Institutional complementarities and gender diversity on boards: a configurational approach

Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: To address the lack of a complementarities-based approach in studies of board diversity, this paper seeks to understandwhether and howcertain country-level factors are causally and jointly related towomen on boards and the nature of their complementarities (are they synergic or substitutes?). Moreover, we intend to learn more about the adoption/diffusion of board gender quotas, by taking into account their role in the existing national configurations (whether they are necessary and/or sufficient conditions). Research Findings/Insights: Using fs/QCA, our findings reveal a particular configuration of country-level conditions that supports the existence of a joint causal relation between given institutional arrangements. Furthermore, we find that board gender quota legislation is not a sufficient condition on its own to achieve a higher number of women on boards. Such evidence suggests that its diffusion across countries could be the result of institutional isomorphismor social legitimacy more than to rational reasons. Theoretical/Academic Implications: For scholars, our paper refines and expands insights from the extant comparative corporate governance literature. By finding support for the “bundled” or jointly causal nature of given institutional factors,we open a window for further research that investigates board-level phenomena in a complementarities-based perspective. Practitioner/Policy Implications: For policymakers, this study provides some insights that could better drive their choice about which mix of policies is necessary to improve female representation on boards, and especially in which institutional areas they should be implemented. It is particularly relevant, because once gender quotas are endorsed at board level, they could have ambiguous effects on firm performance and corporate governance

The antecedents of e-learning adoption within Italian corporate universities: A comparative case study

The implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in business education appears to be influenced by a number of organizational issues, such as culture and technological sophistication. However, extant research has had very little to say about the antecedents that shape the adoption and diffusion of ICT across companies. In order to shed light on the phenomenon under investigation, this paper presents a comparative case study between five Italian companies that have instituted a corporate university. By distinguishing companies in typical cases and deviant cases with regard to the extensive use of e-learning technologies, our findings provide some useful insights about the antecedents that make companies more or less prone to employ the new frontiers of technology in their CUs

Aprirsi alla disabilità in azienda: le sfide del disability management

Promuovere in azienda un orientamento positivo alla disabilità superando pregiudizi e discriminazioni migliora l’identità e l’integrazione dell’individuo al lavoro contribuendo alla crescita di un’organizzazione attenta alla protezione del capitale umano, orientata al valore e al benessere. Valorizzare l’impegno e il contributo dei lavoratori disabili aiuta la generazione di perfomance soddisfacenti

Apprendimento in digitale e processi cognitivi: problemi aperti e riflessioni da ri-avviare

This paper aims to analyse national and international contributions of empirical researches, realised in the field of Media Education, by referring to the connection among technologies, digital devices and learning process. In the first part of the paper, we tried to provide an epistemological framework focused on the transition from a mono-sensorial society to a plural-sensorial society, always dominated by digital artefacts. The second part is focused on reading digital supports, e-book in particular. After analysing the technologies used for reading digital texts and describing the advantages and disadvantages of digital media, we wonder if and how promising is the use of e-books in educational environment. There are several open issues and potential research suggestions: empirical evidences, that on this topic are opposing, require additional future deepening, even of epistemological nature

The impact of some compounds utilised in organic olive groves on the non-target arthropod fauna: canopy and soil levels

An increasing literature body is devoted to the study of efficacy and risks concerning compounds allowed in organic farming and new compounds considered harmless for environmental and human health. The great biodiversity inhabiting olive agroecosystem lead to a biotic control of many pest species. The only widespread pest causing economic damages is the olive fly, Bactrocera oleae. The side effects of compounds allowed against the olive fly in open field are still little known as well as the agronomical methods for mitigating them. The aims of this research were to evaluate the impact of compounds allowed in organic olive farming and searching for more ecocompatible farming strategies. The research was carried out in Southern Italy. Experimental olive groves were untilled, and the grass cover was periodically managed. Six theses composed by 200 plants were randomly chosen and sprayed with rotenone, kaolin, a mixture of copper oxychloride and propolis, and dimethoate. Due to different actions of active agents involved in this research, arthropods were sampled at canopy and soil levels. The same compound showed different consequences on arthropods at canopy and soil levels. The sprayed compounds showed few negative effects in respect to previous studies. This fact could be attributed to the grass cover which probably reduced the effects of active agents with short term efficacy. In definitive, the grass cover could play an important role in minimising the impact of sprayed compounds on non target arthropods providing a shelter against the direct contact with active agents

Kaolin protects olive fruits from Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin) infestations unaffecting olive oil quality

The efficacy of the processed kaolin “Surround WP” to control olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae Gmelin, field infestations was investigated in east Calabria. The preliminary results showed that fruit infestation levels were significantly reduced on kaolin-treated trees compared with untreated trees. The promising results of these experiments points to the feasibility of using particle film technology composed of a non-toxic material, to avoid olive fly damage as an alternative to the applications of rotenone in organic orchards. Finally, kaolin treatment unaffected the nutritional and sensory quality parameters of the corresponding virgin olive oils obtained by a laboratory scale olive mill, thus satisfying the present quality requirements

Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin) control in organic olive farming.

In the Mediterranean area the olive fly control, difficult to realise in conventional farming, becomes even more arduous in organic farming, owing to the restrictions laid down by Regulation. The EC Reg. 2092/91 which implements organic farming and its updates provide standards allowing only the use of natural origin substances for crop protection contained in annex IIB, forbidding the chemical pesticides use. The present study has been performed in Calabria (Southern Italy) in two different pedoclimatic olive areas (Mirto-Crosia and Terranova da Sibari) and in two observation years (2005-2006) in order to assess the efficacy of substances listed in the annex IIB as copper (antibacterial substance) and biopesticides azadiracthin and rotenone and the efficacy of kaolin and the antibacterial substance propolis. These substances were compared among them and with theses used as control (treated only with water) and in Mirto-Crosia field with conventional product dimethoate. The present research confirms the need to restrain the Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin) infestation in olive areas of the Southern Italy. The results obtained in the two different investigated areas in both years indicated that kaolin has great potential for the control of B. oleae infestation. The use of copper and propolis showed a good efficacy both on adult and preimago population. Rotenone application confirms its known efficacy in Terranova da Sibari area while it does not appear very efficacious in Mirto-Crosia area. Azadiracthin turned out to be not so efficacious for olive fly control in both olive areas and years. On the basis of the results of the most recent studies, a revision of the Regulation is needed

Principali patogeni e difesa

Olive as other woody perennial crops can be affected by several systemic pathogens, including bacteria, fungi and several vector-borne viruses. The most important olive diseases, caused by different pathogens, are described in this text. Pathogen biology, diagnostic technique and control strategies are reported for each disease. The main and widespread bacterial disease, caused by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi, is the olive knot. As concerns the most important and widespread fungal diseases, in this text are described the olive leaf spot, Verticillum wilt, cercosporiosis, anthracnose, fruit rot, parasitic brusca, root rot, sooty mold and wood rot. Infections caused by viruses are generally symptomless and do not result in diseased plants. Although, viruses do not cause detrimental disease on olive varieties, the infected olive trees represent a reservoir of virus inoculum for other crops, where these viruses are known to cause severe disease. Detection of these viruses represent an important critical step in the sanitary improvement of this crop. Recently, molecularbased assays have been effectively implemented to detect at least 8 of the 15 viruses known to infect this crop. Sanitation program using in vitro culture of shoot tip and thermotherapy have been recently described to recover virus-free plantlets.Realizzato nell'ambito del progetto "Ricerca ed Innovazione per l'Olivicoltura Meridionale", finanziato dal MiPAAFMiPAAF - Ministero delle politiche agricole alimentari e forestal

Surface doping in T6/ PDI-8CN2 Heterostructures investigated by transport and photoemission measurements

In this paper, we discuss the surface doping in sexithiophene (T6) organic field-effect transistors by PDI-8CN2. We show that an accumulation heterojunction is formed at the interface between the organic semiconductors and that the consequent band bending in T6 caused by PDI-8CN2 deposition can be addressed as the cause of the surface doping in T6 transistors. Several evidences of this phenomenon have been furnished both by electrical transport and photoemission measurements, namely the increase in the conductivity, the shift of the threshold voltage and the shift of the T6 HOMO peak towards higher binding energies.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure