ESG Performance, Innovation Capability and Organizational Resilience Under Environmental Uncertainty: Evidence from China

Climate change and tightening resource and environmental constraints are increasing the strategic importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance for firms’ long-term viability. This study examines whether ESG performance enhances organizational resilience in China and explores the roles of innovation capability and environmental uncertainty. Using an unbalanced panel of 1037 non-financial Chinese A-share listed firms from 2014 to 2022, we estimate panel models and conduct a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. The results show that ESG performance significantly improves organizational resilience. Innovation capability partially mediates this relationship, indicating that ESG enhances resilience in part by strengthening firms’ innovative capacity. Environmental uncertainty also positively moderates the effect of innovation capability on organizational resilience, although the evidence is modest. Further analysis shows that the positive ESG–resilience relationship is stronger among state-owned enterprises and small and medium-sized firms. Overall, the findings suggest that ESG functions not only as a sustainability signal, but also as an organizational capability that supports resilience under uncertainty.