This study reexamines the relationship between the quality of a firm’s voluntary environmental disclosures and firm value by exploring the relationship between the components of firm value (expected ...future cash flows and cost of equity) and voluntary environmental disclosure quality. We measure voluntary environmental disclosure quality using a disclosure index consistent with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI, 2006) disclosure framework for a sample of US firms across five industries. In addition to overall disclosure quality, we consider the type (i.e., hard/soft) and the nature (i.e., positive/neutral/negative) of the disclosure in our analysis. Our analyses provide evidence that voluntary environmental quality is associated with firm value through both the cash flow and the cost of equity components, consistent with our expectations. More importantly, however, we demonstrate that both the type and nature of the environmental disclosures is informative in establishing the predicted relations. Thus, in addition to providing evidence on the association between voluntary disclosure quality and firm value, our results highlight the benefit of parsing broader measures (e.g. voluntary environmental disclosure quality) when examining complex relationships.
We contribute to the literature on firms' responses to institutional pressures and environmental information disclosure. We hypothesize that CEO characteristics such as education and tenure will ...influence firms' likelihood to voluntarily disclose environmental information. We test our hypotheses by examining firms' responses to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and find that firms led by newly appointed CEOs and CEOs with MBA degrees are more likely to respond to the CDP, while those led by lawyers are less likely to respond. Our results have implications for research on strategic responses to institutional pressures and corporate environmental performance.
Volunteering is prevalent and on the rise in the United States, hut little research has examined the connection between individuals' volunteering and their jobs. In the absence ofthat research, it ...remains unclear whether employees volunteer to build on meaningful work experiences or to compensate for the lack of them. Similarly, it remains unclear whether volunteering is beneficial to jobs in some way or if it is a distraction, akin to moonlighting. In this research, several theoretical perspectives from the multiple domain literature—particularly, compensation, enhancement, and resource drain—were employed in two studies to examine the intersection between volunteering and work domains. Results suggested that volunteering was associated with both volunteer and job meaningfulness, and that the pull of meaningful volunteer work was even stronger when employees had less meaning in their jobs. The results further revealed benefits of volunteering for employers. Volunteering was related to job absorption but not job interference, and it was therefore associated with better job performance. Implications of these findings for future theorizing on volunteering are discussed.
In this paper, the President of Psicologi per i Popoli – Trentino Daniele Barbacovi presents a summary of the emergency psychology tasks and activities that have been carried out by the association ...at both provincial and national level over the last twenty years.
There is an urgent need to identify lifestyle activities that reduce functional decline and dementia associated with population aging. The goals of this article are to review critically the evidence ...on the benefits associated with formal volunteering among older adults, propose a theoretical model of how volunteering may reduce functional limitations and dementia risk, and offer recommendations for future research. Database searches identified 113 papers on volunteering benefits in older adults, of which 73 were included. Data from descriptive, cross-sectional, and prospective cohort studies, along with 1 randomized controlled trial, most consistently reveal that volunteering is associated with reduced symptoms of depression, better self-reported health, fewer functional limitations, and lower mortality. The extant evidence provides the basis for a model proposing that volunteering increases social, physical, and cognitive activity (to varying degrees depending on characteristics of the volunteer placement) which, through biological and psychological mechanisms, leads to improved functioning; we further propose that these volunteering-related functional improvements should be associated with reduced dementia risk. Recommendations for future research are that studies (a) include more objective measures of psychosocial, physical, and cognitive functioning; (b) integrate qualitative and quantitative methods in prospective study designs; (c) explore further individual differences in the benefits associated with volunteering; (d) include occupational analyses of volunteers' specific jobs in order to identify their social, physical, and cognitive complexity; (e) investigate the independent versus interactive health benefits associated with volunteering relative to engagement in other forms of activity; and (f) examine the relationship between volunteering and dementia risk.
•Reflection on existing research from individual, institutional, multi-level, and policy perspectives.•Volunteerism has been widely studied from an individual perspective.•From an institutional ...perspective, other dimensions of volunteer management than recruitment of volunteers and performance management should be examined.•Future research should consider the multi-level and policy perspectives.•Future studies should focus more on different groups of volunteers (coaches, referees).
This article reflects on existing research examining volunteerism and volunteer management in sport from individual, institutional, multi-level, and policy perspectives. The overview reveals that a substantial body of knowledge has been generated, particularly on the individual perspective and, to a lesser extent, on the institutional perspective. Existing studies from the individual perspective have mainly examined antecedents and experiences of volunteers in sport organizations and at sport events, focusing on topics such as motivation, commitment, and satisfaction, while consequences of volunteerism have attracted less research. On the institutional perspective, research efforts have focused on topics such as recruitment and retention of volunteers and performance management. Studies taking a multi-level perspective give indications about how the institutional or community context affects volunteerism and volunteer management. From a policy perspective, research has mainly looked at challenges for volunteerism resulting from policy implementation and the monetary value of voluntary work. The overview also reveals that many studies have examined the mass of volunteers in general or volunteers in leading positions, while other groups of volunteers, such as voluntary coaches and referees, have attracted less research. After reflecting on topics examined and key findings, the article provides suggestions for future research within each perspective, ensuring that all perspectives and groups of volunteers are attended to.
Introduction
The Swiss Sports Observatory has been conducting the national club survey since 1996. Every six years, the club managers of all sports clubs belonging to an association affiliated to ...Swiss Olympic are asked to complete a questionnaire. The survey is supported by Swiss Olympic, the Federal Office of Sport and other partners and provides information on the development of Swiss sports clubs, their structures and performance, as well as their strategies and prospects. The latest club survey was published at the end of 2023 (Bürgi et al., 2023).
Methods
The 2023 club survey is based on an online survey of 6,782 sports clubs. With a total of 18,229 sports clubs contacted, this results in a participation rate of 37.2%. The results were validated and their representativeness checked through various comparisons with other surveys (survey of the associations and the population surveys "Sport Schweiz 2020" and "Freiwilligen-Monitor").
Results
The number of sports clubs - but not the number of active members - has fallen slightly in recent years. However, the large number of small clubs continues to characterize the Swiss club system. The high density of clubs ensures a wide range of activities, but also ties up a lot of resources and leads to increased fluctuation among members. The vast majority of active members as well as children and young people are active in medium-sized and large clubs. The number of active club members has remained stable for many years. There has been no decline in club memberships, but the clubs cannot profit from population growth and the sports boom. There are also significant changes in the club structure: clubs are growing among children but losing members among adults. This development has an impact on the recruitment of volunteers. Voluntary work therefore remains the foundation of club sport, but also the number one challenge. The problem cannot be solved with increased professionalization. Although there is more paid work in clubs today, the need for volunteers is still growing. Club budgets also place limits on professionalization. Staff cost is already the largest expense item today. The financial situation of Swiss sports clubs has not generally deteriorated in recent years. However, it has not been possible to tap into new sources of income either and membership fees cannot be increased at will.
Discussion/Conclusion
Overall, Swiss sports clubs have coped well with the various challenges of recent years. At the same time, the proportion of clubs facing problems that threaten their existence is increasing. Only with the active further development of club work and differentiated approaches to solutions, which help to meet the growing demands placed on clubs and the associated increased need for volunteers and paid staff, will clubs remain a central pillar of Swiss sport in the future (Lamprecht & Nagel, 2022).
References
Bürgi, R., Lamprecht, M., Gebert, A. & Stamm, H. P. (2023). Sportvereine in der Schweiz 2022. Entwicklungen, Herausforderungen und Perspektiven Sports clubs in Switzerland in 2022: Developments, challenges and prospects. Swiss Olympic.
Lamprecht, M. & Nagel, S. (2022). Sportsoziologie: Einführung Sociology of sport: Introduction. Nomos.
Building on the emotion-centered model of voluntary work behavior, this research tests the relations between leader narcissism, followers' malicious and benign envy, and supervisor-targeted ...counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Results across five studies (i.e., one pilot study (N = 50), two experimental studies (N = 74 and 50), and two field surveys (N = 365 and 100) indicate that leader narcissism relates positively to followers' negative emotions (i.e., malicious envy), which in turn mediates the positive relation between leader narcissism and supervisor-targeted CWB. Proposed negative relations between leader narcissism and positive emotions (i.e., benign envy) were only partly supported. Our findings advance the understanding of envy and the detrimental impact of leader narcissism on organizational functioning.
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