Does environmental, social, and governance practice boost corporate human capital inflow in China? From the perspective of stakeholder response

Abstract Few studies have answered how different stakeholders' responses to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practice, including creditors, investors, and media, influence the relationship between ESG practice and high‐quality job‐seekers, which is reflected in corporate human capital inflow. Therefore, we analyze the nexus above theoretically from the perspective of stakeholder theory and examine empirically whether corporate ESG practice can promote corporate human capital inflow, drawing on 8924 firm‐year observations of Chinese‐listed companies during 2011–2020. The findings demonstrate that ESG practice stimulates corporate human capital inflow, which is enhanced when economic policy uncertainty, debt costs, equity costs, or the proportion of female directors is high, whereas weakened when the negative media coverage is high. Further research finds that an underlying mechanism, via corporate visibility, ESG practice can prompt corporate human capital inflow and that the elevating role is more significant in non‐state‐owned or non‐manufacturing enterprises than in state‐owned or manufacturing. Overall, our findings provide a new standpoint to comprehend the interaction of different stakeholder's responses to ESG practice, which enables scholars and managers to understand ESG practice and its effects better.