Attitudes Towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship among Students : A Pilot Study in Latvia and Lithuania

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Jelena Titko et al.Sustainable economic development is driven by sustainable entrepreneurial activities, generated by the personal attitudes of entrepreneurs. The present and future of sustainable entrepreneurship are shaped by the youth, including students, which is why it is important to understand their attitudes towards this type of entrepreneurship. Therefore, the key goal of the research is to evaluate the attitudes and behaviours of the youth towards sustainability issues and sustainable entrepreneurship. The current article reflects the results of the second research stage and aims at evaluating attitudes towards sustainable entrepreneurship among Latvian and Lithuanian students. The results reveal that gender/age affect personal environmental attitudes, however gender/age has no effect on personal willingness to start a sustainable business. The analysis results of the personal attitudes to sustainable entrepreneurship differ by age and gender. Gender has no effect and age strongly affects personal attitudes to sustainable development.Peer reviewe

Integrated reporting as a model for sustainability management reporting: the case of Northeastern European airports

In their annual and sustainability reports, many companies assert their adherence to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. The validity of such claims might be questioned if they are not substantiated with financial information and descriptions of value-creation projections. One framework that can show how SDGs are achieved is integrated reporting (<IR>). In contrast to traditional sustainability reports, <IR> encourages the integrated analysis of financial and non-financial information for six capital types within the company’s business model, which enables measuring the achievement of sustainability targets. Among many advantages of <IR> related to sustainability is also the analysis of value creation processes in the long term, which generates evidence-based projections of future performance, not merely a reflection on past activities. The aim of this research was to determine if Northeastern European airports apply the <IR> framework to their annual sustainability communications with stakeholders. The major research finding indicates that these airports do not use the <IR> framework in their annual sustainability reporting. However, given the inclusion of <IR> features in their reports and a recent tendency of other airports to adopt <IR>, this finding can be a sign of transition to <IR> for annual sustainability reporting. First published online 11 January 202

Teacher training and education programs in Latvia: are e-competences included?

Purpose – the purpose of this research is to review the contents of Latvian teacher training and education programs in order to identify if the development of students’ e-competences is included into these programs as an important objective and value. The importance of the development of these competences has been stressed in various EU documents and scientific literature. The scientific importance of the paper lies in gathering evidence for the inclusion of e-competences into teacher training and education curricula and demonstrating that e-competences have not yet acquired a value status in teacher training and education programs. Research methodology – the methodology included the keyword in context and concordance analysis of self-assessment reports and program descriptions, which were run in the software AntConc. Findings – out of 190,000 word tokens, the KWIC analysis identified only 75 entries related to e-competences, most of which included basic skills of information and communication technologies. Other more advanced concepts, such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, adaptive spaces, e-competences, e-education and e-learning, were hardly mentioned. Research limitations – one limitation of this research is the focus on Latvian teacher training and education programs without their comparison to similar European programs, which would allow for determining the competitiveness of such Latvian programs in Europe. Practical implications – the obtained results suggest that the development of e-competences has not been perceived as value in teacher training and education programs in Latvia, and in order to bridge this gap, programming and artificial intelligence courses should be introduced into the curricula of such programs. Originality/Value – the research has demonstrated that the EU aim of boosting the competitiveness of the European education through the development of e-competences is yet to be implemented into teacher training and education programs in Latvia

TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN LATVIA: ARE E-COMPETENCES INCLUDED?

Purpose – the purpose of this research is to review the contents of Latvian teacher training and education programs in order to identify if the development of students’ e-competences is included into these programs as an important objective and value. The importance of the development of these competences has been stressed in various EU documents and scientific literature. The scientific importance of the paper lies in gathering evidence for the inclusion of e-competences into teacher training and education curricula and demonstrating that e-competences have not yet acquired a value status in teacher training and education programs. Research methodology – the methodology included the keyword in context and concordance analysis of self-assessment reports and program descriptions, which were run in the software AntConc. Findings – out of 190,000 word tokens, the KWIC analysis identified only 75 entries related to e-competences, most of which included basic skills of information and communication technologies. Other more advanced concepts, such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, adaptive spaces, e-competences, e-education and e-learning, were hardly mentioned. Research limitations – one limitation of this research is the focus on Latvian teacher training and education programs without their comparison to similar European programs, which would allow for determining the competitiveness of such Latvian programs in Europe. Practical implications – the obtained results suggest that the development of e-competences has not been perceived as value in teacher training and education programs in Latvia, and in order to bridge this gap, programming and artificial intelligence courses should be introduced into the curricula of such programs. Originality/Value – the research has demonstrated that the EU aim of boosting the competitiveness of the European education through the development of e-competences is yet to be implemented into teacher training and education programs in Latvia.</jats:p

Sustainable higher education management: career drivers of academic staff

The quality of higher education (HE) is dependent on many factors, including the quality of teaching. As any profession, teaching is based on internal values and motives of individuals. The goal of the research is to identify the most dominant career drivers of academic staff based on their career motives and values in order to provide HE managers with information relevant to academic staff engagement policies to enable shaping of sustainable education policies at higher education institutions (HEIs). The research goal is grounded in the purpose of human resource management that is designed to stimulate certain employee behavior so that employee actions and intentions could be aligned with corporate strategic goals. If there is a wide gap between the needs and interests of employees and their employer, employee productivity gradually declines, thus decreasing the competitiveness of an organization. The following research question has been formulated: Is there a discrepancy in values between academic staff and managers of HE, who create the work environment for the academic staff? To attain the goal of the research, university lecturers from Ukraine completed Schein’s questionnaire online in 2021, while in 2023 middle- and senior managers of universities from Ukraine, Latvia, and Lithuania were asked to prioritize career drivers for academic staff. Both groups ranked technical / professional competence and service / dedication to a cause as primary priorities. However, the value of security / stability was prioritized only by academic staff, while autonomy / independence and entrepreneurial creativity were selected by HE managers. The research outcomes indicate converging and diverging points in opinions on the career drivers of academic staff. Having this knowledge, HE managers are in a better position to modify the academic workplace to stimulate academic productivity, and enhance business models and quality assurance policies at their institutions on the path towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 “Quality Education”. The diversity of opinions both within and between the groups of academic staff and HE managers supports the need to design human resource management policies consistent with the theory of personalized human resource management for higher productivity. The findings of the study contribute to the global discussion of career drivers of teachers by providing evidence in support of the increasing importance of professional (technical) competences and creative abilities for quality education. Keywords: Career drivers, higher education management, staff values, sustainability

The connection between an airport type and revenue structure at Baltic States airports

Airports are not only engines of transportation of passengers and cargo, but also commercial enterprises offering services far beyond transportation, which is why their revenues are formed by both aeronautical and non-aeronautical sales. Aeronautical revenues of some large European airports are higher than non-aeronautical revenues, whereas some regional and secondary European airports demonstrate the opposite trend. The aim of this research was to determine if there is a connection between an airport type and the ratio of aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues at Baltic States airports in way that is consistent with the previous research. The aim was attained in three stages. The first, the definitions of the main and secondary airports were constructed via discourse analysis. The second, the structure of airport revenues of the selected Baltic States airports was analysed. The third, conclusions were made regarding a connection between an airport type and the revenue structure of these Baltic States airports. On the one hand, the research results suggested there might be a connection between an airport type and the revenue structure although this question requires further research, and on the other hand, the financial analysis showed that airports with a higher share of non-aeronautical revenues than aeronautical revenues were more resilient to crises

Fostering performance management by identifying key performance indicators for human capital in integrated reporting

Human capital is widely recognized as a pivotal factor in driving economic development and ensuring the sustained success of organizations. In efforts to enhance transparency in reporting and elucidate the mechanisms through which organizational value is generated, businesses might turn to the integrated reporting framework, encompassing six key capital dimensions, including human capital. However, a notable gap exists in the standardization of essential performance indicators within this framework. Therefore, the primary aim of this research was to identify the fundamental concepts underlying key performance indicators specific to human capital within integrated reports. These identified indicators not only enhance the usability of integrated reporting frameworks but also resonate with the perspectives of economic theory on human resource management, delving into various facets of employee performance and well-being. Moreover, the study delved into how transformational and benevolent leadership styles can harmonize with both the integrated reporting framework and the suggested key performance indicators of human capital, offering insights into effective organizational management and sustainable value creation

The Relationship Between the Industry-Level Economic Development and Human Development in Latvia

Abstract Research purpose. There is some empirical evidence of the relationship between economic and human development at a country level. Human development is most frequently proxied by the Human Development Index (HDI). Considering the fact that HDI is a measure covering the fields of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the overwhelming idea of the research is to determine the impact of sector economic development on the achievement of SDGs. The research goal is to establish if there is a relationship between economic development, using Latvian sector statistics, and the human development of Latvia. Design / Methodology / Approach. The paper uses different types of regression analyses of the longitudinal data to determine if there is a relationship between HDI and economic development indicators in different sectors of the Latvian economy. The sample includes industry-level data on eight industries and HDI data collected from 2010 to 2020. The regression analysis was applied to HDI as a dependent variable, and a selected set of industry variables was assessed as a group of independent variables (both individual for industries and aggregated on the country level). The set included the indicators of the turnover of companies, number of companies, added value, total personal costs and number of employees in full-time employment. Findings. The findings partly support the proposal that economic development relates to human development because some factors of economic growth have formed a statistically strong relationship with HDI (added value, total personal costs, and the number of employees in full-time employment), while others have not (turnover and number of companies). The fact that some statistically proven relationships had a positive while others had a negative direction suggests that the relationship between economic development and human development is bidirectional depending on specific indicators. Originality / Value / Practical implications. There is an obvious research gap in the investigated field in Latvia and even in the Baltics. The current paper contributes to the knowledge base about factors affecting human development and enlarges the statistical data basis. Besides, this study contributes to the development of national strategic plans by determining which sectors and which indicators have a significant impact on HDI. Research information will be useful for the NAP report after 2027 for assessing the level of achievement of strategic goals, especially in the priorities “Strong families, healthy and active people”, “Knowledge and skills for personal and national growth”, and “Competitiveness and material well-being of companies”.</jats:p