Balkans Journal of Emerging Trends in Social Sciences

Regional Differences in the Human Resource Conditions in the European Union

Tamás Tánczos — 2024-06-30

In recent years, the pandemic crisis generated challenges for countries highlighting serious economic structural problems. Significant social and economic development differences remain not only between countries but also within countries. There is a consensus among economists that human resources are one of the most important factors in countries to realize technological progress and improve competitiveness, which aims to moderate income disparities. The income and technological inequalities between regions can be derived from differences in human resources, which also prevent the improvement of competitiveness and economic growth. This research aims to illustrate the inequalities of human resource conditions in the NUTS-2 level regions of the European Union. Using the latest version of the Regional Competitiveness Index and the Regional Innovation Scoreboard, the regional differences in human resources by innovation performance groups are analyzed with multivariate statistical methods to identify the critical human factor(s) that affect the region’s competitiveness and innovation performance. The improvement of these factors can be essential to moderate regional inequalities in the European Union.

Relationship between FDI Inflow and Unemployment in the Case of the Former Yugoslav Republics

Dijana Capeska Bogatinoska — 2024-06-30

Foreign Direct Investments - FDIs are recognized in the economics literature as one of the vital determinants of economic growth. A particular interest of any host economy is to reach the employment effect of the FDIs. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the relationship between the inflow of the FDIs and the unemployment rate in the case of the former Yugoslav republics and to identify whether and how the new economies have benefited from the FDI inflow. The paper develops a model identifying the FDI as a determinant of the unemployment rate. A regression analysis is used to examine the correlation between the FDI inflow and the unemployment rate over the period of 30 years. The results show differences in FDIs inflow and huge individual variations in the unemployment rate in each country.

Digital Skills in the Context of the Economic Growth of Countries

Marcela Hallová — 2024-06-30

The digital environment has become an essential part of everyday life, work, and education. Digital skills are crucial for personal and professional success in today’s technological age. OECD and EU statistics indicate that approximately 90% of job positions require digital skills at various levels. The more skilled and adept employees are in businesses, the more the company progresses, which subsequently influences the country’s economic growth and development. Different indices have been created to compare the digital performance of countries. One of the most used is The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) and The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). The aim of the article is to describe the levels of digital skills of citizens and compare the level of digital skills in Slovakia and EU countries in the year 2022. The data will be obtained from the databases of the mentioned NRI and DESI indices.

Influence of Professional Competence in Financial Control on the Digitalization of Control Procedures

Silviya Kostova — 2024-06-30

The publication examines the relationship between the basic requirements for professional competence in financial control and the digitization of control procedures. Aspects of the digitalization of business processes and their correlation with the need to form specific qualities and skills in financial control are analyzed. In connection with proving the hypothesis that the quality of control procedures requires the assessment of the risk of digitalization, a correlation analysis is made. The aim is to confirm that, despite the penetration of technology in the control process, control bodies do not sufficiently apply new technologies to minimize risk. Financial
control bodies should streamline processes, increase efficiency, and improve financial information and analysis accuracy.

Exploring Customer Participation and Customer-to-Customer Interactions in Service Experiences

Fatemeh Saghezchi — 2024-06-30

Customer Participation (CP) and Customer-to-Customer Interaction (CCI) are prevalent characteristics in contemporary service experiences in different sectors, such as healthcare, museums, and education. Several studies have explored the association between CP and its impact on customer satisfaction. The results reveal that the customers indeed assess the quality of service based on their interactions with the service system, e.g., their role and effort in the service process and their interactions with the other customers. Despite these important findings, the literature on CP, CCI, and customer satisfaction is still fragmented. The main objective of
this study is to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis based on the relevant literature. The study analyzes 124 articles published between 1994 and 2023, Our study concludes that academic interest in CP and CCI is continuously growing and identifies the emerging research directions for future work.

Promotion of Wine Tourism in the South Moravian Region: Predominant Use of Printed Materials?

Patrik Kubát — 2024-06-30

In today’s world, the online environment is used every day. As online advertising comes to the fore in the tourism sector, all those who produce printed materials should also adapt to this form of materials and build a bridge to this new form of advertising. This is an important prerequisite for the development between promoters and recipients. The aim of this article is to define the importance of printed promotional materials for wine tourism from the point of view of the creators of these materials, that is, from the point of view of the suppliers in the wine tourism sector. A qualitative method with semi-structured interviews was chosen for the research. Representatives of the National Wine Centre, Wine Fund, CzechTourism, and other institutions that promote and develop wine tourism in the Czech Republic were selected for this study. The analysis of the answers showed that printed promotional materials are still relevant in wine tourism and the supply side still considers this form of advertising important and necessary. Even in this current „online era”, the printed form has a segment that still prefers it in comparison to the online form.