From Responsibility to Regeneration: The Role of Circular Business Model Innovation in Translating CSR and ESG Integration Into Sustainability‐Oriented Corporate Performance, With AI Adoption as a Strategic Enabler

This study investigates the integrated relationships among corporate social responsibility, ESG integration, circular business model innovation, sustainability‐oriented corporate performance, and AI adoption within Chinese firms, responding to critical theoretical gaps regarding the mechanisms through which sustainability‐oriented organizational commitments generate superior corporate performance outcomes. Grounded in the resource‐based view, the research proposes and empirically tests a comprehensive framework incorporating direct, mediated, and moderated relationships among these constructs. Data were collected through structured questionnaire surveys from 383 managers and senior executives across Chinese firms. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling through SmartPLS 4.0. Findings confirm that CSR and ESG integration independently and positively influence circular business model innovation, which subsequently drives sustainability‐oriented corporate performance. Mediation analysis establishes that circular business model innovation significantly mediates both the CSR‐performance and ESG‐performance relationships. Moderation analysis reveals a theoretically nuanced divergence wherein artificial intelligence adoption failed to amplify the corporate social responsibility and circular business model innovation relationship, suggesting that socially responsible practices drive circular innovation through relational and institutional channels independent of technological capabilities, while artificial intelligence adoption significantly strengthened the ESG integration and circular business model innovation relationship, confirming that governance‐structured sustainability frameworks are uniquely receptive to computational intelligence augmentation. This research delivers original theoretical contributions by offering an integrated sustainability framework, while providing Chinese corporate managers, policymakers, and investors with actionable strategic insights for leveraging circular innovation and selective artificial intelligence capabilities to achieve durable, multidimensional sustainability performance excellence.