Decent work in the digital era: How enterprise privacy and data rights protection enhance employee well-being

With the deepening integration of information technology into enterprise management practices, the collection and utilization of employee personal data in the workplace has become increasingly common, leading to heightened concerns over privacy protection. This study investigates the mechanisms through which “decent work” can be promoted under the framework of data governance. Using panel data from non-financial A-share listed companies in China between 2011 and 2023, it empirically examines the impact of enterprise-level privacy protection on the labor share of income. The results show that privacy protection is positively and significantly associated with the labor share of income, suggesting that improvements in privacy governance contribute to enhanced employee well-being from an income distribution perspective. Mechanism analyses further reveal that this relationship is partially mediated by customer relationship stability and the allocation of high-skilled human capital. In addition, data security protection, regarded as an institutional extension of privacy governance, also has a significantly positive effect on labor income share. By focusing on the micro-level behavior of enterprises, this study expands the theoretical scope of decent work in the digital era. It argues that employee data rights protection should be integrated into the core of corporate governance in order to foster more inclusive and sustainable labor relations.