Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of Portuguese firms’ performance. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this aim, the authors used data from 37 non-financial firms in the period between 2010 and 2015. Three dependent variables were tested and the estimation of the model using the Generalised Method of Moments shows that internal, external and institutional factors are important to explain the performance of firms listed in Euronext Lisbon. Findings The determinants of firm performance vary depending on the variable used to measure the performance. Specifically, the results show that when the authors use a market variable of performance, the firm-specific variables are not so important to explain performance. The macroeconomic factors, including the investor’s sentiment and insider ownership, more effectively explain the firm’s performance. The evidence suggests that the determinants of firm performance change according to the way in which different stakeholders appreciate firm performance. Originality/value The main contribution of such approach is to show that internal and external factors influence performance measures in distinct ways, thus helping managers who are expected to make decisions according to the investors’ expectations. It provides initial guidelines for policy makers to understand how to improve the performance of their firms using firm-specific factors. Additionally, this work also demonstrates that the firm’s characteristics, macroeconomics and governance factors could affect the Portuguese firms’ performance, conveying a valuable contribution for investors.

With the increasing provenance of hedonic and social information systems, systems are observed to employ other forms of feedback and design than purely informational in order to increase user engagement and motivation. Three principle classes of motivational design pursuing user engagement have become increasingly established; gamification, quantified-self and social networking. This study investigates how the perceived prominence of these three design classes in users' use of information system facilitate experiences of affective, informational and social feedback as well as user's perceived benefits from a system and their continued use intentions. We employ survey data (N=167) gathered from users of HeiaHeia; an exercise encouragement system that employs features belonging to the three design classes. The results indicate that gamification is positively associated with experiences of affective feedback, quantified-self with experiences of both affective and informational feedback and social networking with experiences of social feedback. Experiences of affective feedback are further strongly associated with user perceived benefits and continued use intentions, whereas experiences of informational feedback are only associated with continued use intentions. Experiences of social feedback had no significant

Systems and services we employ in our daily life have increasingly been augmented with motivational designs which fall under the classes of 1) gamification, 2) quantified-self and 3) social networking features that aim to help users reach their goals via motivational enforcement.However, users differ in terms of their orientation and focus toward goals and in terms of the attributes of their goals. Therefore, different classes of motivational design may have a differential fit for users. Being able to distinguish the goal profiles of users, motivational design could be better tailored. Therefore, in this study we investigate how different goal foci (outcome and focus), goals orientation (mastery, proving, and avoiding), and goal attributes (specificity and difficulty) are associated with perceived importance of gamification, social networking and quantified-self features. We employ survey data (N=167) from users of HeiaHeia; a popular exercise encouragement app. Results indicate that goal-setting related factors of users and attributes of goals are connected with users' preference over motivational design classes. In particular, the results reveal that being outcome-focused is associated with positive evaluations of gamification and quantified-self design classes. Users with higher proving-orientation perceived gamification and social networking design classes as more important, users with lower goal avoidance-orientation perceived social networking design as more important, whereas users with higher mastery-orientation perceived quantified-self design more important. Users with difficult goals were less likely to perceive gamification and social networking design important, whereas for users with high goal specificity quantified-self features were important. The findings provide insights for the automatic adaptation of motivational designs to users' goals. However, more research is naturally needed to further investigate generalizability of the results.

This study uses stakeholder theory to explore how corporate governance [CG] characteristics influence corporate social responsibility disclosure [CSRD] in the context of a global financial crisis [GFC]. Empirical data are drawn from Portugal, a country strongly affected by the GFC. Portuguese companies are characterized by high ownership concentration. The largest shareholder is often the CEO and Board Chair (a phenomenon known as CEO duality). We analyse the association between CSRD (measured by a 40-item disclosure index) and CG variables (board size, CEO duality, board independence, ownership concentration and presence of an audit committee or CSR committee) for 48 of the 51 listed companies in Portugal. The control variables are company size and industry type.We find that CSRD is affected positively by board size, CEO duality, company size and industry type. This accords with suggestions implicit in stakeholder theory that a larger board will represent a broader diversity of stakeholders and will promote better monitoring, more assertive stakeholder management, greater transparency, and increased levels of CSRD. Larger companies and companies close-to-consumers are associated with high levels of CSRD, ostensibly because they are more visible and subject to greater societal monitoring during a period of financial crisis. We reveal that in a country characterized by high ownership concentration, CEO duality has a positive effect on CSRD. [GFC]. Empirical data are drawn from Portugal, a country strongly affected by the GFC. Portuguese companies are characterized by high ownership concentration. The largest shareholder is often the CEO and Board Chair (a phenomenon known as CEO duality). We analyse the association between CSRD (measured by a 40-item disclosure index) and CG variables (board size, CEO duality, board independence, ownership concentration and presence of an audit committee or CSR committee) for 48 of the 51 listed companies in Portugal. The control variables are company size and industry type.We find that CSRD is affected positively by board size, CEO duality, company size and industry type. This accords with suggestions implicit in stakeholder theory that a larger board will represent a broader diversity of stakeholders and will promote better monitoring, more assertive stakeholder management, greater transparency, and increased levels of CSRD. Larger companies and companies close-to-consumers are associated with high levels of CSRD, ostensibly because they are more visible and subject to greater societal monitoring during a period of financial crisis. We reveal that in a country characterized by high ownership concentration, CEO duality has a positive effect on CSRD. JEL Classification: M14

Purpose This paper investigates the effect of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the level of corporate social responsibility disclosures (CSRD) in the annual report and/or CSR report of 36 major listed Portuguese companies in each of the years 2005, 2008 and 2011. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is framed principally by stakeholder theory. Data were explored using thematic content analysis and an index of disclosure calculated by year, industry type (consumer proximity versus environment sensitivity) and category of information. Findings Before the GFC, Portuguese listed companies increased their CSRD practices significantly. During the crisis, there was a slight decrease in CSRD. However, this was not as pronounced, as it would otherwise have been because it was counteracted by increased disclosures of company interactions with society, particularly in matters of corruption prevention and community engagement. CSRD was higher for companies with high consumer proximity but did not appear to be influenced by companies’ level of environmental sensitivity. Originality/value The results reveal a strong concern by companies for stakeholder management (particularly in respect of community relations) in a period of financial crisis. This study highlights the effect of a company’s proximity to consumers on levels of CSRD.