Impact of digital financial education and artificial intelligence on sustainable economic development

This study examines the joint impact of Digital Financial Education (DFE) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption on sustainable economic development in an emerging urban economy. Using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, quantitative data were collected from 385 valid participants in Guayaquil, Ecuador (November 2025–January 2026), comprising university students, micro-entrepreneurs, independent professionals, and employees. The 12-item Likert-scale instrument showed acceptable reliability (α = 0.78). Given significant deviations from normality, Spearman’s rank-order correlations and multiple linear regression examined associations among DFE adoption, AI tool usage, entrepreneurial motivation, resource planning, and economic efficiency. Three semi-structured expert interviews provided complementary qualitative depth. Results reveal statistically significant associations between DFE adoption, AI-driven financial tool use, and indicators of entrepreneurial motivation, resource planning, and economic efficiency. Thematic analysis identifies three cross-cutting themes: AI personalization as a pedagogical enabler, structural barriers to digital financial inclusion, and institutional strategies for sustainable knowledge transfer. The study concludes that integrating DFE and AI into academic curricula and public governance frameworks constitutes a strategic lever for advancing financial inclusion and entrepreneurial development, contingent on attention to digital infrastructure, regulatory transparency, and capacity-building. These findings contribute to the emerging literature on AI-enabled financial education in Latin American urban contexts.