Building enterprise innovation resilience (EIR) through strategic philanthropy (SP): a stakeholder coexistence perspective

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the effect of strategic philanthropic initiatives on enterprise innovation resilience (EIR) while exploring the moderating roles of internal performance feedback and external media attitude within this context. Design/methodology/approach To validate the research model, this study employs data from Chinese listed companies spanning from 2010 to 2022. A two-way fixed effects model and a series of robustness tests were used to examine the research hypotheses. Findings The research findings demonstrate that strategic philanthropy (SP) significantly enhances EIR, with the promoting effect becoming stronger as the duration of SP activities increases. Moreover, the aforementioned effect is positively moderated by performance surplus and media support, negatively moderated by performance deficit, and exhibits an inverted U-shaped moderating effect in response to media pressure. Practical implications Enterprise managers must prioritize the cultivation of EIR during uncertain environments. Specifically, this can be achieved by implementing SP to build symbiotic stakeholder relationships and by fully considering the alignment between internal performance conditions and external media attitudes. Originality/value This study is the first to quantify EIR and verify that SP promotes the formation of symbiotic relationships with stakeholders, fostering collaborative innovation and enhancing EIR, thereby supplementing the understanding of innovation trends towards open concepts.