Employee Stock Ownership Plans and Corporate Environmental Engagement

This study examines the impact of non-executive employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) on corporate environmental engagement. We show that granting ESOPs to non-executive employees promotes greater corporate environmental engagement in terms of environmental protection expenditures, environmental information disclosure, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings. We adopt the two-way fixed-effects model, the propensity score matching (PSM) method, and the instrumental variable approach to alleviate endogeneity concerns. The positive effect of ESOPs is mainly attributable to high-intensity, broad-based, and long-term plans where the incentive effect of ESOPs is sufficiently large to offset the free-rider effect. Furthermore, our findings are particularly pronounced in companies with more intense labor market competition, companies with greater media exposure, and companies in heavy-polluting industries. Overall, this study reveals new evidence of the incentive effect of ESOPs on corporate environmental engagement.