The paper aims to examinate how an integrative understanding of sustainability (IUS), measured by sustainability integrated into a company's strategy, business model, and top management affects overall financial performance. This makes the study one of the first to take a holistic approach to the integration of sustainability based on previous research and new regulatory requirements from the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. The study evaluates both top line effects (e.g., sales growth) and bottom line effects (e.g., return on assets). To control for any potential endogenous nature of the sustainability-firm performance nexus, we used a two-stage least square estimator with an instrumental variable of the industry mean. We also utilised a Heckman selection process. The study bases on a German sample from 2017 to 2022 in order to observe sustainability integration effects during this period. The results indicate that an IUS supports better bottom line performance, but not necessarily stronger sales growth. Specifically, the strongest evidence is in support of integrating sustainability into strategy, management board, and business model simultaneously. In the end, the study contributes to the literature, theory, methodology, and practices in various ways.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the association between narcissistic tendencies, gender and funding success in high-growth start-ups. It aims to bridge a critical research gap by exploring the combined effect of gender and narcissism on start-up funding success. Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed 540 founders of high-growth start-ups in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, using the NPI-16 questionnaire to assess narcissistic tendencies. By focusing on high-growth start-ups as opposed to small firms, the authors enhanced the validity of the sample. This study isolates and analyses the effects of gender and narcissism, providing insights into their individual and combined contributions to start-up funding success. Findings The findings reveal that gender is associated with lower start-up funding and lower narcissistic tendencies. This highlights the intricate relationship between gender, narcissism and funding success within the context of high-growth start-ups. Practical implications These findings have important implications for investors, policymakers and entrepreneurial educators, suggesting that a nuanced understanding of founders’ psychological traits could enhance funding strategies and start-up support mechanisms. Originality/value This research addresses the critical gap in the literature by examining the joint influence of gender and narcissism on funding success in high-growth start-ups. The study contributes to a nuanced understanding of the factors shaping founder psychology and performance dynamics, offering valuable insights for future research in gender, narcissism and start-up success.

The creation of a common European currency has been scrutinized in the context of optimum currency area theory since its origin in Mundell (1961). The debate gained particular prominence in light of the endogeneity hypothesis (Frankel and Rose 1998), which argues that once two countries establish a common currency, their economic structures and cycles increasingly align due to strengthening intra-industry trade. By contrast, the specialization hypothesis (Eichengreen 1992; Krugman and Venables 1996) argues that the creation of a currency union will predominantly increase inter-industry trade, ultimately lowering business cycle correlation. To test these views, we establish several indices of bilateral trade intensity across EU members using input–output data, measuring gross and so-called value-added trade, which also considers the contribution of intermediary goods in the production of final exports. The results of the fixed effect panel data framework indicate a strong and robust empirical relationship between growth correlations and intra-industry trade, much in line with both Mundell’s and Frankel and Rose’s theories. However, we cannot establish a similarly robust relationship between total trade intensity and growth correlations. We reconcile these results by identifying a statistically significant relationship between economic alignment and trade when only considering industrial production, highlighting the importance of pan-European industrial supply chains for European economic integration. Rerunning our regression framework on the subsample of the eurozone indicates that the common currency area displayed even stronger properties of an optimum currency area than the entire European Union.

Purpose In public management research, the focus in the public value debate has been on public administration organizations’ broader societal outcomes. Public value describes how public administrations form a vital part of the social context in which people develop and grow. However, there has not yet been an analysis of how public administration contributes to happiness in society. Design/methodology/approach In this study, we empirically analyze the relationship between people’s happiness and the public value of public administration. Our approach is based on a unique Swiss survey dataset comprising 870 individuals. Findings We find a positive relationship between public administration’s public value and happiness. We also find preliminary evidence with a moderation analysis that the relationship between a value-creating public administration sector and self-reported happiness is stronger for public administration employees. Research limitations/implications While correlation studies cannot claim causal explanations and common method bias may additionally limit any research in social science, we took a number of measures to mitigate related problem. We tested our model in two samples and took both several procedural techniques and a survey design minimizing common method bias. Practical implications The paper discusses implications for public sector performance measurement for public management and practitioners. Social implications This study calls for a more positive view on the multiple functions public administration performs for society. After an era of critical voices, our study helps reclaim public administration as a positive force for society at large in times of grand challenges, such as climate crisis, demographics and digitization. Originality/value This study has highlighted the importance between public administration’s public value and happiness in Swiss public service organizations. The study also showed that an employment in the public administration contributes to the happiness of individuals and beyond to society.

Purpose Since the beginning of the 2000s, investors have more frequently invested into professional football clubs, thereby radically changing the industry landscape. This review's purpose is to analyze and synthesize the state of research to understand motives, roles and implications of football club investors, and to provide recommendations for further research. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents an integrative literature review by identifying relevant English articles based on the search terms investor, owner, investment, ownership, shareholder and stakeholder in combination with soccer or football. Around 2,431 articles were reviewed. A total of 129 relevant articles was analyzed and synthesized within eight subject areas. Findings Investors in professional club football is a young research stream with a clear European focus. Investor motives and roles are diverse and implications are multidimensional. Investors mostly aim for indirect returns rather than pure profit- or win-maximization. Research limitations/implications Football clubs comprise an own investment class for which the identified, unique specifics must be considered to develop a financially successful investment model. Thorough academic research of investors' inherent characteristics, investor-club pairings and the pillars of long-term strategies for successful investor-club liaisons are avenues of future research. Furthermore, the results illustrate the need for research outside of Europe. Originality/value The paper is the first systematic, integrative review of existing literature in the domain of equity investments into professional club football. The findings genuinely show that, depending on the investor type and ownership structure, investors have a wide impact in professional club football.