Driving Resilience in Agribusiness: Interplay Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Digital Transformation

Abstract

This study investigates how four distinct dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR)-economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic-function as strategic antecedents to drive organizational resilience via digital transformation (DT) in agribusiness SMEs operating within emerging markets. Anchored in Dynamic Capabilities Theory, we utilized partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze a multi-regional stratified sample of 521 enterprises. This robust methodological approach tested both direct effects and the critical mediating role of digital technological integration within climate-vulnerable and highly fragmented agricultural supply chains. Empirical results reveal that ethical, legal, and economic CSR orientations strongly catalyze digital adoption, which in turn robustly translates into structural resilience, explaining 47.8% of the total variance in adaptive capacity. Conversely, philanthropic initiatives demonstrate no statistically significant impact on DT, highlighting a profound resource-drain paradox where discretionary altruism fails to support capital-intensive technological ecosystems in constrained environments. This research significantly advances strategic management literature by disaggregating the multidimensional CSR construct and empirically establishing DT as the central reconfiguring capability. Moving beyond traditional direct-effect models, it provides a vital, evidence-based roadmap for regional policymakers and enterprise managers to prioritize high-impact digital-sustainability pathways over peripheral altruism to safeguard global food systems.