Purpose This paper fits in a research field dealing with the impact of Corporate Ethics Assessment on Financial Performance. The authors argue how environmental, social and governance (ESG) paradigm, meant to measure corporate social performance by rating issuance, can impact on abnormal returns of Italian firms listed on Financial Times Stock Exchange Milano Indice di Borsa (FTSE MIB) Index, developing a panel data analysis which runs from 2007 to 2015. Design/methodology/approach This study aims at exploring whether socially responsible investors outperform an excess market return on Italian Stock Exchange because of their investment behavior, testing statistically the relationship between the yearly ESG assessment issued by Standard Ethics Agency on FTSE MIB’s companies and their abnormal returns. To verify the impact of an ESG Rating on a company’s abnormal return, the authors developed a panel data analysis through a Fixed Effects Model. They measured abnormal returns via Fama–French approach, running a yearly Jensen’s Performance Index for each company under investigation. Findings The empirical results denote in Italy both a growing interest to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability by managers over the past decade, as well as an improving quality in ESG assessments because of a reliable corporate disclosure. Thus, despite investors have been applying ESG criteria in their stock – picking operations, the authors found a not positive and statistically significant impact in terms of market premium, when they have been undertaking a socially responsible investment (SRI). Practical implications The findings described above show that ethics is not yet a reliable fundraising tool for Italian-listed companies, despite SRIs having a positive growth rate over past decade. Investors seem to be not pricing CSR on Stock Exchange Market; therefore, listed companies cannot be rewarded with a premium price because of their highly stakeholder oriented behavior. Originality/value This paper explores, for the first time in Italy, when market extra-returns (if any) are related to corporate social performance and how managers leverage ethics to build capital added value.

PurposeRecently, socially and responsible investments (SRI) have constantly grown becoming a highly discussed issue. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to better understand if environmental social governance (ESG) criteria integration in investment strategies can support the transition of finance toward a more sustainable growth.Design/methodology/approachAn explorative analysis based on a multiple case study has been conducted and addressed by a content analysis on the Key Investors Information Documents (KIIDs) that the sample companies published for 2020.FindingsThe achieved results demonstrated that the case companies differently integrated ESG into their SRI; thus, if some of them are quite near to a full integration, the others demonstrated less than a full commitment with ESG. This seems to be mainly due to the different approach that asset management companies (AMCs) and/or managers have adopted for integrating ESG criteria.Research limitations/implicationsEven though the achieved results offered some interesting insights for asset managers, the explorative and qualitative nature of this study and the small sample investigated somewhat limits it.Practical implicationsAMCs, consultants and managers in developing and implementing their SRI strategy could be much more focused on the importance of ESG integration for the transition toward a more responsible and sustainable finance (micro-level) as well as a more sustainable development (macro-level).Originality/valueThe paper provides new insights into the essence of SRI strategies and their potential to contribute to sustainable development. Thus, it tries to shed new lights on the role that ESG can have to stimulate and support investment decisions and, in so doing, contributing to make finance grow more sustainable.

Academic research is generally seen as one of the most important goals of a university, but universities are being called upon simultaneously to assist in building a local entrepreneurial ecosystem and contributing to economic growth. Universities can be the source of startups based on academic research results and thereby influence a given industrial context. This paper investigates the impact of academic entrepreneurship on the economic performance of university spin-offs (USOs) and, in particular, how the composition of the founding team, the diversity of academic ownership, CEO duality, and the presence of women on the board of directors affect USO success. We study these relationships with a cross-sectional sample of 136 firms in southern Italy. Our findings highlight that governance and ownership can influence various indicators that are often used for measuring enterprise success in different ways and that, based on the specific success metrics, managers or policymakers should consider different aspects to better understand a USO's potential for success.

This study investigates the effect of corporate social and environmental evaluation on investors' risk perception to explore the potential market risk for public companies that adopt a sustainable and responsible corporate strategy. We referred to the triple corporate assessment according to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to check whether ESG factors-meant to direct firms toward social and environmental needs-improve corporate market performance or trigger, among investors, a perception of "window dressing." In doing so, we tested the impact of corporate social performance-proxied by an ESG assessment-on corporate financial risk using double risk measurement. We conducted a five-year longitudinal study (fiscal years 2014-2018) of 222 companies listed on the Standard & Poor's index. The empirical findings show higher investor uncertainty regarding corporate sustainability performance, probably due to the misalignment of objectives between investors and investees. Indeed, an overall ESG assessment corresponds to higher systematic risk for firms, and a corporate environmental rating has an upward effect on the same risk dimension.

PurposeOver the last decades, the importance of entrepreneurial education (EE) for the personal development of young generations has gained momentum among policymakers, practitioners and scholars. This paper offers some insights into the way T-shaped PhD programs can trigger transdisciplinary abilities of STEM students, making them even more ready toward venturing activities.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the purpose of the study, the effectiveness of a new T-shaped doctoral model was explored, testing it on a sample of STEM PhD students at Polytechnic School of University of Naples Federico II, using a qualitative-quantitative approach.FindingsThe results prove the positive influence that the T-shaped PhD program has on students in terms of vertical skills and horizontal capabilities attainment for entrepreneurial readiness.Practical implicationsThis study advances interesting managerial and policy implications for activating virtuous collaborations to better respond to the need of current socioeconomic scenarios through academic knowledge.Originality/valueDespite the growing relevance of EE, research about its influence at PhD level and the effect of different pedagogical methods remains scarce and controversial. Thus, this research explores if EE can support PhD students in science and technology transdisciplinarity terms of innovation management.