Enterprise Resilience as a Pathway to Sustainability Under Environmental Turbulence: Evidence from Indonesian Agribusiness

Abstract

Indonesian agribusiness enterprises operate under substantial climatic, biological, market, and regulatory turbulence that can disrupt production continuity and threaten long-term sustainability. This study examines the relationships among business environment (BE), conceptualized as environmental turbulence, enterprise resilience (ER), and enterprise sustainability performance (ESP), with particular attention to the mediating role of resilience in crop and livestock enterprises. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 576 Indonesian agribusiness enterprises distributed across six geographical regions, comprising 289 crop and 287 livestock enterprises. Respondents were owners, managers, or other personnel with enterprise-level decision-making authority. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), with the structural relationships estimated separately for the two subsectors. The results show that environmental turbulence was positively associated with enterprise resilience and sustainability performance in both groups. For crop enterprises, BE significantly affected ER (β = 0.787) and ESP (β = 0.260), while ER significantly affected ESP (β = 0.493); the indirect effect of BE on ESP through ER was also significant (β = 0.388). For livestock enterprises, the corresponding effects were β = 0.601, β = 0.181, β = 0.710, and β = 0.427, respectively, with all relationships significant at p < .001. The findings indicate complementary partial mediation in both subsectors, suggesting that environmental turbulence does not inherently improve sustainability but may activate organizational responses that strengthen resilience and help enterprises maintain economic, environmental, and social performance. The study advances a challenge–response perspective by positioning enterprise resilience as an organizational pathway through which external pressures are translated into more adaptive and sustainable agribusiness outcomes.