Business, Management and Economics Engineering

Consumer willingness to pay for Chaiya organic salted egg in smart label packaging: the case study in Surat Thani province

2024-02-26T18:24:18+02:00

Purpose – This research studies the factors influencing willingness to pay and to evaluate the value of willingness to pay for Chaiya organic salted egg in smart label packaging among consumers in Surat Thani province.

Research methodology – The Conjoint Analysis method was used to analyse attribute factors based on literature reviews and related research. Data were collected through interviews and questionnaires from a consumer group aged 15 years and up, totalling 250 individuals.

Findings – The results revealed that the attribute of the product with the greatest impact on consumer satisfaction is the certification seal for organic authenticity. This attribute would lead to an increasing price of approximately 1.35 USD per box. If Chaiya organic salted egg have modern packaging with a color bar indicating the salt level and an organic certification seal, the price level of Chaiya organic salted egg was two times higher than general Chaiya organic salted egg. Consumers were willing to pay the highest price at 7.46 USD per box.

Research limitations – Having an excessive number of attribute sets may lead to confusion for interviewees when assigning scores to each set of attributes.

Practical implications – Conjoint Analysis is a tool suitable for measuring customer satisfaction towards various product attributes and developing new products to introduce into the market.

Originality/Value – the attribute of the product with the greatest impact on consumer satisfaction is the certification seal for organic authenticity.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Gold markets

2024-03-01T18:24:22+02:00

Purpose – The study examines global Gold market performance and correlations between COVID-19, the Russian invasion, inflation, investors’ fear, asymmetric shocks, and the VIX (volatility index) impact on volatility.

Research Methodology – This research uses an econometric approach to analyse the impact of COVID-19 and the Russian invasion on Gold market performance – specifically the ARCH (Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) – GARCH (Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) Model and the Threshold-Asymmetric ARCH Model.

Findings – The study reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have significantly impacted Gold market dynamics. Inflation significantly impacts volatility, emphasising the need for monitoring inflation rates. Investor fear increases demand during uncertainty periods, while negative shocks have a higher asymmetric effect. The VIX positively affects Gold market volatility, suggesting a perceived safe-haven status during increased volatility.

Research Limitations – Gaps in the data related to COVID-19 cases, geopolitical events, and Gold market performance could potentially introduce inaccuracies, biases or limitations to the analysis.

Practical Implications – The study’s findings have practical implications for investors, analysts, and policymakers involved in the financial investment of Gold markets.

Originality/Value – This study provides new insights into the relationships between inflation, investor fear, asymmetric shocks, and the impact of the VIX on Gold market dynamics during economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

Technology-based factors of globalization in market and transition economies. Is there a difference?

2024-04-23T18:25:18+03:00

Purpose – The global crises that emerged during the last two decades proved that economies that focus their development on demand are the most vulnerable during crises. However, development strategies depend on specific internal and external circumstances impacting development of particular country. In that sense, this research aims to identify how digitalization, science and technology, and ICT trade impact globalization in market and transition economies.

Research methodology – Authors employed the PLS-SEM methodology on available dataset for 32 European economies.

Findings – According to the findings, digitalization is the factor that has the highest positive impact on globalization in market economies, while ICT trade has the greatest positive impact on globalization in transition economies. Science and technological advancements have a diverse impact. The MGA results stressed out the difference between these groups even more clear.

Research limitations – The presented model does not consider country-level analysis of globalization.

Practical implications – The study is providing theoretical and empirical base for strategy and policy development in the globalization domain in line with economy character.

Originality – The value of the research is found in contributing to the globalization topic in market, and particularly in transition economie that lack empirical research in this field.

The moderating effects of statutory laws and regulations of risk factors and management in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia construction industries

2024-04-24T08:51:54+03:00

Purpose – Construction projects are fraught with hazards that have a detrimental impact on schedules, estimates, and quality. The project execution phase exposes contractors to internal and external hazards, either implicitly or explicitly. A project’s achievement is contingent on the proper handling of internal and external hazardous concerns. This study investigates the connection linking internal and external risk factors with risk management in Saudi Arabian contractors and the moderation role of government bylaws linking this connection.

Research methodology – This study investigates 303 Saudi Arabian contractors to explain the influence of internal hazards, external hazards, and governmental by-laws on risk management by applying the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method.

Findings – The outcome indicates that internal hazards (active leadership, team competency, and skills and effective communication), external hazards (technological, political, cultural, and economic factors), and government by-laws (also, its moderation role with external hazards) are positively connected with risk management resulting a moderate effect. Furthermore, the outcome also highlights that the moderating influence of government by-laws with internal risk factors is insignificant.

Research limitations – The current research model depicted 74.4% of the overall variation in risk management. Other latent variables can explain the 25.6% remaining overall variation in risk management which can be taken into account for future aspects of effective construction risk management.

Practical implications – This study raises the efficiency of Saudi Arabian contractors by improving project output delivery. This study made recommendations to boost risk management usage.

Originality/Value – This research was conducted for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and it is an original work.

HR innovation in mediating entrepreneurial motivation in improving the competitive ability of Palu Fried Onions MSMEs

2024-04-30T18:25:27+03:00

Purpose – This study aims to describe the competitive ability of MSMEs Palu Fried Onions (BGP) from the point of view of human resources, namely innovation and the influence of motivation.

Research methodology – This research was conducted on 141 active BGP MSMEs in Palu and tested using quantitative methods using SEM-PLS analysis testing.

Findings – The study results show that Human Resource Innovation is proven to affect the ability of the Palu Fried Onions MSMEs.

Research limitations – A limitation of this study is that it focuses solely on the competitive abilities of BGP MSMEs from the perspective of human resources, specifically innovation and motivation, and does not explore other potential factors that might influence their competitiveness.

Practical implications – The results of this study have the benefit of being practical considerations for driving BGP MSMEs to increase their competitiveness; besides that, the results of this study also expand the variation of the Diamond Model or the Diamond Model of production factors to be competitive.

Originality/Value – Rather than focusing solely on traditional factors, this research delves into the innovative realm of human resource innovation and motivation as key drivers of competitiveness.

Assessing the sustainability of advanced and developing countries: a different perspective

2024-05-03T18:25:29+03:00

Purpose – The research aim of the article is the analysis of advanced/developed and developing countries in the context of sustainable development, using invariant coordinate system in energy units, as well as the impact of structural changes in the economy affect the possibility of transition to sustainable development and creation post-industrial society.

Research methodology – In order to achieve the aim were applied the method of socio-economic systems power changes analyzing in the frame of structural economic Kaldor model of GDP and the energy flows models.

Finding – The advanced countries have seen a trend of “zero growth” and a decrease in useful energy production in the last 10 years. These countries have high labor productivity, technological level and diminishing potential for sustainable development. China is in the stage of “growth and development” and has great potential. Data calculated by the authors of the article correlates with the findings of the Kaldor model.

Research limitation – The initial interpretation of the calculated data of France, Germany, Japan, USA, European Union and China was made. Countries have been analyzed in the period from 1990 to 2019. The data of the Central Statistical Office of EU and the World Bank were used.

Practical implications – The results of the study can be used to further planning and design of transition to sustainable development for advanced and developing countries.

Originality/Value – within the framework of the approach, an invariant coordinates system in energy units is proposed and the main parameters for assessing the potential of growth and sustainable development for advanced countries were formed.

Youths’ word-of-mouth in a developing country: roles of green promotion and green brand loyalty

2024-05-24T18:25:50+03:00

Purpose – This paper investigates the mediating role of green brand loyalty between green brand image and word-of-mouth (WoM) and the moderating role of green promotion and brand social responsibility among Vietnamese youth.

Research methodology – Using an online questionnaire from 1st October 2022 to 31st December 2022, 740 valid responses were collected.

Findings – The study reveals that green brand loyalty mediates the relationship between brand trust and WoM. Additionally, green promotion significantly moderates the relationship between brand trust and green brand loyalty. The study concludes that green promotion is vital in influencing consumers’ trust in the brand, subsequently increasing their loyalty.

Research limitations – This study has not categorized the groups of environmentally friendly products used by young Vietnamese to see if there is a difference.

Practical implications – These results provide significant implications for brand managers to enhance the effectiveness of WoM.

Originality/Value – Green promotion is an effective strategy for brands to regain consumers’ loyalty and maintain a close relationship between consumers and green brands. Additionally, green brand loyalty emphasizes the significance of green promotion for developing green companies and can serve as a conduit between customers and brands.

Entrepreneurial orientation as an antecedent to the rapid internationalization of Moroccan SMEs in the women’s entrepreneurship field

2024-05-24T18:25:50+03:00

Purpose – This article aims to explore the importance of the international entrepreneurial orientation (IOE) of Moroccan women entrepreneurs (based on innovation, risk-taking and proactivity) in the speed of internationalization of Moroccan SMEs through the niche strategy as an intermediate variable.

Research methodology – We adopted a quantitative study on a sample of 45 Moroccan SMEs to test the research hypotheses using the structural equation method, under Smart-PLS software.

Findings – A significant relationship between the international entrepreneurial orientation of Moroccan women entrepreneurs and the speed of internationalization with the intermediation of the niche strategy. Despite well-calculated steps, innovative products and the courage to take risks on foreign markets, women entrepreneurs tend to adopt niche strategies to be more protected in the internationalization process: both to avoid direct competition from large companies and to speed up the internationalization process Research.

Limitations – Theoretically, it was difficult to operationalize the phenomenon studied, for several reasons: the large number of movements in this approach, the number of variables mobilized. Methodologically, the criteria used to select the sample made it difficult to find more than 45 eligible companies (Exploratory quantitative study).

Originality/Value – This article is one of the very few to combine international and women’s entrepreneurship. Furthermore, this is the first article in the field of women’s international entrepreneurship, as far as I know, that addresses the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and the speed of internationalization of exporting SMEs.

The Impact of ICT education on GDP evolution at local level. A Romanian case study

2024-05-24T18:25:51+03:00

Purpose – This article focusses on the impact generated on GDP growth by the number of graduates in the ICT domain of Romanian counties in the period 2014–2020.

Research methodology – We have collected the number of ICT graduates, the GDP per inhabitant in EUR per Romanian county, the number of ICT employees, the number of information service activities employees from the National Institute of Statistics (Romania) and Eurostat. Additionally, we consolidate the correlation matrix and regression analysis for previous statistics indicators.

Findings – We have revealed a strong correlation (85,77%) between the number of ICT graduates and the GDP per inhabitant in EUR per Romanian county, and very strong correlations between the number of ICT graduates and the number of ICT employees (94,80%) and the number of employees of information service activities (97,38%).

Research limitations – The data set from the National Institute of Statistics (Romania) does not contain entries for every county, due to its statistical methodology, and other socioeconomic phenomena which contribute to the development of the ICT field were just enumerated, such as natality, immigration, and emigration.

Practical implications – The study revealed that investment in ICT education (number of graduates) contributes to the local prosperity of communities, counties, and, in general, at the national level as GDP growth. Romanian government can utilize the outcomes of this paper to engage additional resources, funds from Ministry of Education, to develop a long-lived learning culture of ICT skills for the entire population.

Originality/Value – The article methodologically highlights the most important ICT hubs in Romania, which are correlated with the existence of an ICT educational infrastructure (high schools and universities) and the measure of impact on GDP growth for the number of highly skilled graduates in the ICT domain. The selected national and European indicators contributed to the novelty of this study.

Does call centers operators’ introjected regulation impact their skill variety and task significance? Evidence from Morocco

2024-05-27T18:25:53+03:00

Purpose – The aim of this paper was to empirically examine the impact of work motivation represented by introjected regulation on job satisfaction, which was illustrated by skill variety and task significance. This study was conducted relatedly to Moroccan call center operators, in the post-COVID-19 era in which motivational and satisfactory issues are still strongly faced by managers, mainly due to the operated hybrid working systems.

Research methodology – The chosen methodology was a quantitative one, based on the administration of a questionnaire to 158 call center operators, working in various Moroccan districts. The data analysis consisted of an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), followed by a full structural equation modelling (SEM).

Findings – The findings display that introjected regulation positively and significatively impacts skill variety, but not task significance, in a way that permitted to partly confirm the conceptual model built upon the central hypothesis, claiming that work motivation positively affects job satisfaction. Indeed, avoiding to experience feelings of shame and guilt in addition to seeking for conformity and approbation in a work context turned out to lead individuals to execute the assigned tasks by implementing their personal configuration of skills and talents in this regard.

Research limitations – This study admits methodological limitations as for instance the restricted sample size, and the adopted quantitative approach rather than a qualitative one, or even a mixed approach that could have opened more research tracks to be explored regarding the investigated relationship.

Practical implications – This study comes out with appealing practical implications willing to help managers to understand better the causality link between work motivation and job satisfaction. The main implication of this study is the illustration of how introjected regulation can predict and foster skill variety in a professional context, as the correspondent research hypothesis was empirically verified.

Originality/Value – Morocco is admittedly one of the poorest targeted populations for International Business and Management studies, hopefully this study can contribute in enriching the pre-existent studies in this regard. Also, work motivation and job satisfaction are usually seen as qualitative variables (using interviews, case studies…), hence a quantitative methodology is not commonly adopted in this perspective.

Impact of foreign direct investment on host country’s development: a case study

2024-05-27T18:25:53+03:00

Purpose is to assess the impact of the inward Nordic foreign direct investment on Lithuania’s exports.

Research methodology – this research applied correlation and regression analysis, as well as the Augmented Dickey–Fuller test and the Granger causality test were used.

Findings proved that interlinkages between Lithuanian exports and foreign direct investment from the different Nordic countries might vary from weak (Iceland and Denmark) to strong (Norway, Sweden, Finland).

Research limitations – greater availability of a statistical dataset covering the classification of foreign direct investment according to the investing country and the distribution of these investments and gross domestic product by economic activity would allow a more accurate assessment of the relationship between Scandinavian foreign direct investment inflows in individual economic sectors and the economic indicators of these sectors.

Practical implications – based on the research results, Lithuania has the potential to stimulate exports from inward Nordic foreign direct investment, especially Norwegian foreign direct investment in manufacturing.

Originality/Value – this study contributes to the internationalization theory by extending it from the sectorial angle, especially emphasizing the need to analyze the impact of foreign direct investment from a single country on the host economy and its economic structure.