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The paper aims to empirically test the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on a firm's dividend policy. Further, the authors investigate the moderator effect of Chief Executive Officer's (CEO) characteristics (gender, age and education) on this relationship.

The research was carried out on the main Chinese listed companies reported on the CSI 100 Index from 2016 to 2018. To assess the impact of IC on the dividend policy and then the moderating effect of the characteristics of the CEOs, the authors used a fixed effects panel data analysis.

The results suggest a positive impact of IC on dividend policies. In addition, this relationship is enhanced when the CEO is a woman, and the lower the age the higher the effect is.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study that explores the effect of IC on a firm's dividend policy in an emerging country. Specifically, this paper demonstrates the impact that IC has on the creation of shareholder value. Furthermore, considering the characteristics of the CEOs, this study tests new moderating effects in the relationship between IC and value creation and highlights how IC, dividends and CEO characteristics can be useful in aligning interests between ownership and management, enriching the debate on agency theory.

The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between firms' sustainable practices and corporate financial performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this study aims to analyse the effect of sustainable practices on firms' stock returns during and after the first COVID-19 pandemic emergency.

A quantitative study was conducted to determine the impact of sustainable practices on firms' stock returns, using a sample of 1,418 European listed firms. In particular, we tested the effect of environmental (E) and social (S) scores, providing a multi-sectoral analysis in order to consider sector specificities.

The empirical outcomes indicate the existence of a negative (weak) or null relationship between sustainable practices and stock returns, failing to provide evidence that these practices are able to protect shareholders value during times of crisis.

The results obtained made it possible to highlight significant implications for investors and practitioners. They may have particular attention in evaluating firm's sustainable practices trying to understand more precisely the value that such practices can have for the company and its shareholders.

This article is part of the stream of studies that analysed the impact of sustainable practices on stock returns during a period of crisis in order to contribute to filling the gap due to the lack of consensus and the mixed results in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine and organize the literature that has explored the effects of several environmental conditions (ECs) on mergers and acquisitions (M&As), in particular highlighting the increasing role of protectionism.

The systematic literature review methodology was applied for the purpose of identifying, analyzing and interrelating specific ECs that affect M&As, thereby underlining and elucidating the requisite role of protectionism. Specifically, this research is based on 51 methodically selected peer-reviewed articles published from 1991 to 2020.

The research summarizes and assesses the current state of relevant literature through comprehensive and coherent descriptive and thematic analysis. The proposed conceptual framework allows us to recognize the connections between M&As and external conditions, highlighting varying degrees of study and in-depth analysis across the different areas under consideration.

This study contributes to original and significant knowledge, by developing a conceptual framework that descriptively classifies existing knowledge; by defining refining and explicating the theoretical foundations for scholars to build on; by identifying the research gaps and proposing effective avenues for impactful further research; and by presenting practitioners and policymakers with a practical guide to implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firms’ financial performance (FP) in the food and beverage (F&B) sector.

The authors developed a conceptual model that hypothesizes a positive effect of CSR governance on CSR outcomes (environmental and social) and these on firm’s FP. Gathering data from 190 F&B companies, the authors empirically tested the validity of the model through an ordinary least squares regression analysis.

The findings highlight the positive impact of CSR governance on environmental and social outcomes, showing real societal concerns among companies’ stakeholders in the F&B industry. Studies on the effect of CSR outcomes on FP have shown mixed results. On one side, the social outcomes positively impact a firm’s performance; on the other side, environmental outcomes show insignificant or non-positive effects depending on different measurements of FP.

Despite the mixed set of results between CSR and a firm’s performance in the literature, this research provides a new framework in which the impact of CSR on FP is analysed through the effectiveness of CSR governance on CSR outcomes (social and environmental). Moreover, this study contributes to the CSR literature understanding the impact of both environment and social concerns by companies on firm’s FP in F&B context.

This study investigates the relationship between the individual’s levels of innovativeness (ILI) and the individual’s intention to finance (IIF) an equity crowdfunding campaign to understand whether and to what extent individuals' personalities (IP) can foster crowdfunding success.

OLS models are applied based on survey data collected from 385 US and UK citizen respondents. Further, the baseline relationship between ILI and IIF is broken down on the basis of the interactions with two behavioral characteristics: proactive personality (PP) and openness to experience (OE).

Results show a positive relationship between individual’s levels of innovativeness and the individual’s intention to finance an equity crowdfunding campaign. Furthermore, this relationship continues to be positive when moderators are introduced in the models, demonstrating that PP and OE are personal traits that strengthen the main relationship.

Our findings contribute to enriching the stream of literature according to which equity crowdfunding is a helpful tool not only able to bridge the financial gap of companies during the first phase of their life cycle. The findings also contribute to the development of the innovation process, creating also a social identity within the crowdfunding community.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test intellectual capital (IC) as a mediator in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance (FP) relationship.

The empirical research was conducted on 345 European firms listed in the STOXX Europe 600 index. To evaluate the mediating effect of IC, we applied the four-step Baron and Kenny model, tested through an ordinary least squares regression analysis.

The findings highlighted a partial mediation of IC on the CSR–FP relationship, suggesting that the implementation of CSR strategies has a positive effect on the development of firms' IC, which in turn enhances firms' competitive advantage and superior long-term FPs.

We found a new mediator in the CSR–FP relationship and we contribute to a new line of research that aims to study environmental and sustainability aspects strictly interrelated with IC and performances (sustainable intellectual capital).

The purpose of this paper is to analyse companies listed on the FTSE MIB, in order to investigate the introduction of different types of open innovation practice as a key factor to develop a competitive advantage to pursue value creation.

This research uses a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. A quantitative study was conducted to determine the firms listed on the FTSE MIB that for more than 10 years have paid dividends and beat the yield of the market. The qualitative analysis was designed to provide insights into the adoption of at least one open innovation practice by the listed companies selected in the quantitative phase.

This work is based on an empirical analysis undertaken with 40 Italian companies listed on the FTSE MIB. In particular, the authors highlight 16 companies that for more than a decade have regularly paid dividends and, at the same time, have beat the FTSE MIB Index. All of these companies implemented at least one open innovation practice during the period investigated.

This is among the first pioneer research works based on the potential relationship among value creation, innovation practice and competitive advantage in the Italian market. This study highlights the fact that 16 out of 40 companies listed on the FTSE MIB create more value for shareholders over a long period, and all of these firms adopt different open innovation practices (e.g. partnership and collaboration with external entities; mergers and acquisitions and alliances; investment in start-ups; hackathons and call for ideas; outsourcing R&D) as a key factor to develop a sustainable competitive advantage.

Owing to the worldwide outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2, social media conversations have increased. Given the increasing pressure from regulatory authorities and society, green accounting – as a dimension of sustainable development – remains the most discussed topic on most social media platforms. This study aims to incorporate a technological approach to green accounting and sustainability to enhance the innovation process inside and outside organizations.

This study uses the hermeneutic phenomenological technique to investigate Twitter content. Tweets were subjected to a manual coding process to analyze their content, including recent advancements, challenges, cross-country initiatives and promotion strategies in green accounting. Public perception of green accounting and the COP26 climate summit was also studied.

Tweeters view green accounting favorably; however, they are apprehensive about its implementation. Regarding the challenges in green accounting, “corporate green washing” was the most tweeted content. The UK was the top-rated nation with respect to green accounting development. Furthermore, the most discussed breakthrough was the application of artificial intelligence in the domain of green accounting functions. However, Twitter users were observed to have directed heavy criticism at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

This study’s primary innovation is its integration of emerging technologies such as machine learning and data mining with social media platforms such as Twitter. Incorporating manual coding of tweets is a rigorous procedure that amplifies the strength of machine learning software’s auto-coding feature.