Innovations in human resources management: impact on economic growth

In recent years, human capital has become increasingly emphasized as a factor of economic growth. Managing human capital could stimulate the whole economy to better performance in competitiveness. Although these indicators include several variables, there is no precise determination of which indicator mostly affects the country's economic growth. This paper summarizes the knowledge and approaches of several authors in the field of economic growth, knowledge economy, competitiveness, innovations and individual elements affecting these areas. It outlines the findings and provides some insight into the impact of individual factors on economic growth across recent studies. The main goal is to obtain information about the impact of education, its support, and its influence on economic performance on the example of empirical data documenting the qualitative parameters of the workforce. The use of selected indicators indicated their impact on the change in economic performance. The partial objective is to identify an indicator or set of indicators that could express the impact of human capital on economic growth. The study involved research methods such as analyzes, statistical methods such as correlation and p-value, and prediction for the next period based on past developments. The research object is the V4 countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. The findings pointed to the strong impact of the analyzed factors on economic growth. Besides, they showed which of the known ways to increase the efficiency of the labor factor were actually or little used in the sample countries. Undoubtedly, there is also an indicative and interesting comparison within a group or with other economies at a comparable economic and social development level. Finally, improvements to the current situation were proposed. The systematization of literary sources and approaches to economic growth helps identify possible proposals for improving competitiveness in the future, using innovative approaches.

Formation of mutual relations between enterprises and business partners in the process of preparation and production of new products

This article summarizes the scientific approaches to improving the quality of relations between the enterprise and business partners in preparation for the release and production of new products in today's economic realities. The study's main purpose is to substantiate and develop a methodological approach for determining effective relationship models between enterprises and business partners to prepare and produce new products. The article presents a developed four-stage methodological approach. The first stage of the study presents an analysis of existing approaches to forming relationships between the enterprise and business-business partners to prepare and produce new products. In the second stage, factual data on machine-building industry enterprises' functioning were collected to determine the effectiveness of cooperation and success, which are the key components that improve the quality of relations between the enterprise and business partners in preparing new products. At the third stage, partners' priority was determined to characterize the quality of the relationship between machine-building enterprises and business-business partners. The fourth stage determined the relationship between the qualitative levels of business partners' priority and appropriate relationship models to prepare and produce new products. The study used expert methods, multidimensional factor analysis, additive convolution method, structural-logical method, graphical method. A survey of enterprise representatives was conducted to assess the effectiveness of cooperation on 12 surveyed machine-building enterprises. Partial indicators were identified and substantiated by multidimensional factor analysis, generalized for making decisions about business partner enterprises' existing opportunities to prepare and produce new products. Based on the calculation of the integrated indicator, partners' priority was determined. That characterized the quality of relations between machine-building enterprises and business-business partners in preparing and producing new products. According to the Harrington scale specified for the economic conditions of Ukraine, the qualitative levels of partner companies' priority were determined. The proposed effective models of relationships for preparing and producing new products are put in line with them. The study results could improve the quality and validity of the formation and maintenance of relationships between enterprises and business partners in preparing and producing new products.

The influence of advertising on children's buying behaviour: a case study in Slovakia

Advertising is an essential tool in influencing the customer's buying behavior. However, customers tend to have various levels of understanding and decoding advertising messages. Even though children do not have purchasing power themselves, they still create a key customer segment that can influence the purchase decision of the whole family. The paper focuses on how media usage by children and their attitudes towards advertisements determines their buying behavior. The main purpose of the research is to present and describe how children's advertising literacy develops and its connection with the concept of the theory of mind. The relevance of the decision of this scientific problem is that according to several types of research, children are increasingly targeted through various advertising media. Even though their advertising literacy is not fully developed yet. However, nowadays, there is a growing importance of media in our lives and a need to socialize children as consumers because they represent a huge market for advertisers. An empirical study was carried out by designing a questionnaire filled by Slovak children between the ages of 11 and 15. The advertising impact and the degree of impact of the selected types of advertising media on children's consumer behavior were evaluated. The study involved the online method of computer-assisted web interviewing to investigate the influence of advertising media. The authors assessed the degree of the disruptive effect of the selected advertising media on children and the perception of a chosen medium within gender. The most and the least influential type of media were identified. The findings showed no significant difference within gender in the case of advertising media perception by children. The research empirically confirmed and theoretically proved commercial messages aimed at children through different kinds of traditional and electronic media. According to the results, children's buying behavior is mostly influenced by advertising on social media platforms. This type of media mostly integrates sponsored content which has a huge influence on decision making and forming future preferences. The research results can be helpful for further research of commercial messages of social media aimed at children and how those messages affect the whole family and children's future preferences.

Marketing, management and financial providing of affordable housing

Today’s rising housing prices in most countries worldwide have caused increasable attention to the problem of affordable housing. It is a social or ethical issue and an essential economic direction. Thus, affordable housing has great potential, influencing economic growth, labor forces, innovation, sustainable development, and an inclusive economy. Systematization of informational sources, theoretical and practical approaches for providing affordable housing, and assessing social housing needs indicated many views on this problem among scholars and policymakers. That is why marketing, management, and financial providing of affordable housing are significant mainstreams. The research aims to investigate marketing and management fundamentals of providing affordable housing in connection with funding aspects based on cross-country analysis. For achieving this target, key trends of housing market segmentation were analyzed, considering the distribution of the population by tenure status and analytical house price indicators using the data of the statistical office of the EU, the World Bank, and the OECD. The ways to promote more affordable housing by public and local authorities, private investors in affordable housing, and specific social and affordable housing market organizations were described. Main organizational forms of providing affordable and social housing were also characterized. Particular attention was paid to strategic planning for affordable and social housing, especially housing business plans or affordable housing strategy development as a priority step in marketing, management, and financial providing affordable housing. A SWOT analysis for affordable housing developments was used to show strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the affordable housing market. To empirically confirm some relevant strengths, the impact of indicators of financial providing of affordable housing was formalized based on correlation analysis (calculating Pearson or Spearman correlation coefficients with time lags based on results of Shapiro-Wilk testing) and construction of Arellano–Bond linear dynamic panel-data regression model with checking the Sargan test of overidentifying restrictions (the sample from 25 EU countries for 2011–2019) using the Excel 2010 and STATA 14.2 software. The dynamic model made it possible to consider the share of affordable housing owners with mortgage or loan or the share of tenants, rent affordable housing at a reduced price or free. The value of GDP of the previous period affects the current situation (due to introducing lag variables and using instrumental variables or the generalized method of moments (GMM) to obtain adequate estimates). The hypothesis that an increase of 1% of the share of affordable housing owners with mortgage or loan causes the rise in GDP per capita of an average of 0.44% with a two-year time lag was empirically confirmed. An increase of 1% of the share of tenants, rent-free housing or affordable housing at the reduced price, causes the decrease of GDP per capita of an average of 0.5% with a two-year time lag. It was substantiated that governments should continue and improve their policies for financing social and affordable housing. At the same time, they should prefer affordable mortgage lending programs over programs of reduced or free rental housing. The results of this research confirm the significant drivers of policies and practices devoted to affordable and social housing, such as marketing, management, and financial providing. The presented recommendations are useful for scholars interested in this scientific field of research, public and local authorities, investors in affordable housing, and specific affordable and social housing organizations.

Marketing and management of innovations in public governance as core determinants of trust

Public governance significantly transformed over the last several decades that is determined by numerous external and internal factors. Digitalization of social and economic relations results in the appearance and implementation of a new kind of innovation in public management – e-governance. Therefore, developing the marketing and management strategy of such innovation as e-governance is considered a necessary precondition for trust in government. The paper aims to determine the impact of e-governance on trust in government and the development of recommendations on marketing and management of it. In the paper, the authors systematized main national and foreign approaches to measuring e-governance efficiency both at the level of central and sub-central governments. It is also realized a bibliometric analysis with VOSviewer v.1.6.16 to identify key contextual directions of scientific research on e-governance, marketing, and management and clarify its intercepts. The paper has developed a scientific hypothesis about the positive influence of e-governance on central and sub-central government brands and citizens' loyalty. To test this hypothesis, a panel data regression analysis was realized using Stata 12/SE software. In the regression model as a proxy of e-governance efficiency (independent variable), an E-Government Development Index (EGDI) is chosen, which is a composite indicator of three indices such as online service index, telecommunication index, and human capital index. It is chosen as a proxy central and sub-central government brand and citizens' loyalty (dependent variable), an indicator of Trust in Government that is calculated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and refers to the share of people who report having confidence in the national government. Besides, the regression model includes a sample of control variables such as Worldwide Governance Indicators. The country sample consists of 19 OECD member states (European countries): Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Great Britain, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia. 2008-2020 (specifically, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020). Under the bibliometric and regression analysis results, a set of practical recommendations on the perspectives of central and sub-central governments' marketing and management of e-governance

Bank efficiency analysis of financial innovations: dea model application for the institutional concept

Globalization and digitization of the banking and financial market are well known. They are the trends of this decade-defining the context and efficiency of the banking business. Financial innovations introduced by new technologies have provided banks with the necessary utilities to seize the possibilities to tap into efficiency and competitive advantage gains. In this context, this study seeks to assess the overall efficiency of Azerbaijanian banks in adopting and utilizing financial innovation in providing financial products and services. The data envelopment analysis was applied to compute and compare the ability of financial intermediaries to adopt financial innovations via modern technologies efficiently. Based on the institutional value-added concept, the aggregate efficiency score for each of the 14 banking institutions was calculated. The inefficiency sources were derived from the overall technical efficiency decomposition into pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. The results showed that only four banks had utilized financial innovations in the banking production process to increase their value-added during 2017-2019. Decomposition results further indicated that slight values of the overall technical inefficiency were caused by scale inefficiency. Thus, these banks' had the capacity for banking business value-added growth by 5-16% just by adjusting scales. Simultaneously, all significant deviations from the absolute overall technical efficiency caused by both pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Therefore, there is still much room for banking institutions to increase value-added by adjusting scales and enhancing banking operations and management.

Innovations in human resource management: impact of demographic characteristics, quality of interpersonal relationships on counterproductive work behaviours

This paper describes the selected demographic characteristics as moderators of the impact of the quality of interpersonal relationships at work on counterproductive work behaviours. The main purposes of the research are describing: 1) how interpersonal relationships at work influences the intensity of counterproductive work behaviours; 2) how sex, age, education, length of service and type of job moderate the influence of interpersonal relationships at work on counterproductive work behaviours; 3) how the above-mentioned demographic characteristics influence interpersonal relationships at work and counterproductive work behaviours separately. The studies on the literature indicated that there were no comprehensive research results concerning those problems. The research paper fills a gap in the literature relating to the impact of interpersonal relationships at work on counterproductive work behaviours and the relation to modelling this impact by demographic characteristics of employees (sex, age, education, length of service, type of job). To achieve the study purposes, the author conducted a survey conducted on a sample of 1336 active employees in Poland. The survey period was 2018-2019. The IBM SPSS Statistics and IBM SPSS Amos were used to analyze data. Based on Structural Equation Modelling, it was that:1) interpersonal relationships at work negatively impacted on the intensity of counterproductive work behaviours against another individual; 2) the strength of influence of interpersonal relationships at work on counterproductive work behaviours did not change relevantly in modelling with selected demographic characteristics (sex, age, education, length of service, type of job); 3) only education, current kind of job and service length had a relevant influence on interpersonal relationships at work and counterproductive work behaviours. The research results could be useful for managers. In their activities, managers should systematically monitor interpersonal relationships at work and counterproductive work behaviours taking into account employees' demographic characteristics. In this process, managers should pay particular attention to education, type of current job, and service length.

Auditing and controlling as a tool for sme marketing risk management

The current hyper-competitive environment, rapid marketing tools, and modern techniques provide many opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses. Such opportunities could bring much in the way of rewards both for the individual companies and the wider economy. However, there are many threats associated with these business environments which cannot be overlooked. Small and medium-sized businesses are a significant stabilizing economic power within the European Union. Therefore, it is not surprising that small and medium-sized businesses competitiveness and their long-term stability are vital factors for European cohesion and development. This research aims to analyze risk management within small and medium-sized businesses, identify critical risk factors, and develop risk management, which could be applied to small and medium-sized businesses. The authors analyzed risk management's consequences and explained the variables as follows: ROA, Auditing, Controlling Management, Marketing, and Corporate Culture. Based on the research findings, the goal was to increase their interaction effectiveness, focusing on small and medium-sized businesses long-term stability and competitiveness. For achieving these aims, the paper provides two research questions and designs three hypotheses. This research was conducted from 2017 to 2020 on sample n = 432 EU small and medium-sized businesses. The reached data were analyzed by statistical method and experimental «in practice» testing. Based on the result and its experimental testing, a marketing risk management model was designed, tested, and verified using practical methods. This model could be used for the identification and avoidance of potential risks when developing a marketing strategy. The findings reached should be used to advance research and similarly for practical use within the business sphere.

Innovation capability of the company: the roles of leadership and error management

Extensive research has been conducted promoting empowerment, inclusive decision making, and self-determination by employees. However, where does an organization initiate change if employees stay in their comfort zone and rather have a work-to-rule mentality? They just do not take over responsibility and the power they are given. The inductive case study involved first-hand data about leader-member exchange and corporate culture. A qualitative research approach was selected by employing personal construct psychology to receive an unbiased cultural view of employees and leaders interacting. A sample of 61 repertory grid structured interviews with 21 leaders and 40 employees produced 782 unique personal assessment criteria. The applied methodology allows a quantitative analysis of these assessments in association with leadership, error management, and employees' proactive behavior. This unusual psychological-based approach chosen as intuitive interviews predicated on personal construct psychology is unlikely to provoke socially desirable or questionnaire-driven results. Based on the case study findings, a systematic review of contemporary scientific literature was conducted to generate broadly applicable results. The final qualitative synthesis included 41 research articles relevant to the investigated topic. Theoretical and empirical results allowed concluding that leadership vulnerability supports error management and employees' psychological safety. These combinations are prerequisites to proactive behavior. Additional preconditions to proactivity are employee resilience and organizational commitment. This article's results could give practical recommendations in case organizations lack the proactive behavior of their workforce. Finally, this article advocates further research on vulnerability in leadership and managers communicating their own weaknesses and mistakes as it is an underrepresented area in current scientific literature.

Priorities of marketing, competitiveness, and innovative development of transport service providers under sustainable urban development

Monitoring the growing role of implementing sustainable development goals, on the one hand, and the use of the Internet of things in various spheres of life, on the other, is changing the way people think about their mobility. The urgency of this scientific problem is the need to review municipal policies on approaches to the use of appropriate methods of public transport to improve municipal transport infrastructure policies in the light of advances in «green» energy development. This article justifies the need to focus on the study of changes in the Ukrainian taxi drivers’ behavior in the urban environment on the development of «green» energy, development of appropriate programs to coordinate the requests of users and providers of taxi services through sustainable development and digitization of taxi services. In addition, the impact of sustainable energy development on transport diversification and the use of environmental modes of transport, in particular, electric cars as taxis, are analyzed, depending on the number of charging stations and access to electricity. The methodological tools used were cluster analysis, expert surveys, face-to-face interviews, statistical and fuzzy multiple estimation methods. The subject of the study was selected taxi services and taxi users in the Ternopil region. According to the survey results, the priority factors for the environmental behavior of Ukrainian taxi drivers were the level of business automation and the size of the taxi fleet. In a survey conducted by experts to examine the environmental safety of vehicles and the level of automation of enterprises, most taxi services were found to be environmentally unsound, focusing on sustainable development and environmental issues. The most problematic are technical support, automated ordering system, and significant vehicle wear in small cities. To determine the approaches to the management of greening, the objects of study were organized into relatively homogeneous groups. To this end, a cluster analysis was conducted. The study subjects were grouped into relatively homogeneous groups. The authors justified the feasibility of differentiated strategies and reaffirmed the idea of developing different approaches to environmental development depending on the level of environmental friendliness of vehicles, business automation, and relative shares of the fleet. The study results could be useful for infrastructure scientists and practitioners, taxi managers and owners, andlocal government officials.