Advances in Quantitative Economic Research

In this study, we focus on decision-making in social exchange. In particular, we test the effectiveness (measured by speed and accuracy of decisions) of the decision-making in social exchange. Experimental results show that persons who cooperate in a prisoner’s dilemma game (cooperators) are faster but not more accurate at solving the social contract version of the Wason selection task compared to persons selecting in a prisoner’s dilemma game a defection strategy (defectors). Differences between cooperators and defectors in speed or accuracy of decision-making have not been observed in the abstract version of the Wason selection task. The obtained results provide empirical support to the claim that the social exchange heuristic works as an optimizing tool of the human mind.

During the COVID-19 pandemic period in Poland, interest rates have been substantially reduced by National Bank of Poland (NBP). Within three months, the WIBOR 1Y rate fell from 1.84% (27 February 2020) to 0.3% (4 June 2020). The consequences of the Central Bank decision have been crucial for investors, as a one-time increase (decrease) in rates decreases (increases) the market value of assets. Changes in the term structure of interest rates unknown a priori to investors arise particularly often in economic downturns. According to the literature, investors have a greater appetite for risk-taking when interest rates are low, and it is not confined to institutions. Generally speaking, low-interest rates lead to significantly higher allocations to risky assets among diverse groups of investors. In this context, the goal of this study is to investigate whether shifts in interest rates affected investors’ activity on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) within the pandemic period in 2020. Daily trading volume is utilized as a measure of investors’ activity. The event window method is used to assess whether the mean results of daily trading volume during the pre-event, event and post-event time windows significantly differ between each other in the case of all event windows. A particular event window includes consecutive considerable declines in interest rates. Moreover, robustness tests are conducted. The empirical findings confirm that interest rate cuts during the pandemic period increased investors’ activity on the Polish stock market.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the stylised facts of volatility and volatility modelling of volatility index returns in the context of emerging markets. The stylised facts of volatility include volatility clustering, mean reversion, a negative relationship with stock market returns and positive relationship with trading volume. By using autoregressive models, linear regression and unit root tests, empirical results indicate that the volatility indices reproduce all the stylised facts of volatility for the following emerging economies: Brazil, India, China, Korea and South Africa. In addition, the volatility modelling of volatility index returns is also considered. In the empirical analysis, the symmetric GARCH, asymmetric GJR-GARCH and EGARCH models were estimated using the volatility indices of emerging economies; the best fitting model was determined using the AIC and SIC. The asymmetric terms of the GJR-GARCH and EGARCH models are statistically significant. The information criterion suggests that the EGARCH model is the best fitting model for all the volatility indices, except Korea. For Korea, the GJR-GARCH model is the best fitting model.

The factors of corrupt behaviour resulting from the political environment have the strongest impact on corruption. The enforceability of political accountability and the transparency of the political system can be considered as the political factors of corruption. The aim of the study is to quantitatively confirm the impact of the degree of political accountability and transparency of the political system on corruption in country. The quantitative testing of relationship between corruption (measured by Corruption Perceptions Index), enforceability of political accountability (measured by Rule of Law Index) and the transparency of the political system determined by freedom of press (measured by Press Freedom Index) and quality of institution (included in Global Competitiveness Index) is realized. The relevance enforceability of political accountability and the transparency of the political system as political factors of corruption are confirmed by statistical methods and discussed in broader socio-political context. Within it, the quality of the institutions, the freedom of the press has the greatest impact on the level of corruption.

European governments, in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, adopted restrictive measures in the early 2020. These measures were aimed at restricting business operations and the free movement of individuals. These restrictions significantly worsened business situation of thousands of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Compared to large companies, small- and medium-sized enterprises generally possess limited human and financial capital and it is more difficult for them to survive longer periods of lockdown or partial lockdown with limited or no income. The aim of this manuscript is to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial health of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Slovakia. Analysis was performed on a sample of 109,340 small- and medium-sized enterprises from Slovakia by comparison of selected financial indicators for the pre-COVID year 2019 and the COVID year 2020 on a sector level. The identification of statistically significant differences was performed by the Kruskal–Wallis test (nonparametric ANOVA). Results indicate that the most COVID-affected sectors were construction, food processing industry, law, consulting and accounting, retail, services and tourism and gastronomy. Impact of COVID restrictions was observed by worsened indicators of debt and profitability, while the liquidity indicators did not worsen compared to the 2019 levels.

We investigate delay discounting of monetary losses using the experimental data (N = 203). Based on the titration algorithm, we estimate the individual delay discounting rates of monetary losses. We further compare the fit of exponential, hyperbolic, and q-exponential models to the experimental data. The obtained results suggest that the hyperbolic model fits better than the classical exponential one. Hence, the preference reversal effect in delay discounting of monetary losses is observed in our experiment. Moreover, the best fit for the data is obtained through the q-exponential model. Also, participants would strongly like to postpone the immediate loss, even for a month, while the difference between further postponement comes with a much lower discount.

We investigate the prosocial behaviour of decision-makers in the context of financial losses. We find that in the dictator game, the loss transferred to other people occupying subsequent positions on the social distance scale behaves non-monotonically (it initially drops and then rises). Further, those effects tend to be smaller when the dictator game is replaced by the ultimatum game. Finally, we find that for the 20th ranked person and higher, decision-makers are prone to transfer a higher amount of loss to that person than willing to receive it from her. It means that egoistic motive dominates the altruistic one starting from a place no. 20 on a social distance scale.

In the following paper, the relationship between impatience (measured with delay discounting procedures) and altruism (measured with social discounting procedures and behaviour of subjects in the dictator game) in the context of hypothetical monetary losses was investigated. The experiment results (sample size—164) show that contrary to our expectations, there is no significant relationship between impatience and altruistic behaviour. We, however, discovered that both immediate altruism and delayed altruism in the context of financial losses are negatively correlated with age. This inspiring result shows that older people are probably less likely to accept financial losses or participate in the social costs generated by others. The latter result needs to be carefully investigated using broader and more heterogeneous samples (especially in terms of the age of respondents).

Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a common indicator of headline inflation. CPI measures the market value of a fixed basket of goods in order to define the inflation of a country’s economy. Headline inflation is the measure of the whole inflation in an economy, which consists of all goods, such a price of consumables and energy, which are volatile and prone to inflationary spikes. Headline inflation is usually related to the shift of living cost, which provides useful information to market consumers. The current paper aims at modelling and forecasting the headline inflation in the case of Greece using the Box–Jenkins methodology for the period 2009:1–2020:12. For this purpose, the ARIMA (6,1,6) model was applied. We estimated the ARIMA (6,1,6) model following the maximum-likelihood approach. We maximized the likelihood by iterating the Marquardt and Berndt–Hall-Hall–Hausman algorithms while using numeric derivatives, the optimum step scale and a convergence criterion for the change in the norm of the parameter vector from one iteration to the next. Finally, in order to forecast the headline inflation through the ARIMA(6,1,6) model, a dynamic process and a static process have been applied. The results of the forecasting process suggest that the static process provides a better forecast comparing to the dynamic one.

During the Third Hellenic Republic (Metapolitefsi), that is over the last four decades, Greece has been characterized by severe political fiscal cycles. Regardless of how we measure political fiscal cycles, via the actual budget balance as percent of GDP or via the primary budget balance as percent of GDP, we consistently observe that, in the years of general (parliamentary) elections, the budget deficit jumps to rates unprecedented for a developed economy. This phenomenon has contributed significantly to the recent Greek public debt crisis. In this paper, we have two main objectives. Firstly, we aim to confirm the emergence of political fiscal cycles in Greece during the period known as the Third Hellenic Republic (Metapolitefsi) beginning at 1974. Secondly, we investigate whether general elections affect not only public finances, but also the total output of the economy and try to characterize this effect as stabilizing or destabilizing. Two are the main findings of our analysis: the Greek economy is indeed characterized by very sharp political fiscal cycles during the period of the Third Hellenic Republic and that these cycles have a destabilizing effect on the total output of the economy.

Foundations are not-for-profit organizations, whose main business is to supply merit goods like culture and creativity and to deliver grants for the welfare of communities. Operating and grant-making foundations support the Welfare State of public administrations, and they commit for legacy and resilience in a community and a destination, whose both creative assets and tourism can be positively impacted.Beautification is the consequence of supply and grants in a landscape where tangible and intangible heritages are given back to communities after disruptive events, from failing memories to pandemic. Beautification is granted both by the Public Welfare State and the Private Welfare State of foundations.The resource allocation can afford funds for restoration and valorization of legacies and lost memories. Relationship marketing can shape community engagement, both as regards fundraising in order to maximize endowments and as regards grant-making to the best projects.With a strong advocacy for community betterment and beautification in Italy, these foundations include FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano).The aim of this paper is to highlight the role of FAI for beautification and resilience of heritages from the North to the South of Italy.The methodology includes regression analysis of 2014–2019 FAI data, together with a qualitative analysis of strategies during pandemic. The Welfare Role of FAI will be highlighted as a benchmark for resilience for both communities and tourists.

Cultural not-for-profit organizations can be split into operating and grant-making foundations. Both of them support restoration, recovery, and resilience of culture and creativity. For this goal, they can mix the operating and the grant-making roles.Big organizations like National Trust (NT) in UK and FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) in Italy collect memory of tangible and intangible heritages, which are restored, renovated, and given back to communities after disruptive events, from death of the founder to pandemic emergency. Their fundraising gets on into grant-making to heritages, whose management is fully operating thanks to NT and FAI managers.Their philanthropy, their leading roles, and their reputation are founded on virtuous underlying vision, strategy, or set of principles, grassroots approach, dedication, and professionalism. This is empowered by the communication, traditional, and online, where the former contributes to the capillary dissemination and gathering of information.The aim of this paper is to compare performances of NT and FAI. These performances concern the range of revenues and costs of these big and leading organizations, together with the growth of visitors and members.The methodology includes regression analysis of 2014–2019 NT and FAI data, together with a qualitative analysis of strategies during pandemic times. The magnitude of the philanthropy of these foundations will be highlighted with a multiple regression for total revenues being function of operating and fundraising costs.

This study employs a flexible econometric framework using a panel data set to model employment trends and behavior by sector and occupation in the Greek labor market. By applying mixed fixed and random coefficient techniques, this paper analyzes the impact of certain variables on employment by occupational category across the sectors of economic activities, projecting occupational trends. Using annual data from 2000 to 2018, we examine the effects of compensation, gross value added, unemployment, and a proxy for participation rate on workers’ share by sector and occupation. Research findings reveal that the explanatory variables’ elasticities vary widely across sectors and occupational categories. Our model can be used to identify occupations in current and future shortages across sectors as well as for employment needs assessment and anticipation.

Behavioral Finance has already become the new theoretical financial paradigm. Based on other disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, and philosophy, it comes to fill in the gaps of the Efficient Market theory by studying and interpreting the behavior of people who are involved in the stock market, and, thus, discover the reasons for wrong investment choices and financial anomalies resulting from such activities.The research carried out on a sample of students attending additional degree upgrading courses demonstrates that the subjects, who are also going to be prospective investors and stock market professionals, are vulnerable to cognitive and emotional errors.

Purchasing goods online constitute an ever-increasing trend in consumer behavior. In this way, the experience that a business offers its customers when they want to acquire services or products through an online platform is of particular interest to them. Experiential value is regarded as a precondition for customer loyalty and buyer satisfaction when considering the circumstances in which goods or services are purchased. The present study introduces research findings that explore whether there is consumer characteristics (education level and area of residence) differentiation with respect to the elements of experiential values when it comes to booking accommodation online. A sample (N = 1540) of individuals between the ages of 18–68 – all users of online booking sites – were obtained using quantitative research through a method of nonprobability sampling. Data were examined by descriptive statistics, factor, reliability analysis, One-way ANOVA test for hypothesis testing, as well as multiple comparisons of means. On the basis of the outcomes of the study, specific marketing proposals relating to e-booking websites are submitted as part of this paper.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the firm conduct in a model of duopolistic industry with product innovation and price competition. Three different scenarios (industry-wide competition, R&D cooperation, and industry-wide cartel) are compared in a two stage game of firms. It is shown that independent of the extent of research spillovers and the level of product differentiation, the duopolists have strong incentives to form a full industry cartel that results in the highest level of R&D investments (in comparison to research cooperation and industry-wide competition) as long as the extent of research spillovers is not too low.

Contributions of women to labor force participation and gender equality have been considered as one of the important aspects of economic growth. After decades-long struggles, many countries had ultimately accomplished some improvements in terms of gender equality in their labor markets. All this hard work makes sense if gender equality is protected. Unfortunately, the times of economic crisis may reverse the trend in a quick pace. The aim of this chapter was to show the severe negative impacts of the 2008 global crisis on female labor force, especially in some middle-income countries. The study of the effects of this earlier global crisis can provide us with some valuable lessons on how to ease negative consequences experienced by female labor force in the presence of severe economic and financial problems associated with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The dataset covers 187 countries from different regions of the world and from different income groups between 2008 and 2019. The findings of the probit regression analysis identify some country characteristics associated with improving gender equality, such as governance quality, access to financial markets by women, and higher female human capital index. During the times of economic crisis, governments tend to spend more money, but sometimes such spending may not target the groups in most needs. However, given that females in the labor market tend to be more negatively affected by economic problems, governments instead may target businesses by women or female workers and training of females to support gender equality in labor markets.

In addition to floods, which have been considered a priority risk factor in the context of global warming and thus more research has been focused on this issue, there are still a number of other risks that require more attention. A significant risk factor that has recently occurred is the coronavirus SARS COV-2 and that is why its management has been implemented in the risk management of insurance companies. Due to its high infectivity and rapid spread across the planet, this virus has resulted in a pandemic situation. Hence, countries all over the world have had to take plenty of unpopular measures in order to mitigate the spread and the consequent adverse socioeconomic situation. Obviously, this situation has gradually affected various economic subjects at many levels. Insurance companies, as profit-oriented business entities, have the option to transfer the risks they undergo to reinsurance companies in accordance with reinsurance contracts. Reinsurance can thus affect the financial performance of insurance companies. The aim of our study was to examine and quantify the relationship between reinsurance and selected indicators of financial performance of insurance companies in Slovakia. We quantify these relationships through regression coefficients, which are the output of regression analysis.

New emerging technologies strengthen the perception of companies’ activities in several levels of sustainability – economic, environmental and social. Decisions on the implementation of the latest technologies, innovations and new business models determine the application of new technologies and business models in scale and time. They change the demand and supply side, affect the structure of the market, interrupt the market borders, etc. These changes do not bypass culture either. They raise questions about the possibility of implementing new technological solutions, their sustainability, impact on visitors and overall attendance on the one hand, on the other hand on the change in the offer of individual entities in the cultural and creative industries. The purpose of the paper is to present a case study focussed on the proposal of the use of new technologies in a selected area of cultural and creative industries. The case study is based on the theoretical definition of the culture and creative industry and its components, the identification of bottlenecks and the design of solutions using technologies that support audience development. On the example of cultural centres within a selected region of Slovakia, the possibilities of using social media in relation to increasing the efficiency and intensity of communication with target segments in audience development are identified.

This paper investigates the redesigning process of the development identity of a Local Government Regional Unit (City), a case study of Kozani City, Greece. This paper considers Kozani as a potential competitive tourist, investment, and cultural heritage destination that can contribute greatly to place and regional development once redesigned to meet the local and international customer needs. This study utilized data collected from 50 residents of Kozani city who were majorly local authorities to understand the process of city redesigning, the importance of such redesign, and the challenges involved in the process. The study established that a successful city redesigning process encompasses three phases: having a better understanding of the Community, appreciating the city’s identity, and implementing the principles of city redesign. Factors such as proper strategic planning processes, availability of resources, and strategic leadership are also essential for a successful city redesigning process, which further helps achieve city redesigning objectives.

Education management has long been critical in improving students’ academic performance in schools in any country with Greece inclusive. Education management entails overseeing all educational procedures and techniques utilised in the learning process to enhance students’ learning environment. The goal of school improvement is to ensure that students have the best possible learning environment, which has an impact in both the student’s performance and quality of education in the long run, though the latter has received little attention from research scholars. The primary purpose of this research was to assess the role of management in optimising the quality of education in educational organisations. Data was collected using an online survey questionnaire from 170 participants of the education sector of Kozani, Greece. The results confirmed when education is well managed, and schools get upgraded in a country, student performance improves, and the education offered is relevant and of high quality. According to the study’s findings, vital parts of educational administration include proper planning, improving the school environment, effective leadership and teacher rewards and appreciation. The study has highlighted that management plays a key role in optimising the quality of teaching and learning in the different education institutions thereby enhancing the quality of education.

The health emergency which started in 2020 has set off a new request for the understanding of public decision-making and underlying information.During the emergency phase, governments encouraged the use of simplified purchasing procedures to ensure the acceleration of public action and to attempt to stem the pandemic. As considerable amounts of public money have been rightly used during the emergency in the interest of public health, our goal is to investigate the level of transparency ensured by the procedures utilized for purchasing goods and services.To this end, we have considered data regarding all the expenses related to the health emergency through public administration calls for tenders between January 01, 2020, and April 30, 2021. The data analyzed suggests speed, simplification, and transparency are not always strictly correlated, and this could be a critical issue in order to guarantee virtuous public policies.

The present chapter includes a brief discussion of circular economy, a new economic growth model aiming at reducing waste and decreasing the need for new resources, the economic and environmental cost of which is high. Circular economy is a new product and consumer model, which enables longer use of materials while minimizing the use of natural resources. It requires the transition from a vertical model of production, consumption, and disposal to a closed circular model, based on recovery and reuse of products, which are minimally processed.The survey focuses on the textile industry, particularly the clothing industry, which, due to overproduction and overconsumption, produces excessive waste, thus, affecting societies, economies, and the environment in various ways. The chapter includes a discussion about clothing life span, the five Rs of clothes recycling, the best practices already applied, and an empirical survey investigating Greek people’s recycling awareness and practices as well as their intention to recycle clothes. Finally, conclusions are drawn that demonstrate that in recent years, the serious efforts in Greece as regards clothing and footwear recycling display a growing and positive trend.

The aim of this article is to find out how working capital and its management affect the size of companies and the profitability of companies operating in the manufacturing industry and wholesale and retail trade sector in the Czech Republic. In order to fulfill the aim of the article, the method of comparison and the generalized method of moments (GMM method) will be used. The data sample will include data for the period 2009 to 2019. The analysis will include companies operating according to the CZ-NACE classification in the manufacturing industry, wholesale, and retail trade sector in the Czech Republic. The data sample contained 3645 companies operating in the manufacturing industry and 5257 companies operating in the wholesale and retail trade sector. Using the comparison method and the GMM method a statistically significant relationship was found between working capital management and profitability and size of companies. It was found that variables such as cash conversion cycle, current assets ratio, current liabilities ratio, and working capital ratio affect the profitability of companies and the size of companies in the manufacturing industry and the wholesale and retail trade sector in the Czech Republic.

This paper concerns the consolidation process after the amendments to Law 4446/2016. Specifically, the new consolidation process is presented, aiming at rescuing companies in economic crisis. In times of severe economic crisis, as many businesses are overwhelmed by enormous financial difficulties, it was necessary to change and modernize the legislative framework that has been made to facilitate the rescue of viable businesses.An attempt is made by the Legislator to restore the debtor to the market and its business. The consolidation process could succeed with a collective and honest effort by all parties involved. With these modifications, an attempt was made to address the disadvantages of the process and in general to strengthen the consolidation and prevention of operational bankruptcy, so that it becomes a modern and effective tool for dealing with commercial insolvency for sustainable businesses.In the same direction and after studying and analyzing the case of the consolidation and rescue of Marinopoulos company, some proposals are made for the existing legislative framework. Our main goal should be to attract investments, so that investors and investment funds could give the opportunity to acquire an existing business that needs liquidity. The interests and claims of the creditors are better secured, since as a rule the creditors will be satisfied more by a functioning company than they would be by the forced sale of its assets. Creating an effective bankruptcy system that will faction as a tool for business recovery would open up a new market.

The present chapter studies the externality flows from the national to the regional R&D systems in Europe, analyzing to which degree—if at all—they improve the latter’s efficiency. For this purpose, we combine factorial, regression, and cluster analysis with a two-stage data envelopment analysis on a sample of 129 regions from 2000 to 2010. The results obtained confirm the existence of asymmetric spillovers between both system levels and that they indeed have a statistically significant impact on regional efficiency.

Using online prices has made it possible to estimate inflation rates at a larger scale and higher time resolution than were previously possible. In this chapter, we introduce a daily updated chain index to track prices in over 2400 different product categories and brands over time using data from online price comparison service Prisjakt. Our price index, among others, allows (1) users to optimize purchase decisions in time using historic trends, (2) stores to revise pricing strategies, (3) data analysts to derive business insights at high temporal and categorical resolution, and the index could (4) aid national statistic offices in inflationary studies. By using user–product interaction data as a proxy for quantities sold, products in the index can be weighted by user popularity. Chaining a price index at high frequency, however, presents challenges with potentially large biases, as has been observed in recent studies on scanner data. Here we show that much of these biases can be handled by carefully constructing product weights, without resorting to more involved multilateral indices. Finally, we compare our price index to matching product categories in the official Statistics Sweden consumer price index.

This research paper aims to investigate citizens’ satisfaction from a public hospital in Greece, based on eight satisfaction statements referring to the healthcare personnel (nurses, doctors, and medical personnel with a degree as a healthcare provider, such as assistant nurses). The sample consisted of 352 citizens of three generational cohorts (X, Y, Z). A questionnaire provided with the eight statements rated satisfaction on a 5-point satisfaction scale. Results reveal that in all cases, MS > 4.00. Thus, the three cohorts seem to be satisfied with the personnel, while in few cases, they tend to be very satisfied (MS > 4.51). Additionally, generational cohort differences do exist, with the younger cohort being the most dissatisfied. Guidelines for accomplishing future patient satisfaction from medical personnel and from public hospitals are provided.

This chapter presents a financial and operational analysis of a sea platform that is used for research purposes and is planned to be located north of Heraklion city, Crete Island. The operation of the platform will be based mainly on renewable energy technologies, such as photovoltaics and wind turbines. In order to utilize properly the renewable energy potential, the sea platform will also include batteries and diesel generator, whereas the option of grid interconnection with Crete Island is also examined, in order to purchase and sell its electricity when needed. The alternative options that are examined include different battery autonomy, various funding options, and sensitivity analysis of the results regarding different lending parameters. The financial indices used in this analysis are: net present value, internal rate of return, discounted payback period, and weighted average cost of capital. The results show that the operation of the sea platform can be economically viable if annual incomes of a few hundred thousand euros exist, provided by platforms research activities.

Economic development is crucial for all the authorities, in both local and national level. On the other hand, environmental protection is an issue of increased interest, especially in the last decades. There is a debate how likely is to achieve sustained growth without deterioration of the environment. The aim of this study is to identify the relationship between environmental and economic indicators with a use of a non-parametric method, namely, DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis), among EU-27 countries. For this purpose, two environmental indicators (greenhouse gas emissions per capita and greenhouse gas emissions in ESD sectors) will be used as inputs and two economic indicators (GDP per capita and real expenditure per capita) as outputs by following input-oriented approach. Moreover, to identify the balance between efficient and non-efficient countries and the potential improvements of environmental inputs without changing the economic outputs. Dataset consists of EU countries, for the period 2015–2019. The results would lead to strategies and policies that can be proposed and help governments or policymakers to obtain more sound decisions, guided by economic as well as environmental development.

For groups of users of business information, from owners through potential investors, management, or employees, it is important to find out the financial situation of the company and its future development. The financial health of a company can be determined in many ways, most commonly through financial analysis indicators. The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the applicability of methods for comprehensive assessment of the financial situation of Visegrad Group companies. The basis for the evaluation of the applicability of the methods of enterprise assessment will be the analysis of the applicability of bankruptcy models. The results of the bankruptcy models will be compared with the real numbers of bankruptcies of enterprises. The sensitivity analysis showed that the IN05 index was the most suitable for practical use on businesses in the Visegrad countries.

The Internet has brought significant changes to individuals’ lifestyles and many aspects of society and also has an impact on economic development. Diffusion and usage of the Internet vary greatly according to the social and economic conditions of the country. During the last years, the number of subscribers of fixed broadband Internet access services has been increased for all main operators in Albania. The purpose of this study was to identify the determinants of customer loyalty to Internet service providers in Albania. The target population of this study consisted of individuals who have a fixed broadband Internet connection at their home. Data of 235 respondents were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. The results of binary logistic regression analysis indicated that network quality, price perception, and perceived value were statistically significant and positively related to customer loyalty, whereas the employment status of the respondent was statistically significant and negatively related to customer loyalty toward the Internet service provider. The findings of this study provide useful information for managers of Internet service providers to design the promotions strategies and to offer loyalty programs for building enduring loyalty with consumers.

The main purpose of this article is to present the relationship between two factors: perceived environmental hostility (or friendliness) and strategic agility with market performance of Polish SMEs from medium-tech and high-tech industries during COVID-19 pandemic. This research directly refers to analogical study analyzing the role of the two variables in the period just before COVID-19 (Sikora & Baranowska-Prokop, Advances in longitudinal data methods in applied economic research, Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, 2021).Research results revealed that respondents interviewed during the period of entire second lockdown in December 2020–January 2021 evaluated external environment as more friendly (none of the respondents evaluated environment as “unfriendly”) compared to their pre-COVID counterparts interviewed during May–July 2019. Moreover, in contrast to the previous research, neither strategic agility nor environmental hostility–friendliness showed significant relationships with firms’ results. These unexpected findings may be explained in regards to several factors: In general, industry was hit less severely by lockdowns than services (most of respondents declared only “moderately” negative impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on the environment their firm operated and the relationship between the declared number of COVID-19 related consequences and market performance was weak). Efficacy of government’s programs within the framework of “Anti-crisis Shield” (introduced in Poland end-March 2020) providing subsidies for enterprises (to maintain financial liquidity and employment). Favorable macro-environment in which the local currency (considered as undervalued) helped both exporters making them more price-competitive and manufacturing firms operating on the local market by “insulating” them from cheaper imports. In our opinion, friendly macro-environment, availability of public assistance programs, and firms’ capability to get money from them (which need further research) were decisive factors influencing Polish firms’ performance, whereas strategic agility, as operationalized in this study and in the previous one, did not matter as significant predictor of firms’ success.

This study examines the relationships between brand evangelism, brand preference and purchase intentions decisions on clothing. Using data from online questionnaires and through probit regression analysis, we investigate the contemporary purchase behaviour and social media interaction between customers and enterprises in Greece. In doing so, we attempt to add more insights to the understanding of the interaction between brand page commitment and brand evangelism.

Current political and economic discourse in Europe is often animated by public concerns about the income gap between the rich and the poor on one hand, and the informal economy on the other hand. As researchers argue, the two phenomena do not produce independently; there is some connection between them. This study explores the interrelation between shadow economy and income inequality in the 28 European Union countries over the 2007–2017 period, by means of panel cointegration and causality tests. The hypothesis under test is that the two variables experience a long-term relationship and one of them is a predictor factor for the other. The results lead to the conclusion that there is a long-run relationship between income inequality and shadow economy in our panel. The VECM is estimated, concluding that income inequality does cause shadow economy in EU-28 countries, but shadow economy does not cause income inequality. Our findings are valid under robustness tests, guiding to important policy implications.

The purpose of this work is first the presentation and implementation of social media in Greek agri-food small and medium firms and second, the evaluation of the impact of the use of social media on the competitiveness of agri-food SMEs. We use the BCCP MODEL (brand building, community building, customer satisfaction and performance) which is a conceptual framework for understanding, implementing, and measuring Social Media effectiveness for the firm involved. Brand building, community building and engagement, and customer satisfaction and loyalty have no direct financial results while Economic performance has financial results. In the case of the impact of social media on financial performance, it has emerged that even with the minimum daily involvement of social media, firms save more money and achieve the increase in their profits.

This chapter aims to present how luxury brands engage in cultural production and strategically use it for the acculturation of a global consumer culture. A content analysis is adopted from interviews of luxury brands’ creative designers were analyzed through content analysis. Our findings underpin the relevance of cultural production for luxury brands and indicate how the combination of the above can be strategically used. Managerial and academic implications are discussed.

The power of social media has grown in recent years and is a new approach that can be used by businesses to shape consumer buying behavior. Businesses are aware of the changing nature of customers’ engagement with branding and that is why they are trying to build engagement through social media. The ways of communication between companies and customers have changed, and companies need to integrate new communication practices into their communication marketing. Thus, this study focuses on what are the main reasons that users react to the brands’ posts and identifies the different types of consumers related to social media brand content and users’ motivations of visiting brand page. An online survey was conducted with 503 questionnaires, where the data were collected. The results show two main factors in customers’ engagement to brand posts which are interactivity and customization of information. The paper identifies two groups on users’ reaction to offensive brand content, which are passive and active users. In addition, the research grouped social media users in five categories according to their motives of following a brand page and grouped social media content into three users groups.