Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
4-2026
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.
Keywords
ESG disclosures, ESG reporting environment, financial literacy, information environment, legal institutions
Discipline
Accounting | Corporate Finance | Environmental Sciences
Research Areas
Corporate Reporting and Disclosure
Publication
Accounting & Finance
First Page
1
Last Page
34
ISSN
0810-5391
Identifier
10.1111/acfi.70212
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
Jia, Xiaoran; Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran; LEE, Kiat Bee Jimmy; and LIM, Chee Yeow.
Can financial literacy enhance ESG disclosures?. (2026). Accounting & Finance. 1-34.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/2115
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.70212