Abstract: With the widespread application of industrial robots, the Chinese labor market is undergoing a profound transformation. Faced with this challenge, how enterprises can respond to this change and promote high-quality development through effective employee incentive strategies has become a question that decision-makers must seriously consider. The empirical analyses from the perspective of employee equity incentives show that, with the deepening application of industrial robots, firms are inclined to implement employee stock ownership plan, which has a higher employee shareholding ratio, longer lock-in period and wider coverage of employees. The motivation test reveals that the introduction of industrial robots has enhanced the willingness of enterprises to accumulate high-quality human capital through employee stock ownership plans, and helps alleviate employees’ concerns about potential opportunistic behaviors in the enterprise, thereby prompting employees to make proprietary investments. Further analysis reveals that in the context of industrial intelligence, to implement employee share ownership plans can significantly promote corporate innovative capabilities. This provides important insights for enterprises to effectively respond to the challenges brought by industrial intelligence through institutional design, thereby achieving high-quality development.

Key words: industrial robots, labor structure, proprietary investments, employee stock ownership, corporate innovation