Employee Sustainability Training and Corporate Sustainability Performance: Evidence from China

The demand for environmentally and socially responsible practices is rising globally, so corporate sustainability has grown to become a critical business issue. This highlights the need for companies to prioritize and adopt organizational sustainability practices. In this context, sustainable human resource (HR) practices can be implemented to address sustainability challenges and enhance organizational sustainability performance. While sustainable HR practices and corporate sustainability are increasingly gaining considerable attention in HR research, little knowledge exists on the role of employee sustainability training on corporate sustainability performance (CSP). Employee sustainability training is essential for firms’ social and environmental responsibilities because sustainable transition requires skilled labor to accomplish both environmental practices and operational success. The study investigates employee sustainability training on CSP. The training examined includes environmental management, health and safety, corruption, and internal human rights. The study is anchored on a resource-based view, which views employee sustainability training as a valuable resource that can enhance employees’ unique capabilities, which promotes sustainable business practices. The selected data consists of 104 publicly listed Chinese companies for which the LSEG Eikon database provides information from 2018 to 2023. Panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) regression was employed on 624 firm-year observations. The results indicate that all types of training have a positive and significant impact on CSP in China. Sustainability training programs for employees produce better sustainable outcomes. The findings suggest that firms can address sustainability challenges by developing and integrating sustainability-focused employee training.