The study investigates the impact of ESG signals on investor confidence in China’s stock market, considering perceived environmental, governance, and financial performance signals associated with ESG compliance as key drivers of confidence. Moreover, the study examines financial constraints in ESG adoption as a moderating factor. From the perspective of signals as motivated information preferences, we theorize that ESG signals associated with environmental responsibility, governance, and financial performance form impressions that influence investors’ confidence in the context of interpreting this information as a market signal. We argue that strong impressions of environmental and governance responsibility signal genuine responses extending beyond the surface performance seen by ESG labelers and may correctly or falsely suggest ESG compliance. In high-context markets where ethical and financial signals are intertwined in information processing, the motivation to invest will be based not only on the impression of responsible investing but also on soundness, based on the impression that ESG compliance influences the financial bottom line. We suggest that financial constraints weaken the impression of ESG signal motivation and moderate the relationship between perceived ESG signals and investor confidence. We empirically test our model using a sample of institutional investors and individual investors in China.