A Study on the Organizational-Psychological Mechanisms of ESG Communication Across Retail Companies of Different Sizes

This study explored the factors within the organization to effectively realize ESG communication of distribution companies and empirically analyzed the differences according to the size of the company. In particular, focusing on smart safety issues, this study attempted to investigate the structural relationship between empowering leadership, safety culture, organizational trust, and safety behavior. As a result of a survey of 432 workers in the distribution industry nationwide, empowering leadership strengthens safety culture, and safety culture significantly predicted safety behavior. Organizational trust showed a difference in the moderating effect depending on the size of the company, and the relationship between safety culture and safety behavior was significantly adjusted for companies with less than 50 employees, while the effect was insignificant for companies with more than 50 employees. These results first suggest that the effectiveness of ESG communication requires a differentiated approach according to the size of the company, and second, it proves that a safety culture based on empowering leadership and organizational trust is a key path for ESG implementation in small businesses. Third, it was confirmed that middle and large companies require an integrated strategy of a systemic approach and leadership. This study reinforced the theoretical and practical basis of ESG communication research by revealing the importance of differentiated organizational mechanisms by company size.