This new issue of Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración (ARLA) brings together a set of articles that reflect the variety of current debates in management and organization studies across Latin America. The contributions address issues ranging from university governance and financial disclosure under crisis to consumer behavior, organizational learning and tourism experiences. Taken together, they offer perspectives that are rooted in regional realities but also speak to global academic and managerial discussions. This volume seeks to provide readers with evidence-based insights relevant to researchers, managers and policymakers by highlighting both empirical findings and practical lessons.
In this 38–4 issue, the journal publishes eight articles by 33 authors from universities in seven countries: Brazil, Chile, France, Spain, Puerto Rico, Colombia and the United Kingdom. A brief description of each article in this issue is provided below:
Abello-Romero et al. (2025) analyzed the research performance of 43 Chilean universities between 2010 and 2019, categorizing them according to corporate governance attributes. Using a quantitative approach with regression tree analysis and data from the Chilean National Council of Education, the findings reveal that board size and diversity are significant determinants of scientific productivity. The results indicate a steady increase in WOS-indexed publications, although excessive diversity may constrain effectiveness. The implications underscore the need to incorporate governance attributes into public policies and regulatory frameworks to strengthen the performance of.
Bersiliera et al. (2025) examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial statements of Brazilian listed companies under different levels of corporate governance between 2019 and 2021. Using content analysis of disclosure notes and Wilcoxon tests on financial indicators, the study reveals that firms' reports reflected both the initial underestimation and subsequent recognition of pandemic effects, with significant impacts on liquidity, indebtedness and profitability. The findings underscore the evolving role of financial disclosure under uncertainty, highlighting the manner in which managers communicated expectations and outcomes across different stages of the crisis. The implications stress the importance of accounting information for regulators, policymakers and stakeholders in strengthening transparency and resilience in future global crises.
Blanco-González et al. (2025) analyzed the role of CPV—functional, emotional and social—in shaping organizational legitimacy and purchase intention in Spanish supermarkets. The findings of the PLS-SEM analysis of survey data from 1,200 consumers show that functional and social values strongly reinforce legitimacy and purchase intention, while emotional value primarily enhances legitimacy. In turn, legitimacy emerges as a key predictor of purchase intention. This study contributes to the legitimacy theory in marketing and suggests that retailers should emphasize reliable quality and social responsibility to strengthen trust and drive customer decisions.
According to Cortés et al. (2025), a pilot application of a 21-item Likert-scale instrument in a Colombian financial cooperative can effectively identify barriers to organizational learning. The study reveals the presence of defensive routines, learned disability and competency traps, often linked to work overload and organizational malaise, from 133 valid responses. These barriers hinder innovation and knowledge creation, underscoring the importance of moving beyond single-loop learning. Although exploratory, this study provides managers with a diagnostic approach and illustrates how targeted interventions can foster adaptability and long-term learning.
Costa Feito et al. (2025) investigate how firm-created content (FCC) and user-generated content (UGC) shape brand equity in the fashion industry, incorporating Generation Z's hedonic expectations as a key explanatory factor. Based on 203 questionnaires analyzed through PLS-SEM, the findings reveal that FCC positively influences brand loyalty and perceived quality, whereas UGC primarily enhances brand awareness, indirectly affecting perceived quality. Moreover, hedonic expectations significantly strengthen brand awareness and perceived quality, though they do not directly foster loyalty. From a managerial perspective, the study underscores the need to combine emotionally engaging FCC with authentic UGC, implementing differentiated strategies to reinforce brand awareness, loyalty and perceived quality among young consumers.
Dalcero et al. (2025) investigated how ESG practices contribute to the resilience of Brazilian listed companies. Panel regressions with robust random effects were used to assess long-term growth and financial volatility between 2011 and 2020. The results indicate that strong ESG performance reduces volatility, while transparent disclosures promote sustainable development and buffer firms against crises such as economic downturns and the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reframes ESG as a strategic mechanism for risk management and recovery, offering insights for both corporate leaders and policymakers in emerging markets.
Oliver-Alfonso et al. (2025) explored the determinants that drive musicians to adopt rewards-based crowdfunding platforms, focusing on the Spanish platform Verkami. Drawing on survey data from 78 promoters of music projects and applying PLS-SEM. The results highlight the central roles of performance expectancy, social influence and hedonic motivation, whereas information quality and perceived security strengthen trust. The study extends UTAUT2 to creative industries and offers insights into platform design and cultural policy to foster entrepreneurial activity in the arts.
Pinheiro et al. (2025) investigated how institutional characteristics influence environmental innovation in Latin American firms. This study uses panel data on 396 listed firms across nine countries (2018–2021) and fixed-effects models grounded in institutional theory to test the impact of these national factors on environmental innovation scores. The findings show that government effectiveness and market pressure (and a context-dependent role of innovation capacity) have positive effects, implying that policymakers and managers should strengthen governance and demand-side incentives to foster green products and technologies and organizational resilience, including in turbulent periods.
Rodríguez-Negrón et al. (2025) focused on the customer journey in tourism, using the experiencescape concept to examine how physical, digital and emotional elements shape value co-creation and citizenship behavior. Drawing on PLS-SEM analysis of 278 tourist surveys from Puerto Rico, the study finds that well-designed experiencescapes foster engagement, memorability and satisfaction across the pre-visit, core and post-visit stages. Digital innovations, such as artificial intelligence personalization and online platforms, further reinforce loyalty. Experiencescape is positioned as a hybrid ecosystem, offering practical recommendations for managers to create richer and more memorable tourism services.
A Special Issue of this journal is about “Inclusive Entrepreneurship,” dealing with entrepreneurs who can successfully start and grow businesses. Structural barriers disproportionately affect marginalized groups, including women, indigenous peoples, the elderly, people with disabilities and low-income entrepreneurs. Many ventures emerge out of necessity rather than opportunity, often lacking access to finance, markets and support networks. Consequently, these ventures frequently remain small, informal or struggle to scale internationally. The deadline for sending contributions to this issue is October 31st, 2025.
Another Special Issue focuses on the specific challenges and opportunities of SMEs in Latin America, encouraging contributions that incorporate institutional fragility, regional heterogeneity and systemic barriers into their analytical frameworks. The issue welcomes interdisciplinary and methodologically diverse qualitative, quantitative, or mixed contributions that explore digital inequality, green innovation, informal entrepreneurship and the role of public policy in enhancing SME resilience. While the primary focus is on Latin America, studies that explore transnational dynamics or highlight contrasts and similarities between Latin American SMEs and those in Africa, Asia, or Europe are welcome, as they can enrich global SMEs. The limit for sending contributions is January 15, 2026.
Looking forward to receiving contributions to Special Issues. Enjoy the published papers.
Manuel Alonso Dos Santos, Enrique Ogliastri, Gianni Romaní
