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Political trust is an important indicator for evaluating relations between politicians and stakeholders. In agriculture, political trust has not been researched in depth, although agriculture is highly regulated by policies related to access to resources. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by answering the question of the role of institutionalized and non-institutionalized social communication in shaping farm workers' political trust. The multiple regression on a sample of 1,016 farm workers from the Europe-wide 2020 European Social Survey yields new insights. A key finding is the moderating effect of the opinion that online communication channels expose people to misinformation on the relationship between farm workers' trust in politics as a dependent variable and frequency of social contacts, time spent monitoring politics and current affairs, and membership in professional associations. In addition, political trust was found to increase as farm workers' interest in politics and monitoring news about politics and current affairs increased. While political trust is positively associated with farm workers' institutionalized participation in professional associations, it is negatively associated with non-institutionalized networking. Confirmation bias associated with farm workers' networking is particularly risky. Another important finding is lower political trust among households with a subjectively worse financial situation.
Implications for Central European audience: Government, formal networks (professional associations), and informal networks (social networks) provide verified and trustworthy information. At the same time, farmers themselves should have sufficient information literacy to critically assess the credibility of the information. The farm worker's education plays an important role and is significantly related to most of the main effects. The study's conclusions also include suggestions for follow-up research.

In the sharing economy, P2P platforms must identify the target audience for their marketing campaigns to spend their marketing budgets effectively. The challenge is to convince those who are afraid of sharing with strangers. We analyse participant behaviour by testing whether people's willingness to participate differs depending on whether they shared with known or unknown people. Our study focuses not only on sharing with strangers and exploring this phenomenon but also on sharing with people we know to verify that these people are generally willing to share idle assets. We define four groups of sharing economy participants depending on whether they know the counterparty: (1) active participants afraid of sharing with strangers, (2) active participants indifferent, (3) active participants preferring to share with strangers, and (4) inactive participants. Generation Z will most likely share their idle assets with strangers, while Generation Y does not mind who they share with. Generation X prefers to share with strangers but is also the most inactive. The demand side is more complicated: Generation Z does not care who they demand from, but other generations’ preferences depend on the asset type. Again, Generation X is the most inactive. We assume that a generational perspective is essential for P2P marketing mix settings. We summarise new findings from not only a theoretical but also a practical perspective.
Implications for Central European audience: We provide a new perspective on sharing idle assets in the context of sharing with strangers. We emphasize a generational perspective and use cluster analysis to define four groups of participants from the perspective of sharing with strangers. P2P platforms operating in the sharing economy can gain more insights into Czech customers' consumer behaviour depending on whether they know the counterparty. The results can also benefit managers in other Central European countries. The findings can also contribute to the theoretical knowledge of the sharing economy and its implications for reducing marketing costs.

Global dynamics, including globalization, resource mobility and capital flow, have profoundly transformed countries' long-term development policies and shaped migrants' motivations. Beyond traditional socioeconomic considerations, migrants prioritize a country's global brand and image, extending beyond economics to cultural, social and environmental factors. The paper aims to test the hypothesis positing a statistically significant correlation between the net migration index and the perceptions of a country's brand by external stakeholders. The study applies the ANOVA test to check the research hypothesis. The object of investigation is EU countries from 2000 to 2020. The ANOVA testing results highlight the significant influence of a country's brand on migration processes, serving as either a catalyst or an inhibitor. The study emphasizes the need to align national migration policies with effective national branding strategies to capitalize on the positive image of countries and attract intellectual capital. Policymakers should recognize the significant impact of a country's brand perception on migration patterns and consider sustainable practices to enhance overall attractiveness.
Implications for Central European audience: For the Central European audience, the study suggests that fostering a positive national brand is crucial in attracting skilled migrants and intellectual capital. Policymakers in Central European countries should consider integrating branding strategies into their migration policies to enhance global competitiveness and address demographic challenges through the attraction of qualified professionals. Central European countries should strategically attract a diverse array of migrants by making use of their unique historical and cultural heritage, emphasizing achievements in democracy and human rights, maintaining an affordable yet high standard of living, capitalizing on their pivotal economic position and showcasing both traditional and contemporary contributions, thereby creating a compelling narrative for sustained economic growth and cultural enrichment.

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have a significant influence on global financial markets, with assets exceeding USD 11.2 trillion and accounting for 40% of the world's largest 100 asset owners' total assets. Understanding the drivers behind SWFs' investment decisions is crucial. This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSI) compared to financial data on SWFs' investment decisions, analysing 72% of their total public equity holdings from 2019 to 2023. Findings reveal that SWFs prioritize company self-reported environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics over public CSI information when making investment decisions. Furthermore, public equity holding CSI data have a more pronounced influence on the investment decision of SWFs in countries with higher transparency of sustainability. The study underscores the necessity for greater ESG integration into SWFs' investment strategies to demonstrate a commitment to sustainable investing practices. This research illuminates the path towards a more responsible and sustainable approach for SWFs on global financial markets.
Implications for Central European audience: Our conclusions could help encourage greater ESG integration into investment strategies and promote sustainable investing practices more broadly, not limited to liquid assets, to showcase a sustainable “walk the talk”. A special focus should be put on CSI's development of target investments. Future research might also consider whether the investment behaviour of SWFs is equivalent to that of other major investors, such as insurance companies and public pension schemes.

The overall objective of the present research is to examine the influence of information technology components on the export-to-GDP ratio, especially focused on the changes caused by the events of the 20th century for Southeast European countries (SEC). The motivation for selecting these countries is to evaluate whether they have achieved a sufficient level to adapt digital developments. To overcome these challenges, the study uses a hybrid technique, employing random-effects (RE) and fixed-effects (FE) regression and Arellano-Bond estimations on panel data gathered from 13 countries from 2006 to 2021. The results confirm that fixed broadband subscriptions (FBS), gross formation capital (GFC) and official exchange rate (ORE), have a strong positive effect on the export-to-GDP ratio. Additionally, fixed telephone subscriptions (FTS), foreign direct investments (FDI) and inflation (INF) have a significant negative impact on the export-to-GDP ratio. The Arellano-Bond technique reveals that FBS, INF and ORE have a positive effect on exports, whereas FTS, GFC and FDI have a negative effect. The novelty of this research is that it uses data comparisons that are not related to a single determinant in the economy but are conditioned to advancement, especially concerning global markets and the exploitation of gaps created by changes in supply chains.
Implications for Central European audience: Depending on the research results, it is anticipated that the policy-making structures and other regulatory authorities will create a clear overview of the importance of digitization and its dynamics in the realization of exports and the mitigation of the trade deficit. These discoveries will encourage the highly empowered actors to redesign the policies that will affect the expansion and increase of the quality of the infrastructure of broadband and telephone subscriptions. By expanding and increasing the quality of the economic structure of the respective countries, they will be able to maximize the progress of the export value, which is one of the main goals of almost every country included in the analysis.

It is a well-known fact that consumers demonstrate their status through displaying their consumption and one of the key areas of consumption used to display status is travel. While traditional markers of travel status emphasized destinations, today’s status is more often conveyed through particular, often intangible, elements included in how the travel experience is shared. The display of these more intangible and immaterial aspects of travel consumption has developed vis-a-vis the proliferation of social media, which has allowed displaying the manner of travel in more detail but has also changed what status travel means. Our research aims to investigate this evolving nature of travel as a status symbol, particularly focusing on how social media have reshaped the perception of status travel for the young adult middle class consumers. Using visual analysis, we examine 508 travel-related Instagram posts from nine Czech young adult informants who belong to the emerging cosmopolitan class, focusing on the themes and visual strategies used to communicate social status. The analysis identifies four key characteristics essential for “Instagrammable” status travel: immersion in local or authentic culture, absence of crowds, unfamiliar or non-domestic landscapes and active participation in unique experiences. Our findings show that international travel dominates these status displays, with consumers favouring curated posts that emphasize exclusivity and uniqueness. This research highlights how social media have transformed travel into a form of experiential consumption, where the manner of presentation is as important as the travel itself in conveying status.
Implications for Central European audience: Young adult consumers increasingly signal status through curated, visually appealing travel experiences on social media, marking a shift from traditional status symbols to experiential consumption. These consumers prioritize authenticity, cultural immersion and exclusivity, constructing an aspirational identity aligning with global trends. Despite the preference of international travel, local destinations and marketers have a unique opportunity to attract this audience by offering experiences that emphasize these values and appeal to their visually driven social media use. Destinations that can capture these elements can better engage a digitally native, image-conscious demographic valuing travel as a form of self-expression and status.

This study evaluates Hungary’s equity market using Damodaran’s country risk premium (CRP) framework to estimate its cost of equity and assess investment attractiveness within the Central and Southeast European context. The paper integrates Hungary’s sovereign credit rating, default spread, and a volatility adjustment to compute an implied cost of equity of approximately 11.5%, placing it among the least risky regional markets. The methodology benchmarks Hungary against peers including Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Bosnia, and North Macedonia using key structural indicators such as market capitalization, turnover, P/E ratios, and foreign ownership. Findings show that Hungary benefits from deeper market liquidity, broader investor participation, and stronger integration with global capital markets compared to its frontier neighbors. However, institutional and political risks—particularly EU governance disputes—continue to inflate its risk premium above fundamentals. The results underscore how sovereign risk, market structure, and integration interact to shape equity valuations. The study concludes that targeted reforms aimed at enhancing governance and investor protections could lower Hungary’s risk premium and align it more closely with developed EU markets, offering a roadmap for peer economies undergoing similar transitions.
Implications for Central European audience: The paper provides a replicable framework for evaluating equity risk in post-socialist economies. Hungary’s example illustrates how institutional quality, liquidity, and policy credibility jointly influence investment outcomes. These insights can guide reforms and capital market strategies across Central and Eastern Europe.

The true identity of brands fades with changes in the market environment. Growing concerns regarding the decline of long-established brands have caught the attention of academicians and practitioners both. There is undivided attention witnessed in literature to develop a research framework to identify antecedents and intervening factors and their impact on Brand Revitalization. The primary aim of the study is to categorise identified variables into different approaches and integrate intervening variables to propose a research framework for empirical validation. Based on the systematic literature review approach, 93 studies from more than three decades (1984 to 2021) were undertaken after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. 62 per cent of qualitative research and 27 per cent of empirical and mixed research papers were obtained. A total of 63 variables from 18 empirical studies were categorised into two approaches ‘Brand re-enchantment’ and ‘Brand modernity’, which significantly influenced brand revitalisation. 9 mediators and 12 moderators were obtained from which ‘Advertising’ was introduced as a mediator for effective brand revitalisation. The research paper provides a scope to empirically validate the proposed research framework in different sectors and industries to carry the domain of brand revitalisation to an advance level.
Implications for Central European audience: According to Eurostat , the Annual inflation rate in the Euro Area increased from 4.1% in 2021 to 8.9% in 2022. Price has been accelerated for food, beverages, industrial goods and services. This has declined the purchasing power of consumers while making goods and services more expensive. As a result, demand-side is slowing down and consumers are shifting to low or no-frills brands making it challenging for brands to capture the likely brand decline. However, mature or declining brands often enjoy strong brand equity and there is residual salience which can be leveraged to retain existing consumers. The study offers guidelines to recognize the acute and latent signs of brand decline and provide possible revitalization strategies to increase market share, aid in internationalization, and strengthen the perceived brand image of Central European brands. Advertising illustrates the brand’s features, benefits, and uses, which may help in conveying the desired image of brands to the audience of central European countries.

In recent years, we have observed a growing interest in generational change. Various journalists, commentators and trend watchers have drawn attention to the differences of the newly emerging generation known as Generation Z (for purposes of this study, young people born in 2000 and later). It seems that the specificity of Generation Z is mainly determined by exposure to technology from an early age. It affects not only the way young people communicate but also their values, career expectations and lifestyles. The aim of the study is, therefore, to find out which factors are important for a successful labour market entry and the most influential for young people of Generation Z. We predict that the quantity and quality of online communication, life and work values and career expectations relate to career adaptability and resilience of Generation Z. Data were collected via a questionnaire based on validated and adapted scales – life values inventory, career adaptability scale and career resilience scale. The sample included 804 high school students, representatives of Generation Z, in the last year of their studies. The data of this study were analysed with the SPSS statistical software using exploratory factor and correlation analysis. The correlation analysis showed a significant relationship between career adaptability/career resilience and both variables of the model, value orientation and career expectations. The results of the study also reveal Generation Z’s perception of the ideal workplace, the main priorities in selecting a job, perceived working potential and their career aspirations. The results suggest that Generation Z appreciate when their employer provides them with the possibility of online communication as a necessary part of their work expectations. The ranking of the life values shows the importance of the value “prestige” among students, which indicates the importance of sharing success and experiences online.
Implications for Central European audience: Employability of Generation Z is a viable concept used and researched worldwide. A modified successful labour market entry model for Generation Z is supported in the Czech context, and it provides a base for future research. The results of the study support an investigation of Generation Z employability and provide an insight into the expectations and values of grammar school students in Czechia. The model might offer a convenient roadmap to accommodate the work expectations of Gen Z from the Central European region: career adaptability/resilience and factors of Generation Z’s entry onto the labour market.

The rapidly changing dynamics in the challenging work life have rendered the concept of well-being crucial and necessary for both organizations and employees. In recent years, there has been a consistent increase in studies focusing on employee well-being, driven by the understanding that happier employees tend to be more productive. However, the literature lacks a substantial number of critical examinations of well-being practices. While this gap in the literature has guided the scope of our work, it has also piqued our curiosity about criticisms of these practices, as well as positive attitudes and approaches towards them. With this study, our aim was to examine the positive and critical perspectives of various actors with different levels of knowledge and experience regarding well-being practices and to explore their needs to participate in well-being practices by relating them to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. In the light of the findings, another objective was to facilitate the integration of well-being practices as a philosophy/approach within organizations and enhance their more effective and comprehensive utilization.
Implications for Central European audience: When examining both common and differing views of the participants on well-being practices, the participants were positioned in different areas of a pyramid model. At the top, there are employees of the consultancy firm (Wellbees) and well-being experts, who evaluate well-being practices with a more idealistic, sophisticated and long-term perspective, without considering the current economic and social conditions of the country. In the middle level, there are HR managers whose views on well-being are limited to more job-oriented issues, rather than addressing employees’ higher-level needs. At the low level, there are employees who evaluate well-being practices from an individual perspective and find them beneficial in terms of socialization, building interactions and increasing motivation. It is inevitable to consider the views and approaches of all actors involved in well-being practices holistically to effectively manage.

The business environment, its quality, and its development are important indicators of the global competitiveness of individual economies. The situation is enhanced in the European area, where the open community brings specific opportunities to expand and grow in new markets. However, it is not that easy to find the proper place to start a business, considering the financial performance and cost-effectiveness. Thus, the paper focuses on the comparative analysis of selected European countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, and France) in the context of their macroeconomic and inner-markets factors in the 8-year horizon (2013-2020). The quality of the business environment is evaluated using a multi-criteria decision-making method TOPSIS and global multi-level indices such as the Global Competitiveness Index, Corruption Perception Index, and Doing Business Index. Their mutual dependence is tested by correlation coefficients. To find the statistically significant differences among the countries, the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Scheffé´s post hoc tests were used. The results reveal the subsets of countries with similar business environments, which may be beneficial in increasing the global competitiveness of enterprises.
Implications for Central European audience: The comparative analysis is focused on the selected (mostly) Central European countries. This selection enables comparing the business environments with similar features and grouping them into subsets based on their economic, political, and social peculiarities. The analysis of variance proved that the business environments in Slovakia, Hungary, and Croatia are very similar, which may simplify the way of doing business in these countries. Thus, the implications of this study are crucial for better evaluation of the factors influencing the business environment, grouping attractiveness from the perspective of national enterprises, and understanding the indicators that increase the international competitiveness of enterprises.

This study aims to understand the impact of organizational contingencies such as organizational culture, human resource policies and inter-organizational linkage on financial performance, using the mediating role of crisis management in energy companies in Iraq. To this end, structural equation modelling (SEM) was adopted to test the causal relationships between the study variables. An exploratory design (i.e., a questionnaire) was used to collect data from 379 workers in energy companies in Iraq. The results of this study indicate that organizational contingencies affect financial performance. Besides, crisis management provides complete mediation of the relationship between organizational contingencies and financial performance. From the practitioner's point of view, leaders and practitioners should encourage a creative culture and idea generation to give members enough power to act and focus on goals that support building sustainable organizational capacity.
Implications for Central European audience: The findings of this study contribute to providing academics and practitioners with a deep insight into the antecedents of financial performance to develop practices and policies that increase performance. 

The growing participation of women in the labour market has been undoubtedly one of the main features of the evolution of the economies of the European Union (EU) during the last few decades. Nevertheless, maintaining this increase remains an important policy goal due to the existing population ageing and gender employment gap. This paper aims to analyse the main determinants of female labour force participation (FLFP) in the EU countries using panel data regression analysis covering the period from 2000 to 2021. By employing the fixed-effects regression analysis, an influence of dependent variables such as GDP per capita, presence of anti-discrimination laws, equal opportunities laws and affirmative action, women's participation in parliament work, total fertility rate, paid parental leave, retirement age with full pension benefits, women's education and annual net earnings are assessed on the female labour participation rate in the European Union. Moreover, the robust standard error procedure is performed for model estimation. The empirical results indicate that GDP per capita, total fertility rate, equal age of retirement for men and women, annual net earnings, female upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education and tertiary education enrolment represent significant determinants of FLFP, where all the stated variables have a positive influence on the FLFP rates. Therefore, improvement in education levels, annual net earnings and gender equality policies influence women to participate more in labour markets. These findings demonstrate the significance of improving education and earnings levels and the necessity of the development of adequate policies that will provide that.
Implications for Central European audience: The results of this study provide insightful findings concerning the main drivers of female labour force participation in the European Union by taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic period labour market indicators.

The working paper examines several variables of the Economic Freedom Index and the effect of GDP on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 6 European Union economies (EU6) and the 6 Western Balkan economies (WB6). This study aims to explore whether these determinants affect foreign direct investments in EU6 and WB6 towards other international economies. To accomplish the stated aim, we used secondary panel data on an annual basis from the trusted databases of the Heritage Foundation and the World Bank, covering the period 2017–2023, comprising a total of 42 observations for each panel. The mathematical modeling paradigm employed is Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS). The discoveries demonstrate that government integrity, tax burden, and business freedom statistically positively affect FDI, whereas only judicial effectiveness and trade freedom negatively affect FDI in the EU6 context. Meanwhile, in the context of WB6, the discoveries demonstrate that government integrity, business freedom, tax burden, and GDP statistically positively affect FDI, whereas judicial effectiveness and trade freedom negatively affect it. Considering the perspective of scientific contribution and creativity, the research emphasises several significant issues for the regulatory authorities that have as an ongoing agenda the encouragement of FDI entering. Policy development structures, particularly those of WB6, should establish or redesign policies that provide an attractive environment for potential investors.
Implications for Central European audience: The findings suggest that fostering government integrity, reducing tax burdens, and promoting business freedom are decisive for attracting FDI. Despite the fact that these factors positively influence FDI in both EU6 and WB6 economies, judicial effectiveness and trade freedom pose challenges, especially in the EU6 context. For policymakers, especially in WB6 countries, the research highlights the need to create a stable and investor-friendly environment. Central European regulators can draw from these insights to design or adjust policies that encourage greater foreign investment and bolster economic competitiveness in the region.

This paper estimates the presence of the Deaton paradox in Europe. Using panel data for 24 countries ranging from 2000 to 2021, we estimate the presence of excess smoothness of consumption. We use the generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator. We cluster our dataset, which lowers the data variability, and use both quarterly and monthly data to obtain robust estimates. We broaden our knowledge of the Deaton paradox in a new direction by using a combination of uncommon datasets, GMM and clustering. Our findings indicate that traditional economic theories about consumption may not be applicable. The evident excess smoothness in consumption patterns across Europe provides key insights into consumer behaviour, especially during periods of volatility and instability such as the present. Our research indirectly corroborates newer theories in behavioural economics regarding consumption and places them within a wider macroeconomic context. This has implications for both monetary and fiscal policy. 
Business and Corporate Implications for Central European audience: The provided insights into the excess smoothness of European consumption patterns are vital for business strategy, particularly in consumer-focused industries. Companies can use these findings to improve forecasting accuracy, optimize inventory and tailor marketing efforts. The relative stability of consumer behaviour, even in economic shifts, suggests opportunities for enhancing brand loyalty and customer retention. Additionally, these insights are crucial for informed investment decisions and pricing strategies in consumer-dependent sectors. Firms can also use this knowledge in policy advocacy, promoting economic decisions that reflect consumer spending trends. Aligning business strategies with these findings not only boosts operational efficiency but also contributes to their economic stability.

There is a great contrast between the real role of accounting and its public perception. Accounting can be regarded as the language of business operations, but it is also the representative and manipulator of corporate operations and culture. The major challenge of accounting is whether it allows the most honest and knowledgeable managers to make outstanding reporting decisions while preventing the others on the other side of the honesty competence scale from distorting what they know about their company. This study presents the results of the authors’ empirical research about the opinions of accounting practitioners in Romaine on the values, career opportunities and ethical behaviour of the profession. The findings are interpreted at the various levels of accounting professions (administrators, accountants, auditors) by the number of years spent in accounting and groups of internal and external colleagues, focusing on causal relations. The conclusions are drawn through structural-equations-based causal models by the qualification of accounting professionals and the time spent by them in their jobs.
Implications for Central European audience: The paper is examining the role and ethics of accountants within the small and medium-sized sectors. In Central Europe, we have a similar cultural and historical background which might be touchable even in the business environment. Accountants influence how business works and what is disclosed about it. For the aim of a clear view, accountants must behave ethically, and they have to learn about business ethics and professional ethic topics.

The digital transformation (DT) process, which has been experienced intensely recently, can radically change all business processes, models and structures of organizations. Change and transformation, which are focused on efficiency and productivity, also trigger stress from time to time. Public institutions are also adopting DT processes. In this study, the relationship between technostress faced by organization employees in the DT process and employee performance is examined. The mixed method is used in the study. As a sample, 351 central career experts working in primary units of public institutions are selected, and the data are analysed using IBM SPSS 25 and MAXQDA 20 software. As a result of the study, it is seen that the perspective on DT affects employee performance and technostress in a positive way, and that employees' technostress levels negatively affect employee performance. Besides, according to the findings of the qualitative research method, the concepts of hardware and software, technological infrastructure, the attitude of senior management, resistance to transformation, education and ability to use technology, workload, complexity and uncertainty, speed, satisfaction, motivation, continuity, quality and work-life imbalance are listed as influential factors.
Implications for Central European audience: The findings reveal that by focusing on DT, technostress can be reduced, and thus employee performance can be increased. Employees can improve their DT skills, which will also positively affect their performance. It has also been stated that in 2021, Turkey would rank 16th in the European Union digital agenda e-government title and has digital government services similar to Central European countries. It shows that the positive and negative aspects of DT can be similar for employees.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations faced profound social and economic upheaval. These circumstances forced organisations to make major changes. In the face of these changes, nurturing employee engagement and fostering a sense of belonging to the company have emerged as new challenges. Organisational commitment appears to be an important factor in ensuring that employees remain in the organisation despite the crises that occur. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the organisational commitment of employees from the level of human resource management (HRM) policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this study aims to gain a clear understanding of the relationship between training and organisational commitment through employee engagement in HRM COVID-19 strategies. We also considered the climate of implementation of HRM strategies during COVID-19 that may moderate the effect of training on participation in HRM COVID-19 strategies. The study was carried out among 378 organisations operating in Poland. To verify the hypotheses, the SPSS program with PROCESS Macro (Model 4 and 7) analysis was used. The mediation test was used to understand the influence of training on other variables, namely employee engagement in HRM COVID-19 strategies and organisational commitment. To examine the mechanism of organisational commitment, a moderated mediation model was tested in which the organisational HRM COVID-19 strategy climate moderated the training mediation model, employee support for HRM COVID-19 strategies and organisational commitment. The results show that organisational HRM COVID-19 strategy climate accounted for significant differences in the mediation models.
Implications for Central European audience: This study bridges the gap in the literature on organisational commitment by explaining how training is associated with organisational commitment. Managers are advised to consistently offer ongoing training to help them navigate evolving circumstances. Enhancing the impact of training on organisational commitment requires a focus on improving the quality of human resource management (HRM) COVID-19 strategies, fostering a supportive environment and garnering employee support for these strategies. Individuals are likely to demonstrate greater organisational commitment when the organisation cultivates an environment that enables employees to endorse HRM COVID-19 strategies.

A total of 2,532 records were extracted from three databases, leading to the identification of fifteen studies for closer analysis. The overview comprehensively evaluated participants, types of intervention, activities, relevant measures and outcomes. Based on the findings, meaning-centred interventions are utilized in various workplaces, including healthcare, white-collar companies and universities. Despite insufficient quality and randomization in the studies, preventing definitive conclusions, meaning-centred interventions exhibit promising results in addressing well-being, perceived meaningfulness and other facets of living. In the future, special emphasis should be placed on factors contributing to intervention success, such as intervention frequency, type of activities and a solid framework. Additionally, randomized control trials are necessary to support these preliminary findings.
Implications for Central European audience: Meaning-centred interventions show promise for improving job satisfaction and a sense of purpose at work in Central Europe, suggesting a need for well-designed studies to confirm their benefits.

Consumers attach psychological meanings to the luxury products they purchase and can use these products as a means to elevate their status. Conspicuous consumption has now become a common occurrence not only among the wealthy but also within lower-income groups. In this study, which explains the difference between status consumption and conspicuous consumption, the effect of status consumption on repurchase intention has been examined. Additionally, it has been tested whether conspicuous consumption and luxury symbolism play a mediating role in the relationship between status consumption and repurchase intention. The survey data collected (N=412) were assessed through structural equation modeling. The research results indicate that status consumption influences the intention to repurchase and that conspicuous consumption and luxury symbolism have a partial mediating effect in this relationship. At the end of the study, both theoretical implications are discussed, and important managerial implications are presented for firms to be effective in the luxury product market.
Implications for Central European audience: The study highlights that status consumption strongly drives repurchase intentions for luxury goods, with conspicuous consumption and luxury symbolism acting as partial mediators. For Central European markets, where rising middle-class affluence and social mobility shape consumer behavior, these findings emphasize the symbolic value of luxury as much as functional benefits. Theoretically, distinguishing between status and conspicuous consumption clarifies consumer motivations. Practically, luxury brands should design strategies that highlight prestige, identity expression, and exclusivity, leveraging digital platforms and storytelling to strengthen loyalty in socially competitive and increasingly aspirational consumer segments.

The article presents the Hungarian results of research conducted in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The main objective of the study was to examine organizational responses to labour shortages and labour retention strategies based on organization size and ownership background. In the theoretical part, we present the general situation of the Hungarian labour market and then discuss the effects of COVID-19 and the Russo-Ukrainian War, followed by labour shortage and retention. Our research was based on a survey of 383 organizations in Central and Eastern European economies, during which four hypotheses were tested. The SPSS 27.0 software package was used to evaluate the results. In the findings, we confirmed that organizations of various ownership and size differ in the means they use to retain labour force and also in the factors that contribute to labour shortages in different positions. As an implication of management and economics, we found that size and ownership affect not only retention strategy as suggested by previous literature but also the factors that contribute to labour shortages in different positions.
Implications for Central European audience: A novel feature of the paper is that it takes into account the effects of organization size and ownership while analysing the consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian War for the first time. It is also the first Hungarian study to investigate the effect of the economic crisis due to the Russo-Ukrainian War on labour retention and labour shortage by size and ownership of organizations. The findings would set a comparison for corporations in Central European countries too.

In the young Croatian democracy, there is a necessary role of the strategic approach to the political marketing communication campaigns, especially in using the new media, social networks and Facebook, being the most representative one. This paper aims to analyse to what degree the political parties use Facebook, how they manage this, and the opinions and viewpoints of the voters. This study has two major goals: to analyse how the leading political parties in Croatia use and manage social media services, particularly Facebook, and to evaluate perspectives of the Croatian voters regarding social media during political campaigns. Two instruments were created based on the secondary research: a protocol for in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with the social media specialists of the leading Croatian political parties (n = 3) and a survey of voters (n = 557), ranging in age from 18-45 years (78.1%), 46-55 years (14.7%), 56-65 years (6.1%) and older than 66 (1.1%). Croatian political parties do not use Facebook's entire potential. The respondents who vote regularly believe that the political parties' Facebook pages are significant in their promotion and visit these pages more frequently. These pages are visited more frequently during political campaigns. It is imperative to focus on increased quality and more frequent communication, direct communication and turning to young people in the campaigns. There are statistically significant differences with regard to age on the issue of voting. Croatian political parties can improve the potential of social networks, primarily Facebook, in election campaigns.
Implications for a Central European audience: In addition to the specified deficiencies of the Facebook pages, the voters provided suggestions for improving the Facebook content and increasing page visits. When used in combination with other social media, Facebook has the strongest potential for influencing the young voters. The results indicate the need for professional management of relevant social media strategies and tactics. The improvements of the Facebook pages can be grouped in several categories, the most important being "Content", "Communication" and "Strategy". The improvements would yield more frequent visits by the potential voters.

The essay is about the economic and political development of Hungary in the last 30 years. It can be neatly divided into three periods which coincide with the calendar decades almost perfectly. After the collapse of the communist system, the first period constituted a glorious decade in development: the first two governments implemented almost all indispensable structural reforms required for a successful transition. After the financial stabilization in 1995, a consistent macroeconomic policy was applied, leading to export and investment-driven, hence sustainable economic growth. The next decade brought deterioration: reforms were stalled, and a sharp turn to consumption-led and debt-fuelled growth resulted in twin deficits which, by the time of the Great Recession, almost triggered a sovereign debt default. After a short period of successful financial stabilization, a populist-nationalist government came to power in 2010. A decade of decay set in: reversal of structural reforms, nationalization, monopolization, protectionism, market-distorting taxation and subsidization, state capture by a corrupt oligarchy, together with inconsistent macroeconomic policy. In addition, the self-styled „illiberal regime” of Viktor Orbán demolished the rule of law and all institutions representing checks and balances in a democracy. Corruption was elevated to the level of official government policy. With the help of the huge amount of subsidies coming from the EU, the regime maintained financial equilibrium and achieved significant growth during the time of global boom between 2014-2019. However, given the fact that private investments and productivity stay rather low in the non-tradable sector of the domestic economy, real convergence to Western efficiency and living standards remain elusive. Today Hungary constitutes a primary example of an economy pushed into a typical middle-income trap by its oligarchic and authoritarian regime. It also proves that transition reforms are all reversible; institutions are fragile. Restoration of the rule of law and democracy seems to be an indispensable prerequisite for convergence and development.

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the Central European region in March 2020, one of the hardest-hit economic sectors was the tourism industry which virtually came to a complete standstill. The present paper uses licensed tourist guides from Slovakia as a case study of how significant the financial impact of the crisis was and what effect it might have on the future competitiveness of the industry, as perceived by the tourist guides themselves. The research is based on a questionnaire which was distributed among licensed tourist guides in Slovakia in July 2020. It is shown that the guiding income of more than four-fifths of the respondents decreased by at least 80% between March and June 2020, and the profession's outlook for the future is pessimistic. The main concerns are a decline in the number of visitors, a decline in demand for guided tours and lower market prices for guiding services. The lower share of group travel, faster development of proximity tourism, partial de-professionalisation of the tourist guide profession and higher emphasis on tour hygiene are the expected impacts of the pandemic. A wave of consolidation is almost guaranteed to influence the tourism industry, though its extent is hard to predict. Implications for Central European audience: The article deals with tourism, which represents an important part of Central European countries' economies. Its results constitute the first preview of impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector in the region and as such are valuable for stakeholders in the Central European tourism industry. Even though the research is based on data obtained only from one tourism-related profession, tourist guides, given their unique position between travel agencies and travellers, their insights are applicable and interpretable much more broadly.

In recent years the luxury industry has been strongly affected by the rapid evolution of digital technology and the internet. The use of the internet and the new digital technologies has contributed to the growth of the market and its different sectors. This meant an advantage for others, but for the luxury sector, it has been a challenge and the adaptation process slow. The online participation - in certain cases incipient - of some brands in the sector has been directed by new consumption habits, which had an impact in the marketing and communication strategies on a managerial level. Based on a theoretical review, this paper proposes a central concept known as brand expression, from which elements involved in the phenomenon of the digital era, some significant for the development of the study, are described. The resulting relations between them, together with findings obtained in interviews of consumers in the sector, describe the reason for the adaptation in content and approach of the current strategies; that in turn sets the guidelines for continuing and future developments.

Theroretically, servitization benefits industrial companies to generate more revenue, integrate themselves deeper into the value chains of their customers and improves the competitiveness. The ongoing digital transformation can enable servitization towards more advanced services with a more customer centric view. Macro economically, the industrial sector is very important for most of the developed countries. The digital transformation is posing a triple challenge to the machining and equipment manufacturers and will require a continued development of the existing business models, a change of organizational structures and a strong leadership to remain successful. The companies will need to re-evaluate their market justification and define their value proposition to both existing and potentially new customers. New skills are required as data and analytics, represented by IIoT and AI, will play an ever-larger role in the companies’ interaction with their present and new customers. For the industrial companies, servitization is both linked to higher risk and to a higher earnings potential.
Implications for Central European audience: The implications for Central European industrial companies of the ongoing digitalisation and servitization will be profound. The European car industry is undergoing significant changes and not only due to E-mobility. Also Products-as-Service will have an impact on their whole value chain. The industrial sector in general and the machining industry in particular will need to re-assess its business models and revenue generation. In addition, senior management is already confronted with the need for both new skill-sets and possibly more agile organisational structures, where the industrial mind-set will be challenged by new service models and the thinking of the digital natives.

As one of the essential human needs, autonomy affects internal motivation and drives job satisfaction. The aim of the article is based on long-term quantitative research (n = 631) to examine gender, age, education and job position differences in job autonomy and to evaluate the extent to which job satisfaction and job autonomy are related. The research shows that 72.6% of the respondents have a high degree of work scheduling autonomy, 68.1% have a high degree of decision-making autonomy and 53.9% have a high degree of work methods autonomy. An important finding is that most respondents (84.8%) are satisfied with their job. There are differences between generations and non/managerial job positions regarding work scheduling autonomy, decision-making autonomy and work methods autonomy. Additionally, there is a difference between education levels regarding work scheduling autonomy. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficients show positive mutual correlations between job autonomy categories, as well as between job autonomy categories and job satisfaction. The results also confirm the relationships between job autonomy categories and job satisfaction. Employees with a high degree of job autonomy feel more satisfied in their jobs than others. On the contrary, there are no differences between genders regarding work scheduling autonomy, decision-making autonomy and work methods autonomy. Furthermore, there are no differences between education levels regarding decision-making autonomy and work methods autonomy. Understanding the relationship between job autonomy and satisfaction is vital for employers and policymakers to enhance job satisfaction, retain employees and improve organisational performance.
Implications for Central European audience: The research reveals that employees with a high degree of job autonomy, encompassing work scheduling autonomy, decision-making autonomy and work methods autonomy, experience greater job satisfaction. No gender or education-based differences in terms of job autonomy were found, but differences exist between generations and non/managerial job positions and job autonomy. The results confirm that job autonomy drives job satisfaction. Employees with a high degree of job autonomy feel more satisfied in their jobs than others. Employers and policymakers should therefore prioritise increasing job autonomy to improve job satisfaction, retention and organisational performance. 

Our study approaches consumers’ orientation towards e-commerce during disruptive times, taking the COVID-19 pandemic, the most prominent recent disruptive event, as a reference. The analysis of the phenomenon was targeted at two differently developed European countries, Romania and Germany, which were investigated. Considering the time span from January 2020 to January 2022, Google Trends was used to track the search volumes associated with the main e-commerce platforms in the analysed countries, serving as a proxy measure for gauging consumers’ orientation towards e-commerce. Based on sound sentiment and quantitative analyses, our study revealed no statistically significant correlation between consumers’ orientation towards e-commerce and the negativity of news in the media reporting on COVID-19 topics. In contrast to that, the investigation revealed statistically significant positive correlations between consumers’ orientation towards e-commerce and the incidence of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Germany and only partially in Romania. Moreover, consumers’ orientation towards e-commerce was influenced by regulatory interventions, such as the enforced lockdown measures. Particularly during the initial surge of COVID-19 cases, a strong consumer orientation towards e-commerce coincided, from a temporal perspective, with the imposition of lockdown measures. Framed by consumer behaviour literature, our study outlines different behavioural characteristics of consumers during disruptive times – in our case, health crises – and derived typologies of consumers with direct influence on entrepreneurial practice.
Implications for Central European audience: Theoretically placed in the field of consumer behaviour research, our study adds to the literature as it reveals insights about consumers’ orientation towards e-commerce during disruptive times. Focusing on the most recent prominent disruptive phenomenon, the COVID-19 pandemic, our paper also has practical implications of entrepreneurial relevance. By outlining invaluable insights into consumers’ behaviour and their orientation towards e-commerce during the pandemic, our study might set starting points in designing entrepreneurial strategies for survival or development during disruptive times (e.g., health crises).

This literature review aims to assess the evolution of performance monitoring articles in relation to the business strategy based on an overview of articles indexed in the WoS and Scopus databases. The initial dataset of articles was obtained based on carefully developed keywords. In the second phase, we restricted the selection to business and management journal articles and reviews written in English before 2019. The authors simultaneously reviewed the abstracts of all 571 articles in the third phase of the study. These were subsequently re-read and limited; thus, the final dataset for further analysis includes 157 articles published between 1983 and 2019. The most important result is that the field of business strategy and performance is not subject to trends. While in the field of business strategy the literature is still dominated by generic strategies according to Porter and the strategy typology according to Miles and Snow, in the field of performance measurement we identified the market position (sales volume, growth in sales volume, etc.) and profitability (profit margin, return on assets, etc.) as the dominant method.
Implications for Central European audience: Despite a considerable amount of work focusing on bibliographic analysis, there remains a lack of literature on the link between strategy and performance. The paper brings potential value for the Central European audience by drawing attention to the systematisation of knowledge in the field of performance articles and its trends in relation to the field of business strategy. The overview of the theoretical frameworks contributes to a better orientation of the current state of the art and creates opportunities for future research.

This article analyses the distribution of firms by size in six selected countries in 2012 and 2017. Estimates are always made for the whole economy and two subgroups of firms. We compare the Visegrad Four countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) with similar economic activities and two neighbouring economically more developed countries (Germany and Austria). As the main objective of the article, we describe the distribution of firms by verifying the validity of Zipf's law in selected economies and their sectors. The results confirm the positively skewed distribution of company sizes measured by sales revenues, but Zipf's law does not apply to the distribution of all companies by the magnitude of sales in the whole economy (or in an economic subgroup), but only to sections in the right tail of the distribution (companies with higher turnover within the whole economy), which is in line with numerous research studies.
Implications for Central European audience: This article attempts to contribute to the state of the art of firm size distribution in two ways. Firstly, it reviews a wide range of research studies looking into the existence of power laws in firm size distribution. Secondly, it analyses the distribution of firms by size in six selected Central European countries in 2012 and 2017, where four sample countries were burdened with interrupted business activities during a communist regime (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), and two countries are their neighbours not exposed to changes in the political regime (Germany and Austria).