Impact of Employee Stock Ownership on Stakeholders in Agribusiness Based on Game Theory Modeling
摘要
In the context of agricultural enterprise reform and the gradual marketization of property rights systems, the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) has emerged as a long-term incentive mechanism to enhance governance structure and motivate employees. This paper constructs a dynamic three-player game model involving controlling shareholders, management, and employees to systematically analyze how ESOP implementation affects stakeholder behavior and enterprise value. The study reveals that: (1) there exists a critical equity threshold above which employees are incentivized to exert maximum effort; (2) controlling shareholders’ opportunistic behavior depends on the alliance cost and reputational consequences; (3) when the cost of coalition is lower than the value loss, management and employees are likely to form a strategic alliance to counterbalance ownership dominance; (4) contract sustainability relies on time consistency and repeated game structures. Theoretical findings are supported by function-based derivation and game flow visualizations. The paper offers both theoretical insight and policy recommendations for the effective design and monitoring of ESOPs in agricultural enterprises.