Strategic Consensus and Execution Continuity: An Empirical Study on the Digital Path of How Executive Team Stability Affects Corporate Sustainability Performance
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Abstract
Against the growing global attention to sustainable development, the stability of the executive team—a core component of corporate sustainability governance—has become a key factor in examining corporate sustainability performance. Chinese A-share listed companies over the period 2011– 2024 are selected as the research sample in this study, aiming to investigate how stability within the top management team affects corporate sustainability performance. Empirical results demonstrate that TMT stability is significantly and positively associated with corporate sustainability performance. Mechanism tests indicate that digital transformation is a key factor in this relationship. Further heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that, among smaller firms and those with lower institutional ownership, the positive effect of TMT stability on sustainability performance is more pronounced. This paper makes three key contributions: Firstly, it extends the relevant literature by focusing on the stability of the entire management team. Secondly, it explores the heterogeneous impact of TMT stability on corporate sustainability performance by incorporating firm size and institutional investor ownership. Thirdly, in the analysis of the influence mechanism, it innovatively incorporates research on corporate digital transformation as a key mechanism in the mechanism chain, providing a new explanatory approach and theoretical link for understanding the micro sources of enterprises’ long-term sustainable competitiveness in the digital age. It not only further fills gaps in the existing literature but also provides practical insights for enterprises to realise their long-term development goals. These findings provide meaningful implications for improving executive governance, promoting digital transformation, and enhancing the sustainability capacity of enterprises.
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