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Being awarded world heritage status is a distinguishing factor when it comes to promoting tourism in a city. Tourism in these cities should be developed in a way that does not compromise either the city’s heritage or the inhabitants' quality of life. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of a European city achieving world heritage status on the subjective quality of life of its citizens.

First of all, we classify European cities according to whether or not they have been declared world heritage sites. Then, we analyze the effect of this classification on the main aspects used to measure the residents' perception of quality of life that are available in the Flash Eurobarometer 419.

The results show that achieving world heritage status has a negative effect on residents' perceptions of the noise level, air quality and feeling of safety. However, it does not affect their perceptions of public transport or cleanliness. In addition, world heritage status positively affects residents’ perceptions of the cultural activities in the city and their ease of finding a job. Residents report high levels of happiness in both world heritage and non-heritage cities, although levels are somewhat higher in non-heritage cities.

Residents' perceptions of the influence of tourism on their quality of life are undoubtedly of major importance; however, due to a lack of available data, few studies have examined this subjective quality of life at the city level.

The research aims to explore the relationships between the digital capabilities of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), their participation in global value chains and their adoption of innovative business models. Additionally, the study investigates how the prior experiences of entrepreneurial failure may influence or moderate these relationships.

To address these research objectives, the study draws upon data obtained from the Flash Eurobarometer 486 survey, a comprehensive dataset that explores the challenges faced by 13,197 European MSMEs as they navigate the complexities of growth, the integration of sustainable business models and the incorporation of digital technologies. To test the proposed hypotheses, the research employs multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Digital capabilities are found to be positively associated with business model innovation, while integration into global value chains is linked to a higher likelihood of implementing new business models. Interestingly, entrepreneurial failure did not significantly influence the relationship between digital capabilities and the adoption of new business models. In contrast, entrepreneurial failure significantly moderated the impact of global value chain inclusion on business model innovation, particularly in MSMEs with a history of failure.

This article provides practical guidance to entrepreneurs and companies interested in enhancing their digital strategies and engagement in global value chains, considering the entrepreneurs' business histories.

This paper aims at understanding the differences between user profiles in collaborative consumption (CC) platforms in order to improve their management approaches and set up customized strategies. Particularly, the authors investigate the emerging role of prosumers and their influence on the active participation and growth of CC platforms. Moreover, the authors study user experience to help promoting users' recommendation and offering intention.

The sample includes responses from 6,388 users of CC platforms across the EU. The data were collected through the European Commission's Flash Eurobarometer survey 467 and analyzed through a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The PLS-SEM findings suggest that prosumers are more likely than consumers to recommend and offer services through CC platforms. Furthermore, previous experience using platforms positively affects the switch from consumers to prosumers. The fsQCA suggests that only economic advantages affect the switchover decision.

This study deepens the hitherto unexplored prosumer role in CC platforms and its antecedents and drivers.

The main limitations concern the generalizability outside of the EU, the unbalanced coverage of sectors and the number of moderator variables.

Prosumers act as golden actors because they contribute to enlarge both the customer base (through recommendations) and the provider base (through offering intention). Hence, managers should focus on prosumers' experiences to increase the critical mass and positive externalities of CC platforms.

This study helps understand the importance of the role of prosumers in the growth of CC platforms. The study provides more robust results through a cross-country and mixed-method research.

This paper examines the relationships between bank switching and both customer vulnerability and consumer-oriented policies (financial education and disclosure practices).

The analysis employs microdata from the Special Eurobarometer on Financial Products and Services, for 24 European nations. It carries out a probit estimation on the factors explaining propensity of bank switching, focusing on three characteristics associated with customer vulnerability: an advanced age, low educational attainment and residence in a rural or a relatively poor region.

The authors report that the probability of bank switching is significantly lower for three groups of vulnerable customers: the elderly, the less educated and those living in deprived regions. Further the authors identify that national financial education policies and disclosure practices have no significant effects on bank switching.

Based on these results, the authors propose more targeted policies recognising customers' heterogeneity are required to increase bank switching behaviour.

This paper exploits a unique source of information on bank switching behaviour and customer characteristics across European nations. These data are complemented with information about consumer financial education policies and disclosure practices from the World Bank and geographical, market and regulatory factors at the regional and national levels. The paper contributes to two academic areas. First, it presents further evidence on heterogeneity of bank customer switching behaviour, addressed at improving the understanding of customer vulnerability in banking services. Second, it examines the efficacy of consumer-oriented policies (financial literacy and disclosure practices) in encouraging bank switching.

This study contributes to the literature on eco-innovation (EI) and the circular economy (CE) by providing insights into the factors of external knowledge absorption that facilitate the adoption of a subset of EIss called proactive-EIs. Proactive-EIs involve collaborations among multiple stakeholders, the use of technical knowledge and a greater level of investment than other innovations. In this study, the environmental actions taken by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in resource-intensive sectors in the European Union (EU) were observed, and elements related to the national context were compared.

The national innovation system (NIS) perspective was adopted using a multilevel framework to assess the determinants of proactive-EIs among SMEs in the EU. The framework involves three levels: micro- (environmental awareness), meso- (external collaboration and intra-industry agglomeration) and macro- (economic complexity, trade openness and government research and development [R&D]). The survey data of 6,188 SMEs in resource-intensive sectors were analysed using a binary logistic regression.

The results showed that public awareness, economic complexity and public sector R&D positively influenced SMEs' adoption of proactive-EIs, whereas external collaboration and sectoral agglomeration negatively influenced adoption.

Among the existing empirical studies on EI, areas related to external knowledge-based innovations and systematic assessments of heterogeneity among EU member states remain underexplored. This study contributed to the literature by assessing the conditions surrounding external knowledge absorption. The findings contribute to the green entrepreneurship literature in the context of developed economies and offer insights for managers and policymakers seeking to promote EIs.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the high-quality entrepreneurial efficiency of family-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) while exploring the potential determinants of their performance. This study places particular emphasis on the firms' technological competencies and internationalization efforts. The authors aim to shed light on the internal and external characteristics that impact the efficiency of family SMEs.

This study adopts a two-stage approach. In the first stage, a data envelopment analysis model is utilized to measure the high-quality entrepreneurial efficiency of family SMEs. To achieve this, this study considered as outputs three key quality aspects of entrepreneurship, namely innovativeness, export orientation and turnover rate, while the inputs were the number of employees and the business environment. Then, in the second stage, the efficiency scores are regressed against a set of environmental factors that may affect the efficiency. The proposed efficiency measurement models are utilized with a particularly rich dataset of 1,910 family SMEs from 35 developed countries.

The results demonstrated that the efficiency of family SMEs primarily engaged in the production of goods was significantly higher than those providing services. Importantly, the presence of barriers related to innovation and digitalization had a pronounced negative impact on efficiency. Additionally, scale-up firms exhibited higher levels of efficiency. When examining family SMEs within their national context, it was observed that non-EU countries and countries with a higher gross domestic product displayed significantly higher efficiencies.

The findings of this research provide guidance for the development of entrepreneurship-oriented policies that consider both the internal characteristics of family SMEs and the diverse socioeconomic contexts in which they operate.

Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this paper aims to analyse the relevance of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies and participation in global value chains (GVC) and the effects of the complementarity between both in the adoption of circular economy (CE) actions by small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

This paper analysed a large-scale international sample by employing logistic and linear regression models to test the research hypotheses on the effects of I4.0 technologies, GVC participation, and the interaction on CE actions (recycling or reusing materials, reducing the consumption and impact of natural resources, saving energy and/or switching to sustainable energy sources, developing sustainable products or services).

The evidence suggests that I4.0 technologies already represent important resources for CE adoption and SME participating in GVC display a greater likelihood of adopting CE actions. From the perspective of resource complementarity, by interacting the two factors viewed as resources in this article, results may report that adopting I4.0 technologies and simultaneously participating in GVC may turn out detrimental to SME undertaking CE actions, specifically as regards recycling and reusing materials, saving energy or switching to sustainable energy sources and in cases of widely adopting CE practices.

The paper returns novel insights into the adoption of CE practices by presenting evidence that I4.0 technologies and participation in GVC may be successful means for SME seeking to implement CE actions but must be combined carefully. This paper also provides theoretical and practical implications for SME managers, firms participating in GVCs and policy makers, and shedding light on new research avenues.

As aging populations lead to longer working lives and increasing automation threatens job security, maintaining lifelong employability is becoming a fundamental challenge for many individuals. The purpose of this study is to examine how lifelong employability can be maintained.

Based on the theoretical perspectives of both movement capital and selection, optimization and compensation (SOC) theories, we used large-scale survey data (N = 2,256) from three European countries to investigate strategies for preserving employability among aging workers. Specifically, we explored the perceived risk of automation, lifelong learner characteristics and self-efficacy for occupational mobility as boundary conditions that may shape the negative relationship between age and employability.

We found a negative relationship between age and employability, which was more pronounced when the perceived risk of automation was higher. Furthermore, lifelong learner characteristics and self-efficacy for occupational mobility mitigated the negative relationship, so that age was not related to employability if people possessed lifelong learner characteristics and were ready for a career change.

Our study implies the importance of investing in enhancing lifelong learner characteristics and self-efficacy for occupational mobility for older employees.

This study aims to understand the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), analysing their current practices in the social, environmental and economic domain.

To fulfil this objective, an exploratory, qualitative approach was adopted, using the multiple case study methodology and focusing on eight cases (SMEs) in Portugal. Data were collected through interviews, since this technique allows proximity and interaction with decision makers and those responsible for firms’ sustainability.

From content analysis of the interviews held, the results show that SMEs are aware of and committed to sustainability and that the external context and some of its particularities have a significant impact on their sustainable development. These SMEs undertake various practices of a social, environmental and economic nature, highlighting especially environmental ones such as efficient resource consumption, using more sustainable resources, recycling waste and waste management.

This study contributes greater knowledge of the phenomenon of SMEs’ sustainable development and identifies practical examples that could increase this firm segment’s awareness of the importance of sustainable practices associated with developing their business.

In this study, new and innovative sustainability practices are presented in the SMEs. The authors can underline that this study contributes to reinforcing the theory about the topic investigated by adding knowledge about sustainable development in the SME context. It deepens knowledge in this scientific area, which can be spread in the scientific community and among SMEs.

How does the family influence individual entrepreneurial entry? The literature does not provide a satisfactory answer. In this paper, we develop an individual entrepreneurial capital perspective to systematically evaluate the impact of current households on entrepreneurship at both theoretical and empirical levels.

Based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database from 2010 to 2018, we used logit regression models to examine the relationship between household size and opportunity- and necessity-motivated entrepreneurship.

The empirical results show that with the expansion of household size, the possibility of opportunity-motivated entrepreneurship shows a trend that first declines and then rises, and the possibility of necessity-motivated entrepreneurship shows an upward trend, suggesting that there are two types of opposing mechanisms that affect the relationship between household and entrepreneurial entry.

Family households are the starting point of individual growth and provide initial cognitive and social resources for decision-making. For entrepreneurs, it is necessary to make full use of household-based capital and networks to promote entrepreneurial activities. For the government, it is necessary to explore the development and implementation of household-based entrepreneurial policies.

Through analyses of the U-shaped relationship between household size and opportunity-motivated entrepreneurship and the positive relationship with necessity-motivated entrepreneurship, we reveal the relationship between household and entrepreneurship, reconcile the contradictions in the literature and contribute to the two fields of family studies and entrepreneurship.