Sustainability meets humanity: ESG and employee well-being in Chinese firms

Purpose – This study aims to examine the relationship between Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices and employee well-being within Chinese listed companies from 2015 to 2023, offering critical insights into the influence of sustainability strategies on employee well-being. Design/methodology/approach – This study investigates how overall ESG performance and specific ESG subdimensions, such as social, human rights and people development, affect employee well-being using data from 702 companies. This study uses various multiple regression techniques, including pooled ordinary least squares, fixed effects, random effects and generalized method of moments (GMM) models to estimate these relationships. Findings – The findings consistently indicate that overall ESG performance, social initiatives, adherence to human rights and people-development programs significantly enhance employee well-being across various estimation techniques. The social dimension of ESG has the most beneficial influence on employee well-being in all models. Human rights scores show a more complex relationship, with initial positive effects but potentially diminishing returns at higher levels. The people development score positively impacted well-being, particularly at higher intensity. Originality/value – This study offers a comprehensive analysis of ESG practices and employee well-being using various regression techniques. This study introduced an innovative approach by converting continuous variables into quartiles, thereby facilitating a more flexible analysis while maintaining a large sample size. This study provides empirical evidence of the relationship between ESG performance and employee well-being in Chinese listed companies, addressing a gap in the existing literature.