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

Differenze tra i paramentri del liquido seminale (concentrazione nemaspermica, motilità totale, morfologia) e nel profilo ormonale (T totale, FSH, LH), in pazienti affetti da varicocele monolaterale rispetto a quelli affetti da varicocele bilaterale

Lo scopo della ricerca è stato quello di verificare se sussistano differenze significative tra i paramentri del liquido seminale (concentrazione nemaspermica, motilità totale, morfologie atipiche) e nel profilo ormonale (T totale, FSH, LH), in pazienti affetti da varicocele monolaterale rispetto a quelli affetti da varicocele bilaterale

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor influences cholesterol trafficking between astrocytes and neurons - Effects of Aging or a Fructose-rich diet on neurotrophin levels and markers of brain functioning

Cholesterol is critical to maintain membrane plasticity, cellular function and synaptic integrity. The neurotrophin Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) exerts a critical role in brain synaptic plasticity, learning and memory. It was previously reported that BDNF elicits cholesterol biosynthesis and promote the accumulation of presynaptic proteins in cholesterol-rich lipid rafts, but no further data are available on its ability to modulate physiological mechanisms involved in brain cholesterol homeostasis. One aim of this PhD research project was to investigate whether BDNF influences cholesterol homeostasis, focusing on the effect of the neurotrophin on Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) synthesis, cholesterol efflux from astrocytes and cholesterol incorporation into neurons. Our results show that BDNF significantly stimulates cholesterol efflux by astrocytes, as well as ATP binding cassette A1 (ABCA1) transporter and the expression of ApoE in cellular models of human astrocytes. On the other hand, BDNF reduce cholesterol incorporation in neurons by enhancing LXR-beta expression, protecting these cells from cholesterol excess-induced apoptosis. These results evidence a novel role of BDNF in the modulation of ApoE and cholesterol homeostasis in glial and neuronal cells. A further objective of this research project was to investigate the effects of a short-term (two-weeks) fructose-rich diet on brain redox homeostasis, autophagy, as well as on BDNF, its receptor TrkB and synaptic function markers, in the cortex of young and adults rats, in order to highlight the early risks to which brain is exposed. The results showed that a short-term fructose feeding was associated with an imbalance of redox homeostasis, as lower amount of Nuclear factor (erythroid derived 2)-like 2, lower activity of Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and Glutathione reductase, together with lower GSH/GSSG ratio, were found in fructose-fed young and adult rats. Fructose-rich diet was also associated with the activation of autophagy, as higher levels of Beclin, LC3 II and P62 were detected in cortex of fructose-fed rats. A diet-associated decrease of synaptophysin, synapsin I, and synaptotagmin I, suggests an impairment of synaptic transmission in fructose-fed young and adult rats. Interestingly, BDNF amount was significantly lower only in fructose-fed adult rats, while the level of its receptor TrkB decreased in both group of treated rats. A further marker of brain functioning, Acetylcholinesterase activity was found increased only in fructose-fed young animals. Overall, our findings suggest that young rats may severely suffer from the deleterious influence of fructose on brain health as the adults and provide experimental data suggesting the need of targeted nutritional strategies to reduce its amount in foods

Linking country-level causal conditions to women on boards: a set theoretic approach

The core assumption of this thesis is that the more gender-neutral are cultural, welfare and labor institutions, the higher will be the number of women on boards of directors. The logic of set-theory and the assumption of causal complexity inform the development of propositions, which assume the existence of two equifinal and mutually non-exclusive bundles of causal conditions that can lead to a higher number of women on boards

The phenomenon of "greenwashing" in European business schools: an exploratory study of students´ perceptions

How do students perceive “greenwashing”attitudes in European business schools? With the current increasing expectations for business schools to foster and teach sustainability, this question is a fundamental one. Surprisingly, however, empirical research on this topic is scant–most of the contemporary literature focuses instead on greenwashing attitudes among firms. The goal of this dissertation is to initiate a scientific inquiry on the topic of greenwashing in the educational context. To this end, a theory explaining how students perceive greenwashing in European business schools is developed by utilizing a qualitative research methodology

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

AUTHENTIC EVALUATION OF COMPETENCE

Describe competence is a problematic operation that depends on the context and, at school, on the disciplinary character involved. It is believed that the competence is inherent to individual and that this represents his knowledge, experiences and abilities (Le Boterf, 1992). According to social constructivist model, competence refers to the subject intimate mental processes, that allow to break a critical situation and then implement original strategies for solution. McClelland (1973) to whom is attributed the authorship of word, believes that the competence needs motivation , occurs in a context and is achieved by means of appropriate behaviors. Particularly at school, active teaching strategies using the competence to indicate the student’s ability to independently solve a problem, deploying their knowledge in practice (Pellerey, 2004). To assess the competence you need to design tests of authentic assessment that encourage students to active their knowledge to solve complex tasks

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