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Portugal has been experiencing a continuous growth in tourism activity, with hospitality industry as one of the main tourism sectors. Therefore, the assessment of hotel companies’ performance is very important to assist decision processes. The purpose of this paper is to assess the financial performance (FP) of 570 hotel companies operating hotel units in Portugal in 2017. To explore the question of brand affiliation, a comparison was made between hotel companies with similar stars rating and market orientation. In addition, this paper intends to fill a gap in literature studying the Portuguese reality on the subject of brand affiliation.

The present study uses a methodology based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the overall performance for each company, which further decomposed into the within-group performance and the technological gap. The performance of the hotel company is assessed through the aggregation of multiple financial indicators using the composite indicator (CI) derived from the DEA model. A bivariate analysis based on the Tobit regression to test the robustness of brand effect on FP of hotel companies (HC) was also included.

The empirical results show that branded companies, on average, have significantly better overall FP than non-branded companies. On the one hand, the brand effect tends to improve the within-group FP of HCs and the brand presents a statistically significant positive effect on the FP. On the other hand, the best practices are observed in both branded and non-branded companies.

The results of this study illustrate that, globally, the better FP of the branded companies is because of their individual relative companies’ performance and a better model of operation given by the brand effect. Brand affiliation will generally allow for a better FP and essentially a better profitability for invested equity, a higher return on sales and a higher value added per employee.

The study provides important theoretical and practical contributions that can assist the strategic decision of the HCs in choosing to operate independently or to adopt brand affiliation. Also, it is innovative because the FP of branded and non-branded HCs is measured not using a set of individual financial ratios but through a single CI that aggregates those financial ratios, using a DEA model.

Destination management organizations perform a very important role regarding the management of tourism destinations. Destination management systems are a key technological infrastructure for these organizations. However, in the literature, it is not clear what are the factors that promote the implementation of these systems, neither what are the factors that contribute to their success. This study aims to propose and test two research models to overcome these research gaps.

The first model refers to the determinants of the implementation of destination management systems, and the second model refers to the determinants of the success of those systems. The models are tested with data collected through a questionnaire survey from destination management organizations of five European countries, which are among the leaders in international tourism receipts.

Concerning the factors that promote the implementation of destination management systems, this study reveals the importance of the diversity of partnerships that the private sector establishes in the destination, of advantages resulting from governance and of partners' involvement in the functions of destination management organizations. Concerning the factors that promote the success of these systems, this study highlights the importance of a phased implementation, the fact that a high number of functionalities in the system prevents success and the importance of having a revenue model that can support financial and operating costs.

The study provides important theoretical and practical contributions to the successful implementation of destination management systems by destination management organizations.

This research paper proposes a method for selecting references related to a research topic, and seeks to exemplify it for the case of a study evaluating training programs. The method is designed to identify references with high academic relevance in databases accessed via the internet, using a bibliometric analysis to sift the selected articles.

The study is descriptive, in so far as its goal is to describe a method, and the nature of the paper is theoretical. The study incorporates an inductive logic, and draws on secondary data sources. The study combines qualitative and quantitative methods, and can therefore be described as mixed method. The research involves the application of a technical procedure.

The method employed sifted a large number of potential resources identified in a search of the internet and, after 11 stages in the proposed process, 11 papers were identified as being relevant to the research topic and highly cited. Descriptive statistics are provided of where those articles were published, how extensively the authors of those papers were published, the nature of the journals in which the papers appeared, and scientific recognition (number of citations).

The relevance of this work for HRD research is in the proposal for a structured process for identifying relevant academic articles relating to the research context, in the presentation of 11 highlighted articles in the area of training programs evaluation, in the identification of the main authors of this area of knowledge, and in the identification of the main journals that address the theme of the evaluation of training programs. Thus, practitioners, researchers and students can direct their attention to the articles, authors and journals that are most relevant to the theme of evaluation of training programs.

The attempt to establish a common European framework for core platforms' duties and responsibilities toward other actors in the digital environment is at the core of the recent scholarly debate surrounding the Digital Markets Act (DMA) proposal. In particular, the everlasting juxtaposition between the “data power” – as emerging from recent cases (Section 2) – that dominant tech companies enjoy and the concept of consumer sovereignty (Section 3) lies at the core of the proposal's attempt to identify digital core platforms as market gatekeepers. Accordingly, this chapter critically investigates the divide between power imbalance and consumer sovereignty in light of the architecture designed by the DMA, with a specific focus on its effectiveness in identifying gatekeepers' power drivers (Section 4). After highlighting the main critical aspects of the pertinent rules, opportunities for fruitful developments are then identified through the reframing of some of the notions considered in the proposal, and namely the role of “lock-in” effects and “data accumulation” (Section 5). Lastly, this chapter suggests that the DMA advancements – while desirable – are bound to be fragmentary in the absence of a wider appraisal of the nature of data power imbalance dynamics in the modern digital markets (Section 6).

This paper aim to propose a methodological mapping approach for the evaluation of dissertations and theses of graduate programs in the area of environmental sciences in Brazil in relation to the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The research is characterized as exploratory with qualitative/quantitative approach. The proposed model was developed as a computational algorithm with a pilot being adopted as a professional master in national network for teaching in environmental sciences (ProfCiAmb) comprising associated courses from nine Brazilian public universities. 230 dissertations completed between 2018 and 2020 were analyzed.

A total of 266 correlations were identified between the texts and descriptors of each SDG. Correlation values between 0.100 (minimum value – Vmin) and 0.464 (maximum value – Vmax) were observed. SDG 4 – Quality Education (Vmax = 0.399) and SDG 6 – Drinking Water and Sanitation (Vmax = 0.464) were those with the highest correlation values, followed by SDG 3 – Health and Well-Being (Vmax = 0.299) and SDG 17 – Partnerships and Means of Implementation (Vmax = 0.249).

The construction of the computational algorithm provided consistent quantitative analyses with potential to contribute to the improvement of the multidimensional evaluation of graduate studies, as well as to support public policies related to teaching and research and strategic planning of the programs.

The relevance of this study lies in the creation of a model that involves the creation of metrics and tools regarding the impact of graduate studies on society.

In order to offer a theoretical and empirical contribution to the theme, the purpose of this paper is to assess the tourist image of the destination Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, Brazil, from the tourists’ perspective. The authors specify the latent dimensions involved in the formation of the cognitive, affective, and conative image of coastal tourism destination, through which the authors can analyze and measure the construct.

The research is exploratory, descriptive, and predominantly quantitative. It uses non-probability convenience sampling, consisting of a sample of 425 tourists. Data collection were conducted in the studied destination during the summer season – 2015/2016.

Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the authors identified and tested the factors that comprise the image. Structural equation model evaluated the relationship that theoretically exists between the components of the image and the weight of the various components (cognitive, affective, and conative) on the overall image of the destination.

This research contributes theoretically and empirically to the discussions on the components of the destination image, in as much as it analyzes and interprets the cognitive, affective, and conative components of the image of the tourism destination Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

In this study, the performance assessment of credit unions is developed, seeking to demonstrate how the content of their operations strategy is present in the structuring of unique models of organisational performance assessment. The main objective is to compare sources of knowledge through the content analysis of the service operations strategy as proposed by the literature and validated by specialists.

This research is a qualitative study that uses the knowledge of specialists to frame a performance assessment structure applied to credit unions. The research strategy is based on multicriteria analysis, and the selected techniques are based on the MCDA-C procedure, that is, the processes of structuring, evaluating and recommending improvements.

The research results provided: a data set external to the context that serves as theoretical support for the comparisons made; the structuring of 4 unique organisational performance assessment models carried out through the MCDA-C procedure; conceptual interpretation using the lens of the operations strategy in the cognitive maps of the assessment models, which identifies the operations strategy carried out; and comparison of the result models that show their uniqueness.

The comparison between the origins of knowledge is highlighted, and the demonstration of the content was proposed by the literature and by specialists to evaluate the performance in operations. This was then compared with the content constructed with credit union managers in structuring models based on the singularities of the respective contexts. The theory was compared to practice, and it was demonstrated how the content of the operations regarding the performance could be used in decision contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to support the management of organizational knowledge retention through a multi-criteria decision aiding–constructivist model.

This exploratory and descriptive case study presents a decision support model guided by the constructivist approach and proactive in its operationalization.

The objectives and concerns of decision-makers regarding the retention of organizational knowledge are identified and organized into six strategic areas of concern, namely, recognition, knowledge dissemination, organizational culture, succession of professionals, management of vulnerability origins and knowledge management; a multi-criteria model is constructed and operationalized by a cluster of cardinal scales, showing and measuring the status quo of the performance profile, both in a local and global way, to support the management of the organization's knowledge retention; activities are classified into three performance levels (compromising, competitive and excellent), supported by graphical and numerical evidence; and the process to generate actions to improve the performance of critical activities and create the conditions to maximize the results of the organization is illustrated.

Based on the model, decision-makers are now aware of the essential aspects to support knowledge retention management, enabling them to monitor the current situation and proactively respond to ensure that the current knowledge potential is maintained and exploited.

Use of a constructivist approach to support the management of knowledge retention, incorporating into the model the specifics of the context and the values of its managers, and thus giving it legitimacy.