The Impact of Suppliers’ High-Quality Interactions and Financial Constraints on Downstream Firms’ Operational Resilience: The Moderating Effect of Suppliers’ ESG Performance

With the refined global division of labor and the increasing complexity of international production networks, high-quality interactions of suppliers impact downstream firms’ operational resilience through supply chain linkage effects. We use data from Chinese A-share listed firms and their suppliers from 2009 to 2023 and empirically examine the effects of suppliers’ high-quality interactions on downstream firms’ operational resilience based on signaling theory. The empirical results show that such interactions significantly enhance firms’ operational resilience, confirming positive spillover effects along the supply chain. Heterogeneity analyses indicate that the positive spillover effects are most pronounced for smaller firms and those with lower information transparency. Further analysis reveals that suppliers’ high-quality interactions mitigate firms’ financing constraints and enhance supply chain stability, thus strengthening their operational resilience. Moreover, this effect is moderated by suppliers’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, which improves the signaling efficacy of high-quality interactions. The findings highlight the influence of suppliers’ interactions on firms’ operational resilience, broaden the analytical perspective on resilience research, and provide important policy implications for strengthening firms’ operational resilience.