The combination of accelerated digitalization and the recent COVID-19 crisis has increased the number of remote workers worldwide to unimaginable proportions. Among the large number of remote workers ...that execute their projects from home, there is a significant number of permanently self-employed remote workers, usually referred to as freelancers. Despite the importance of this kind of business activity for modern project management society, perceived drivers of freelancing are still unknown. The goal of this paper was to shed some light on the general subjective well-being of freelancing activity and investigate differences concerning gender, age, and education. The study was performed in late 2020 and included 471 freelancers from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro that participated in an online questionnaire evaluating their subjective well-being while participating in the "gig" economy. Factor analysis was used as a primary statistical method and two major groups were identified: (1) Impact of working from home on a freelancer's personal life and health and (2) Fulfillment of expectations in the economic and professional sense. Gender was found not to be significant for overall work satisfaction. However, older freelancers proved to be more satisfied with the fulfillment of economic and professional expectations, which correlate with years of professional experience. Another conclusion is that more educated freelancers are generally less satisfied with both groups of drivers - fulfillment of personal life and professional expectations. Understanding how the combination of occupations, technological infrastructure, and demographic characteristics in the region has affected the well-being of freelancers may help policymakers and organization owners, as well as future entrepreneurs, better prepare for this model of work in the future. It also increases the possibility of exploring individual dimensions of wellbeing useful for targeting interventions at the level of each country separately. In line with this, the present study contributes to the existing body of knowledge and the impact of hybrid models of work on the subjective well-being of workers in the "gig" economy.
PSYCHOSOCIAL ADAPTATION TO WORKING FROM HOME Radulovic, Dejan; DJUKANOVIC, Borislav; Vučeković, Miloš
International review,
2022, 2022-00-00, 2022-01-01, Letnik:
2022, Številka:
3-4
Journal Article
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In this study, the psychosocial adjustment to working from home was surveyed on samples of 201respondents from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 201 from Montenegro, 221 from North Macedonia, and 408 ...fromSerbia. The research was carried out using a questionnaire with 13 questions on the Psychosocial AdjustmentScale, specially created for this research. This research aims to describe the positive and negative aspects ofthe adjustment to working from home. Additionally, the research will examine the similarities and differencesamong respondents from four countries of the Western Balkans. The findings showed that the psychosocialadaptation of the respondents was positive, in general. However, respondents in all four countries highlightedthe lack of time for socializing with close friends. They also underlined the feeling of social isolation due toworking from home as the most difficult. The authors noticed that one of the reasons for the challenges ofenduring social isolation and loneliness is the more emphasized collectivist patterns of sociability in thecountries of the Western Balkans than in Western countries. Respondents from Montenegro show significantlyweaker psychosocial adaptation in several aspects compared to respondents from the other three countries. Inthis regard, the respondents from North Macedonia are similar to a certain extent, however, the respondentsfrom B &H and Serbia are the most similar to each other. The authors provided possible explanations for thesesimilarities and differences.
This study investigated the factor which influences rural women’s income after participation in small-scale agricultural farming, their contribution to the household, as well as their empowerment ...status. This research was conducted in Jinaigati upazila of Sherpur district in Bangladesh. A total of 80 respondents (women) from this upazilla of Sherpur were selected purposively using simple random sampling. The quantitative data were collected by in depth interviewing of the 80 respondents through personal interview. The quantitative analytical tools used to attain specific objectives included various descriptive statistics, functional analysis, multiple regression co-efficient, used to identify the factors of influencing women’s income through small-scale agricultural farming. Problem Confrontation Index (PCI) used through different problems identified scores. In accordance with the results of the educational level of woman, other sources of income, experience and training, access to credit, decision-making ability have an positive impact on rural women’s income. These variables were statistically significant. From the Problem Confrontation Index, it was found that lack of capital was the first ranked problem, need-based training the second ranked problem, high interest rate the third ranked problem, insufficient farm size the fourth ranked problem, and lack of quality of seed the fifth ranked problem. Their income from this brought remarkable positive change in their life and they had better control over their decisions and income. Finally, their active economical participation in small-scale farming assists them to overcome prejudice, socio-economic barriers, and highest empowerment attainment in the context of Bangladesh—and, if the government takes proper initiative in terms of gender policy, then rural women’s income and livelihood status will be increased remarkably.
Površina visokih šuma hrasta kitnjaka u Republici Srpskoj je 76 900 ha, a površina izdanačkih je180 700 ha. Udeo visokih hrastovih šuma u ukupnoj površini visokih šuma u Republici Srpkoj je oko10%, a ...izdanačkih u ukupnoj površini izdanačkih šuma oko 30%. Pri ocenjivanju kvaliteta drveta,veoma je važno znati kakva veza postoji između širine prstena prirasta i određenih svojstava drveta.Jedno od tih svojstava je sigurno gustina drveta, kao najvažniji indikator kvaliteta. U ovom radu jeanalizirana gustina drveta četrnaest stabala hrasta kitnjaka iz semenske sastojine na planini Prosarii njena zavisnost od širine prstenova prirasta i širine kasnog drveta. Utvrđeno je da je prosečnaširina godova u uzorku 1,62 mm sa variranjem širine od 45,76%. Prosečna vrednost gustine uprosušenom stanju vlažnosti, za sva ispitivana stabla je 0,747 g/cm³, sa prosečnim koeficijentomvarijacije od 13,28%. Ispitivanje zavisnosti između gustine i širine prstena prirasta pokazalo je dapostoji trend povećanja gustine sa povećanjem širine prstena prirasta i da je ta korelacija značajna.
The authors analyze and summarize the history of the development of the region, meaning of the term region and types. The paper analyzes the regions as basic territorial units which are important for ...regional development, the area in which establishes and implements regional development policy. The concept of the region is seen dynamically, in a historical context. The subject of the work is focused on the study of the phenomenon of the region as a territorial unit for the preparation and implementation of regional development policy for the purpose of equitable development. The authors analyzed different concepts and underlined the most important characteristics of the idea region and its types. Based on the analysis, definitively that the region is starting and basic territorial unit for planning and implementation of sustainable policies for regional development.
In this paper we analyze the impact of the quality of human capital on the main economic indicators of South-Eastern Europe countries SEE at the NUTS 2 level. The subjects of this research are the ...human capital indicators of regional competitiveness. The quality of human capital depends largely on the age structure of the population and the quality of education. Those regions, which have the highest percentage of the working-age population and highly educated people, are able to achieve higher productivity and gain a competitive advantage over other regions. As main indicators of the quality of human capital we identified: population; persons aged 25-64 with tertiary education attainment; students in tertiary education and participation of adults aged 25-64 in education and training and human resources in science and technology. As main economic indicators, we identified: regional gross domestic product; employment and income of households. The aim of this paper is to determine whether there is a correlation between the indicators of the quality of human capital and economic indicators. As a main methodology we have used the correlation coefficient which shows interdependence of the analyzed indicators. As part of our analysis, we consider only EU member states that belong to the SEE countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. We conclude that in all countries there is a high multiple correlation coefficient between the indicators human resources in science and technology, number of students and employment.
The aim of this paper is to examine the development of a financial framework for assessing the effectiveness of interventions. The research is based on the evidence from Serbia. In terms of methods ...applied, we used econometric and scenario analysis. We presented — as individual separate items — the issues such as “who” — Government budget (Ministry, specific program, loan, donor, etc.), “how much” — the amount spent, “where” (NUTS 2 region), and on “what” (type of initiative). In our model, each of the interventions applied to one of the regional development priorities is linked and evaluated by its effectiveness observing the performance of the group of indicators associated with each of the priorities. All data obtained from 8 sectors were categorized under 4 priorities, i.e. “People, Place, Productive Capacity, and Institutional Capacity”. Accordingly, we evaluate the effectiveness by observing the performance of a group of indicators related to each of the priorities. Our recommendations for optimizing the distribution structure of regional policies and regions are determined by the analysis of the performance of the group of indicators and their relative rankings per NUTS 2 region. The results are significant for further theoretical and applied research, as well as decision-making in the field of government financial policy. Our results confirmed that calculations of funds for regional development in strategic areas appear to be slightly problematic because, in the past, there was no strategic distribution based on established facts, which could be measured in terms of performance.
Virtual teams function in the conditions of great insecurities and specific demands of the virtual environment. Therefore, when forming a successful virtual team, special attention should be paid to ...choosing its members, on whom the efficiency of the project tasks depends to a great extent. The evaluation of competencies has an exceptional significance in assessing the capacities of the employees, their potentials and limitations in order to foresee their individual success or team success. However, the whole concept cannot be imagined without competent managers who manage and develop virtual teams. According to this, the main aim of this paper is to determine the key competencies of members of virtual teams, as well as of their managers which are characterized by success in business operations of virtual organizations. For establishing the key competencies of virtual teams on one hand and the competencies of their managers on the other, we used literature overview as well as the newest researches in this field. In practice we can conclude that competent managers should use a wide range of new, technologically supported options in forming their strategies with the goal of being able to meet and face the changes, instead of just react to them. Also the authors give numerous examples from Europe which show the comparative advantage in implementing the new technologies by the ones who possess IT education, because they accept them as new ideas faster than the others.
Technological innovations: Evidence from Serbia Jevtić, Boris; Vučeković, Miloš; Radulovic, Dejan
International review (Faculty of Business Economics and Entrepreneurship),
2014
3-4
Journal Article
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This paper analyzes the aspects of SMEs innovation activities, working on new ideas in a system of open innovation within the major technological changes associated with the open innovation. The ...paper is based on research of 44 innovative enterprises realized for the period of 2010-2012 in Serbia. The main findings are showing that: phenomena of open innovation is well known among SMEs which base their information about OI (open innovation) on inner and other sources, among which the highest score received collaboration and networking- outbound factors. The biggest share of technological innovation in business entities in total was 31.27%. The biggest share among technological innovators belongs to business entities in the manufacturing industry 36.46%. Paper contribution is in support further technological innovation in an open innovation framework research and practice.
In this paper we analyze the impact of the quality of human capital on the main economic indicators of South-Eastern Europe countries SEE at the NUTS 2 level. The subjects of this research are the ...human capital indicators of regional competitiveness. The quality of human capital depends largely on the age structure of the population and the quality of education. Those regions, which have the highest percentage of the working-age population and highly educated people, are able to achieve higher productivity and gain a competitive advantage over other regions. As main indicators of the quality of human capital we identified: population; persons aged 25-64 with tertiary education attainment; students in tertiary education and participation of adults aged 25-64 in education and training and human resources in science and technology. As main economic indicators, we identified: regional gross domestic product; employment and income of households. The aim of this paper is to determine whether there is a correlation between the indicators of the quality of human capital and economic indicators. As a main methodology we have used the correlation coefficient which shows interdependence of the analyzed indicators. As part of our analysis, we consider only EU member states that belong to the SEE countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. We conclude that in all countries there is a high multiple correlation coefficient between the indicators human resources in science and technology, number of students and employment.