Flip teaching (FT) is a methodology with a significant impact on the educational innovation trend that encourages active learning and facilitates the learning of students. The main objective of this study is to measure the impact of flip teaching on the learning of a course at a higher education institution. To analyze the differences in the exam marks between students that follow FT and other methodologies, the t-statistic and Mann–Whitney U test have been used. Results indicate that FT allows improving the performance of students and achieving collateral capacities, such as responsibility and awareness, making learning more sustainable. This study makes an interesting contribution to existing research in education and demonstrates that it is possible to introduce FT in a block of the course and can be transferable to other courses.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence about relationships between the corporate governance (CG) mechanisms of the Spanish savings banks, their financial and social performance and their profitability prior to their collapse.Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a structural equation model (SEM), taking the return on assets as the dependent variable, and CG, corporate social responsibility and efficiency as explanatory constructs. SEM methodology provides interesting features that allows a better definition of some organisational characteristics.Findings: Results indicate that CG characteristics, including the politicisation of governance bodies, did not affect the financial performance. The size of the board of directors had a significant influence on social responsibility. In addition, results suggest that the whole board focused on social issues, whereas non-executive members were less concerned about economic issues. Greater money allocation to social welfare programmes resulted in higher profitability, which can be explained by competitive advantages, reputation and customer satisfaction.Social implications: Nowadays, some political parties demand either for the creation of a public banking sector or banks with social goals. This paper provides interesting insights into the debate.Originality/value: The influence of personal attributes of board members on performance needs to be analysed in greater depth in the non-profit sector. The SEM methodology allows us to include some board attributes and performance dimensions in a better way than with other methodologies.

Purpose: Despite the vast literature on privatization, the relationship between change of ownership and performance is not clear. The purpose of this paper is to understand why divergences are found between the empirical results of papers analyzed.Design/methodology/approach: The author applies a meta-analysis to a sample of 60 empirical studies that analyze the performance of privatized companies. The author checks whether different results on performance can be explained by the method of privatization and the level of development of the country of privatized companies.Findings: The findings indicate that companies privatized by public offerings obtain a better performance than companies privatized using other methods, such as private sale or voucher privatization, and do not support the common-place assumption that privatization in developing countries does not improve financial performance.Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature on privatization because it adds new empirical evidence about the privatization programs and it first applies a meta-analysis to a sample about privatization on state-owned companies. The author discusses theoretical and managerial implications and offers suggestions for future research on privatization.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic and technological factors that determine the quality of European telecommunications services. The paper test whether the privatisation, the efficiency and the labour factor of telecommunications operators are determinants of service quality and whether competition, technology and infrastructure investment in the telecommunications sector influence that quality.Design/methodology/approach: – The paper use the panel data methodology to analyse the factors that determine the quality of service of telecommunications.Findings: – The results indicate that the more efficient the company is, the more quality it will deliver. However, the paper finds no evidence that the privatisation and the restructuring of the labour force of the main telecommunications operators, or the competition, technology and investments in the sector, lead to greater quality.Practical implications: – In order to foster higher quality, effective market competitiveness has to be established to avoid benefitting the incumbent company and to make the development of competition possible in the long run.Originality/value: – Although previous literature assumes a positive relationship between the performance of privatised companies and quality, this study shows that the privatisation and liberalisation processes do not bring about quality improvements by themselves. The research finds that the efficiency of privatised companies is the primary source of quality.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of privatization on the efficiency of five of the biggest Spanish state‐owned companies: Repsol, Iberia, Endesa, Telefónica and REE, which enjoy monopoly status in sectors like energy, telecommunications and air transport.Design/methodology/approach: The paper applies the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Tobit analysis to analyze efficiency changes and to determine the effect of the ownership and board structure on technical efficiency.Findings: The results show that the improvements in efficiency are not related to the privatization. Thus the empirical research suggests that a change of ownership per se is not sufficient to bring about the effects forecast by privatization advocators.Research limitations/implications: More research regarding other issues such as organizational changes, strategic alliances and market regulation is needed, as they are factors that explain efficiency variations.Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature on privatization because it adds new empirical evidence about Spain, questioning whether the privatization programs have helped to improve the efficiency of the companies.