Given the increasing role of socially responsible investing (SRI), but still limited participation of individual (i.e. small, retail) investors, the objective of this study is twofold: (i) We aim to identify investment barriers regarding SRI for individual investors and analyze to what extent these barriers vary across different investor groups. (ii) We analyze to what extent sustainability or transparency labels can help to overcome these barriers. To this end, we empirically analyze data from a survey and a stated choice experiment for a broad sample of financial decision makers in German households. The results suggest that a considerable amount of respondents can imagine to invest in a socially responsible manner, which is promising for policymakers and practitioners who aim to foster sustainable development and SRI. However, too high information costs are a severe barrier for potential future investors and a considerable share of respondents distrusts providers of socially responsible investment products. Banks, who could help to solve this problem, appear not to fulfill their role as intermediaries. But we find that labels might serve as a complement to banks. Especially sustainability certificates that confirm the consideration of sustainability criteria could decrease information costs and overcome at least some barriers for some investor groups, particularly for new investors. However, the results also suggest that a certain degree of basic knowledge and trust in providers of socially responsible investment products is required before labels work efficiently.

鉴于社会责任投资（SRI）的作用日益增强，但个人（即小型散户）投资者的参与仍然有限，因此，本研究的目的是双重的：（i）我们旨在为个人投资者确定有关SRI的投资障碍这些障碍在不同的投资者群体中在多大程度上有所不同。（ii）我们分析可持续性或透明度标签在多大程度上可以克服这些障碍。为此，我们对来自德国家庭金融决策者的大量样本进行的调查和既定选择实验的数据进行了经验分析。结果表明，相当多的受访者可以想象以对社会负责的方式进行投资，这对于旨在促进可持续发展和SRI的政策制定者和从业者来说是有希望的。然而，太高的信息成本对潜在的未来投资者构成了严重的障碍，并且相当一部分的受访者不信任对社会负责的投资产品的提供者。可以帮助解决这个问题的银行似乎没有发挥其作为中介人的作用。但是我们发现标签可能是银行的补充。尤其是确认了可持续性标准考虑因素的可持续性证书可以降低信息成本，并克服某些投资者群体（尤其是新投资者）的至少一些障碍。但是，结果还表明，在标签有效发挥作用之前，需要一定程度的基本知识和对具有社会责任感的投资产品的提供者的信任。