Empowering Sustainable Development: The Nonlinear Impact of ESG Performance on Organizational Resilience

Against the dual backdrop of the deepening implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the rising uncertainty of the global business environment, organizational resilience has become a core capability for firms to implement sustainable development strategies, and also a critical micro-level manifestation of achieving the triple objectives of economic resilience, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability at the enterprise level. Using data from Chinese A-share listed companies over the period 2009–2024, this study empirically examines the impact of ESG performance on organizational resilience and its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal a significant U-shaped relationship between ESG performance and organizational resilience, with a turning point at approximately ESG = 0.61. This result suggests that ESG performance exerts both facilitating and inhibiting effects on resilience, and that there exists a minimum effective threshold—only when ESG performance crosses this threshold can it effectively enhance firms‘ resilience capacity. Mechanism tests indicate that total factor productivity partially mediates this relationship. Further analysis shows that capital market attention systematically reshapes the U-shaped relationship by shifting the turning point rightward and increasing the curvature. Regional heterogeneity analysis reveals that this effect is predominantly concentrated in the more economically developed eastern regions. This study provides empirical evidence to help firms allocate ESG resources rationally and strengthen their capacity for sustainable development, while also offering practical implications for policymakers seeking to guide firms toward differentiated ESG strategies and promote regionally coordinated sustainable development.