Search

Research background:The research has two objectives and employs a serial mediation approach. First, using the general strain theory, it examines the mediating role of negative feel-ings and impact of economic adversity on people's risk tolerance and prudent financial behavior. The second is determining the various categories' variations according to age. Purpose of the article: The study's main objective is to evaluate financial behaviour of people with lower and medium incomes after the second wave of COVID-19 in India, and to contribute to the body of knowledge on general strain theory. Methods: The study examined the proposed framework and tested the serial mediation model based on the general strain theory used as a survey method for data collection, targeting lower and middle-income individuals in India's most populated state. The study applied PLS-SEM to test the framed hypotheses. Furthermore, the Kruskal Wallis test was applied to identify the difference in the various groups classified based on age. Findings & value added: The results reveal that economic hardship significantly influences improved financial behavior. Risk aversion attitude, loneliness, and depression mediate the relationship between economic hardship and financial behavior. Moreover, the study found quite a few significant differences between the different age groups. The present study will add to the existing literature on financial behavior under the scope of general strain theory and probably be among the few that test general strain theory with financial variables impact on lower and middle-income group individuals from a developing nation in post-COVID-19 period. © Instytut Badań Gospodarczych / Institute of Economic Research (Poland).

The undertaken research examines the impact of green attitude, green customer value (e.g., environmental image and perceived value), and green marketing mix (e.g., product, packaging, price, promotion, and place) on green purchasing intention. The research has integrated fundamental theoretical approaches of customers' purchasing such as attitude-behavior context (ABC) theory, signaling theory, and theory of planned behavior (TPB) in the modified conceptual framework. Additionally, this research has also incorporated the green psychological benefits (e.g., nature experience, self-expressive, and warm glow) as mediating construct. The modified conceptual framework also unified green marketing (e.g., environmental advertising and green word of mouth) as moderator to investigate further the connotation between attitude, green customer value, green marketing mix, and green purchase intention. The survey method is used to collect data with a sample size of 896 customers that are well-versed with eco-friendly green products and services from the different urban centers of the USA. The data is analyzed through a structural equation modeling (SEM)-based multivariate approach by using SPSS 26, AMOS 26, and conditional process modeling software. The findings have demonstrated a positive and significant impact of green customer value, green marketing mix, and attitude on the green purchase intention of US customers. The study has further concluded that the green psychological benefits (mediator) and green advertising (moderator) have a significant influence on a relationship between attitude, green customer value (environmental image and perceived value), green marketing mix, and green purchasing intention. The results of this research can be helpful for researchers and academicians to get insight into theoretical approaches to green purchasing, and it can also be helpful for marketers to devise green marketing strategies to gain optimal competitive advantage in the long run.

Circular economy is one of the best alternatives to the existing linear economy. Nowadays, environmental problems are widely discussed not only by scientists but also by politicians and business representatives. However, a number of barriers hinder the transition to a circular economy. Therefore, this paper aimed to determine the factors influencing the pro-environmental behavior of population, which directly affects the implementation of circularity principles. A quantitative approach based on the paradigm of positivism/realism was applied in this study. In the empirical part, the survey included an online questionnaire filled out in 16 regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which made for a total of 3448 respondents. The collected data were processed using the SPSS 25 software, and the hypotheses were tested using the Smart PLS 3 program. The results show that circular mindset, circular awareness, and external incentives significantly affect the pro-circular behavior of individuals and encourage shared consumption. This article contributes to the development of the theoretical basis of circular economy concepts and puts forward practical recommendations.

This research aims to examine a neural network (artificial intelligence) as an alternative model to examine the neuromarketing phenomenon. Neuromarketing is comparatively new as a technique for designing marketing strategies, especially advertising campaigns. Marketers have used a variety of different neuromarketing tools, for instance functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), eye tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), steady-state probe topography (SSPT), and other expensive gadgets. Similarly, researchers have been using these devices to carry out their studies. Therefore, neuromarketing has been an expensive project for both companies and researchers. We employed 585 human responses and used the neural network (artificial intelligence) technique to examine the predictive consumer buying behavior of an effective advertisement. For this purpose, we employed two neural network applications (artificial intelligence) to examine consumer buying behavior, first taken from a 1–5 Likert scale. A second application was run to examine the predicted consumer buying behavior in light of the neuromarketing phenomenon. The findings suggest that a neural network (artificial intelligence) is a unique, cost-effective, and powerful alternative to traditional neuromarketing tools. This study has significant theoretical and practical implications for future researchers and brand managers in the service and manufacturing sectors.

The aim of this study is to discuss the issues relevant to the CSR evaluation and to develop a model of CSR assessment by taking into account SDGs. Based on a critical literature review, the advantages and limits of CSR assessment models were analyzed with the SDGs addressed, and the framework of a novel model of CSR assessment was proposed in this study. The main limitations of CSR in addressing SDGs were defined as follows: the selective implementation of SDGs, greenwashing, the lack of the integration of the stakeholders, the lack of incorporation of SMEs, and the difference in CSR practices among countries. The created model includes all SDGs involved. Moreover, the positive and negative effects of CSR on SDGs were addressed. This proposed CSR assessment model can help to solve the major problems described above: selective implementation of SDGs, greenwashing, and the inability to compare CSR among industries or countries.

The aim of this paper is to examine the interdependence between the quality of life measured by gross domestic product per capita (GDP/p.c.) and the happiness of population measured by the happiness index. The analysis is based on recent data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on GDP/p.c. as well as the report from the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network on the World Happiness Index. The subjects of analysis are the happiness of the population of Southeast European countries in European and global contexts and the level of GDP/p.c. at which the amount of happiness becomes independent of income. The research results are based on descriptive and inferential statistics methods. The main finding of this paper points to the need for a significant increase in quality of life in order to increase the happiness of the population of Southeast European countries.

The agricultural sustainability issues are widely addressed in scientific literature and various reports by international organizations. However, there is lack of harmonized approach in addressing agricultural sustainability issues as different policies are targeting different sustainability issues in agriculture. This article analyses sustainable agriculture development and agriculture sustainability concepts and sustainability assessment approaches and tools developed for agriculture sector. Based on systematic critical literature review, this article develops the new indicators framework for sustainability assessment in agriculture which allows us to achieve harmonization of sustainable development, climate and agricultural policies in European Union (EU). The proposed indicators framework allows us to address the main sustainability issues of agriculture by linking them with sustainable development goals, environmental, climate and rural development policy priorities in EU. The main contribution of this article is linking rural policy goals with sustainable development, climate change mitigation and environmental policy goals by providing agricultural sustainability assessment framework allowing us to track these linkages through indicators system.

The aim of the study is to find out the perception of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic. In connection with the objectives of the study, a questionnaire survey was carried out on a sample of 419 respondents – business owners and managers. The data were collected from September 2019 to January 2020. χ2 and Z-score were used to assess the hypotheses. It was found that there were statistical differences in the perception of some aspects of the positive impact of the introduction of the CSR concept in case of monitoring responses based on the geographic scope of the business. The results showed that although the manager should take into account the ethical and moral implications of his decisions, less than half of the respondents are familiar with the concept of CSR and enforce it in their management practice and ultimately managers cannot identify positive benefits from CSR implementation – it declares positive answers whose values oscillate around 30%. The findings show that there are no statistically significant differences in the answers of managers depending on the size of the company - this proves that micro, small and medium enterprises, respectively their managers do not differ in their attitudes to the topic of CSR. The final effect of the paper is to show the perception of the concept of CSR of entrepreneurs - respondents in the Czech Republic.

This research aims to evaluate two econometric models to forecast imports and exports for the financial year (FY) 2020. For this purpose, we used the annual exports and imports data of Pakistan from FY2002 to FY2019. Thus, in this regard, we employed, and compared the results of two econometrics models such as Box Jenkins or Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), and Auto-Regressive (AR) with seasonal dummies. For examining the precision of forecasting, we employed mean absolute error and root mean square error approaches. The findings of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) reveal that the ARIMA or Box Jenkins approach provides better accuracy of the forecast for the exports as compared to the AR model with dummies. However, Auto-Regressive (AR) model has demonstrated more precision for the imports as compared to the Box Jenkins model. Hence, the projected forecasting for the growth of export is 1.87% for the FY2020 and projected forecasting for the import demonstrates a negative variation of -1.61% for the FY2020. The findings of the undertaken study recommend the policymakers of Pakistan to take corrective measures to increase exports and to prevent the country from the trade deficit. The policymakers of Pakistan should give more incentives to the exporters and decrease the cost of doing business to be more competitive than the regional economies such as India, Bangladesh, and China.

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of a firm as one of the critical factors to improve the competitiveness of the firm in today’s aggressive market environment. The influence of corporate social responsibility on brand loyalty and brand image, which distinguishes the firm from other competitors, was evaluated in the study. Data from 364 consumers were collected through adapted and structured questionnaires for the period from August 2018 to December 2018. The respondents were selected through convenience sampling to generate the responses of individual online consumers who buy luxury goods online. The sample size of 364 was taken from a simple random table with a 5% margin of error and a 95% confidence level. SEM-based multivariate approaches such as structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis were employed, and SmartPLS 3.0 software was used for the data evaluation. The results indicate that the firm’s CSR initiatives have a significant and positive impact on brand loyalty and brand image. The study undertaken has several theoretical and practical implications which could provide the basic foundations and conceptual framework for future studies, and it offers strategic directions for the senior managers of firms to plan CSR initiatives that can enhance the brand loyalty of their brands and also increase corporate reputation, all of which are beneficial to remain competitive in today’s business arena.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a prominent subject due to its major implication for the practitioners in the corporate arena. Based on the theory of engagement, theory of social exchange, and theory of social identity, a conceptual framework was established in this study to evaluate the employee engagement (EE), and organizational commitment (OC) as a resultant of CSR initiatives. The study further examined the impact of distributive justice (DJ), procedural justice (PJ), and job satisfaction (JS) as mediating variables, and the influence of collectivism (COL) as a moderating variable between CSR initiatives and OC and EE. Data from 989 employees of the Pakistani pharmaceutical industry was collected and analyzed using the structural equation modeling and exploratory and confirmatory inferential models. Results demonstrate that CSR initiatives have a significant positive impact on OC and EE. Similarly, the mediation of JS, PJ, and DJ was established between the exogenous and the endogenous variables. Finally, the COL has a significant impact as a moderating variable between CSR initiatives, and OC and EE. The conclusions obtained in this study provide significantly practical and theoretical implications for managers of involved firms to improve employee behavior, mold employee attitude, and enhance organizational performance via CSR strategy, especially for firms located in countries along the route of belt and road initiative.

This study deals with the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm competitiveness. Based on the comprehensive literature review, the theoretical model, providing linkages between CSR and corporate competences, has been developed. The created model was empirically tested, and the case study in Lithuania was conducted based on the assessment of influence of different social responsibility dimensions (environmental, social, economic, shareholder and voluntariness) on separate elements of competitiveness (financial capacity, quality of production, satisfied needs of consumers, efficiency, introduction of innovations and company’s image). The survey of 33 Lithuanian companies, i.e., all companies in Lithuania that have joined Global Compact, was performed by employing questionnaires. The conducted empirical research confirms that separate social responsibility dimensions (environmental, social, economic, shareholder, voluntariness) differently affect separate elements of competitiveness: financial capacity, quality of production, satisfied needs of consumers, efficiency, introduction of innovations and company’s image. It has been found that neither the quality of production nor the possibilities for introduction of innovations in a company are affected by the dimensions of social responsibility. Whereas company’s image, reputation and the factor of satisfied needs of consumers are affected by all dimensions of social responsibility that have been analysed. It has been noticed as well that the element of competitiveness, i.e., financial capacity, is affected by environmental and economic social responsibility dimensions; whereas, productivity and work efficiency are mostly related to social, shareholder and philanthropic dimensions. The main input of this paper is the definition of linkages between specific Corporate Social Responsibility dimensions addressed by the Global Compact and the main elements of competitiveness that have been identified based on rigorous and systematic literature review. The paper applies a completely different approach compared to the other studies that are investigating the impact of CSR on competitiveness via moderation and mediation analysis. The main approach followed in this paper is the qualitative assessment that has several limitations and advantages.

The undertaken research investigates the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model from the perspective of online education in the deadliest period of COVID-19. This research investigates the extended dimensions, for instance, mobile self-efficacy and perceived enjoyment besides traditional elements of the UTAUT model with the relationship of behavioural intention and user behaviour of LMS. Since the COVID-19 led to social isolation (SIS), thus, this study has incorporated SIS as mediating factor and fear of COVID-19 (FOC) as the moderating factor for the considered extended model of UTAUT. The data of 1875 respondents was collected from five different Asian countries. For the data analysis, this study employed structural equation modeling through PLS-SEM and condition process modeling. This research demonstrates that the extended dimensions such as mobile self-efficacy, besides the traditional elements of the UTAUT model, exerted a cogent impact on behavioural intention except for the perceived enjoyment. Similarly, the behavioural intention demonstrated a substantial effect on the user behaviour of LMS. Additionally, social isolation as a mediating factor and FOC has a significant effect between dimensions of extended UTAUT model and behavioural intention of LMS. The outcomes of this research demonstrate significant theoretical and practical implications during the COVID-19 pandemic. First published online 30 November 2021

Measuring efficiency in the presence of undesirable outputs could be difficult depending on how to treat these outputs; thus, undesirable outputs modelling has been an exciting subject of several studies in the Data envelopment analysis (DEA) literature in the last two decades. The present study aims to illustrate a thorough overlook of studies in which DEA has applied for measuring efficiency with undesirable outputs. Fifty-eight articles were published from 2000 to 2020 have been systematically reviewed through PRISMA protocol. The results indicated that "Journal of Cleaner Production" ranked first with six published articles, and Chinese scholars have the most contributions to this field, with twenty-third articles. Also, almost a quarter of the published articles' scope was related to agricultural pollution, and thirteen articles were published in 2016, the highest number of published articles annually. Taken together, the theoretical and empirical implications of research in the field of Green Productivity are discussed, and some policies were recommended.

Research background: Faculties of private universities are under immense working pressure, which causes stress and burnout. The job burnout triggers the psychological pressure, which increases the turnover intention. Purpose of the article: The undertaken study aims to evaluate the scale of burnout with its three-element model, which affects faculty members of private universities of Pakistan. This research also aims to examine the mediating effect of organizational commitment (e.g., affective, normative & continuance commitments), and moderating influence of subjective vitality in a relationship of job burnout and its constituents, for example exhaustion, efficacy & cynicism, and the turnover intention. Methods: The 712 responses were collected through a structured questionnaire from the junior and senior faculty members of private universities of Pakistan. The data was examined by using second order partial least square ? structural equation approach ? PLS-SEM. Findings & value added: The research findings exhibited that emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy have a direct significant influence on job burnout. The findings further demonstrated that the job burnout has a cogent and negative impact on faculty turnover intention. The findings demonstrated that elements of organizational commitment (e.g., normative, affective & continuance commitments) have a forceful serial mediating influence between burnout & its constituents for example exhaustion, efficacy & cynicism, and turnover intention. Finally, the findings have revealed that subjective vitality has a significant and positive impact as a moderating variable in a relationship between job burnout and turnover intention. This research has a long-term theoretical contribution, as it provides a novel conceptual framework, which can be replicated in different industries. Thus, this unique model provides the solution to reduce employees? turnover for other industries as well.

Capacity utilization (CU) measures may show the potential for production growth under improved availability of the (variable and fixed) inputs. However, the environmental constraints should be considered when taking the production decisions. These questions are important in the context of the agricultural sector that needs to ensure food security and sustainability. This paper proposes a novel approach that integrates weak disposability technology with observation-specific abatement factors with input- and output-orientated capacity utilization measures in the short and long run. The case of European Union agricultural sector is analyzed. The results indicate that the multiple output-oriented CU measures considered in the study yield often conflicting results. Italy, Germany and France show the highest levels of the agricultural capacity utilization. At the other end of spectrum, the underdeveloped economies often showed lower values thereof. The inclusion of the energy-related GHG emission in the model generally reduced the performance gaps among the countries considered. Results of the research are important in assessing the possibilities for sustainable agricultural growth and development in the European Union as the CU levels may vary for a certain depending on the inclusion of the environmental pressures in the model.

This research aims to measure the service quality of e-banking through e-customer satisfaction & e-customer loyalty in the Islamic e-banking sector of Pakistan. For this purpose, we modified the multiple-item scale (E-S-QUAL) model with two new dimensions: availability of online system and personal needs of customers. Additionally, we added two mediators, for instance, religiosity and trust in the Islamic e-banking perspective. We have collected 674 responses from the consumers of the Islamic banking sector of Pakistan through a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed through second-order PLS-SEM (PLS-structural equation modeling) to examine direct and serial mediation. The direct relationship results showed a positive and compelling effect of modified E-S-QUAL dimensions on e-customer satisfaction. Additionally, the e-customer satisfaction has an affirmative and significant association with e-customer loyalty. Moreover, the serial mediation relationship results exhibited that the e-customer satisfaction, trust, and religiosity mediated the modified dimensions of the E-S-QUAL model and e-customer loyalty.

The paper deals with the exposition of the main barriers and drivers of renewable energy usage in rural communities. Climate change mitigation is causing governments, policymakers, and international organizations worldwide to embark on policies, leading to increased use of renewable energy sources and improvement of energy efficiency. Climate change mitigation actions, including the Green Deal strategy in the EU, require satisfying the expanding energy demand and complying with the environmental restrictions. At the same time, the prevailing market structure and infrastructure relevant to the energy systems are undergoing a crucial transformation. Specifically, there has been a shift from centralized to more decentralized and interactive energy systems that are accompanied by a low-carbon energy transition. Smart Grid technology and other innovations in the area of renewable energy microgeneration technologies have enabled changes in terms of the roles of energy users: they can act as prosumers that are producing and consuming energy at the same time. Renewable energy generation that is allowing for deeper involvement of the citizens may render higher social acceptance, which, in turn, fuels the low-carbon energy transition. The collective energy prosumption in the form of energy cooperatives has become a widespread form of renewable energy initiatives in rural communities. Even though renewable energy consumption provides a lot of benefits and opportunities for rural communities, the fast penetration of renewables and energy prosumption encounter several important barriers in the rural areas. This paper analyses the main barriers and drivers of renewable energy initiatives in rural areas and provides policy implications for the low-carbon energy transition in rural areas.

The study used the following general scientific methods of theoretical and empirical research: a systematic approach – to justification for parametric index at set prices based on the additional premium for quality, based on the use of quantitative and qualitative indicators; methods of theoretical generalization – for grouping the principles and functions of prices in the context of the concept of cognitive marketing; the method of dispersion analysis – to detect and assess the price formation dependence not only on quantitative characteristics (material costs), but also on the qualitative characteristics of the product (parametric quality index); the method of correlation-regression analysis – for constructing a regression model of pricing. The main results of the study were to identify the differences in the marketing mix in the context of the concepts of cognitive and traditional marketing

This article focuses on defining the integrated platform for managing information in smart cities. We look into the smart city platforms that are increasingly used in today’s cities all around the world. Smart city platforms can be deployed on private, public or hybrid clouds, remote servers or onsite. By definition, a smart city platform integrates many different functional areas of the smart city in a single environment. The Smart city platform offers integrated functionality to coordinate intelligent city data, applications, solutions and services at one or more operational levels between multiple stakeholders with integrated functionality. By monitoring and analysing the use of urban assets, the government can distribute them to improve operational efficiency. The platform provides middleware and operational functionality across multiple software and hardware, integrates multiple communication protocols, and provides latent and free solutions for smart cities. Managing the huge amounts of data generated by IoT-based sensors and systems is a main challenge facing end users and providers. We show that smart city platforms serve to standardize data and information across many silo systems. It is demonstrated that they provide a common mechanism for visualizing and managing data to optimize the entire urban operation.

The sheet metalworking industries possess minimal knowledge in the area of sustainability despite having served as sub-contractors to various industrial sectors. This also highlights that suitable indicators for measuring the sustainability performance of sheet metalworking operations are poorly addressed. As sustainability assessment is regarded as a vital part of sustainable development, this paper has been aimed at establishing a general framework for sustainability assessment of sheet metalworking processes. The main attention was paid to two important processes—the cutting operations with a CNC turret punch press machine and sheet metal bending operations with CNC press brake machine. Stepwise guidelines to implement the proposed framework in sheet metalworking industries are consequently presented. Besides, this study contributes to developing an applicable sustainability indicator set for assessing such manufacturing processes. It makes a valuable contribution to advancing the narrow body of knowledge on the under-researched scope.

Bioenergy is a kind of renewable energy that can potentially contribute to a broad spectrum of economic, environmental, and societal objectives and aid sustainable development. The assessment, management, and monitoring of the diverse bioenergy production technology alternatives are complex in nature and deliver different benefits due to the lack of precise and comprehensive data. Selection of an optimal bioenergy production technology (BPT) alternative is considered a complex multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem that involves many incompatible tangible and intangible as well as qualitative and quantitative criteria. The procedure of defining and evaluating the weights of the criteria is an important concern for decision experts because the assessment and the final selection of the BPT alternative are carried out on the basis of the defined set of criteria. Intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) have received considerable attention due to their ability to handle the imprecision and vagueness that can arise in real-life situations. Thus, this study presents an integrated approach, based on stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) approaches, for the selection of BPT alternatives. In the integrated framework, criteria weights are determined by the SWARA procedure, and the ranking of BPT alternatives is decided by the COPRAS method using IFSs. The criteria weights evaluated by this approach involve the imprecision of experts&rsquo, opinions, which makes them more comprehensible. To express the efficiency and applicability of the integrated framework, a BPT selection problem is presented using IFSs. In addition, this study involved sensitivity analysis with respect to various sets of criteria weights to reveal the strength of the developed approach. The sensitivity analysis outcomes indicate that the agricultural and municipal waste of biogas (S3) consistently secures the highest rank, despite how the criteria weights vary. Finally, a comparative study is discussed to analyze the validity of the obtained result. The findings of this study confirm that the proposed framework is more useful than and consistent with previously developed methods using the IFSs environment.

Nowadays women often lead teams, hold high positions in top management, plan and make important strategic decisions in firms or groups. However, little attention in scientific literature has been paid to gender difference in implementing CSR practices of firms. Implementing CSR practices successfully in many cases depends on the gender difference of top management. The object of this study is the importance of ‘feminine gaze’ with respect to gender difference in implementing CSR in firms. This study aims at supplementing feminist ethical – and in part, epistemological – concerns with empirical studies considering the role of women in the top management of firms, then the impact of gender on implementation of CSR initiatives was analysed, and the main drivers linked to gender for the implementation of CSR initiatives were assessed in this study based on the comprehensive literature review. The study confirmed the positive impact of woman representation on the development of CSR initiatives in the firm. The number of women in BOD and employee positions from all stakeholders including customers’ perspectives have positive impacts on the penetration of CSR initiatives, and can be considered as an important driver of CSR in the firms.