Issue #4 (Volume 18 2020)

The present study examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on financial reporting quality under Indian GAAP and Indian Accounting Standards (Ind. AS). A sample of 97 companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange is selected. Corporate governance mechanisms have been considered as independent variables, and financial reporting quality is the dependent variable. Corporate governance is measured by board effectiveness (board size, independence, diligence, and expertise), audit committee attributes (size, independence, diligence, and expertise), foreign ownership, and audit quality. Descriptive statistics, correlation, and OLS regression are conducted to estimate the results. The study results reveal that board characteristics and audit committee attributes, except for audit committee diligence, have a significant effect on financial reporting quality. However, the impact of board diligence and audit committee attributes is negative. Foreign ownership has no contribution to financial reporting quality, but audit quality has a significant effect. The findings of the study have considerable implications for regulators, policymakers, managers, investors, analysts, and academicians. More emphasis should be given to compliance with Ind. AS, and an oversight body for compliance with Ind. AS should be established.

Acknowledgment
This publication was supported by Deanship of Scientific Research, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia.

Nowadays, the modernization of the education system is the basis of dynamic sustainable economic development and citizens’ well-being. The key agent for the implementation of educational policy and the developer of the legal framework governing the functioning of the educational sphere is the state and its bodies. The Kazakhstani state policy’s main priorities in the field of education are formulated in several strategic documents. Using the review approach, this article examines the current state of public policy and legal regulation in Kazakhstan’s education sector. The article analyzes key documents that define the contours and content of the main directions of public policy and legal regulation. This article attempts to identify, review, and analyze the legal characteristics of the key process and factors existing in the legal field of Kazakhstani education, such as “Bologna factor,” “soviet legacy,” “provision of quality,” etc. The article concludes that the existing legal tools do not fully comply with law enforcement practice. The interpretations of some legal acts are somewhat different, which causes difficulties for actors providing educational services. Based on the result of the analysis, the article provides the main recommendations for improving legislation in education.

Acknowledgment
This article was written under grant from Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science No. АР05135081 “Student with disabilities and distance education learning environment: socio-practical and legal dimensions” coordinated by Prof. Dr Zulfiya Movkebayeva (Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University).

In South Africa, exploiting economic opportunities in the handicraft sector could create livelihood and employment for ordinary citizens living in rural areas. The potential contribution of handicraft small enterprises to sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation is yet to be fully exploited. It is also regarded as a sector with great growth potential, but the degree of support provided to the handicraft sector is low. The study aims to evaluate the socioeconomic factors influencing the viability of handicraft small businesses operating in KwaZulu-Natal. Data collection was drawn from a stratified random sample of 196 handicraft practitioners operating in different areas of KwaZulu-Natal Province with a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed with the STATA statistical package. The results obtained from the study have shown that 84 enterprises (42.86%) were not viable, whereas 112 of the 196 handicraft enterprises (57.14%) were viable. The percentage of overall correct classification for this procedure was equal to 77.96%. Percentage sensitivity for the fitted logistic regression model was equal to 60.71%. Percentage specificity for the fitted logistic regression model was equal to 82.14%. The p-value obtained from Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test was equal to 0.0884 > 0.05. This indicates that the fitted logistic regression model is fairly well reliable. The findings from the analysis showed that two factors significantly influenced the viability of handicraft enterprises. These two factors were the belief that handicraft business could sustain the handicraft practitioner, and the level of support for handicraft businesses from non-governmental organizations is decreasing.

Acknowledgment
South Africa SarChi Chair, Nation Research Fund and Department of Science and Technology, South African, for providing funding for this research.

There are continuous research and practical interest to combine different renewable sources within one Smart Grid network. The paper aims to estimate the influence of key economic and social drivers of renewable energy and Smart Grid promotion in OECD member countries. The random effect of the generalized least squares method was used to estimate the empirical model based on the World Bank, OECD, Heritage Foundation, and World Energy Council datasets for a panel of 36 OECD counties. For the empirical estimation, the dependent variables considered are energy renewable electricity output and energy trilemma index, taken as two proxies for Smart Grid development. The results suggest that an increase in GDP p. c. in national economies by 10,000 USD leads on average to a 3.9% decrease in renewable electricity output during 2001–2015. The richer the society, the less renewable energy sources were used for power generation in a group of OECD countries. The last is also supported by the fact that gross fixed capital formation treated as a percentage value of GDP is negatively correlated with structural changes in renewable energy output. The empirical conclusion is that during the study period, OECD countries were mainly oriented to economic growth, which was achieved by consuming non-renewable energy resources, and limited attention was paid to sustainability and Millennium Development Goals. The paper provides policy recommendations for Smart Grid development and points in the future research within OECD countries.

Acknowledgments
Comments from the Editor and anonymous referees have been gratefully acknowledged. Leonid Melnyk gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (0118U003578). Oleksandra Kubatko gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (0119U100766) and National Research Foundation of Ukraine (2020.01/0135).

Human resources at different levels are the executives of organizational tasks toward excellence. Missing the track of human resources will leave the organization behind. The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of SHRM components on organizational excellence. The study was applied to industrial organizations in Industrial City in Northern Jordan. A quantitative approach was used to accomplish the objectives. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire was composed of three parts: the first part designed to collect demographic data, the second part designed to collect information about SHRM (recruitment, training, development, and career development), the last part designed to collect information about organizational excellence. A simple random sample of 120 organizations’ managers was studied. The results showed that the data collection tool was reliable. The results showed that training was of high concern by managers to reach excellence, followed by organizational development, then career development, and the least evaluation was for recruitment. The SHRM components affect the components of organizational excellence (customer satisfaction, technology deployment, product quality, and competitiveness) (p < 0.05). Recruitment was the highest contributor to organizational excellence related to technology deployment, product quality, and competitiveness, but customer satisfaction was affected by development and career development. The study recommended that the organization connect the SHRM strategy with the other organization activities that lead to excellence with the recruitment process’s concentration as it affects the products of the organizations.

This research aims to examine the intention of talented employees to leave an organization and discover how talent management practices could affect employee intention to leave an organization. This paper`s framework intends to outline the relationship between variables to present the idea of talent management practices and employee retention. The hypothesis was tested using a survey data set of 210 questionnaires collected from employees working in 82 ICT companies in Jordan to attain the research objectives. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS program, and EMOS program, and basic and initial statistical techniques were applied. The results show that talent management practices significantly affect employee intention to leave an organization. Accordingly, whenever firms applied talent management practices, employee intention to leave decreases. The results demonstrated that attracting talented employees has emerged to have the strongest effect on decreasing employee intention to leave; however, developing and rewarding talented employees was revealed to have the lowest effect. Thus, the ICT firms’ managers have to generate specific training programs to reward and develop talented employees.

Acknowledgment
The publication is supported by the EU-funded Hungarian grant EFOP-3.6.3.-VEKOP-16-2017-00007 for the project entitled “From Talent to Young Researchers” – Supporting the Career-developing Activities of Researchers in Higher Education”.

For the vast majority of countries, creating a favorable investment environment, which determines the possibility of attracting foreign capital, is a prerequisite for economic growth, addressing issues of national interests and a sufficient level of economic security. The presented article aims to assess the development of international investment activities to ensure countries’ investment security as components of economic security. Using multidimensional evaluation methods, construction of complex indicators, methods of statistical grouping, measurement of stochastic relationships, the integrated level of investment security of Central and Eastern European countries is determined. The assessment results showed that such countries as Estonia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, and Romania have the highest level of investment security and are among the countries that have strengthened their investment security positions over the period. The countries’ evaluation shows that 46% of the countries surveyed were classified as countries with a safe level of investment development. According to the results of correlation analysis, it was determined that the Investment Security Index is more correlated with the state of the investment climate of the country; in the group of Central and Eastern European countries, there is a close correlation with the level of investment attractiveness, which means that for these countries, macroeconomic stability and stable dynamics of socio-economic growth are the factors determining investment opportunities. The obtained results should be considered to identify the basic risks of the investment environment.

The inflation accounting technique allows a business to show or have a sensible picture of their gains due to present cost coordinates with present revenues. Thus, the effects of inflation accounting on organizational decisions and financial performance of Kwa-Zulu Natal retail stores were evaluated in this study. The study used a quantitative research method. A total of 161 completed questionnaires were received from respondents in the selected 20 listed stores in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Thus, the Exploratory Factor Analysis and linear regressions were employed in this study. The empirical study reveals how inflation accounting significantly impacts organizational decisions and financial performance of the retail business with such coefficients (F (1, 159) = 49.269, p < .0005; F (1, 159) = 28.959, p < .0005). The findings of this study highlighted positive relationships between the variables that were used. Thus, the study recommends that retail stores always consider inflation changes and apply inflation accounting techniques to make adjustments to produce more accurate results in their financial statements. Heated discussions now surround the basis of financial performance measurement via historical cost accounting. This influences their decision making and financial performance positively.

Transparency is a challenge for public administration reforms for now and beyond towards modern and better governance. The economic crisis that occurred has led to a large erosion of public confidence in the effectiveness of government financial management. This study aims to analyze the key elements of local government transparency in new public governance. The research data was obtained through financial reports on local government websites. The sample selection technique used purposive judgment sampling and yielded a total of 262 local governments in Indonesia. The analytical method used is logistic regression analysis. The results showed that key elements, reflected by the local government size and local financial independence ratio, had a significant influence on the implementation of internet financial reporting, while audit opinions do not have a significant effect. This is due to changes in public perception of the quality of audit opinions provided by the Audit Board. This study emphasizes that local governments that receive a fair or unfair audit opinion cannot prove with certainty that the local government has performed good or poor financial management. Audit opinions obtained by local governments do not always facilitate the publication of financial statements on their official websites.

The research aims to identify industrial and other economic sectors’ contribution to the regional divergence in Eastern European countries, particularly Poland and Ukraine. The ambiguity of the results of previous studies on the factors of regional convergence indicates the need for further research, considering the peculiarities of distinct economies’ development. The countries selected for analysis – Ukraine and Poland – had similar starting conditions for market transformation, have a common border, and a comparable population. The analysis of regional inequality in Ukraine revealed a tendency of asymmetric regions’ growth in 2010–2017. In Poland, divergent trends in regional development in 2009–2017 were significantly less pronounced. The statistical method to identify the impact of the industrial, agricultural, and service sectors on regional σ-convergence based on coefficients of variation measuring the differences in regional economies’ sectoral structure was used. The analysis demonstrated that, in general, the uneven structure of regional economies does not significantly impact any of the analyzed countries, which confirmed the results of some other studies. Simultaneously, it highlighted that the industrial sector had the greatest impact on regional divergence in Poland. Despite the dominant role of services in regional divergence in Ukraine, most researchers emphasize the importance of the industrial sector for regional development. To consider this factor in the regional divergence of Ukrainian regions, some regional policy implications were considered.

In the modern world, many developing countries take protective measures to develop domestic industries and diversify their economies to ensure economic sustainability. This issue is a priority, especially in those countries where economic development is provided mainly through the export of natural resources. This article aims to assess the impact of protectionist measures on the development of non-resource sectors of the economy. The object of the study is the non-oil sector of the Azerbaijani economy, where oil revenues account for over 80% of the country’s total exports. The study covers the 2005–2019 years. Granger Causality test in the VAR environment was used to identify and assess the causal relationship between protectionist measures and the non-oil sector development. It was revealed that such indicators as “customs revenues” and “exchange rate” do not increase non-oil GDP. The study results suggest that increasing the effectiveness of protectionism (in terms of economic growth) requires more reasonable and consistent regulatory measures. Targeting priority sectors and establishing monitoring mechanisms on the results of protectionist measures is also a priority for assessing their feasibility.

Corporate voluntary disclosure becomes a burning issue in the literature of accounting throughout the last two decades. The study aims to explore the most crucial determinants that influence corporate voluntary disclosure in a transition economy. A cross-sectional study based on the pharmaceutical and chemical companies listed in the Dhaka Stock Exchange is conducted to reconnoiter the crucial determinants affecting the voluntary disclosure. Based on the agency theory, stakeholder theory, and previous literature, the determinants are selected. An unweighted disclosure index is used to measure the extent of voluntary disclosure; after that, a multivariate analysis is steered to reconnoiter the key determinants of voluntary disclosure. It is found that firm leverage and firm liquidity are the key determinants that significantly influence the corporate voluntary disclosure in a transition economy. In contrast, no significant positive association is found between voluntary disclosure and board size. In additon, it is also found that market category significantly influences voluntary disclosure with an inverse direction. This study has important implications for both the corporate people and the regulatory bodies of the transition economy. The study also helps various stakeholders of the transition economy – Bangladesh, in designing their strategies regarding the most significant determinants of voluntary disclosure.

Acknowledgment
We are very thankful to the Institute of Advanced Research (IAR), United International University, Bangladesh, to grant us the fund by mobilizing which we generate our required data for the study and complete this empirical study.

In the context of globalization of the educational services market, competition between universities is becoming more intense. This manifests itself, among other things, in the struggle for positions in international university rankings. Given that universities are evaluated according to many criteria in such rankings, it becomes necessary to identify the most significant factors in determining their positions.
This study aims to identify the key factors determining the world’s leading universities’ leadership in international university rankings. The numerical values of the criteria for compiling the QS World University Rankings (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE) rankings were an empirical basis for the study. The analysis covered the Top 50 universities (according to the QS ranking) and was conducted based on reports for 2020 and 2021.
At first, clustering was carried out (method – k-means); the data set was the combination of numerical values of QS and THE criteria (six and five criteria, respectively). The universities were divided into three clusters in 2020 (23, 19, 8 universities) and 2021 (23, 17, 10 universities). This showed the universities’ leadership relative to each other for each year.
At the second stage, classification processing was performed (method – decision trees). As a result, criteria combinations that give an absolute separation of all clusters (2020 – five combinations; 2021 – eight combinations) were identified. The obtained combinations largely determine universities’ affiliation to clusters; their criteria are recognized as key factors of their leadership in the rankings. This study’s results can serve as guidelines for improving universities’ positions in the rankings.

Development of the system of ensuring quality in higher education of Ukraine grounded the creation of such management subject as a guarantor of the educational program. However, a formal understanding of the role and uncertainty of the guarantor’s status in the contemporary area of managing higher education institutions became the widespread consequence of those innovations. Considering the stated above, various models of managing the quality of educational programs with the help of the guarantor have been developed in the research, and conditions for efficient application of such models in Ukrainian universities have been grounded. The research is based on the application of the strategic analysis method GAP for identifying issues and features of organizing management in systems of internal quality assurance in universities, and methods of modeling and graphical analysis method for creating alternative management systems in educational programs with and without such professional educational-scientific structural subdivisions as departments. As a result, the developed models include the rational organization of management of educational programs under the conditions of centralized and decentralized systems of internal educational quality assurance provision. For instance, it could create favorable conditions for decreasing bureaucracy and repetition of functions in the management system of universities and lead to the realization of the individual potential of guarantors as managers-experts in educational programs.

Acknowledgment
To the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance for the possibility to take part in accreditation expertise and consulting evaluation of educational programs in universities of Ukraine. The research was carried out also within the context of the tasks of Ukrainian-American international project “Program of professional development of them managerial staff in Ukrainian universities,” which was initiated by the investment company “Rayter Inc.” (The USA). In addition, we are thankful to the Czech Development Cooperation support, which allowed this scientific cooperation to start (through projects: “Strengthening scientific capacities and cooperation of Ukrainian universities in AgriSciences” and “Interuniversity cooperation as a tool to improve the quality of selected universities in Ukraine”).

Managers can spot and target the common driving forces of conflicting employees to ensure their efficiency and productivity. The aim of this research is to provide evidence for the existence of a personal profile, named in this work Structured Personal Conflict, which is present in intragroup conflicts, traditionally studied based on the factoring of conflicts of processes, results and relationships. More than 400 questionnaires were distributed by mail among workers from different organizations and jobs in Mexico, the methodology used the information of 201 usable questionnaires. Various goodness-of-fit tests obtained were applied and rival models were compared using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (AFC). As a result, it was found that structured personal conflict can be estimated from the intragroup conflicts of processes, results and relationships, and that it has a greater explanatory power than either of them individually. The importance of structured personal conflict in the personnel selection and in the performance of teams should be emphasized.

Modern architecture of the world economy is determined not only by the indicators of development of individual national economies and not only by their individual efforts, but also by coordinated efforts of several countries, such as trade agreements. One of such agreements that should lead to freer market relations, fairer trade and sustainable economic growth in the region, better resolution of international disputes, environmental protection, intellectual property protection, etc., is the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA). The aim of this paper is an attempt to analyze the level of global competitiveness of intergovernmental associations (agreements) as influential participants in the international market. To do this, the concepts of “competitive power of the country” and “competitive power of international integration groups” are compared with the concept of firm competitiveness. The competitiveness of the country association was analyzed through the example of the USMCA based on The Global Competitiveness Report 2019 and The Global Competitiveness Index 4.0. used in it. The paper also examines the global challenges and obstacles affecting the level of competitiveness and competitive advantage that each country receives when participating in an international integration agreement. This analysis helps explain real competitive processes in the global economy.

The article identifies the negative impact of the coronavirus crisis on the expected efficiency of retail, hotel, restaurant and tourism businesses. The aim of the paper is to develop a methodological algorithm for short-term forecasting of opportunities to restore the effective activity of enterprises under quarantine restrictions.
Seasonal component adjustments were performed in the Demetra+ software. Modeling the recovery of effective activity included an assessment of the influence of macroparameters on the dynamics of an enterprise’s sales volumes under pre-quarantine conditions, defining the size of economic losses, determining coefficients of macroindicators’ dynamic influence under conditions of differentiation of quarantine restrictions, constructing a matrix of multiple regression equations, which clearly demonstrates the forecast prospects for restoring the effective activity of enterprises, depending on the quarantine zoning. A situational model of the possible scenario dynamics of enterprises’ trade turnover was built taking into account the quarantine zoning and the logical transformational algorithms of influence on variable system parameters caused by it. The thermometer principle was used as a fuzzy logic tool to consider the specifics of the dynamics of various linguistic variables and bring the forecast model as close as possible to the epidemiological zoning logic. Approbation of the methodology revealed a clear correlation between the severity of quarantine restrictions and the expected growth of enterprise activity amounts. In a more advanced form, the method should be used for short-term macroeconomic forecasting when determining quarantine restrictions and epidemiological zoning.

Project managers from different areas struggle to find universal set of factors to achieve high project efficiency. However, the project efficiency assessment varies across industries, making it difficult to apply general concepts and guidelines in the specific project environment. The study’s main purpose is to assess the impact of organizational support on project efficiency in different areas and identify critical processes that increase it. The paper presents quantitative research results by using data from 261 project managers in the Republic of Kazakhstan during 2018–2019. The research sample consists of commercialization projects, scientific projects, social projects, and projects from the service industry. The research findings show the different quality levels of top management support and its high correlation with project efficiency. Furthermore, the study reveals the specific processes for each investigated type of project that highly correlate with project efficiency dimensions. Commercialization projects that intensively use the organizational support processes were the most efficient projects by showing the best result in cost overrun (15%) and the second resulted in schedule overrun (17%). These findings have theoretical and practical implications, supporting project managers in increasing their project efficiency by choosing the critical, proper project management tools and techniques.

Unbiased performance appraisal tends to bolster the performance of employees. The studies indicate several inadequacies with the current performance appraisal systems. Functional interdependence is one such factor that has been ignored. The study aims to find the factors that can improve the satisfaction with performance appraisal of employees whose deliverables are highly interdependent on other functions. Organizational justice, rater competence, inter-functional conflict, and cohesion are considered the mediating variables. To test the model, the data are collected through a survey using a questionnaire from the executives of Indian real estate companies who have undergone the appraisal process at least once. Firms with more than 500 employees are randomly selected for the list of members of the real estate developers’ associations. The results show that functional interdependency has a negative impact on satisfaction with performance appraisal. Although conflict and cohesion are found to influence satisfaction with performance appraisal, they did not mediate the effect of functional interdependency on satisfaction with performance appraisal. However, the study found that rater competence and organizational justice have a mediating effect. The study provides practical implications to HR managers of real estate companies to train the raters and include the complexities of functional interdependencies in the appraisal system. A grievance mechanism should be created to address the employees’ concerns, ultimately improving satisfaction with performance appraisal.

In Malaysia, the indirect tax environment is evolving fast, and the risk has never been higher. The public perception of Sales and Service Tax (SST) as a business cost aggravates the increase in essential needs prices. Hence, the heavy burden on Malaysians’ income, which ultimately constitutes a big worry and outcry, makes the study relevant.
The study investigates the relationship between selected causes of equity and fairness (tax fairness), certainty (tax burden), accountability to taxpayers, tax knowledge, and public acceptance of SST implementation in Malaysia.
Data were collected through a structured survey among the public in Klang Valley. Respondents were chosen randomly from various locations in public and private sector organizations. A total of 177 out of the 228 completed and received questionnaires are found suitable for further analysis. The study adopts the SmartPLS version 3.3.2 statistical analysis tool to test the four hypotheses formulated.
The study results reveal tax fairness, tax burden, and government accountability are significant and positively relate to public acceptance of SST implementation in Malaysia. This further buttressed that tax fairness, tax burden, and government accountability are critical for public acceptance of SST implementation because of their economic implications. In contrast, tax knowledge is not significant and negatively relates to public acceptance of SST implementation. The effect indicates that tax knowledge is not an essential factor as far as public acceptance of SST implementation is concerned in Malaysia.

Regional development is related to the effective management of disruptive industries on the local level. In the European Union, the innovation regional development policy is based on a smart specialization strategy, which neighboring countries try to apply as well. In their regional strategies, they notice the goals which are designed within the Joint Research Center methodology. It allows revealing the most efficient industries in the region, leading to a new level of regional competence on the global level. The study aims to identify smart specialization priorities based on JRC methodology in certain Ukrainian regions and assess its applicability in emerging markets (Ukrainian case) and develop the set of recommendations considering the specificity of the national economy.
The methodology is based on the static and dynamic analysis of economic (the indicators of the growth of average salaries and the number of employees indicators are calculated) and innovation (the indicators of productive, process, organizational, and marketing innovations are analyzed) potential of the region, which is examined in the article. It is revealed that the JRC methodology in identifying the smart specialization priorities has limited application in Ukraine. The restrictions related to the lack of data on innovations and other economic indicators. The analysis of certain regions shows what industries should be recommended as the priorities of smart specialization. However, discussions of the calculated results with the key stakeholders have differences which are not acceptable in the regional innovation policy development. As a result, the experts’ opinions are recommended to consider the priorities of different regions in Ukraine and other developing countries, which are on the path of smart specialization during stakeholders’ communication sessions.

The open innovation concept thrives on knowledge and information flow; their sources for the current innovation performance of the selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have since triggered research interest. This research aimed to explore the different sources of knowledge and information for innovation and the extent to which these different sources contribute to the innovation performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in some selected CEE countries. The study assesses the influence of different knowledge and information sources and their relationships in SMEs engaged in manufacturing activities for innovation performance in the selected CEE countries using structural equation modeling. Data were sourced from the anonymized European Community Innovation Survey (CIS, 2012). The results show that internal sources of information and knowledge from innovative internal activities highly influence SMEs’ innovation performance in these CEE countries. Additionally, SMEs in the selected countries’ sources of information and knowledge influence firm cooperation arrangements. The result is significant for SMEs and policymakers to ensure fostering information and knowledge sharing and support of creating valuable knowledge for innovation, most importantly, in the aftermath of financial and economic crisis.

Acknowledgment
This work was supported by a grant provided by the scientific research project of the Czech Sciences Foundation Grant No. 20-03037S.

Education is a core element of the Sustainable Development Concept. It is not only because of the declaration of SDG 4 within the 2030 Agenda but also its embeddedness in other goals, targets, and indicators. Thus, the study aims to generalize approaches to define the relationship between the efficiency of the strategy of sustainable development of the national economy and state regulation of education. The research is accomplished for 14 Central and Eastern European countries (2006–2016) using the combination of principal components method and parametric method of stochastic frontier analysis in the software package STATA 11 and FRONTIER 4.1. As a result, the empirical proofs of the strong and adequate link between the efficiency of the sustainable development strategy of the national economy and state regulation of education are identified. The technical efficiency indexes were also calculated that allowed forming three clusters for Central and Eastern European countries distributed by the level of state regulation of education and efficiency of sustainable development strategy implementation. It helps to distinguish the main measures to reform the state regulation of education in Ukraine considering the experience of Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, countries that proved to be the leaders in a sphere of sustainable development strategy implementation. The recommendations for further improvements in educational policies were defined. For instance, effective and sustainable state regulation of education should focus on decentralizing education, developing private-public partnerships, stimulating adult education development, etc.

Acknowledgment and funding
This research was funded by the grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine “Reforming the lifelong learning system in Ukraine for the prevention of the labor emigration: a coopetition model of institutional partnership” (No. 0120U102001).

The maritime industry plays a special role in Norway. In recent years, it became subject to increasingly stronger requirements to reduce emissions. However, the most important is that the Norwegian maritime industry in several areas can deliver and further develop technology and products that provide lower emissions, nationally and globally. Going forward, technology development will be more important with time. Thus, it is important to find out what impact it will have on the industry’s sustainable development and estimate the efficiency of new technologies.
This paper primarily aims to find a new optimization tool, which allows monitoring progress in the maritime industry towards sustainable development.
The present study reveals many new possible zero-emission solutions in the maritime industry, such as battery-electric architectures, ammonia, hydrogen, biofuel, and liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), autonomous ships, etc. Moreover, it was highlighted that without active coordination between governance, academia, and industry, it is impossible to achieve international climate commitments and associated targets for reducing the emissions in the maritime industry.
In addition, in this study, a twofold model was proposed: the first part is the calculation of the Sustainable Development Index (SDI), and the last one is mathematical modeling, where the optimization variable carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and Sustainable Development Index (SDI) should be maximized.
The investigation results prove that the model should be tested, and further research in this area is needed.

Acknowledgment
The research is supported by a grant from the Research Based Innovation “SFI Marine Operation in Virtual Environment (SFI-MOVE)” (Project no: 237929) in Norway.

Nowadays, it is imperative to use forecasting technologies that are most likely to predict the development of economic systems. Foresight technologies based on a combination of strategic analysis and forecasting of key indicators provide a high level of probability of achieving certain results and contribute to shaping conditions for their achievement. Among economic systems, tourism sector is the most vulnerable to the negative impact of the global pandemic. In 2020, its revenues fell by 70%, leading to an unprecedented crisis. Accordingly, questions arise about the Ukrainian tourism sector’s ability to use the crisis as a prerequisite for recovery and growth.
Based on the results of a two-round survey using the Delphi method among experts (56 at the first stage and 42 at the second) representing various tourism directions for Ukraine’s tourism sector up to 2030, six strategic development priorities were formed. Key indicators were identified, such as contribution to GDP (7-8%), place in the global tourism competitiveness rating (60-70th position among 140 countries), and average annual growth rate of international arrivals (5-10%). It has been determined that in case of the end of the world pandemic, the Ukrainian tourism sector can achieve the indicators of “pre-crisis” functioning in 1-3 years.
The proposed architectonics of the foresight platform in the context of digitalization of network communications will ensure the adoption of management decisions to develop Ukraine’s tourism sector in the domestic and international markets. It will strengthen its position, image, and strategic sustainability in the markets for tourist services.

Acknowledgment
The paper reflects the results of the authors in the framework of studies conducted in 2018–2020 at the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics by order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (Paradigmatic and Conceptual Shifts in the Economic Theory of the 21st Century) (Q1 2018 – Q4 2020; state registration number 0118U000126), and Formation of the National Brand of Ukraine in the International Environment (Q1 2018 – Q4 2020; state registration number 0118U000127)).

Lebanon is facing an unprecedented political and economic crisis. Consequently, the country now urgently needs more than ever committed public managers, more involved and more effective in their work responsibilities to enhance public sector performance and reduce the consequences of the crisis. Little research has been done on the role of leadership in promoting organizational commitment in the public sector in Lebanon. Thus, referring to the leadership full range theory, this study aims to investigate the association between leadership styles and organizational commitment with the mediating role of Leader-member exchange (LMX). It further aims to examine the relationships between gender, leadership style, LMX and organizational commitment in the Lebanese public context.
Data were collected via an online survey on a sample composed of 132 middle managers working in six public administrations in Lebanon. Linear and multiple regression analyses were carried out to test the direct and indirect effect of leadership styles on organizational commitment. The results indicated that both two styles of Bass are positively correlated with organizational commitment. The results also revealed a significant relationship between public servant gender and the quality of his relationship with the leader. Moreover, results showed that LMX doesn’t mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment, although it partially mediates the relationship between transactional leadership and organizational commitment. This study contributes to understanding of the mechanisms of developing organizational commitment through leadership styles. It also has implications for public service recruitment and training policies.

The non-life insurance companies indemnify the properties from the risk of being damaged due to unforeseen events like natural calamity or accidents. The probability of bankruptcy is imminent on account of large, unprecedented claims. As a risk saver of various society stakeholders, these insurers must be efficient while managing the insurance business. The present research thrusts upon to evaluate the efficiency and decomposition that would further direct the insurers towards achieving optimal scale. Thus, the captioned research aims to measure and rank the technical efficiency of the general insurance firms of Ethiopia and evaluate and analyze their relative efficiencies. The research adopts a quantitative approach and deploys descriptive analysis by a panel data of 17 Ethiopian general insurers for the period 2005-2016 on the input-output-oriented approach of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The data of general insurance are obtained using stratified sampling from the mix of life and general category. The inputs employed are total expenses, total liabilities, and shareholder’s fund, while net premiums earned and income from investments are used as outputs. The findings reveal that the public insurer is technically efficient by operating at an optimal scale as compared to all private insurers who, in turn, experience pure technical inefficiency to scale inefficiency due to poor management practices and erroneous utilization of input materials. Increasing Returns to Scale (IRS) witnessed a major form of scale inefficiency in 2016. Private insurers should increase capital and size of assets, cost efficiency, and improve key management skills.

Acknowledgment
The authors express their thanks of gratitude for the support extended by Ethiopia’s insurance companies’ officials to provide the hard copies of published annual reports up to 2016 as the secondary data are not available after that year’s analysis.

The key assumption of public transport is the overall accessibility for all its users. Lack of adjustments or only partial adjustments of the touristic transport infrastructure to the needs of elderly and disabled persons constitutes a barrier for their free mobility. The study aims to formalize measures to improve public transport activities by identifying the problems of the disabled and the elderly while traveling. The article presents an assessment of the current state and recognizing the most important problems of the physically disabled and elderly persons in the mobility in the city using public transport.
The research part of the article attempts to assess the availability of solutions in public transport for the physically disabled and elderly persons. For practical simplification, the article focuses on the mass transport implemented by the only possible means of this type of transport for the research is a bus.
In line with the predefined criterion, one city from the region of Bielsko-Biała was included into the research – city Szczyrk. In the article, the diagnostic survey was used as the best research method. The basic technique for collecting the empirical data was the open participating observation using the observation sheet. The basic research was complemented by the direct survey of disabled persons with various levels of disabilities to achieve intended results.
The research concluded that the mobility of disabled persons in the transport processes was assessed positively despite multiple difficulties and obstacles caused by their limited mobility and the lack of transport infrastructure adjustments (bus stops or information systems).

The current study aims at examining the role of transformational leadership in paving the way for well-built reengineering of marketing strategies within the healthcare sector in Jordan. Depending on a quantitative approach, 312 questionnaires were distributed to individuals within hospitals: 105 questionnaires – healthcare centers, 75 questionnaires – outpatient clinics, and 33 questionnaires – general medicine clinics in Jordan. The study results indicated as a start better employment of transformational leadership within hospitals compared to clinics and healthcare centers, which can be attributed to the size and capacity of the healthcare institution. The study also indicated an influence of transformational leadership in paving the way for reengineering of marketing strategies within the healthcare sector in Jordan attributed to all transformational leadership characteristics. Among these characteristics, it appeared that the most influential transformational leadership characteristic was “individualized consideration”, scoring a Beta value of 0.421. This meant that the individualized consideration that transformational leadership has can nurture creativity and innovation among individuals to use their talents, experiences, and skills to present new and novel approaches to managing the business. This individualized consideration helps manage the change approach that may appear within the reengineering process and cooperate with employees to embrace such change. The study recommended following transformational leadership as an approach within the organization to manage change and arm employees with a suitable leadership style that can prepare the environment for a well-prepared reengineering of marketing strategies.

Mergers and acquisitions are critical mechanisms for promoting the stable and effective production of the financial sector, and an effort to improve the strategic edge of financial institutions. M&A process also entails a high degree of confusion, which can be difficult for the workers. This study was conducted in the Philippines to examine the differences in the employees’ opinion in managerial communication, managerial support, and organizational culture difference relative to employee turnover. It also seeks to determine if the socio-demographic profile of respondents has a significant influence on turnover intention. The sample in this study is determined using a purposive sampling method. A total of 350 questionnaires are complete and feasible to analyze where 250 respondents belong to Bank A, and 100 respondents belong to Bank B. Using Levene-Welch post-hoc multiple comparison and binary logit regression with bootstrap, the findings revealed that managerial communication, managerial support, and organizational culture were associated with turnover intention. Further, the findings revealed that turnover intention differs per demographic profile. Therefore, management is to develop a post-merger integration plan, ensuring to attain competitive advantage and successful mergers and acquisitions.

A reported eighty-five percentage failure rate of SMEs in Nigeria before five years of operation was ascribed to a lack of knowledge of the market environment. Hence, this study investigated the moderating effects of the Nigerian market environment on the relationship between management success determinants and SMEs’ performance to see how the environment has affected SMEs’ performance. The study employed a survey research design, the population of the study comprised chief executive officers (CEOs) of registered SMEs, and a sample size of 1,102 was used. Probability sampling methods of stratified, proportionate, and random sampling were adopted. Responses were collected through a predetermined set of questions and a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that the Nigerian market environment had moderating effects on the relationship between management success determinants and SMEs’ performance (R = 0.817, R2 adjusted = 0.664, R2 change = 0.041, and Fchange = 19.694 at ρ = 0.000), most of the Nigerian market environment’s components have significant moderating effects on all the management success determinants relationship with SMEs’ performance; management skills (β = 0.220, 0.182; ρ < 0.05), innovation (β = 0.147, 0.135; ρ < 0.05), operating system (β = 0.083, 0.061; ρ < 0.05), organizational structure (β = 0.290, 0.303; ρ < 0.05), business reporting system (β = 0.142, 0.137; ρ < 0.05), system flexibility (β = 0.110, 0.107; ρ < 0.05), environmental scanning (β = 0.091, 0.062; ρ < 0.05). Only decision-making is not statistically significant (β = 0.037, 0.004; ρ > 0.05). These imply that Nigerian SMEs’ decisions under intense environmental turbulence are mostly ineffective, and the effects of management success determinants in facilitating performance were also drastically reduced as well as firms’ system flexibility. The study has a practical value of identifying the effect of the Nigerian market environment on the relationship between management success determinants and SMEs’ performance, thus revealing the gaps in the Nigerian SMEs’ management factors.

Acknowledgment(s)
To Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria and Small Scale Enterprises Association of Nigeria for their support in ensuring participation of their members.

Having a positive environment and enforcement in a social-political economy is necessary to poster an effective entrepreneurial climate. The passion for self-startups and risk-taking attitude are entrepreneurs’ traits with effective motivations, innovation, creativity, persistence, and flexibility. This helps the entrepreneur succeed and excel in their business. The success of a new project adventure is a crucial matter in business and investment. The literature review revision allows detecting the most attractive factors, the main reasons for startup failure, and the challenges facing entrepreneurs and new projects. This review paper enlightens Bahrain’s entrepreneurship ecosystem’s attractiveness and argues how the economy in the Kingdom of Bahrain encourages startup companies to establish and develop their business. The analysis results illustrate that the Government of Bahrain’s support system with effective public institutions and encouraging society are significant factors contributing to the success of the startup project. Nourishment extended by the government institutions and other supportive organizations like Tamkeen, Injaz, and EDB simplifies the formation of startup projects and support their sustainable growth. Analyzing the most common reasons for startup failure, the paper presents the proposed solutions to avoid these traps. It suggests the appropriate bodies in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, supporting and helping entrepreneurs overcome these difficulties.

Rapid changes in business transactions and technology development have made risk-based management a significant issue for business entities. The ability in managing risk would lead to a better firm value. This study investigates the effect of enterprise risk-based management disclosures (ERMD) and intellectual capital (IC) on firm value. It also tests the moderating effect of profitability on the relationship ERMD and IC with firm value. It examines the annual reports of 49 finance firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). The data cover three years, from 2016 to 2018. It employs panel data regression to test the hypotheses. The results show that the effect of ERMD and IC on firm value is partially and positively moderated by profitability. The findings show that the application of ERDM and IC can increase firm value. The originality of this study is that profitability can moderate the effect of ERMD and IC on firm value. The increase of ERMD and IC management within the company must be balanced with profitability to raise capital from outside the company to increase firm value.

Acknowledgment
The Research was conducted with the support of the Universitas Riau, Indonesia.

The relevance of the study is due to the abolishment of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land and the risks arising from the land market opening in Ukraine. The paper aims to identify the effectiveness of land mortgages for the agricultural sector of the economy and determine the mechanisms of state policy aimed at legal groundwork to guarantee rights of landowners. The comparative analysis of the land market development in the Central European states contributed to identifying system-based state management of land market formation processes, which had a positive effect on the land reform outcomes in these states. The analysis results confirmed the timeliness of the land market opening in Ukraine, which is related to the chosen economic and political course. The investment attractiveness of the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex is due to high productivity of lands and is supported with the possibility of mortgaging agricultural land. Neutralization of factors hindering the foreign investment attracted to agricultural business will contribute to the attraction of efficient technologies and highly productive use of the agricultural land in Ukraine. Some measures aimed at the land relations transformation in Central Europe do not consider the peculiarities of the Ukrainian agricultural sector. In particular, it is not reasonable to sell agricultural land to foreigners. Assessment of certain provisions of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Conditions of Agricultural Land Transactions’ No. 552-IX shows the inevitability of abuse by foreign-owned banking institutions of the possibility to alienate the lands pledged under any loan agreements. Criminalization of evasion from the alienation of agricultural land as collateral will prevent the risks of acquiring Ukrainian agricultural lands by foreign-owned banking institutions. It is concluded that the banking system will only perform the functions of an investor in the agricultural sector of the economy, so there is a need to strengthen the state regulation of the land market in Ukraine.

Food security is one of the most fundamental challenges facing many countries, especially in the developing economies, which still has a vast section of its population still trapped in the socio-economic cocoon of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. This paper aims to investigate the institutional support in the facilitation of empowerment and development of youth Small, Medium, and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) to be active participants in the agribusiness economic mainstream. The paradigm shift from primary agriculture into urban farming business models in agri-business could accelerate the ascendancy of youth SMMEs in the competitiveness stakes. The theoretical analysis focused on the resource-based view model, institutional theory, and the role of the CSR impact as a conceptual framework for the study. The research design was predicated on the quantitative methodology, which enabled the researchers to statistically test the reliability and validity of the theory. The findings indicated that the CSR interventions had not yielded a fundamental impact on assisting youth SMMEs within the agribusiness sector. The results also identified a lack of tangible and result-driven institutional support from policy-makers and authorities. Overall targeted technological transfer as a strategic and critical resource to youth SMMEs is another constraining factor from empirical findings. The results also revealed the lack of monetary and non-monetary access by youth SMMEs as hampering their competitiveness and profits ability. The findings advocated that the policy-makers could synthesize the theories encapsulated in the study and the empirical evidence as the bedrock for bespoke, customized, and tailor-made youth SMMEs’ bespoke support, empowerment, and development of their entities.

This study examined the influence of work-life balance, work stress, employee engagement, and working environment on employee wellbeing in the banking sector of Pakistan. Due to complex human resource policies in Pakistan, employee wellbeing is neglected in several banking institutions; this study addresses a research gap in this way. Drawing upon job demands-resources theory, the study employed a quantitative methodology through a survey of 360 employees from private and public banks in Pakistan. The results from PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling) demonstrate that employee engagement and work stress are significantly related to employee wellbeing, while working environment has a significant interactive effect between employee engagement and employee wellbeing. Theoretically, the study contributes to broadening the existing literature on human resource management. Practically, this study provides guidelines to human resource practitioners, managers, and policymakers on devising strategies for their employee wellbeing in going forward.

Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University in Zlin under the Projects No. FaME TBU No. IGA/FaME/2020/010 and IGA/FaME/2019/008. The authors would like to extend their appreciation to Prof. Boris Popesko (Vice-Dean for Research and Business Liaison) at the Faculty of Management and Economics for facilitating the financial readiness of this project.

This research aimed to examine the role of leadership in the school environment and leadership’s contribution to the effectiveness of teachers’ professional development in the public secondary education of Athens to improve the learning process and school quality. More specifically, this study highlights the school principal's contribution as a leader in teachers’ professional development. The choice of leadership style (education, administrative, transformational, ethical, participatory, and contingent) positively impacts teachers’ professional development. Data were collected from 180 teachers of the public secondary education of Athens, involving lower secondary schools, upper secondary vocational and general schools, excluding private and other types of schools. SPSS software was used to perform quantitative analysis of the collected data. The results showed no statistically significant correlation between teachers’ gender, skills, characteristics, and abilities. However, it was observed that there is a statistically significant correlation between age, tolerance, and rejection of educational techniques on teaching practice. The evidence from this study confirmed a direct impact of the school principal’s training on teachers’ professional development. Finally, it was concluded that the school principal – the leader should work as a learning manager to lead teachers in professional development and as a learning manager and an inspiration for lifelong learning.

The roles of external auditors have been under the spotlight due to the strategic positions they occupy to ensure accountability by public sector managers. This study examines the role of the external auditors in the accountability regime of the Ghanaian local governance structure. The study analyzed the annual reports of the Auditor General (AG) on all the metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana from 2010 to 2018 through a content analysis method. The analysis revealed that Ghanaian audit activities had mainly focused on internal control effectiveness, cash management, contract management, revenue management, expenditure management, payroll management, and procurement management. However, the study found that the focus of the external auditors kept expanding as the years progressed. The evidence showed that the auditors excluded performance audits in their scope of work. The findings of the study further revealed that the MMDAs had recurring, repetitive, and common audit queries, comprising cash; procurement and stores; contract and tax irregularities. Besides, the audit recommendations were in response to the specific audit queries on the various financial and operational irregularities. Based on the analysis, the study concludes that the external auditing in Ghana has marginally contributed to accountability in the MMDAs. The study recommends that the scope of the external audit should include performance auditing.

Nowadays, innovation and standardization are very important issues. The aim of this paper was to review the relationship between the components of the Summary Innovation Index (SII) according to the European Innovation Scoreboard and the features that determine the innovation level in 35 countries (taking into account the number of the following certificates: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001, ISO 50001, ISO 22000, ISO 13485) in 2017. The innovation ranking was created for these countries, considering the fact of certification for compliance with the ISO requirements. In this paper, an attempt was made to determine whether countries with very low innovation activity (performance) are at the same time characterized by a very low level of saturation with globally recognized ISO certificates, which confirm the implementation, functioning and improvement of selected types of management systems. The conclusions from the study are as follows: 1) standardization can be seen as an innovation tool; 2) as the number of ISO 9001 certificates increases, the number of ISO 14001 certificates (per the population of 100,000 people) also increases; 3) as the number of ISO 13485 certificates increases, the value of the SII also becomes higher. The features are modelled at 70%; 4) the weakest relationship can be observed between the SII and the ISO 9001 certification; 5) Switzerland obtained the highest mean value set for the innovation index proposed in the study, suggesting that the country can be considered the innovation leader of 2017 from among the countries investigated. The last (35th) place in the ranking was occupied by Ukraine.

Acknowledgement(s)
The authors are thankful to The Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland for financial support to carry out this research.

A business cartel is a business that is carried out by business actors to obtain market power by regulating the market by fixing prices, for example, by limiting the availability of commodities on the market. This paper examines in detail business cartel practices in Indonesia, explores their impact on the economy, and analyzes KPPU as an unfair business eradication body. In so doing, this paper analyzes eight business cases in Indonesia to describe and evaluate the practices of economic cartels in the industry. Those cases were randomly chosen for different periods and different industrial sectors. Using a qualitative analysis method, it is found that business cartels, unfortunately, are still rather common practice in Indonesia. It is also found that business cartels harm economic development, citizens and customers, since they tend to be monopolistic practices so that the customers will have to pay high prices for limited commodities. In addition, KPPU needs to be reformed, and the amendment of current antitrust law also needs to be executed. Consequently, judges and lawmakers should understand the balance of business interest and public interest at the same time.

Many organizations are willing to increase human capital investment through various employee training programs. This study empirically examines a proposed model that explains the relationship between the different types of employee training, including general and firm-specific training and employee turnover in Korean firms. This study used a survey sample of 10,069 employees in 467 publicly traded firms in South Korea. 78% of participating companies provided training programs to the employees. This study conducted quantitative cross-sectional regression analyses to test the hypotheses. The study suggests empirical evidence that general training and firm-specific training reduce employee turnover intention. Moreover, the magnitude of firm-specific training on turnover intention is much higher than general training. Furthermore, employee organizational identification has a partial mediating effect on training and turnover intention. However, the study found no substantial evidence of the moderating effect of employees’ justice perception of receiving training opportunities. Based on the human capital theory and social exchange perspective, the results indicate that both types of training programs help employee retention, and cultivating employee organizational identification can be critical in the training-turnover process.

This paper examined the growth and unemployment linkage from a gender-classification perspective using the Nigerian economic environment. The autoregressive distributed lag model in its baseline form, the bound test, and error correction representation were used as the estimation approach. Annualized time series spanning 1981 to 2017 were used for the variables of interest. Generally, it was found that female unemployment has a positive significant influence on GDP growth rate in Nigeria, while youth unemployment negatively and significantly influences GDP. It was also found that male unemployment does not significantly affect the GDP growth rate in Nigeria. In the long run, the main variables influencing GDP growth rate within the context of this study include unemployment rate, ratio of labor force size to the national population, female unemployment rate, and youth unemployment rate. The error correction representation and the bound test estimates confirm that growth adjusts to the dynamics of the studied unemployment variables. The study advocates for an increase in government capital expenditure, as this is theoretically and practically known to create new jobs. This spending should go into real and core productive sectors that would create upstream and downstream jobs opportunities.