This study aims at exploring the impact of ESG scores on the value and FP of firms in the airline industry. The potential moderating role of firm size and age has also been studied in an effort to disentangle their relationships in this context. In particular, the analysis involves interaction effects for two types of firms: full-service and low-cost carriers. Based on the collected data from 38 airlines worldwide for the period 2009 to 2019, we observed that contributions to governance initiatives improve a firm’s market-to-book ratio. We also found that a firm’s participation in social and environmental activities is positively and significantly rewarded by a higher level of financial efficiency. Additionally, firm size is the relevant moderator for the association between sustainability disclosure and both firm value and FP in the air transport industry. We therefore propose that a managerial strategy of participating in these initiatives may adapt them based on their total assets as proxy of firm size. In regard to firm age, we did not find it to be a significant moderator.

In this study, we examine the extent to which the implementation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures influence the firm value and financial performance of airlines. The panel data analysis is applied to the set of collected data from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for the sample of 27 airlines worldwide from 2013 to 2019. Findings of this study support the positive relationship between the environmental pillar score (Env) and governance pillar score (Gov), with market-to-book ratio and Tobin’s Q as proxies for firm value and financial performance, respectively. This finding implies that an increase in both pillars leads to higher market value and financial efficiency for investigated airlines. Therefore, an airline’s effort to improve Env and Gov dimensions will lead to higher market value and return on invested funds. In contrast, the social pillar disclosure in both models is found to have a significant negative association with the dependent variables, showing that airlines’ social activities result in lower value as well as level of performance.

This study aims to broaden the research on the influence of financial performance (FP) on sustainable development activities proxied by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure in the airline industry. In addition, we examine the moderating effect of state‐ownership on the FP‐ESG relationship. Based on data collected from 36 airlines worldwide for the period 2008–2019, we found that ESG is negatively and significantly influenced by FP. This result implies that the willingness of airlines to contribute to ESG initiatives is diminished when economic conditions are favorable. State‐ownership moderates the relationship between FP and ESG such that the negative relationship is weaker in presence of state shares. Our findings help to disentangle the roles of FP in its contribution to sustainability and are valuable in better understanding the topic in airline context. Also, our results have some important implications for how industry practitioners may act more effectively in the managerial social decision process and provide insights to assist investors who are considering eco‐investing in the airline industry.

Purpose This paper aims to analyses the capital structure of the Spanish chemical industry during the period between 1999 and 2013, with a twofold objective. First, to determine whether the assumptions of pecking order theory are fulfilled throughout the study's timeframe. Second, by using data covering the years before the crisis and the worst years thereof, this study shows how the crisis has affected the capital structure of the companies included in this sample. Design/methodology/approach A particular kind of unsupervised neural network, self-organizing maps, is applied. This methodology allows to cluster firms avoiding the need to establish relationships between the different variables involved in the problem beforehand. Findings Companies are clustered into groups with different degrees of accomplishment of the pecking order theory. The hypothesis about risk is the one that experience a greater variation in the period before and after the crisis. Moreover, companies' capital structure has been lightly disrupted by the crisis. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies in applying an unprecedented methodology to the problem of capital structure. Therefore, the capital structure problem can be approached without setting any function relationship previously.

Universities and firms increasingly collaborate to bring academic research into use, but a research result usually comes first, with a market sought afterward and partners chosen for proximity. This paper asks whether demand could instead be identified before a result exists, and partners matched by fit. Using a theory adaptation with Blue Ocean Strategy as method theory, it develops a demand-led perspective on knowledge valorisation. The resulting perspective is intended to complement the conventional, supplier-initiated route and it points toward a strategic logic that intermediaries and policymakers could use to organise valorisation around demand.