Financial technology and firm operational resilience: The roles of supply chain resilience and marketing capability

This study investigates how financial technology (FinTech) influences firm operational resilience using a comprehensive panel dataset comprising 3,255 Chinese listed firms over the period 2012–2023. Empirical analyses employing two-way fixed effects panel regressions demonstrate that FinTech significantly enhances firms’ operational resilience. Robustness checks, including alternative measurement approaches, instrumental variables, propensity score matching, and Heckman two-stage correction, reinforce the causal interpretation of this relationship. Furthermore, mediation analysis reveals two distinct mechanisms: FinTech strengthens firms’ operational resilience indirectly by enhancing both supply chain resilience and marketing capability. Supply chain resilience emerges as the dominant mediator, capturing approximately 19% of FinTech’s total effect, whereas marketing capability accounts for roughly 6%. These findings underscore FinTech’s multifaceted role, not only directly enhancing firm performance through efficiency gains but also indirectly via bolstered supply chain robustness and market competitiveness. This study contributes theoretically by bridging financial technology literature with supply chain management and strategic management perspectives, offering valuable implications for practitioners and policymakers seeking to leverage FinTech for sustained competitive advantage and resilience.