ESG Activities and Employee Entrepreneurial Behavior: The Roles of Organization-Based Psychological Ownership and Person-Organization Fit

The present study examines how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities influence employees’ entrepreneurial behavior and identifies the psychological and contextual conditions under which these effects occur. Drawing on psychological ownership theory, the study proposes a moderated mediation model in which organization-based psychological ownership mediates the relationship between employees’ perceptions of ESG activities and entrepreneurial behavior, while person-organization fit moderates the first stage of this indirect relationship. Data were collected from 279 full-time Korean employees working in technology-intensive industries. The results from the PROCESS macro indicated that employees’ perceptions of ESG activities enhanced their psychological ownership toward the organization, which in turn fostered entrepreneurial behavior characterized by innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking. In addition, person-organization fit moderated the relationship between ESG activities and organization-based psychological ownership, such that the indirect effect of ESG activities on entrepreneurial behavior through organization-based psychological ownership was stronger when person-organization fit was lower. Overall, the study provides important implications for advancing ESG research and the organizational behavior literature by identifying the psychological mechanism through which ESG practices translate into employees’ entrepreneurial behavior.