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This paper aims to examine the relation between firms’ political connections and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in Portugal. The authors argue that in settings where the existence of political connections are viewed as damaging collective interests of stakeholders, political connected firms can deal with legitimacy issues from such connections by resorting to CSR practices and the reporting thereof.

Using archival data from a panel sample of 36 firms from Portugal between 2009 and 2012, the authors examine the relationship between political connections and CSR reporting by way of regression analysis.

The authors find a positive relationship between political connections and CSR reporting.

This study draws on legitimacy theory to highlight that CSR can be used to deal with stakeholder activism and vigilance pertaining to suspicion related to the existence of political connections.

This paper aims to present the Modelery, a platform for collaborative repository to support model-based software development. The Modelery is a Web platform, composed both by a Web page and Web services for interoperability.

By performing a study in the existing platforms, it was possible to achieve a set of issues to tackle. The issues enabled the possibility to define a set of requirements that allowed the authors to design a new platform, and to perform a model-driven software development process, which started from the requirements until reaching the final software solution.

With this work, it was possible to perform a survey on the currently available artifacts repositories, categorize them and identify their shortcomings. This was essential to define the set of requirements for a new platform to overcome the identified issues. This process leads to a platform able to improve the currently available solutions, and validated in the scientific community. In this paper, the authors also explore the applications of the repository. First, they use the Modelery to replace an older model’s repository. Second, they have enabled the communication between other tools and the Modelery via Web services.

This work presents a new Web repository for software artifacts aimed at supporting researchers and software developers. The presented platform is an improvement over other platforms on the integration of artifacts repository, social functionalities and scientific publications integration. The authors conclude this paper by comparing the achieved platform in terms of functionalities, against the other analyzed platforms.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the Brazilian managers’ attitudes toward older workers, and how those attitudes explain HRM decisions in hypothetical scenarios.

Brazilian managers (n=201) reported their attitudes toward older workers and their decisions in scenarios involving an older vs a younger applicant/worker.

In spite of expressing positive attitudes toward older workers, a significant number of managers chose a younger one even when the older worker is described as more productive. To build a better understanding of how attitudes predict decisions, it is necessary to identify attitudinal profiles and the interplay between attitudinal dimensions, rather than simply studying each dimension separately. Attitudinal profiling also shows that some managers discriminate against younger workers, a finding, that is, ignored when (only) regressions are taken into account. The managers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions relate with their age. Evidence does not support the double jeopardy effect against older women workers.

The sample is small. The scenarios cover a reduced number of HRM decisions. The data about attitudes and decisions were collected simultaneously from a single source. The findings may be influenced by idiosyncrasies of the context. Future studies should also consider real situations, not hypothetical ones.

Efforts must be made (e.g. via training and development) to raise managers’ awareness about the consequences of ageism in organizations.

Empirical studies about managers’ perceptions/attitudes toward older workers are scarce. Studies in the Brazilian context are even scarcer.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2016.

The paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

This paper aims to report the first iteration on the Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) Engineering Model altimeter named HELENA. HELENA is a Time of Flight (TOF) altimeter that provides time-tagged distances and velocity measurements. The LIDAR can be used for support near asteroid navigation and provides scientific information. The HELENA design comprises two types of technologies: a microchip laser and low noise sensor. The synergies between these two technologies enable developing a compact instrument for range measurements of up to 14 km. Thermal-mechanical and radiometric simulations of the HELENA telescope are reported in this paper. The design is subjected to vibrational, static and thermal conditions, and it was possible to conclude by the results that the telescope is compliant with the random vibration levels, the static load and the operating temperatures.

The Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) is a collaboration between the NASA DART mission and ESA Hera mission. The aim scope is to study the asteroid deflection through a kinetic collision. DART spacecraft will collide with Didymos-B, while ground stations monitor the orbit change. HERA spacecraft will study the post-impact scenario. The HERA spacecraft is composed by a main spacecraft and two small CubeSats. HERA will monitor the asteroid through cameras, radar, satellite-to-satellite doppler tracking, LIDAR, seismometry and gravimetry.

The HELENA design comprises two types of technologies: a microchip laser and low noise sensor. The synergies between these two technologies enable developing a compact instrument for range measurements of up to 14 km.

In this paper is reported the first iteration on the LIDAR Engineering Model altimeter named HELENA. HELENA is a TOF altimeter that provides time-tagged distances and velocity measurements. The LIDAR can be used for support near asteroid navigation and provides scientific information. The HELENA design comprises two types of technologies: a microchip laser and low noise sensor. The synergies between these two technologies enable developing a compact instrument for range measurements of up to 14 km.

This study aims to conduct a pertinent assessment of the concept of business competitiveness and how Portugal can progress in that field, for the sake of becoming a more sustainable and wealth-creator economy.

The research was elaborated with 65 in-depth interviews with expert persons from the Portuguese business ecosystem, who were asked to reflect on the state of the economy and competitiveness of the country.

There is much room for improvement in almost all areas of activity, in particular by promoting an innovative, value-adding and exporting private sector and a lighter and more efficient public sector. The conclusions point to modernisation of the Portuguese economy as a way of making it more competitive in a highly competitive and demanding global scenario.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that a reflection with experts of the local Portuguese economy has been carried out, especially after a difficult period of COVID.

This study aims to provide a better understanding into how large-scale companies overcome their rigidity and bureaucracy, and transform entrepreneurial orientation (EO) into organizational responsiveness (e.g. interdepartmental collaboration [IDC]). It also clarifies the double-edged role of organizational culture in shaping IDC, specifically within the Chinese economy that is deeply influenced by Confucianism.

Datas were randomly collected from companies that reside in the Yangtze River Delta region. With a sample of 115 large-scale EO Chinese firms, consisting of 402 department managers and 115 executives. The study aggregates the scores to create an overall measurement for EO, collectivism, power distance and IDC in the analysis. Further, confirmatory factor analyses were used to measure the structural model fitness, and multiple regression analysis was used to assess the hypotheses.

The results show that in competitive environments, IDC, as a strategic response to EO and a risk aversion of inertia and bureaucracy, fully mediates the positive relationship between EO and organizational creativity. Furthermore, the positive association is more pronounced under high cultural collectivism or low power distance in large-scale firms.

This paper contributes to the understanding of EO approach at the organizational level. The results posit that when large companies adopt EO, they are proactive rather than passive and would exhibit IDC as an important strategic responsiveness. Moreover, different organizational cultural orientations (i.e. high collectivism and low power distance) help to build IDC before cultivating innovation.

The results in this study suggest that large companies should focus on developing IDC to overcome knowledge fragmentation, bureaucracy and inertia. Also, large firms should develop Human Resource Management practices, such as creating job rotation and workflow, as well as cultural trust and common beliefs. In contrast, they should be on guard against status differences and workplace hierarchy’s cultural context.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that considers the roles of IDC and organizational culture and examines how large-scale entrepreneurial-oriented companies breed innovation.

This paper aims to demonstrate how attractions and experiences associated with coffee can contribute to dissemination and knowledge of its culture and to the development of coffee tourism in Portugal.

A case study methodology is applied, focusing on the Coffee Science Centre – Delta Interpretation, Scientific and Technological Promotion and Tourism Promotion Centre (CCC).

Results indicate that this type of attraction can be used to disseminate coffee culture by providing differentiating and enriching experiences to tourists, and most importantly, by developing tourism in a sustainable way.

This study contributes to expanding the knowledge on coffee tourism, an under-explored field of study, particularly in Portugal, where to the authors knowledge, there is no applied research within this scope.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of political connections and gender diversity on the performance of Iberian companies as a singular market and considering Portugal and Spain separately.

The authors used panel data methodology, specifically GMM system estimation model by Arellano and Bond (1991) for the period from 2015 to 2020.

Results show that the performance of listed Iberian companies is influenced by political connections, by gender diversity and that gender diversity has a mitigating effect on the effects of political connections in each country. The mitigating effect of women is evident in both Portugal and Spain, as they are more cautious and principled, which is valued by short-term investors interested in an immediate investment. However, considering the Iberian Peninsula as a whole, the results indicate that – in the long term – women's political relationships can benefit performance through a better reputation and image, which can lead to better social and economic results in the long term.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is original and covers an important gap in the literature when considering political connections and women's impact on these connections as determinants of the performance of Iberian companies.