ESG Performance, Export Diversification, and Firm Export Resilience: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms (2009–2016)

As a widely recognized measure of corporate sustainability, ESG performance exerts a significant influence on corporate exports and risk-coping capabilities. Using product–destination-level panel data of Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2016, compiled from the China Customs Database and the CSMAR Database, this paper employs the High-Dimensional Fixed Effects (HDFE) model to empirically examine the impact of ESG performance on corporate export resilience and its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that improved ESG performance significantly strengthens firm export resilience, a conclusion that remains robust after a series of robustness checks and addressing endogeneity concerns. ESG performance directly enhances export resilience through its environmental, social, and governance dimensions, with the social dimension exhibiting the strongest effect. Mechanism analysis indicates that ESG performance enhances export resilience by promoting diversification in both export products and export markets. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect varies significantly across countries, products, and firms. Specifically, the positive effect is more pronounced for exports to developed countries, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) participating countries, and coastal countries. Moreover, ESG performance contributes more strongly to the export resilience of final goods, high-technology products, and products with comparative advantages. At the firm level, the enhancing effect is more evident for state-owned enterprises, capital-intensive firms, and large-scale enterprises. Further analysis reveals that ESG performance and export resilience exhibit a positive joint effect in enhancing overseas market profitability and overseas revenue sustainability. These findings offer actionable implications for policymakers and exporters aiming to embed ESG principles into their export operations, which may further facilitate the sustainable and high-quality transformation of foreign trade.