Catarina Lopes, Bruno Almeida, Joana Leite and Maria Morais
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the voluntary implementation of an internal audit department (IAD) by municipalities has any influence on external auditors'…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the voluntary implementation of an internal audit department (IAD) by municipalities has any influence on external auditors' opinions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study population comprises the 308 Portuguese municipalities, from which the authors extracted a sample of 179. Financial and audit reports were collected from the period under analysis (2014–2017). The sample was then divided into two groups: municipalities that had voluntarily implemented an IAD and those that had not. Internal audit departments were characterized according to their robustness – whether they were more or less robust. First, a descriptive statistical analysis of the dataset was performed to analyze the representativeness of the sample and to extract insights. To address the research questions, ordinal random effect regression models were considered.
Findings
Contrary to the authors' expectations, the voluntary implementation of an IAD had no influence on the audit report type. However, when the authors refined the approach to include the robustness of the IAD, it became clear that this variable does influence the report issued by the external auditor.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the current literature by determining the effects of the robustness of IADs on municipality audit reports. As far as the authors know, this paper is novel. Since auditing plays an important role in the transparency of public financial statements and in promoting equity, this study shows that a robust IAD is an advantage in the pursuit of these goals.
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Mariza Almeida, Guilherme Ary Plonski, Justin Axel-berg, Adelaide Baeta, Branca Terra, Bruno Simões and Henry Etzkowitz
This paper aims to propose a performance measurement system to evaluate the key aspects of entrepreneurial activities in Brazilian universities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a performance measurement system to evaluate the key aspects of entrepreneurial activities in Brazilian universities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was developed in two phases. Both phases consisted of a survey sent to Brazilian universities (public, private and not-for-profit) whose technology transfer offices (TTO) had contributed to the annual report by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI, 2015), which evaluates the implementation of the Innovation Law. Multiple correspondence analysis was used to analyze the answers.
Findings
A set of 13 indicators and 13 characteristics of the organizational structure of the institutions was identified for the purpose of evaluating the level of development of the entrepreneurship activities.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this study relates to the low quality of the survey responses. It was not possible to qualitatively validate all the selected indicators. This is because universities are still not internally organized, because the higher authorities do not enforce the collection and treatment of data based on the existing legislation.
Originality/value
The results of this study, with the definition of indicators, can be used to inform public policy for the stimulation of entrepreneurship in other countries and regions.
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Vasco Santos, Paulo Ramos, Bruno Sousa, Nuno Almeida and Marco Valeri
This paper aims to present a content analysis of two major constructs among tourism settings, namely involvement and emotions, strictly related to tourist behaviour, due to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a content analysis of two major constructs among tourism settings, namely involvement and emotions, strictly related to tourist behaviour, due to the fact that there are still some critical gaps in the knowledge about tourists' emotions and involvement.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth content analysis of involvement and emotions was adopted as the methodological approach. This methodology addressed an amalgam of different definitions, frameworks, mixed theoretical and practical applications and approaches, results, comparisons as well as a blend of a set of scales of involvement and emotions by confrontating of authors.
Findings
The major findings state that emotions and involvement demonstrate greater progress and scientific development to the level of tourism, marketing and consumer behaviour, representing an important issue for the integrated tourism experiences.
Originality/value
This study presents a critical reflection on the importance of emotions and involvement in specific contexts of leisure and tourism.
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Bruno Cirillo, Daniel Tzabbar and Donghwi Seo
Research on employee mobility has proliferated in the past four decades across four research traditions: Economics, sociology, management, and organizational behavior/human…
Abstract
Research on employee mobility has proliferated in the past four decades across four research traditions: Economics, sociology, management, and organizational behavior/human resource management. Despite significant overlap in interest and focus, these four streams of research have evolved independent from each other, resulting in a structural divide. We provide a detailed account of the research on employee mobility and the structural divide across disciplines. We document that the payoff from this profusion of research and increasing interest has been disappointing, as reflected in the limited number of cross-disciplinary citations, even among common topics of interest. However, our analysis also provides some encouraging signs in the form of specific journals and individuals who provide a bridge for cross-disciplinary fertilization.
Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti
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…
Abstract
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.
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Rajshree Agarwal, Matthew Bidwell, Bruno Cirillo and Daniel Tzabbar
We initiated a conversation between two prominent scholars in the field of employee mobility who come from different disciplinary backgrounds: Rajshree Agarwal (from the human…
Abstract
We initiated a conversation between two prominent scholars in the field of employee mobility who come from different disciplinary backgrounds: Rajshree Agarwal (from the human capital research tradition) and Matthew Bidwell (from the human resource management research tradition). Their cumulative work leads to vastly different conclusions. In this chapter we had an opportunity to explore their differences and share the roots of their motivations, interests, and research philosophies. The discussion provides diverging, yet insightful, directions for future research.
Márcio José Sol Pereira Oliveira and Paulo Pinheiro
Focusing on the study of tacit knowledge sharing in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in Portugal and taking as a case study the Portuguese voluntary firefighters, this study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Focusing on the study of tacit knowledge sharing in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in Portugal and taking as a case study the Portuguese voluntary firefighters, this study aims to identify the most relevant factors for sharing tacit knowledge and identify the types of barriers most prevalent to such sharing in these organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review on tacit knowledge sharing allowed the identification of indicators and barriers to the sharing of this knowledge. This was followed by a mixed methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative techniques through questionnaires and interviews, whose treatment allowed to determine the indicators that influence each of these factors and which types of barriers.
Findings
Three factors have been identified that lead to the sharing of tacit knowledge within these organizations: organizational culture, individual characteristics and organizational structure. Four typologies of barriers were identified: communicational, technological, personal and resource or infrastructure.
Research limitations/implications
The present research focuses exclusively on the sharing of tacit knowledge, not considering other forms of knowledge. As a case study, although with heterogeneous organizations, the same cannot be replicated to different realities.
Practical implications
The investigation of the main factors and the main types of barriers that arise to the sharing of tacit knowledge in these organizations may serve as a basis for the creation of diagnostic and intervention tools.
Originality/value
Studies in this area targeting NPOs are scarce, as opposed to what is happening in the private and public sectors. The option of a case study of organizations such as the Portuguese fire brigades, unique in their action and identity, accompanies the need increasingly recognized by society, in enabling these organizations of competencies for the best possible performance, in the face of tragic events that have occurred in recent years in Portugal.
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Jenna A. Lamphere and Jon Shefner
This paper seeks to situate the green economy (GE) within the broader history of sustainable development (SD), bringing related lessons and insights into its fold.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to situate the green economy (GE) within the broader history of sustainable development (SD), bringing related lessons and insights into its fold.
Methodology/approach
We critically examine the history of SD, focusing on the relationship between SD outcomes and a variety of theoretical and political influences, such as demodernization theories, ecological modernization, neoliberalism, and state theory. We situate the GE within this broader history and identify emergent pathways to successful GE development.
Findings
We suggest that a strong GE discourse, one that prioritizes both people and the environment, provides an opportunity to revitalize the state, combat neoliberal primacy, and drive progressive economic and environmental policy.
Practical implications
A critical examination of SD history can provide important lessons for GE actors seeking progressive social and environmental change.
Originality/ value
As social and environmental crises deepen, the need for developing and propagating discourses that engender economic reform and ecological protection becomes ever more evident.
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This chapter provides a briefly summary of the main message and contribution of Martin C. Goossen's and Gianluca Carnabuci's paper “When Employees Walk Out the Door, Their…
Abstract
This chapter provides a briefly summary of the main message and contribution of Martin C. Goossen's and Gianluca Carnabuci's paper “When Employees Walk Out the Door, Their Memories Remain: The Effect of Inventor Mobility on Patent Renewal”. It situates the paper and its contribution in the broader literature and provides critical areas and possible avenues for future research.
Kun Zhang, Jeffrey J. Reuer and Francisco Morales
Strategy and entrepreneurship scholars have identified many benefits of signaling for new ventures to access resources in financial and other factor markets. However, scholars…
Abstract
Strategy and entrepreneurship scholars have identified many benefits of signaling for new ventures to access resources in financial and other factor markets. However, scholars have not studied the extent to which new ventures can employ signals to hire new talent. This chapter investigates inventor mobility across biopharmaceutical new ventures and examines the effects of two signals, venture capitalist (VC) prominence and alliance network prominence. We suggest that VC prominence and alliance network prominence can provide assurances to prospective employees about a venture's resources and prospects, thereby facilitating inventor mobility owing to enhanced labor market efficiency. Empirical evidence from biopharmaceutical startups shows that new ventures can benefit from signals emanating from their ties to VCs and alliance partners and attract inventors to join them. We also find that these signaling effects attenuate as information asymmetry diminishes.