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In the aftermath of the Great Recession, over 500,000 families have been evicted from their homes since Spain’s property market crashed in 2008. The response of Spanish local communities has been the emergence of a networked social movement, Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH), endeavouring to build a more sustainable future through upholding the right to housing. This chapter examines the ability of the PAH social movement to uphold the right to housing and prompt social and institutional change in Spain.

This is a single-case study of the PAH social movement in Spain. The data are of three types: texts, photos, and films disseminated via the mass media, social networks, and PAH websites; informal conversations with PAH participants from Barcelona and Madrid; and observations and personal interviews held in two local PAH groups, that is, Móstoles and Elche.

In this chapter, first we explore the birth of PAH and its later spread from Barcelona to hundreds of cities in Spain and beyond, as a social reaction to the economic recession and decisions made by political, administrative, and financial institutions in response to the economic crisis. Then, by analysing the internal dynamics of two PAH groups, we discuss how networked social movements such as PAH can create spaces of citizenship that challenge taken-for-granted principles of capitalism, prompting social change. Finally, we uncover how, due to PAH’s advocacy work addressing a structural lack of emergency and social housing, the Spanish public administration is developing new roles and allocating new resources to guarantee the right to housing, a social policy area historically neglected in Spain.

New social housing offices are being established in municipalities in Spain as a result of PAH’s advocacy work.

The strengthening of social capital and movements in the aftermath of the economic crisis has the ability to prompt investment in social areas such as housing.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between Latin American migrants and the Spanish healthcare system, from the users’ perspective, in order to examine the socio-cultural determinants for access and attention, as well as the possible difficulties faced when attending institutional facilities.

This work is based on qualitative ethnographic research with the Latin American community established in the region of Castile and León, Spain. Analysis was established through a thematic approach and illustrated with the testimonies of participants involved, to inspect personal meanings and interpretations, as well as specific practices regarding healthcare.

The encounter between foreigners and health services is frequently expressed with negative emotions, such as feelings of fear facing a system that is perceived as designed “for others.” For many Latin American immigrants in Spain, institutional healthcare is not considered their first choice for treating illness. This has been related to economic, bureaucratic, ideological and emotional factors.

Most of the existing literature about immigrant healthcare in Spain has focused on sanitary conditions or patterns of service use from an institutional perspective and a quantitative approach. This paper highlights the perceptions of users to enrich comprehension of the rapport between migrants and medical care.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and the financial performance of both Islamic and conventional banks in the context of an emerging market, i.e. Malaysia.

This study includes 300 bank-year observations from Islamic and conventional banks over the period 2010–2021. The dynamic panel model (generalized method of moments [GMM]) was considered the primary estimation model that solves simultaneity, endogeneity and omitted variable problems as most governance variables are endogenous by nature. Hence, static models are considered biased after conducting the DWH test of endogeneity, and considering dynamic panel GMM is valid proven by Sargan and Hensen and first-order (ARI) and second-order (ARII) tests.

Based on the regression results, the authors discovered that board size, female participation in the board and director remuneration have a significant positive impact on bank performance, whereas board meetings have a significant negative impact. Furthermore, the board governance structure of commercial banks is found to be more passive than that of Islamic banks.

The study’s findings added a new dimension to governance research, which could be a valuable source of knowledge for policymakers, investors and regulators looking to improve existing governance mechanisms for better performance of conventional and Islamic banks.

The goal of this study is to add to the existing literature by focusing on the impact of female board participation and other board governance mechanisms in both conventional and Islamic banks on bank performance.

The aim of this paper is to present a taxonomy of available literature on the relation of sustainability performance and firm performance, and to provide a path for future research for this field of study.

Research papers were collected on sustainability performance assessment from various journals available at different online databases. The unit of evaluation was a full paper published in one of the relevant journals. Papers were classified in different categories and tabulated under various classes. A total of 101 research paper sources were studied and assessed in terms of nature of research, level of analysis, and application.

The review reveals that most of the research in the field of sustainability performance and firm performance association, analyzed this relationship in developed countries. The result differs in various cultural and economic contexts and there is no universally accepted direction of this relationship. Contribution of research has also revealed a pattern of growth in recent years. Financial performance is used in most of the research as a proxy to firm performance. As discussed, the different research gaps may be exploited for further research. It also argues that further empirical research in relation of corporate sustainability performance and firm performance is required in developing countries.

The findings of this paper can be generalized only to the specific population of online databases selected for this research for a given period of time and not for the entire universe of the sustainability performance literature. There may be various unexploited areas for future research in terms of different variables.

This paper fulfils the need of a comprehensive review of corporate sustainability performance assessment literature. It provides a literature review and bibliography for the period between January 1992 and March 2011 for the use of both academicians and practitioners.

Numerous challenges in education emerge as our technology-driven society rapidly evolves and manifests more exigent requirements from engineering professionals. Higher education, nonetheless, seems to adapt to such requirements at an unequal speed, generating some tensions between industry and higher education institutions. The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences obtained through a process of assessment and redesign of a large enrollment course of programming from which the authors developed a systematic approach for course design/redesign.

A mixed method approach was deployed for data gathering and evaluation, consisting of close-ended surveys, open-ended questionnaires, information matrices and state of the art compilation. Triangulation of the information offered clear data about the necessity of curriculum redesign; therefore, a new programming course curriculum encompassed with relevant necessities in engineering and science was developed.

The authors produced a coherent and dynamic systematic path for assessment and design/redesign of course curriculum, which the authors find extremely helpful to improve negotiation processes inside higher education institutions, as it can be implemented to improve any large enrollment course curricula in engineering and science.

By following the systematic path for assessment and design/redesign of curricula the authors developed, higher education systems could embark more efficiently in the ever-challenging process of adapt their courses and programs to tackle the upcoming demands of our society.

So far, a systematic path for assessment and design/redesign of course curriculum was not published, and it supports the improvement of pedagogical approaches in academic institutions.

Optimal application and commitment toward financial management practices enhance organization performance. This study aims to assess the influence of financial management practices on organizational performance of small- and medium-scale enterprises.

Data were collected from 45 small-sized and 72 medium-sized firms. Data supported the hypothesized relationships. Construct reliability and validity were established through confirmatory factor analysis. The conceptual model and hypotheses were evaluated by using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that working capital significantly influenced organizational performance. Capital budget management significantly influenced organizational performance. A non-significant influence of asset management on organizational performance was observed.

The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research’s SMEs focus and cross-sectional data.

The study’s findings will serve as valuable pointers for stakeholders and decision-makers of SMEs in the development of well-articulated and proactive financial management systems to ensure competitiveness, sustainability, viability and financial competences.

The study adds to the corpus of literature by evidencing empirically that financial management practices significantly influenced SMEs’ performance.