Do government subsidy policies promote the energy transition resilience of enterprises? Empirical evidence from China

Purpose Energy transition resilience (ETR) captures enterprises’ capacity to maintain sustainability during low-carbon transitions. This paper aims to construct a comprehensive ETR evaluation index system and examines how government subsidies affect enterprises’ ETR. Design/methodology/approach This study uses panel data from 2013 to 2023 on small and medium-sized enterprises listed on China’s A-share SME and ChiNext boards to construct a comprehensive ETR evaluation index system. Econometric models are used to empirically test the impact of government subsidies on enterprises’ ETR, while further analysing the mediating role of financing constraints, the threshold moderating effect of environmental regulations and heterogeneity across ownership, region and industry. Findings The results indicate that: government subsidies significantly enhance enterprises’ ETR; the resource-based and signalling functions of government subsidies improve ETR by easing financing constraints; environmental regulations exert a countervailing moderating effect on the relationship between government subsidies and ETR, displaying a single threshold; and government subsidies have a stronger positive effect on ETR among non-state-owned enterprises, eastern enterprises and manufacturing enterprises. Practical implications The findings offer empirical support for governments to optimise subsidy policies and improve environmental regulation systems. They also provide decision-making references for enterprises to enhance ETR and achieve sustainable energy transition, contributing to the joint promotion of energy transformation and the “dual carbon” goals at both governmental and enterprise levels. Originality/value This paper is among the earliest attempts to systematically construct a comprehensive evaluation index system for enterprises’ ETR, filling a gap in the existing literature. It innovatively reveals the mechanisms of government subsidies from the perspectives of resource-based theory, signalling theory and threshold moderation, providing new empirical evidence on the relationship between subsidy policies and ETR.