This study investigates the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and tax avoidance in Greek service-sector firms over the period 2014–2023. Using panel data, the analysis evaluates the influence of board characteristics, audit committees, auditor quality, and ownership structures on firms’ tax behavior. The results reveal that traditional governance mechanisms—such as board size, independence, audit committee composition, and gender diversity—do not significantly constrain tax avoidance, reflecting the formalistic rather than substantive adoption of governance practices in Greece. In contrast, external audit quality and ownership structure emerge as critical determinants. Engagement with high-quality auditors, particularly Big 4 firms, is associated with reduced tax aggressiveness, while state ownership similarly curbs avoidance, consistent with reputational and political accountability incentives. Conversely, managerial and foreign ownership are positively related to aggressive tax planning. The findings underscore the contextual nature of governance effectiveness: in weak enforcement environments, formal mechanisms serve largely symbolic roles, whereas external oversight and ownership incentives carry greater weight. This study contributes to agency and institutional theory by highlighting the limits of formal governance reforms absent substantive independence and enforcement.

Land mobility, particularly in the agricultural sector, is a critical factor for rural development and the maintenance of the supply chain. In the EU, the dominant form of agricultural land mobility is succession. This study examines the impact of formal and informal institutional factors on land mobility and the development of the agricultural sector in Greece, emphasizing their role in shaping succession and land mobility processes. This research introduces an innovative approach by analyzing both formal (legislation, EU policies, taxation) and informal (cultural ties, family traditions) institutional factors that influence land mobility. Within this framework, this study explores the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of farmers, acknowledging that the institutional environment—shaped by both official regulations and informal norms, often expressed by the family head—may influence younger family members to adopt similar behaviors and practices. It also highlights the impact of ineffective and underdeveloped formal and informal institutions, providing policymakers and young people seeking to engage in agriculture with a valuable guide. The methodology is based on qualitative research, using semi-structured interviews with 21 members of farming families to capture views, perceptions, and experiences related to land mobility. The findings highlight several major barriers, including fragmented land ownership, emotional attachment to inherited land, bureaucratic obstacles, and high tax burdens. At the same time, shifting attitudes among younger generations are evident, as they adopt a more entrepreneurial mindset in land management. The results point to an urgent need for institutional reforms, such as completing the land registry, simplifying land transfer procedures, and promoting land consolidation policies. Overall, this exploratory study underscores the need for increased research attention to the formal and informal institutional elements that influence rural economic and structural development through land mobility, providing important insights for policies aimed to enhance land mobility and ensure the sustainable development of the agricultural sector. Furthermore, it provides valuable input for understanding and addressing challenges such as family traditions, emotional attachments to inherited land, and land mobility.

This paper examines the interrelationship between Corporate Governance (CG), Internal Control System (ICS), and Organizational Performance (OP), with a particular focus on the effectiveness of the ICS in relation to the quality of its components. Drawing on recent literature and empirical evidence, the study demonstrates that strong governance frameworks—characterized by board independence, effective audit committees, and proactive risk management—are closely linked to robust internal control environments. Together, these mechanisms enhance transparency, reduce risks, and foster stakeholder trust. The analysis further highlights that governance and internal control are evolving beyond compliance, increasingly serving as strategic levers for creating sustainable value. The findings underscore important implications for practitioners and policymakers. Organizations are encouraged to strengthen internal controls, invest in audit and risk management capacity, and embed ethical and sustainability considerations into governance structures. Regulators, in turn, should support frameworks that promote both accountability and innovation. Overall, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how governance and control mechanisms can secure organizational resilience and drive long-term performance in a rapidly changing business environment.

The income smoothing (IS) literature connected with changes in the external environment provides unclear results whether this phenomenon occurs in expansion or in crisis. Given that a substantial amount of credit risk is generated in retail banking, this study exploits a large number of micro‐loan portfolio level data of a systemic Greek bank and examines, for the first time, the IS behaviour at the retail banking level, contrasting the expansion period (2006–2008) with the financial crisis period (2009–2011). This specific case study provides more granular data compared with traditional archival studies, thus allowing the immediate and more frequent identification of exogenous (such as crisis effects) and endogenous (such as the geographic origination of loan portfolios) features that may affect IS practices. Based on the association between pre‐provision loan income and loans loss provisions as a proxy for IS, we employ the robust Mean Group estimator (Pesaran and Smith, Journal of Econometrics, 1995;68(1):79–113) and find that this association is higher in expansionary periods and declines in recession. Moreover, we conclude that the IS behaviour is affected by geographical features of loan portfolios.

This paper examines the changes in credit provision for the Greek Banking Sector before and during the financial crisis. Also, it investigates the impact of specific loan characteristics in shaping the overall interest rate of new and existing business loans. A data set with monthly accounting data of Greek Banks for the period January 2003 to June 2011 is utilized, thus incorporating the crisis effects. The study findings reveal the beginning of the credit crunch at the third quarter of 2009. As far as new loans are concerned, it was found that large loans are priced less than the small ones. Moreover, the results show the greater and positive contribution of small loans to the derivation of the total lending interest rate. Furthermore, it is found that the bargaining power of large borrowers during the crisis causes a negative impact of large loans on the total interest rate. Finally, it is shown that in the existing loan portfolio, the crisis significantly reduces the effect of short-term loans, while simultaneously intensifies the positive effect of medium and long-term loans. The findings have important managerial implications for bank managers and policymakers.