Undoubtedly, deciding to enter the business world is a challenging decision that is influenced by several factors. Some of them are cultural since they deal with widespread beliefs about ...entrepreneurial activity in a community at a certain time. Other factors are related to the entrepreneur’s personal characteristics. As young people in Greece are interested in starting their own businesses they interact with their peers around the world, mainly in Europe, for exchanging ideas, information and good practices, despite the cultural differences between the North and the South of Europe. This paper will address the issue of shaping an entrepreneur in Greece and the role of factors such as entrepreneurship education, personal characteristics, and social norms in his/her entrepreneurial intention. A sample of 143 students in the tourism department of a Greek University answered an online questionnaire at the end of the semester. Findings show that Personal Attitude (PA), Social Norms (SN) and Self-efficacy (SE) had a significant impact on the Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) of tourism students. The characteristics of those starting up businesses in the tourism sector will also be reviewed, and the consequences for policy makers will be examined to encourage new start-ups and increase the survival chances of the existing ones.
Many researchers have studied the factors that impact on students’ entrepreneurial intention; however, findings are conflicting. The present study attempts, through an extensive review of the ...literature, to provide a holistic view and deeper knowledge of the most significant factors that influence university students’ decisions to be self-employed or to start a business. A systematic review as well as a bibliometric analysis of the literature was implemented, using a three-step literature mapping protocol to search, select, evaluate, and validate the literature by examining and analyzing numerous papers from the scientific community. The process ended up with 677 papers, from which the forty-three most cited were used as our research sample. Findings revealed that there are four primary categories of factors: the contextual factors, such as the economic, social, and political environment, the motivational factors, such as individuals’ personal needs, personality traits, and characteristics, and the factors related with the personal background of individuals such as family, education, and peers. We also examined the countries with the maximum number of papers on university students’ entrepreneurial intentions. These findings can be useful for policy makers and educators and will serve as a basis for future research, while they also contribute to the literature by highlighting the factors that most affect the entrepreneurial intention of university students.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors, both internal and external, that impact the adoption of digital governance in public administration. The quantitative data were collected ...through online questionnaires from 556 public servants, all of whom were enrolled in a Master of Public Administration program, representing a variety of public organizations, in a non-random way. The study draws from a comprehensive literature review and leverages structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis to derive empirical insights. The empirical analysis revealed positive relationships between digital governance, service quality, safety, trust, and transparency within public services. Contrary to previous results, internal factors such as leadership, organizational culture, and skillsets do not exhibit significant impacts. Overall, the study supports the idea that improving the quality of digital services and embracing innovative technologies are key drivers of digital governance in public administration, leading to increased transparency and public trust. These findings can guide policymakers and administrators in implementing effective digital governance strategies tailored to the specific context of each public organization.
The objective of the paper is to determine the relationship between a vehicle price and its safety ratings in the Czech Republic for vehicles sold and newly registered in the year 2022. The data ...collection was performed using content analysis. It was found that in 2022, Škoda Auto vehicles accounted for more than 35 % of all newly registered vehicles in the Czech Republic. The evaluation of vehicle safety was performed on the basis of results published on the EuroNCAP server. The findings were used as a basis for performing cluster analysis and correlation analysis of the data obtained. The analysis shows that even though safety plays an important role in the automotive industry, vehicle price is not a decisive factor in achieving higher safety ratings. The findings of this paper have a significant impact on consumers and automotive, showing that the price difference between vehicles does not necessarily correlate with different levels of safety. The limitation of this paper is its focus on the Czech Republic only, which may influence the generalization of the results to other markets.
Existing literature suggests that a strong culture is essential to the success of an organisation. However, some researchers have since disputed this claim, arguing that while some strong cultures ...lead to success, others fail. Examining several examples over time, the so-called “case for a strong culture” presents significant weaknesses. The present study, based on the Competing Values Model, examines the effects of a culture’s strength on the organisational performance in the public sector. A sample of 92 departments of Greek public organisations was examined, of which a total of 424 people responded to an online questionnaire. The participating organisations and their departments range in size, in terms of the number of their staff, from 15 to 54 members, and come from different segments of the public administration. The results showed that there is no relationship between culture’s strength and an organisation’s performance and that strong cultures do not have a significant impact on organisational performance in the public sector. The main objective of this research is to enrich the existing knowledge on the relationship between culture and performance, especially in the area of the public sector, since existing studies mainly focus on culture comparisons between large companies using mainly small samples. This study highlights the importance of culture given the chronic problems of Greek public administration to create public value and to be innovative and effective. The results are also of particular importance for the post-pandemic period indicating the need for major changes and reforms in public administration.
The Mediterranean basin has faced an increased influx of invasive species since the Suez Canal expansion in 2015. The invasive lionfish species,
Pterois miles
, has rapidly established new ...populations in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, impacting local fish biodiversity. Here, we have developed a new, fast (< 35 min) molecular approach to detect and quantify
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environmental DNA (eDNA) in combination with a portable device for field-based analysis. Using a species-specific real-time colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (qcLAMP) for the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, we demonstrate a high sensitivity with a limit of detection of 0.002 ng DNA per reaction, equivalent to only 50 copies of the COI gene. The assay is specific to the target in the presence of closely related and co-occurring species, and it is quantitative over five orders of magnitude. We validated the assay using aquarium water samples and further demonstrated its utility on natural eDNA samples collected from locations around the island of Crete where
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had been sighted.
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was indeed detected in three out of nine locations, two nature reserves and a closed bay. Lack of detection in the remaining locations suggests that populations are still at a low density. We also demonstrate the feasibility of
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eDNA qualitative detection directly from the filter used to collect eDNA-containing particles, completely omitting DNA extraction. Overall, we present a new approach for fast and targeted eDNA quantification. The developed LAMP assay together, with the quantitative real-time colorimetric detection approach, open new possibilities for monitoring invasive
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in the field.
The present study aims to investigate the key organizational factors that impact on the blockchain adoption in the Greek public sector during the current pandemic, which caused many changes in the ...ways that organizations operate and offer their services. A qualitative method was used through 78 structured interviews with public servants, regarding the digital transformation and the internal factors that hinder the successful integration of blockchain technologies during the current pandemic. The results showed that factors such as employees’ training, organizational culture and leadership, in addition to the lack of equipment, had great impact on the adoption and the successful integration of blockchain in the Greek public administration. Another crucial finding is that public servants consider the current pandemic as an opportunity and not as a threat for radical changes and improvements in the provision of their services, while they also stated that blockchain technologies can improve the ways that they provide public services to citizens and thus they will enhance the sense of public trust to public sector.
The impressively rapid availability of different types of COVID-19 vaccines and, on the other hand, the degree of their effectiveness as opposed to the likelihood of serious or non-serious side ...effects place a fairly large percentage of the population at a crossroads regarding the choice to get vaccinated or not, hence threatening achievement of total immunization coverage and full immunity. This study aimed to assess COVID-19 vaccination intention in Greece regarding protection behaviors and perceptions of the pandemic.
A total of 3753 participants completed a specially designed electronic questionnaire anonymously and voluntarily. The study population consisted of healthcare workers, students, members of professional societies, teachers, and professors. The questionnaire was composed of four parts pertaining to demographic data and possible changes in hygiene attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In total, 43.3% of the participants stated that SARS-CoV-2 poses a significant risk. The most widespread protection practice was avoiding crowded places (90.1%), followed by reducing the use of public transport (86.1%) and washing their hands with soap and water more often than usual (84.2%). Women undertook significantly more behavioral changes than men and participants of other nationalities. About half of the participants (44%) implemented seven behavioral changes. Lower personal and general perceived risk due to COVID-19 was significantly associated with lower intention to get vaccinated.
Strong hesitancy was observed towards COVID-19 vaccination. There is a need for further studies to be conducted to investigate the benefits and safety of vaccines for the purpose of better informing the public. Healthcare personnel can and should play a key role in this process.
•Testing Bayesian age estimation using the iliac auricular surface.•Use of two modern Greek documented collections (Athens and Cretan Collections).•No clear improvement in age prediction when ...adopting Bayesian age estimation.•No significant impact of samples selected for transition analysis and as informative priors.
Pelvic morphology is highly reflective of both sex and age changes in humans, making it a popular research focus in forensic anthropology. Relevant studies range from traditional descriptive to more complicated approaches involving statistical modeling, with the latter having become excessively popular in the last decades. The present study examines the performance of Bayesian statistics in age estimation based on the morphological changes observed on the iliac auricular surface. The aim is two-fold: a) to test whether a Bayesian approach can improve age-at-death estimation compared to the original Lovejoy et al. (1985a) and Buckberry and Chamberlain (2002) methods, and b) to explore the impact of adopting different samples as informative priors as well as for obtaining the transition analysis parameters. For this purpose, two modern Greek documented collections have been used, the Athens and the Cretan Collection. Our results found no clear improvement in age prediction when adopting Bayesian age estimation, with only one exception: Athenian males for the Buckberry and Chamberlain (2002) method. The choice of samples for transition analysis and as informative priors affected the results but this effect was statistically non-significant.
The current paper presents some aspects and criticisms from the theoretical literature concerning the New Public Management (NPM). The article also critically examines whether the NPM model is ...appropriate and the drivers that affected its efficiency and effectiveness in the public sector especially in Greece, during the current pandemic. The research concluded that the process of managerial reform and the specific criteria in order to evaluate NPM’s effectiveness are not completed yet and that there are some key barriers such as the statist perception of citizens and politicians, the corruption of public, the fragmented organizational structures, the resistance to change that hinder the success of change and of NPM’s effective implementation in public sector. However, Covid-19 was a situation that helped many aspects of NPM such as digitalization, digital transformation, e-governance etc. to effectively be introduced and implemented in public governance of Greek organisations.
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