Voluntary environmental programs and corporate labor income share: Evidence from ISO14001 environmental standard...

As a key tool for addressing environmental pollution and fostering a green economy, voluntary environmental regulation has a profound impact on the distribution of factor income. To increase labor income share and alleviate conflicts between labor and capital, this study offers new theoretical insights and solutions from the perspective of voluntary environmental programs. Specifically, it treats ISO14001 environmental standard certification as a quasi-natural experiment to examine the causal relationship between voluntary environmental programs and corporate labor income share and derives the following conclusions. The baseline regression results indicate that voluntary environmental programs significantly increase the labor income share of corporations. Mechanism analysis reveals that reducing financial constraints, optimizing human capital structure, and weakening market monopoly power are crucial pathways through which voluntary environmental programs enhance labor income share. Heterogeneity tests show that the positive impact of voluntary environmental programs on labor income share is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises, highly polluting enterprises, enterprises in regions with stronger environmental governance, and those in more market-oriented industries. Further research indicates that voluntary environmental programs significantly improve the compensation of regular employees and narrow internal income disparities within corporations, thus accelerating the achievement of the strategic goal of common prosperity.