BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

This study analyses whether and how environmental education determines the adoption of pro-environmental behaviours. We conducted an experiment on 222 business administration students to examine this relationship from two theoretical approaches: instrumental and emancipatory perspectives. Structural equation modelling shows that environmental education in higher education affects pro-environmental behaviour, but only in an indirect way, i.e., through the knowledge–concern–willingness model. These results confirm the emancipatory perspective of higher environmental management education in detriment of instrumental counterpart. Thus, this research sheds light on the current theoretical debate around both perspectives and it offers important implications for both educators and policy makers in designing business educational programmes.

This study investigates whether circularity in production processes generates a reduction of firms' production costs and the conditions that determine the intensity of this reduction. It explores the role of two moderators for this cost-efficiency advantage to emerge, namely, eco-innovativeness (investments dedicated to the adequate implementation of circular practices in current production processes) and green jobs (human resources dedicated to circular practices). Using data on 13,117 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the Flash Eurobarometer 2017, a cluster analysis revealed that there is a gradual path towards Circular Economy among European SMEs, with the implementation of increasingly more circular practices. Four ordered probit models confirmed that a higher level of circularity in processes achieved by European SMEs is related to a reduction in their production costs. Moreover, eco-innovativeness positively moderates this relation. In contrast, the relative share of green jobs in SMEs' workforce mitigates the impact of circularity on production costs. In practice, by engaging in circularity, SMEs can contribute to the United Nations goals for Sustainable Development while reducing production costs; although the level of this reduction depends on how circularity is implemented.

COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented health and economic crisis worldwide. Many governments of the world have accelerated an adoption of public policies to address this crisis; however, a trade-off between the economy and public health exists. Previous studies in this area have mainly focused on the impact of COVID-19 on human life and the environment. This work adds to the literature by analyzing how individual environmental concern can affect citizens'' preferences for public policies that deal with COVID-19. A data set of 26, 131 participants from 26 countries was used to test the research model. Results indicate that environmental concern is positively associated with a preference for long-term oriented altruistic policies, and it shapes the relationship between economic and health problems at the country level on our dependent variable. Specifically, as the level of environmental concern increases, the negative effect of COVID-19''s economic problems on the preference for long-term altruistic policies is diminished. In turn, in the case of health problems, the impact on the preference for long-term altruistic policies increases as environmental concern increases. Also, both individual-level and country-level characteristics affect citizens'' preferences for policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022 The Authors

Nowadays there is a tendency to highlight the significant contribution of students'' socio-emotional perceptions about academic motivation and expectations in Higher Education. This study aims to analyze the relationships among emotional well-being, desire for social reinforcement, intrinsic motivation, the perceived value of the task, and academic expectations. To do this, 455 university students from the Spanish educational system filled out an online questionnaire. The application of a Structural Equation Model (SEM) underscores the fact that emotional well-being and the desire for social reinforcement have a positive effect on intrinsic motivation for learning. In turn, this motivation has been a significant predictor of the perceived value of homework and academic expectations. In addition, various mediating effects are observed to influence high academic expectations. These results highlight the need for emotional care and social reinforcement in initial university training programs.

This paper investigates the possible synergic effect of the cooperation between firms and the main agents of the Triple Helix approach (academia, industry and government) on corporate environmental innovation. The results of analysing a broad sample of Spanish firms from various sectors (38,269 observations) over a 9-year period show that cooperation between firms and Triple Helix agents, both individually and jointly, increases the likelihood of corporate environmental innovation. Indeed, the more Triple Helix agents involved in cooperation with firms, the greater the likelihood of corporate environmental innovation. In addition, for the same number of Triple Helix agents involved, the influence of cooperation on corporate environmental innovation depends on the type of agents. Consequently, the paper provides empirical evidence of the existence of a synergic effect of cooperation on environmental innovation.

Los problemas medioambientales están provocando el paso de modelos económico lineales a circulares. En la industria textil, el desarrollo experimentado a partir de la gestión fast fashion, ha provocado un incremento de sus residuos. Los consumidores y consumidoras perciben la ropa como desechable, por lo que abandonan su uso debido a cambios en sus gustos y no por su deterioro. Esto está generando un problema medioambiental al acabar la mayoría de estos residuos en el vertedero. Una solución sería la participación en sistemas de economía circular en los que los residuos son considerados un recurso. Para que el sistema funcione es vital la participación de los consumidores/as a través de la recuperación, reutilización y reciclado de los residuos. El análisis del comportamiento de los ciudadanos y ciudadanas realizado pone de manifiesto la existencia de una alta concienciación con el reciclado de todo tipo de residuos, incluidos los textiles. Este reciclado se realiza fundamentalmente a través de la participación en los programas de recogida selectiva autorizados oficialmente y de la donación de ropa a la familia y amigos. Alternativas como su venta o canje por descuentos es poco utilizada. Los individuos que llevan a cabo estos comportamientos difieren según sus características sociodemográficas. Se detecta la confusión existente entre los conceptos de reutilización y reciclado, lo que hace que muchos residuos textiles acaben en el vertedero. Emergen dos grupos de ciudadanos y ciudadanas, atendiendo a sus opiniones sobre el destino de los residuos textiles, que se caracterizan por edad, ingresos y ocupación.

This research studies the factors that favour the establishment of high-investment infrastructure public-private partnership (PPP) projects. We analyse 9121 PPPs, hosted in 107 developing countries, in the period 1997–2017. We find that PPP projects adopting contractual forms in which the private party takes more risks, awarded through competitive methods and benefitting from indirect government support programmes, are characterized by a larger investment volume. A more business-friendly economy and robust institutions configure the most conducive environment to establish larger investment PPPs. Furthermore, multilateral development banks’ support of the projects relates positively to their investment volume.

In this research, we analyse the impact of the institutional distance between investor and investee countries on the risk-adjusted financial performance for a broad sample of US-based international mutual funds in the period 1997-2021 (1,704 equity mutual funds/106,521 monthly portfolios). Our results show that a greater institutional distance jeopardizes mutual fund financial performance. Another relevant finding is that holding a more country-concentrated portfolio positively impacts financial performance. In addition, we reveal an interaction effect between the two variables, meaning that the portfolio country concentration moderates the negative impact of institutional distance, supporting the information advantage theory.

The article presents a decision-making model that can be used with blockchain technology. Blockchain is used as an alternative transaction mechanism to authority and the market, where the decision is decentralised within the organisation. Thus, the process is parameterised around the acceptance or not of a project, depending on individual levels of expertise, consensus level and including deliberation time. In addition, commission and omission errors are also evaluated.We show that this technology should be imposed naturally because, at the same level of information, it can obtain better results than any other decision mechanism in a systematic way. In addition, the blockchain ensures that both commission errors and omission errors are reduced with decision times that do not increase the expected opportunity loss on omission errors.

This paper proposes to analyze how the differences in expertise, diversity, and group decision procedures affect the quality of the strategic decision of steering committees. Strategic decisions are difficult to anticipate, and performances of the alternatives are often not observable in their entirety, which prevent researchers from obtaining controlled empirical studies. This paper proposes to analyze the performance of steering committees where managers can err in their decisions using the Intentional Bounded Rationality (IBR). The majority procedure improves the committee's performance concerning authority when the level of diversity and expertise increases. However, in situations of low expertise, the gains over authority narrow. This work provides guidance in terms of trade-offs between the mentality of managers, their expertise, group decision procedures, and diversity, which in the empirical works are contradictory. This study contributes to current theorizations of committee management using the IBR methodology, which is new and allows quantifying the contribution of the distinct characteristics of the committee.

Much has been said about the role that business associations play in the survival of firms, but little is known about how this influences the relationship between exports and the survival of firms. Considering the diverging theoretical assumptions about the importance of business associations, we hypothesize in this paper on the direct effect of association membership on the survival of firms, and its moderating effect on the export–survival relationship. For Qualified Designation of Origin (DOC) Rioja wineries, we show that both exporting and association membership have a positive effect on the survival of firms, although association membership reduces the positive effect of exports to survive. These results hold up under alternative survival model specifications. The study explores the complex role of associations in the wine industry, which is important to understand in the context of the current COVID-19 crisis.

Se ha hablado mucho sobre el papel que desempeñan las asociaciones empresariales en la supervivencia de las empresas, pero se sabe poco sobre cómo influyen en la relación entre las exportaciones y la supervivencia de las empresas. Teniendo en cuenta los supuestos teóricos divergentes sobre la importancia de las asociaciones empresariales, en este artículo formulamos hipótesis sobre el efecto directo de la membresía en asociaciones en la supervivencia de las empresas y su efecto moderador en la relación exportación-supervivencia. Para las bodegas con Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOC) Rioja, mostramos que tanto la exportación como la membresía en asociaciones tienen un efecto positivo en la supervivencia de las empresas, aunque la membresía en asociaciones reduce el efecto positivo de las exportaciones para sobrevivir. Estos resultados se mantienen bajo especificaciones de modelos de supervivencia alternativos. El estudio explora el complejo papel de las asociaciones en la industria del vino, que es importante comprender en el contexto de la actual crisis de COVID-19. [Citas de EconLit: L25, L66, M16, M21].

The social enterprise model, which is characterized by economic, social, and governance dimensions, has become a key aspect of modern welfare states in Europe. Despite its potential to increase revenue diversification for nonprofits, particularly through commercial income, its effects in the context of Mediterranean countries within the European Union are untested. This study aims to examine the adoption of the social enterprise model by Mediterranean nonprofits. The results suggest that organizations with high levels of diversification through commercial income exhibit some characteristics of the social enterprise model, and this behavior is influenced by factors such as the type of promoter, user, organizational aims, and activities.

PurposeBased on goal-directed behavior, this study explores the direct effects and the interaction between health and environmental concerns as the main drivers of organic food consumption. Consumer's economic problems are proposed as the main barrier for such behavior from a cost-benefit approach theoretically grounded on decision theory.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using the 26,669 European 95.1 wave participants of the Eurobarometer survey. Logistic regression estimates are used to analyze the hypotheses postulated.FindingsThe results indicated the significant association of both health and environmental concerns with organic food consumption, as well as the existence of an interactive effect between both consumer goals. As a novel finding, health concern weakens the influence of environmental concern on organic food consumption. Consumer's economic problems harms the expansion of organic food consumption as well as other socio-demographic factors included as control variables.Originality/valueFor the first time, this research explores the interaction effect between health and environmental concerns as antecedents of organic food consumption. The study argues that these consumer goals present differential features in terms of individual importance, feasibility, abstractness and outcome demonstrability, resulting in a prevalence of health over environmental goals for some consumers. The research provides not only novel insights for understanding organic food consumption but also provides additional evidence for practitioners to develop sales strategies and policymakers to formulate policies to guide the promotion of this so desired example of sustainable consumption.

Occupational choice models predict that, ceteris paribus, countries with higher dispersion of skill will have higher market labour income inequality. However, an extended conclusion from empirical research is that cross-country variations in dispersion of skill explain little of the variation in income inequality. This paper identifies factors related to production and organization technologies that moderate the relationship between dispersion of skill and dispersion of income in occupational choice equilibrium outcomes and that, if not properly accounted for, can bias the results of the empirical studies that explain dispersion of income as a function of dispersion of skill. In particular, comparing equilibrium outcomes from occupational choices in economies that differ in the distribution of skill and in the efficiency of supervision hierarchies, the paper can explain why the US and Sweden have similar labour productivity, but income inequality is higher in the US than in Sweden, and why productivity is lower and income inequality is higher in Spain than in Sweden.

The manifestation of the intensity in the judgment of one alternative versus another in the peer comparison processes is a central element in some decision support techniques, such as the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). However, its contribution regarding quality (expected performance) with respect to the priority vector has not been evaluated so far. Using the Intentional Bounded Rationality Methodology (IBRM), this work analyzes the gains obtained from requiring the decision-maker to report an intensity judgment in pairs (AHP) with respect to a technique that only requires expressing a preference (Ordering). The results show that when decision-makers have low levels of expertise, it is possible that a less informative and computational cheap technique (Ordering) performs better than a more informative and computational expensive one (AHP). When decision-makers have medium and high levels of expertise, AHP technique obtains modest gains with respect to the Ordering technique. This study proposes a cost-benefit analysis of decision support techniques contrasting the gains of a technique that requires more resources (AHP) against other that require less resources (Ordering). Our results can change the managing approach of the information obtained from experts’ judgments.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el desempleo de género en base a los registros administrativos de demandantes de empleo ofrecidos por el Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) en un contexto rural y altamente despoblado. Estudiamos cómo ha afectado la pandemia COVID-19 a las comarcas turolenses en el mayor desplome histórico del mercado de trabajo centrándonos en el sexo femenino y en sus dificultades en la población juvenil y en personas mayores de 45 años. Para ello construimos una tasa de paro registrado y estudiamos su evolución en tres momentos del tiempo, el año anterior, el de inicio y un año después de la pandemia, tomando para ello los meses de marzo de los años 2019, 2020 y 2021. Este último coincide con el inicio de la mejora de los resultados en el empleo, que posiblemente marque la recuperación económica y con ella del empleo, gracias a la aceleración del ritmo de vacunación, que relaje las restricciones y permita acercarnos a los niveles de actividad previos a la pandemia.

This study mainly aims to analyse whether innovation related to the circular economy's principles, defined as ‘circular innovation’, is closely linked to environmental disclosure and contributes to the generation of improvements in environmental performance. The article also aims to test whether waste patents, as a specific indicator of circular innovation, are more valuable assets that need specific strategic management due to their level of novelty, complexity, and radicalness being higher than other green or conventional innovations. The empirical analysis uses a rich firm-level dataset of worldwide companies for the 2011–2015 period, with 1330 observations to show that environmental disclosure and environmental performance are positively associated with circular innovation. This innovation is in fact, more intensive in patent claims and patent citation generation, indicating a higher economic value for companies. The article contributes to this new line of inquiry on defining circular innovation, as well as providing some environmental determinants and consequences from the stakeholders' perspective in relation to circular business models.

In recent years, companies have updated their strategic goals, adding the goal of digitalization to the already commonly accepted goal of sustainability. The convergence between these two strategic goals, digitalization, and sustainability (D-S) convergence, is the complete and conjoint attention to both strategic goals. This paper analyzes this phenomenon in depth by studying the implementation of sustainable and digital measures in companies. In doing so, we categorize firms' strategies from less to more D-S convergence, analyzing the factors that promote the full attention to both strategic goals, emphasizing those that enhance the mentioned D-S convergence. The findings from the analysis of a sample of more than 16,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide reveal that companies that devote more effort to business growth, innovation, exports and that perceive the environment as favorable are more likely to achieve full D-S convergence.

Purpose: To identify the risks associated by consumers with renting clothes. Design/methodology/approach: A descriptive research with a quantitative approach was carried out. First, the measurement models of the variables involved in the proposed model were validated. After verifying the existence of the variables, the resulting model was finally estimated through structural equation modelling. Findings: The results obtained establish the six dimensions that make up the problems associated by consumers with the clothing rental business model. These problems encompass various types of risks: financial, physical, performance, psychosocial, inconsistency with values and lifestyle, as well as lack of trust in the service provider. The results obtained show that only inconsistency, financial risk and physical risk have a significant effect on attitude. These performance risks, together with the consumer's attitude towards renting, have a negative effect on the intention to rent. Originality/value: Factors that have a negative effect on attitude have been studied less than the facilitators of attitude. This is the first study in Spain. Practical implications: The results will help managers to understand the adoption behaviours of these models. Social implications: This study helps understand the social innovation needed to change consumers' relationship to clothing.

This paper contributes to the literature that postulates a relationship between income inequality and the relative importance of “market” and “organization” in the direction of resources. The paper emphasizes that both are endogenous; therefore, the empirical associations observed in the empirical data between inequality measures and production organization variables cannot be interpreted as indicative of causal relationships. The paper solves for the composition and size of occupational groups, the distribution of firm size, and the distribution of income as market equilibrium outcomes of an occupational choice economy, and performs a comparative static analysis. We find that the interaction between cross-economy differences in the distribution of general skills in the labor force and the loss of control in the supervision of workers by managers can explain the empirical regularities observed in the relationship between the organization of production (distribution of firm size) and income inequality (distribution of labor income). This explanation of the empirical regularities differs from others proposed in the literature, such as those based on institutional constraints or the market power of firms.

In this study, we first analyze whether firms' eco-innovation, manifested through green patents, improves environmental performance. Then, we assess whether adopting environmental management systems (EMS) that follow standardized guidelines enhances the potential of eco-innovation to improve environmental performance. To test our predictions, we build a unique firm-level dataset that combines global data on green patents, EMS adoption, and performance from five different data sources. The data support the positive effect of eco-innovation on environmental performance. However, our results show that adopting EMS, rather than strengthening the positive impact of eco-innovation on environmental performance, generates organizational rigidities that weaken the eco-innovation–environmental performance link. After conducting a set of qualitative post hoc interviews with elite informants, our surprising findings became more meaningful. Furthermore, we conducted a set of additional tests to validate our results in different scenarios where organizational rigidities could be a pivotal factor in explaining environmental performance differences connected to eco-innovation. This study has relevant theoretical and practical implications for the design and adoption of EMS and the conjoint dynamics between innovation and standardization practices to improve performance.

Introduction: Academic integrity is a goal to be achieved by university institutions, and student academic behavioral misconduct is a phenomenon to be fought and eradicated. Two of the main problems faced by universities in this area are: (1) the lack of consensus among students and faculty on the seriousness of acts considered academic misconduct; and (2) the difficulty of noticing and controlling certain student behaviors. The main aim of this paper is to assess the importance of these two problems.MethodsFor this purpose, the authors compare, on the one hand, students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the seriousness of different types of dishonest and inappropriate behaviors and, on the other hand, the frequency with which they report that these misconducts occur. Two samples were taken from the responses of students and teachers of the Economics and Business School of the University of Zaragoza. The first consisted of 333 students and the second of 72 teachers. The academic misconducts asked about were grouped into three categories: academic works, exams, and interpersonal relationships in the classroom. Nonparametric tests were used to study the significance of the differences observed in the responses of students and teachers.ResultsResults show that the greatest differences in the assessment of the seriousness of academic misconducts are in the group referring to interpersonal relationships. In terms of frequency, the study reveals that there is a serious problem of moral hazard in some of the behaviors analyzed, since the frequency with which teachers notice these practices is lower than that expressed by students.DiscussionBased on these results, possible measures to be adopted in universities in order to eradicate the academic misconduct problem are discussed.

In this research, we analyse how project risk allocation strategies impact the volume of private investment in renewable energy projects with the participation of both the public and private sectors. To this purpose, we analyse a sample formed by 2215 projects performed in 73 developing countries in the period 1997–2019 involving the following technologies: solar, hydro, wind, waste, biogas, biomass, and geothermal. Our findings reveal that those projects performed through governance schemes in which the private partner takes more project responsibilities attract more private money. Additional drivers for attracting private investment at the project level and institutional level are found. Furthermore, we reveal that the transference of project risks to the private partner emerges as a very relevant project feature that interacts with some of the project and institutional factors, revealing both complementary and substitution effects. The significance of this research extends beyond academia, since there are factors influencing private investment that can be controlled by various stakeholders in projects (such as policymakers, private investors, and project managers). Understanding their impact, significance, and interaction effects—factors that sometimes moderate or accentuate private investment—is crucial. The identified patterns illuminate optimal risk allocation practices, offering practical insights to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of projects.

Human resource management has attracted significant attention among researchers of public management. It is increasingly accepted that committed and satisfied employees are strategic resources in any organization. The idiosyncrasies of the armed forces and the professionalization processes they have undergone necessitate a study of the attitudes of military personnel towards work in the sector. This paper analyses the determinants of job satisfaction in the military. Three factors (“Work itself”, “Economic aspects” and “Personal relationships”) are identified based on data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Both the composition and the impact of these factors on job satisfaction vary according to the hierarchical rank of a worker. The findings confirm the importance of differentiated human resources policies that take into account the hierarchical diversity of the military. Our results provide new evidence and valuable practical information for human resource management in the armed forces. We provide policymakers and managers of the military sector with recommendations that allow them to reinforce the ability of the armed forces to attract, retain and motivate talent.

In the transformation towards inclusive education, teachers are professionals who research, reflect on, and identify the conditions that hinder their development and that of their students. This study focused on a population of pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It aimed to apply a quantitative methodology to analyze the relationships existing among the barriers perceived in the teaching-learning process, teacher needs, and transformative attitudes toward the process of inclusion of these children. A total of 454 teachers from mainstream schools participated in this study. A Structural Equation Model was carried out to test the proposed relationships. The results showed that a greater perception of the barriers faced by these students meant that the needs perceived by teachers were also more pronounced. These needs are related to training and experience regarding the inclusion of pupils with ASD, as well as the resources and support teachers available to them. Perceived needs have significant positive effects on teachers’ attitudes in favour of transforming the process of inclusion of pupils with ASD. The importance of introducing changes in inclusive education for the most vulnerable students was highlighted

Empirical research has confirmed a mostly positive relationship between innovation and performance, but more work is needed to establish whether this relationship is homogeneous or whether it depends on other variables, such as ownership model (family/non-family) and who manages the company (owner/non-owner). This paper studies differences in the impact of innovation on productivity between family firms, owner-managed or professionalized, and non-family firms, also subdivided, for the first time in the academic literature, between owner-managed and non-owner-managed firms. A multistage model is used, controlling for endogeneity and selection bias issues. The results yielded by a large panel dataset of Spanish manufacturing firms suggest differences in the ability to benefit from innovation. These results confirm that, in non-professionalized firms, family ownership reduces the positive effect of innovation on productivity, while in professionalized firms, there are no significant differences between the family and non-family ownership model.

The growing prominence of public–private partnerships featuring concessions has become a focal point in the management realm. Concession agreements, often spanning numerous years, imbue projects with continuity and stability. Through the theory of neo-institutionalism, we analyse the influence of formal and informal institutions on the duration of these projects across diverse countries, showing the pivotal role played by the institutional environment and consensus mechanisms in ensuring the success of such collaborative endeavours. The findings furnish valuable insights for practitioners and policymakers by facilitating the identification of optimal conditions to establish enduring and highly effective concession agreements.

In this article, we present a methodological approach to address spatial disparity in global data representation, introducing an algorithm called Flexible Mapping to Understand Spatial Analysis (FLEMUSA). We utilize world maps to depict various data points across countries, revealing substantial variation among them. However, conventional choropleth maps often fail to effectively represent regions with sparse data, obscuring valuable insights. To mitigate this issue, we propose interactive graphical methods in both two and three dimensions, implemented through open-source Python code accessible via Google Colab. Our approach includes several contributions such as excluding countries without data from the representation, scaling magnitudes within country borders, focusing on regional analysis, and using logarithmic scales for bubble maps proportional to country sizes. Additionally, we offer interactive 2D and 3D representations, rotatable3D representations, and zoomable options, facilitating enhanced visualization of regional similarities amidst data heterogeneity. Through this algorithm, we aim to improve the clarity and interpretability of spatial data analysis, integrating solutions for extreme data overdispersion, all programmed with open-source code
-Utilization of world maps for visual representation of data across countries mitigating the overdispersion step by step
-Implementation of graphical methods, including interactive 2D and 3D maps, to address spatial disparity.
-Provision of open-source code for customizable graphical representations, facilitating implementation in online journals as interactive code snippets

Different types of organizations use certifications to reduce information asymmetry in an extensive range of business activities. In some cases, the widespread use of certifications can lead to multiple competing and overlapping standards. Some organizations also obtain similar certifications in a process defined as over‐certification, which is understudied in the literature. The primary objective of this study is to identify the determinants of the over‐certification process, specifically regarding the influence of stakeholders that motivate organizations to engage in over‐certification. Grounded in both signaling and stakeholder theories, this study confirms the isomorphic effect of stakeholders' pressures that creates different motivations for using different (but similar) certifications. An empirical analysis of a sample of 418 European organizations highlights that the decoupling in the interest in certifications is the main antecedent of over‐certification in relation to corporate social responsibility‐related certifications. Our results also show that the occurrence of over‐certification in organizations is mainly due to its ability to impact corporate reputation, confirming the signaling value of different (but similar) certifications.

This study evaluates whether exchange traded funds (ETFs) threaten financial market stability by testing two hypotheses relating the growing importance of ETFs to increased market volatility and rising equity valuations. We estimate quantile cointegration models using Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500) and Chicago Board Options Exchange volatility Index (VIX) data for 1994–2020. We found that an increase in ETFs is positively and significantly related to the long-term valuation of the S&P 500 for quantile values above the median. By contrast, ETFs have only a negative and significant effect on the VIX for quantiles around the median. Ultimately, two novel results were obtained. First, the distortion in the value of the S&P 500 relative to its fundamentals is driven by investor flow into ETFs during a bull market. Second, the impact of equity ETFs on the VIX is only affected when fundamental factors are in play, decreasing it. Therefore, ETFs contribute to forming equity bubbles and support valuation market dynamics. Both regulators and policymakers should consider these conclusions.

From an expansive and managerial perspective, this paper fills a significant and timely knowledge gap by analyzing service providers’ perspectives on forming memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) in rural settings and preserving the sustainable development of destinations. It focuses on tourism destinations’ sustainable development while stimulating further research as rural tourism expands in the Aragonese Pyrenees (Huesca, Spain). The opinions of the tourism providers about the role of MTE as the final output of their activities and the importance of sustainability development are essential to facing new challenges in an industry characterized by expert and exigent tourists. A structured description of the current research situation from the literature reviewed identifies the questions to include in an interview addressed to service providers selected among the Aragon Valley rural tourism context, public institutions, and tourist associations. The analysis of the qualitative data provides strengths and weaknesses of the rural tourism setting. The rural tourism providers interviewed show sensitivity towards sustainability issues. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the implementation of institutional, individual, and joint actions, on socio-cultural sustainability, and on how to take advantage of technologies. Tourism planning and implementing responsible and economically profitable practices arise as essential. Public bodies and private initiatives must allocate more resources to effective training, information, and awareness-raising. It is necessary to face the development of sustainable rural tourism through cooperation between all those involved in the value chain.

Esta investigación tiene como objetivo estudiar el efecto de la propiedad familiar de la empresa y la separación entre propiedad y gestión, en el rendimiento empresarial medido en términos de creación de empleo. Para ello se comparan las diferencias entre empresas familiares y no familiares, así como entre aquellas empresas dirigidas por profesionales externos a la propiedad y aquellas en las que las tareas de dirección son asumidas por los propietarios. Aprovechando la estructura de panel de la muestra, el trabajo se completa con el estudio de la influencia del ciclo económico, en función de las distintas combinaciones de estructura de propiedad y gestión. Una de las principales conclusiones del estudio cuestiona que las empresas familiares superen de forma generalizada a las no familiares en términos de creación de empleo. Aunque esto se aplica a las empresas no profesionalizadas, que representan la mayoría de las empresas familiares, no se observa en las empresas profesionalizadas. Al diferenciar el efecto del ciclo económico en función de sus fases, se observa que, entre las empresas no profesionalizadas, no aparecen diferencias entre empresas familiares y no familiares tanto en la fase recesiva como en la de recuperación. Sin embargo, entre las empresas profesionalizadas, las familiares sufren más los efectos de la fase recesiva y muestran una mayor capacidad de recuperación del empleo en la fase de recuperación.

European firms are currently in a process of transition toward a circular economy, which is expected to guarantee sustainable growth over time. Developing eco-efficient practices is a necessary step in this transition. This study analyzes the impact of stakeholder engagement in a circular business ecosystem on the development of these circular eco-efficient practices. Past literature has evidenced the impact of stakeholder environmental pressure on firm strategic decisions and outcomes. We adopt the stakeholder theory from a more recent vision, arguing that “shaking stakeholders up” within a circular ecosystem is a more advanced strategy than the traditional approach of reacting to stakeholder pressure. Using structural equation modeling, we examine the data of 14,726 European firms and their relationships with five primary stakeholder groups. The results offer theoretical and empirical support for the idea that firms can go further in adopting eco-efficient circular practices by shaking stakeholders up, selecting them, and managing relationships with them.

In this research, we investigate how the distance in legal features between investor and investee countries affects international mutual funds’ financial performance. We analyse a sample formed by 1160 US equity mutual funds in the period 2000–2021 (73,256 monthly portfolios) with an international investment vocation. Our results show that managers of mutual funds holding a portfolio that is exposed to more distant markets in terms of legal features jeopardize the financial performance delivered to investors. We also find a moderating factor whereby investing in larger stock markets alleviates the negative effect of the legal distance.

This study focuses on the fashion sector, where production and consumption models are linear. Product-Service Systems, such as clothing rental, were analyzed to establish the profile of the consumer who is most likely to use them. Data were obtained from an online survey. A cluster analysis was conducted to establish the profile of individuals willing to participate in this Circular Business Model. Results showed a low use of the clothing rental service in the sample analyzed, as well as two profiles of individuals willing to use this service. Group 1, mainly men with a high school degree and no experience in renting or buying second-hand clothing, showed a lower intention to rent. Group 2, mostly women with a university degree and experience in reuse, showed a higher intention to rent and buy second-hand clothing. This research contributes to our understanding of consumer behavior within the context of circular economy business models, specifically in the realm of clothing rental. By explaining consumer profiles and their underlying traits, this study highlights the need to target and engage the right consumer segments. Managers in the fashion industry can leverage these insights to develop effective strategies that promote and optimize the adoption of circular business models. By focusing on the consumer, we can collectively foster a more sustainable and circular future.

It is a challenge to improve a decision support system (DSS) based on expert judgments; the literature proposes to improve accuracy and performance by increasing the sophistication and complexity of the DSS, but at what cost? This study presents a model for encoding a DSS based on expert judgments and evaluating its efficiency, establishing a three-part analysis structure: information requirements (number of judgments), quality requirements (quality assurance mechanisms), and algorithmic complexity. With a focus on the cost of judgments, a systematic and quantitative coding of the performance and cost in each part of the DSS is established. A “break-even point” efficiency measure, defined as the maximum percentage of the optimal performance that can be paid per unit of resources, is proposed to ensure that the use of the DSS remains profitable. Counterintuitively, the results of a case study show that the efficiency of DSSs does not necessarily increase with respect to the informativeness level of DSSs. Overall, this study provides a new method for evaluating the efficiency of DSSs.

The World Bank's database on private participation in infrastructure (PPI) projects provides detailed information on these initiatives. However, the original dataset includes imputed macro-level data for the countries that is outdated, lacks assigned ISO country codes, and is not linked to other standard country-level variables necessary for proper analysis and control by territory. In the improved version of the database, 10,958 project observations from 1900 to 2021 have been supplemented with ISO 2 and 3 country codes, enabling accurate integration with other databases. Additionally, 49 new variables related to economic, institutional, and conflict data are incorporated by country and year. This enhanced database ensures that researchers can retain critical World Bank information that might otherwise be lost in future updates, as it is not always preserved in repositories.

Despite the prevalence of Decision Support Systems (DSSs) in the field of decision-making, there is a paucity of research dedicated to the evaluation and comparison of these systems. This paper put forward a novel approach to symbolically encoding a DSS, which enables the generalization of comparisons between DSSs for any distribution of performances of the alternatives. The only hypothesis required in the proposed methodology is that the probability of choosing each alternative is proportional to its latent performance. The approach developed is demonstrated with its application to compare two paradigms commonly employed in DSS: holistic versus pairwise. Using a set of three alternatives, the present study provides mathematical proof that a DSS based on the pairwise comparison paradigm achieves higher expected performance than a DSS based on the holistic evaluation paradigm. This result challenges the emerging preference for holistic evaluation of alternatives and suggests that this result may apply to any number of alternatives.

Purpose
This paper examines the role of dynamic capabilities in fostering innovation within the internationalization processes of Italian SMEs. From the perspective of impact articles, the objective is to contribute to advancing knowledge through the collaboration between scholars and practitioners.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs a qualitative research method in the context of Italy. Throughout the research process, relevant practitioners were engaged to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world applications. This was achieved by studying practical studies and conducting interviews with professionals.

Findings
The results show the impact of different categories of dynamic capabilities developed during internationalization processes on the innovation management practices of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Originality/value
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, international conflicts and digital technologies has significantly redefined the global business landscape. This has compelled companies to innovate and remain competitive in international markets continuously. However, small and medium-sized enterprises face significant obstacles in meeting this challenge and a dynamic approach is needed to understand their innovation processes in complex and changing foreign markets.

Keywor

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that determine the entrepreneurial intention (EI) among Social Work degree students. This study considers the direct influence of personal traits, demographic characteristics, informal education and entrepreneurship education (EE) and, in addition, the possible moderating effect of EE on the other factors. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 139 undergraduate students registered in the Social Work degree offered by the University of Zaragoza (Spain) is analyzed, by using a longitudinal system based on questionnaires that were passed at two different times – before and after receiving the EE. Logistic regression models are built and estimated according to the explicative variables. Findings: The results indicate that demographic factors, personality traits, professional experience and EE are significant factors in fostering social entrepreneurship among Social Work students. Additionally, EE has a moderating effect on the other variables, but only partially and not always positive. Practical implications: The entrepreneurial initiative of social workers can make a very valuable contribution through the start-up of social enterprises. The findings suggest the convenience of promoting EE in the Social Work degree, with teaching contents and methodologies adapted to social entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, the interaction of educational methodologies with the other determinants does not always have a positive impact on EI.

Eco-innovations integrate complex and diverse knowledge sources. For this reason, firms engage in worldwide collaborations that promote learning from different partners that, in turn, promote environmental innovations. This study analyzes how the learning experience of previous collaborations at the national and international levels impacts the likelihood of eco-innovation development by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This work also examines whether such linkages between prior collaboration experience and eco-innovation are influenced by alliance portfolio diversity (APD), which can broaden the number of knowledge sources but also increase coordination costs. The results of longitudinal analysis, based on a dataset of Spanish SMEs, suggest that the learning acquired from prior domestic openness is more useful for enhancing eco-innovation activities. Moreover, the results confirm the negative moderating role of APD, as SMEs with greater prior experience in national and international openness are more likely to eco-innovate than those with less prior experience, but these relationships weaken with increased diversity in collaboration portfolios.