This paper selects the 2014-2018 Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies as a sample to study the impact of employee stock ownership plans on corporate innovation and finds that compared with companies that have not implemented employee stock ownership plans, the implementation of employee stock ownership plans can promote corporate innovation. The mechanism inspection found that employees mainly play the role of “executors” in enterprise innovation, and they have not promoted enterprise innovation investment. In addition, based on the characteristics of employees, this article finds that when the growth rate of employees is low and the composition of highly educated employees is relatively high, the implementation of employee stock ownership plans will have a greater impact on corporate innovation. This article enriches the research on the influencing factors of enterprise innovation with employees as the main body, and has certain guiding significance for improving the design of employee stock ownership system and promoting enterprise innovation and development.
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