RISULTATI RICERCA

Over recent decades, organizations have moved into highly competitive markets that force companies to implement Performance Management Systems (PMSs) to keep monitoring strategy alignment and activities. In this context, this paper provides a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on the use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in PMSs. Relevant and useful papers have been selected for the analysis and the final 60-paper sample has been studied by means of con-tent analysis and descriptive statistics. The relevant findings have been reported across categories (i.e. value drivers, practices and measures, contextual drivers, and critical issues), such as increasing the use of KPIs supporting sustainable de-velopments and a dichotomy between qualitative and quantitative indicators. In particular, authors revealed the need for a KPI strategical formulation and for a cultural factor aimed at ensuring the effective integration of quantitative, qualita-tive and sustainable development indicators. Therefore, a conceptual model was developed in order to guide managers through the criticalities and the recently reported requirements. This review addresses the KPIs’ implementation from both a systemic and critical point of view; these aspects made our study really useful for practitioners of all application sectors.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the firms with the same Big Four audit firm and from the same legal system disclose more comparable non-GAAP measures. Using 23,436 pairs of European firms, we hand-collected infor-mation on the non-GAAP measures disclosed in the statement of comprehensive income. The results showed that the firms with the same Big Four audit firm or from the same legal system are positively and significantly associated with non-GAAP comparability. Our work adds to the studies on accounting comparability. Furthermore, it provides fresh insights that support the latest IASB activity on the Primary Financial Statement project, under which the standard setter has en-dorsed ED/2019/7 General Presentation and Disclosures.

This work reviews accounting research on book-tax conformity (BTC) with specific reference to financial reporting issues. There is an ongoing debate in the accounting literature about the impact of BTC levels (weak/strong) on accounting quality and on tax avoidance. Policymakers have discussed at length the opportunity to reform BTC as well. Proponents of a strong BTC argue that it can deter both financial reporting ma-nipulation and aggressive tax planning by creating contrasting incentives between book earnings maximisation and taxable income minimisation. Further controls on book earnings assured by taxing authorities will reinforce such beneficial ef-fects. Opponents of a strong BTC suggest that financial accounting decisions should not interfere with tax accounting and vice versa, as financial reporting and tax reporting have different purposes. Furthermore, under a strong BTC, managers will tend to smooth earnings to minimise income taxes, thus reducing earnings in-formativeness. Even if a strand of research based on the Tax Reform Act (TRA 86) in the US corroborates the position of opponents, a large body of literature formed in international settings has not yet reached a consensus over the conse-quences of BTC. This circumstance makes BTC a relevant topic to the current de-bate on financial reporting quality.

Purpose - This paper investigates the impact of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and non-GAAP voluntary disclosures on equity returns for im-portant financial reporting dates. Design/methodology - Using hand-coded archival data, we developed 2,329 matched pairs consisting of non-GAAP (control) and GAAP (treatment) quarterly observations and compared the equity returns for each group around the earnings release and SEC filing dates. Findings - Our findings suggest that the valuation relevance of GAAP disclos-ing firms significantly exceeds that of non-GAAP firms in the case of earnings and cash flow surprises. These results support the notion that investors perceive GAAP-compliant disclosures as necessary, complementary information about a firm’s performance and equity value. We also reveal that the market revaluation of equi-ty on the earnings release date significantly exceeded that on the SEC filing date. This finding confirms that the more comprehensive disclosure provided by GAAP firms on the earlier date preempted at least some of the information subsequently disclosed on the SEC filing date. Value - Extends the voluntary disclosure literature, in particular the valuation relevance of GAAP versus non-GAAP disclosures. The findings discussed in this paper are of special interest to policymakers and regulators, financial analysts, corporate managers, firm stakeholders, and academics interested in financial re-porting as they continue to study voluntary disclosure rules and practices.

La presente rassegna si propone di esaminare le pubblicazioni scientifiche internazionali che hanno indagato il rapporto tra l’Intelligenza Emotiva (intesa secondo il modello dei tratti e valutata attraverso questionari self-report), e il burnout professionale (caratterizzato da esaurimento emotivo, sentimenti di depersonalizzazione e ridotta autoefficacia) negli insegnanti di scuola primaria. Le recenti ricerche in questo campo, che non sono ancora state sufficientemente sistematizzate, sottolineano infatti l’importanza delle competenze emotive per facilitare e migliorare sia la prestazione lavorativa dei docenti, sia i processi di insegnamento-apprendimento. Alti livelli di Intelligenza Emotiva negli insegnanti sono correlati da un lato a una riduzione dello stress e dell’affaticamento emotivo, e dall’altro ad una maggiore soddisfazione personale nello svolgimento del proprio lavoro; inoltre, sono associati a migliori rapporti con tutti i protagonisti dell’ambiente educativo, con conseguenti effetti positivi sulla qualità della relazione con gli alunni e delle acquisizioni dei saperi.

Expectations can influence the outcome and the process of psychotherapy. Hence, this article aims to overview the types of expectations, i.e., outcome, treatment and change. Both patients’ and therapists’ expectations are considered. Furthermore, determinants of expectations and moderators/mediators of expectations-outcome relationship are described. We provided theories that try to explain the influence of expectations and their relationship with the psychotherapy process. Various instruments for measuring expectations and practical advice to manage expectations in psychotherapy will be discussed. Clinicians should become increasingly aware of their own and clients’ expectations. Future studies should investigate the impact of every kind of expectation and its moderation/mediation role with other psychotherapy processes. 

In questo studio sono state indagate le relazioni esistenti tra il benessere, l’autostima e il rendimento scolastico in un campione di 311 studenti tra gli 8 e i 13 anni, prendendo in considerazione il punto di vista dell’alunno, del genitore e dell’insegnante. Attraverso questa ricerca è stata confermata l’esistenza di un’influenza reciproca tra il rendimento del bambino e la sua autostima scolastica.Inoltre, è stata dimostrata l’esistenza di una relazione significativa dell’autostima scolastica dell’alunno con l’ansia percepita. il suo benessere e le competenze possedute. Queste ultime due variabili correlano significativamente anche con il rendimento scolastico, mentre l’ansia svolge il ruolo di mediatore. Alla luce di quanto emerso, questa ricerca potrebbe rivelarsi utile per lo sviluppo di programmi volti a favorire il benessere dell’alunno, la sua autostima e il suo rendimento scolastico con il coinvolgimento degli adulti di riferimento.

The psychology of art has had an enormous development since the middle of the last century; however, no much work has been done in association with religious and sacred art. This paper aims to provide a brief history of the use of images in the three great monotheistic religions, i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.All three religions have been influenced by the commandment (Exodus, 20:4), which prohibits idolatry. Nevertheless, when it comes to the use of images with religious content, the commandment is interpreted differently by the three. If in Judaism and Islam the use of images is not particularly widespread and is bound to precise conditions, in Christianity a strong relationship with the visual arts has developed, at least until the Reformation. After this split, the use of images was only encouraged by the Catholic Church even though, with the Enlightenment, religious and sacred art suffered a decline even in Catholic culture.It was not until the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that the Catholic Church returned to support and encourage art in the religious context. It will then be necessary to distinguish between religious art and sacred art because they serve different functions. Precisely because it is a field in which deepening is possible, it could be very interesting for the psychology of art to study the perception of religious and sacred images, for example investigating constructs associated with the perception of vitality and aesthetic judgment.

L’articolo riferisce dei risultati di una sperimentazione relativa alla validità di un intervento volto a promuovere le abilità di lettura in soggetti adulti. Il corso Super Reading, che combina il potenziamento di diverse componenti della lettura (abilità metacognitive, mnemoniche, visuo-percettive e componenti emotive e motivazionali) ha mostrato di permettere ai partecipanti (giovani adulti, sia normolettori sia soggetti con DSA) miglioramenti significativi nella velocità di lettura e nella comprensione. Per escludere che tali miglioramenti siano dovuti a fattori diversi dalla partecipazione al corso, e in particolare per escludere la presenza di un effetto di apprendimento della tipologia di test utilizzato per misurare le prestazioni, si è proceduto alla raccolta e all’analisi di dati di controllo.Un gruppo di controllo di 34 soggetti normolettori ha svolto gli stessi test proposti durante il corso. Sono state misurate le differenze in 8 diversi parametri tra la prima e l’ultima prova. Tali parametri rispecchiano la struttura della prova, per la quale viene proposto un brano da leggere due volte, rispondendo dopo ciascuna lettura alle stesse dieci domande di comprensione; pertanto si considerano: tempo in prima lettura, in seconda e totale, comprensione in prima e seconda lettura; efficacia di lettura (in prima, in seconda lettura e totale), un indice che combina tempo e percentuale di comprensione. Questi dati sono stati messi a confronto con quelli ottenuti da un campione di 154 normolettori che hanno partecipato al corso. Le differenze tra prima e ultima prova (che corrispondono ad un pre- post-corso nel gruppo sperimentale) registrate per i due gruppi sono state confrontate e hanno mostrato di essere statisticamente significative nei parametri relativi al tempo e all’efficacia di lettura. Pari significatività non si riscontra per la comprensione, il cui dato è però soggetto alla presenza di un marcato effetto tetto. Nel loro insieme, i risultati mostrano l’efficacia del corso nel promuovere la lettura, con miglioramenti nella velocità e nella comprensione del testo.

Substantial evidence has been collected over decades of research on the relationships between optimal classroom management and student learning. In addition, there is a growing body of research on teachers’ beliefs, in which their relationships with teachers’ practices is viewed as significant. This study investigated classroom management practices in a sample of 1,056 Italian teachers working from pre-primary to secondary school, to analyse the differences by school level and teaching experience, and their associations with three categories of teachers’ beliefs: self-efficacy, teaching beliefs and intelligence conceptions. Three dimensions of classroom management were considered: educational relationships, active strategies and emotion regulation. The results show that teachers differ in their practices in relation to school level and years of experience, with associations between different categories of beliefs highlighted. Classroom management was positively linked to self-efficacy, constructive teaching beliefs and constructive intelligence conceptions, and negatively linked to traditional teaching beliefs and innate intelligence conceptions. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses that considered the three dimensions of classroom management as dependent variables highlighted the concurrent contribution of: innate and constructive teaching beliefs for educational relationships; school level, intelligence conceptions, constructive teaching beliefs and self-efficacy on classroom management for active strategies; and school level for emotion regulation. These results confirm the strong relationships between classroom management and teachers’ beliefs and conceptions. Thus, it is important for teachers to develop reflective processes of their own practices.

Previous studies support the relevance of students’ perception of positive and negative school climate to learning processes and adolescents’ adjustment. School climate is affected by both the interactions that are established within the classroom, and by the teachers’ behaviors. This study has the overall objective of investigating the relationship between the perception of positive and negative school climate and students’ (mal)adjustment during adolescence. Participants were 105 Italian adolescents (52.5% boys, mean age = 15.56,SD = .77) who responded for 15 consecutive days (ecological momentary assessment) to questions related to their perception of positive and negative school climate (Time 1). After one year (Time 2), students’ academic performance reported by mothers and fathers and adolescents’ self-reported propensity to engage in risk behaviors were examined. Four hierarchical regression models were implemented considering the mean and the instability levels (RMSSD) of the perception of positive and negative school climate as independent variables and, respectively, academic performance and risk behaviors as dependent variables. Results suggest that a higher perception of positive school climate and its instability predict higher academic performance one year later, while a higher perception of negative school climate and its instability predict higher risk behaviors. This study provides an innovative perspective to reflect on the relationship between students’ perceptions of school climate and adolescents’ (mal)adjustment.

The present study investigates student-teacher and student-peer relationships, as well as school adjustment. A novelty element is the use of drawing of oneself with a teacher to predict some aspects of children’s adjustment in primary school. Our aim was to evaluate what aspects of student-teacher relationship as perceived by children were more predictive of relational wellbeing in class and school adjustment. In sum, our results confirm that, as predicted by the attachment theory (Hamre & Pianta, 2001), a relationship perceived as close by the teacher goes hand in hand with school adjustment and relational wellbeing in school. Autonomy, too, play a positive role. In terms of predictive power, gaining autonomy from teachers seems to predict students wellbeing even more than closeness, at least as it appears from students pictorial representation. 

Questo lavoro presenta un questionario sviluppato per raccogliere ed esplorare le rappresentazioni e gli atteggiamenti degli insegnanti rispetto al recente e considerevole aumento di diagnosi di Disturbi Specifici dell’Apprendimento (DSA) nelle scuole italiane. Il questionario Rappresentazione e Atteggiamenti rispetto ai DSA (RADSA) è stato elaborato sulla base della letteratura di riferimento e di 11 focus group con 92 insegnanti italiani di scuola primaria (96.7% femmine, età M = 47.2 anni, DS = 8.8). I trascritti dei focus group sono stati analizzati con il software T-LAB (Lancia 2012, 2018) e i contenuti sono stati convertiti in item per il questionario. Successivamente, è stata condotta un’analisi fattoriale esplorativa (con rotazione Direct Oblmin) sulle risposte di 111 insegnanti italiani di scuola primaria, per la maggior parte femmine (94.6%), che hanno partecipato alla seconda fase dello studio. Il range di età di questo secondo campione era compreso tra i 25 e i 63 anni (M = 46.1, DS = 9.34), con una media di 20.18 anni di insegnamento (DS = 11.49). Il questionario RADSA, grazie ai suoi 62 item, divisi in 12 sottoscale, è risultato capace di riflettere la complessità dell’argomento e rappresenta uno strumento di valutazione mirato ad esplorare gli atteggiamenti di insegnanti ed educatori verso la diagnosi di DSA, specialmente quelli che possono minare la qualità della relazione alunno-insegnante. Siccome il RADSA è in grado di identificare le principali rappresentazioni personali riguardanti gli alunni con DSA, si possono progettare interventi mirati per uno specifico contesto educativo, basandoli sui risultati ottenuti dalla sua somministrazione.

Mentalization is a key social ability that develops from infancy to adulthood, starting from early familiar attachment relationships. Children experience several contexts, in particular, educational ones such as school, where they build new attachment relationships with teachers. Although the amount of research on the links between mentalization and attachment has been increasing in recent years, there is still little evidence on the teacher-child relationship from a mentalization perspective. Moreover, only few studies focus on middle childhood, a crucial age for building positive school relationships. This study aims to investigate the possible effects of some measures of teachers’ mentalization, namely, mind-mindedness and mentalised affectivity, and of pupils’ representation of the educational attachment relationship on the mentalization abilities of children aged 8 to 10. The results show that a teacher’s tendency to describe a pupil through physical comments and not mental comments, and her/his ability to use autobiographical memory to interpret the present emotional experience, impact children’s mentalization abilities. This highlights the important role of the teacher in the construction of a class climate that supports pupils’ mentalization.