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The Rebounding Paradox in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry: Why Strategic ESG Strengthens Organizational Resilience While Responsive ESG Undermines It

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Weizheng ZhangORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated significant disruptions for hospitality and tourism (H&T) firms, which exhibited resilience through an initial financial decline followed by recovery. However, the mechanisms for enhancing organizational resilience in this sector remain scarce. We address this gap by examining how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) influence organizational resilience, grounded in the resource-based view and signaling theory. Existing literature predominantly measures organizational resilience through absolute magnitudes of financial performance, treating recovery and loss as discrete dimensions. Departing from conventional measurements, we propose an advanced method to achieve a novel resilience index that quantifies the interplay between recovery and loss by calculating the ratio of the average recovery speed to the average loss speed during COVID-19. Drawing on stakeholder theory, we classify ESG implementation into two typologies: strategic ESG and responsive ESG. Using a quarterly reconstructed dataset of China’s A-share listed H&T firms during 2010-2023, the estimations from the regressions demonstrate that strategic ESG significantly strengthens organizational resilience, whereas responsive ESG undermines it. It also revealed that marketing capabilities enhance positive effects of strategic ESG on organizational resilience and weaken negative effects of responsive ESG. Earnings aggressiveness mitigates positive effects of strategic ESG and exacerbates negative effects of responsive ESG.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Wang H, Zhang W, Zhang K, Hu B

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: International Journal of Hospitality Management

Year: 2026

Volume: 135

Online publication date: 13/02/2026

Acceptance date: 09/02/2026

Date deposited: 11/02/2026

ISSN (print): 0278-4319

ISSN (electronic): 1873-4693

Publisher: Elsevier Ltd

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2026.104614

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2026.104614

ePrints DOI: 10.57711/qqcz-a211

Data Access Statement: Data will be made available on request.


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