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The social dimension of Higher Education has gained relevance on the political and strategic discourses that urge Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to put University Social Responsibility (USR) into action and also recognise its importance for students’ development. However, students’ conceptions of USR are seldom explored. This paper aims to understand students’ perceptions of USR and the potential of their involvement in broadly-defined USR activities/projects.

This research involves two studies in three European universities, Edinburgh, Porto and Kaunas: the first uses a qualitative approach to consider how students perceive the impact of their involvement in the Erasmus+ project ESSA, using document analysis, focus groups and thematic analysis; the second involves a questionnaire with 718 students to explore their views on USR, participation in university-based experiences, personal and social development and citizenship conceptions, analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics.

Student’s value USR and their university policies and practises, even if they feel they are not engaged as they should. They value university as a learning space beyond the classroom and putting USR into practice. Their participation is related to their appraisal of USR and their conceptions of citizens’ roles.

In spite of using convenience samples of students in three different universities, this research not only sheds light on students’ views on USR and their participation in diverse university-based experiences but also advances with research instruments that can be used in future research in this field.

This research helps HEIs realise the potential of promoting students’ participation in diverse university-based experiences, increasing community engagement and their development as professionals and critical citizens.

This paper addresses a research gap by exploring how students perceive USR and their participation in university-based experiences might simultaneously be a strategy for putting USR in action and fostering students’ civic engagement.

In the context of increasingly diverse issues that affect global society, the social responsibility dimension in higher education institutions is being called to the forefront of change, both in the sense of rethinking their internal practices (e.g. promoting the access and progression of students from different cultural backgrounds) and in their interaction with the surrounding community (e.g. through the establishment of stronger partnerships). The USR activities and projects are considered driving forces of change for universities, but the potential that the involvement of students in this area can have, in their academic and professional capacities, is not yet sufficiently studied.

This study examines how students from three European universities (Edinburgh, Porto and Kaunas) perceive the impact of their own involvement in the Erasmus + project ESSA – an experiential training in university social responsibility audit – through focus-group discussions.

This analysis pointed towards the role of USR projects as an opportunity for students to improve transversal competencies aligned with articulation between the three cornerstones of the university: teaching, research and third mission.

The study rests on students' perceptions of personal change.

This research can help higher education institutions understand the potential of involving students in existing USR projects as a tool to promote their personal, academic and civic development.

USR is a core mission of higher education institutions that is beneficial not only internally but also in what concerns interactions with the community and the potential for developing “public-minded alumni”.

This paper provides an insight into how students perceive the impact of their involvement in USR projects as unique learning spaces.

The evolution of tourism must be framed into policies that aim a development model perspective for the destinations, based on the analysis of economic, political, and social indicators. Therefore, emerging destinations, located in territories with low population density, should be a target of a careful strategy policy, considering the characteristics of the region. In particular, the disaster caused by the pandemic context (i.e., COVID-19) implied profound changes in tourism thinking, planning, and development of regions in Portugal and throughout the world. The present chapter proposes the creation of a tourism monitoring system for Arouca (Portugal), a territory classified as Low-Density Territory, with specific characteristics. The monitoring will involve the planning and management of database, at the disposal of all stakeholders, ensuring that the tourism flows in analysis do not get overwhelmed, allowing the discussion of opportunities and threats for the territory, based on the partnership between the population, public and private sector, adjusted to the social, cultural, economic, and environment perception. Will also be considered the perspective of the local community from Arouca's region, the main actors from the territory such as Geopark Association of Arouca and the City Council, according to the surveys used as data basis of this study, along with statistics analysis.

The purpose of this study was to establish an objective mathematical decision-making procedure to help universities prioritize credits, while using the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) framework developed by the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), when pursuing their sustainability goals in the short-, medium- and long-term. The authors used the assessment data from Dominican University of California (DUofC), as our case study.

Two criteria, the number of possible points available and overall priority, were developed to classify credits in the STARS version 1.2 framework into six groups from lowest to highest level of difficulty. Two mathematical credit-selecting models based on how many points were available per credit, partial or full amount, were also established to produce short-, medium- and long-term plans.

Our results show that DUofC can reach the Silver level in three years by working on 25 credits; Gold level in nine years by focusing its efforts in 28 additional credits; and Platinum level in 15 years by improving another 10 credits.

The procedure developed in this study can be applied to other universities and other versions of the STARS framework.

This paper aims to describe how the technology forecast process occurs at a technology-based company named Daiken, a Brazilian electronics industry, located in the state of Parana. The study helps to clarify the context that tech-companies in Brazil face when trying to forecast new technologies.

The paper opted for a case study, in a qualitative and descriptive approach. Primary data were collected through a semi-structured interview and non-participant observation. Secondary data were generated through documentary research.

Outcomes indicate that, for the studied case, technology forecast practices are adopted in an informal and unsystematic way, best aligned to the nature of competitive intelligence.

Because of the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the propositions further.

The paper includes implications for the adjustment of technology forecast tools to the reality seen in emergent nations like Brazil.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how to conduct the technology forecast processes in small and mid-tech-companies in Brazil.

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.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of listed Portuguese companies' specific determinants on adjustment of actual debt towards target debt ratio. The specific determinants on adjustment of actual debt towards target debt ratio that we consider are: asset tangibility, size, profitability and market to book ratio.

Dynamic panel estimators are used to determine adjustment of the actual level of debt towards optimal level of debt, revealing the level of transaction costs borne by companies. OLS regressions are also used, in order to estimate the impacts of companies' specific determinants on debt adjustment.

The results suggest that transaction costs are relevant in listed Portuguese companies' access to debt. Tangibility of assets and size are determinants that contribute for a greater adjustment of debt towards optimal level. The results also suggest that the capital structure decisions of listed Portuguese companies can be explained in the light of trade‐off and pecking order theories, and not according to what is forecast by market timing theory.

Through this study, the level of adjustment of actual debt towards target debt ratio in the context of companies belonging to under‐developed capital markets are determined, in the particular case of this study, belonging to the Portuguese capital market. Furthermore, from target debt ratio depending on companies' specific determinants, the explanatory power of trade‐off, pecking order and market timing theories are investigated. The results contribute for a deeper understanding about companies' capital structure decisions.

Drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to assess the moderating effect of the psychological contract (PC) type (relational, transactional and balanced) on the relationship between psychological contract breach (PCB) and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs).

The authors administered a survey to a sample of 159 nurses working in a large public hospital. To analyse the survey data, the authors used partial least squares with SmartPLS v.3.3, a variance-based structural equation modelling technique that combines principal component analysis, path analysis and regression analysis.

This study shows that nurses counteract the loss of resources following a PCB by investing more in stronger interpersonal relationships with co-workers and patients as a way to recuperate from resource loss and gain social resources. In addition, the moderating effect of the PC type reinforces the relationship between a PCB and OCB in a way that relational and balanced PC types support OCB-I positively but negatively OCB-O. Furthermore, the transactional PC does not reinforce negatively the link between PCB and OCB-I, and the negative interacting effect on the PCB and OCB-O link is only partially supported.

The study findings are grounded on a cross-sectional research design and a convenience sampling strategy.

The results highlight the relevance of human resources management practices centred on employee involvement and participatory supervision styles for ensuring OCB display at the workplace.

The results add new evidence to COR theory by highlighting the importance of social resources as a mitigator in the relationship between nurses’ PCB and OCB towards co-workers and patients (OCB-I). Hence, the OCB-I display will vary in function of the target and the moderating effect of PC type (relational, balanced or transactional).

The aim of this paper is to present the use of virtual communities in work processes in Popular Education, a field strongly supported by presentiality because of historical social inequalities in Brazil. It presents the assessment of the Virtual Community Work (CVT) used in the Popular Healthcare Education Policy (PNEPS).

The exploratory research adopted two paths of analysis, one quantitative (using questionnaire) aimed to collect the participants’ perceptions regarding the navigation, tools and features of CVT, and the other qualitative through observation of the interventions in its different spaces, having discourse analysis as the technique for analysis.

The hands-on nature of Popular Education, revealed in the posts and in the speech of the participants, showed the potential and challenges of the territory and the need for change, both of the professional’s outlook on his or her own work process and working with health in the communities that are, still today, very centered around authoritarian models.

Because the participation was not mandatory, the reduced number of participants was the main limitation of this work.

The health problems specified in the interactions and much discussed in CVT may help the consolidation of the policy as the main practical implication.

Contribute to the creation of a network for the exchange of educational experiences in the field of Popular Education.

The innovating character of this work lies in the application of Virtual Community in the field of popular education within the health sector as a strategy for implementation of a national policy.