Signaling firm ESG performance to attract global talent: the influence of home country information transparency and sustainability performance

Abstract Multinational enterprises (MNEs) often signal strong environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance to attract global talent. However, the effectiveness of this employer-branding strategy depends on their home country’s characteristics. This study explores the impact of ESG performance on the employer attractiveness of MNEs and examines the moderating roles of two key characteristics of home country—information transparency and national sustainability performance. Using a dataset comprising annual data from 92 MNEs between 2016 and 2020, we empirically investigate these relationships. Our findings reveal that higher firm ESG performance significantly enhances MNEs’ employer attractiveness. Furthermore, the positive effect of ESG performance on employer attractiveness is more pronounced when MNEs come from countries with better information transparency and superior national sustainability performance. This study contributes to the existing literature by integrating signaling theory with ESG performance, highlighting the critical role of the home country information transparency and sustainability performance in shaping the effectiveness of ESG signals. Our results demonstrate the importance of firm ESG performance in determining employer attractiveness and suggest that MNEs should strategically consider their home country’s transparency and sustainability performance when promoting their ESG performance to attract talent globally.