How Can We Improve the ESG Performance of Manufacturing Enterprises?—The Carbon Resilience Perspective

Dongheng Han (), Zhihui Li, Xun Cui and Lin Liang
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Dongheng Han: Business School, Nankai University, Tianjin 300072, China
Zhihui Li: School of Economics and Management, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China
Xun Cui: Business School, Nankai University, Tianjin 300072, China
Lin Liang: School of Economics and Management, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-26

Abstract: In the context of low-carbon transformation, manufacturing enterprises are facing great pressures, and they need to improve their capability in order to successfully respond to these changes and achieve sustainable development. Based on the concept of organizational resilience, this paper proposed the concept of carbon resilience, representing the ability of an organization to keep stable, adapt, and evolve in the context of low-carbon transformation and tried to explore the role of carbon resilience in enterprises’ environment, social, and governance performance (ESG performance) and the conditional roles of coercive pressure, normative pressure, and the mimetic pressure between companies. Empirical research selected the data of Chinese A-share-listed manufacturing companies between 2012 and 2021 as research samples. Using the regression analysis method, the theoretical model was verified. The results show that carbon resilience can promote ESG performance. Moreover, coercive pressure and normative pressure promote the relationship between carbon resilience and ESG performance, whereas mimetic pressure inhibits the relationship. This study provides managerial implications for the government, society, and manufacturing enterprises, especially laying out a realistic approach to improving ESG performance from the perspective of carbon resilience.

Keywords: manufacturing enterprises; ESG performance; carbon resilience; institutional pressures; organizational resilience; low-carbon transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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