Organization-specific immunity and Chinese corporate ESG performance

Purpose – This study aims to examine how organization-specific immunity (OSI), as a dynamic capability that enables firms to respond to external challenges and opportunities, affects their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. By bridging this research gap, we seek to underscore the importance of OSI for corporate adaptability and sustainable competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts the term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) method to measure OSI. Building on this measurement, we utilize data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2022 for an empirical analysis to explore the relationship between OSI and corporate ESG performance. Findings – The results indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between OSI and ESG. Each of the three OSI dimensions also exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship with ESG. Further analysis reveals that environmental uncertainty and managerial myopia moderate this relationship. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the nature of property rights and regional location affects the inverted U-shaped relationship between OSI and ESG. Originality/value – This study has strong theoretical significance; we are the first to use the TF-IDF method to measure OSI, and we test the inverted U-shaped relationship between OSI and ESG, which serves as an important supplement to research on OSI’s impact and ESG’s antecedents.