Digital inclusive finance and corporate ESG performance: The moderating role of executives with financial backgrounds

Utilizing empirical data from A-share listed corporations on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges of China between 2011 and 2021. It empirically examines the impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on corporate ESG performance and explores the mediating function of executives with financial backgrounds. The research findings are below: (1) DIF considerably improves corporate ESG performance, consistently validated across a spectrum of robustness tests; (2) DIF's beneficial impact on business ESG performance is reduced by the influence of executives with financial backgrounds (3) The positive influence on corporate ESG performance is particularly evident for mid-western enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises.