Buddhist Ethics, ESG, and Strategic Resilience: The Role of Buddhist Institutional Capital in ASEAN Contexts
Keywords:
Buddhist Institutional Capital, ESG, strategic resilience, DPSIR-ER, Sufficiency Economy PhilosophyAbstract
This academic article presents a conceptual framework that integrates Buddhist Institutional Capital (BIC) into ESG governance and strategic resilience in ASEAN contexts, drawing on Institutional Theory and real options perspectives as its primary theoretical foundations. The article argues that Buddhist institutions, operating as informal institutions, function through three distinct channels – normative, cognitive, and regulative – that reduce ESG uncertainty, as measured by the ESG Uncertainty Index (ESGUI), and build three dimensions of strategic resilience: absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacity. The article develops the DPSIR-ER framework, extending the existing DPSIR-E by adding a Resilience Coefficient (R) to yield the modified impact equation I = P × A × T × E × R, where R is the product of the three resilience capacities and ranges in (0, 1]. Thailand's Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) and BCG Economy policy are examined as a complete three-channel institutional prototype, demonstrating how Buddhist philosophical principles can be operationalised as national-level institutional architecture. Policy implications are developed at the corporate, regulatory, and ASEAN regional levels, with particular attention to mechanisms that strengthen ESG commitment persistence under conditions of elevated ESG uncertainty and geopolitical risk.
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