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Our meta-analysis investigates the environmental sustainability performance of family firms (FFs) distinguishing between environmental hand- and footprint and accounting for FF heterogeneity. Based on a sample of 87 primary studies comprising 118,538 firms, we find no significant difference between FFs and non-FFs regarding their overall environmental sustainability performance. Yet, distinguishing between environmental hand- and footprint, we show that FFs have a lower footprint than non-FFs but do not differ regarding their handprint. Firm size, being a public firm, and type of family involvement moderate the effects of FF status on environmental sustainability performance. Our research note extends prior meta-analytical evidence and contributes to a more fine-grained and nuanced understanding of the environmental sustainability performance of FFs. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, thousands of students go abroad for part of their study programme. Supervision from the home institution is then crucial for good study progress. Providing supervision and feedback at a distance is challenging. This project aims to identify bottlenecks for supervision and hypothesises that online supervisory group meetings with videoconferencing contribute to good supervision. Study 1 showed that students who were abroad perceived lower-quality supervision and feedback on all measured aspects, compared with students staying at the home institution. Within a quasi-experimental design, Study 2 showed that students participating in online meetings experienced better supervision than those who were abroad without online meetings, and they were equally positive about supervision as students who stayed at the home institution. These findings stress the need for extra support for students during their stay abroad and the large potential of videoconferencing in optimising supervision at a distance.

Today's dynamic environment demands firms to adapt their business models as a new source of competitive advantage. This poses significant challenges to firms that are locked in their long-established structures, like family firms. We quantitatively test (n = 154) how dynamic capabilities (DC) affect business model innovation (BMI) in family firms and how this relationship is moderated by socioemotional wealth (SEW). DCs are essential for all types of firms to exploit opportunities and respond to technological changes in general. For family firms, they are particular important due to the desire to succeed for future generations. Given that family involvement in business creates idiosyncratic motivations and long-term characteristics that considerably affect the firm's behavior, we state that their SEW endowment may influence the relationship between DCs and BMI. Measuring the constructs independently, our findings reveal strong sensing and seizing as well as transforming capabilities as relevant antecedents of BMI and stress upon the positive moderating role of SEW for the relationship between reflecting and BMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examined how social informal learning and formal learning of faculty staff in higher education relate to their employability. Data were collected from 209 faculty staff members working at a Dutch university. Results showed that social informal learning was related to the employability of faculty staff. Further analysis revealed that especially external information seeking and acting upon feedback from colleagues and not formal learning predicted the employability of faculty staff. The finding suggests that institutes of higher education should especially foster the professional development of their faculty staff by stimulating exchange of information and seeking and using feedback with colleagues in a proactive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of chronological age and formal and informal learning activities on employability. Furthermore, indirect effects of age on employability via learning activities were tested. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted quantitative, cross-sectional survey research (n=780) in three Dutch and Austrian organizations to study the relationship between chronological age, formal and informal learning activities, and employability using structural equation modeling. Findings – The authors find that both formal and informal learning increase employees’ employability. However, each type of learning contributes to different components of employability. Additionally, the authors find indirect effects of chronological age on employability via formal learning. Research limitations/implications – The results question the focus on chronological age in organizational and political decision making and contribute new insights for the management of an increasingly older workforce. Practical implications – The findings question the predominant use of chronological age as decisive criterion in organizational and national policies and call for closer examination of stereotypes against older employees. Employees should be supported in pursuing learning activities – irrespective of their chronological age. The implications of limiting employees’ access to formal learning activities may limit their future employability. Individual employees, however, are in control of their informal learning activities, and this is a very important lever to maintain and develop employability. Social implications – Given the increasing dependency of social welfare systems on older people's active participation in the labor market, this study stresses that it is not chronological age per se that affects people's employability. This diverges from the way of how chronological age is used in policy making. Originality/value – This study contributes further evidence for the relationships of age and formal and informal learning on employability. Additionally, it extends previous literature by examining different effects on different facets of employability, criticizing the prevalent use of chronological age, and investigating potential mediation effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]