Search

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the micro and macro predictors of Portuguese willingness to pay (WTP) more taxes to bolster funds channelled to the National Health Service (NHS). An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 584 Portuguese citizens. The statistical analysis was performed through the application of logistic regressions. The research shows that willingness to support increasing taxes depended on socioeconomic, behavioural, and psychological factors. The WTP more taxes to finance the NHS were associated with younger ages, life satisfaction and dispositional optimism, satisfaction with the NHS performance, current perceived risk exposure, and risk orientation. Identifying and understanding the main influencing factors associated with WTP more taxes for NHS is essential to assist policy-makers in developing healthcare reforms. Decision-makers may take this opportunity to improve the NHS since those who ultimately benefit from the measures can provide an additional source of health financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to analyse the financial performance of companies using one of the most used profitability indicators, the return on investment (ROI), which measures the company's performance in terms of the profit generated over time. To this end, several different methods are used to calculate the ROI indicator, considering the different calculation methods used by different authors over the years. The use of different ROI calculation formulas has been identified in the literature, leading to different conclusions. Based on a sample of 2805 Portuguese companies, it examines how the different indicators react to the different variables analysed, using nine different econometric models. Through this study, it is possible to verify that the different variables that depend on the return on investment have different results, namely that the variables "age" and "size" have a negative effect on the return on investment. On the other hand, "financial leverage" and "ROA" have a positive impact on the contribution to the return on investment. We also found that the different variables behave similarly for virtually all types of ROI calculation, although not completely harmonious, especially in terms of impact. The results are empirically vital, as they alert researchers and companies to the need for standardised formulas for calculating variables such as ROI so that results are not distorted. Using one to the detriment of the other impacts the results obtained and the analyses to be carried out. How empirical research will continue to use the ROI metric will always depend on its users' discretion and free will. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the definition that the European Commission (2001) offered us, corporate social responsibility is a set of measures that an organization can adapt, to improve the well-being of its stakeholders and promote the balance of economic, social, and environmental performance. The stakeholder theory clarifies that this decision-making must take into consideration all groups of people, being the only way of having a proportional benefit. Based on this premise, in this study, we intend to unravel the main determinants of corporate social responsibility in 63 Portuguese companies. To accomplish that, we used panel data, withdrawn from the SABI database, in the period comprehended between 2008 and 2018, applying the Probit model and the dynamic GMM for robustness check. The sample is composed of 42 companies that find themselves listed in the Portuguese stock exchange and 21 that do not. We can verify that the outcomes allow the analyses of nine variables, among them, only the audit, the asset rotation ratio, the debt ratio, the size, age, and financial autonomy show themselves as statistically positive in the implementation of corporate social responsibility practices. Even though the outcomes were not what we initially predicted, they revealed the positive impact of such practices. We consider them necessary and a reality that companies should pursue, even for the gains of capital that it might represent. We firmly believe that being socially responsible constitutes an essential practice from which all of us can benefit, contributing to life improvement in the community and for environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing influence of air pollution on people's behaviour, little attention has been given to visitors' behavioural intentions towards air pollution episodes. Understanding visitors' behaviours is crucial in developing effective marketing strategies and preventing damaging consequences for both visitors and destinations. This paper presents a segmentation analysis based on visitors' behavioural intentions towards a hypothetical episode of air pollution, based on a visitor survey (N = 625) applied over the Central Region of Portugal. Two clusters with different behavioural intentions were obtained. Differences were found between groups regarding attitudes towards the environment, risk perceptions, travel behaviour and sociodemographic profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shrinking population in many European regions has led to a debate on the relation between the local provision of services of general interest and the demographic growth of different territories. Primary schools have been a frequent focus of this debate, given the significant number of school closures in recent years, as well as their social, economic and symbolic importance for local communities. However, the relationship between primary schools and population growth at the local scale has not been clearly established and is a challenging subject given the potential circular causality between them. This paper analyses this relationship for the mainland municipalities in Portugal between 1999 and 2016, considering three variables—total fertility rates, net migration rates and the number of primary schools—in a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model, where all variables are simultaneously considered endogenous and exogenous. Through this approach, it was possible to conclude that, although there is a mutual influence between these variables, the impact of school closures on the growth prospect of a municipality is limited. The main goal of policy decisions regarding the provision of primary schools should, therefore, be the quality of life of local communities, and not so much their role in countering depopulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes to disclose the perceived impacts of Tourism for a specific group of stakeholders, namely the owners of shops located in the historical center of Porto, in Portugal, a city which witnessed a significant increase in Tourism in recent years. Shop owners' perceptions about tourism have been practically ignored by the existent literature, despite the significant impacts felt by them. A questionnaire is applied to shop owners and a statistical analysis is performed, presenting and discussing the obtained results. The results evidence that shop owners tend to support the benefits of Tourism, even though they feel some reserves regarding its potentially negative impacts. Some policy directions and possibilities for further research are evidenced through this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy literacy is a concept which is not widely known by the public; however, it has captured the attention of several researchers in recent years. Concerning the assessment of energy and financial knowledge and people's attitudes, intentions and behavior, it provides a global view of people's knowledge, feelings, concerns and habits related to energy usage. Since energy is such an important resource in our daily lives, we can hardly imagine living without it. Moreover, considering that its production often requires the use of limited resources and leads to the worsening of already existing environmental problems, finding ways to alert consumers to the efficient management of their consumption is an urgent need. Therefore, in this article, we aimed to evaluate energy literacy levels, considering all the dimensions mentioned above, and search for the determinants of these levels. As an added novelty, we also aimed to determine the role of financial knowledge on energy literacy dimensions. After distributing a questionnaire to the university community in Portugal, we found good levels of energy literacy, despite moderate levels of energy and financial knowledge. Gender seems to be a determinant of all energy literacy dimensions, and financial knowledge has a positive and significant impact on energy knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]