Digital resilience in times of crisis: Uncovering the impact of unforeseen attacks on the digitalization of multinational enterprises
研究意外攻击（一种政治不确定性）如何削弱跨国企业的数字化广度和深度，并分析总部与子公司战略灵活性及母国制度支持如何调节这一影响。
Abstract In an increasingly uncertain and complex global business environment, crisis events are reshaping how multinational enterprises (MNEs) build organizational resilience, particularly during technology-driven transformations such as digitalization. While digitalization is often viewed as a key pathway to enhance efficiency and resilience, existing research pays limited attention to how abrupt, high-impact disruptions constrain firms’ ability to initiate and sustain such transformation. This study examines how unforeseen host-country attacks, defined as a distinct manifestation of political uncertainty, affect the scope and depth of MNE digitalization. Drawing on an organizational resilience perspective, we analyze a panel dataset of 240 service MNEs from 2003 to 2019. We further examine two key boundary conditions of MNE resilience: strategic flexibility arising from headquarters–subsidiary linkages, and agility shaped by home-country institutional support. Our findings show that unforeseen attacks undermine MNE digitalization, and that this relationship is moderated by these boundary conditions. This study contributes to organizational resilience research by revisiting the link between external shocks and firm transformation under digitalization. It also advances international business research by identifying key boundary conditions that shape firm responses to host-country crises.