The concept of sustainable development (SD) was introduced in the “Our Common Future” report, launched in 1987, which influenced the emergence of many studies related to the role played by organizations as actors supporting SD. SD is a consolidated concept; however, since 1987, many political, social, and natural events have occurred on our planet, which have impacted companies’ behaviors. However, the diversity of research from different fields has provoked, among the academic community, a lack of clarity surrounding “sustainability” (S), “corporate sustainability” (CS) and “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) concepts. This lack of clarity can also be identified in companies, which have referred to “sustainability” only in the environmental field. Recently, increased discussions related to corporate sustainability metrics have shed light on the ESG criteria (environmental, social, and governance), increasing misperceptions associated with the concept. Ambiguous definitions and constructs may prevent managers from identifying sustainability goals for their companies. Therefore, literature reviews as a research method are more relevant than ever. Thus, in this work, we aim to answer the following question: How should we integrate different perspectives on corporate sustainability, in order to broaden the understanding of the concept? In this study, we conducted a focused bibliographic review and revisited the papers that most influenced the construction of the concepts. The information in this paper is helpful to improve the understanding of CS; to provide specific insights into the studies that have investigated this field; to help managers and entrepreneurs who are improving CS actions in their companies; and to support academia by putting together a large amount of information about this theme in one paper.

Our purpose is to empirically examine whether gender, age, work experience, and attendance of a course on ethics affect the ethical perceptions of Portuguese accounting students and analyze the influence of some individual factors that may affect their ethical decision-making. Additionally, we consider the degree of importance assigned to a list of personal traits and their relationship with those factors. We concluded that gender influenced the degree of importance attributed by students to initiative/entrepreneurship, obedience, and responsibility; age influenced the degree of importance attributed by students to integrity; work experience influenced the degree of importance attributed by students to obedience; and attendance of a course on ethics influenced the degree of importance attributed to independence. For each of these factors, the influence did not prove to be statistically significant in decision-making. Similarly, the study identified some reservations regarding attitudes the students’ peers might have, and when asked about this, they had negative opinions, believing their colleagues would have lower ethical standards. Our results add to the literature, especially because, in Portugal, little has been done to understand which factors may affect students’ ethical decision-making processes. We expect to bring added value to stakeholders, teachers, and scholars engaged with these matters.

The development of the non-profit sector (NPS) in Portugal has been gaining relevance in recent times, particularly in the form of institutions whose purpose is to broaden and increase the response to the needs of the most needy and socially vulnerable citizens. The financing of Portuguese non-profit sector entities is essentially made up of income from their activity, donations and public or governmental support. Therefore, these entities face increasing pressure from their funders, users and citizens in general for a greater dissemination of good practices regarding the social impact they have on the community; in particular, they are increasingly required to be transparent in their activities. The main objective of this study was to analyse the level of accountability and transparency of the private social solidarity institutions (IPSS) of the municipality of Porto. To this end, the websites of these institutions were analysed, using a qualitative and quantitative methodology, using the application of the transparency index Enhancement of an Accountability Guide for Learning E-Government. This analysis allowed us to verify that there are still a considerable number of entities that do not have an institutional website, and those that do, have a low level of transparency.

Given the extreme importance of improving the accountability of private social solidarity institutions (IPSS), both for reasons of legal compliance and for reasons of improving legitimacy and notoriety among their stakeholders, in order to be accountable to them and in order to maintain their sustainability, this article aims to present a framework designed under a more comprehensive research project for the assessment of IPSS accountability, as well as the preliminary results of a pilot test of Portuguese IPSS. The framework was developed from a combination of methodologies that included a literature review, field work and a focus group, resulting in six dimensions with 76 indicators. For the pilot test, the data were collected by questionnaire for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. The results of the pilot test, despite the limited number of entities, allowed the identification of some trends and indicators where entities show lower results and where they will have to focus to improve their accountability. Some possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were also identified. Therefore, we believe that the framework designed answers the research question: how can we promote accountability (social, financial and economic) in the social economy sector, in particular in the case of IPSS?

The social economy (SE) has emerged as an interesting alternative for dealing with social problems. However, there are some concerns related to the abilities of these institutions regarding accountability. Thus, the present work aimed to determine if private social solidarity institutions (IPSS) are prepared to meet management requirements by increasing their accountability. In Portugal, IPSS are social economy organisations. Using an exploratory focus, we conducted qualitative research on 31 Portuguese IPSS. Interviews with those responsible for these entities took place between June and July 2019. The interviews were guided based on a semistructured script that was created based on a literature review. After content analysis, it was found that, in most of the institutions interviewed, the board does not use management tools, such as performance analysis, social impact assessments, strategic planning, and quality management systems, even though they recognise the importance of using them. This is due to the lack of access or knowledge about their use. In addition, the majority of the IPSS interviewed showed concern about the transparency and ethics of managers. Current strategic management practices are remarkably targeted at companies in the for-profit sector and can compromise the principles of investment in human and social issues.