Broad-based employee stock ownership (ESO) plans are a widely used form of employee compensation. Past reviews have demonstrated that ESO can impact employee attitudes and organisational performance but the effectiveness of ESO is likely to be dependent on employee participation in the ESO plan. Our review of 47 publications identifies the factors associated with plan participation, the level of participation, and the amount and duration of shareholdings, focusing on employee stock purchase and similar plans. We propose an integrative framework that identifies the individual, temporal and contextual drivers of ESO participation. We identify five topics that are most promising for theory development and practice: (1) Conceptualizing and measuring ESO participation; (2) Duration and maturity of shares/exit (3) personality and investing (4) multi-level conditions (5) methodological issues.
