Navigating Geopolitical Turbulence: How Geopolitical-Energy Linkages Shape Corporate Energy Dependence Through Green Total Factor Productivity and Decentralized TMT Networks

With every day of increased global geopolitical tension, the most notable being the war between Russia and Ukraine and the one between Palestine and Israel, the subsequent instability of energy markets is a significant risk to corporate operational stability. This study fills this research gap by exploring the effects of geopolitical risk-energy price volatility interconnections on corporate energy dependence. Based on a rich sample of 1,810 Chinese non-financial listed companies during 2010–2024, we build GARCH-Wavelet-Copula model that helps to measure the dynamic effects between geopolitical risks and energy markets. This study establish the Green Total Factor Productivity as one of the key mediating variables, demonstrating that companies alleviate energy reliance through resource efficiency and decreasing environmental performances. This study investigated the moderating effect of Top Management Team internal social networks. The results indicated that decentralization of TMT networks supports the ability of firm to lessen its reliance on energy.