“…While the majority of the empirical evidence suggests that ESO schemes are associated with higher labor productivity (Freeman et al, ; E. Kim & Ouimet, ; Kumbhakar & Dunbar, ; Park & Song, ) and firm performance (Blasi et al, ; Bryson & Freeman, ; Fernie & Metcalf, ; D. L. Kruse et al, ; Long, ; McNabb & Whitfield, ; O'Boyle et al, ; Pendleton, ; Sengupta, ; Sengupta et al, ), others demonstrate no effect (D. Kruse, ; Pendleton, ; Sengupta & Yoon, ). Furthermore, a positive, yet small, productivity effect was evident in a recent meta‐analysis of 102 studies representing 56,984 firms from around the world (O'Boyle et al, ).…”