PurposeThis paper aims to investigate and discover the demographic characteristics of corporate leaders (CEOs) in Fintech sector firms representing the implementation of the sustainable business model. Particularly, the purpose is to identify a benchmark profile of CEOs and to understand which are the main features (e.g. age, tenure, education specification, education level, gender, nationality, years of entrepreneurship, years in financial functions, years in IT functions), giving more opportunity to develop and maintain sustainable business models using innovative platforms.Design/methodology/approachThe research questions are answered through a quali-quantitative methodology using descriptive and statistical approaches. The researchers collected a sample of 100 Fintech firms from the main Fintech firms in 2018 identified by the annual KPMG Report (2019). Thus, the research observed and tested the average level of the major CEO demographic features. Additionally, the paper explored whether these variables have a major probability to affect Fintech leading.FindingsAssuming a relevant part of Fintech firms, the main results of this paper show the relevance of several CEO demographic characteristics. Additionally, the age, the tenure and the presence of an MBA are significant elements in affecting Leading companies.Originality/valueThe paper is novel because it contributes to the literature examining the internal governance and sustainable business model, still not explored. Moreover, this study contributes to identifying the CEO demographic characteristics that foster financial institutions' transition towards sustainable business models.

This paper aims to examine the effect of cultural dimensions such as the power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long‐term orientation, and indulgence on the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) commitment effect of corporate social responsibility reports by the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) banks. Adopting the stakeholder theory and the Hofstede's cultural dimension, we investigated the GRI commitment level and its determinants, using a sample of 819 firm‐year observations from 2012 to 2018 belonging to 27 countries. Thus, we collected data from BvD BankFocus database, selecting 180 OECD banks. Applying a statistical regression analysis, our findings show a significant influence of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long‐term orientation, and indulgence on the GRI commitment level in the context of corporate social responsibility. Additionally, our results highlight the effect of cultural dimensions of countries in the application of the GRI guidelines and investigate the reasons for this different commitment effect. Results of this paper are directed to academic community, practitioners, and policymakers as theoretical and practical advances.

The study examines the effectiveness of IFRS 8, effective since 2009, in relation to both the magnitude of segment disclosures and the firms' characteristics that might affect the disaggregated disclosure policies decisions, on Italian listed companies during the period 2008-2012.The results show that on average, the new standard did not lead to relevant changes in the segment disclosures as previously stated under IAS 14R, thus demonstrating inconsistency with the expectations of the IASB. In addition, we demonstrated, by employing a fixed-effect regression, that the magnitude of segment disclosure is negatively associated with growth rate, size, profitability and ownership diffusion.The present study contributes to the extant literature in terms of the PIR review, discussing the effectiveness of IFRS 8 some years after adoption, and not merely considering the first year, where the results may be affected by the learning curve effect in countries less familiar with Anglo-Saxon accounting.

Gender equity is a topic of significant interest for universities, who are called upon to plan strategies and measures to increase gender equality in line with international policies. With a qualitative methodology based on manual content analysis, the paper aims to understand whether and how this report could positively assess a university’s actions for reaching SDG 5. This study’s results show that the CRUI guidelines can be used by universities to disclose gender policies that may be of interest to stakeholders, and can also be synthesized in THE ranking, increasing university visibility. The present study could be helpful for universities, regulatory bodies, policy makers, and agency rankings to help them identify the most relevant gender items on which to focus their attention.

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