Based on the perspective of institutional logic, this study explores the formation mechanism of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of Chinese state-owned listed companies. Existing research often analyzes the influencing factors of ESG from a single dimension, failing to fully reveal the synergistic and conflicting effects of multiple institutional logics. This paper adopts the fsQCA method to analyze data from 387 A-share state-owned listed companies from 2015 to 2023, innovatively incorporating political logic as a structural embedded element into the analytical framework, and systematically examining the configurational effects of the four major logics: political, market, governance, and social. The study finds that enterprises can achieve high-level ESG performance through multiple paths such as “regulation-governance synergy” and “market-social drive,” while the absence or mismatch of institutional logics can lead to poor ESG performance. The research further reveals the differentiated performance of these configurational paths among central and local enterprises, as well as different industries. This study provides a new theoretical perspective for understanding the complex mechanisms of ESG governance in state-owned enterprises and has important implications for promoting ESG practices in state-owned enterprises in a classified manner.
Jiayan Song (Sun,) studied this question.