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The main objective of this work is to show that the traditional specific characteristics of companies as well as cultural and religious dimensions can influence the leverage of companies in different macro-environmental systems.

To achieve this aim, the authors have used data from 1.568 firms from 7 European countries between 2010 and 2016, and the models were estimated by using panel data methodology, specifically the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation method by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998).

Overall, the empirical results point out that the cultural moderating factors are essential in determining companies' capital structure, regardless of the country's legal origin. The study results also show that traditional variables, intrinsic to management, macroeconomic environment and religion, have a central role in capital structure, namely for the civilian countries.

As far as the authors know, this is the first work that uses, in addition to the traditional specific characteristics of companies, cultural dimensions and religion, as determinants of debt levels, in different legal systems for Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of Portuguese firms’ performance.

To achieve this aim, the authors used data from 37 non-financial firms in the period between 2010 and 2015. Three dependent variables were tested and the estimation of the model using the Generalised Method of Moments shows that internal, external and institutional factors are important to explain the performance of firms listed in Euronext Lisbon.

The determinants of firm performance vary depending on the variable used to measure the performance. Specifically, the results show that when the authors use a market variable of performance, the firm-specific variables are not so important to explain performance. The macroeconomic factors, including the investor’s sentiment and insider ownership, more effectively explain the firm’s performance. The evidence suggests that the determinants of firm performance change according to the way in which different stakeholders appreciate firm performance.

The main contribution of such approach is to show that internal and external factors influence performance measures in distinct ways, thus helping managers who are expected to make decisions according to the investors’ expectations. It provides initial guidelines for policy makers to understand how to improve the performance of their firms using firm-specific factors. Additionally, this work also demonstrates that the firm’s characteristics, macroeconomics and governance factors could affect the Portuguese firms’ performance, conveying a valuable contribution for investors.

This paper aims to study the influence of some company-specific characteristics, corporate governance factors and macroeconomic factors on the Portuguese companies’ performance.

To achieve this aim, the authors have used data from 39 Euronext Lisbon companies for the period between 2014 and 2019. The authors used panel data methodology, specifically the generalized method of moments estimation method by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998).

The results point out that the sign and significance of the determinants of corporate performance change depending on the variable used to measure performance. The Tobin’s Q variable, as a market variable and variable of interest to potential investors, is explained by some corporate governance variables and company-specific factors. Specifically, potential investors are confident in the leadership power of the chief executive office (CEO) and the members of the Board of Directors, which contributes positively to corporate performance. However, the firms’ age has a negative impact on Tobin’s Q. Considering an accounting variable managed internally by the organizations, the results show that return on assets is negatively influenced by leverage, and positively affected by CEO duality, which the manager believes is decisive to maintain performance levels.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to analyze specific characteristics of companies and corporate governance factors, in a specific macroeconomic environment of high dependence on banking, considering the nonlinear effect of company age on company performance.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between board of directors’ characteristics and performance in family businesses. It offers evidence to the question of whether a family firm (FF) differs from a non-family firm and looks at the possibility of asymmetrical effects between periods of stability and economic adversity.

A panel data approach was applied to a sample of Portuguese firms listed the on Euronext Lisbon exchange between 2002 and 2013.

The results show that FFs are likely to have a lower proportion of independent members and higher gender diversity on their boards than non-family firms. FF performance is positively related to ownership concentration and gender diversity. There are performance premiums for family businesses, which have more gender diversity than their counterparts. These effects also depend on whether the economy is in recession. The evidence suggests that the presence of women on the board and the leverage and size of the FFs have a more significant impact on the performance in periods of economic adversity.

One limitation of this study is the small size of the sample as it was drawn from the Euronext Lisbon exchange, a small stock exchange market.

This study provides input into the academic discussion on corporate governance and FF, an area which is in need of research. In addition, the authors examine this issue in conjunction with generalised economic adversity, focusing on the possible asymmetrical effects that the nature of the board of directors may have on performance in periods of stability and those of economic adversity. The role of board of directors is crucial to the understanding of corporate behaviour and the setting of the policy that regulates corporate activities.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between debt policy and performance among family firms (FF), providing evidence on whether FF differ from non-family firms (NFF). It also focusses on the possibility of asymmetrical debt policy impact on performance between periods of stability and economic adversity.

The paper employs panel data regression, considering a sample of Portuguese listed firms for the period between 1999 and 2014.

Overall, the author find evidence that debt contributes negatively to firms’ performance, which is consistent with the pecking order prediction, and that the relationship between debt and performance do not differ significantly between FF and NFF. After addressing the endogeneity issue, the author conclude that firms’ performance is negatively influenced by both short- and long-term debt. Considering the total debt, the negative relationship between the two variables differs from family and non-family companies. The results show that age and size influences positively, and the independence of the board directors influences negatively the firms’ performance. The empirical findings suggest that under economic adversity, the firms’ performance is negatively affected. Finally, the author conclude that return on assets appear to fit better than return on equity or MB when you want to relate debt and firm performance.

A limitation of this study is the small size of the Euronext Lisbon that results in a small sample.

This paper offers some insights on the relationship between debt policy and firm performance from a country with weak protection of minority shareholders, concentrated ownership and a significant family control. It also gives the opportunity to analyse whether firm performance differs according to market conditions.

The purpose of this work is to study the connections generated between stock market indices, representing firms whose practices focus on fighting climate change and several global risk factors in accordance with the sustainability objectives defined in the 2030 Agenda. An endogenous perspective is adopted, considering the spillovers generated within the low carbon stock market sector, as well as the latter’s exposure to exogenous shocks of an economic and financial nature.

This work uses a multivariate model of dynamic correlation (GARCH-corrected dynamic conditional correlation [cDCC]), which can accompany the correlations generated over time.

Considering five low carbon indices, representing various parts of the world, and four global macro-economic and financial variables, over a period of approximately eight years, it was possible to understand that the variables studied transmit between each other a statistically significant spillover. The period of the pandemic crisis shows a sharp increase in the information transmission process. It was also possible to conclude that some global variables are risk factors, performing the role of transmission channels for the spillover effects to low carbon indices, increasing the risk of contagion and reducing the possibilities of diversifying the investment portfolio.

Firstly, this work analyses the connection and spillover effects between low carbon indices. Secondly, considers an extended sample covering different market phases, particularly that of the pandemic crisis and the Ukrainian War, creating conditions to compare connection patterns between those indices. Thirdly, it studies the variable influence over time of global risk factors in the transmission of spillover between low carbon indices.

This study sought to examine the interaction between rural bank performance, information and communication technology (ICT) investment, ICT diffusion and financial development.

Data were sourced from the Association of Rural Banks (ARB) Apex and World Development Indicators (WDI) for the period 2014–2020. A total of 122 rural banks were used for this study. The study adopted the two-step system generalized method of moments (SGMM) estimation technique in assessing the interactions among variables.

This study found compelling evidence to support the positive effect of ICT investment on banks’ performance (return on asset and net interest margin). Further, ICT diffusion and financial development positively influence banks’ performance. The results show a positive moderating effect exerted by ICT diffusion and financial development on the impact of bank risk (bank stability) and ICT investment on all three performance measures.

The study focuses on the rural banking sector in the Ghanaian economy, compared to related studies that examine the subject matter for commercial banks. The moderating effects of ICT diffusion and financial development are assessed to guide policy on rural banking development in Ghana.

The investigation of the relationship between gender diversity and corporate risk-taking is a recent stream of research. In this study, the authors propose an answer to the following main question: What do the authors know about gender effects in corporate risk-taking and how should we proceed?

In order to ensure the quality and the objectiveness of the literature review, the authors selected articles published in journals that are simultaneously ranked by the Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS, 2018) and by the Journal Citation Reports (JCR, 2018), focused on the Board of Directors (BoD) and Top Management Teams (TMT).

The literature review reveals that women's presence on the BoD and TMT impacts corporate risk-taking in different ways. Based on the analysis, it is possible to organize the extant findings in two major categories, according to gender measures, firm type and country of origin: (1) universal effects – women decrease firms' litigation risk, failure risk and operational risk while they have no significant effect on insolvency risk and; (2) contingent effects – women have contingent effects on financial risk, manipulation risk, total risk, idiosyncratic risk and systematic risk.

Covering several different research fields, this study provides a comprehensive review concerning what the authors know regarding the effects of the BoD and TMT gender diversity in corporate risk-taking. The authors present a model summarizing empirical findings and propose a number of avenues for future research.

This study aims to evaluate the performance of the Portuguese fund managers by examining the selectivity and market timing skills of 51 Portuguese mutual funds from June 2002 to March 2012.

The authors assess empirically the performance of a sample of funds by applying the unconditional and conditional models of Treynor and Mazuy (1966) and Henriksson and Merton (1981).

The results suggest that, overall, the Portuguese mutual funds do not possess selectivity or timing skills. However, regardless of the model used, the domestic equity funds exhibit a statistically significant market timing ability. Furthermore, the domestic and North American equity funds display positive selectivity during bull markets and timing skills during bear markets. Additionally, there is some evidence that older funds are better stock pickers than younger funds.

To address some of the limitations of this study, the authors suggest for further research correcting the Treynor and Mazuy (1966) model for the convexity cost of replicating Merton’s (1981) option approach. Additionally, for further research, we suggest using a bigger sample, higher frequency data, as such data may lead to higher frequency of timing ability as proposed by Bollen and Busse (2001). To overcome some of the limitations of traditional models, future research may consider using Jiang’s (2003) nonparametric test, as it is not affected by manager’s risk aversion, or Ferson and Khang (2002) conditional performance evaluation using portfolios holdings.

The authors contribute to the current literature by extending the period of study to 10 years in comparison to previous studies; extending the sample of funds to 51; addressing, for the first time in this context, the importance of public information on funds’ performance, through the comparison of unconditional and conditional models of Treynor and Mazuy’s (1966) and Henriksson and Merton’s (1981); and, for the first time in the Portuguese context, analysing the relationship between funds’ size, age and market cycles and selectivity and market timing skills.

This study seeks to analyse if the adjustment towards the target short-term debt ratio of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) is related to financial distress risk.

Data obtained for a sample of Portuguese manufacturing SMEs from 2010 to 2017 were analysed using the system-generalised method of moments (GMM-sys). Using the modified Z-Altman score, the authors classify SMEs according to their exposure to financial distress risk.

Manufacturing SMEs exposed to a high risk of financial distress rebalance their short-term debt ratio quicker. However, regardless of the financial distress risk level, SMEs distant from the target short-term debt ratio adjust more slowly, suggesting that transaction costs are greater than financial distress costs.

Policymakers should promote the access to external sources of finance with low transaction costs for SMEs, exposed to low levels of financial distress risk, to rebalance their short-term debt ratios quicker. Distressed SMEs far from their target short-term debt ratios, but with capacity to rebalance, need government programmes to access finance with low transaction costs to rebalance their short-term debt ratios.

This paper contributes to deepening our understanding of how SMEs, facing financial risk, rebalance their short-term debt ratios. SMEs, facing high financial distress risk, adjust towards their target short-term debt ratios more rapidly. However, SMEs, distant from the target short-term debt ratio face higher transaction costs than financial distress costs. These firms adjust towards their target short-term debt ratios more slowly, which may aggravate the refinancing risk and, ultimately, announce bankruptcy.