Search results

The study aims to empirically examine the effect of board industry expertise on environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, and the mediating role of environmental innovation.

Using an unbalanced sample of 341 publicly traded Italian non-financial firms and data collected from multiple sources over the period 2017–2021, this study applies single-mediator models via ordinary least squares regressions.

Results indicate that directors’ industry expertise improves the corporate orientation toward sustainability strategy that is reflected in ESG objectives. This effect is partly mediated by a greater level of environmental innovation.

The article suggests regulators to promote eco-innovation-friendly investment initiatives due to their value in advancing corporate sustainability strategies.

The research fills a gap in the literature that has never explored the effect of board industry expertise on sustainability-related outcomes. Moreover, it advances the debate on the implications of board human capital by assessing its influence on ESG strategy and environmental innovation.

In the past decade, intellectual capital (IC) measurement and reporting have been feeding scientific debate; however, only few studies address these issues together. The present research aims to provide an integrated view of the topics covered by the existing literature and to highlight the emerging research trends and set the agenda for future research.

This study develops a structured literature review (SLR) of the extant research concerned with IC measurement and reporting, using a comprehensive sample of 1,021 articles extracted from the Scopus database.

The findings of the SLR show that the existing literature focuses on seven research areas: IC and public sector; IC university and education; IC evaluation method; internal and external IC disclosure; IC and CSR; management of IC in organizations; other. Overall, findings indicate that IC measurement and reporting are highly researched topics that continue to attract the interests of scholars. Finally, the SLR analysis has allowed outlining a future research agenda, with particular reference to the IC evaluation method and internal and external IC disclosure research areas.

The main limitation of this research lies in the manual screening of relevant studies, which entails some degree of subjectivity. Furthermore, another limitation research could be considered the use of a single database (Scopus).

The present study brings potential contributions for scholars and practitioners. From a scholarly perspective, the paper provides a systematization of scientific contributions that have dealt with IC measurement and reporting. In particular, it contributes to the scholarly debate bringing into focus various IC measurement and reporting issues in the landscape of private and public organizations. Referring to practical implications, our research supports the strategic use of IC measurement and reporting as a key lever for improving the management of firms. Using an analytical framework that combines insights from the agency, stakeholder and legitimacy theories, this study highlights that IC reporting activity should be used strategically as a means to engage with all firm's stakeholders, in particular with a view to reducing information asymmetry and improving firm reputation.

Recent socioeconomic events, not least the Covid-19 pandemic, have led farms to rethink their traditional production methods. Innovation, new technologies and the establishment of relationships could be crucial for farms to remain competitive and sustainable over time. These factors can be assumed as structural and relational capital, two of intellectual capital's components. In this stream, the aim of this paper is to analyze how structural and relational capital could contribute to farm's sustainability in terms of competitiveness during its normal life cycle and in terms of resilience during an uncertain period, such as the coronavirus emergency.

The paper is supported by the qualitative methodology of a single case study. To reach the declared goal, the paper applies the C.A.O.S. (Characteristics, Ambience, Organizations, Start-up) model, an interpretative model for analyzing the small and medium enterprise dimension. In this way, the main aspects that allowed the farm to be competitive and to react at the emergency period were described.

The findings show that innovation technology involved the farm's internal processes, improving execution, control and feedback phases. Thanks to the two main introduced innovations, the farm reduced staffing costs and minimized cultivation risk related to climatic factors. These innovations are the main factors allowing the farm to increase its efficiency. Moreover, the proactive and reactive roles of the structural and relational capital to face the emergency period are confirmed.

The paper contributes to the literature in several ways. Regarding innovation literature, the paper shows how technology helps farms to improve their performance and their global competitiveness. Insight into structural and relational capital enhances the knowledge of intangible assets, such as intellectual capital. In the light of the Covid-19 emergency, the work demonstrates how the main resilience factors (proactive, i.e. structural capital, and reactive, i.e. relational capital) ensure the farm's survival.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC), categorized in terms of four sub-constructs – namely, human capital (HC), relational capital (RC), innovation capital (InnC) and process capital (PrC) – and business performance in the agribusiness industry.

Based on a sample of international agribusiness companies observed over a five-year period, this paper uses correlation and multiple regression analysis to test for the existence of a positive relationship between each IC component and conventional business performance metrics.

The empirical results support the hypotheses that RC and PrC have a positive impact on corporate performance. Counter to the expectations, InnC by itself is negatively associated with performance. Results also failed to confirm the hypothesis that HC directly and positively affects performance. However HC positively moderates the relation between InnC and performance, which suggests that firms that heavily invest in HC are better placed to gain returns from their research and development (R & D) investments.

This study expands the existing research on the link between IC and performance by adding fresh evidence from a highly knowledge-intensive sector which has been under-researched thus far. It may also contribute to the specific literature on R & D and performance as it uncovers that the value-generating effect associated with R & D investments is contingent on the levels of HC.

This research proposes a novel risk assessment model to elucidate the risk propagation process of industrial safety accidents triggered by natural disasters (Natech), identifies key factors influencing urban carrying capacity and mitigates uncertainties and subjectivity due to data scarcity in Natech risk assessment.

Utilizing disaster chain theory and Bayesian network (BN), we describe the cascading effects of Natechs, identifying critical nodes of urban system failure. Then we propose an urban carrying capacity assessment method using the coefficient of variation and cloud BN, constructing an indicator system for infrastructure, population and environmental carrying capacity. The model determines interval values of assessment indicators and weights missing data nodes using the coefficient of variation and the cloud model. A case study using data from the Pearl River Delta region validates the model.

(1) Urban development in the Pearl River Delta relies heavily on population carrying capacity. (2) The region’s social development model struggles to cope with rapid industrial growth. (3) There is a significant disparity in carrying capacity among cities, with some trends contrary to urban development. (4) The Cloud BN outperforms the classical Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) gate fuzzy method in describing real-world fuzzy and random situations.

The present research proposes a novel framework for evaluating the urban carrying capacity of industrial areas in the face of Natechs. By developing a BN risk assessment model that integrates cloud models, the research addresses the issue of scarce objective data and reduces the subjectivity inherent in previous studies that heavily relied on expert opinions. The results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the classical fuzzy BNs.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic have demanded changes in order for SMEs to remain competitive. Through innovations and intellectual capital, one small agri-food farm has modernized production to become more efficient, cost-effective and able to remain operational during the crisis.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper aims to examine the non-financial information disclosed in social reports by an Italian provincial government over time to determine its relevance, contribution and evolution.

Through a case study analysis, the authors examine 10 years of social reports by one “best practice” Italian provincial government. The authors use content analysis to quantify the level of social and environmental disclosures and use a coding instrument based on the GRI guidelines. The authors use legitimacy theory as a framework.

The level of disclosure increased over the 10-year period, and the type of disclosures became more detailed. However, many of the economic, social and environmental elements set out in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines were not disclosed. Moreover, the social report was contingent on a few key factors. The authors find that there has been a decline in interest in social reports by local governments in Italy, suggesting that voluntary disclosure was perhaps a fad that no longer is of interest in Italian local government.

This research is one case study so the findings are not generalisable. The findings suggest that there is a need for regulation in non-financial information disclosures, as the disclosures in the case study organisation were very much at the discretion of the organisation. This has implications for policymakers.

Unlike prior studies, this study takes a longitudinal approach to voluntary disclosure of non-financial information and focusses on the under-explored context of public sector organisations.

The third age can be a period of major food consumption changes. Either voluntary or imposed by health issues, they may be accompanied by alterations in sensory acuity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how lifelong food habits and health-age issues affect food choice at a later age, with the aim of developing strategies to direct aged people toward healthier food habits.

A survey, aimed to investigate differences between current and past food habits, was carried out in a group of 170 Italian older adults. Questions focused on the composition of the main meal, asking participants to describe its actual structure and to highlight differences in previous years’ food habits. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was planned, during which participants were asked to help formulating innovative pasta sauces with healthy ingredients.

This survey clearly illustrated gender-related differences: women were characterized by a higher consumption of vegetables, while men revealed a more frequent use of wine, pasta and meat. The DCE technique suited older adults’ abilities and enabled the development of innovative sauces, indicating a clear preference for extra virgin olive oil, as compared to cream or butter. Gender-related differences were confirmed: women mainly chose a vegetarian sauce, while men expressed an inclination for red meat.

This is the first report of a successful application of the DCE technique to investigate older adults’ dietary choices. The outspoken preference for olive oil as fat in sauce composition is a positive finding for future actions aimed at directing older adults toward healthier food habits.

This paper seeks to analyse social report guidelines and practices within Italian local governments (ILGs). First, it compares the contents of the two Italian governmental guidelines for developing social reports in public sector organisations with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guideline, to determine similarities and differences in disclosures. Second, it examines a group of social reports issued by ILGs, to explore the incidence, frequency, and quality of disclosure, as against the GRI guideline.

The study uses content analysis to test the nature/content of the governmental guidelines, and to determine what was disclosed in a group of ILGs' social reports. The paper analyses the social reports by applying the Guthrie and Farneti coding instrument, extended by including the Italian governmental guidelines.

Several observations emerge from the present study. First, from the comparison of the GRI and the Italian governmental guidelines, it emerges that only a few categories of the latter are similar to the GRI and these concern mainly general aspects. Second, the disclosure of categories and elements in the social reports, as against the coding instrument, was found to be fragmentary. The paper concludes that the Italian governmental guidelines are of a managerial nature, and they have little to do with sustainability, except for aspects related to labour.

Little research has been published on social reporting practices within the public sector, unlike the private sector. In Italy social reports are an emerging practice, with a growing interest paid by the government and academia. Nevertheless, published research is mainly of a normative nature, and there is a gap on what actually is in social reports.