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This paper aims to examine the extent to which the presence of women in governance and top management positions is likely to affect corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. This study also examines the interaction effect between female leadership and cultural leadership in the boardroom.

The empirical quantitative paper covers a sample of French-listed non-financial companies from 2018 to 2022 (925 firm-year observations). France is the European Union pioneer of non-financial reporting and gender equality policies. A fixed-effect panel regression analysis was estimated to unveil the links between the presence of women in governance and top management positions and ESG performance.

Results show that appointing more women on the board of directors and executive team is conducive to higher ESG performance. Nevertheless, the interaction effect between female and cultural leadership does not impact ESG performance.

This study contributes to the accounting and corporate governance literature on gender diversity and ESG performance by investigating female leadership in both directorship and top executive roles.

This paper aims to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and marketing within the context of knowledge management (KM). It investigates how AI technologies facilitate data-driven decision-making, enhance business communication, improve customer personalization, optimize marketing campaigns and boost overall marketing effectiveness.

This study uses a quantitative and systematic approach, integrating citation analysis, text mining and co-citation analysis to examine foundational research areas and the evolution of AI in marketing. This comprehensive analysis addresses the current gap in empirical investigations of AI’s influence on marketing and its future developments.

This study identifies three main perspectives that have shaped the foundation of AI in marketing: proxy, tool and ensemble views. It develops a managerially relevant conceptual framework that outlines future research directions and expands the boundaries of AI and marketing literature within the KM landscape.

This research proposes a conceptual model that integrates AI and marketing within the KM context, offering new research trajectories. This study provides a holistic view of how AI can enhance knowledge sharing, strategic planning and decision-making in marketing.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate sustainable development goals (SDGs) disclosure and analyst forecast quality.

The study focuses on a sample of 95 Italian-listed companies preparing the mandatory non-financial declaration (NFD) according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards over a five-year period (2017–2021), corresponding to an unbalanced sample of 438 observations. Analyst forecast quality was proxied by earnings forecast accuracy (FA) and earnings forecast dispersion (FD), built on data retrieved from the Refinitiv database. A manual content analysis was performed on NFDs to derive an SDG disclosure score (SDGD) for each sampled company.

This study provides empirical evidence suggesting that voluntary SDG disclosure matters to the capital market in that it helps enhance the information environment of companies, evidenced by improved analyst forecast quality. In particular, this study highlighted that SDG disclosure positively influences analyst FA while negatively affecting analyst FD.

This study focuses on the Italian context, which has idiosyncratic characteristics regarding the structure of the financial market, the composition of corporate ownership and experience in non-financial reporting practices.

This study indicates to corporate managers that following GRI standards may represent the right way to better integrate SDG disclosure in corporate non-financial reports and increase the relevance of such information for investors and other capital market participants.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that empirically examines the association between SDG disclosure and analyst forecast quality.

This research aims to investigate the impact of exogenous shocks on individuals' risk tolerance, particularly when originating outside the economic or financial sphere. Focusing on Italy as the first Western country affected by COVID-19, this paper explores whether the pandemic led to a decrease in Italians' financial risk tolerance (FRT).

This study used a two-stage approach for data analysis. Initial examination of key variables used linear regression (ordinary least square [OLS]) with robust errors. Subsequently, a system of structural equations (structural equation model [SEM]) was used for a more nuanced exploration of hypothetical relationships between constructs and their observed indicators. SEM addressed reliability issues inherent in OLS, offering a robust analysis of structural models based on specified hypotheses. To assess the impact of COVID-19 on Italians' FRT, the Grable and Lytton Risk Tolerance Scale was used, measuring changes through a scored questionnaire with values ranging from 1 (greater risk aversion) to 4 (greater risk propensity).

This study used three distinct OLS regression models to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on Italians' FRT, considering mortality, infection and stringency rates. Findings revealed that older individuals exhibited lower risk tolerance across FRT dimensions, consistent with previous research. Men were more risk-prone, aligning with gender-related financial literacy disparities. Married respondents tended to be less risk-tolerant, supporting the idea that marital status influences risk attitude. Education level showed a slightly negative impact on investment risk. Professional instability, lower income and stock market inexperience were associated with lower risk tolerance. Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant positive effect, making respondents more risk-averse. SEM methodology was used to examine the moderating effects of COVID-19 proxies on FRT changes.

This research brings a novel perspective to the ongoing debate on exogenous shocks' impact on individuals' risk tolerance, particularly when originating outside the economic or financial domain. Focusing on Italy, the first Western country hit by COVID-19, this study uniquely investigates the pandemic's effect on Italians' FRT. With a large and representative sample, the findings contribute significantly to the literature on risk attitude, shedding light on the pandemic's impact. This study's originality lies in providing reliable evidence with policy implications, emphasizing the imperative for government intervention in addressing both health and economic issues in the wake of such external shocks.

This study explores the incorporation of prosocial compensation in service recoveries by allowing customers to cocreate the process through compensation choice, explains the underlying mechanism driving these results and identifies a boundary condition for these effects.

Three scenario-based experimental studies are conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.

Incorporating cocreation in a service recovery featuring prosocial compensation can outperform purely financial compensation (i.e. monetary-only) if the customer is given a choice. Moreover, pride is higher for customers who choose prosocial compensation (i.e. donations) as part of a service recovery. These findings are contingent on the firm’s reputation, namely, its corporate social responsibility (CSR) authenticity, such that companies with high (vs low) CSR authenticity perceptions benefit more in terms of enhanced pride given cocreated prosocial recoveries.

Drawing on service-dominant logic and social exchange theory, the findings of this research suggest that incorporating prosocial compensation, an element of CSR, as part of a cocreated service recovery strategy can enhance pride and repurchase intent.

This research demonstrates instances where prosocial compensation can outperform monetary-only compensation, leading to higher repurchase intent, highlighting conditions for this to occur and offering prescriptions for managers to implement these strategies in service recoveries.

Cocreating service recoveries with prosocial compensation, like donations, boosts customer pride and strengthens relationships. Firms with authentic CSR perceptions benefit most, addressing customers’ emotional and economic needs while enhancing community goodwill.

This work uniquely explores the effect of cocreated recoveries using prosocial compensation on pride and repurchase intent.

This study investigates drivers of local governments’ digitalization, focusing on contextual factors that can help explain the level of e-government development. Concretely, it examines financial, socioeconomic, and political factors that represent the local context where e-government initiatives are implemented.

A composite e-government index was used, adopting a holistic perspective to capture various features of e-government initiatives. The OLS estimator for linear regressions was used for the analysis based on a sample of Italian municipalities in 2023. The Tobit estimator was additionally implemented to check for the robustness of the results.

Empirical findings suggest that municipalities with higher indebtedness tend to show lower digitalization levels. Economic and social variables are also relevant factors, while the political orientation of the governing party is not significant. This indirectly documents that e-government initiatives play a strategic role despite the political ideology.

This study avoids referring to a technological determinism perspective and examines the role of the institutional and operational context, highlighting the need to unveil and explain differences among local governments rather than focusing on similarities.

Our study aims to fill in the gap in corporate strategic silence in the fashion industry. Given the insights into the industry practices, we asked whether important sustainability issues, namely deadstock and overstock, are discussed or disclosed in corporate sustainability reports. We assumed that only the most fashion-forward corporations would address this pressing issue. However, based on our content analysis of sustainability reports of companies listed as the signatories of the UN Global Compact’s Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action (N = 95), we found out that only one-fifth of them touch the issues to a varied extent. Our study’s results point to a significant discrepancy between the sustainability claims of fashion companies and their communication about overproduction and demonstrate the existence of the shared industry practice of corporate silence strategy concerning uncomfortable issues, such as deadstock and overstock.

We conducted a content analysis of selected corporate reports (N = 95) available publicly on the company’s websites, such as sustainability, environmental or corporate social responsibility reports. Initially, we analyzed the documents to see if they addressed the issue of deadstock. Subsequently, we performed a detailed content analysis using NVivo on these reports, which mentioned the issue of deadstock (N = 23).

Our study reveals strategic silence in the fashion industry regarding deadstock and overstock. Analyzing reports of 95 signatories of the UN Global Compact’s Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, only one-fifth address these issues. Our research, employing content analysis with NVivo, indicates a significant discrepancy between sustainability claims and actual communication practices. Most companies focus on recycling or materials management rather than addressing deadstock and overstock directly. The findings highlight an industry-wide practice of strategic silence and the practice of shared corporate silence, avoiding transparent discussion on overproduction and its environmental impact.

This study is limited by its focus on publicly available corporate reports from signatories of the UN Global Compact’s Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, which do not fully capture all corporate communication practices (those companies shall be the “pioneers” of sustainability and transparency). Additionally, the reliance on content analysis via NVivo is subject to interpretative biases, and the findings may not be generalizable across all fashion industry sectors. Future research could explore broader datasets, including internal corporate communications and consumer-facing narratives, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of strategic silence in sustainability communication.

Despite ongoing environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts and sustainability initiatives, this study suggests that fashion corporations may strategically employ collective silence as a communication tactic to avoid addressing complex issues like overproduction and deadstock. This practice can undermine stakeholder trust and transparency. Therefore, fashion companies genuinely committed to sustainability and corporate responsibility should proactively incorporate discussions of unsold goods and overproduction into their ESG, impact and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive reports. By addressing these challenges openly, companies can enhance their credibility, foster greater consumer trust and lead the industry toward more responsible and transparent practices.

Our research presents alarming evidence of corporate silence being strategically used to avoid addressing pressing issues in the industry. Several cases have drawn public attention to this problem, such as using the Västerås power plant in Sweden by a fashion conglomerate to incinerate clothes and disposing a vast amount of textile waste in Africa and the Atacama Desert in Chile. Our findings demonstrate that fashion corporations are reluctant to openly address these issues.

Our study analyzes the quiet practice of corporate silence in the fashion industry, especially around deadstock and overstock to emphasize the overproduction problem. Its unique contribution comes from using content analysis and subsequently, cluster analysis with NVivo, offering a new approach to content analysis. This approach helps reveal the gap between what companies communicate about sustainability and what they actually do. The findings add to the discussion on corporate environmental practices, suggesting a need for more transparent and responsible communication in sustainability discourse – focus more on the unsaid than published data.

Through the reconstruction of the events of some foreign entrepreneurs who worked in the territory of the Italian city of Bari in the first half of the 19th century, this paper aims to analyze the role of entrepreneurial migration in the economic development of Apulia land in this period.

This study adopts a theoretical framework that combines the concept of mixed embeddedness in a multifocal perspective, with the model of the diffusion of innovation focusing on the role of the so-called agency of actors, and of the network, in the dissemination of innovation. The theoretical framework is applied to multiple case studies to compare the evidence that emerged from the simultaneous analysis of several situations.

By analyzing how innovations have spread within the network of entrepreneurs of that time, it is possible to identify some relevant aspects related to the mechanisms of dissemination of innovations in the context of entrepreneurial migration. Specifically, the opportunity structure is intended in an even broader sense than indicated in the classic approach to mixed embeddedness: it is considered as the result of the joint interaction of the political, institutional and economic context of several places, and the behavioral dynamics of several groups.

Due to the specific method chosen, the outcomes of the research might apply to a narrow context. Therefore, the results need to be tested and confirmed in further empirical studies, and by applying multiple research methods.

Findings are useful and significant in the analysis of the link that exists between the diffusion of innovations and migrant entrepreneurship, and then the conclusions can be applied and extended to the current phenomenon of migration-related innovations, with specific reference to developing countries.

Findings can be applied and extended to the current phenomenon of migration-related innovations and highly skilled migration, with specific reference to developing countries.

This paper contributes to shed new light on the contextual and multifocal factors that influence the development of innovations in the networks of migrant entrepreneurship, in a specific historical period and a specific context. Combining social, human and financial capital with the wider opportunity structure, this study also provides a comprehensive understanding of the modalities through which migrant and high-skilled entrepreneurs could innovate.

This study aims to investigate whether and how high-growth start-ups led by young Italian entrepreneurs are using their unique resources and capabilities – such as innovative business models, technological advancements and entrepreneurial drive – to address key environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges.

Adopting a qualitative approach and grounded in resource-based view theory, the study analyses data from 42 in-depth interviews with founders and co-founders of high-growth start-ups operating in the Italian context.

The findings reveal that 85% of the young Italian entrepreneurs interviewed are leveraging their unique resources and organisational capabilities, including adaptability, sustainability-oriented innovation and stakeholder engagement, to tackle ESG challenges effectively. Specifically, start-ups are innovating in areas such as renewable energy adoption, inclusive employment practices and governance transparency.

Ad hoc policies can play an important role in creating supportive environments that encourage start-ups to innovate sustainably and align their operations with ESG principles. For entrepreneurs, this study provides a roadmap for incorporating sustainability into their business models, emphasising ESG’s role in achieving societal and environmental impact alongside economic growth.

High-growth start-ups are shown to play a transformative role in addressing critical social and environmental challenges. By prioritising ESG factors, these organisations not only contribute to environmental conservation and social equity but also set benchmarks for sustainable corporate practices, driving broader social change.

This study uniquely explores the intersection of entrepreneurship and sustainability within high-growth Italian start-ups, shedding light on how young entrepreneurs address ESG challenges – an area largely underexplored in current literature.

Artworks made of hygroscopic materials, like wooden panel paintings, are susceptible to environmental conditions. Traditional panel paintings typically consist of a wooden panel coated with layers of gesso, paint and varnish. Due to environmental fluctuations, the gesso layer and the wood panel may respond differently to moisture changes, triggering potential fractures. The investigation of such phenomena is of high interest, but it is still scarcely studied by engineers.

The proposed study aimed to create a simplified 3D finite element model for paintings to identify environmental conditions that could exceed critical strain levels. A penny-shaped crack within the gesso layer was modelled and, after applying a given deformation, the strain energy density failure criterion was used to assess if the crack was in a critical state.

Various combinations of geometric parameters of the model were explored, and to save computational time and cost, machine learning algorithms (namely extreme gradient boosting machines and Gaussian process regression algorithms) were introduced. The analyses were carried out on different panel paintings 3D models obtained by varying the wooden species and the boundary conditions, for exploring a wide number of combinations.

Moreover, the integration of machine learning can potentially reduce the reliance on numerical simulations and offer new insights into the conservation of artworks, a field in which such tools are still scarcely exploited.