Participation of Citizens in Public Financial Decision-Making in Serbia

Participation in the local public finance decision-making process in Serbia is not a new concept as it was implemented even during the ‘Titoistic’ period. However, direct participation is still in an infant phase altogether with the low interest of citizens in participating in local financial decision-making procedures. The aim of this paper is to explain the main types of civic participation in the local financial decision-making process (i.e., referendum voting on self-imposed contribution, participatory budgeting, and civic crowdfunding) and to focus on the main factors that lead to a low participation of citizens in such processes. Additionally, the article analyses how these factors affect general mistrust in politics and society. For this purpose, a total of N=421 citizens were interviewed. Using the principal component analysis, the following three main components for low participation were defined: 1) lack of knowledge, 2) lack of interest, and 3) lack of political will. Thereafter, using the regression analysis, the study confirmed that the first two components are statistically significant predictors for mistrust in politics and society.

Do Emotions Benefit Investment Decisions? Anticipatory Emotion and Investment Decisions in Non-professional Investors

Increasing financial trading performance is big business. A lingering question within academia and industry concerns whether emotions improve or degrade trading performance. In this study, 30 participants distributed hypothetical wealth between a share (a risk) and the bank (paying a small, sure, gain) within four trading games. Skin Conductance Response was measured while playing the games to measure anticipatory emotion, a covert emotion signal that impacts decision-making. Anticipatory emotion was significantly associated with trading performance but the direction of the correlation was dependent upon the share’s movement. Thus, anticipatory emotion is neither wholly “good” nor “bad” for trading; instead, the relationship is context-dependent. This is one of the first studies exploring the association between anticipatory emotion and trading behaviour using trading games within an experimentally rigorous environment. Our findings elucidate the relationship between anticipatory emotion and financial decision-making and have applications for improving trading performance in novice and expert traders.

Behavioural Aspects of Financial Decision-Making Process of Managers in Wood-Processing Enterprises

The study is focused on behavioural aspects in the financial decision-making process of wood-processing enterprises. The main aim was to map this topic and determine the key behavioural factors that lead management to make mistakes. Primary data on this issue were obtained from an empirical survey. The empirical survey was conducted through a questionnaire that contains questions focused on behavioural decision-making aspects. Using statistical methods, three key behavioural factors were determined. By selecting the given behavioural factors, it was established that love, hate, and sadness are the key factors that influence management behaviour and decision-making. In the real business environment, two managers working in a wood processing enterprise were chosen; they were willing to provide us with a review and opinion on the results of the survey. By analysing all the data, it has been concluded that, even though managers are trying to direct their behaviour and activities, they often do not notice the influence of these factors, and sometimes they are unable to make decisions. The managers should be able to direct their behaviour and activities, to provide self-control and take into consideration the fact that these factors are always present. Results determine the key and systematically occurring errors in the financial decision-making process, caused by the influence of the human factor. We have developed a model for activating the three key behavioural factors applied in the financial decision-making process as a tool that can help company managers not to make the wrong decisions.