This paper uses ANOVA and static and dynamic panel regression analyses to investigate the capital structure behavior of strongly balanced and matched samples of Polish (PL) and Portuguese (PT) nonfinancial firms over the 2011-2019 period. We test for capital structure determinants at the firm, industry, and country level, whether firms revert to leverage target ratios, and whether euro area affiliation matter in aterms of the cost of capital. We found that capital structure is significantly and positively associated with financial slack, debt tax shields and growth opportunities, and negatively related to the asset tangibility, internal funding, non-debt tax shields, exposure to bankruptcy risk and the cost of capital. The magnitude of those relationships is stronger for PT firms on the exposure to bankruptcy risk and growth opportunities, but weaker for those firms on the cost of capital, sovereign risk, and business cycle. On the relationships with financial slack, debt and non-debt tax shields, PL firms exhibit stronger effects. We also found that sample firms significantly revert their financial leverage to target leverage ratios. Last, results suggest that controlling for sovereign debt risk and business cycles, firm leverage is positively influenced by the affiliation with the euro zone. The findings are robust to endogeneity issues, and alternative model specifications.

Leadership, innovation, and performance are essential factors to achieve the desired sustainable profitability of companies. The relationship between these variables is one of the keys to the organizational success, although their study has proved to be complex. The purpose of this article is to analyse the impact of leadership on the relationship between innovation and performance in the Portuguese hotel sector. To answer to this challenge, a survey was carried out to top and middle managers of four-star and five-star hotel units. The existence of a positive correlation between innovation and performance was found; however, leadership has not been shown to have a moderating effect on the relationship. The work highlights several important contributions to the hotel industry and identifies aspects that, when well implemented and developed, can lead to superior performance in organizations.

This paper expects to understand professionals’ opinion concerning the impact of the increasing use of social media (SM) and commercial mobile applications (MA) instead of retail websites in their online strategy. Unstructured interviews with internet professionals were applied on the LinkedIn professional SM platform, and 127 professionals provided their perspective. Data were analysed using a text mining approach and the outcome revealed professionals’ resistance to set SM in the centre of the online strategy and highlighted the preference of users to use search engines that, in turn, will lead them to a retail website.

The role of projects in the transition of organisations towards sustainability is addressed in a growing number of studies, and “sustainable” project management is considered one of the most important project management trends today. As sustainability is a normative concept based on subjective values and beliefs, project managers are bound to experience different stimuli and inhibitors for the consideration of sustainability in their projects. Earlier studies identified three distinct stimulus patterns: Intrinsically motivated, Task-driven, and Pragmatic. However, little is known about these three groups of project managers’ personal and professional characteristics and their work environments. Following up on earlier studies, this paper explores the social-demographic and professional-related characteristics that the three stimulus patterns represent in a quantitative, survey-based study on a sample of 433 project managers. Analyses of descriptive statistics (means, frequencies, and Cronbach’s alpha) and inferential statistics (chi-squared, t test, and ANOVA) were used. The findings of the study support the conclusion that sustainability is a personal trait based upon the individual’s attitude towards sustainability. The study also reveals that the stimulus patterns of project managers significantly differ over industries and types of projects. The study intends to help organisations implement sustainability strategies by deepening their understanding of project managers’ stimulus to consider sustainability in their projects. The study contributes to the emerging knowledge on sustainable project management and specifically to the understanding of stimulus patterns of project managers.

Expository approaches in project management education do not seem to be engaging engineering students. Although the students acquire remarkable theoretical knowledge throughout their coursework, they lack transferable competences, such as soft skills, which are scarcely attended in the teaching of project management. Generation Z’s characteristics differ from previous generations and should be considered in new project management education approaches and methods. This article reviews the project management competencies, Generation Z profile, and teaching methods trends reported in the literature. It presents a study involving 147 engineering students, through a self-report questionnaire, to explore their profile’s self-awareness and compare it with the literature. A correlational study links the Generation Z’s personality traits with project management soft skills. Findings reveal interesting personality characteristics of Generation Z engineering students for the project management field. However, this sample showed low recognition of their individualism, less personal relationships, and did not value their creative potential. There were also differences in Electronic, Electrical, and Computer Science engineering students, namely, lower emotional intelligence. Some highlighted traits have a significant effect on critical project management soft skills. Other soft skills were not supported in personality traits. This work suggests implications for re-think educational approaches to Generation Z engineering students.