How Does Financial Literacy Affect Digital Entrepreneurship Willingness and Behavior-Evidence from Chinese Villagers' Participation in Entrepreneurship

How financial literacy (FL) can contribute to both digital entrepreneurship (DE) willingness and behavior has become a widely concerned and controversial topic among scholars and practitioners, one that is particularly relevant for bottom of pyramid (BOP) entrepreneurs. However, existing literature has not established a systematic theoretical framework for this issue, and its internal mechanism has not been thoroughly revealed. Hence, based on behavioral finance theory and digital business-related literature, we construct a multi-layer linear and mediated-moderation model that relates latent variables of FL, financial inclusion (FI), digital literacy (DL), and DE. A total of 664 villagers carrying out DE are the sample from China, and the empirical results mainly reveal the following: FL significantly improves the DE willingness and behavior, and the sense of FI plays a partial mediating role between FL and DE willingness and behavior. DL is a crucial influencing factor that moderates a positive effect between FL and DE willingness and behavior. Moreover, DL plays a mediated-moderating role. By contrast, FL in poverty-stricken counties (PSC) has a more substantial influence on DE than that in non-poverty-stricken counties (NPSC). If the family background (social capital) is superior (excellent), and the resources are abundant, then the influence of FL on DE will be stronger. This research contributes to the theories and practices related to FL, DE, FI, and DL.