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This study explores the factors that explain the adoption of innovative teaching practices within schools and how this is determined by the different perceptions of principals and teachers.

The authors use the self-other agreement to measure the difference between the principal and teachers' rating based on the responses of 255 principals and 10,415 teachers, applying polynomial regression with surface analysis to examine the in-agreement/disagreement of self- and other-ratings.

Results indicate that schools where principals and teachers agree on the level of collaborative culture, learning climate, professional development and instructional leadership are associated with higher innovative teaching practices, creating opportunities for stimulating learning environments. In addition, the adoption of innovative professional practices is more likely to result when there is disagreement with teacher over-rating the factors.

It has practical implications for developing strategies aimed at encouraging the implementation of innovative teaching practices among teachers and it extends the research on teachers' professional practices by using self-other agreement data collection method and surface analysis.

The vast collection of data provide a unique investigation opportunity of the effects of collaborative culture, learning climate, professional development and instructional leadership on innovative teaching in Italy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the school context, the leadership of the school principal, and a set of process variables related to teachers and the educational climate, which have been shown to mediate the effects of the principal’s leadership on schools and students. The authors examined the following research questions: does the school context influence the principal’s leadership? When the influences of the school context are controlled for, does the principal’s leadership influence the process variables related to teachers and educational climate?

The research questions are analysed in a multilevel context by developing two models regarding the hypothesized relationships between the study variables. With the use of multilevel structural equation modelling techniques the models were empirically tested on data from Italian teachers and students from a sample of schools in Italy. The database include 1,566 teachers from 47 schools of different types and levels from the Autonomous Province of Trento.

In those schools which have the highest leadership scores, the authors also find a greater degree of job satisfaction among the teachers, higher levels of self-efficacy of teachers, and a better educational climate, which is more respectful of the basic rules of coexistence existing within the school. An interesting additional element is that the positive relationship between the exercise of leadership and the process variables related to academic success is still present, even if the effects of the school context are controlled for.

It should be observed that the results of this study, particularly due to the non-representative nature of the sample considered, should be considered as preliminary evidence that will require further confirmation, and which cannot be immediately generalized. The results obtained can be influenced by the specific territorial area in which this search has been conducted. The Autonomous Province of Trento, from the rest of Italy, is characterized by a highly centralized education system, with a relative homogeneity of the conditions of the context in which schools have achieved so widespread high levels of student learning.

When studying leadership it is important to consider the school context, particularly the role of the initial level of learning of the students, as this study shows that in schools where the prior knowledge of students is greater, teachers are generally more satisfied with their job and they report a better educational environment. If the influence of the context were not taken into account, this could easily be mistaken for that of the actions of the principal.

This paper aims to analyze the ex ante and ex post economic efficiency of the preventive agreement (concordato preventivo) or composition with creditors as defined by the Italian Bankruptcy Law. This study examines four possible outcomes of the procedure: homologation (confirmation); the degree of dissent/consent of creditors; the revocation, admissibility or inadmissibility; the declaration of the company bankruptcy in preventive agreement.

This paper uses data from 728 Italian companies which filed for preventive agreement in 2016. In reference to each of the four possible outcomes, this study applies nine logit regressions to analyze the effects of a series of efficiency variables ex ante (corporate-based drivers) and ex post (procedure-based drivers).

Results show the relevance of the debt structure, ownership structure and virtuous behavior, corporate governance and management systems, as well as effectivity of the court control on the preventive agreement outcome.

This paper draws on original data of bankruptcy in Italy and gives empirical evidence of the ex ante and ex post factors on the outcomes of the preventive agreement.

Starting from the experience of the University of Bologna, this paper provides an innovative framework to analyse how universities are rethinking courses and curricula, teaching, research programmes, campus operation and partnership to address the Agenda 2030.

The paper proposes a methodological approach to represent direct and indirect impacts produced by all universities’ activities.

The commitment to sustainability of the University of Bologna was made clear through the last Strategic Plan approach explicitly aimed at the consideration of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Parallel to the process of integration of the SDGs in strategic planning, the University has an additional tool for reporting on the extended performance, which was presented during the G7 Environment held in Bologna in June 2017.

This study focussed on the University of Bologna experience, according with HEIs sustainability approach over the world. A bit too technical sometimes to explain each practical point of activity related with the commitment in SDGs.

The multi-year experience acquired by the University of Bologna through a process of reporting that combines the economic dimension with the social and environmental, has as a natural outlet questioning the priorities to be pursued in teaching, research and the third mission to contribute to the Agenda 2030.

It is shown as Alma Mater promotes actively the principles of sustainability also in terms of enhancement of collectivity welfare, the economic growth, the social equity and the capability of involved people to actually work together for the common good.

On the basis of the experience of the University of Bologna, an innovative framework can be provided to analyse how universities are rethinking all their activities to address the Agenda 2030.

This study investigates the implementation of a sustainable circular business model from an accounting perspective. Its goal is to understand if and how decision- makers use management accounting systems, and what changes are needed if these systems are to support the transition toward a circular economy.

Dialogic accounting theory frames the case study of six companies that built a value network to develop and implement an innovative packaging solution consistent with circular economy principles. Content analysis was utilised to investigate the accounting tools used.

The findings indicate that circular solutions generate new organisational configurations based on value networks. Interestingly, managers’ decision-making process largely bypassed the accounting function; they relied on informal accounting and life cycle analysis, which stimulated a multi-stakeholder dialogue in a life cycle perspective.

The research provides theoretical and practical insights into the capability of management accounting systems to support companies seeking circular solutions.

The authors offer implications for accounting practice, chief financial officers (CFOs) and accounting educators, suggesting that a dialogic approach may support value retention of resources, materials and products, as required by the circular economy.

The research contributes to the debate about the role of accounting in sustainability, specifically the need for connecting for resource efficiency at the corporate level with the rationalisation of resource use within planetary boundaries.

The study contributes to the limited research into the role of management accounting in a company’s transition to circular business models. Dialogic accounting theory frames exploration of how accounting may evolve to help businesses become accountable to all stakeholders, including the environment.

Organizational wellbeing is a multidimensional construct that looks at the individual and the totality of the organization. It is a broad and complex concept that has considerable implications on the personal and professional life of the worker and, consequently, on their work performance. This chapter will analyze how these factors influence organizational wellbeing in an organization as large and complex as the University of Bologna (UniBo), with over 3,000 administrative employees and 3,000 researchers and professors. The chapter concludes by arguing that regulatory provisions and consequent actions, although inspired by noble principles, are not enough. On the other hand, cultural and structural factors that lead to new organizational models must also intervene, leading to a rethinking of organizational welfare.

In this introduction chapter, the authors first offer a brief overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the notion of wellbeing and flourishing from the positive organizational scholarship literature. The authors, then, provide an overview of the chapters in this handbook, guiding the readers through key aspects that each chapter contributes to the handbook’s collective perspective of efforts, initiatives, and programs that promote wellbeing in the higher education settings.

In this concluding chapter of the handbook, the authors first revisit the conceptual focus of this handbook with a brief overview of research literature on wellbeing, using a common conceptual approach that identifies the dimensions of wellbeing and then provide an overview of literature that both addresses and imagines the wellbeing with students, faculty, staff, leadership, and institutional levels in mind. Finally, the authors will proffer that there is a need for agentic moral imagination to sustain and progress the cause of wellbeing in higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of job satisfaction determinants of higher education graduates across six selected study domains.

Based on the theoretical considerations, derived from human capital theory and signalling theory, the authors formulate the model explaining job satisfaction as a broad measure of labour market success. Explanatory variables include various socio-demographic characteristics as well as market environment and process of learning, modes of teaching and study programme characteristics. Data used in the analysis comes from two special surveys of European research projects REFLEX and HEGESCO. Principal component analysis method and OLS regression were used to estimate model parameters.

The results of our research show the important role of characteristics of educational process, as well as individual graduates’ early work-related experience in predicting job satisfaction. Differences in job satisfaction determinants across domains may be to some extent explained by the differences in the labour market characteristics for graduates in given discipline. Variety of education-related characteristics taken into account in the empirical analysis of determinants of job satisfaction is a key valuable contribution to the research in the field.

Research findings indicate the areas of potential actions aimed at improving future job satisfaction which can be undertaken by higher education institutions’ management bodies.