Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and ESG Disclosure Quality: The Moderating Roles of Financial Regulation and Stakeholder Engagement

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure quality remains constrained by fragmented data, limited verifiability, and inconsistent reporting practices. This study examines whether artificial intelligence and blockchain are associated with perceived ESG disclosure quality and whether financial regulation conditions the artificial intelligence relationship while stakeholder engagement conditions the blockchain relationship. A cross-sectional survey produced 250 usable responses from professionals involved in finance, sustainability reporting, compliance, and corporate governance. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was conducted using SmartPLS 3. Artificial intelligence (β = 0.297, p < 0.001), blockchain (β = 0.142, p = 0.001), financial regulation (β = 0.190, p = 0.008), and stakeholder engagement (β = 0.340, p < 0.001) showed positive direct associations with ESG disclosure quality. Financial regulation positively moderated the relationship between artificial intelligence and ESG disclosure quality (β = 0.069, p = 0.020). The blockchain–stakeholder engagement interaction was not supported because its bias-corrected confidence interval included zero. The model explained 86.6% of the variance in ESG disclosure quality (R2 = 0.866), while blindfolding indicated positive predictive relevance (Q2 = 0.613). However, elevated construct-level collinearity and HTMT values require caution in interpreting the structural effects.