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The aim of this paper is to determine whether the effort invested by service companies in employee training has an impact on their economic performance.

The study centres on an intensive labor sector, where the perception of service quality depends on who renders this service. To overcome the habitual problems of transversal studies, the time effect has been considered by measuring data over a period of nine years, to give panel data treatment with fixed effects.

The prepared models give clear empirical support to the hypothesis that training activities are a positive influence on company performance.

The results obtained contribute empirical evidence about a relationship that, hitherto, has not been satisfactorily demonstrated. However, there may be some limitations related to the use of a training indicator based on effort and not on results obtained, with low representation of what happens in the smaller companies that lack structured training policies, or with no differentiation between generic or more specific training.

The results obtained can contribute towards increased manager awareness that training should be treated as an investment and not considered as an expense.

The main contributions can be resumed in three points: a training measurement has been used, based on three dimensions, which presumes to be an improvement on the more frequent method of measuring this variable. A consistent methodology was used that previously was not applied in the analysis of this relationship, and clear empirical evidence has been obtained concerning a relationship that, frequently, is mentioned with theoretical arguments, but which needs more empirical evidence.

This paper studies the influence of firm size over degree of innovation in a service sector, specifically in engineering consulting and technology services in Spain. A multiple regression analysis was used to test hypothesis about firm size positive influence over degree of innovation in services. To avoid distortions in this main relationship, three control variables were introduced (degree of standardisation, degree of customisation, and number of firm’s activities). Results seem to indicate that firm size, measured by turnover, is related positively with degree of innovation, independently of moderate influence of control variables.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the dynamics of the gender diversity-to-performance relationship in the Spanish banking sector in the period 1999-2010. Specifically the authors try to study how different proportions of men and women in banking institutions lead to different levels of return on assets (ROA) and sales productivity.

The authors use conventional panel data methods to find an optimal mix of males and females which leads to higher levels of financial results. With the aim of controlling unobserved heterogeneity, equations are estimated using the random-effects model.

The findings show that the proportion of women in the workforce does not affect productivity but significantly explains ROA. In addition low-moderated levels (27 per cent) of women in technical positions optimize ROA.

This research empirically explores the business case for gender diversity going beyond the upper echelons of organizations. The authors also study how the technical qualification of employees can determine the optimal proportion of gender groups.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the unclear relationship between industry structure and open innovation.

The focus of the study is on firms that received external help to develop their products or that helped third parties in developing their products. The hypotheses were tested on a large panel of more than 7,000 firms using generalized estimating equations.

The results show that open innovation adoption is positively related to technology complexity and market uncertainty while it is negatively related to market concentration. Larger firms are more likely to adopt open innovation strategies.

The research makes an important contribution to the literature by examining on a large sample of firms the moderating effects of industry concentration, industry research and development intensity and the technology life cycle stage on the adoption of open innovation.

Emergency health and humanitarian nonprofits work under volatile circumstances that strain nonprofits' financial resources. This study investigates the impact of revenue composition on the financial health of these nonprofits and the impact of financial health on the likelihood of financial distress.

A sample of 11,335 emergency nonprofits from 2003 to 2020 was obtained through form 990 data and studied through a difference generalized method of moments (GMM) approach for the impact of revenue composition on financial health. The impact of financial health on financial distress was studied through panel logistics regression.

Revenue diversification adversely affects the financial health of nonprofit emergency health and humanitarian organizations contrary to the implications of modern portfolio theory. The financial health of nonprofit emergency health and humanitarian organizations is persistent through the significant positive effect of lags in most cases.

The emergency health subsector of nonprofits was studied separately due to the unique nature of the sectors' operations and operating environment. The impact of revenue composition was investigated on key dimensions of financial health. Omitted variable bias, simultaneity and dynamic endogeneity were handled through difference GMM.