Laszlo Vasa

The self-drive rental sector has witnessed exponential growth in recent years due to rising demand for long and short-distance drives among millennials. This study aims to investigate the quality of services in the self-driving rental sector and its impact on customer adoption or rejection of service in India. The conceptual framework was developed using the SERVQUAL model and other important factors affecting consumers’ service adoption. A quantitative research method was deployed, and data were gathered through a survey method using a structured questionnaire (based on a 5-point Likert scale). The sample size comprised 385 respondents, 23-38 years old millennials (with 69% of males and 31% of females). The population sample was chosen from Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, India. The data were collected in March 2023. The factor and regression analyses were applied along with chi-square and SEM analyses to test the research hypotheses. The results indicated that the absence of low prices (42%), customer assistance (28 %), and security issues is responsible for consumer rejection. The factors leading to dissatisfaction are the absence of consumer schemes and discounts, a lack of staff interaction and assistance, and poor service quality. The brands must focus on the negative impact arising from the absence of these factors and effectively address the areas of improvement to regain customer trust and garner customer loyalty.

The current green agenda, the climate change, and sustainability frameworks are closely linked to the successful transition to renewable energy. The study purpose is to estimate the influence of economic and environmental drivers of renewable energy promotion in the EU-27, using the 2013–2021 data for member states. Breusch and Pagan Lagrangian multiplier test and Hausman specification test were performed to determine the proper model specification. Using random-effects GLS regression for selected data, the study found that the rise in the magnitude of the Land-Ocean Temperature Index by one unit contributes to an increase in renewable energy sources by 10-16 percentage points. The rise in natural gas prices in the EU by USD 10 per MMBtu is associated with an average growth of renewable energy sources by 2.1-2.6 percentage points and three percentage points for growth in renewable electricity. An increase in GDP per capita of USD 1,000 led to an average increase in renewable electricity by 0.2 percentage points. An increase in CO2 per capita by one ton is associated with an average decrease in renewable electricity by 0.85 percentage points. This study proves that the critical point of GDP per capita within the “economic growth/renewable energy” nexus when economic stimulus starts to decline was estimated at USD 121,227-148,623. Thus, for countries that have reached the break-even point in GDP per capita, the incentives for introducing renewable energy sources are reduced when the effect of wealth prevails over the impact of environmental awareness and responsibility.

Acknowledgments
This paper is supported by a grant “Formation of Economic Mechanisms to Increase Energy Efficiency and Provide Sustainable Development of Renewable Energy in Ukraine’s Households” (No. 0122U001233), funded by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine.

The COVID-19 outbreak has underscored the importance of strengthening an organization’s resilience and adaptive capability. In emerging and uncertain conditions, firms must adopt new capabilities to develop and survive unstable and unforeseen crises. The purpose of this study is to examine the difference between organizational resilience and the antecedents that are validated using a quantitative survey. The respondents consist of 157 top employees from 21 private service firms at the managerial level in Bangladesh. The proposed relationship is measured using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), a symmetric approach, using SmartPLS 4 software. The findings help to produce the path coefficient with organizational resilience that can lead to sustainable environments in highly turbulent conditions. The PLS-SEM analysis indicates that the antecedents of flexibility, agility, and redundancy have a strong and meaningful association with organizational resilience in response to disruptions. Therefore, this paper shows evidence that the measurement scales more effectively account for uncertainty in achieving resilience, supporting the role of the dynamic capability view.

Bank deposits are vital for the economy, serving as a primary source of funding for banks that facilitate lending, investment, consumption, and overall economic growth. This article aims to examine how oil price fluctuations and inflation, two critical macroeconomic variables, influence bank deposits in Azerbaijan, an energy-exporting country. The primary purpose is to reveal the extent to which these factors, particularly in the context of Azerbaijan’s role as an energy exporter, affect the stability and liquidity of the banking sector. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and Granger causality testing, the study analyzes the dynamic relationships among these variables. The findings demonstrate a significant long-term relationship and causal effects between oil prices, inflation, and bank deposits. Specifically, a one-unit increase in oil prices results in a 0.057-unit rise in bank deposits, underscoring the positive impact of oil price increases on banking sector liquidity. Conversely, a one-unit increase in inflation decreases bank deposits by 0.812 units in the long term, highlighting inflation’s detrimental effect on financial stability.

Understanding the impact of economic factors on bank lending is crucial in Kazakhstan’s modern economy, characterized by volatile inflation and fluctuations in real wages. This paper aims to investigate the link between bank lending and economic factors such as inflation, real wages, and consumer expenditure in a regional context. Data from the Bureau of National Statistics and the National Bank, covering the period from 2012 to 2022, were used to uncover how economic factors influence bank lending. For the analysis, various economic indicators were integrated through normalization and averaging. Analysis reveals significant regional disparities in real wages and consumer expenditures, which impact the demand for bank credit. The results of the correlation matrix showed that both real wages (P-value < 0.001) and inflation (P-value < 0.001) significantly impact bank lending, with an R² value of 0.998, indicating that the model explains 99.8% of the variation in bank lending. The regression analysis highlights that regions with higher real wages, such as Astana, Almaty, and Atyrau, provide the most favorable conditions for banking sector growth, demonstrated by a strong relationship between wages and bank lending. In contrast, regions with lower wage levels, such as Turkestan and Zhambyl, show a significantly weaker connection (around 0.65), reflecting their lower attractiveness for banking investment and emphasizing the need for policies to address social inequality. The Durbin-Watson test confirmed no autocorrelation in residuals (DW = 1.89), although heteroscedasticity was detected, suggesting the need for further model adjustments. The study emphasizes the importance of developing economic policies that can balance regional development and improve financial stability.

Acknowledgments
This research has been funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant “Development of mechanisms for reducing social inequality and improving the welfare of the population of Kazakhstan” AP19174744).

This study aims to investigate the relationship between environmental sustainability, social development, and governance within Kazakhstan’s agro-industrial complex. The paper applies econometric modeling and statistical analysis to assess these relationships and provide strategic recommendations for sustainable development. A dataset from 2013 to 2023, sourced from the Bureau of National Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan, was utilized to assess the influence of transit routes and agriculture on ESG performance. Principal component analysis (PCA) and regression modeling identified three key components – environmental (84.3%), social (98.4%), and governance (88.33%) – as significant contributors to ESG variability. The results demonstrate that transit flows positively affect environmental and governance indicators (β = 0.266, p = 0.050), while agro-industrial activity has mixed effects: improved social sustainability but increased environmental pressure. The combined impact of transit corridors and the agro-industrial complex provides a more comprehensive explanation of ESG variability (R² = 0.998), reinforcing the need for integrated policy approaches. The findings highlight the strategic importance of aligning transit infrastructure and agro-industrial development with ESG frameworks. This paper contributes to the discourse on sustainable development by offering practical insights for policymakers on optimizing logistics and agricultural strategies to promote ESG adoption, particularly in agriculture-dependent economies.

Acknowledgments
This study is funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant “Strategy of structural and technological modernization of the basic sectors of the economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan based on ESG: criteria, mechanisms and forecast scenarios” BR24993089).

The impact of different types of capital flows on China’s economic growth has been widely studied to determine whether the type of capital significantly affects the Chinese economy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between long-term capital flows and economic growth in China, considering factors such as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), portfolio equity, portfolio bonds, and external debt. All secondary data were collected from the World Bank database. The paper also investigates which type of capital flow has the most significant relation with the economic growth of China. A quantitative approach was chosen for the study. Moreover, to overcome the bias output of ordinary least squares, this paper deployed a Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) estimation method. This study has found a relatively stable positive relationship between FDI and growth, where the coefficient of 0.9699 indicates that a 1% increase in FDI is associated with a 0.97% growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Similar to FDI, portfolio equity has a positive impact on GDP growth, with a coefficient of 2.1419. In contrast, portfolio bond and debts have a negative coefficient of –1.7752 and –0.2831. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of China’s development experience, particularly regarding the role of capital flow. The paper explores two key limitations that need to be explored in the future, i.e., the causal relation between each type of long-term capital flow and economic growth, and the impact of COVID-19 on the economic growth relationship.

Resource productivity has become an important indicator of sustainable economic growth in a situation when natural resources are becoming scarce and environmental stress is growing. This paper examines the drivers of resource productivity in the case of the Netherlands and Hungary, two countries featuring diversified economies and contexts. This paper evaluates the contribution of waste management, renewable energy sources, human capital, investment, and innovation to sustainability by adopting a combined methods approach. Data from Eurostat and ODYSSEE databases, covering the period from 2011 to 2021, were analyzed using time series comparison and structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate that factors such as employment rate, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), waste recycling, and renewable energy significantly influence resource productivity. The results indicated absolute decoupling for the Netherlands, represented by a 40% increase in productivity with an 11% reduction in materials. In comparison, Hungary recorded relative decoupling with GDP and material consumption increasing by about 49% and 37%, respectively. These findings underpin the importance of tailored policies for the enhancement of resource efficiency and sustainable development.

The paper investigates the causal interaction between renewable energy consumption and manufacturing value added in Kazakhstan, a relationship of growing importance in the context of sustainable industrial development. The aim of the study is to assess the direction and nature of causality between these variables over the period from 2000 to 2021. To this end, the Toda-Yamamoto Granger causality test is applied, offering robust results regardless of the order of integration of the time series data. The empirical analysis identifies a statistically significant bidirectional causal relationship. Specifically, renewable energy consumption has a significant impact on manufacturing value added (p = 0.003), while manufacturing value added also significantly influences renewable energy consumption (p = 0.006). These findings reveal a reciprocal mechanism in which the expansion of renewable energy supports industrial growth, and industrial development, in turn, enhances renewable energy usage. The results underscore the strategic importance of integrating renewable energy policies with industrial development plans. From a policy perspective, the study provides practical insights into fostering sustainable economic growth by aligning environmental and industrial objectives in Kazakhstan.

The modern industrial revolutions have significantly influenced social and political landscapes, prompting critical inquiries into the security and integrity of socio-economic systems, particularly in the context of military confrontation. This paper investigates the role of disruptive technologies associated with Industries 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 in safeguarding socio-economic systems amid the ongoing russian war against Ukraine. The paper highlights how modern technologies have bolstered system resilience and adaptability by examining progress in green energy, transport transition, and the development of digital infrastructure and services before the war. Green energy and transport technologies have been instrumental in decentralization, energy networking, compensating for energy losses, and mitigating disruptions caused by the war. The proliferation of electric vehicles and the expansion of charging infrastructure have significantly reduced the potential impact of aggression, facilitating evacuations and supporting essential services during fuel shortages. Digital technologies have played a crucial role in ensuring continued access to education, employment, and communication, thereby strengthening societal resilience and reinforcing human capital, a key factor in socio-economic system security. This marks a shift from a technocratic to a system-synergistic, human-centered security model, where human capital becomes a core determinant of resilience, and technologies evolve from mere tools into integral elements of a sustainable socio-economic structure. Nevertheless, challenges related to technological dependencies, such as supply chain vulnerabilities and cyber threats, require further investigation in future research.

Acknowledgments
The paper is prepared within the scientific research projects “Digital Transformations to Ensure Civil Protection and post-war Economic Recovery in the Face of Environmental and Social Challenges” (No. 0124U000549) and “Fundamental Grounds for Ukraine’s transition to a digital economy based on the implementation of Industries 3.0; 4.0; 5.0” (No. 0124U000576).

Type of the article: Research article

Abstract
The purpose of the study was is to assess the impact of key factors (including employment, income, poverty level, prices and social support) on the dynamics of social pressure in Kazakhstan. The analysis covered the period from 2014 to 2024 and utilized official data. The methodology combines entropy-based ranking of indicators, calculation of the Socio-Economic Pressure Index (SEPI), Social Stability Index (SSI), and Social Inertia Index (SII), as well as phase-portrait visualization. The entropy ranking revealed that the share of population below the food basket cost (di = 0.71; Wi = 0.2381) and housing assistance (di = 0.516; Wi = 0.1728) had the highest variability and the strongest influence on SEPI. Moreover, SEPI rose from 0.0967 in 2014 to its peak in 2023 – over 20 times higher – before falling to 0.53 in 2024. SSI dropped from 4.94 in 2017 to 0.44 in 2023, with minimal adaptive capacity, and partial recovery to 1.87 in 2024. There was recorded instability of positive changes and a high likelihood of renewed pressure due to the lowest value of SII (–3.24) in 2024. Thus, long-term stability and a reduction in the social sphere’s susceptibility to external and internal shocks require integrated policy measures that combine targeted support, income regulation, and adaptive governance.

Acknowledgments
This research has been funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant “Development of mechanisms for reducing social inequality and improving the welfare of the population of Kazakhstan” AP19174744).

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study aims to systematically analyze and synthesize the existing scientific literature on the determinants of long-term capital flows, particularly Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into China, with a focus on how prior empirical studies examine the roles of trade openness, infrastructure development, institutional quality, and financial modernization. Using the PRISMA framework, the study systematically reviewed 114 peer-reviewed articles published between 1990 and 2025 to identify recent patterns, evaluate the impact of core sources, and highlight thematic trends in academic literature. The finding of this study indicates a clear upward trend in article production, with a significant jump from 124 publications in the UK to 1,855 in China, with China emerging as the leading contributor and host to several highly influential articles. The Journal of International Trade/Economics is the leading source with 109 documents, followed by China Economic Review (63), Research in Emerging Markets Finance and Trade (45), and Economic Modeling (36). A total of 780 authors contributed to these works, with 2.96 co-authors per document on average, but international co-authorship was limited. This study also highlighted FDI as a key theme with 254 counts following Economic Growth/Development (181 mentions) and Trade (146), which indicates a strong research interest in the role of capital flows and macroeconomic performance in the Chinese context. This study analyzed 639 articles for the bibliometric review, with a primary focus on FDI. However, other significant components of long-term capital flows, such as portfolio investment, external debt, and remittances, were not adequately covered, representing a key limitation of this study. Additionally, the direction of causality between FDI and China’s economic growth was not covered by this study.