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I consider that the second edition of the book “Conceiving, Writing and Publishing a Scientific Paper. An approach in the context of economic research” is a work of high scientific standing, excellently documented, addressed to knowledgeable readers but also to the new generations of PhD students and researchers interested in attaining the highest academic and scientific performances in the field of Economics. From my point of view, both editions of the book are highly useful for the academic environment. I especially appreciate the authors’ efforts to improve and expand the second edition. This fact is due to the changes occurred in the evolution of scientometric indicators, to the feedback received from readers, but also as the result of the desire to include multiple networks and platforms that take into account professional and institutional profiles, such as to facilitate the researchers’ dissemination of their results obtained in the scientific research activity. The authors benefit on an unanimous recognition and are highly appreciated., fact proven for example by the ten existing reviews of the book’s first edition, published in journals indexed in Web of Science, Scopus and other international databases. I am mostly impressed by the authors’ permanent concern to improve their book’s scientific content. The first edition was awarded the distinction “The Best Book in the Field of Economics” published in 2016 in Romania by the Association of Romanian Economic Faculties, but also by The Association of Cultural-Educational Cooperation from Suceava (ACCES prize in 2016)

Scientific research is a complex process that ends up with a results dissemination stage. This dissemination of results can be accomplished through several methods and practical tools aimed at meeting a number of objectives that are usually defined by the research program. One of the most frequently formulated objectives in the last decades is the writing of papers that can be published in prestigious research journals, particularly in the mainstream journals of that research field. Drawing up such papers implies meeting a series of content, structure and language requirements that must be known and well-understood. The fulfillment of such requirements calls for the existence of competences based on the knowledge acquired from the literature and from the practice of writing a research paper.

Scientific research is a complex process that ends up with a results dissemination stage. This dissemination of results can be accomplished through several methods and practical tools aimed at meeting a number of objectives that are usually defined by the research program. One of the most frequently formulated objectives in the last decades is the writing of papers that can be published in prestigious research journals, particularly in the mainstream journals of that research field. Drawing up such papers implies meeting a series of content, structure and language requirements that must be known and well-understood. The fulfillment of such requirements calls for the existence of competences based on the knowledge acquired from the literature and from the practice of writing a research paper.

Local and organic food production is often linked to geographical identity that drives consumers to buy products due to their intangible attributes such as protection of the environment, support of local communities, and preservation of traditions. The primary objective of this paper was to find out if the Romanian consumers preferred a closer location of organic food production. Research results were based on a random survey, with a sample of 424 people from Romania. Seven variables related to consumer preferences and habits were analyzed through descriptive statistics and by Mann Whitney, Wilcoxon, Kruskal Wallis tests, and Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient. Three location situations were taken under analysis: local vs. other national locations; national vs. other EU locations; and EU vs. the rest of the world. The results revealed that Romanian consumers were prone to local organic food sources, as long as 65% of them preferred locally produced foods over other national sources. A closer location was also more attractive in the other two tested situations, as follows: 77% of the sample preferred foods from Romania to those from other EU countries and 62% preferred European products to those from the rest of the world. The paper concluded that the promotion of the concept of a closer location could be an unexplored opportunity for those interested in the Romanian market.

This paper aims to explore how business organisations in the Romanian IT&C sector strategically implement neuro-leadership principles to accelerate the adoption and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, thus enhancing human capital development and promoting sustainable competitive advantages. Applying the focus group method, dynamic discussions were held with 10 representatives of Romanian IT&C companies to highlight how these business organisations strategically implement neuroleadership principles and adopt AI technologies in human capital management. The results of the research, divided into four main themes, reveal the importance of neuroleadership in improving employee competencies as well as overcoming the challenges associated with implementing AI in organisations. Research provides new and relevant insights for leaders in business organisations to effectively adapt to the complexity of technological change caused by AI adoption in human resource management. At the same time, the results reveal the importance of fostering a culture of continuous learning and development to harness the potential benefits of AI, while mitigating the risks associated with this approach. The originality of the paper is derived from the merging of the fields of leadership, neuroscience, and AI, thus providing a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics shaping organisational responses to technological innovation. The research addresses a notable gap in the literature by exploring concrete strategies to accelerate AI adoption through neuroleadership principles, enriching the literature on this multidimensional relationship.

Artificial intelligence, the latest chapter of the technological revolution, has a tremendous potential to change every area of our lives. This article has focused on a specific form of artificial intelligence, namely generative intelligence, which facilitates the generation of content in all its forms (text, image, video, audio, programming codes, etc.). Thus, generative artificial intelligence has a crucial role in education, allowing for the personalisation of educational content and facilitating the learning process. In the beginning, the paper has highlighted conceptual delimitations regarding artificial intelligence and its applications in education, along with advantages and limitations, highlighting that the adoption of generative artificial intelligence solutions, such as ChatGPT, in higher education in economics has been relatively underexplored in the literature. In order to cover these gaps identified in the literature, have been presented, in the second part of the paper, the methodology and results of an exploratory research, conducted on a sample of 364 undergraduate and master's students at the Faculty of Business and Tourism within the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. The research has provided insight into the perception of Business Administration students regarding these applications. The results indicated a high level of awareness and interest in content generation models and highlighted that users with favourable perceptions regarding the quality of content generated by such applications tend to believe that their integration into academic endeavours can foster creativity and enhance employment prospects.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact and importance of ESG in the business and investment world in the past few years and how can we implement ESG criteria into our businesses to continue to have profitable and investable businesses. The research is focused on the role of ESG decisions within organizations and how they can impact the value of a company. The research hypothesis is that there are various decisions of becoming ESG complaint you can take, but not all of them are profitable decisions. So, instead of taking decisions based on the implementing costs and short-term expenses, an organization should take into consideration long-term profits and a possible increase in the company’s valuation. Achieving success involves identifying these factors well in advance before they can adversely impact the well-being of the company. This allows for proactive measures to mitigate any potential detrimental consequences that may arise. This can be accomplished through ongoing monitoring of these variables, creating a dynamic process, and making informed decisions based on a solid understanding of the operational processes and needs of each company. Because of its massive politicization, ESG has become perceived more as a cost center instead of a value center. Business leaders consider that they are being forced to report something without value for their businesses when they should be asked how to turn this in their favor to make business more valuable. This paper also presents the importance of sustainable developments and how they can impact investment decisions. Analyzing the behavior of the biggest investment firms, we can identify those metrics that show if a company’s decisions about ESG implementation make it investment material.

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated multiple transformations globally, with isolation periods alternating with those marked by intense social and economic restrictions, having a major impact on economic production and distribution activities, but especially on consumer behaviour. The recent pandemic has generated a strong contraction in consumption, increasing consumers' risk aversion, and disrupting the way they purchase different foods. Consumers have shifted to sustainable consumption, preferring foods that can help them towards a balanced diet, strengthen their health, and help develop resistance to viruses. This paper aims to identify the most relevant specialised articles, published during the pandemic (2020-2023), addressing sustainable consumption of organic food. They are investigated through a bibliometric analysis, which highlights the main directions in which this international research has converged. In the investigative approach, the authors resort to applying the PRISMA methodology peculiar to this type of analysis; the references selected according to the different objective criteria chosen are subsequently analysed using the VOSviewer software. Based on the review of the literature, the paper also presents possible future research directions highlighting the opportunities for scientific capitalisation of this research topic.

Understanding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on education is vital for guiding teachers in developing educational tools. AI in education (AIEd) comes not only with opportunities but mostly with challenges for both educators and learners. Finding the proper tools to integrate AI into the learning framework represents a test for current and future generations. Even if most students acknowledged AI as a valuable tool, their interaction with AI in education seems more limited than expected. They mainly concentrated on few tools with higher awareness. This paper examines AI’s support for educational activities, key drivers, and tools for business education. Survey data collected from 254 learners were analysed using multivariate binary logistic regression. Two research questions were formulated to verify if AI supports educational activities and what AI tools support business educational activities. Results show learners appreciate AI for aiding teachers in administrative tasks, personalising learning plans, and saving time. However, learners are unfamiliar with most benefits of AI tools, except computer vision, edge computing, and AI chatbots. The paper highlights the need to increase the use of AI in education to make students more familiar with AI tools and capitalise on them in business education.

The development of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), has a direct impact on the accounting profession in the sense of redefining the role and place that accounting specialists occupy within economic entities. This paper is a systematic literature review and aims to emphasise and synthesise the main challenges regarding the impact that artificial intelligence and other related technologies exert on accounting professionals and the competencies they need to develop or acquire. At the same time, the outline of specific solutions was envisaged, through which accounting professionals can be supported in their efforts to adapt to the new requirements of the labour market imposed by the evolution of disruptive technologies. To achieve the proposed objectives, Web of Science (WoS) was used as an academic database and specific tools for bibliometric analyses, including the VOSviewer application. The results identify universities as the main pillar in the process of the redesign of accounting education, and update of the curriculum in the field as the main measure to be undertaken. The originality of the paper resides in the identification of specific solutions for curriculum reconfiguration in the field of accounting education, the highlighting and overcoming of possible challenges for the redesign of the education process in the field of accounting, under the impact of AI.

The European Union is accelerating its transition to energy independence by 2030 in response to new geopolitical realities. This study aims to demonstrate the advantages of blockchain technology for the energy sector and how renewable sources themselves may lower costs and generate significant amounts of electricity. These networks encourage the use of renewable energy sources in place of conventional ones and enable sustainable consumption reduction at the same time. The paper demonstrates how blockchain may connect to renewable energy sources, most often solar and wind, to grow this industry in a sustainable way. New technologies like blockchain have sparked the emergence of contemporary forms of trade and consumption. The collaborative and circular economies represent a nexus of economic, technological, and socio-cultural phenomena brought about by technological advancements and economic disruption. Blockchain technology offers a wide range of non-financial applications, and its use is acknowledged as a brand-new opportunity for sustainability and energy. The goal of this study is to clarify the relationship between the two and determine whether blockchain technology can be sustainable for the development of the energy market. The paper is addressed to all parties involved in the energy, blockchain, and sustainability industries.

Recently, technology has been increasingly integrated into higher education through gamified learning, which applies game design principles to educational content. The purpose of the present paper is to assess and depict the engagement of students in the field of economics and business in gamified learning and to understand the relationship between engagement and motivation in gamified learning, elements less studied in the context of economics and business higher education, as shown in the literature. The paper proposes an original approach both in terms of the research method and the context of the study. In order to analyse engagement in gamified learning, we use Nicola Whitton's scale and employ an exploratory factor analysis on data collected through a questionnaire-based survey distributed among students at one of the largest universities of economics and business in Romania, namely The Bucharest University of Economic Studies (BUES). The analysis reveals three specific engagement factors: the first factor represents interest in new challenges; the second factor reflects immersion in gamified learning and satisfaction of completing; the third factor is related to students' purposes and clarity of the goals. Our results show that all factors exhibit positive associations with student learning motivation, while the first factor also indicates an association with the gender of the respondents. A good understanding of these factors can contribute to improving the teaching process by integrating gamification into teaching activities.

In this study, we use bibliometric analysis as a quantitative and systematic approach to assess the scientific landscape and present the existing literature, focusing on the consumer buying behaviour of second-hand clothing in the context of sustainability. We observe a decrease in the number of published papers on this topic, as evidenced by the limited number of papers in the Web of Science (WoS) database (41 papers) and Scopus (38 papers). Through cooccurrence analysis, we highlight the importance of consumer behaviour research in sustainable fashion and identify research gaps related to the absence of market segmentation analysis based on consumer behaviour and demographic information in the second-hand clothing market. To address these gaps, our research aims to identify the main factors that influence consumers to buy second-hand clothing products and to examine the profile of customers who make these purchases, focusing specifically on Romania. We collected data from 110 respondents through a questionnaire. Using two-stage clustering and ANOVA, we identify distinct consumer segments that share similar characteristics. These segments show variations in age, income, frequency of purchase, and reasons for choosing second-hand clothing. By addressing sustainability concerns and providing practical strategic options, our study aims to help businesses operating in the second-hand clothing market. Our findings align with previous research on diverse consumer segments with different attitudes and behaviours towards second-hand consumption.

The paper aims to highlight the most relevant elements that appear at the intersection of two concepts: the circular economy and electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), as they are reflected in the mainstream of scientific publications to date. This approach is possible through the use of a bibliometric study, following which current trends and new possible perspectives and research directions could be identified to contribute to the promotion of circularity in the production and consumption of EEE. The bibliometric study also involves the temporal and geographical analysis of scientific production, the semantic analysis of keywords with their graphical representation, and the relationship among them, based on the use of specialised software (VOSViewer and Citespace). The main results refer to the existence of four clusters, grouped according to keywords with a frequency of occurrence greater than 10, which refer to EEE waste management, circular economy, material recycling, and environmental management. Regarding the intensity of keyword use, the top three places are China, product, and urban mining. In the end, the conclusions of the study are highlighted, including the grouping of keywords into thematic clusters, the identification of three periods that have been able to stand out so far in scientific research in the domain. As for the limits of the research, they take into account the database that was subjected to the analysis (in the present paper, Web of Science), the software used, the writing language of the scientific production, and the analysis interval. The article concludes with future research directions.

This paper aimed to evaluate the impact of the current EU energy crisis on Romania’s policies to boost green energy as a solution to balance the national energy mix. Our methodological approach was a mixed one using both bibliometric analysis and qualitative analysis based on experts’ interview. The bibliometric analysis has included 1085 research papers from the WOS database and indicates the main research focus at the international level in the green energy field. The second part of the study was based on 6 interviews with Romanian experts in the energy field (selected from a larger group according to their expertise of more than 10 years in fundamental research and their involvement in public policies and national strategies in the energy field). The interviews aimed to investigate the national opportunities to adopt green energy practices at affordable prices. Our research has highlighted that many of the international research trends investigated by researchers are similar to those indicated by the Romanian experts. Our main finding showed that although Romania has performed better than most European countries in increasing the renewable energy share in the national mix, there is still untapped potential in the field. However, Romania has several particularities, according to the interviews results, such as the national regulation, geographical potential, and the existing infrastructure. To fully develop green energy (according to the objectives of RePowerEU and Green Deal), Romania must better tailor its national policy, while providing a stable and predictable legal framework and increased subsidies for green energy

The global economy has barely begun to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, only to be thrown into a new crisis because of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The war exacerbated the energy problem by causing a shortage of energy supplies for the EU and other countries, affecting quality of life. As a result, establishing energy hubs for collecting, processing, storing, and transiting energy resources between producing and consuming countries has become imperative to manage energy supplies efficiently. However, previous studies have not yet addressed the requirements for setting up energy hubs from a practical point of view. Therefore, this paper investigates the requirements for the establishment of energy hubs, particularly for oil and gas, from a practical perspective. The researchers conducted 13 semi-structured interviews with different energy stakeholders. Using the SWOT analysis matrix tool, the findings assessed the current state of the global oil and gas market, and the main practical requirements for the establishment of energy hubs were identified, along with the elements for implementation. Furthermore, the article highlighted the most pressing practical issues confronting the establishment of energy centres. Finally, the paper laid out a comprehensive practical framework based on the industry practitioners’ views to help establish energy hubs. The framework provides a possible guide for countries to establish energy hubs based on the main requirements outlined in this study. It can also improve the diversity, flexibility, and security of energy supply, especially for countries that rely on sole suppliers, such as the EU

Energy-intensive sectors face significant challenges in meeting the goals of the new European Industrial Strategy and REPowerEU. This study aims to examine how energy consumption and energy mix in four energy-intensive sectors (primary metals; non-metallic minerals; pulp, paper, and printing; chemicals and petrochemicals) in the European Union evolved over the period 2008-2020 and whether there is a real relationship between changes in energy intensity and labour intensity. The results show positive trends in energy mix and intensity between 2008 and 2020 for all the energy-intensive sectors studied. There has been a shift from high to medium and low carbon energy sources, with the extent of this shift being influenced by the technological characteristics and path dependencies of each sector. The most positive change occurred in the paper, pulp and printing energy mix, where lowemitting energy sources increased by 12.2 percentage points. A strong (around 0.9) Pearson correlation exists between energy intensity and labour intensity evolution in the primary metals, non-metallic minerals, chemicals, and petrochemical sectors. The intensity indicators in the chemical and petrochemical sector show the most favourable improvement (a slight decrease in energy use and employment, with a 23.1% significant increase in value added). Typically, 7 to 8 countries account for 80% of the total value added in the examined sectors in the European Union; the energy mix of these countries’ electricity and heat production can support the clean transition.

Nutrition concerns and food waste are a priority for the European Union, and the implementation of Green Pact policies is of major interest to all those involved in the food chain sector. The main purpose of this paper is to conduct an in-depth analysis of scientific production using bibliometrics, to understand the current structure of studies and future research directions on Green Deal policies in the food chain. 672 documents published between 2000 and 2021 were identified in the Web of Science database. Their scientific content was analysed using VOSviewer software on several levels: descriptive analysis, performance analysis, and scientific mapping from a conceptual, intellectual, and social perspective. In addition, to determine research gaps, the 10 most relevant and influential papers are analysed and synthesized. The most productive countries in terms of scientific output are Italy, India, and the USA, the peak being reached in 2021, and the main field approached is environmental sciences. Most of the articles analysed are reviews, highlighting gaps in primary research on Green Deal policies in the food industry. In this regard, several future research directions in the field are proposed

In each field there are works, monuments, and people with a reference role, which represent relevant elements in axiological analyses from that field. The marketing area benefits also from such landmarks, one of them being represented by Professor Iacob Cătoiu, DBA, author of numerous works, with a true vocation for teaching, doctoral supervisor, role model, whose activity has decisively marked this field. The book “About Marketing. Anthology” is a synthesis of the most important contributions of the author in the field of marketing. This paper is a very dense one, an aspect that derives from the depth of the analyses performed and from the author's ability to harmonize concepts belonging to other sciences (psychology, sociology, mathematics) with those related to the science of marketing. The book is also characterized by diversity, enlarging upon topics that address subjects such as: marketing research, consumer behavior, tourism marketing, marketing strategies, marketing modeling, and methods used in teaching the disciplines of marketing. The paper also has diversity in terms of the periods it refers to or the geographical areas analyzed.

This paper aims to discuss the digitalization of European listed companies in the context of the European Green Deal. The digital transformation can support companies in the field of corporate social responsibility, particularly in terms of environmental protection. Companies’ digitalization may have a beneficial impact by adopting ‘smart’ technologies that allow for the efficient use of natural resources and the reduction of pollution, enabling the transformation of business models into sustainable ones within the circular and digitized economy. Based on a large sample of companies listed on the main European Union financial markets, this paper aimed at analysing the extent to which digitalization efforts are part of the companies’ general tendencies of becoming good corporate citizens, especially in regard to environmental protection. The study also showed that digitalization efforts are rewarded in financial markets, with investors providing more capital to companies that digitize their activities and are more socially responsible.

Artificial intelligence is a computational technology that has proved its ability to contribute to a wide range of industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, and finance. If properly integrated, it can increase the competitive advantage of a business and enhance the ways it conducts operations. In this regard, competences play an important role in safeguarding the efficient coexistence of employees with intelligent systems. The scientific literature made important contributions to determine what the key competencies when working with AI and how companies plan to adapt to the new technologies. While the papers provide a good overview of what the market requires, we consider that the view is very general, and it is not correlated with what AI integration means for a business. Understanding why strategic decisions are made requires a detailed analysis of the implications of AI in a working environment. The present study aims to communicate a wider perspective on why different levels of knowledge are required with respect to AI, what are the derived competencies and how they relate to various levels of authority in an organisation. Additionally, in this article, the authors make a leap from technical research, focused on AI applications in various fields, to a more general approach with interest in AI integration in business.

The development of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, has a significant effect on the automation of business processes related to the automotive industry, directly impacting employees’ skills and work tasks. The objectives of the study are: to identify the state of current research in the field of economics on the use of technologies based on artificial intelligence and the effects on employees’ competencies, to reveal the main themes addressed in the literature corresponding to the topic under investigation and to highlight a practical solution to assess employees’ required competencies in the automotive industry. The authors used bibliometric analysis to map the literature to highlight the effects of implementing AI-based technologies on the skills needed in the automotive industry. The sample selected from the Web of Science database consists of 866 papers published between 2018 and 2024 in the field of economics. The research results are obtained by analysing the intellectual and conceptual structure of the scientific production on the chosen topic and highlighting a practical solution related to the strategy of implementing artificial intelligence in an automotive industry company correlated with tasks design. This can be used to assess employees’ skills in the context of automating production processes, which gives it originality through an innovative, practiceoriented research approach and relevance to business decision-makers

In order to fully benefit from the advantages induced by artificial intelligence (AI) at the corporate level, business organisations should be well aware of the factors contributing to the proper AI specialisation of their employees. In this context, the present paper aims to examine the role of national culture in supporting the distribution of AI skills and jobs across countries, starting from the theoretical and applied need of carrying out such a study. The investigation is developed by using Hofstede’s model of the six dimensions of national culture and it focusses on a global sample of 44 leading countries regarding their AI talent concentration. For the fulfilment of the assumed objective, multiple linear regression models, accompanied by robust regression and enhanced by beta regression with novel robust estimators, were employed. The achieved results reflect the existence of a connection between national culture and AI skills development across the explored countries. More specifically, the outcomes exhibit the prevalence of a negative, statistically significant, relationship between individualism and AI talent concentration, and a positive, significant connection between long-term orientation and AI skills and jobs concentration. The results are relevant for organisations and managers aiming to support the development of AI skills of their employees by nurturing free communication, group collaboration, teamwork, peer learning, and forward-looking strategic education programmes for adjustment to AI.

This paper investigates the dynamics associated with inequality in EU member states. The variation of the Gini coefficient is analyzed from different perspectives: economic growth, certain macroeconomic variables, socio-demographic environment and historical, political and cultural environment. The use of the panel data regression model allows country specific effects control, the results showing that in the context of European convergence, the historical, political, cultural and socio-demographic factors have the greatest impact in terms of income distribution. Starting from the complex analysis of the evolution of inequalities in the last half century and from the experts’ opinions regarding the relationship between the last two crises (from 2008 and the current pandemic), we notice important changes, there is a paradigm shift. The paper proposes a new approach to the economic growth paradigm, based on reversing the dynamics of income inequality in the 21st century and outlines our own vision on support policies to mitigate rising inequalities, in the context of designing a robust resilience strategy and sustainable post-pandemic development.

The purpose of the paper is to propose and examine a logical and epistemological tool to measure science as a specific human activity in the social cooperation network. In preparing the very approach of the main issue of the research, a short examination of the concept and typology of science is presented, including Economics. The basic target of the paper is to find and examine a structurally (as deep as possible) variable holding the potential to ensure (as a common measure, perhaps of quantic, i.e., discrete nature) the commensurability of any science. Such a tool is considered to be a species of time, that is, the social time. Essentially, it is shown that science provides a specific outcome, namely, the social time variation, which constitutes the fundamental input to any (other than science) social action/activity. This outcome is treated from an Economics account (not quite the standard Economics, but the evolutionary one), so that one can discover all implications of science(s) from an economic point of view (including, for example, the social entropy affected by the science realm). Finally, the paper proposes a sui generis market structure and functioning – the science market, including the Kuhnian paradigm, to provide a general description (both causal and pure functional) of the Economics of science.

Nationally and internationally, there is an upward trend in terms of ethics and integrity in scientific research. Yet, there are many opinions, both in academia and in society, about the many cases of violations of ethical principles in research. This requires today more than ever that the observance of ethics in research to become an increasingly important and relevant desideratum in the contemporary society. Failure to achieve this requirement can generate serious consequences on university education, especially in the long term, materialized by a series of consequences such as: the decrease in the quality of academic activity; devaluation of the status of university professors; undervaluation of scientific research; underappreciation of doctoral studies; lack of respect at the level of the society. Therefore, the members of the academic community – students, master students, PhD students and professors – must become increasingly aware of the social effects of noncompliance with the principles of ethics and integrity in scientific research. The purpose of this research is aimed at evaluating the perception of PhD students and doctoral supervisors on the observance of the principles of ethics in the research activity within the doctoral schools in economic sciences, as well as the identification of the most important factors with significant influence on ethics and integrity in research. In this regard, the authors of the present paper have carried out quantitative research among the two target groups within the doctoral schools of economic sciences affiliated with the Universitaria Consortium in Romania, respectively, PhD students and doctoral supervisors. The data collected from the 455 respondents (169 PhD supervisors and 286 PhD students) were analyzed using structural equation modeling in SmartPLS. The conceptual model proposed by the authors reveals that the observance of ethics in scientific research is based on professionalism, honesty, academic freedom, integrity, ethical behavior, and the avoidance of violation of ethical principles. The originality of the paper consists in the realization of structural models that highlight the most influential factors in the observance of ethics and integrity in economic research, but also of the relations between them, as well as the differences and similarities between PhD students and doctoral supervisors regarding their perception of ethics and integrity in research. By knowing these factors, academic programs can be initiated that will lead to a higher level of academic integrity in doctoral schools and better results in observing the ethics in scientific research, but also in the training of future researchers in the field of economic sciences.

As part of a safety-first principle during the COVID-19 pandemics, the vast majority of companies have enabled flexible working environments, reducing the number of employees in the premises. The global best practices have firstly been recorded among the ICT companies which offered teleworking to their employees, empowering safety and flexibility through remote work policies and flexible working hours. Although hybrid working models might become a standard in many industries, only a paucity of papers has examined the relationship between novel working environments and various classes of intangible assets. The aim of this paper is to present the effects of hybrid working models (telework and flexible working hours) on intangible assets (human, relational, structural and intellectual capital). While the existing hybrid work principles have already shown mixed effects on corporate outcomes, its impact on intangible assets remains unrevealed. To address this research gap, we conducted an empirical study. Primary data were collected in the Serbian ICT sector (N=122) using a structured questionnaire developed for this purpose. Data was analyzed with the OLS regression. The results confirm the positive effects of the hybrid working model on intangible assets of ICT companies, which could further propel the financial success of these companies. In general, these results imply that hybrid working models, which are becoming a standard for many industries, would not jeopardize the creation of intangible assets – the ultimate resource of modern companies

The paper analyzes the impact of some decisional factors that shape telework in Romanian enterprises. These factors give us an image at macro and micro levels on the influences and changes that manifest themselves on the behavior of Romanian managers who, during the COVID-19 pandemic, were forced to resort to the organization of telework. The results obtained are a starting point in the development of a structural model. The research was conducted based on an online survey, the questionnaire being administered to a sample of 154 Romanian managers. The testing of the hypotheses of the structural modeling equations was performed using the least squares method, and the software used for data processing and analysis was SPSS 20 and SmartPLS3. The results of the study confirm the theoretical aspects illustrated throughout the article, capturing the mobility and adaptability of the behavior of Romanian managers in a crisis. Telework within Romanian enterprises is strongly and significantly influenced by the action of the factors analyzed in this paper, namely: work organization, performance management, safety and health at work, information security management, and digitalization. Modification of legal and contractual regulations is the only factor that has a weak and insignificant influence on telework.

The present paper aims at investigating potential strategies for advancing university-business cooperation (UBC) in the Mediterranean area. The paper was developed from a real practical problem consisting of a poor UBC, as observed at the University of Bari Aldo Moro (Bari, Italy). In a more particular case, this was translated into a wall perceived by both universities and companies, a wall that was represented by the lack of transparency and the temporal mismatch between the skills of students and the needs of entrepreneurs. In an innovative manner, in the light of the Design Thinking approach, the research addresses potential solutions to solve the identified practical problem, through the lenses of the Double Diamond model. Each step of the model revealed invaluable insights for better understanding the analysed problem and for providing coherent measures to improve UBC. Particularly, it was revealed that collaborations between the businesses and the university must become an integral part of research projects, as well as a key element of academic publications and teaching. Also, strong networks between representatives from the academic and business environments should be enhanced. In a more specific perspective, three main directions (prototypes) were explored in the paper: (a) design of relax and convivial areas which allow students and entrepreneurs to meet; (b) organization of meetings between students and entrepreneurs in a human-centred perspective; and (c) implementation of real synergies between companies and students, based on meetings, formal agreements, mutual knowledge and win-win performances. The paper brings new knowledge on UBC, especially in the Mediterranean area, of both practical and theoretical relevance

IoT (Internet of Things) is a concept that defines a world in which all objects are connected to each other via the Internet. The ability of smart devices to connect, communicate and transfer data has enabled the innovation and development of various solutions for industry, business organizations and final consumers. In this article, we have chosen to discuss the solutions related to smart homes. Thus, our paper presents, in the first part, the conceptual delimitations regarding IoT, areas of application, and characteristics of the solutions dedicated to smart homes, showing that adoption of IoT-based smart home solutions has been too little addressed in the literature. Most of the work in the field insists on the technical aspects and only subsidiarily deals with the issues regarding the level of understanding of the IoT smart home concept by potential or actual users and the degree of adoption and use of these solutions. In order to cover these gaps identified in the literature, we presented, in the second part of the paper, the methodology and results of an exploratory research, conducted on a sample of 471 persons, which allowed us to identify the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents (users of IoT solutions), level of understanding the IoT concept, degree of the adoption and, also, the associated benefits and challenges, from the perspective of the Romanian users. We also developed a binary logistic regression model, for in-depth analysis of the results and for correlating the findings of our research with those of other studies

The purpose of this paper is to compare the accuracy of the three types of models: Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models, Holt-Winters models and Neural Network Auto-Regressive (NNAR) models in forcasting the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the countries of European Union and the Western Balkans (Montenegro, Serbia and Northern Macedonia). The models are compared based on the values of ME, RMSE, MAE, MPE, MAPE, MASE and Theil's U for the out-of-sample forecast. The key finding of this paper is that NNAR models give the most accurate forecast for the Western Balkans countries while ARIMA model gives the most accurate forecast of twelve-month inflation in EU countries. The Holt-Winters (additive and multiplicative) method proved to be the second best method in case of both group of countries. The obtained results correspond to the fact that the European Union has been implementing a policy of strict inflation targeting for a long time, so the ARIMA models give the most accurate forecast of inflation future values. In the countries of the Western Balkans the targeting policy is not implemented in the same way and the NNAR models are better for inflation forecasting

Electric vehicles and their environmental impact have become topics of increased interest in contemporary days, as innovative technologies developed and influenced the automobile industry. There is constant competition between gasoline and electric vehicles, the latter one trying to gain market share and change people’s perception about what eco-transportation means and the benefits it can bring. The presented paper recognizes the phenomenon of path dependency and lock-in effect that the automobile industry faces as a result of the dominance of gasolinebased cars and illustrates the pressures executed by these forces. The paper aims at bringing valuable solutions for approaching these issues, by bringing under attention relevant concepts such as skeuomorphs and the network effect. For tackling the topic proposed, the research adopts an illustrative case study technique, that offers a detailed and complex outline of the issues considered in relation to the electric vehicle industry.

The current paper focuses on the impact that automation and digital advancements have had on the tourism industry during the covid-19 pandemic. It also identifies the key players that can help to further improve technological advances in the field. As grim as the COVID-19 pandemic scenario has been, it can also be perceived as a lesson to be learned. By digitalizing hotels and restaurants, by creating automation, and by encouraging contactless payments, it is easier to prevent such scenarios from ever happening again in the future. There are also no organisations that can help with promoting safe tourism for the pandemic scenario, such as the Destination Management Organisations. It is important to take note of all the important actors and encourage cooperation between organisations and between private entities so that these difficult times can be overcome. The current paper proposes a set of solutions that can be implemented to ease tourism back into normality. As interest in the destination starts growing back, proper safety measures, digitalisation and automation, transparent and creative communication are crucial components of a marketing recovery plan aimed to convert the ongoing changes into positive precursors for business improvement in the tourism industry.

Research to identify initiatives to reduce food waste (FW) in Romania is quite limited, and existing studies at the European and international level have highlighted the need to promote models of good practice that can be multiplied on a large scale. In this context, the aim of the paper is to highlight good practices for preventing and reducing food waste in the EU and in Romania, so that different organizations and decision makers can develop better interventions in this regard. The best practices for preventing and reducing FW identified and presented in the paper refer to: the use of digital technology, projects and platforms, organizations involved in volunteering, food banks, mobile applications, social innovation, corporate social entrepreneurship, education, and public awareness. The paper also identified the determinants of food waste, encountered at the end of the food supply chain FSC (Food Supply Chain), as well as good practices to prevent and reduce it, to make it available to organizations, authorities, and households a wide range of models that can be implemented internationally and in Romania as well.

Migrant entrepreneurship represents a topic of a high societal and academic significance. For a host country, immigrant entrepreneurs’ endeavours are, in many cases, an under-utilized lever for local and regional economic revival. Based on a complex field research carried out between July 2017 and December 2018, the present paper approaches immigrant entrepreneurship in Romania, with a particular focus on Middle Eastern immigrant entrepreneurs. Our multi-method qualitative field research – consisting of semi-structured interviews, observations and informal discussions – envisaged 97 immigrant businesses, targeting the analysis of the phenomenon from different perspectives: economic, social, cultural, political, and institutional. Aiming to draw best practices from the investigated Middle Eastern immigrant entrepreneurs’ experiences, the research results outlined in this paper emphasize both descriptive and practical features. Migration-related particularities, entrepreneurs’ profile, business obstacles, business practices, or perspectives on and comparisons of the Romanian business environment with the one in the origin country represent just few examples of aspects thoroughly approached in the paper

This paper aims to analyse the concept of Heavy Work Investment (HWI) by studying the factors determining this phenomenon, as well as its outcomes (both negative and positive). According to the European Directive of 1993, Heavy Work Investment occurs when an individual works more than 48 hours per week. The aim of this paper is to study the factors influencing the occurrence of the phenomenon of Heavy Work Investment from the perspective of time invested, using the multiple regression model, as well as the outcomes of Heavy Work Investment, using the structural equation model (SEM). The study used the data of the countries included in the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), (37 countries and a total of 18,274 respondents) on employment status, the number of actual working hours, job and demographic characteristics. The results confirm the important impact of the cross-cultural differences on HWI behaviour as well as the outcomes of Heavy Work Investment according to the type of investor (dispositional / situational).

Recently some general agreements have been achieved regarding the current status of work addiction. One of the key criteria for conceptualizing a behavioral addiction is the harm caused by the behavior. It has been argued that in the case of work addiction, special attention should be devoted to the potential harm that the behavior causes for the recipients of the work or coworkers. This paper constitutes a narrative literature review of the literature suggesting an association between work addiction of a manager and harm caused to other employees and recipients of their work. Based on this review, it can be concluded that the existing data provide strong premises suggesting that work-addicted managers may cause significant harm to themselves, other employees, organizations, and recipients of their work. It includes potential indirect effects through creating an environment conducive to work addiction and its consequences among employees. However, there are very few studies directly investigating the harm and costs caused by work-addicted managers. This paper constitutes an attempt to integrate certain aspects of clinical and organizational research into work addiction and stimulate further integrations in this area

This paper presents the experience and lessons learned in a pilot project aimed at integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in sturgeon aquaculture. The project used convolutional neural networks and visual intelligence for the evaluation of fish biomass and the optimisation of sturgeon rearing technologies in integrated multitrophic production systems. Similar solutions have been used before to determine the biomass of other fish species, but this is the first documentation of the application of such a solution for sturgeons. The application challenges were significant, which was determined by the special morphological peculiarities of the sturgeons (shape, way of swimming, their dimensions). Both YOLACT technology and a computer vision context were tested using LAB and HSV colour spaces to estimate fish biomass based on imaging data. It was found that the LAB colour space provided superior results in terms of precision and efficiency, but maximum accuracy was achieved using convolutional neural networks (YOLACT). The analysis of the project results confirms the significant advantages of using the AI system for biomass monitoring, advantages consisting of the reduction of unit costs with labour and feed, improvement of water quality, active optimisation of sturgeon growing conditions. In this way, conditions are created for the sustainable growth of sturgeon production, both for consumption and for the restocking of various aquatic ecosystems with brood. It also proves that the large-scale implementation of AI-based technologies in the fisheries industry can make an important contribution to the achievement of Romania’s National Multiannual Aquaculture Strategic Plan 2022-2030, as well as to the implementation of the European Union’s strategies on food security and biodiversity

The fast pace of the inclusion of AI in almost all sectors of human activity, with more and more accurate and effective results, transforms society at all levels. Changes have already been noticed in the structure of jobs offers for human tasks, since AI provides skills that can successfully replace human competencies in certain areas of activity. Hence, our paper aimed to investigate whether AI is perceived as a threat or a benefactor for the competencies of the human workforce. The analysis of the relevant scientific literature was followed by a quantitative investigation on 512 adult persons of all ages, sex, and having various work experiences. Research results indicate that job losses, dehumanisation of the work, as well as lower intellectual capacity and skills for humans that are no longer used to solve problems and work tasks on their own, are the main threats brought by AI. At the same time, there are perceived AI benefits, such as rapidity in solving some work tasks and reducing the physical and mental strain of employees. In general, it can be said that younger generations, who also have less work experience, are more open to using the AI competencies to solve their work tasks.

In the current European context, member states have increasingly effective and efficient concerns in the field of sustainable waste management. To this effect, the European Commission has adopted a package of measures in order to stimulate Europe's transition to a circular economy, which first involves efficient waste management and the consolidation of good practices in the field. Thus, Romania will have to comply with the new European rigors and improve its own waste management system. This paper aims to identify and analyse a set of good practices in the field of packaging waste in order to design one that is suitable for Romania. These examples are national models for organizing the management of packaging waste through deposit or storage systems. The main objective of these systems is to increase the recycling rates of packaging waste in accordance with European requirements, as well as the sustainable development of the waste sector, without causing economic losses to any of the stakeholders, namely business, population, environment and public authorities. The paper intends to conceptualize a specific model for the Romanian economy, respectively a model of organization and operation of the deposit system in the field of packaging waste that could be used by the competent authorities and the business environment.

The present paper presents a practical example of methods and tests which are used by companies in the Romanian insurance market with regards to choosing the most feasible model in order to validate their partial internal model and to use it for internal calculation of solvency capital requirement. The focus of the analysis carried on by the author was on earthquake model and content of the paper presents the validation of individual components in the model starting with the exposure and its processing. The back test considers how the rare past catastrophes are described in the models. The validation tests show that the used model – Impact Forecasting – is the best to be chosen of the available models.

Over time, sustainability and social responsibility have become key concepts at macrolevel, meso-level and micro-level, and in various domains such as business and higher education. The paper aims to explain the close relationship between the two concepts in higher education, and to identify and analyse the various factors that motivate or impede students from becoming involved in social responsibility activities. The information was gathered by using a stratified sampling method from the students enrolled at a Romanian higher education institution, the Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest. Then, the information was processed through the factorial analysis in order to identify the underlying unobserved variables and how they relate to students’ decision to participate in social responsibility activities. Finally, a logit regression analysis led to the main results that show that personal values are the main motivators, whereas structural and interpersonal barriers are the main inhibitors. The paper also demonstrates that the social responsibility activities contribute to the development of sustainable higher education institutions through the active engagement and participation of their students.

This paper aims to present the advantages of the use of information technology that supports the growth of small and medium enterprises. The integration of technology represents the base forthe business environment to consolidate and to achieve continuous improvement. The study represents the literature review of the primary sources in the field, and it is one of the first papers that gives an overview of the latest essential aspects of the business sector. The main focus of the paper is to explore the opportunities of new technologies for Small Medium Enterprises (SME) in Indonesia. It has the primary objective to highlight the role of information technology integration in gaining competitive advantages on local and international markets. The results of the study conclude that the use of information technology supports small and medium enterprises growth.

The EU's environmental policies and strategies have been developed since the 1970s and underline that the sustainable economic development and well-being of the European Union countries are based on their natural environment. They are aimed at national and global air quality regulations that support the improvement of the air quality and the health of the population. The principal objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of the varied and complex action of the polluting environment on the organism. A convergent objective is the development of pollution management solutions and highlighting good practices for combating and reducing pollution and improving air quality. In this regard, the results of the analysis presented in the paper indicate that a healthier environment can prevent diseases caused by polluted air and decrease the number of deaths caused by respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. This statement represents the main result obtained by applying the methods of multidimensional data analysis (factorial analysis, principal component analysis, cluster analysis) to evaluate the complexity of contemporary environmental and health challenges. On the other hand, the use of tools and examples of the good practices for implementing strategies to improve environmental factors, especially air quality, are particularly useful in creating specific policies that lead to improving the quality of the environment and, implicitly, the health of the population.

Companies can contribute to the achievement of the sustainability goals through their procurement function when they opt for green procurement. In the current paper, the authors focused on the procurement of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified products. Having known that attitudes contribute to the definition of the individual’s behavioral model and, thus, of her/his “green” choices, the aim of the paper was to investigated attitudes related to the procurement of FSC certified products by people in charge of private company acquisitions. Research results were based on a survey, with a sample of 214 private companies from Romania. Results of binary logistic regression analysis indicate that companies that perceive a positive impact of FSC products on forest protection and on company image are more likely to replace conventional wood products with FSC ones when they have a similar price. When FSC products are more expensive than the conventional ones, companies will be more likely to buy them when economic benefits are present, too. From a practical perspective, the findings bring to the forefront the fact that companies can be stimulated to select FSC products at similar price over conventional ones by highlighting the contribution of the former to forest protection and the image benefits that they can bring

Sustainability and sustainable development are objectives, but also values that must be respected in the field of public procurement. The main objective of this paper is to document the interest in the research area of green public procurement. The research methodology involves the elaboration of a bibliometric analysis (therefore a quantitative research method), in the form of an inventory of the publication activity in the aforementioned field. The analysis was developed by querying the existing database on the Scopus platform, which contains documentation on journals, scientific papers, books and others. The query determined the display of a number of 6,257 scientific documents existing in the database containing the acronym for Green Public Procurement in the title, summary or keywords. The query was conducted on September 25, 2019 and includes publications, regardless of the location or date of publication. The research results confirm the increase of the scientific interest in the field of green public procurement. Since 2010 until the moment of querying the Scopus database, 3,441 documents were identified related to this topic, which represents more than half of the total elaborated documents existing in the database on the same topic, indexed between 1959 and 2009

The study aim is to present a review of the literature dedicated to green public procurement. We analyse traditionally and using a structured literature review 115 articles indexed in Scopus on this topic. The contribution of the paper consists in the development of the knowledge regarding the green procurement in the public domain, by highlighting the main investigations in the literature and their results, identifying the limits, but also the orientation towards future research. The results indicate increased attention paid by researchers to raising awareness of the importance of green procurement and its effect on sustainable development, as well as the need to create tools for implementation by both governments and entities involved in such purchases. We believe that our paper can have an impact on practice and public purchases standards, as it crystallizes the ideas of issuing applicable and useful regulations in terms of green procurement.

The development of the fast-moving consumer goods market in Romania, disputed by European companies specialized in retail, is a spectacular phenomenon, which exceeded the forecasts of the specialists and the expectations of the investors. European integration and adherence to Western security systems gave the specialized companies, with foreign capital, the security they needed in order to carry out consistent investments. The paper proposes a presentation and analysis of the development of modern means of commerce specific to the fast-moving consumer goods’ sector in our country. The bibliographic documentation was made using specialized sources and specialized articles from well known scientific databases. The assessment of the degree of concentration of the fast-moving consumer goods market based on the Gini Struck Method has led to a high value of the index, which shows the dominance of large economic agents at national level. The fierce competition has forced the companies in the sector to develop commercial areas, to innovate sales techniques, to identify new market niches, or even social responsibility actions. The forecasts for the development of the sector are optimistic, but the operators have to identify new means for consolidating or increasing the market position. The paper has an applicative character, being especially useful to consumers and the business environment

This paper addresses the field of product innovation in the context of current sustainability requirements in order to identify the relationship between sustainable development and product innovation. The demand for products continues to increase but in the same time, the environmental factors are more and more present in the organization policies, in these conditions, the sustainability aspects related to the product developments are becoming a competitive advantages. The structure of the research carried out in this paper is oriented in the first part on the identification of the most used keywords in the specialized literature in the field, and in the second part is focused on a systematic analysis of the literature. The main research questions addressed in this article are: What is the correlation between product innovation and sustainable development? What are the main difficulties in implementing product innovation and ensuring sustainable development? What solutions can be developed to overcome these difficulties? In the first part of the research we performed a keyword analysis using VOSviewer software to identify the most used keywords in the domain. Following the analysis of the specialized literature, we identified some key issues related to product innovation management and sustainable development. The research results indicate a correlation between the success of the product innovation and the sustainable development of an organization. As a solution for better product innovation management, we have proposed a set of indicators that can help organizations measure product innovation performance.

The technology innovation, especially in the case of artificial intelligence, has significantly transformed the work processes and how they are organised and performed. Even if the adoption of advanced technologies usually leads to a higher work performance, there are risks of negative disruptions in the working systems, such as non-ethical use and social negative effects. The paper presents the results of an ethnographic research conducted by the authors, with the objective to identify the impact of the artificial intelligence adoption in the workplace on the professional knowledge and skills requirements and on the upskilling and reskilling strategies. Three different domains were considered: information technology, education, and scientific research. One relevant conclusion of the research is that knowledge and skills requirements should be studied from multiple perspectives, such as profession dynamics, not only from the technology innovation perspective. The research originality mainly consists in the way in which the concept of the level of upskilling/reskilling importance is defined and applied, based on professional knowledge and skills development requirements. By using the assessed level of upskilling/reskilling importance, strategies and related actions may be defined and undertaken. By substantiating this manner of setting up the upskilling and reskilling strategies and actions, the research has a theoretical and practical impact in the domain of talent management.