Natural Environmental Change and Firm Sustainable Development in China: The Moderating Effect of Slack Resources and Digital Transformation

The existing research lacks a comprehensive framework to explain the impact of natural environmental change on corporate sustainable development. After analyzing 2010–2023 data from 4816 Shanghai/Shenzhen A-share firms (39,271 firm-year observations), fixed-effects models reveal that natural environmental change improves financial performance but harms environmental–social performance. Absorbed slack resources weaken the positive influence of natural environmental change on financial performance and the negative influence on environmental–social performance; unabsorbed slack resources strengthen the influence of natural environmental change on financial performance but weaken the negative influence on environmental–social performance. Digital transformation diminishes the positive financial effects of natural environmental change. Findings suggest that firms should prioritize strategic slack resource allocation to manage environmental uncertainty, as digital initiatives currently demonstrate limited effectiveness in mitigating these challenges.