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Can Financial Literacy Enhance ESG Disclosures?

Xiaoran Jia et al.

Accounting and Finance2026https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.70212article
AJG 2ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Using an international sample of firms and two country‐level measures of financial literacy, we find robust evidence of a positive relation between financial literacy and firms' Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosures. In cross‐sectional analyses, we find that the effect of financial literacy in enhancing ESG disclosures is more prominent in poorer information environments, weaker legal institutions and weaker ESG reporting environments. Lastly, we find that financial literacy also enhances ESG performance. Our study contributes to and extends the literature by providing strong evidence that citizens' financial literacy enhances firms' ESG disclosure and the associated ESG performance.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.70212

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@article{xiaoran2026,
  title        = {{Can Financial Literacy Enhance ESG Disclosures?}},
  author       = {Xiaoran Jia et al.},
  journal      = {Accounting and Finance},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.70212},
}

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Can Financial Literacy Enhance ESG Disclosures?

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.