Title: Sustainability performance and employee turnover. Does industry's technological intensity matter? A quantile regression analysis of European listed manufacturing companies

Authors: Aziza Garsaa; Elisabeth Paulet

Addresses: Département Finance, Comptabilité, Audit et Contrôle, ICN Business School – CEREFIGE, Université de Lorraine, Campus ARTEM, 86 Rue du Sergent Blandan, CS 70148, 54003 Nancy Cedex, France ' Département Finance, Comptabilité, Audit et Contrôle, ICN Business School – CEREFIGE, Université de Lorraine, Campus ARTEM, 86 Rue du Sergent Blandan, CS 70148, 54003 Nancy Cedex, France

Abstract: The present paper aims to explore the link between the three dimensions of sustainability performance (ESG: social, environmental and governance), approximated by Standard and Poor's (S&P) ratings, and employee turnover. Furthermore, it examines the impact of the technological intensity of industries in which companies operate on this relationship. Panel data quantile regression models are estimated using a sample of 105 manufacturing firms listed in the European capital market during the period 2017-2019. With the exception of the economic dimension, the estimation results show that sustainability performance scores are negatively associated with employee turnover rate in high and medium-high technology industries. However, the opposite is found for companies operating in medium-low and low technology industries. Nevertheless, the determinants of employee turnover and the extent to which it is affected by sustainability performance scores are strongly dependent on the conditional distribution of turnover rate as well as the industry's technological intensity.

Keywords: sustainability performance; employee turnover; industry's technological intensity; panel data fixed effect quantile regression.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2025.147020

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2025 Vol.19 No.4, pp.443 - 466

Received: 23 Jun 2022
Accepted: 16 Feb 2023
Published online: 10 Jul 2025 *

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