Purpose: The authors examine the effect of greenhouse gas (ghg) assurance on cost of debt, and the effect of board gender diversity on cost of debt, for an international sample of listed companies.Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing firm-level data and a quantile regression approach, this study examines the effects of greenhouse gas assurance and board diversity on cost of debt by employing an international sample of firms during 2015–2021.Findings: The authors find that in firms with a relatively low cost of debt the external assurance of greenhouse gas emissions and gender diversity could significantly contribute to a reduction of cost of debt. Furthermore, other measures of board diversity that are linked with independent directors and skilled directors seem to contribute to an increase of firms' cost of debt in the lower end of distribution. Drawing from the agency theory, the authors showcase the fact that ghg assurance reduces information asymmetry and therefore agency costs such as borrowing costs and signals to the stakeholders a long-term commitment to excellence.Originality/value: This study is the first that provides insights on the relationship between ghg assurance, board diversity and cost of debt.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to determine the impact of GHG assurance on firms’ carbon emissions performance (CEP) regarding curbing carbon emissions and the effect on such by the GHG assurance provider’s affiliation and reputation. It also explores whether the affiliation and reputation of GHG assurance providers imply the relationship between GHG assurance and the firm’s CEP. Further, this study examines the moderating effect of the country’s development level on the relationship.Design/methodology/approach: Based on a sample of international firms from 56 countries spanning the period from 2012 to 2020, this study utilizes the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. We also run the OLS regression at times t+1 and t+2 to verify the baseline results. To address the endogeneity concerns arising from self-selection bias and the causality effect, this study applies the generalized method of moment (GMM) and the Heckman test.Findings: This study finds that GHG assurance leads to better CEP by firms. We also find that engaging with accounting assurance providers leads firms to a better CEP than non-accounting assurance providers. Our results show that Big Four auditors can help firms decrease carbon emissions. We also find that the positive effect of GHG assurance is prevalent in firms operating in developed countries.Research limitations/implications: Our study only considers the influence of the assuror’s reputation and affiliation on CEP without examining other factors that may influence the quality of assurance services provided.Practical implications: Our study provides a practical implication related to the influence of a GHG assurance provider’s affiliation and reputation globally by providing evidence that accounting and Big Four assurance providers do play a significant role in a firm’s carbon emission performance. This study offers great insights into the GHG assurance impact on CEP with the interplay between the assuror’s affiliation and reputation and the country’s development.Originality/value: This paper enriches the limit evidence on GHG assurance and CEP by providing novel evidence on the relationship between GHG assurance and a firm’s CEP. Moreover, this study provides insights into the implication of a country’s development level on the role of GHG assurance in CEP.

Utilizing bank-level data and a Mixed Frequency VAR approach, this study examines the effects of a shock at the economic sentiment on European banks’ profitability during the 1995–2019 period. We find that a greater shock in economic sentiment leads to a persistent and gradually amplified stimulation of banks’ profitability. Our findings extend previous evidence on the determinants of bank profitability and have important policy implications. First, macroprudential policymakers and regulators should design and implement a regulatory framework that has an especial focus on economic sentiment accompanied by the usual bank-specific or macroeconomic-specific fundamentals to facilitate the existence of higher profitability in the banking industry. Second, banks’ management (Boards, Risk Committees, and executive management) should embrace a more forward-looking philosophy and implement sentiment indicators to their strategy to achieve sustainability.

Purpose: We examine the topics and the dimensions of patient satisfaction and their implications for Greek public hospitals. Design/methodology/approach: We measure patient satisfaction through the sentiment analysis of the relative ratings and commendation submitted to Google reviews for 45 Greek public hospitals. We collect the data submitted over a period of years, that is from 2013 to 2024. Findings: We find that visitors of public hospitals are discouraged and disappointed mainly by the behavior of doctors, nurses and management-managerial staff as well as the building infrastructure and medical equipment that is outdated or absent. We also find a relatively underreport of reviews that denounce instances of informal payments to physicians. However, we find that doctors' scientific capabilities and knowledge significantly contribute to patient satisfaction. Our findings suggest that the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, normalization framework and institutional theories that link patient satisfaction with environmental triggers, are relative to the Greek healthcare environment as well. Originality/value: Our study is driven by the relatively limited research on sentiment analysis in hospitals and particularly by invites for research on the patients' opinion as to what really is satisfactory healthcare, by contributing a specific country case study to the limited previous research in this area.