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Innovation is strongly associated with survival and growth of all kind of organizations in a global competitive economy. Moreover, nowadays companies are increasingly questioned on how they deliver innovative solutions to deep-seated problems, such as poverty. Our research aims to understand how Economy of Communion (EoC) companies respond to this challenge by applying the logic of gratuitousness and giving. This paper examines the altruistic behaviour of EoC leaders and the connection with organizational innovation, necessary for firm’s survival in the long-term. We analyse these connections through a qualitative descriptive case study of three Spanish EoC companies. The findings reveal altruistic behaviours of leaders seeking the Common Good. Innovation derives from the desire to help others, such as employees and customers. Moreover, the findings reveal that a culture of dialogue among employees, managers and the whole organisation enhances risk-taking and, therefore, innovation The paper contributes to our understanding of how EoC companies are able to reconcile innovation with the ideal of altruism, distinctive of the Economy of Communion. We believe that this study opens up a wide range of future research opportunities on the antecedents of an innovative organizational culture.

In this paper we set out a three-pillar monetary-financial framework to (i) analyze, categorize and compare past, current and emerging means of payment, to (ii) capture their creation and destruction processes through sectoral balance sheet dynamics, and to (iii) identify the inherent risks to the current monetary-financial system, also known as the fractional reserve banking system. These risks, which stem from sudden shifts in money demand and supply, are as follows: (I) risk of a cashless society, (II) risk of structural bank disintermediation, (III) risk of systemic bank runs, (IV) risk of currency substitution, and (V) risk of economic and financial bubbles. This framework will guide the assessment of the central bank digital currencies (CBDC), which are considered as the next step in monetary evolution. We will analyze two large groups of CBDC proposals: (i) proposals aimed at complementing cash and bank deposits, and (ii) proposals aimed at replacing all bank deposits with CBDCs. We find that once CBDCs are issued in both sets of proposals, there is always a trade-off between low levels of (I), (IV), (V), risks and high levels of (II) risk. This trade-off could also be defined as the CBDC dilemma, which states that in most CBDC proposals it is impossible to have both of the following at the same time: (1) low levels of (I), (IV) and (V) risks, and (2) low levels of (II) risk. Finally, we suggest that further research on CBDCs should focus on the second group of proposals on a phase-in basis in order to also mitigate the structural bank disintermediation risk and hence to overcome the CBDC dilemma.

This study examines how corporate governance and ownership structure relate to the financial performance of firms. We estimated this relationship using fsQCA. We enhanced our analysis using complementary linear and non-linear multiple regression analysis. The panel data used in this study covered 1207 companies from 59 countries across 19 sectors for the period 2013 to 2015. The study makes two main contributions. First, the multiple empirical techniques employed in this study offer a broader approach to the empirical analysis of financial performance. Second, the study aids our understanding of the role of corporate governance and ownership in the financial performance of firms.

Leadership provides a strategy to deal with intense competition and high customer expectations in the hotel industry. This paper analyses the ability of managers’ transformational and authentic leadership to predict customer satisfaction. A sample of 18,944 customers and managers of eight hotels in the Canary Islands was used for the analysis. The data were collected using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire-6s, the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire and ReviewPro management software. The data were analysed to confirm the ability of transformational and authentic leadership to predict overall customer satisfaction. The results indicate that the transformational subscales of idealised influence and intellectual stimulation and the authentic subscales of relational transparency and balanced processing predict overall customer satisfaction. However, there are discrepancies between the results for self-managed service departments and outsourced service departments. This study provides a novel approach to scientific research, building upon previous studies of the effectiveness of both types of leadership, especially in relation to their impact on guest satisfaction and differences between departments. The evidence provides insight into the leadership qualities that increase customer satisfaction, which is essential in the hotel industry.

The relationship between leadership and job satisfaction has attracted considerable scientific interest, especially in relation to the quality of tourism businesses. This study investigated this relationship within the framework of authentic leadership. The study also explored differences between outsourced workers and internal hotel employees in terms of the influence of authentic leadership on job satisfaction. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) offered valuable new insight. This study was based on a sample of 58 heads of department of four/five star hotels in the Canary Islands, Spain. The results suggest that high levels of leadership in the four subscales of authentic leadership (balanced processing, relational transparency, self-awareness, and internalized moral perspective) are sufficient to increase job satisfaction. The same outcome is achieved with high levels of balanced processing, even though it is accompanied by low transparency and low levels of internalized moral perspective. There are no major differences between outsourced workers and internal employees, except in terms of the importance of self-awareness. These results can help hotel managers reflect upon leadership and can provide new approaches for scientific research in this area.

After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020, almost all European countries entered a lockdown. This context caused sudden changes at multiple levels, affecting the way people were working, buying, studying and even the way they were interacting. Moreover, during lockdown people showed a special attention to local and sustainable brands giving momentum to the interest on sustainability, that has been increasing in the last years. Therefore, this study aims to determine the intention of buying sustainable and local brands due to the COVID-19 lockdown. An online survey was conducted for two groups of young adults from Spain and Romania, between April and June 2020. The questionnaire respects the methodological recommendations of Azjen (1985) and related literature on how to construct a survey based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and it aims to gather information about the three main constructs that determine the individual’s behavioral intention: attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. The results suggest that both Spanish and Romanian samples intended to buy more local and sustainable brands, despite the slightly different attitudes. Moreover, the data show that both subjective norms and perceived behavioral control influence attitudes toward sustainable and local brands, and hence, indirectly the intention to buy sustainable products. The outcomes are adding to the literature on sustainability, and understanding the effects of COVID-19 on consumer behavior. Additionally, the results can help better understand the importance of sustainability in Spain and Romania, and therefore, offering support to practitioners in building policies and programs that encourage a sustainable lifestyle.

The purpose of this chapter is to better understand the growth of EoC, analysing this movement from the perspective of social innovation and examining the innovative activities of EoC businesses. We have found that EoC is based on solid values and principles, and has a clear objective, which is to fight for a better world, eliminating poverty. Companies inspired by human-oriented management practices are those which move to achieve this objective. We argue in this chapter that EoC is a radical social innovation, as it is social in both its ends and its means, meeting social needs and creating new social relationships and collaborations. This paper analyses three Spanish EoC companies, using a qualitative case study methodology. The study reveals that innovation appears as a result of the desire to help others, such as customers and employees. Moreover, findings show that a culture of dialogue among employees, managers and the organisation as a whole enhances risk-taking and, therefore, innovation. We conclude by highlighting the need to address the social and economic challenges faced by individuals and communities and the need for a cultural change to humanise business.

The relationship between social and environmental performance and financial performance in companies has been a subject widely debated in the literature but the results obtained to date are not conclusive. This research employs the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and offers new evidence on the relationship between both types of performance in a sample of companies listed in the Spanish capital market. Financial performance is measured by the return on equity (ROE) ratio, variable that is widely used in Finance and Accounting related research. The corporate performance of the company is measured by its inclusion or not in the sustainability index used as reference for the Spanish capital market, the FTSEGood4 IBEX. The model also incorporates other business variables that might affect the relationships between both types of performance, such as return on assets (ROA) ratio, company size, debt ratio, and industry. The results suggest that, for specific industries, return on assets is a necessary condition for companies with leverage to reduce the cost of debt due to their sustainability profile and consequently boost their ROE.

The social media space has become a common place for communication, networking, and content sharing. Many companies seek marketing and business opportunities via these platforms. However, the link between resources generated from these sites and business performance remains largely unexploited. Both managers and financial advisors can profit from the lessons learned in this study. We conceptualize four channels by which social media impacts financial, operational, and corporate social performance: social capital, customers’ revealed preferences, social marketing, and social corporate networking. An empirical test of our framework shows that ‘followers’ and ‘likes’ positively influence a firm's share value, but only after a critical mass of followers is attained. Our estimates suggest that Twitter is a more powerful tool to enhance business performance than Facebook.

This study examined how social media (Twitter and LinkedIn) relates to the operating revenue by investigating the effect of the use of social media by the board of directors. To tackle this question, we analyzed the mediating and moderating relationship of social media on the effect of board size in operating revenue (turnover). We studied the implications of the use of social media by the board members by using structural equation modeling (SEM). The data consisted of a random sample of 100 companies listed on the NASDAQ. The study makes two main contributions. First, it shows interesting differences in the use of social media for the operating revenue. Our results suggest that while Twitter mediated and inhibited the negative effect of board size on revenue, LinkedIn moderated and re-enforced this effect. Second, it offers marketers and managers some useful hints about the relationship between social media and financial performance.

Economic crises have mixed effects on entrepreneurship. Through demand shocks, credit constraints, and unemployment, systemic banking crises affect the rate of start-up business creation, although the extent of their impact varies. Consequently, previous studies on the effect of crises on Entrepreneurship are inconclusive. The surge of global demand coupled with low credit availability reduces the prospects for new businesses. On the other hand, job losses caused by an economic crisis might lead many entrepreneurs to undertake new projects. These inconsistent conclusions highlight the need for more studies that explore the effect of systemic banking crises on entrepreneurship. This article presents analysis of a global panel database consisting of data on new business activity and density for 106 countries during 2004–2012. A range of regression techniques yielded robust results that show that systemic banking crises have a consistently negative impact on entrepreneurship.

The literature on innovation and entrepreneurship policy has yet to deepen its analysis of Young Innovative Companies (YICs). To fill this gap in the literature, the aim of this study was to provide empirical evidence of the special features of YICs versus the full scope of innovative firms, within the context of innovation policy and social entrepreneurship. We carried out an initial diagnosis of the features that enable access to public innovation programs in the field of innovative companies. This study of innovative firms was then contrasted with analysis of samples comprising YICs. The results of this comparison show that YICs access innovation policies by virtue of their status as innovative firms and not because of their own specific features.