Corporate governance in Spanish savings banks and its relationship with financial and social performance

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence about relationships between the corporate governance (CG) mechanisms of the Spanish savings banks, their financial and social performance and their profitability prior to their collapse. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a structural equation model (SEM), taking the return on assets as the dependent variable, and CG, corporate social responsibility and efficiency as explanatory constructs. SEM methodology provides interesting features that allows a better definition of some organisational characteristics. Findings: Results indicate that CG characteristics, including the politicisation of governance bodies, did not affect the financial performance. The size of the board of directors had a significant influence on social responsibility. In addition, results suggest that the whole board focused on social issues, whereas non-executive members were less concerned about economic issues. Greater money allocation to social welfare programmes resulted in higher profitability, which can be explained by competitive advantages, reputation and customer satisfaction. Social implications: Nowadays, some political parties demand either for the creation of a public banking sector or banks with social goals. This paper provides interesting insights into the debate. Originality/value: The influence of personal attributes of board members on performance needs to be analysed in greater depth in the non-profit sector. The SEM methodology allows us to include some board attributes and performance dimensions in a better way than with other methodologies

The shattered glass ceiling and a narrowing gender pay gap in NHS foundation trusts: Gender and salaries of chief executives

Female chief executive officers (CEOs) of NHS foundation trusts have increased from 37% in 2012/13 to 47% in 2017/18. This paper shows that, in the five-year period analysed, the gender pay gap (GPG) has narrowed to become insignificant. The paper suggests the improvement of female presence and the narrowing of the GPG go hand-in-hand, at least for these public sector top managers. It also provides indication that the GPG is multifaceted, women may sacrifice high salaries for future financial security. Women and men could also be negotiating salaries in a different way, signalling gender traits differences. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.IMPACT: For CEOs of NHS foundation trusts gender parity has been reached. In this context over a five-year period (2013–2018), salary differences between female and male CEOs have narrowed to an insignificant level. Results suggest that shattering the glass ceiling helps to reduce the GPG, and hence gender inequalities. However, the study also provides original insights into different components of the GPG: salary and pension benefits and the interplay of female risk aversion. Political leaders must take a wide perspective on pay when considering how to achieve their espoused aims of removing gender inequality

Boards of directors and performance in autonomous public sector entities

The adoption of business-like boards of directors in the public sector has to be evaluated in terms of financial and non-financial outcomes. This paper investigates, using a structural equation model, the relationship of certain board characteristics with the performance of English NHS foundation trusts. Larger and more independent boards do not harm performance. Having a woman chairing the board is related to better service quality. Boards seem to be more concerned about service quality issues than about financial problems. IMPACT A stakeholder approach when adopting boards of directors in public sector entities does not harm performance. The authors’ results provide a compelling rationale for the adoption of corporate governance mechanisms in the public sector and for improving the representativeness and status of women in the top positions of the governing bodies of public sector entities. Financial performance and service quality are not mutually exclusive in the healthcare sector. The paper provides insights to those public sector entities that have adopted, or are thinking about adopting, boards of directors to improve their governance and management

Financial Transparency in the Web 2.0 Era. An Analysis of the use of Websites and Social Media by Spanish Municipalities

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the role of websites and social media (SM) in increasing local government financial transparency. The research includes 60 Spanish municipalities classified into 4 population levels and combines quantitative and qualitative analyses: a website content examination; an exploration of the use of SM platforms; and an in-depth study of the content published in Facebook and Twitter over a one-year period. Results show that Spanish municipalities still have to make important efforts to increase their levels of financial transparency. Disclosures are mainly focused on budgetary information. The use of Facebook and Twitter by municipalities has become commonplace. However, their use for financial disclosures is underdeveloped. Most of the biggest cities have created open data portals although the disclosure of budgetary and financial datasets is limited. Municipalities have to make important efforts to comply with new demands and requirements for financial transparency. Measures should be taken to enhance transparency, particularly among medium and small municipalities. A definition of clear, structured, understandable and reusable information is needed in order to provide a common disclosure framework for public sector entities. (C) 2020 ASEPUC. Published by EDITUM - Universidad de Murcia. El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el papel de las páginas web y medios de comunicación social en el aumento de la transparencia de tipo financiero en las entidades locales. Esta investigación analiza 60 ayuntamientos clasificados en 4 niveles de población y combina análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos: un análisis del contenido de páginas web; una exploración del uso de medios de comunicación social; y un estudio en profundidad de los contenidos publicados en Facebook y Twitter durante un año. Los resultados muestran que los municipios españoles todavía tienen que realizar esfuerzos significativos para aumentar sus niveles de transparencia financiera. La información publicada se centra principalmente en cuestiones de tipo presupuestario. El uso de Facebook y Twitter por parte de los municipios está generalizado. Sin embargo, la utilización de estas plataformas para la revelación de información de tipo financiero está muy poco desarrollada. La mayor parte de los municipios de mayor tamaño han creado portales de datos abiertos, aunque la apertura de conjuntos de datos de tipo presupuestario o financiero es muy limitada. Los municipios tienen que realizar esfuerzos importantes para cumplir con las nuevas demandas y requerimientos de transparencia financiera. Deberían tomarse medidas para mejorar la transparencia, particularmente entre los municipios de pequeño y mediano tamaño. Asimismo, también se hace necesario definir qué se entiende por información clara, estructurada, comprensible y reutilizable para proporcionar un marco de revelación común para las entidades del sector público

Electric and magnetic dipolar response of Germanium spheres: Interference effects, scattering anisotropy and optical forces

We address the scattering cross sections, and their consequences, for submicrometer Germanium spheres. It is shown that there is a wide window in the near infrared where light scattering by these particles is fully described by their induced electric and magnetic dipoles. In this way, we observe remarkable anisotropic scattering angular distributions, as well as zero forward or backward scattered intensities, which until recently was theoretically demonstrated only for hypothetically postulated magnetodielectric spheres. Also, interesting new effects of the optical forces exerted on these objects are now obtained.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Análisis del módulo de rigidez y la resistencia a fatiga de mezclas asfálticas recicladas en frio fabricadas con betún espumado para su uso en el diseño de firmes para aeropuertos

Cold recycled bound materials (CRBMs) provide an economic and environmental advantage for pavements since they decrease energy and raw material consumption. However, design methods for airfield pavements do not include key CRBM properties. In this paper an empirical-mechanistic method is used to study airfield pavement design with CRBM in order to develop design guidance. The aim of the paper is to obtain the inputs related to material properties needed for use in this method. For this purpose, CRBM containing reclaimed asphalt, with fly ash, cement and foamed bitumen as stabilising agents, was characterised. The methodology included indirect tensile stiffness modulus (ITSM) and indirect tensile fatigue tests (ITFT) in strain control mode. The inputs needed for a pavement design analysis with CRBM were then obtained. The results showed the importance of further study on CRBM fatigue to understand the behaviour of these mixes under cyclic loading.El uso de mezclas asfálticas recicladas en frío (MARF) proporciona ventajas tanto económicas como medioambientales al disminuir el consumo de energía y materias primas. Sin embargo, los métodos de diseño para firmes de aeropuertos no incluyen las propiedades de MARFs. En este artículo un método empírico-mecanístico se emplea para estudiar el diseño de firmes de aeropuertos con MARF. El objetivo es obtener los inputs relacionados con las propiedades de MARF necesarios para llevar a cabo el diseño del pavimento. Con este propósito, MARF con asfalto reciclado, ceniza volante, cemento y betún espumado ha sido caracterizado. La metodología incluye ensayo de tracción indirecta para la obtención del módulo de rigidez y ensayo de fatiga con tracción indirecta en modo de deformación controlada. Los inputs necesarios han sido obtenidos y los resultados muestran la importancia de un estudio adicional del comportamiento a fatiga de MARF para entender su comportamiento bajo cargas cíclicas

Double folding with a density-dependent effective interaction and its analytical approximation

The real part of the optical potential for heavy ion elastic scattering is obtained by double folding of the nuclear densities with a density-dependent nucleon-nucleon effective interaction which was successful in describing the binding, size, and nucleon separation energies in spherical nuclei. A simple analytical form is found to differ from the resulting potential considerably less than 1% all through the important region. This analytical potential is used so that only few points of the folding need to be computed. With an imaginary part of the Woods-Saxon type, this potential predicts the elastic scattering angular distribution in very good agreement with experimental data, and little renormalization (unity in most cases) is needed. NUCLEAR REACTIONS Optical model for nucleus-nucleus, double folding model, nucleon-nucleon effective interactio

BODIPY-based conjugated polymers for broadband light sensing and harvesting applications

The synthesis of novel low band-gap polymers has significantly improved light sensing and harvesting in polymer-fullerene devices. Here the synthesis of two low band-gap polymers based on the 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene core (BODIPY), and either bis(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (bis-EDOT) or its all-sulfur analogue bis(3,4-ethylenedithiathiophene) (bis-EDTT) are described. The polymers demonstrate ambipolar charge transport and are shown to be suitable for broadband light sensing and solar energy harvesting in solution-processable polymer-fullerene devices