Do Slack Resources Promote or Constrain Firm Performance in Munificent, Dynamic, and Complex Industrial Environments?

Although there have been studies on the effect of slack resources on performance, the role of the environment is often ignored. To address this research question, three types of slack resources (available, recoverable, and potential) and three environmental dimensions (munificence, dynamism, and complexity) are simultaneously investigated. Our data includes 28,470 observations of 3,347 listed Chinese companies in 85 industrial environments from 2000 to 2020. The results show that different types of slack have a U-shaped or inverted U-shaped relationship with performance. The relationship between slack and performance are changed under the moderation of the environment. In addition, we also compared the moderating effect of the three environment dimensions horizontally. The environmental munificence’s moderation range was the widest, and the environmental complexity’s moderation intensity was the highest. In different environments, the amount and purpose of slack resources used were changed and have different effects on performance