Digital Cash-to-Cash Transformation and Organizational Resilience: Evidence from Working-Capital Buffer Configuration

Abstract Digital transformation is increasingly important for firms seeking to remain resilient under conditions of uncertainty, yet less is known about how digital technologies strengthen resilience when they are embedded in specific operating routines. This study examines whether digital cash-to-cash transformation, the digital redesign and operational integration of inventory, receivables, and payables routines, enhances organisational resilience. Using Chinese listed firms from 2012 to 2024, we construct a large-language-model-based textual measure from annual reports that distinguishes substantive digital transformation in working-capital processes from generic digital disclosure. The results show that digital cash-to-cash transformation is positively associated with a multidimensional measure of organisational resilience. This finding remains robust to alternative measures, instrumental-variable estimation, propensity score matching, double machine learning, and shock-based tests. Mechanism analyses indicate that the resilience benefits of digital transformation arise primarily through working-capital buffer configuration rather than simple cash-cycle compression. Specifically, digital transformation is associated with higher inventory, receivables, and payables postures, each of which is positively related to resilience. The effects are stronger among more focused firms and firms pursuing differentiation strategies. These findings suggest that the resilience value of digital transformation lies not merely in adopting digital technologies, but in embedding them in cash-to-cash routines that improve information visibility, coordination, and the flexible deployment of working-capital resources.