Purpose The paper aims to provide companies with a better understanding of the needs of institutional investors to improve the disclosure of sustainability information by companies. The study investigates the changed information needs of institutional investors resulting from the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Design/methodology/approach This study uses an internet-based survey instrument amongst institutional investors to gain insights into their needs regarding sustainability information. The authors received 155 responses in total and use descriptive statistics and t-tests to analyse the survey data. Findings The results demonstrate that the implementation of the SFDR challenges institutional investors, as it affects their decision process. Additionally, the findings still indicate a lack of available corporate sustainability information, making it even more challenging for institutional investors to make appropriate investment decisions. Respondents suggest that information on climate-related risks is more important than the European Union (EU) Taxonomy metrics for meeting the SFDR requirements. Research limitations/implications The findings are mainly restricted to the opinion of European investors. However, the evidence contributes to the existing literature by investigating institutional investors' information needs in the new regulatory landscape. Practical implications As the study provides insights into institutional investors' needs, reporting companies recognise the relevance of transparently providing sustainability information to be further considered in the investment process of institutional investors despite the regulation. The findings can help regulators develop uniform and global sustainability reporting standards. Originality/value This paper is the first to provide evidence on sustainability information requested on the institutional investors' side. The survey gathers primary data from professional investment members unavailable in databases or reports.

Although firms rely on employees’ innovative work behaviour and effective leadership to achieve service innovation performance, these relations remain underexplored, especially regarding digital leadership. We conceptualise a digital leader’s capabilities and explore influences on innovative work behaviour and service innovation performance, using the dynamic capabilities view as a theoretical lens. Applying a multi-method exploratory research design, our qualitative results, based on 34 expert interviews, deliver a taxonomy of digital leadership capabilities along three dimensions. With 249 survey participants, we quantitatively tested dimensional influences individually (multidimensional view) and collectively (unidimensional view) using structural equation modelling. In line with our mediation results, both views are significantly positively related to innovative work behaviour; still, only the unidimensional view significantly influences service innovation performance. Our results underpin the comprehensive character of digital leadership capabilities contributing to innovation research with a new “antecedal” perspective. We also provide practical relevance by revealing innovation-effective leadership capabilities.

This study aims to investigate different types of platform providers (PPs) to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics and underlying logic of this group within collaborative consumption (CC). As CC occurs with three groups of actors (PP, peer service provider and customer) and is predominantly viewed from the customer perspective, this study offers insights from the under-researched PP perspective.

Sowohl für Investoren als auch für Investor-Relations-Teams hat sich die Finanzkommunikation in den letzten Jahren dramatisch gewandelt. Die Digitalisierung, Social Media, Finfluencer und Künstliche Intelligenz verändern die Kommunikation mit (potenziellen) Investoren nachhaltig. Aber wohin führt die Reise?

Dass Nachhaltigkeit im Unternehmen gelebt und im Management verankert werden muss, ist nichts Neues mehr. Dafür sorgt vor allem die europäische Gesetzgebung, u.a. mit der Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) und der Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Gerade mit der CSRD und den kürzlich von der EU-Kommission verabschiedeten European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) wird die Verankerung von Nachhaltigkeit in der Strategie und im Geschäftsmodell unabdingbar. Dennoch ist ein sog. integratives Verständnis bei deutschen Unternehmen noch immer nicht ganz angekommen. Oftmals wird das Thema losgelöst von der ganzheitlichen Unternehmensvision betrachtet. Ausdruck dafür sind gesonderte Nachhaltigkeitsberichte mit einer ausführlichen Beschreibung der Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie, welche nicht in den Kontext der Geschäftsstrategie gesetzt wird. Aus diesem Grund soll der vorliegende Beitrag den Status quo in puncto 'Integratives Nachhaltigkeitsverständnis' in den Berichtsaisons 2022 und 2023 darlegen und dabei insb. erklären, wie sich dieses Verständnis innerhalb zweier Berichtsjahre verändert hat. Zudem verdeutlicht der Beitrag, inwiefern sich das integrative Nachhaltigkeitsverständnis auf die Qualität der Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung der Unternehmen auswirkt und welche Vorteile sich daraus ergeben.

In recent years, research on corporate sustainability integration strategies has witnessed a significant growth in interest. However, contributions remain disjointed and fragmented, preventing the emergence of a cohesive understanding of the current research state. This study uses a systematic review of 126 articles from Web of Science (WoS) and Ebsco to extract a seven-dimensional integrated view of corporate sustainability integration strategies. Our review's contributions are threefold: (1) we enrich the corporate sustainability strategies literature by identifying the focuses and themes of recent publications; (2) we address the research's fragmentation issue by presenting the sustainability implementation strategies in an integrated view with the essential interdependencies shown at different hierarchical levels and across organizational dimensions simultaneously, (3) we present the theoretical and managerial implications and discuss in detail the crucial interdependencies of sustainability integration strategies. The study finishes with a conclusion highlighting potential avenues for future research.

There is a plethora of research on organisational design elements of corporate venture capital (CVC) programs. However, the fragmented nature of this vein of corporate venturing research has led to an inconsistent picture regarding the organisational design of CVC programs. The goal of this study is to provide a holistic picture for both scholars and practitioners by integrating empirical research on the design of CVC programs. Therefore, the study employs a systematic literature review approach including a sample of 41 studies published from 1987 to 2023. For a systematic assessment of design elements of CVC programs, an inductive concept development approach is used to illustrate four main design dimensions–personnel, corporate relationship management, investment operating model and portfolio relationship management–which reflect 69 descriptive design elements. While previous studies have mainly looked at individual design dimensions of CVC programs from a strategic perspective, this paper presents comprehensive view on organisational structures of CVC programs by identifying building blocks of CVC design according to chosen objectives and available typologies. By specifying and allocating design dimensions to structural types and objectives of CVC programs, this study may also serve as a foundation for further research on the concepts which prevent high rates of early abandonment of CVCs.

Introduction: In this qualitative study, we examine digital leadership (DL) capabilities and their positive influence on the management of technology-driven change by leveraging service innovations. The context of digital transformation (DT) has triggered a new leadership paradigm, among others referred to as digital leadership (DL). However, despite its practical relevance, leadership research has yet paid little attention to conceptualise DL as an approach to digitally transform organisations. Methods: Drawing on mid- and top-level mangers’ experiences with service innovation projects, and based on Grounded Theory, we develop a taxonomy of DL-related capabilities and a conceptual framework which exemplifies their influences on dynamic service innovation capabilities (DSICs). DSICs build on the dynamic capabilities view (DCV) and represent the “organisational muscle” to repeatedly deliver service innovations indicating an effective management of technology-driven change. Results and Discussion: Taxonomy results show that aggregated dimensions in terms of a digital leader’s personal, social, and organisational capital serve as underpinnings (DL-related capabilities) to drive strategic change in DT contexts. The conceptual framework further reveals that especially the personal and organisational capital of a digital leader owns several strong and moderate influences on DSICs which demonstrates DL’s “long arm” on the management of technology-driven change. Our findings contribute to leadership research by advancing the conceptualisation of DL and by adding a novel micro-foundational perspective towards the DCV discourse. As organisations struggle to realise the full benefits of DT initiatives, our results also provide a valuable contribution for practitioners by supporting them to strategically prepare for the human-related challenges of DT.

This Special Issue emerged from the ‘Next Generation Forum’ at the 2018 Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting (IPA) Conference in Edinburgh, UK, and its sequel at the 2019 Asia-Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting (APIRA) Conference in Auckland, New Zealand. These fora were set up because many emerging and a number of senior scholars in the field felt interdisciplinary accounting research (IAR) at risk of losing its momentum, and many of them continue to be concerned today (Alawattage et al., 2021). We start by defining what we mean by IAR and then discuss the most important criticisms that IAR is currently facing. Subsequently, we summarize the contributions of the articles that appear in this Special Issue. We conclude by offering our own, necessarily subjective and personal, vision of a desirable future for IAR.

Purpose Negotiations with venture capitalists (VCs) play a crucial role in the entrepreneurial financing process. Habitual entrepreneurs are generally able to secure more venture capital funding and on better deal terms than novices. This study investigates the disparities in negotiation competencies between habitual and novice entrepreneurs during VC funding negotiations. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a qualitative approach to investigate the variation in negotiation competencies between habitual and novice entrepreneurs, utilizing the negotiation competency model (NCM). The data analysis and interpretation adopted an inductive concept development approach. A total of 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with seasoned VCs located in Europe, all of whom had actively engaged in funding negotiations with both habitual and novice entrepreneurs. Findings The findings revealed substantial disparities between novice and habitual entrepreneurs in VC negotiations. Although not all competencies of the NCM exhibited variances, the results indicate three primary dimensions contributing to these differences: expertise, reputation, and negotiation competence. Originality/value This study is groundbreaking as it represents one of the earliest empirical investigations into the entrepreneurial negotiation competencies within VC negotiations. The findings endeavor to narrow the gap between novice and habitual entrepreneurs in VC negotiations by pinpointing the distinct variations between these two groups, which hold significant practical implications. Furthermore, this study expands the conceptual framework of the NCM by identifying supplementary competencies within the realm of VC negotiations.