Eco‐innovation strategies are essential elements for companies developing core competencies in the circular economy model. The academic world has begun to study the knowledge of these business decisions, and there is incipient literature on the subject. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the current knowledge on the impact of eco‐innovation strategies on corporate performance by exposing and synthesizing the distinct positions found in the literature. For this purpose, a systematic and bibliometric review of 81 articles related to the economic impact of eco‐innovation on firm performance, as well as the barriers and drivers of these strategies, was carried out. After analyzing the several types of eco‐innovation, our results show that although previous empirical evidence suggests the existence of a positive effect, it is not generalizable due to the existence of several factors that may condition the impact of eco‐innovation on corporate performance and its implementation. This study delves into the current academic literature on eco‐innovation and firm performance, determining that both size and the environment in which a company is framed constitute a series of conditioning factors that may clarify why there is no consensus in the academic literature in this regard. In addition, this work encourages future lines of research with the aim of shedding light on this field of knowledge.

Transparency is considered a key element for developing a reliable government; it is the ability that all public entities have to provide access to all their information. The main objective of this work is to test the differences in the transparency of municipalities between the main indices and a new index made following the regulatory advances in this area at the national level. Called BTI, this new index aims to measure in the best possible way the degree of compliance of Spanish municipalities, through two dimensions (depth and breadth), which measure the quality and the quantity of the information. This work makes a comparison of the BTI with three of the main existing transparency indexes in Spain, to a sample of Spanish provincial capitals. The results obtained reveal clear differences between the indices, where three of the four indices analyzed show that most municipalities only fulfil the Transparency Act at the minimum level, with only a few municipalities reaching the maximum rating range. This work concludes that the BTI index is more demanding than the rest of the indexes. However, ITA stands out with a higher average score than the rest, which indicates that transparency portals are designed to obtain a good score in this index, being less objective. Finally, this paper remembers the importance of having an objective tool to measure transparency, as it can show notable differences with respect to reality.

The provision of local public services has become one of the main concerns of local governments. Therefore, the selection of the most appropriate form of management to maximize efficiency levels in the provision of local public services has been widely analyzed throughout the academic literature. In this context, the aim of this paper is to add new knowledge to the literature on efficiency in the provision of local public services. To this end, we propose the study of four forms of management (interested indirect management; indirect management by concession; intermunicipal co-operation; public service provision) through a free disposal hull data panel (FDHDP) methodology for the 2014–2016 period. We find that public-private partnership contracting is less efficient on waste removal services when accounting for quality. However, the promised benefits of contracting out are realized when contractors are made responsive to service quality through concessions.

The provision of public services, mostly by local governments, has been widely analyzed in the scientific literature. The relevance of these services has generated an incipient demand for information on the part of citizens, which makes it necessary for the bodies responsible for their provision to present adequate levels of transparency. In this context, digitalization is a crucial tool for providing information to citizens and, therefore, contributing to improving the levels of transparency of those organizations that provide public services. Among these, the drinking water supply service stands out, which is crucial for well-being and sustainable progress, and whose analysis is of vital importance, especially in countries such as Spain affected by factors such as climate change and urbanization. In this way, the aim of this paper is to analyze the degree of transparency of the companies providing water supply services in Spain, as well as their degree of digitalization. To this end, a relationship will be established between the Transparency Index of Public Enterprises (INDEP) and the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE), which measure the degree of transparency and digitalization, respectively. This relationship will be established for a sample of 59 companies responsible for water supply. The main results derived from this study show a wide margin for improvement on the part of the companies analyzed, both in terms of transparency and digitalization, as the vast majority of these companies show a medium–low degree of compliance in both aspects.

Corporate sustainability has become a strategic priority in response to growing regulatory, social and environmental pressures, placing greater emphasis on governance structures, such as board composition, that shape the incorporation of ethical and sustainable values into corporate decision‐making. In this context, this study analyses the influence of gender diversity on boards of directors on eco‐innovation in products and processes, also examining the moderating role played by the environmental orientation of the organisational system. To this end, an international sample of 5340 companies from the Refinitiv Workspace database during the period 2016–2023 is used. The results show that a higher proportion of women on boards of directors significantly drive eco‐innovation in products and processes, while organisational environmental orientation has a positive effect on companies' innovative capacity. However, there is a negative moderating effect between the two variables, indicating a substitution relationship. Likewise, factors such as company size, liquidity and profitability reinforce the propensity to innovate environmentally, while global events between 2020 and 2023 acted as drivers of sustainable strategies. These results underscore the importance of integrating diversity into senior management and consolidating organisational structures committed to sustainability, creating a governance framework capable of generating environmental innovation, resilience and long‐term sustainable value.