The European Union’s mandatory sustainability reporting framework reveals a structural inadequacy in the current Guarantees of Origin system: certificates issued at 1 MWh granularity decouple from physical energy flows and enable greenwashing through temporal mismatching. This paper introduces Fractional Guarantees of Origin, a paradigm leveraging Distributed Ledger Technology to tokenize renewable energy at kWh resolution with cryptographically anchored compliance. Through qualitative case study validation of VoltVert, an ISO 20022-native registry, and H2Secure, a smart contract framework for RED III hydrogen compliance, we demonstrate that fractional attribution eliminates double-counting risk and substantially reduces compliance costs. Integration with government infrastructure, specifically Romania’s Central Virtual Resource under PNRR Target 415, establishes a Compliance-as-a-Service architecture where Scope 2 emissions become auditable in near-real-time rather than post-factum estimates. Applying the Jabbour organizational design framework, we find that technology adoption alone is insufficient: organizations concurrently addressing awareness, formalization, measurement, governance, and resource allocation achieve significantly higher environmental performance. Sectoral replication is demonstrated across sustainable mobility and real estate. This research bridges technological feasibility and organizational reality, positioning Fractional Guarantees of Origin as both a regulatory necessity and a competitive advantage in the post-2025 energy transition.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of top management support (TMS) on business performance (BP) through the mediating role of digital marketing (DM). To achieve this objective, a research model was developed and tested using data (n = 140) collected from marketing managers employed in different sectors of Algerian companies. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for data analysis. The results support the hypotheses that TMS has a positive impact on both DM usage and BP. Additionally, the findings revealed a significant relationship between DM and BP. Finally, DM mediated the relationship between TMS and BP. However, this study makes theoretical contributions by examining many of the known relationships between variables; it also contributes empirically and expands the scope of the literature, while leaving certain aspects for future research. Our findings can also help decision-makers and economic policymakers develop digital marketing and TMS by designing effective management tools that improve the efficiency of Algerian companies.
This study empirically evaluates the interactive effects of real effective exchange rate (REXR) variations, real interest rates (RIRT), and money supply (VM2S) and the key determining factor of construction investment across seven African regional blocs (ECOWAS, EAC, COMESA, CEMAC, WAEMU, Northern, and Southern Africa). The methodology integrates several advanced econometric techniques, including System GMM, Spatial Autoregressive/Error Models (SAR/SEM/SDM), Difference-in-Differences (DiD), Panel Threshold Regression, and Panel Quantile Regression (PQR), to account for average effects, spatial spillovers, causal policy impacts, and non-linear thresholds. The findings stress the necessity of joined-up policy action, as fragmented variable management leads to suboptimal outcomes. The financial depth threshold in COMESA and the fiscal sustainability level in CEMAC and WAEMU further emphasize the need for effective management of monetary and fiscal policies in order to ensure investment efficiency. The study is consistent in demonstrating that the money supply growth interplay with interest rates results in liquidity trap effect which is particularly acute in CEMAC and Southern Africa, where high costs of borrowing nullify the attempts to increase liquidity. The results of System GMM and PQR indicate that there is a change of a history-driven persistence in underdeveloped markets (0.412 on average in COMESA) to policy-driven persistence in more mature markets where the sensitivity of real interest and exchange rates interactions is highest at 1.25 in Northern Africa. The Pesaran CD test makes sure that there is high spatial interdependence (p < 0.01), with WAEMU being the most regionalized ( = 0.385) and CEMAC being the most fragmented ( = 0.110). Quasi experimental DiD evidence indicates that the gains of regional integration are causal and up to 21% (WAEMU) gains but commodity shocks may lead to substantial contractions as observed in CEMAC (-8.5%). Non-linear analysis reveals key thresholds: interest rate ceilings of 12.5% for ECOWAS and 10.0% for Southern Africa and 18 percent financial depth for COMESA and 8.5 percent confidence level to inflation for Northern Africa. The liquidity-interest rate interaction significantly reflects a liquidity trap effect, especially in CEMAC (-1.45), where the benefits of monetary expansion are counterbalanced by high capital costs. The research establishes that the optimal balance between real exchange rate flexibility, real interest rate management and liquidity is the most important. In order to achieve sustainable infrastructural investment growth, policymakers need to pursue an integrated strategy that ensures interest rates are kept at 10-12, debt is kept within 55 ceiling and leverages regional spatial multipliers to maximize the neighbor effect of infrastructure development in form of the benefits of cross-border economic interactions.
The expansion of digital education has significantly reshaped how students engage with learning, raising important questions about its impact on educational continuity. In Romania, where school dropout remains a persistent challenge, the role of digital infrastructure and access to technology has become increasingly relevant, especially in the context of the post-pandemic transition toward online and hybrid learning. To explore these dynamics, the analysis combines a case study of the Romanian educational system with a quantitative investigation based on a questionnaire applied to 147 university students. The data, processed using Microsoft Excel, provide insight into how students perceive digital learning environments and the factors that influence their academic engagement. The results point to a strong connection between the quality of digital infrastructure and students’ ability to remain actively involved in their studies. While improved access to technology can support flexibility and facilitate participation, the findings also reveal persistent disparities between socio-economic groups. In such contexts, insufficient access to digital resources may contribute to disengagement and increase the likelihood of dropout. These observations underline the need for a more coordinated approach to digital education, where technological investments are supported by pedagogical adaptation and targeted measures for vulnerable students. The Romanian case illustrates how digitalization can either support inclusion or reinforce existing inequalities, depending on how it is implemented.
This study examines the resilience of the European banking system in the face of two major external shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent inflationary period. Building on the lessons learned from the 2007–2009 Global Financial Crisis, the research evaluates how regulatory reforms, particularly Basel III, and strengthened macroprudential frameworks shaped banks’ ability to absorb shocks without triggering systemic instability. Using quarterly data from Q4 2014 to Q3 2024, the study employs descriptive statistics, covariance, correlation, and linear regression to analyze the impact of key macroeconomic variables—real GDP, inflation, unemployment, private sector credit growth, 3-month EURIBOR, and non-financial corporate debt—on non-performing loans (NPLs). Results indicate that NPLs steadily declined during the analyzed period, with only a minor and temporary increase at the onset of the pandemic, before reaching historical lows in 2022–2023. Regression findings reveal unemployment as the most significant determinant of NPLs, followed by inflation and corporate debt, while GDP, credit growth, and EURIBOR had no statistically significant direct effects. The findings demonstrate that banks were not only resilient during these crises but also contributed to economic recovery by maintaining credit flows and supporting government guarantee schemes. The study concludes that stronger capital buffers, liquidity reserves, and stress-testing frameworks enabled banks to function as stabilizers rather than amplifiers of systemic risk. Policy implications highlight the need to further strengthen regulatory frameworks, expand stress-testing, and reinforce cross-border supervisory cooperation to sustain resilience in the face of future shocks.
