*** (.09)	.25** (.09)	.16 (.09)	.18* (.09)
Education	.02 (.01)	.02 (.01)	.01 (.01)	.01 (.01)	.01 (.01)
Income	.11*** (.03)	.11*** (.03)	.09** (.03)	.07* (.03)	.07** (.03)
Children	−.12 (.11)	−.10 (.10)	−.09 (.10)	−.07 (.10)	−.07 (.10)
Rural Living	−.08 (.06)	.01 (.05)	.03 (.05)	.04 (.05)	.03 (.05)
Block 2: Climate Change (CC)
Environ. Behavior		.09 (.07)	.10 (.07)	.08 (.07)	.10 (.07)
CC Awareness		.27*** (.06)	.27*** (.06)	.25*** (.05)	.20*** (.06)
Discussion Freq. SF		.21*** (.05)	.17*** (.05)	.03 (.05)	.03 (.05)
Block 3: Literacy
Financial Literacy			.09 (.06)	.07 (.05)	.08 (.05)
SF Literacy			.12** (.04)	.06 (.04)	.05 (.04)
Block 4: News Attention
SF News				.34*** (.07)	.29*** (.07)
Economic News				.06 (.06)	.06 (.06)
Block 5: Mediators
Trust					.14** (.05)
Greenwashing					−.12* (.05)

Notes. Cell entries are final-entry ordinary least squares (OLS), unstandardized beta ($\mathrm{B}$) coefficients; standard errors in parentheses; n = 675 (using predictive mean imputation); coding of variables: gender: 1 = female; 2 = male; children: 0 = no; 1 = yes; living environment: 1 = urban; 2 = suburban, 3 = rural; * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in OSF at https://osf.io/zb3c8/.