SRI: Performance, Values or Impact? Evidence From a Randomized Field Experiment

Last registered on October 07, 2026

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

SRI: Performance, Values or Impact? Evidence From a Randomized Field Experiment

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0017389

Initial registration date

September 30, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

October 07, 2026, 10:25 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

Markus Strucks

Affiliation

MBS School of Business

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Felipe Trillos

PI Affiliation

University of Montpellier

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Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2026-09-29

End date

2027-04-30

Keywords

Behavior, Finance & Microfinance

Additional Keywords

Sustainable Finance, Investment Behavior

JEL code(s)

D14, G11

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study tests, in a field setting with real retail banking clients, whether tailoring SRI communication to investors' distinct motivations can increase sustainable investment. Using a large-scale online experiment embedded in an actual bank's client communications, participants are randomly assigned to watch one of three short informational videos or to a control group receiving no video. We subsequently measure their effects on participants' SRI-related beliefs, preferences, engagement and investment behavior.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Strucks, Markus and Felipe Trillos. 2026. "SRI: Performance, Values or Impact? Evidence From a Randomized Field Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. October 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17389-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The interventions are three short informational videos on socially responsible investing (SRI), identical in length and format and differing only in the content dimension they emphasize. Each video presents information on a single dimension through a concrete example and closes with a call to action. Control-group participants view no video and instead read a brief standard definitional text on SRI, which is also shown to the treatment groups beforehand.

Intervention Start Date

2026-09-30

Intervention End Date

2026-10-21

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

We examine three primary outcomes: (1) stated intentions to invest in SRI; (2) real-effort engagement with SRI; and (3) real investment behavior.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Stated intentions are measured by the hypothetical euro amount allocated to SRI. Engagement is a dummy variable equal to 1 if the client clicks through to the bank's SRI fund list. Real SRI investment behavior is measured by the change in the client's SRI holdings at the bank after one, three and six months following the experiment.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

We examine conjoint-elicited valuations of SRI attributes; policy support; pairwise treatment contrasts; belief-mechanism tests; and heterogeneous treatment effects by age, gender, wealth, and investor status.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We conduct a randomized field experiment with retail banking clients of a major French bank. Participants complete a short entry questionnaire (characteristics, prior SRI opinion and literacy) and are then randomly assigned to one of four conditions: three short informational video treatments, each isolating a single dimension of socially responsible investing (SRI), or a passive control group that views no video. All participants, including the control group, first read a common definitional text on SRI, so that treatment effects capture the marginal contribution of each video's specific content.

Following treatment, all participants complete outcome sections measuring SRI intentions, real-effort engagement with SRI, investment preferences (choice-based conjoint experiment), and SRI beliefs.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Computerized randomization executed by survey software.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Sample size: planned number of observations

2,000 retail banking clients estimated based on 100,000 invited

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Expected around 500 for each of four arms

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

In our main analyses, with the expected sample size we are able to detect standardized effects of Cohen's d >= 0.178 based on two-sided t-tests power analyses.

Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

Institut Louis Bachelier Institutional Review Board IRB00013336

IRB Approval Date

2026-09-07

IRB Approval Number

ILB-2026-008

Analysis Plan

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