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We expand the recent literature on the dynamics of capital structure decisions by investigating the impact of national culture on firms' optimal debt ratios and their dynamic re-adjustment process. To this end, we aim at estimating firm-specific speeds of leverage adjustment, allowing for heterogeneous dynamics in firms' capital structure.

We use dynamic panel data estimators to analyze the impact of cultural factors on the dynamics of debt ratios.

We show that national culture affects the optimal level of leverage and the dynamic rebalancing of debt ratios, both directly and indirectly, by altering the effect of firm characteristics and macroeconomic factors on firms' financing behavior. Firms converge faster towards the optimal leverage in countries with a stronger attitude to conform with the norm, while they are slower where there is a higher propensity to intellectual autonomy. A higher risk aversion and long-run propensity induce over-levered firms to reduce leverage faster, making the adjustment process strongly asymmetric. Moreover, national culture also produces indirect effects by mitigating the impact of asymmetric information on capital structure decisions. Indeed, firms in more individualistic countries display a lower speed of adjustment and a stronger effect of firm characteristics associated with higher agency costs. On the contrary, firms in countries with a higher tendency to conform to social norms, less individualistic and more long-term oriented have a higher adjustment speed and appear to suffer less from agency issues. Our results therefore highlight how national culture affects agency problems within firms, thus suggesting the adoption of country-specific corporate governance provisions accounting for the effects of local cultural traits on managers' behavior.

We expand the capital structure and governance literature by showing how cultural traits impact on the dynamics of debt ratios. In particular, we show how cultural traits may mitigate or exacerbate the role of agency issues on firms' behavior, hence suggesting that cultural factors may interact with governance rules in shaping firms' decisions. Therefore, our work highlights how policy-makers should include cultural aspects when defining regulation concerning corporate governance.

The paper investigates if the process that led to the birth of the Euro Area had a significant impact in homogenizing the capital structure decisions of European firms since the first introduction of the common currency.

A large sample of firms was constructed, and a Tobit-censored regression model was utilized to investigate the determinants of firms' observed capital structures. The Black–Scholes–Merton model was used to infer market values of assets, as well as the volatility of those values, from the observed market values of equity and the corresponding volatility. The existing differences in national tax rules were considered for estimating firm-specific marginal tax rates.

It was found that, despite the currency union and the institutional harmonization process, certain factors still play a different role. In particular, the impact of profitability is consistent with the pecking order view in some countries, and with the trade-off theory in others. Assets risk, measured as the annualized volatility of the market enterprise value, is the best predictor of observed leverage ratios. The sector of activity is significant in determining leverage decisions even when assets' risk is taken into account. Despite the monetary union and the increased financial and institutional integration in the Euro Area, the country of origin still plays a significant role in capital structure decisions, suggesting that other country-level factors may affect firms' financing behaviour.

The paper indicates that, despite the long harmonization process of institutions, regulations and public budget required to join the Euro, firms' financing decisions are still affected by country-specific factors once the common currency is introduced. Therefore, new entrant countries in the Euro area should not expect their companies to immediately conform with those located in other countries within the common currency area.

This article investigated the impact of the currency change from national currencies to the Euro on the determinants of capital structure choices. It was shown that, despite the long harmonization process that led to the birth of the Euro Area, national factors still affect firms' financing decisions. This provides guidance for policymakers in countries that are planning to join the Euro about the impact this will have on firms' financing decisions in the entrant country.

It is widely believed that deviating from the “one share-one vote” principle leads to corporate inefficiencies. To measure the market appraisal of this potential inefficiency, this study aims to analyse the market reaction to a change from the “one head-one vote” to the “one share-one vote” mechanism by means of a quasi-natural experiment: a 2015 Italian reform forcing all listed cooperative banks to transform into joint-stock companies.

To investigate the market reaction around the regulatory change, this study uses both a traditional event study and a novel methodology based on the synthetic control method as well as on Bayesian statistical techniques.

This study estimates the market valuation of the effects of the governance change around the event date being equal to a cumulative average increase in market value of about 14 per cent using an event study methodology, and of about 13 per cent using Bayesian techniques.

This study provides evidence on the fact that the voting mechanism significantly affects the market values of companies. The study also introduces a novel statistical technique that can be extremely useful in analysing single-firm event studies.

Identificar los aspectos que los Actores Sociales consideran en la construcción de futuros compartidos en las comunidades. En su aplicación en los países emergentes, especialmente en el Sur Global, a menudo se pasan por alto las particularidades socioculturales de las comunidades y los actores, generando fricciones o conflictos sociales. Este artículo presenta dos elementos críticos que contribuyen al debate: a) la importancia de entender a los Actores Sociales dentro de un modelo de generación de futuros comunitarios en los países emergentes; b) los factores relevantes que influyen en los actores en un ejercicio de construcción de futuros en las comunidades.

A partir de la investigación cualitativa, se utilizó un estudio de caso de prospectiva comunitaria del futuro: El futuro de Puerto Gaitán 2037 (Meta, Colombia). Se aplicó un método de recolección de información a partir de la observación de los participantes y el análisis de la documentación. El método de análisis fue el DQA (Análisis Cualitativo Deductivo).

La participación de Los Actores Sociales presenta un modelo de cinco elementos relevantes que influyen en los actores para la construcción exitosa de futuros en las comunidades. Los primeros cuatro factores, revelados por la teoría, existen en la realidad. Asimismo, se demuestra un quinto factor: el Pensamiento a Largo Plazo, que se evidencia en un Modelo de aplicación de Estudios de Futuros para el contexto específico, aplicable al caso de comunidades en países del Sur Global.

Si bien existen ejemplos aislados de recomendaciones respecto a estudios para generar el futuro de las comunidades, este es el primer estudio que presenta factores concretos que contribuyen a orientar la construcción de futuros comunitarios desde Actores Sociales, especialmente en países del Sur Global como Colombia. También es uno de los primeros estudios en utilizar el DQA como método de análisis en un tema de Estudios de Futuros.

The main problem addressed by this research is the current debate between the negative and positive effects of industrial clusters. This debate is a result of gaps between theoretical implications and empirical evidence in both the classical agglomeration theory and the agglomeration lifecycle theory. The purpose of this study is to propose a framework for developing an index measuring both organizational cluster involvement and organizational supply chain including the three pillars (economic, social, and environmental). Furthermore, the index acts as a quantitative predictor of the stages of the life cycle of industrial clusters. Adopting a case study methodology, the applicability of the index development framework is demonstrated. First, cross-sectional exploratory interviews are performed to locate items measuring the three pillars of organizational sustainability within Egyptian communication industry. Second, an explanatory, cross-sectional approach is applied gathering data from eight professionals related to involvement and supply chain sustainability of their organizations. Analytical hierarchical process is used for weighting and aggregating individual item metrics into two indicators (Saaty, 1980). Measuring, managing, and controlling capabilities of organization's supply chains outweighs the need to manage risks. The proposed framework aids firms within a cluster in making timely decisions about what needs addressing to improve supply chain sustainability performance. Hence, all environmental, social, and economic capabilities can be effectively monitored and controlled.

This paper explores the role that the control system – understood as a set of financial and non-financial mechanisms – introduced by the Ministerial Decree of 15th February 1860 played in promoting the ethical tolerance of prostitution in the Kingdom of Italy.

A qualitative research method was adopted. Specifically, this study draws on literature on accounting and deviant behaviors and on Suchman's theories of legitimation (1995) to interpret empirical evidence collected from archival primary sources as well as secondary sources.

The paper highlights how the accounting mechanisms introduced by the law were molded to limit the serious consequences of prostitution from a public health standpoint and to demonstrate that the State neither profited from prostitution nor used public money to fund it. This should have stimulated ethical tolerance of the law itself and, consequently, of the prostitution that was regulated.

This paper opens a new research avenue in the field of accounting history by exploring the connection between accounting and prostitution. Moreover, unlike the extant literature on accounting and deviant behaviors, this study delves into the role played by accounting mechanisms to promote ethical tolerance rather than to activate normalization processes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the production of smart tourism knowledge, thereby revealing the development of the concept through collaborative networks.

A bibliometric analysis, which enables visual mapping and observation of the domain, was conducted using journal articles retrieved during the period of 2000 to 2018.

The understanding of smart tourism is shaped and enhanced through collaborative network of researchers. As the domain develops, its reach expands across different networks as well as core themes.

Data for the study was generated from English-written journal articles that were produced from a database search of specific keywords associated with smart tourism.

Findings can prove useful to academic researchers and industry practitioners to aid their understanding of smart tourism research development, identify the underlying context and aid in coherent development of the concept.

The paper is one of the first articles to provide a greater understanding of smart tourism as a research topic by examining its evolution in an academic context through bibliometric analysis.

本论文对智慧旅游相关知识进行审阅, 并通过协作网络对其概念发展进行梳理。

本论文采用Gephi文献计量分析方法, 对其相关领域的发展进行视觉化处理, 构建出发展图。研究样本为2000年至2018年发表的期刊文章, 通过在线搜索数据库获得。

通过研究者之间的协作网络, 本论文研究结果对智慧旅游的认识清晰形成并且更加深刻。自智慧旅游领域发展以来, 其发展扩展到不同网络以及多个核心主题。

研究样本只局限于数据库中的英文期刊文章, 以及采用有限的智慧旅游的关键词搜索。

研究结果对学术学者和业界人士有着深刻效用, 以帮助他们对智慧旅游研究发展构筑清晰理解, 找到其研究背景以及概念发展的核心过程。

This study aims to analyse the relationship between countries’ regulatory context and voluntary carbon disclosures. To date, little attention has been paid to how specific climate change-related regulation influences companies’ climate change disclosures, especially voluntary carbon reporting.

The New Institutional Sociology perspective has been adopted to examine the pressure of a country’s climate change regulation on voluntary carbon reporting. This research uses Tobit regression to analyse data from 2,183 companies in 12 countries that were invited to respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire in 2015.

The results show that countries’ specific climate change-related regulation does influence both the participation of its companies in the CDP and their quality, as measured by the CDP disclosure score.

The sample is restricted to 12 countries’ regulatory environment. Thus, caution should be exercised when generalising the results to other institutional contexts.

The results are of use to regulators and policymakers to better understand how specific climate change-related regulation influences voluntary carbon disclosure. Investors may also benefit from this research, as it shows which institutional contexts present greater regulatory stringency and how companies in more stringent environments take advantage of synergy to disclose high-quality carbon information.

By linking regulatory and voluntary reporting, this study sheds light on how companies use voluntary carbon reporting to adapt to social expectations generated in their institutional context.

This is the first research that considers specific climate change-related regulation in the study of voluntary carbon disclosures.

The multidimensional complexity of urban settlements is increasing and the problem of spaces and territories brought to the scale of smart cities is a critical global issue. This study aims to analyse the scientific production in the Web of Science (WoS) on the relationship between smart cities and the eight urban dimensions defined by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the period 1990 to 2021, in order to establish which countries lead the knowledge related to the search for sustainable living conditions for people and how this knowledge contributes to improving stakeholders' decision-making.

The methodological steps followed in the study were: (1) Identification and selection of keywords. (2) Design and application of an algorithm to identify these selected keywords in titles, abstracts and keywords using WoS terms to contrast them. (3) Data processing was performed from Journal Citation Report (JCR) journals during the year 2022.

This study identified the authors, institutions and countries that publish the most globally on the topic of Smart Cities. The acceleration in the integration of new technologies and their impact on population conglomerates and their relationship with urban dimensions were also analysed. The evidence found indicates that the USA and China are leading in this field.

This bibliometric study was designed to analyse a knowledge space not addressed in the scientific literature referred to the relationship between the concept of smart cities and the urban dimensions established by the WEF, the identification of new technologies that are converging to promote developments of new ways of managing urban dimensions and propose new knowledge spaces.