ESG is usually seen as a instrument for speaking with traders and prospects. However more and more, it’s additionally a instrument for constructing robust relationships with staff.
Jeonghyun Janice Lee, the winner of the primary Ragan Analysis Award, given at the side of the Institute for Public Relations, seeks to raised perceive how ESG influences staff, and the way they go about telling these tales on social media.
“Nearly each firm ought to take into account ESG subjects,” Lee informed PR Day by day in an interview.
A former PR professional turned doctoral candidate
Initially from Seoul, South Korea, Lee spent almost 10 years working in each PR businesses and in-house features in roles together with PR supervisor and on-line advertising communications supervisor.
It was throughout this time that her curiosity in ESG was piqued as she labored as a consultant on an worker engagement committee.
“I had a type of a failure at this expertise to get outcomes from the committee,” Lee recalled. “That marked me that oh, this ESG subject may very well be introduced into PR, worker engagement can be an incredible concept to analysis.”
Lee got here to the US to check journalism and mass communications on the College of Georgia, ultimately finishing her grasp’s diploma and is now only a yr away from submitting her doctoral dissertation. That piece will concentrate on the significance of societal intelligence for workers.
“I created some novel ideas of societal intelligence, which a communication skilled has to should take care of social and political points these days,” Lee mentioned.
After finishing her doctorate, Lee hopes to remain in academia as a professor.
However first, Lee shall be finishing her unique analysis for Ragan and the Institute of Public Relations.
How do staff speak about ESG?
Since her early curiosity in ESG throughout her time in Korea, Lee has continued to maintain her eye on the subject. Each morning as she browsed the information articles of the day, she noticed the time period popping up repeatedly, gaining curiosity and depth during the last two years.
“I discovered that although ESG may very well be … not simply the funding issue, but in addition communicated with worker engagement. After which that may very well be one of many parts of ESG,” Lee mentioned.
Lee will examine this in two methods: First, by “clustering” social media conversations between customers on-line to see how they focus on ESG and draw patterns between them. Secondly, she’s inspecting the experiences of high ESG firms listed within the S&P 500 to see how these paperwork addressed worker engagement by an ESG lens.
Lee’s analysis transient shall be revealed by each IPR and Ragan within the fall of 2022. Lee will obtain her award on the 2022 IPR Distinguished Lecture and Awards Dinner in New York Metropolis on December 1.
Allison Carter is govt editor of PR Day by day. Comply with her on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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