Issue #2 (Volume 22 2024)

Russian aggression adversely affected the economy of Ukraine and emphasized the need to adapt the best practices of EU countries to determine steps to restore the country’s competitiveness. This study aims to determine the influence of the innovative development of countries on their competitiveness and identify prospects for Ukraine’s post-war economic recovery. The study constructed neural networks to assess the relationships between the factors of innovative development and the competitiveness of the EU countries and Ukraine. Six main factors of innovative development of countries are identified: “innovations in business (S1),” “intellectual property (S2)”, “innovations in industry (S3),” “eco-innovations (S4),” “innovation management (S5),” and “digital innovations (S5).” Groups of factors are determined by the strength of influence (strong, moderate, or weak). For Ukraine, S1 and S6 have a strong effect (33.3%), S5 shows moderate (16.7%), S2, S3, and S4 show weak effects (50%). For EU countries, S1 and S6 have a strong influence, S2 and S3 – moderate, S5 and S4 – weak. This comparative analysis concluded that EU countries consider intellectual property, green economy, and state innovation policy as key components of their competitiveness. The results discovered a weak relationship between intellectual property protection, innovation in industry, and competitiveness of Ukraine compared to EU countries. However, digital innovations significantly and positively affect Ukraine’s competitiveness.

A human resources administration must be flexible to provide the human element with capacity to respond to crises. The current study seeks to test the effect of human resources flexibility on crisis management and the impact of skill flexibility, behavioral flexibility, and human resource practices flexibility on crisis management. The research sample consists of 445 managers working at Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in Jordan. A questionnaire was developed to measure human resources flexibility and organizational crisis management. SPSS was employed to analyze the collected data and test the hypotheses; multiple and simple regression were used for testing the hypotheses.
The study results revealed that the mean of human resource flexibility is moderate in industrial organizations (2.86). Moreover, the mean of crisis management is moderate (3.36). The findings also showed that human resources flexibility has a statistical effect on crisis management at a level of 0.05. Besides, the correlation coefficient was 0.66 and R2 was 0.441. Hypotheses testing demonstrated that skill flexibility has the largest impact on crisis management; the Beta value was 0.409. Behavior flexibility has a statistical impact on crisis management. Whereas human practices flexibility does not have a statistical impact on crisis management due to the value of Sig = 0.102.

This study investigates the impact of five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (risk-taking, proactiveness, innovativeness, aggressiveness, and autonomy), an independent variable, on SMEs’ organizational performance in Bangladesh. The study surveyed 237 SMEs’ owners (out of 300, with a response rate of 79%) in Gazipur district, Bangladesh. Cronbach’s alpha (α) value of 0.70 was used to examine the reliability of the constructs in this study. Drawing from earlier research, a five-point Likert scale questionnaire was constructed to assess the links between entrepreneurial orientation and SMEs’ organizational performance. The dependent variable in this study was SMEs’ organizational performance, which was based on business growth, change in number of employees, profitability, and sales growth. The hypotheses were tested using SPSS with a 95% confidence interval. The results suggest that all five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation positively affect the organizational performance of SMEs in Bangladesh. It is evident that proactiveness (β-value = 0.330) has the greatest effect on SMEs’ organizational performance, and competitive aggressiveness has the least effect (β-value = 0.230). The independent variables explain a significant proportion of the variability observed in SMEs’ organizational performance (R2 = 57.4%). The research outcomes offer valuable implications for entrepreneurs, policymakers, and academics.

Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)-HICoE.

Fraud prevention entails developing and implementing risk management strategies, particularly regarding fraud, and establishing internal controls and transparent corporate governance practices to eliminate fraudulent activities. This study aims to examine the effect of internal auditors, internal control, and audit quality on preventing fraud at the Inspectorate of North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The sample included 61 government internal auditors of the Inspectorate of North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The data collection process was carried out by administering questionnaires using Google Forms. Additionally, this investigation assessed the constructs under scrutiny using a five-point Likert and the partial least square (PLS) approach. The results showed that internal audit has a positive and significant effect on fraud prevention (p < 0.05), internal control has a positive and significant effect on fraud prevention (p < 0.05), and audit quality has no effect on fraud prevention at the Inspectorate of North Sumatra Province, Indonesia (p > 0.05). The Inspectorate of North Sumatra Province, Indonesia, should conduct internal audits, implement an internal control system, and pay attention to the quality of audits to make them more effective as a basis for quality decision-making and fraud minimization.

Frequent occurrences of fraud take place due to poor fraud prevention and detection. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the impact of internal audit effectiveness and continued professional commitment to fraud detection with internal auditors’ quality as a moderating variable. Seventy-eight questionnaires were distributed to internal auditors and supervisors at the Inspectorate of Riau City, Indonesia, who had at least two years of experience. Structural equation modeling (SEM) 3.0 software was used for the data analysis. According to the study’s findings, the effectiveness of internal control (β = –0.932; p < 0.05) and the effectiveness of internal auditors (β = 1.149; p < 0.05) both have an impact on fraud detection. However, ongoing professional commitment (β = 0.069; p > 0.05) has no impact. Quality of internal auditors does not affect the relationship between the effectiveness of internal audits (β = –0.190; p > 0.05), the effectiveness of internal control (β = 0.114; p > 0.05), continued professional commitment (β = 0.018; p > 0.05), and fraud detection. The findings of this study can be used as guidance for management to enhance the performance of internal auditors and for considerations and assessments for fraud detection in the public sector.

The study aims to investigate the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee willingness to share knowledge with the moderating role of mindfulness. The data were collected from six leading private hospitals in Amman, Jordan, targeting 271 employees holding different medical and administrative positions regarding their experiences with workplace ostracism and the corresponding impact on knowledge sharing. Thus, the study sample being healthcare professionals is not by default but rather a conscious choice in light of the critical role they play in a high-stake environment; moreover, in some cases, knowledge hoarding has proven to have dire repercussions. The results revealed that workplace ostracism significantly and negatively affected degrees of knowledge sharing (p < 0.001). This indicates that ostracized workers would feel shut out and likely become a hindrance to the information and insight flow. The positive outcome is that employees engaging in mindfulness practices seem to cushion the blow that such negative experiences deliver. Those likely to become easily focused are likely to be less threatened by knowledge sharing – they expect that the impact of ostracism will be transient, which could protect a person from the potentially isolating effects of ostracism in the workplace.

This study aims to identify whether achieving sustainable development goals influences SMEs’ development and assess its degree. The dataset on SMEs’ development indicators and SDGs 2, 8, 9, 12, and 13 for the panel of EU-27 countries in 2011–2020 was collected using Eurostat and OECD datasets. Breusch and Pagan Lagrangian multiplier test for pooled OLS/panel data random effects and Hausman test for fixed/random effects were utilized. The results were in favor of random effect GLS regression for SDG2 models, SDG9 models, and SDG12-13 (Model 1) and fixed effect GLS regression for SDG8 models and SDG12-13 (Model 2), respectively. Based on bibliometric analyses using VOSViewer 14 and a comprehensive literature review, 19 independent variables have been selected from the “Sustainable development indicators” catalog covering five sustainable development goals; SMEs’ turnover and SMEs’ employees employed are used as the dependent variables to reflect SMEs’ development. The empirical evidence suggests a significant relationship between individual sustainable development and SMEs’ development indicators. It was found that all seven sustainable development indicators of SDG 2 (Zero hunger) and SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production) have a significant relationship with the indicators of SMEs’ development. Instead, only a part (8 out of 13) of the sustainable development indicators of SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth), SDG 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure), and SDG 13 (Climate action) have a significant relationship with two or one of the SMEs’ development indicators. Therefore, achieving sustainability goals stimulates the development of SMEs itself.

Acknowledgment
This study is supported by the British Academy’s Researchers at Risk Fellowships Program (Award Reference: RaR\100673).

Digital social entrepreneurship is increasingly receiving recognition in emerging economies to maximize societal benefit. The objective of this study is to examine the factors determining students’ intentions toward digital social entrepreneurial ventures. The targeted population was students of various programs, namely business, humanities, science, tourism, and pharmacy, of private and public universities in Bangladesh. This study is quantitative and exploratory in nature, whereas online self-administered questionnaires were prepared to collect data from 433 students in Bangladesh between January and June 2023. The model was tested and the hypotheses were confirmed at the 5% significance level using SPSS v26.0; a Cronbach’s alpha (α) value of 0.70 or higher was considered adequate for measuring reliability. The results show that students’ innovativeness, social pro-activeness, and risk-taking motive positively affect their intention toward digital social entrepreneurial intention. These results may aid in developing successful plans and regulations to support the expansion of digital social entrepreneurial intention in Bangladesh by the government, non-governmental organizations, the neighborhood, civil society, and researchers.

In the current era, the challenges faced by SMEs in Indonesia are becoming increasingly complex. Previously, the primary challenge for SMEs has been to enhance performance. However, with the emergence of information technology, SMEs are now required to compete fiercely. SMEs in Indonesia are still in the process of digital transformation to improve their business strategies, thus limiting research focused on digital transformation in SMEs. Research also considers market complexity and digital strategy as crucial factors for SMEs. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of digital transformation in influencing SME performance. The research approach is quantitative, involving 171 SMEs owners as respondents. The instrument utilized is a Likert scale questionnaire, focusing on the majority of SMEs in Indonesia, particularly those in Java, the most populous island and business center of the country. This includes SMEs operating within various sectors, such as culinary, fashion, retail, and creative industries. The results indicate that digital strategy and market complexity influence digital transformation and SMEs performance. The research findings suggest that digital transformation mediates the influence of digital strategy and market complexity on SME performance. The novelty of this study lies in its focus on the current SMEs digitalization strategy area. This study indicates that digital transformation is an essential aspect affecting current SME performance. The results suggest that SMEs require focused strategies to strengthen resources and gain competitive advantage in complex markets.

This study was undertaken to examine the effects of urbanization on the income of people in Vietnam. The research utilized data from a survey of 597 people who were impacted by urbanization in Vietnam. Research methods included: (i) The T-test difference test method, which is a method used to examine the influence of urbanization on people’s income by comparing the income differential between persons in urban regions and those in rural ones; (ii) The least squares method was used to quantify the impact of various factors on the income of people in the study area. The study concludes that people with similar education and job positions earn higher incomes if they live and work in urban areas as opposed to rural ones (the beta coefficient of the variable Place_Edu is 0.806, and the beta coefficient of the variable Place_Posit is 3.309). According to the findings of this study, individuals residing in urban areas generally have higher incomes than those living in rural areas (the beta coefficient of the Place variable is 3.140). According to research findings, urbanization has both positive and negative impacts on people’s income in Vietnam.

Competition in service industries is fierce, so operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness can be implemented by optimizing internal resources to increase competitive advantage. This study aims to investigate the role of followership in enhancing organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with double mediating mechanisms, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. This study was conducted on food distributor service companies in Indonesia and employees as respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data, which were using convenience sampling. Then, 131 data points were gathered and prepared for analysis using the G-Power minimum sample size. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling with the SmartPLS application. The results showed that followership significantly influenced OCB, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Furthermore, it was also observed that job satisfaction showed an effect on OCB. However, organizational commitment does not affect OCB. Furthermore, during mediation testing, only job satisfaction was found to successfully mediate and act as a connecting variable between followership and OCB. This study has contributed to the cognitive resonance theory and suggests that service companies consider leadership followership in order to enhance OCB among their employees efficiently. It also recommended that employees should first exhibit job satisfaction before engaging in extra-role behaviors for the company.

Acknowledgment
Researchers give great appreciation to Universitas Brawijaya for funding this research.

The EU and China are among the largest economies affecting the global economy and each other. The paper aims to determine the structure and trends in the trade relations between the EU and China from the perspective of trade imbalances. Net export index (–29% in 2021) and the difference between export and import growth rates (–9% in 2016-2021) were calculated as the indicators of competitiveness of the economies relative to each other. Correlation coefficients and regression models were used to estimate the effects of several factors on the net export index. The EU has a surplus in services trade with China (21% of the trade), but it does not cover a much larger bilateral merchandise trade deficit (–36%), which exists in most member states. Machinery and vehicles are the most important traded items. The net export index shows that the European Union is more competitive than China in nonfuel minerals, food, vehicles, pharmaceutical products, intellectual property, computer, travel, and sea transport services. The effect of the real exchange rates on the trade imbalances is not robust due to the large difference in regression coefficients for the real exchange rates based on consumer prices and unit labor costs. In recent years, the trade balance was not significantly affected by industrial output growth trends in the EU and China (except for the COVID-19 pandemic crisis when the relative competitiveness of China in its trade with the EU improved at least in the short run).

Risk management has become crucial for organizations in the current era. Therefore, this study assesses the impact of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) on an organization’s performance and examines how knowledge management and technology adoption mediate this impact, along with the moderating effect of supply chain resilience based on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory. Utilizing a questionnaire-based survey, data were collected from 297 respondents in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai, Vietnam, by cluster random sampling. The data were statistically analyzed using the partial least squares method. The results indicated a positive effect of ERM on financial performance, while the association with non-financial performance lacked significance. Knowledge management and technology adoption fully mediated the positive impact of ERM on non-financial performance and partially mediated its relationship with financial performance. Furthermore, supply chain resilience strengthened the positive link between ERM and financial performance. In conclusion, these findings contribute to advancing the comprehension of the mechanisms and dynamics involved in knowledge management and technology adoption as mediators and supply chain resilience as a moderator, regarding an emerging country. The study enriches the risk management literature and significantly contributes to enhancing firm effectiveness.

Indonesia’s blue economy holds immense potential due to the marine ecosystem and maritime area, encompassing the marine fisheries sector, marine tourism, and fisheries influencing the market. Despite this significant potential, these resources have not been optimally utilized to boost economic growth. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the competitive advantage of the Blue Economy sector by enhancing the outcomes of the tourism, processing, and sales of fisheries in Indonesia through the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory. The Resource-Based View theory explains the formulation and creation of competitive advantages by utilizing tangible and intangible resources such as innovation, strategy, capability, and culture. This study employs a quantitative method through an online survey with a total of 319 respondents working in the Blue Economy sector, including fisheries, marine product sellers, and marine tourism. The analytical methodology uses Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SMART PLS to assess the determination of competitive advantage. The findings of this study show that capabilities, operational capabilities, response capabilities, technological capabilities, innovation culture, innovation strategy, and strategic alignment significantly influence competitive advantage. Moreover, the competitive advantage in the blue economy sector is most influenced by innovation strategy with a beta of 0.375. This suggests that enhancing innovation strategies can positively impact Indonesia’s fisheries industry, as evidenced by fisheries tourism being the largest tourism sector in Indonesia, competing with international tourism. Additionally, Indonesia’s fisheries sector is a major contributor to exports.

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank all the stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, government officials, and academics, for their willingness to provide in-depth information on maritime matters in North Sulawesi and other assistance essential for the success of this study.

In recent times of uncertainty, new post-COVID-19 reality, and fierce competition for talented employees, organizational attractiveness as an appealing employer has emerged as one of the paramount facets, deeply integrated into strategic processes within organizations. However, there are many considerable challenges in understanding employee perceptions and meeting their expectations to become an employer of choice.
The aim of the study is to examine Lithuanian employees’ attitudes toward different organizational attractiveness attributes, offering empirical insights for organizations to enhance their organizational attractiveness. To explore the manifestation of organizational attractiveness in Lithuanian organizations, 464 employed residents were surveyed using convenience sampling. Their attitudes were measured through the dimensions of social value, benefit value, development value, engagement value, economic value, management/leadership value, and work-life balance value. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the questionnaire data.
The results indicated that employees emphasized social (M = 7.44), management/leadership (M = 7.05), engagement (M = 6.80), and work/life balance values (M = 6.79), while benefits (M = 6.60), development (M = 6.54), and economic (M = 6.20) values received comparatively lower evaluations. Practical recommendations include promoting social responsibility, providing work opportunities, investing in employee’s development, fostering autonomy, improving leadership skills, and implementing systems for work-life balance and economic incentives. Upholding promises to employees is crucial for organizational credibility. By implementing these recommendations, organizations can enhance their attractiveness to both current and prospective employees. This study underscores the need for further research on sector-specific organizational attractiveness.

The relevance of the study is due to the growing need to use chatbots to optimize business processes. The purpose is to form a theoretical basis and practical tools for increasing the efficiency of using chatbots in business processes. The theoretical basis involves substantiating the theoretical foundations of forming a conditional chatbot profile for an optimization system. The practical toolkit includes chatbot components that depend on the complexity of tasks, the type of services, the specifics of customers, financial conditions, and other features of business processes. The result is the formation of a system profile of the chatbot, which would allow increasing the efficiency of its use in business processes. The key system components of the chatbot are substantiated: the technologies used, types of users, optimal areas of application, application algorithms, basic tools, and limitations in application. By varying the parameters of system components, one can choose their optimal values to increase the efficiency of using chatbots in business processes. It is advisable to use the specified system in business processes when determining the demand for products and their sales. The use of chatbots allows to reduce the time to complete business processes, personnel costs, and resources related to their implementation.

Acknowledgment
The paper was prepared in the framework of the research projects “Fundamental grounds for Ukraine’s transition to a digital economy based on the implementation of Industries 3.0; 4.0; 5.0” (No. 0124U000576) and “Digital transformations to ensure civil protection and post-war economic recovery in the face of environmental and social challenges” (No. 0124U000549).

This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on the relationship between the business experience and performance of women-owned enterprises in South Africa. A quantitative methodology with random sampling was employed. Qualtrics was used to administer the online questionnaire; a sample size of 258 was attained to test the study hypotheses. This cross-sectional study design followed recommendations from scholars on a minimum of 100 as an adequate sample size for regression analysis. Hierarchical regression and mediation analysis were employed to analyze the primary data collected from women entrepreneurs in South Africa.
Using ordinal data, a seven-point Likert scale was adopted to operationalize constructs. Out of all the entrepreneurial self-efficacy antecedents and dimensions that were tested, industry experience emerged as the most influential predictor of business performance (β = 0.496*) when mediated by the innovation dimension of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Although the management dimension of entrepreneurial self-efficacy showed strong predictive power, it did not exhibit significant mediating effects. Consequently, there was only partial mediation of the innovation dimension of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the relationship between industry experience and business performance. Industry experience and business performance are antecedents and outcomes of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, respectively; they were partially mediated by the innovation dimension of entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

The emergence of sustainable business practices has garnered interest among stakeholders. However, the question of whether sustainability performance provides companies with a competitive advantage is still being debated in the literature. This paper aims to examine the influence of sustainability performance – namely economic sustainability performance and environmental, social, governance (ESG) – on competitive advantage, with the effectiveness of enterprise risk management (ERM) as the moderating variable. This paper used 202 firm-year observations during 2015–2022 from non-financial sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. To test the hypotheses, panel data regression with a one-year time-lag analysis is conducted. The findings show that economic sustainability performance has no relationship with competitive advantage, while ESG has a positive effect. Furthermore, ERM effectiveness strengthens the effect of economic sustainability and ESG on competitive advantage. Further investigation used a two-year time-lag analysis for a long-term perspective. The analysis shows that economic sustainability performance and ESG have a positive impact on competitive advantage. In contrast, ERM effectiveness has no effect on the relationship between economic sustainability performance and competitive advantage. Moreover, additional analysis incorporates the effect of COVID-19 into the main model and shows that the pandemic did not affect competitive advantage; this is consistent with the main results. The findings encourage companies to improve their risk management and sustainability initiatives. The government may also take it into account when developing rules that promote the implementation of sustainable development.

Acknowledgment
This research was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia through the Center for Higher Education Fund (BPPT) and Indonesia Endowment Funds for Education (LPDP) for providing the Indonesian Education Scholarship (BPI-Beasiswa Pendidikan Indonesia).