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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of accountability in times of exception. The Italian government's account-giving practices are critically analysed with respect to the distinct modes in which duties of accountability are discharged for the exceptional measures taken during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in early 2020.

This paper draws on an exploratory case study. The case analysis draws primarily on data obtained through publicly available documents and covers the period between January 1 and August 7, 2020.

The paper reveals that the Italian government employed various accountability styles (rebuttal, dismissal, reactive, proactive and coactive). Each style influenced both how the government justified its conduct and how it sought to form distinctive relationships with social actors.

The paper uses the notion of “styles of accountability” to empirically illustrate how an unprecedented public governance challenge can reveal broader accountability trends. The paper contributes to accountability research by elucidating how governments tackle ambiguity and uncertainty in their systems of public accountability in extraordinary times.

The authors investigate the contributions of social capital (SC) dimensions (bridging, bonding and linking) in crowdfunding campaigns by comparing the dynamics of agri-food businesses with those of two other sectors – cultural and technological.

The authors develop linear regressions on a proprietary data set of 5,290 projects launched on the Italian platform “Produzionidalbasso.com”, from 2014 to 2020.

The authors’ findings suggest that combining the three social capital dimensions (bridging, bonding and linking) has a more substantial overall effect on the number of backers involved in agri-food projects than in cultural and technological projects. Agri-food entrepreneurs effectively mobilize all resources embedded in the SC dimensions and therefore create the conditions to develop new ties that financially support the project.

Agri-food entrepreneurs may benefit from those results improving their funding strategies. Therefore, agri-food entrepreneurs can explore and exploit the instruments available on the CFD platform – video and rewards associated with the campaign – gaining more benefit from the backers involved compared with other project categories.

The study proposes a broader perspective regarding SC that encompasses the proponent, the company and the campaign with three different types of ties: bonding, bridging and linking. These SC dimensions can differently shape diverse sectors and this eclectic configuration can differentiate the effects of SC in crowdfunding campaigns. This study pinpoints how crowdfunding determinants change, based on project categories.

In today’s high-demand work environments, characterised by an expectation for individuals to possess resources to manage workloads effectively, workaholism poses a significant threat to employee well-being. This study aims to investigate the impact of work overload and psychological flexibility on compulsive work behaviours and well-being.

This study applies the Job Demands-Resources model and uses structural equation modelling to analyse data collected from 305 adult workers aged 19–65. Psychological flexibility and work overload are examined as antecedents of compulsive work behaviour, with flourishing and life satisfaction as outcomes.

The results indicate that compulsive work behaviour mediates the relationship between work overload and psychological flexibility on well-being outcomes. Psychological flexibility was found to be a crucial resource in reducing workaholic tendencies, leading to improved flourishing and life satisfaction.

The implications for human resources include practical strategies and targeted interventions to help individuals navigate organisational demands, prevent compulsive work behaviours and improve overall well-being.

This study offers new insights into the role of psychological flexibility as a personal resource in reducing compulsive work tendencies and enhancing both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in high-demand work environments.