Non-Financial Information versus Financial as a Key to the Stakeholder Engagement: A Higher Education Perspective

In light of the increased demand for greater accountability and legitimacy, new disclosure mechanisms based on non-financial transparency have emerged. Universities cannot be left behind with respect to these social demands. In addition, continuous competition in excellence is driving higher education organizations to exhibit a greater visibility of their results, necessarily incorporating more non-financial aspects to boost stakeholder engagement. The novelty of this work lies in the analysis of the real state of non-financial vs. financial information in both public and private universities and in the exploration of their influence on stakeholder online engagement. To this end, a content analysis of the universities’ web pages and Facebook profiles was conducted, and a multivariable linear regression analysis was performed. The main results show that private and larger universities that lead Webometrics for Google Scholar Citations, and those that have gradually been adopting financial reporting, are the most interested in implementing Facebook as a two-way communication strategy. It seems that stakeholders react more to financial transparency and, therefore, universities still prefer financial disclosure to improve accountability

Committed to Health: Key Factors to Improve Users’ Online Engagement through Facebook

Health organizations, continuously exposed to public scrutiny due to the social relevance of the services provided, have adopted social media to disseminate information about health but also about themselves, and thus, reducing uncertainty and improving communication. In this context, users’ participation in social media has become one of the main indicators of their effectiveness, highlighting the importance of analyzing which factors enhance online engagement. This research extends the number of variables identified in prior studies and analyzes 19,817 Facebook posts from 126 health organizations. Using multivariate linear regression, explanatory results show that economic and organizational attributes, and factors related to the social media posts, both contribute significantly to explain the engagement reached in social media by those organizations. According to our findings, health organizations are not taking enough advantage of social media to engage with their current and potential users. The dissemination of relevant information using visually attractive formats could help draw the attention of consumers, both to reach a higher commitment with the organization and to create value for societ

Análisis de las memorias de sostenibilidad de la banca internacional

La imagen del sector bancario ha quedado dañada con la última crisis financiera sufrida a nivel global, siendo patente la desconfianza generada hacia las entidades financieras por parte de los diferentes stakeholders. La responsabilidad social corporativa, y particularmente la divulgación del desempeño socialmente responsable, es una herramienta al servicio de la recuperación de la imagen y confianza en el sector. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la divulgación de información sobre responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC) en el sector bancario internacional mediante el análisis de contenido de las memorias de sostenibilidad y la estimación de un índice de responsabilidad global. El estudio concluye que la información divulgada es heterogénea, siendo la dimensión económica la más divulgada, seguida del enfoque de gestión, para situarse como las dimensiones con menor presencia en las memorias de sostenibilidad, la ambiental y soci

Non-Financial Information versus Financial as a Key to the Stakeholder Engagement: A Higher Education Perspective

In light of the increased demand for greater accountability and legitimacy, new disclosure mechanisms based on non-financial transparency have emerged. Universities cannot be left behind with respect to these social demands. In addition, continuous competition in excellence is driving higher education organizations to exhibit a greater visibility of their results, necessarily incorporating more non-financial aspects to boost stakeholder engagement. The novelty of this work lies in the analysis of the real state of non-financial vs. financial information in both public and private universities and in the exploration of their influence on stakeholder online engagement. To this end, a content analysis of the universities’ web pages and Facebook profiles was conducted, and a multivariable linear regression analysis was performed. The main results show that private and larger universities that lead Webometrics for Google Scholar Citations, and those that have gradually been adopting financial reporting, are the most interested in implementing Facebook as a two-way communication strategy. It seems that stakeholders react more to financial transparency and, therefore, universities still prefer financial disclosure to improve accountability

Exploring determining factors of web transparency in the world's top universities

This paper aims to analyze the online transparency of the top 100 Universities in the world and determine which factors influence the degree of online transparency achieved by these institutions. To this end, a global transparency index was developed comprising of four dimensions (“E-Information”, “E-Services”, “E-Participation” and “Navigability, Design and Accessibility”). From the analysis of the various dimensions, it is worth noting that universities are aware of the importance of having a web page with adequate “Navigability, Design and Accessibility”. In contrast, “E-information” is the least valued dimension due to universities focusing their attention on the disclosure of general information rather than on more specific issues. In addition, a multivariate regression equation was used to test the relationship between the online information disclosed and a particular set of factors. As main findings, younger universities of greater size and which are privately funded are the ones most interested in utilizing web pages

Explorando los factores determinantes de la transparencia en la web de las mejores universidades del mundo: Exploring determining factors of web transparency in the world's top universities

This paper aims to analyze the online transparency of the top 100 Universities in the world and determine which factors influence the degree of online transparency achieved by these institutions. To this end, a global transparency index was developed comprising of four dimensions (“E-Information”, “E-Services”, “E-Participation” and “Navigability, Design and Accessibility”). From the analysis of the various dimensions, it is worth noting that universities are aware of the importance of having a web page with adequate “Navigability, Design and Accessibility”. In contrast, “E-information” is the least valued dimension due to universities focusing their attention on the disclosure of general information rather than on more specific issues. In addition, a multivariate regression equation was used to test the relationship between the online information disclosed and a particular set of factors. As main findings, younger universities of greater size and which are privately funded are the ones most interested in utilizing web pages.Este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la transparencia online de las 100mejores universidades del mundo y, a continuación, establecer los factores que influyen en su grado. Para este fin se ha desarrollado un índice de cuatro dimensiones de transparencia global (“E-información”, “E-Servicios”, “E-Participación” “y” “Navegabilidad, diseño y accesibilidad”). A partir del análisis de las distintas dimensiones, se puede señalar que las universidades son conscientes de la importancia de tener una página web con una adecuada “navegabilidad, diseño y accesibilidad”. En cambio, “E-información” es la dimensión menos valorada ya que las universidades centran su atención en la divulgación de información general y no en cuestiones más específicas. Además, se ha aplicado regresión multivariable para comprobar la relación entre la divulgación de información online y una serie de factores. Como resultado principal se puede destacar que aquellas universidades más nuevas, de mayor tamaño y privadas son las más interesadas en el uso de páginas web

Exploring determining factors of web transparency in the world's top universities

This paper aims to analyze the online transparency of the top 100 Universities in the world and determine which factors influence the degree of online transparency achieved by these institutions. To this end, a global transparency index was developed comprising of four dimensions (“E-Information”, “E-Services”, “E-Participation” and “Navigability, Design and Accessibility”). From the analysis of the various dimensions, it is worth noting that universities are aware of the importance of having a web page with adequate “Navigability, Design and Accessibility”. In contrast, “E-information” is the least valued dimension due to universities focusing their attention on the disclosure of general information rather than on more specific issues. In addition, a multivariate regression equation was used to test the relationship between the online information disclosed and a particular set of factors. As main findings, younger universities of greater size and which are privately funded are the ones most interested in utilizing web pages

Green Tweets or Not? The Sustainable Commitment of Higher Education Institutions

Higher education organizations are increasingly playing a key role in promoting Sustainable Development within society by disclosing information about applied strategies and achieved sustainable performance via social media. Consequently, platforms like Twitter have evolved into decisive tools for fostering accountability, establishing legitimacy, and displaying engagement to environmental sustainability. First, this paper aims to analyze the impact of published sustainable content on Twitter on the stakeholders’ online engagement level within British green universities ranked by the People & Planet University League. Second, the study intends to investigate the influencing factors that enhance online interactions. To attain the purpose a theoretical framework was established and a text mining analysis of 145,941 tweets was conducted to construct both a sustainable and a general online engagement index. Finally, a multivariate regression analysis was employed to create two models based on content type. The results reveal a heightened interest in engaging with sustainable content shared on the official Twitter profiles of the sampled universities in comparison to general information tweets. Furthermore, the findings indicate that organizational attributes, reputational factors, and considerations related to strategy design and implementation of sustainable policies, along with the sentiment polarity of the disseminated content, contribute to elucidating the attained level of online engagement. These factors work together to involve stakeholders in the pursuit of sustainable development goals within Green Universities

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la transparencia online de las 100mejores universidades del mundo y, a continuación, establecer los factores que influyen en su grado. Para este fin se ha desarrollado un índice de cuatro dimensiones de transparencia global (“E-información”, “E-Servicios”, “E-Participación” “y” “Navegabilidad, diseño y accesibilidad”). A partir del análisis de las distintas dimen- siones, se puede señalar que las universidades son conscientes de la importancia de tener una página web con una adecuada “navegabilidad, diseño y accesibilidad”. En cambio, “E-información” es la dimensión menos valorada ya que las universidades centran su atención en la divulgación de información general y no en cuestiones más específicas. Además, se ha aplicado regresión multivariable para comprobar la relación entre la divulgación de información online y una serie de factores. Como resultado principal se puede destacar que aquellas universidades más nuevas, de mayor tamaño y privadas son las más interesadas en el uso de páginas web

This paper aims to analyze the online transparency of the top 100 Universities in the world and determine which factors influence the degree of online transparency achieved by these institutions. To this end, a global transparency index was developed comprising of four dimensions (“E-Information”, “E-Services”, “E-Participation” and “Navigability, Design and Accessibility”). From the analysis of the various dimen- sions, it is worth noting that universities are aware of the importance of having a web page with adequate “Navigability, Design and Accessibility”. In contrast, “E-information” is the least valued dimension due to universities focusing their attention on the disclosure of general information rather than on more specific issues. In addition, a multivariate regression equation was used to test the relationship between the online information disclosed and a particular set of factors. As main findings, younger universities of greater size and which are privately funded are the ones most interested in utilizing web pagesEste trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la transparencia online de las 100mejores universidades del mundo y, a continuación, establecer los factores que influyen en su grado. Para este fin se ha desarrollado un índice de cuatro dimensiones de transparencia global (“E-información”, “E-Servicios”, “E-Participación” “y” “Navegabilidad, diseño y accesibilidad”). A partir del análisis de las distintas dimen- siones, se puede señalar que las universidades son conscientes de la importancia de tener una página web con una adecuada “navegabilidad, diseño y accesibilidad”. En cambio, “E-información” es la dimensión menos valorada ya que las universidades centran su atención en la divulgación de información general y no en cuestiones más específicas. Además, se ha aplicado regresión multivariable para comprobar la relación entre la divulgación de información online y una serie de factores. Como resultado principal se puede destacar que aquellas universidades más nuevas, de mayor tamaño y privadas son las más interesadas en el uso de páginas we

Using social media to enhance stakeholder engagement in the fashion industry: the case of Inditex

There is no doubt that Inditex Group has had an impact on fashion retailers’ industry, with this company group being considered as one of the trendsetters in such industry. Based on that, the objective of paper is twofold: the first is to analyse the different levels of online engagement reached by the Inditex Group via social media, and the second is to analyse the main characteristics that cause the online participation reached, focusing in the online engagement that motivates giving a feedback. For this purpose, the Facebook pages of the eight retail brands of this group have been analysed. Results show that, in the context of fashion retailers’ industry, social media activity does not necessarily entail higher levels of stakeholder engagement. Furthermore, topics should be focused on new collections and tutorials or tips of beauty and fashion to engage stakeholders in commenting posts. Likewise, the content should be presented using diverse formats in order to provide complete and entertaining information. Finally, and regardless of the target segment, publications should be made during the week and outside of working hours