Do robo-advisory services foster sustainable investment behaviour? A serial mediation and MGA approach

Purpose The rise of robo-advisors has revolutionised the financial services industry by offering affordable, automated and accessible solutions, empowering individuals to make informed financial decisions that align with their sustainability goals. The present study proposes an integrated model of personal norms, attitudes and intentions in the digital financial management context that can predict and promote sustainable investment behaviour among investors. Design/methodology/approach Utilising a cross-sectional survey design, the data were collected from 558 retail investors across Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai through snowball sampling. SPSS 25 and SmartPLS v.4.1.0.9 were employed to analyse the data so collected. Findings The findings indicate that activated personal norms and favourable attitudes play a pivotal role in driving the intention to adopt robo-advisors, thereby enabling investors to engage in sustainable investment behaviour. Gender was not found to moderate the hypothesised relationships, suggesting that sustainable investment behaviour through robo-advisors is not gender-specific. Research limitations/implications The current research exclusively focused on actual users of robo-advisors while potential users' perspectives could also be captured. In addition, this study is geographically limited to the Indian context. Practical implications The study offers several important implications for financial institutions, regulators, fintech innovators and society at large. Originality/value To the best of authors' knowledge, this study is the first to integrate the norm activation model and the theory of planned behaviour to investigate sustainable investment behaviour within the context of robo-advisors, emphasising personal ecological norms, attitudes and intentions, while also examining gender's role in influencing these relationships.