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This study aims to identify the effect of soft skills as a driver of audit quality and their moderating role in the relationship between stress and the propensity for auditors to engage in reduced audit quality practices (RAQP).

This study uses a sample of 130 auditors, whose data were collected through an electronic questionnaire. The results were derived from the partial least squares-structural equation modelling method.

The findings show that the propensity to incur RAQP increases when auditors are under job stressors but decreases when individuals have resilience and time management skills. Moreover, the results suggest that the moderating effect of these two soft skills can effectively reduce the auditors’ propensity to engage in dysfunctional actions and judgments in auditing. Emotional intelligence and self-efficacy skills are shown not to affect RAQP.

This study adds to previous research on auditors’ drivers for supplying audit quality, by providing evidence of auditor characteristics as a critical input to audit quality. The results emphasize the importance of researchers including in models the moderating effect of soft skills on the relationship between audit quality and determinants associated with audit firms, clients or the regulatory framework.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

This chapter makes a brief incursion through a trajectory of over three decades of activism by the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of São Paulo (Núcleo de Estudos da Violência in Portuguese, NEV) in Brazil, recovering the legacy of its forms of activism and academic reflection while analysing the interfaces between violence and democracy in Brazil. The 1980s in Brazil were marked by expectations of profound political and social changes in the context of democratic transition. After 21 years of dictatorship (1964–1985), the military gradually withdrew from government, returning the state’s executive branch to civilian representatives. This was a moment of optimism for progressive groups and social movements, which had fought to dismantle the tradition of arbitrariness and violations of rights perpetrated by the state during the military dictatorship. In this context, NEV was founded as a research unit linked to the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences. Its core academic objective was to analyse and scientifically denounce the conjuncture of violence and human rights violations that remained recurrent; consequently, it demonstrated the continuity of unequal power relations, social and cultural practices that fuel authoritarianism in times considered not authoritarian.

This work explores the potential benefits of aligning the strategic planning process with a BPM program in a clinical research center (CRC). The purpose of this paper is to define a process for executing strategic planning oriented towards the promotion of a BPM program.

The method applied is action research. This allowed the solution of a practical problem and at the same time the proposition of a new approach to promote BPM in alignment with strategy, which was synthesized in the model presented.

The analysis and structuring of the strategic planning process, with the assessment of the as-is situation, were adequate as a preparation step for the first cycle of a BPM program in the CRC. Based on lessons learned along the research project, a model was proposed for the strategic planning process oriented towards promoting BPM.

The model was conceived from a single application at a CRC, through a cycle of action research. This is one of the limitations of this work. The model was not yet sufficiently tested in other contexts. This represents opportunities for future research.

The evaluation step in the action research cycle revealed that the organization in focus was satisfied with the results. New management practices in the organizations in focus were implemented as a result of this work.

Process improvement initiatives are a novelty in the CRC context, and this work may serve as a reference for CRC managers seeking to improve overall performance. The proposed model in this work indicates that a BPM program should start with strategic planning. An initial assessment of the as-is situation of the organization in focus was performed based on the analysis of the undesirable effects in the organization’s management practices, using a technique of the Theory of Constraints. The use of this technique facilitated the identification of solutions to the root causes identified in the assessment. The level of the assessment was deeper in comparison to results obtained with traditional tools used in strategic planning processes. The assessment supports the definition of actions oriented to solving the majority of the management dysfunctions of the organization in focus.

The current era is characterized by hyperturbulence, population growth, attention to food security, the need to identify sustainable strategies to reduce pollution and poverty, and the disparity between developed and undeveloped economies. These circumstances force a global paradigm shift based on sustainable practices and processes that put people and the environment at the core of each activity, contributing to sustainable, social, and economic development and promoting well-being in the community.

In this spirit, a strong impulse can derive from the practices of Green Technology, considered here as that set of processes aimed at eco-sustainability that acquire undisputed relevance, especially for emerging economies.

This chapter focuses on the role that Green technology practices exert in generating local well-being in the world's fifth-largest country: Brazil. Dynamic growth and effective social policies lifted millions of people out of poverty in the 2000s, even if socio-economic development varies widely across the country. Brazil is a leading global agricultural, minerals, and oil producer. The natural environment represents the primary source of Brazil's development that deserves to be protected and push firms and citizens to find new sustainable solutions based on green policies. Drawing inspiration from a Brazilian case study, this chapter proposes a set of building blocks that foster sustainable business practices in emerging countries.

The chapter is organized as follows: the first part introduces the concept of green technology practices; the second highlights the opportunities of green technologies; the third focuses on a single case study.

This paper aims to examine the origins and trajectory of the Brazilian corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement in relation to political economic developments in Brazil during and prior to the 2000s.

This paper relies on a historical political account that traces the evolution of the main actors in the CSR movement since the democratization period, details the contacts established with relevant political and civil society groups and outlines the adaptation of their agenda to the changing context.

The long association between a faction of Brazilian business and the Workers’ Party (PT) and the overlapping state – society relations characteristic of the Brazilian political economy explain the domestic and international standing of the Brazilian CSR movement, in particular since 2003 when Lula da Silva came to power.

The trajectory of Brazilian CSR and participation in related global initiatives cannot be explained through market-based or isomorphic approaches traditionally used to analyze the diffusion of governance mechanisms in the Global South. Rather, it highlights the relevance of local political structures in shaping involvement in global governance initiatives.