Advancements in information and communication technology (ICT) have significantly impacted crucial sectors of society, including transport, health, business, education, and communication, in both developed and developing countries. However, internet access has spread unevenly worldwide, resulting in a global digital divide. This study aims to identify the socio-economic and demographic factors contributing to the pervasive digital exclusion of the Pakistani populace. It also explores digital exclusion from a gendered perspective, considering both internet and device exclusion. Results from logistic regression analysis on data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (2019-2020) Survey reveal that education reduces digital exclusion regardless of gender. Employment and increased income also reduce digital exclusion, but these effects are more pronounced among the male population. The study recommends the conduct of digital literacy programs for both males and females and job opportunities for females in the tech sector.
The EU aims to reduce net emissions by at least 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels and become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The EU Taxonomy Regulation mandates large companies to disclose their sustainability activities in reports starting 2023. This study examines major Hungarian energy companies (MVM, E.ON, ALTEO, MOL), which represent over 80% of the national energy sector, assessing their sustainability through a framework that evaluates the reliability, accuracy, and clarity of their sustainability reports. It analyzes their key performance indicators (Turnover, CAPEX, OPEX) and sustainable activities as defined by EU Taxonomy. Findings suggest that mandatory sustainability reporting is vital for achieving EU targets, but additional indicators are necessary for enhanced accuracy and comparability.
This paper develops a multi-level conceptual framework to explain how multinational corporations (MNCs) from both developed and emerging economies respond to the global strengthening of intellectual property (IP) regimes. Adopting a co-evolutionary perspective, the study extends existing literature by integrating the knowledge-based view with institutional theory. It explores MNC strategies through propositions encompassing country-, industry-, and firm-level factors. The framework highlights that IP regimes have strengthened due to the transition to knowledge economies, international trade agreements, and domestic innovation policies in emerging economies. MNCs navigate these regimes by balancing internal knowledge sharing and external linkages, influenced by IP regime strengths, strategic priorities, industry dynamics, firm capabilities, and home/host country mismatches. Emerging economy MNCs, facing latecomer status and asset disadvantages, are likely to leverage external linkages more extensively. While conceptual, the study sets the stage for empirical testing, offering valuable insights into MNCs' strategic responses to evolving IP landscapes.
This research project aims to gain insight into the influence of gradual retirement on the fundamental self-evaluations of middle-aged and older professionals who intend to remain in their current roles while planning their careers. We put forth a model for investigation and testing, which seeks to identify the mediators and moderators associated with subjective career success and job meaning in middle-aged and older laborers. The findings indicate that core self-assessment and the meaning of one's job have a positive impact on subjective career success. Furthermore, subjective career success mediates the relationship between core self-assessment and gradual retirement. The results of this study have the potential to assist organizations in adapting job content to align with actual needs, promoting more flexible manpower utilization strategies, and utilizing suitable career content to enhance the gradual retirement intentions of middle-aged and older individuals.
This study examines the relationship between purpose-driven leadership and extra-role behavior, focusing on the mediating effects of employee engagement and organizational justice. A delayed-response field survey was conducted among 447 employees from 21 Croatian organizations. Mediation analysis revealed that purpose-driven leadership indirectly affects extra-role behavior through full mediation by employee engagement and organizational justice. These findings underscore that employee engagement and organizational justice are essential psychological mechanisms linking leadership and employees' discretionary behaviors. Introducing the concept of purpose-driven leadership to the Croatian context, this study offers novel insights into how leadership fosters positive workplace outcomes. The results provide practical implications for managers, highlighting the importance of aligning leadership strategies with engagement and justice to enhance extra-role behavior. However, limitations arise from data collection from a single source and the involvement of both private and public sector organizations, suggesting avenues for further research.
In the context of European climate policy and sustainable development goals, the question of the relationship between economic growth and consumption of non-renewable energy sources becomes crucial for understanding the dynamics of the transition towards a carbon-neutral economy. Croatia, as a member of the European Union, faces the challenge of balancing economic growth and decarbonization as fossil fuels still represent the main source of energy in most sectors. Although the existing literature is rich in analyses at the European Union level, there is relatively little research that examines sectoral patterns of fossil energy consumption and their relationship with economic growth in Croatia. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between fossil fuel consumption and economic growth in Croatia and to assess the extent to which decoupling of economic activity from non-renewable energy consumption has been achieved. The paper contributes to the literature by using a shift-share analysis to investigate energy changes at the sectoral level. The analysis is based on data for the period 1995-2023 and focuses on Croatia while EU-27 data are used as a benchmark. The shift-share method was applied which decomposes the total change in fossil energy consumption into three basic components: European, structural and competitive. Additionally, diagnostic indicators of energy intensity (EI) and fuel mix (FM) are included to better assess how sectoral trends contribute to fossil fuel dependency. The results indicate a relative decoupling of economic growth and fossil fuel consumption. Most sectors in Croatia show a decrease in energy intensity and the share of fossil fuels, indicating progress in the transition towards a more sustainable energy system. However, the transport sector remains the main source of growth in emissions-intensive activities thus neutralizing the positive effects of decarbonization in industry households and services. The findings suggest that further reduction of dependence on fossil fuels will require deeper structural reforms, especially in transport, as well as an accelerated diversification of the energy mix in line with European climate goals.
Given the long-standing debate over environmental investments as a potential threat to financial performance, this paper focuses on the environmentally intensive and economically influential hotel industry. The aim of this study is to provide deeper insight into environmental investments and their impact on financial performance, taking into account the institutional pressures and the inconclusive evidence from other industries. The review first considers traditional perspectives that view environmental measures as cost-inducing, followed by the Porter hypothesis, which offers a framework for potential gains in competitiveness and performance. Empirical evidence demonstrates that efficiency improvements, enhanced reputation, and the attraction of environmentally conscious customers are primary mechanisms by which environmental investments improve financial performance. However, short-term risks underscore the need for further research. Overall, the review positions environmental investments in hotels as both an ecological necessity and a strategic driver of long-term financial performance.
This paper examines the interactions among the stock markets of five Southeast European countries over the 2007-2024 period. Using daily index data, the study applies correlation analysis, cointegration techniques, Vector Autoregression, and Granger causality tests to assess long- and short-term relationships under different economic conditions. The results provide no robust evidence of long-run integration, as cointegration analysis fails to confirm stable relationships among the markets. In contrast, short-term dynamics reveal varying lead-lag relationships, which intensify during periods of economic turbulence and weaken during stable periods. Croatian and Slovenian markets exhibit leading roles in earlier periods; however, this precedence is not sustained over time despite their EU membership, while the Sarajevo market remains the least integrated. Overall, the findings suggest that co-movements are driven more by external shocks and investor behavior than by persistent structural linkages, with implications for regional portfolio diversification.
This article explores the importance of qualitative factors in determining cross-country Southeast European (SEE) capital markets efficiency in period between 2005 and 2023. The study employs the Correlated Random Effects (CRE) model as the most appropriate specification. It ensures methodological rigor by addressing correlation between unobserved heterogeneity and explanatory variables, thereby combining the efficiency of random effects (RE) with the consistency of fixed effects (FE) estimation. In precedent quantitative review the selected frontier capital markets were found to be weak-form inefficient under the Eugen Fama hypothesis. This work broadens the study to grasp precedent recommendation to integrate conduciveness to qualitative factors in the likes of rule of law, control of corruption, regulatory quality, and government effectiveness. Specifically empirical statistical testing reveals that governance quality positively impacts market values. The results infer association with capital markets' role with more vigour under the perception of the proven weak-form inefficiency.
Research within organisational paradox theory has garnered increasing attention in recent decades, yet studies from an individual-level perspective remain limited. Due to the limited empirical evidence on the relationship between individual-level paradoxes and employee performance, this study employs a multimethod, time-lagged, multisource research design in Croatian organisations. It aims to examine five theoretically and practically relevant individual-level paradoxes (individual ambidexterity, coopetitive personality, human capital paradox, job demands-resources fit, and paradoxical mindset) and explore their distinct connectedness with employee performance. To determine which individual-level paradoxes serve as sufficient and necessary conditions for employee performance, we applied Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA). Our study's findings indicate that individual ambidexterity is sufficient for enhancing employee performance. Conversely, the job demands-resources fit emerges as a necessary condition for achieving higher employee performance, supporting the notion that balancing job demands and resources fit is essential for optimal employee performance.
Mobile banking services represent relatively new services enabled by the rapid development of information and communication technology. The digital nature of mobile banking allows users faster, more accessible, and cost-effective access to various banking services, while providing banks with opportunities to reach new digitally-oriented customers and optimize service delivery costs. Despite these advantages, the adoption of mobile banking in Croatia is not on par with European Union countries, particularly Scandinavian countries, where the user rate exceeds 70%. This discrepancy indicates the need to investigate the factors influencing mobile banking adoption among Croatian users. This study aims to examine the application of an adapted UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) model in the Croatian context, where such research remains underrepresented. An empirical study was conducted using a questionnaire, collecting 331 valid responses. The data were analyzed using the PLS method. The results of the empirical analysis suggest partial applicability of the UTAUT model in explaining the adoption of mobile banking services among Croatian users. The constructs of performance expectancy and facilitating conditions had a direct influence on behavioral intentions and, consequently, on the adoption of mobile banking, while effort expectancy had an indirect effect through performance expectancy on intentions and adoption. Financial costs and social influence did not have a significant impact on intentions or adoption of mobile banking services.
Although sustainable manufacturing practices are often implemented due to regulatory pressure, extant findings indicate that the benefits of their implementation are evident in firms whose behaviour is truly oriented towards environmental protection and sustainability. This paper aims to contribute to existing knowledge on sustainable manufacturing by understanding the role of innovation activities, which are recognised as an inevitable part of the transformation to sustainability, in implementing and maintaining long-term sustainable manufacturing orientation. The hypothesis is that innovation activity determines firms' decisions regarding the future implementation of sustainable manufacturing techniques. The results show that continuous focus on sustainable manufacturing is most likely in firms that innovate with process and organisational innovations, as well as those that report higher R&D intensity. The most relevant predictor of orientation towards sustainable manufacturing is process innovation that encourages firms to implement these techniques continuously but also decreases the probability of complete aversion towards sustainable manufacturing.
This study examines the impact of the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER), trade openness, and GDP growth on Turkiye's service imports using a Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model, analyzing data from 2005Q1 to 2023Q2. Services imports are crucial for Turkiye's technological advancement and human capital development, but also worsen the trade deficit. The results reveal that in the short term, both positive and negative changes in the REER and trade openness affect service imports, confirming the rigidity of demand. GDP growth changes are insignificant. In the long term, however, the REER becomes insignificant; only positive shocks to trade openness permanently boost service imports while GDP growth remains insignificant. These findings emphasize the disconnection between exchange rates and service imports in the long run, and suggest that policymakers should focus on the structure of trade rather than currency policies to control import levels.
The Prebisch-Singer hypothesis suggests that the terms of trade will change over time against primary goods and in favour of manufactured goods. In this context, terms of trade are generally considered to be in a downward trend for countries that produce and export primary goods. The aim of this study is to investigate the validity of the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis in the Turkish economy. Monthly data are used in the study and the data range covers the period between January 2002 and June 2024. RALS-LM unit root test, trend analysis and AARDL methods were used in the study. In the study, the analyses were applied in two sub-periods. According to the findings of the study, the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis is invalid for the period 2002-2012, but valid for the period 2013-2024. In other words, terms of trade in Turkey tends to deteriorate as of 2013-2024.
This study investigates the impact of earnings management (EM) on the efficiency and stability of Islamic and conventional banks in Pakistan. A dataset comprising 6 Islamic and 13 private commercial banks from 2002 to 2022 was analyzed. Efficiency was proxied by return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA), while stability was measured by Z-Scores. EM was represented by discretionary loan loss provisions. Regression models were employed, guided by Breusch-Pagan and Hausman tests. The findings reveal a significant disparity between the effects of EM on the efficiency and stability of Islamic and conventional banks. EM in Islamic banks does not significantly impact efficiency and stability, whereas EM in conventional banks has a negative effect. The study concludes that EM in Islamic banks is not detrimental to stakeholders in terms of efficiency and stability, warranting further research into the factors driving decreasing EM in conventional banks.
This paper examines the impact of female representation on management and supervisory boards on company performance. The sample includes 187 Croatian companies from the Lidermedia Journal ranking for 2017-2021. Using panel data analysis and secondary data, the study finds that a higher percentage of women on management boards is associated with better financial performance, measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on sales (ROS). However, the results did not indicate a significant impact of female representation in supervisory boards on these indicators. Uneven results for the management and supervisory boards can be attributed to the different roles each board plays within the company from a corporate governance perspective. Moreover, the impact they have on the company's performance could have various significances. Including supervisory boards in such analyses remains essential to address gaps in gender composition research.
This study assesses the impact of regulatory capital on the efficiency of Islamic and commercial banks with Islamic windows listed on the Pakistan stock exchange for the period from 2010 to 2019. More specifically, the influence of the Basel accord capital adequacy requirement has been assessed on the earnings of the bank by using the proxy of net interest margin along with control variables, including bank policy rate, credit growth, the fee charged by the banks, and non-performing loans. Data has been retrieved from the State Bank of Pakistan reports. Panel regression has been deployed, and based on the Hausman test, the fixed effect model was selected, and its results have been retained. Results reveal that the overall implementation of the Basel accord capital regulatory requirement in the shape of the capital adequacy ratio is an elixir that increases efficiency in the form of interest margin in Pakistani Islamic banks. Moreover, it reveals that well-capitalized Islamic banks are efficient. This study offers practical insights for regulators in tailoring capital adequacy regulations to the unique framework of Islamic banking. It also lays the groundwork for future research into additional efficiency drivers, such as governance mechanisms, digital transformation, and market dynamics.
This research investigates how entrepreneurial intention affects career sustainability. It also examines green creativity's intervening role. The data was gathered from 150 women business owners from active small and medium enterprises, operating in Pakistan's three major cities. Via a closed-ended questionnaire. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling with partial least squares. Resultantly, entrepreneurial intention is directly associated with career sustainability and green creativity. Additionally, green creativity meaningfully mediates for entrepreneurial intention-green creativity relationship. The study's findings provide individual female managers to introduce green innovation in businesses and further study delivers insightful knowledge that the Ministry of Commerce and company owners can utilize to encourage entrepreneurship in Pakistan. The study is limited to a single nation, and limited cities further exploration is highly to flourish the field of female entrepreneurship.
Governments attempt to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation in various ways and with different results. In 2015 the Romanian government began to subsidize the creation of start-ups, following a general policy of the European Union. We evaluate the effects of the Romania Start-up Program, which offered subsidies for hundreds of entrepreneurs in a large variety of economic sectors. We statistically compare subsidized and unsubsidized start-ups, by calculating the Kaplan-Meier estimators of survival rates in both groups over a 5-year period. We show that subsidized start-ups have a significantly lower survival rate than non-subsidized start-ups after 4 to 5 years. Moreover, the level of employment in subsidized start-ups decreased drastically compared to their non-subsidized counterparts. Examining the survival rates of subsidized start-ups created with/without additional private investment, we find that start-ups with "skin in the game" have a higher survival rate, although we cannot draw statistically significant conclusions.
This study assesses the green logistics market performance of the top twenty emerging markets identified in the Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index (AEMLI) report. The primary emerging markets-China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, Qatar, Thailand, Vietnam, Chile, T & uuml;rkiye, Brazil, Oman, Russia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Uruguay, and South Africa-serve as benchmarks for evaluating logistics efficiency and environmental performance. The decision model for this study encompasses seven criteria: Domestic Logistics Opportunity, International Logistics Opportunity, Business Fundamentals, Digital Readiness, Ecosystem Vitality, Environmental Health, and Climate Change. These criteria were derived from a thorough literature review. Data were obtained from the AEMLI and Environmental Performance Index (EPI) reports published by Agility & Transport Intelligence and the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. Criterion weights were established using the Symmetry Point of Criterion (SPC). The ranking of alternatives employed several MCDM methods: Ranking of Alternatives with Weights of Criterion (RAWEC), Ranking the Solutions based on the Mean Value of Criteria (RSMVC), Stable Preference Ordering Towards Ideal Solution (SPOTIS), and the Extended Alternative Ranking Order Method with two-step normalization (AROMAN). The results were aggregated using the Borda Count Method. Findings from the SPC reveal that the international logistics opportunity is the most significant criterion, whereas business fundamentals rank as the least important. The Borda Count analysis indicates that China, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil consistently rank as top performers across various methods. Conversely, T & uuml;rkiye, Indonesia, Kuwait, Bahrain, South Africa, and Vietnam generally show lower rankings across most methods. Additionally, sensitivity and comparative analyses were conducted to enhance the robustness of the findings. The results of this study are anticipated to provide valuable insights into the green logistics market performance of selecting emerging markets.
