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Caterina Cavicchi is a researcher in management accounting at the University of Ferrara. Her main research interest falls in the area of sustainability performance management and measurement in private and public organizations as from publications’ record.
The application of a constructivist approach to competence-based frameworks for sustainable development (SD) in higher education can empower students to become change agents. Acknowledging this development, this paper examines the extent to which an SD-directed master's programme at an Italian university effectively developed students' SD competences before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is based on a mixed method approach that includes a survey and interviews in order to (a) discuss students' experiences with pedagogies that emphasize SD competences as learning outcomes and (b) analyze students' perceptions of acquiring SD competences with reference to their experience of internships, project work, and job positions (in the case of graduates). The results show that, among the analyzed SD pedagogies, case studies were perceived to enrich students' understanding of the complexity of SD issues through collective learning. However, to develop critical thinking, students recognized the need to customize the case studies' plots. Regarding practical SD activities, internships, and project work were perceived as opportunities to network with stakeholders and to develop problem-solving abilities. The pandemic significantly decreased the use of such SD pedagogies, thereby prioritizing self-directed learning and research-based internships. Despite the increase in e-learning events involving stakeholders, the prospect of interacting with them on SD topics was hampered by the limitations of information technology support. Nevertheless, the students' perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching and learning processes provide recommendations to improve the SD pedagogies and e-learning adopted by higher education institutions (HEIs).
Caterina Cavicchi. Higher Education and the Sustainable Knowledge Society: Investigating Students' Perceptions of the Acquisition of Sustainable Development Competences. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities 2021, 3, 1 .
AMA StyleCaterina Cavicchi. Higher Education and the Sustainable Knowledge Society: Investigating Students' Perceptions of the Acquisition of Sustainable Development Competences. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities. 2021; 3 ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaterina Cavicchi. 2021. "Higher Education and the Sustainable Knowledge Society: Investigating Students' Perceptions of the Acquisition of Sustainable Development Competences." Frontiers in Sustainable Cities 3, no. : 1.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Agenda includes gender equality as one of its 17 goals and emphasizes the importance of supporting women’s empowerment to meet the SDGs. Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) can help achieve gender equality in organizations, but there continue to be limitations on exploiting its full potential. Further research is needed, especially in the public sector and at higher education institutions. This paper investigates the development of the GRB process and the related reporting practices, as well as the potential to fully integrate it into the university’s strategic policies at the University of Ferrara. The paper is based on a qualitative content analysis of annual GRB reports from 2011 to 2018. The results show that, during this period, GRB at the university changed from playing an accountability role to having a performance measurement role. Although GRB has become more relevant inside the organization, the extent of the integration with the university strategy and the budgeting cycle remains limited, which hampers the strategic relevance of GRB.
Chiara Oppi; Caterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. The Journey to Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Lessons Learned from Higher Education. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2019 .
AMA StyleChiara Oppi, Caterina Cavicchi, Emidia Vagnoni. The Journey to Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Lessons Learned from Higher Education. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (4):2019.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChiara Oppi; Caterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. 2021. "The Journey to Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Lessons Learned from Higher Education." Sustainability 13, no. 4: 2019.
Community pharmacies have recently been asked to contribute to sustainable healthcare systems through active participation in an integrated model of care and by playing a major educational role for environmental conservation. Therefore, dramatic changes in their institutional context have led to increasing competition in the drugs retail sector and a shift toward a service-oriented business. These factors urge rethinking of the business model of these hybrid organizations, which combine a profit-oriented, social, and more recently addressed, environmental identity. This paper aims at discussing a sustainable business model (SBM) that could allow community pharmacies to contribute to public health through pharmacists’ current role and development of that role. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic suggest that human health should be at the center of the sustainable development agenda; the pandemic raises questions about the traditional role of community pharmacies, such as extending patient-oriented services. The SBM for community pharmacies represents an opportunity to enhance their role among the healthcare workforce, especially in a time of global pandemics. In addition, the SBM can support community pharmacies to integrate sustainability in day-to-day pharmacy practice, although it should be customized based on the contextual characteristics of the business and on differences between countries, such as health policies and regulations.
Caterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. Sustainable Business Models in Hybrids: A Conceptual Framework for Community Pharmacies’ Business Owners. Sustainability 2020, 12, 8125 .
AMA StyleCaterina Cavicchi, Emidia Vagnoni. Sustainable Business Models in Hybrids: A Conceptual Framework for Community Pharmacies’ Business Owners. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (19):8125.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. 2020. "Sustainable Business Models in Hybrids: A Conceptual Framework for Community Pharmacies’ Business Owners." Sustainability 12, no. 19: 8125.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Abstract This study examines if differences in the
Emidia Vagnoni; Chiara Oppi; Caterina Cavicchi. Ownership structure and financial performance: A study of the Italian retail pharmacies. Corporate Ownership and Control 2020, 18, 22 -33.
AMA StyleEmidia Vagnoni, Chiara Oppi, Caterina Cavicchi. Ownership structure and financial performance: A study of the Italian retail pharmacies. Corporate Ownership and Control. 2020; 18 (1):22-33.
Chicago/Turabian StyleEmidia Vagnoni; Chiara Oppi; Caterina Cavicchi. 2020. "Ownership structure and financial performance: A study of the Italian retail pharmacies." Corporate Ownership and Control 18, no. 1: 22-33.
The paper aims at investigating mechanisms that affect the possible development of integrated reporting (IR) practices in the healthcare sector. Through a performative case study in a university hospital, this paper discusses the process of production, construction, and consumption of a management commentary, which is a report combining financial and non-financial information about organizational performance; a management commentary can be considered the natural setting to develop IR. Findings from interviews with both the report’s preparers and institutional users show that the management commentary mainly addresses normative requirements, which results in a heavy document stemming from the preparers’ silo mentality, with very limited usefulness for its users. Interviews with users provided insights about the material non-financial information that would have added value to their decision making if addressed within the hospital’s reporting practices. Users reported that the management commentary could be meaningful if it arose from a shared planning process emphasizing the connectivity of the university hospital’s activities with the local stakeholders’ activities. This latter assertion, however, is not shared by the organization’s top management. Although the implementation of an IR framework is recommended in the literature, even in the context of the public sector, it emerges that the features of an organization can challenge its applicability.
Caterina Cavicchi; Chiara Oppi; Emidia Vagnoni. On the feasibility of integrated reporting in healthcare: a context analysis starting from a management commentary. Journal of Management and Governance 2019, 23, 345 -371.
AMA StyleCaterina Cavicchi, Chiara Oppi, Emidia Vagnoni. On the feasibility of integrated reporting in healthcare: a context analysis starting from a management commentary. Journal of Management and Governance. 2019; 23 (2):345-371.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaterina Cavicchi; Chiara Oppi; Emidia Vagnoni. 2019. "On the feasibility of integrated reporting in healthcare: a context analysis starting from a management commentary." Journal of Management and Governance 23, no. 2: 345-371.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the role of and relationships between human, structural and relational capital assets for strategic management in a farm business. In particular, it analyzes the interaction between human capital’s creativity skills and the introduction of climate-smart technologies for the competitiveness of the firm. Design/methodology/approach An explorative case study was conducted on one of the largest Italian farm businesses to gain an understanding of the drivers of intellectual capital (IC) and of their implications for strategic management. Full-time employees’ perception of the skills required to achieve strategic goals and their perception of whether they possessed these abilities were investigated to determine if an alignment was present. The skills were subsequently classified using the framework of Amabile (1988) into domain-relevant and creativity-relevant skills. Then, two linear regression models were used to investigate the effects of training on the acquisition of these two sets of skills. Findings The analysis confirmed the strategic role of interactions among human capital assets to effectively exploit the structural capital of the company. When investigating employees’ perceptions, a gap emerged about informatics capabilities and knowledge of soils. As the company’s investments in innovation are oriented to ICT technologies, the company could strengthen informatics training to enable its employees to implement effective innovation. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature on IC by highlighting the role of interconnections of assets to align organizations with their strategic goals. Therefore, the provision of IC accounting contributes to the strategic management of human capital.
Caterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. Intellectual capital in support of farm businesses’ strategic management: a case study. Journal of Intellectual Capital 2018, 19, 692 -711.
AMA StyleCaterina Cavicchi, Emidia Vagnoni. Intellectual capital in support of farm businesses’ strategic management: a case study. Journal of Intellectual Capital. 2018; 19 (4):692-711.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. 2018. "Intellectual capital in support of farm businesses’ strategic management: a case study." Journal of Intellectual Capital 19, no. 4: 692-711.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of intellectual capital (IC) in promoting the sustainable development (SD) program of the Emilia-Romagna Health Service. The contributions of the following assets were investigated: leadership and competences, culture, performance measurement and incentives systems, social capital and technologies. Design/methodology/approach The case study was conducted following a hierarchical approach: perceptions of the regional directorate of public and social health, the general directors and healthcare professionals of the regional health system (the setting) were analyzed through interviews, focus groups and documentation in order to investigate: the emerging definition of SD within the setting; the role of IC, if any, in the achievement of the regional SD goals. Findings SD culture did not expand at the operative level because of the lack of involvement of healthcare professionals in a permanent dialogue for sustainability. Sustainability projects were not systematic which restricted the development of staff awareness of sustainability issues. Social capital enabled environmental projects and medical projects that increased patients’ involvement in disease management. Technology could help the shift toward sustainability, but it requires consideration of tangible and intangible costs for its successful adoption. SD performance measurement and incentives were in their infancy and cost accounting continues to dominate the healthcare sustainability debate. Research limitations/implications Despite the low number of healthcare professionals involved in the focus groups, the paper represents one of the first attempts to frame their perceptions on SD implementation in healthcare. Practical implications Regional institutions should consider new ways of enacting SD which should be more inclusive of healthcare professionals. The establishment of a permanent interdisciplinary dialogue on sustainability would develop human, social and structural capital for sustainability. Healthcare organizations should monitor the environmental and social effects of their operations to enact their primary mission: the promotion of health. Originality/value The paper contributes to theory development related to the role of IC for SD in the public sector context and, in particular, in the healthcare sector where evidence is currently limited.
Caterina Cavicchi. Healthcare sustainability and the role of intellectual capital. Journal of Intellectual Capital 2017, 18, 544 -563.
AMA StyleCaterina Cavicchi. Healthcare sustainability and the role of intellectual capital. Journal of Intellectual Capital. 2017; 18 (3):544-563.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaterina Cavicchi. 2017. "Healthcare sustainability and the role of intellectual capital." Journal of Intellectual Capital 18, no. 3: 544-563.
Scholars recently urged for research able to unlock the link between sustainable development (SD) strategy and intellectual capital (IC) at the organization level. In line with this call, the present paper aims at investigating strategic planning for sustainability within healthcare organizations (HCOs), and the role that IC plays in SD. Indeed, this latter has been claimed to be a potential enabler of Italian HCOs’ shift towards SD which is a major challenge posed by international institutions. Focusing on IC assets that emerged from the institutional context, the authors designed a model of “Sustainable Intellectual Capital for HCOs” and conducted a survey of a sample of General Directors (GDs) of Italian hospitals. The aim was to determine: whether GDs were adopting formalized SD strategies, the kind of organizational positions that managed sustainability issues, the sustainability projects/actions adopted, and the effect of IC in incentivizing those initiatives. The results showed that the majority of GDs had adopted a formalized sustainability plan in which informal and/or occasional structures or collegial bodies dealt with sustainability. Finally, a stochastic ordering test showed an alignment between the GDs who attributed higher relevance to information and communication technologies and advanced technologies for sustainability and the adoption of formal sustainability strategy. Further research should deepen the role of connectivity among different assets for SD. The developed model of sustainable IC for HCOs can support healthcare managers to test the contribution of IC assets to sustainability
Caterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. Does intellectual capital promote the shift of healthcare organizations towards sustainable development? Evidence from Italy. Journal of Cleaner Production 2017, 153, 275 -286.
AMA StyleCaterina Cavicchi, Emidia Vagnoni. Does intellectual capital promote the shift of healthcare organizations towards sustainable development? Evidence from Italy. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2017; 153 ():275-286.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. 2017. "Does intellectual capital promote the shift of healthcare organizations towards sustainable development? Evidence from Italy." Journal of Cleaner Production 153, no. : 275-286.
Scholars recently urged for research able to unlock the link between sustainable development (SD) strategy and intellectual capital (IC) at the organization level. In line with this call, the present paper aims at investigating strategic planning for sustainability within healthcare organizations (HCOs), and the role that IC plays in SD. Indeed, this latter has been claimed to be a potential enabler of Italian HCOs’ shift towards SD which is a major challenge posed by international institutions. Focusing on IC assets that emerged from the institutional context, the authors designed a model of “Sustainable Intellectual Capital for HCOs” and conducted a survey of a sample of General Directors (GDs) of Italian hospitals. The aim was to determine: whether GDs were adopting formalized SD strategies, the kind of organizational positions that managed sustainability issues, the sustainability projects/actions adopted, and the effect of IC in incentivizing those initiatives. The results showed that the majority of GDs had adopted a formalized sustainability plan in which informal and/or occasional structures or collegial bodies dealt with sustainability. Finally, a stochastic ordering test showed an alignment between the GDs who attributed higher relevance to information and communication technologies and advanced technologies for sustainability and the adoption of formal sustainability strategy. Further research should deepen the role of connectivity among different assets for SD. The developed model of sustainable IC for HCOs can support healthcare managers to test the contribution of IC assets to sustainability.
Caterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. Does intellectual capital promote the shift of healthcare organizations towards sustainable development? Evidence from Italy. Journal of Cleaner Production 2017, 153, 275 -286.
AMA StyleCaterina Cavicchi, Emidia Vagnoni. Does intellectual capital promote the shift of healthcare organizations towards sustainable development? Evidence from Italy. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2017; 153 ():275-286.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaterina Cavicchi; Emidia Vagnoni. 2017. "Does intellectual capital promote the shift of healthcare organizations towards sustainable development? Evidence from Italy." Journal of Cleaner Production 153, no. : 275-286.
Caterina Cavicchi. Sustainable Development and Performance Measurement in Healthcare Organizations. The International Journal of Sustainability Policy and Practice 2016, 12, 1 .
AMA StyleCaterina Cavicchi. Sustainable Development and Performance Measurement in Healthcare Organizations. The International Journal of Sustainability Policy and Practice. 2016; 12 (4):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleCaterina Cavicchi. 2016. "Sustainable Development and Performance Measurement in Healthcare Organizations." The International Journal of Sustainability Policy and Practice 12, no. 4: 1.
Purpose – This paper aims to outline the current status of the implementation of sustainability practices in the context of Italian public universities, highlighting the strengths and gaps. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a qualitative approach, an exploratory study design has been outlined using the model of Glavič and Lukman (2007) focusing on the Deming Cycle. The Plan–Do–Check–Act components of the model were used as a framework for collecting and analyzing data from the official Web sites and other related Web pages of Italian universities. Findings – The results of this exploratory study allow one to depict a university system addressing the challenge posed by international agendas in a fragmented way, even if many universities are showing a strong commitment to the sustainability challenge. Sustainability is mainly detected at the “Do” dimension, when referring to training programs and research projects associated to the sustainability issue. Research limitations/implications – Limitations of the data collection method are addressed when the timeliness of update of Web sources and the different emphases that universities can put on Internet disclosure are considered. However, the study contributes to the debate on sustainability by providing findings at a national level, which were derived from the official Web sites of Italian public universities. Furthermore, the study could have implications for policy makers and universities’ decision makers. Practical implications – The study points out the importance of managing the sustainability process in all its phases (planning, activities, monitoring, further actions), and highlights the elements that are relevant for measuring and monitoring the process of implementation of sustainability in the specific context of higher education. Social implications – The paper can contribute to increase the academics’ awareness of the sustainability actions, and stimulate them to fill the gaps. Originality/value – This study explores sustainability issue in the Italian university system, and it is based on a Web-based method of data collection, whereas other contributions are based on case studies.
Emidia Vagnoni; Caterina Cavicchi. An exploratory study of sustainable development at Italian universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 2015, 16, 217 -236.
AMA StyleEmidia Vagnoni, Caterina Cavicchi. An exploratory study of sustainable development at Italian universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. 2015; 16 (2):217-236.
Chicago/Turabian StyleEmidia Vagnoni; Caterina Cavicchi. 2015. "An exploratory study of sustainable development at Italian universities." International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 16, no. 2: 217-236.