Preferences for ethical intermediaries and sustainable investment decisions in micro-firms: The role of financial literacy and digital financial capability

IF 6.3 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE Research in International Business and Finance Pub Date : 2024-07-11 DOI:10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102483

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Abstract

This study analyses the effects of financial literacy and digital financial capabilities in shaping entrepreneurs’ preferences for ethical financial intermediaries and sustainable investment decisions. Exploiting novel survey data on Italian micro-enterprises, we find that more financially literate business owners have higher preferences for intermediaries with a strong ethical stance, are more likely to make investments inspired by environmental and social criteria and have a higher awareness of sustainable financial products. Moreover, digital financial competencies are found to play a significant role in enhancing preferences for ethical intermediaries and sustainable investment decisions. Finally, we show that the beneficial effect of financial literacy is mostly direct, while the indirect effect operating through higher digital financial abilities, despite being statistically significant, impacts firms’ sustainable financing and investing decisions only to a lower extent.

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微型企业对道德中介机构和可持续投资决策的偏好：金融知识和数字金融能力的作用

本研究分析了金融扫盲和数字金融能力在影响企业家对道德金融中介机构的偏好和可持续投资决策方面的作用。利用对意大利微型企业的新型调查数据，我们发现，金融素养较高的企业主对具有强烈道德立场的中介机构有更高的偏好，更有可能在环境和社会标准的激励下进行投资，并且对可持续金融产品有更高的认识。此外，我们还发现数字金融能力在提高对道德中介机构的偏好和可持续投资决策方面发挥了重要作用。最后，我们表明，金融扫盲的有利影响主要是直接的，而通过提高数字金融能力产生的间接影响尽管在统计上具有显著性，但对企业可持续融资和投资决策的影响程度较低。

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来源期刊

Research in International Business and Finance BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

9.20%

发文量

240

期刊介绍： Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF) seeks to consolidate its position as a premier scholarly vehicle of academic finance. The Journal publishes high quality, insightful, well-written papers that explore current and new issues in international finance. Papers that foster dialogue, innovation, and intellectual risk-taking in financial studies; as well as shed light on the interaction between finance and broader societal concerns are particularly appreciated. The Journal welcomes submissions that seek to expand the boundaries of academic finance and otherwise challenge the discipline. Papers studying finance using a variety of methodologies; as well as interdisciplinary studies will be considered for publication. Papers that examine topical issues using extensive international data sets are welcome. Single-country studies can also be considered for publication provided that they develop novel methodological and theoretical approaches or fall within the Journal''s priority themes. It is especially important that single-country studies communicate to the reader why the particular chosen country is especially relevant to the issue being investigated. [...] The scope of topics that are most interesting to RIBAF readers include the following: -Financial markets and institutions -Financial practices and sustainability -The impact of national culture on finance -The impact of formal and informal institutions on finance -Privatizations, public financing, and nonprofit issues in finance -Interdisciplinary financial studies -Finance and international development -International financial crises and regulation -Financialization studies -International financial integration and architecture -Behavioral aspects in finance -Consumer finance -Methodologies and conceptualization issues related to finance