ESG is usually seen as a device for speaking with buyers and clients. However more and more, it’s additionally a device for constructing robust relationships with workers.
Jeonghyun Janice Lee, the winner of the primary Ragan Analysis Award, given at the side of the Institute for Public Relations, seeks to higher perceive how ESG influences workers, and the way they go about telling these tales on social media.
“Virtually each firm ought to take note of 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 practically 10 years working in each PR businesses and in-house capabilities 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 sort 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 could be an amazing concept to analysis.”
Lee got here to the USA to check journalism and mass communications on the College of Georgia, finally finishing her grasp’s diploma and is now only a 12 months 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 need to take care of social and political points these days,” Lee stated.
After finishing her doctorate, Lee hopes to remain in academia as a professor.
However first, Lee shall be finishing her authentic analysis for Ragan and the Institute of Public Relations.
How do workers 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 over the past two years.
“I came upon that although ESG may very well be … not simply the funding issue, but additionally communicated with worker engagement. After which that may very well be one of many components of ESG,” Lee stated.
Lee will research this in two methods: First, by “clustering” social media conversations between customers on-line to see how they talk about ESG and draw patterns between them. Secondly, she’s inspecting the experiences of prime ESG corporations listed within the S&P 500 to see how these paperwork addressed worker engagement by means of an ESG lens.
Lee’s analysis temporary shall be revealed by means of 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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