The increasing urgency of environmental concerns, alongside the global challenges posed by climate change and resource depletion, has underscored the need for a transition toward a circular economy (CE). The banking sector plays a pivotal role in this shift, not only by financing and supporting circular initiatives across industries, but also by adopting CE principles within its own operations to enhance accountability and build stakeholder trust. In this context, banks are expected to improve transparency by disclosing information about their CE practices. Despite this growing relevance, CE disclosure (CED) in the banking industry remains an underexplored area in academic research. Therefore, this study seeks to address this gap by investigating the impact of CED on banks’ market value. Adopting a signalling theory perspective, the analysis applies an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to a sample of 107 European listed banks, focusing on CE information disseminated through their official websites. The results reveal a positive and statistically significant relationship between CED and market value. These findings offer interesting theoretical insights and practical implications.

Purpose Digitalization has profoundly transformed the financial sector, creating a new generation of digital financial products and services. Although research on financial behavior in digital contexts is extensive, most studies focus on single technologies, leaving the broader determinants of digital financial behavior (DFB) unexplored. DFB refers to the use of digital channels to access and manage financial services. This study aims to address the gap by examining how financial knowledge (FK), digital literacy (DL), crypto-literacy (CL) and the Perfect Automation Schema (PAS) shape DFB in an emerging economy. Drawing on Knowledge Management (KM) theory, these literacies are interpreted as forms of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) that enable user engagement with digital finance. Design/methodology/approach The study relies on data collected from a representative sample of 304 Albanian users through a structured questionnaire. Multivariate regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses on the determinants of users’ DFB. Findings Results show that higher levels of awareness are associated with more active DFB, highlighting the relevance of both foundational knowledge and crypto-related expertise. PAS also significantly influences users’ engagement, revealing that cognitive schemas toward automation can either foster or inhibit the adoption of digital financial systems. Originality/value This study extends the KM literature to the financial and digitalization domains through a user-centric perspective, proposing a multidimensional measure of DFB that captures users’ attitudes toward adopting digital channels. It further enriches research on emerging economies by providing unique empirical evidence and valuable insights into the underexplored context of Albania.

Equity crowdfunding (EC) represents an important financing channel for climate-oriented ventures facing capital access, but investors differ substantially in how they process campaign information. This study examines whether and how investor overconfidence influences the perceived attractiveness of climate-oriented EC campaigns, focusing on visual attention as a key underlying cognitive mechanism. Using a within-subjects online experiment combined with webcam-based eye-tracking, 130 US participants evaluated 24 real-world EC campaigns. Visual attention to the business idea section, where sustainability is conveyed, was linked to perceived campaign attractiveness. Results show that climate-oriented campaigns are generally more attractive than non-climate-oriented ones; however, this effect decreases as investor overconfidence increases. Eye-tracking evidence indicates that higher overconfidence is associated with reduced visual attention to the business idea section, which mediates the reduction in perceived attractiveness. The findings highlight how individual differences in information processing affect the effectiveness of sustainability signals and investment evaluations in EC markets.

Logistics plays a key role in economic activities with an evident impact on sustainability. The growing focus of stakeholders on operational efficiency, sustainability and regulatory compliance has pushed logistics companies to adopt more sustainable business practices, investing heavily to reduce their impact. However, these efforts would be less effective if not properly communicated, especially to financial institutions and investors. The release of non-financial information boosts corporate transparency, resulting in advantages such as higher credit ratings and lower risk exposure. This study empirically investigates how sustainability communication strategies, examined through a multidimensional perspective, influence the cost of debt. Using a dynamic fixed-effects panel data model, it assesses the link between non-financial reporting and debt expenses for 326 global logistics firms over the 2013-2022 period. The findings reveal that enhanced transparency and strong reporting practices correlate with reduced financial costs. This research contributes to the discussion on non-financial disclosure and financing expenses, addressing a topic that has been minimally explored within this particular context.

ABSTRACT The accelerating green transition and the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks into prudential supervision have significantly reshaped the role of banks within sustainable development pathways. Supervisory expectations require banks to embed sustainability considerations into governance, risk management, and disclosure practices. In this evolving regulatory landscape, sustainability disclosure (SD) has become a strategic priority, serving both accountability and risk‐management functions. However, despite growing academic attention, research on SD in banking remains fragmented and conceptually heterogeneous. Against this backdrop, this study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) of 150 empirical articles published between 2004 and 2025 to examine the determinants and effects of SD in banking. The review first classifies SD into five disclosure typologies and 11 specific categories, and then distinguishes between studies investigating the drivers of SD and those analyzing its consequences. Across the literature, ten broad groups consistently emerge as key drivers of SD: bank characheristics, financial characteristics, market‐based characteristics, governance characteristics, leadership characteristics, audit characteristics, reporting practices, ownership and control structures, sustainability performance, and institutional and contextual factors. Moreover, prior studies converge on three main outcome domains: accounting‐based financial performance, market‐based performance, and stakeholder‐related and reputational outcomes. Finally, this review outlines a comprehensive research agenda and offers practical insights for banks, policymakers, and standard setters.

PurposeThe growing societal and regulatory emphasis on biodiversity preservation has heightened expectations for corporate transparency, positioning biodiversity disclosure as a critical component of non-financial reporting. While academic interest in sustainability disclosure is rising, biodiversity remains an underexplored dimension, particularly in the financial sector, despite its direct and indirect influence on ecosystems. This study, adopting the lens of stakeholder theory, addresses this gap by investigating biodiversity disclosure practices within the European banking sector and examining whether specific bank characteristics - namely size, internationalization, age, and online visibility - affect the extent of disclosure.Design/methodology/approachA manual content analysis was conducted on the official websites of 131 European banks, using a biodiversity disclosure index specifically designed to assess reporting practices across multiple biodiversity-related dimensions. An Ordinary Least Squares regression model was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results reveal that banks disclose a limited amount of biodiversity-related information through their official websites, indicating that biodiversity remains a marginal component of their sustainability communication strategies. The econometric analysis further shows that bank size, internationalization, and online visibility positively influence the extent of biodiversity disclosure, whereas age does not exert a significant effect.Originality/valueThis study advances the academic debate on the nexus between finance and biodiversity by showing how banks, through disclosure practices, can act as catalysts for biodiversity protection and awareness. It enriches the sustainability disclosure literature by focusing on biodiversity reporting, a dimension still largely neglected in the banking sector. Furthermore, it highlights how internal structural characteristics influence the extent of biodiversity-related information disclosed, underscores the role of websites as strategic tools for online accountability, and reinforces the explanatory power of stakeholder theory in explaining biodiversity disclosure practices within banks, thereby offering new insights into the interplay between financial institutions, sustainability communication, and strategies for biodiversity preservation.

Purpose Sustainability reporting (SR) in Cooperative Credit Banks (CCBs) plays a pivotal role in enhancing transparency, building stakeholder trust and aligning cooperative values with broader sustainability objectives. This study aims to explore the key barriers and benefits associated with SR practices within the Italian CCB context. Design/methodology/approach To address the research gap, this study adopts a qualitative methodology, conducting a single case study within the Italian context, specifically focusing on the CCB of Santeramo in Colle. Findings The findings highlight four key areas related to barriers and benefits: technical and operational, economic and competitive, cultural and organizational, and regulatory. While SR strengthens corporate culture, stakeholder trust and strategic positioning, challenges persist in terms of data integration, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) indicator conversion and resource allocation. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study investigating both the barriers and benefits of SR within Italian CCBs through a qualitative lens. It provides original insights by exploring the internal dynamics between local banks and the parent group, offering a novel application of institutional theory – specifically coercive isomorphism – in this context.

Purpose While equity crowdfunding (EC) has emerged as a transformative force in entrepreneurial finance, academic attention has largely centred on campaign-level factors, such as project quality and founder characteristics. In contrast, the platforms themselves – equity crowdfunding platforms (ECPs) – remain an overlooked yet critical component of the EC ecosystem. This study aims to address this significant gap by exploring how ECPs’ governance structures and digital visibility influence the success of fundraising campaigns. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a quantitative approach, using a hand-collected data set of 801 EC campaigns launched between 2014 and 2022 on Italian ECPs registered with Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa. Logit regression models are used to assess the impact of board composition, gender diversity, female leadership and digital visibility on campaign success. Findings The results reveal that larger board size and greater gender diversity are positively associated with campaign success. In addition, digital visibility significantly enhances the likelihood of achieving funding goals. Practical implications The study underscores the strategic importance of strengthening internal governance, particularly through broad, gender-mixed boards and of enhancing digital visibility through Web presence, media coverage and search engine optimisation. Originality/value This study advances the literature on EC by shifting the unit of analysis from individual campaigns to the organisational characteristics of platforms. By introducing original variables, the paper contributes to a deeper understanding of how platforms reduce information asymmetries and enhance the fundraising performance of EC campaigns.

Consumers and investors are continuously exposed to financial graphs, yet the skill required to accurately interpret them, specifically Financial Graph Literacy (FGL), remains underexplored in existing research. This study introduces FGL as a distinct and measurable dimension of financial capability and explores its relationship to real-world financial behaviours. Drawing on data from a nationally representative survey of 1,002 U.S. adults, we assess FGL using a performance-based scale alongside traditional literacy measures, sociodemographic indicators, and behavioural outcomes. Our findings reveal that FGL is not only unevenly distributed across the population—lower among older adults, those with less education, and lower-income groups—but also serves as a strong and independent predictor of financial behaviour. Even after controlling for numeracy and financial, digital, and risk literacies, higher FGL scores are significantly associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in proactive financial behaviours such as saving, investing, budgeting, and using digital financial tools. These results highlight a crucial yet overlooked skill gap in financial decision-making, suggesting that efforts to improve financial capability must include targeted support for developing graph comprehension. The study has direct implications for policy, education, and the design of financial communication, particularly as financial services become increasingly more visual, digital, and complex.

Our study investigates the relationship among sustainable environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and environmental innovation (EnvInnovation) on one hand and, on the other, the ability of non-financial firms to attract trade financing from other non-financial firms, the first ones recording trade debts (TDs) among their liabilities. Referring to the theories of informational asymmetry and signalling, we apply panel regressions on a sample of 928 European companies, during a time from 2019 to 2023, incorporating ESG scores and innovation metrics to assess their impact on TD access. The findings reveal a positive association between sustainability E and S practices and TD, highlighting that sustainability may act as a driver for building trust in interfirm relationships, which is essential for trade credit dynamics and supply chain value creation. Sustainable innovation further strengthens this relationship, suggesting its importance in financial strategies.

The fintech revolution has empowered consumers to participate in crowdfunding, fostering the collaborative creation of innovative products and services. Despite this progress, the success rate of crowdfunding projects remains low, highlighting the need to understand the factors influencing investors’ decisions. Previous systematic literature reviews (SLRs) have revealed a significant gap in the study of funders’ characteristics, particularly in equity-based crowdfunding (EC). By conducting a specific SLR guided by the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol, this study aims to investigate whether the identified gap is due to a difference in focus or an objective shortfall. The review identified 42 empirical articles, primarily from high-impact economic and managerial journals, with a notable emphasis on technological and sustainability campaigns. The descriptive analysis of the sample highlights the significant presence of articles focused on the characteristics of EC investors. By applying the theories-context-characteristics-methods (TCCM) framework to the EC subset, our analysis reveals a substantial concentration of psychology-related theories, especially concerning demographic factors such as gender and age, alongside psychological determinants such as trust and self-efficacy. By identifying these key characteristics and their theoretical underpinnings, this research advances the understanding of funders’ behavior in ECs. The findings suggest that future research should adopt a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates experimental methodologies, such as consumer neuroscience, to capture the cognitive processes influencing investment decisions. This approach can provide deeper insights, enabling crowdfunding platforms and project creators to optimize their strategies and improve campaign success rates.

In response to global efforts to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation, the transition to a circular economy (CE) has emerged as a key strategy for achieving sustainable development. Financial institutions, particularly banks, play a pivotal role in this transition by supporting companies through financial and legal frameworks, network development services, and advisory support, while also adopting internal sustainable practices. Given their central role in the CE, banks are also expected to enhance transparency by clearly communicating their CE initiatives and raising awareness. Despite this, CE disclosure (CED) practices among banks have received limited attention in academic literature. This study, through the lens of legitimacy theory, aims to address this gap by examining the level of CED in European banks and the impact of certain bank characteristics-such as size, age, Internet visibility, and internationalization-on the amount of CE information disseminated through their official websites. The econometric analysis, conducted on a sample of 107 European banks, reveals that size, Internet visibility, and internationalization positively influence the amount of CE information disclosed, while age has no significant effect. The findings enhance the knowledge of how banks manage and communicate their CE efforts, providing valuable insights for banks, policymakers, and standard setters.

The rapid growth of equity crowdfunding (EC) has widened investment opportunities for a diverse array of investors, yet research examining how their characteristics shape preferences for EC campaigns remains relatively limited. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of financial literacy and financial self-efficacy on the perception of attractiveness of EC campaigns while also considering gender dynamics. Through an experimental approach involving the presentation of 24 equity crowdfunding campaigns with real data to 185 participants and applying structural equation modeling to the data, we observed that financial self-efficacy mediates the negative impact of financial literacy on the perceived attractiveness of EC campaigns. Additionally, the study revealed women's heightened propensity towards sustainability-oriented investments, which is further reinforced by their level of financial literacy. These findings underscore the significance of financial literacy and financial self-efficacy in shaping investment decisions within alternative markets and highlight the existence of gender differences. Findings contribute to bridging the gap in the literature by offering a comprehensive analysis of previously unexplored characteristics of EC investors, informing policy-makers, scholars, and practitioners.

Climate change demands immediate and coordinated action from individuals, governments, and companies. Companies, in particular, play a pivotal role in mitigating climate risks and reducing environmental impacts by adopting sustainable practices that extend beyond regulatory compliance. This responsibility is not confined to high-emission industries; service sectors, including financial institutions, also play a crucial role. Banks are uniquely positioned to address climate change by managing the carbon footprint of their operations and evaluating the environmental impacts of their loan portfolios and financial activities. The urgency of climate change has underscored the importance of transparent communication by banks regarding climate-related information. While climate change disclosure (CCD) has garnered significant academic interest, research on its determinants in the banking sector remains limited. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the level of CCD among European banks and identifying the factors influencing the dissemination of such information through their official websites. In particular, drawing on agency theory, it investigates the role of board characteristics in shaping CCD practices. The findings, based on an econometric analysis conducted on a sample of 107 publicly listed European banks, reveal that board expertise, gender diversity, and size positively influence the level of CCD, whereas board independence has no significant effect. These results underscore the critical role of governance structures in fostering transparency and accountability in climate-related matters.

The study examines the premium associated with Green Bonds, known as Greenium, through the analysis of 264 Green Bonds from an international dataset covering the period from October 23, 2019, to March 1, 2023. Utilizing double-stage regression, the research identifies key factors affecting the Greenium, such as issuer credit ratings, transparency, adherence to International Capital Market Association norms, and the types of environmental projects financed. It reveals a Greenium of -57 basis points (bps) and highlights how bond features and financed projects influence investor returns and issuer costs. The paper emphasizes the critical role of transparency in reducing greenwashing risk, thus boosting investor confidence in Green Bonds. Moreover, the study analyzes the influence of significant global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine war, finding no direct impacts on the premium. The paper enriches the existing literature and contributes to academic debate by enhancing understanding of how market variables and global events influence the sustainable bond market. It also provides useful contributions for managers and policy makers regarding the characteristics that bonds, both private and government, must have to meet the market's interest and effectively pursue the ecological transition objectives for which they are issued. In this regard, the findings highlight the significance of certifications and international standards to increase investor awareness, mitigate informational asymmetries, and improve the quality of bonds.

The growing public and regulatory emphasis on human rights has heightened expectations for corporate transparency, positioning human rights disclosure (HRD) as a critical dimension of non-financial reporting. Although academic interest in HRD is increasing, the banking sector remains underexplored, and limited research has examined the factors influencing the dissemination of human rights information in this context. This study seeks to address this gap by investigating HRD practices within the European banking sector, focusing on the extent to which banks disclose human rights information through their official websites. Drawing on the managerial perspective of stakeholder theory, this study examines whether specific bank characteristics-namely size, age, Internet visibility, and internationalization-affect the level of HRD. To evaluate HRD, this study introduces a disclosure index informed by previous literature and expert input, comprising 25 items across four stakeholder-related areas: employees, customers, communities, and suppliers and business partners. It then applies manual content analysis to 131 European bank websites and employs a regression model to test the proposed research hypotheses. The results show that bank size and internationalization are positively associated with the level of HRD, while age and Internet visibility are not statistically significant. These findings contribute to multiple strands of academic literature and offer practical implications for standard-setting bodies, policymakers, and banking institutions.

This study investigates the relationship between Circular Economy Disclosure (CED) and environmental performance in European banks by analysing the information published on their official websites. Grounded in legitimacy theory, it examines whether higher environmental performance corresponds to more extensive CED, distinguishing between substantive and symbolic approaches. The findings, based on a sample of 107 listed European banks, reveal a positive association between environmental performance and CED. This supports the substantive legitimacy perspective, indicating that CED practices tend to align with actual sustainability engagement rather than serving as mere symbolic commitment.

In response to the growing urgency of climate change, renewable energy adoption has become a central component of corporate environmental strategies. While academic literature has examined this issue across various sectors, limited attention has been paid to service industries such as banking, particularly with regard to their own operational energy practices. This study addresses this gap by investigating the role of corporate governance in influencing renewable energy adoption in the banking sector. Grounded in the resource dependence theory, the analysis focuses on four board attributes: board size, board independence, board gender diversity, and the presence of a CSR committee. Using a panel dataset of 3601 observations from 665 listed global banks over the period 2016-2023, and employing a fixed-effects regression model, this study explores how these internal governance mechanisms affect the extent to which banks integrate renewable sources into their energy mix. The results reveal that board gender diversity and the presence of a CSR committee are positively associated with renewable energy adoption, whereas board size is negatively related. Board independence does not show a statistically significant effect. This study adds to the body of research on renewable energy adoption by focusing on the underexplored context of banking, extends the debate on the governance-sustainability nexus by addressing energy transition strategies, and broadens the application of resource dependence theory to the domain of environmental management within financial institutions.

Investor characteristics can influence preferences for entrepreneurial investment opportunities, with gender playing a crucial role. Using webcam-based eye-tracking, this study examines the attentional mechanism underlying gender homophily, a tendency to prefer projects led by entrepreneurial teams of one’s own gender, in equity crowdfunding (EC). Results confirm gender homophily among female investors, who fixate more quickly and look longer at entrepreneurial teams’ gender composition. Such a tendency is moderated by their financial knowledge with inexperience females showing a stronger effect. These findings support a top-down attentional control process, where attention is guided by goal-oriented selection of specific information rather than a bottom-up, stimulus-driven response. Mediation analyses further reveal that increased attention towards female-led teams significantly influences female investors’ investment preferences, linking attentional biases to decision outcomes. Male investors do not exhibit comparable gender-based effects. This study advances the understanding of how selective signal processing, shaped by investors’ endogenous characteristics such as gender and financial knowledge, influences investment decisions. Our results offer new insights into gender dynamics in entrepreneurial finance, elucidating the cognitive foundations of investor behavior and offering practical implications for EC platform designs and financial literacy interventions.

Il crowdfunding si sta affermando sempre più in ambito sanitario come strumento per sostenere i pazienti e le famiglie nella raccolta fondi per cure mediche e per finanziare l'innovazione nel settore medico. La rilevanza delfenomeno ha attirato l'interesse anche degli accademici, interessati principalmente a indagare i fattori in grado dideterminare il successo delle campagne di crowdfundingin ambito sanitario.Tuttavia, gli studi accademici si sono concentrati principalmente sulle campagne finalizzate ad agevolare l'accesso alle cure mediche, trascurando invece quelle relative all'innovazione sanitaria promosse dagli imprenditori del settore. Questo studio mira a colmarequesta importante lacuna della letteratura accademica indagando, attraverso la signaling theory, l'effetto delle caratteristiche della comunicazione sul successo delle campagne di crowdfunding in ambito sanitario. A tal fine, esso prevede un'analisi econometrica condotta su un campione di 544 campagne lanciate negli Stati Uniti sulla piattaforma Kickstarter tra il 2010 e il 2021. I risultati evidenziano che una maggiore presenza di video, aggiornamenti e commenti, una migliore leggibilità e un più forte orientamento alla comunità aumentano la probabilità di successo delle campagne di crowdfunding in ambitosanitario, mentre una lunghezza eccessiva del testo ha un impatto negativo.Questo studio estende la letteratura accademica e fornisce importanti implicazioni pratiche.