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TalTech Journal of European Studies
Journal Prestige (SJR): 0.199

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This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Print) 2228-0596 - ISSN (Online) 2674-4619
Published by Sciendo

[389 journals]

ESG Disclosure and Sustainability Transition: A New Metric and Emerging
Trends in Responsible Investments
- Abstract: Environmental sustainability, social engagement and robust governance gained growing attention from consumers and investors alike, leading to what we call ‘ESG finance’. ESG criteria are now shaping the behaviour and choices of enterprises, investors and consumers. Indeed laudable, the increased importance of ESG finance could raise concerns about the robustness underneath this new set of financial products. Moreover, the reliability of ESG-related data and information shared by companies may also be challenged due to the ability of those indicators to shape the public profile of companies and their attractiveness for investors. A new breed of ESG rankings and ratings is widening the metrics that consumers and investors use to make informed decisions about their consumption and investment. Yet, such rankings and ratings hinge on the individual disclosure approaches of the interested companies. This article wishes to complement available data and information about specific emissions data released by companies with the ESG disclosure levels, in particular relating to the “environment” dimension. Based on these disclosure levels, the authors build a new metric with the purpose of reducing asymmetric information and promoting more responsible investment. Starting from ESG-related data and publicly available information, a new disclosure-adjusted pollution index (namely, the GHG Scope-1 DAdj index) is developed. The second part of the article puts forward an empirical analysis on the basis of this new index, suggesting that the rush to ESG finance could be poised to generate leeway for new types of asymmetries and possible distortions in investment decision-making, also providing grounds for potentially reckless speculative attitudes, especially in the domain of product development of financial instruments that may generate new forms of risk for investors. Using the GHG Scope-1 DAdj index makes a few companies less environmentally friendly and interesting for investors who are seeking responsible and sustainable investment options. The innovative index and the empirical analysis lead the authors to suggest to “split the domains of ESG” to better gauge the relation between impact and compliance costs for companies as the individual components of environment, social engagement and governance are considered separately.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
How to Ensure the Development of SMEs in Post-Pandemic Economy' A
Start-ups Case Study
- Abstract: After the humanitarian crisis, caused by COVID-19, enterprises have to face a post-pandemic economic crisis. As small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute 99% of EU enterprises and create every third workplace (European Parliament, 2021), it is important to monitor their situation not only to survive but also to develop and build strong economies in the future. The aim of this research is to investigate development trends and opportunities in (SMEs’) development, with a special focus on start-ups (STPS) as representative of these. Also, special attention is paid to the concept of sustainable development (SD), which fulfils the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The proposed methodology consists of three stages: desk research, in-depth interviews, and primary data analysis, and uses a qualitative method. The article describes the findings of recent Polish studies undertaken to verify and augment earlier pilot research. The novelty of the article is the examination of the dependence between the STPS survival rate and the SD as a measure of SDGs’ fulfilment. The limitation may be the specificity of the pandemic, as well as the study of post-pandemic trends that shows a strictly binding need to have a stable strategy for establishing, managing and developing enterprises and increasing their survival rates.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Theoretical Investigations on Existing Approaches to Marketing
Effectiveness Evaluation
- Abstract: Marketing effectiveness evaluation is an important issue for companies due to its significant impact on overall business performance and goals. Discussions on marketing effectiveness evaluation in academic and business societies are extensive. However, a unified and clear classification of marketing effectiveness evaluation approaches is missing. The purpose of this article is to conduct theoretical investigations about the existing approaches to marketing effectiveness evaluation. The review of academic literature was performed by selecting and reviewing the most relevant publications from two leading databases, Web of Science and Scopus. The most meaningful articles for the research area were chosen using a bibliometric analysis, and reviewed. The article discusses the evaluation of marketing effectiveness for different marketing initiatives, its impact on business, and challenges for organizations, and provides valuable insights into revealing trends in marketing effectiveness evaluation approaches. The presented classification of marketing effectiveness approaches is expected to contribute to a broader understanding of the research area.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Identifying Factors Affecting Green Consumer Purchase Behavior on
E-Commerce Websites
- Abstract: As ecological problems are rapidly expanding, they bring with them increasingly threatening and drastic complications. On the other hand, the economic benefits of plastic products have created a dilemma for consumers and business owners. Since one of the main channels for satisfying daily needs is online shopping and social media, and the market share of electronic commerce is growing inexorably compared to traditional brick-and-mortar methods, it would be useful to understand the factors related to consumer behavior on these platforms in order to resolve environmental issues. This research attempts to identify the factors affecting green consumer purchase decisions on social commerce platforms. A questionnaire was designed based on data gathered using bibliographic methods, and collected data from 532 valid samples was analyzed using SmartPLS software. According to the findings, subjective norms such as social network inference is positively correlated to green product attractiveness. In addition, the results show that personality traits and green product attractiveness are positively correlated; moreover, the results show that there is a positive relation between green advertising and green product attractiveness. It is believed that the outcomes of this research will contribute to and be beneficial for manufacturers and businesses by proposing a new model for green marketing and green product awareness.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Global Economic Challenges for Sustainable Entrepreneurs
- PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
From Socialism to Capitalism: Low-Skill-Biased Change in the Baltics
during the Transition and Beyond
- Abstract: How did technological upgrading in the Baltics during the transition from planned to market economy affect labour' Existing academic literature would imply a skill-biased or polarising effect. However, we find that the opposite is likely true—technological upgrading predominantly benefited lower skilled workers. This is explained by an abundance of lower skilled labour, which fostered the usage of less advanced technologies that such workers could utilise. This article contributes to the discussion on the relationship between technology and labour by highlighting that technological upgrading may lead to low-skill-biased change.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
A Systematic Literature Review of the Context of the Sharing Economy and
CSR in 2017–2021
- Abstract: The sharing of idle assets, on which the sharing economy model is based, is associated with positive economic, environmental, and social effects, the creation of which is the basis of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It would therefore seem expedient to examine the context of these phenomena, which have recently been gaining in importance, although they still remain outside mainstream research. So far, there is no study which comprehensively characterises the current state of knowledge of the context of the sharing economy and CSR, identifies research gaps, and postulates directions for future research in this area. This article addresses this gap by utilising a standalone literature review approach. An analysis of 20 publications, published on this topic in 2017–2021 in journals registered in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, was carried out. Four main research clusters were identified, these being (1) The sharing economy as a tool of the CSR concept; (2) The joint contribution of the sharing economy model and the concept of CSR towards reduction of overconsumption and wastage; (3) The importance of CSR communication for sharing economy platforms; and (4) The antagonistic relationship between the sharing economy model and the concept of CSR. The performed analysis shows the fragmented nature of existing research, but also the progressive nature of this area of research. At the same time, useful avenues for future research are postulated. This should focus on multiple lines of inquiry, including the possibility of incorporating different forms of B2B sharing into the concept of CSR, assessing the benefits, limitations, and risks of linking these two concepts, as well as exploring the synergies between the sharing economy model and the concept of CSR from the point of view of different industries, sharing segments, or regions.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Environmental Management and Its Impact on CSR Activities in the Field of
Sustainable Development
- Abstract: The way in which both renewable and non-renewable resources are used, and the speed at which these are being exploited, are rapidly eroding the planet’s capacity to regenerate the resources and environmental services on which our prosperity and growth are based. The clothing and textile industry is characterized by a linear (take-make-waste) economic model and huge use of non-renewable resources. In order to integrate circular economy as one of the challenges in the clothing and textile industry, we must boost past research directly to innovation to bring about a higher quality of life for all. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained special importance among researchers, the business community, and customers in recent years. Today, manufacturers have to take another step forward to promote their positive social attitude and take care of their responsibility towards society. In the framework of sustainable development, CSR is carried out by achieving economic, social, or environmental goals. Consumers and shareholders currently expect a responsible approach from clothing and textile companies in the production of sustainable clothing, recycling, or ensuring suitable working conditions for employees. It is important not only to support socially responsible businesses but also to raise awareness of the negative environmental impact of the clothing and textile industry. Based on the recognition of the importance of shifting from a linear to a circular approach in the clothing and textile industry, we see potential in recycling the textile fiber in order to close the loop and use innovative technology to transform the textile waste into recycled material by keeping in mind barriers in technology. This article evaluates the social responsibility of a selected company in the field of sustainable development by setting a good example in the Slovak market through the results of a questionnaire survey.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Sustainability in Regional Planning: A Bibliometric Analysis
- Abstract: Challenges in sustainable regional planning have been a hot topic of discussion in the past few decades. In this article, we analyze different approaches to regional development planning and explore their relevance to achieving sustainability in the area, while emphasizing the importance of the bottom-up approach in regional planning. We performed a bibliometric analysis to detect the state of research of the regional development planning and examined the program of forming a system for ensuring a region’s sustainability. We concluded that it is crucial to create national development plans utilizing a regional approach, which involves local projects and programs that benefit not just the economy and ecological state of the regions but also the inhabitants of those regions.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Attitudes Towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship among Students: A Pilot
Study in Latvia and Lithuania
- Abstract: 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.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Impact Evaluation of the Graduate Practice Intervention in Slovakia with
the Application of the CART Method
- Abstract: In Slovakia, the contribution to graduate practice is one of the active labour market policy interventions, the main goal of which for young school-leavers is to gain first job experiences and contacts with potential employers. Among the young jobseekers, it is one of the most used interventions. This study aims to provide a counterfactual impact evaluation of this contribution on the employability of its participants and also on their monthly wages. The total period under review is 2014–2017, during which the treated individuals participated in the graduate practice during 2014–2015. Then, their course of employment and average monthly wages were monitored over a two-year impact period, covering the period 2015–2017. The study was carried out using a database of 12,953 treated eligible participants of graduate practice and 83,907 non–treated controls. The data used in the study is managed by the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic (COLSAF SR) and the Social Insurance Agency (SIA). For the evaluation, propensity score matching was used, where the propensity scores were estimated using classification and regression trees. The results of the study show that the participants of the graduate practice were employed on average three months longer during the two-year impact period after the end of the intervention as full-time employees or self-employed, and their average salary was almost 217 euros higher than that of the control group of non-participants.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Transport Infrastructure Investments as a Factor of Economic Growth of
European Union Countries
- Abstract: Territorial cohesion and improved accessibility are among the main objectives of the European Union (EU) Cohesion policy. Although there is a wealth of literature on the impact of investment in transport infrastructure on overall accessibility levels, only a few studies have tried to evaluate the possible link between transport infrastructure investment (TII) and economic growth in the EU. Our research aims to evaluate the impact of TII on economic growth in the EU. The methodology is based on nonlinear neoclassical specification, which includes a multiplicative term to evaluate if the absence of corruption mediates the effect of TII on growth. Our unbalanced panel data covers 27 EU countries (Cyprus is excluded due to missing data and the United Kingdom is a part of the sample) from 2000 through 2019. Our research confirms a positive and statistically significant impact of TII on economic growth but with a diminishing return. Estimating the absence of corruption as a possible moderator of the effect that TII has on growth shows that control of corruption plays a significant role in the TII growth nexus. We find that in countries with a low level of control of corruption, TII has a statistically significant negative effect on growth.
  PubDate: Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Participatory Budgeting as the Instrument of Technologically Supported
Dialogue in Cracow, Poland
- Abstract: Ordinary citizens today support the local decision-making authorities in the domain of public spending using the instrument of participatory budgeting. The situation is of particular interest in Cracow, the second largest city in Poland in terms of the number of residents, as it stands out for its intensive and advanced use of technology. Here, participatory budgeting is a formalized, multi-stage procedure, composed of an information and education campaign, preparation and submission of projects, verification of submitted projects, submission and examination of protests, voting, implementing of projects, and informing about the concluded projects. Using participatory budgeting, the residents communicate their needs and obtain funds to satisfy them. Participatory budgeting covers on average 0.5% of the municipal budget and is decided by 5–7% of Cracow’s residents. The research covers the years 2019–2021 and takes into consideration the changes resulting from the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. The article aims to examine the coexistence of forms of communication, supporting dialogue between residents and local officials in the participatory budgeting process. According to the adopted hypothesis, the two forms of communication used within participatory budgeting—the traditional ones and information and communication technologies (ICTs)—are not separated but are integrated into governance process and reinforce each other. The literature, legal provisions, the website on participatory budgeting, media information, social media, and evaluation reports based on qualitative and quantitative methods were analyzed. The results show that the introduction of participatory budgeting resulted in a new type of dialogue and relationship between residents and local officials, based on the traditional tools of communication and ICTs. ICTs cannot replace the traditional forms of communication but their potential should be used to a greater extent. As both forms of communication, direct and indirect (technologically supported), coexist and have their own advantages and limitations, especially under normal, non-epidemic conditions, the two should facilitate and reinforce each other.
  PubDate: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Comprehensibility and Automation: Plain Language in the Era of
Digitalization
- Abstract: The current article briefly presents a pilot machine-learning experiment on the classification of official texts addressed to lay readers with the use of support vector machine as a baseline and fastText models.For this purpose, a hand-crafted corpus was used, created by the experts of the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary under the office’s Public Accessibility Programme. The corpus contained sentences that were paraphrased or completely rewritten by the experts to make them more readable for lay people, as well their original counter pairs. The aim was to automatically distinguish between these two classes by using supervised machine-learning algorithms.If successful, such a machine-learning-based model could be used to draw the attention of experts involved in making the texts of official bodies more comprehensible to the average reader to the potentially problematic points of a text. Therefore, the process of rephrasing such texts could be sped up drastically.Such a rephrasing (considering, above all, the needs of the average reader) can improve the overall comprehensibility of official (mostly legal) texts, and therefore supports access to justice, the transparency of governmental organizations and, most importantly, improves the rule of law in a given country.
  PubDate: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Developing a Regulatory Framework for Autonomous Vehicles: A Proximal
Analysis of European Approach and Its Application to ASEAN Countries
- Abstract: Autonomous vehicles (AV), a new innovative product of the automobile industry designed on the basis of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, thereby capable of operating without direct human control, are believed to be the future of transportation. Hence, as with most great technology, the development of AVs would eventually be limited if regulatory changes are not implemented on time. ASEAN, one of the world’s leading emerging automobile markets, has accepted the arrival of AVs and allowed the automobile producers to introduce autonomous and semi-autonomous cars for the customers. However, most ASEAN countries, with the exception of Singapore, have yet to enact regulations governing AVs. They are facing a number of challenges in determining the legal status of AVs, thereby creating certain restrictions for establishing the platform for production, sales and uses of this AI-driven product. This article will analyse the legal framework on AVs of four ASEAN countries—Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It then attempts to assess the regulatory approaches toward the development of a legal framework for AVs in Germany, France, and the Netherlands, to suggest some effective solutions for ASEAN.
  PubDate: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Plagiarism as a Legal Phenomenon and Algorithm-Based Decision Making
- Abstract: Plagiarism is a question of academic dishonesty and of ethics, but it also has a legal nature. At the same time, it is closely related to technology, since algorithm-based software is generally used when proceeding a plagiarism case. The article, as an empirical legal research and qualitative case study, discusses the legal nature of plagiarism, and how such legal aspects should be considered in practice and, specifically, in the context of algorithm-based legal decision making. It is also an institutional review, presenting an analysis of the regulations in one university, and concludes with suggestions how the university should deal with plagiarism, especially considering its legal nature and development of technology.
  PubDate: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Environmental Crimes and Bentonite Mining and Processing Companies in
Slovak Republic
- Abstract: At the time when great emphasis is being placed on environmental protection as well as on the introduction of environmental safeguards, we are faced with an undesirable phenomenon—environmental crime. Environmental crime represents one of the fastest growing security issues. It is a criminal activity, and like other crimes, it has serious consequences that are costly to eliminate. This article uses systematic analysis and, through scientific methods, points out the growth of environmental crime in Slovakia. At the same time, it introduces possible prevention tools. Our aim is to specify the term ‘environmental crime’, present the legal aspects of environmental crimes by focusing on Slovak legal regulation, extend the topic to bentonite mining and processing companies, map environmental crime in the EU Member States, and clarify the nature of environmental crime as well as the legal basis for the protection of the environment in Slovakia. The findings and conclusions have the potential to introduce a new approach to mapping the topic of environmental crimes, provide recommendations for the prevention of this type of crime, and open a discussion on the actual global problem. It is evident that the effective fight with environmental crime requires a complex and multidisciplinary approach at all levels. This includes, in particular, the use of relevant national policies and instruments, as well as those of the European Union and other international organizations.
  PubDate: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Customary International Humanitarian Law and Article 36 of Additional
Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions: A Stopgap Regulator of Autonomous
Weapons Systems'
- Abstract: Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS) are already in use around the world by various militaries. However, the law governing such systems in the scope of international humanitarian law (IHL) currently lacks specific binding international treaties. Nevertheless, the existing framework is not silent on the topic of new weapons. Article 36 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions provides an obligation for states to review new weapons. Consequently, as AWS are being adopted, acquired, and developed, the wide reach of 174 state parties of Article 36, therefore prima facie, represents a reasonable chance of providing some AWS regulation in the meantime. Nevertheless, Article 36 is generic to all new weapons and therefore unable to address concerns specific to AWS. Therefore, considering the vast difference of AWS to weapons which rely on a human operator, it is not unreasonable to state that there is a need for additional regulation. Hence, various non-binding guidelines and recommendations, such as the ‘11 Guiding Principles’ agreed upon by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Group of Government Experts and the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Position on Autonomous Weapons Systems, could conceivably be considered to fill this void at least partly, albeit in a non-binding manner. When considered together with Article 36, these non-binding legal instruments could add predictability and consistency to the state parties’ reviews. Consequently, this paper will examine whether Article 36, in combination with the various non-binding instruments and national positions of state parties to Additional Protocol I, is viable as a binding stopgap measure to regulate AWS. As a result, the structure of the article is trifold. The first part focuses on Article 36, the second on the non-binding guiding instruments, and finally, when both are considered together, whether Article 36 could fulfil such a stopgap role.
  PubDate: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Remedies to the Irreversibility of Smart Contracts in Colombian Private
Law
- Abstract: The application of blockchain technology to contractual activity has led to a decrease in transaction costs, but also an enormous potential cost of judicial solutions that order reversal of the effects of smart contracts. This research addresses solutions, both from the perspective of updating the unforeseen theory and from clauses that are introduced to the legal smart contracts to allow reducing the costs associated with judicial decisions that declare an anomaly in the contracts.
  PubDate: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT
The Impact of Fintech on Financial Institutions: The Case of Georgia
- Abstract: Using Georgia as an example, this article analyses the fintech ecosystem and the impact of fintech companies on traditional financial institutions. Both qualitative and qualitative research has been carried out for this research. Based on the analysis of Georgian and international financial markets, as well as the qualitative and regressive analysis used in the study, assumptions were made about the impact of fintech companies on traditional financial institutions. Moreover, the study identifies the challenges that hinder the development of the fintech ecosystem in Georgia regarding infrastructure, finance, regulation, and education. This article also reveals several aspects that positively affect the outcome of fintech and the diversification of the Georgian financial market. At the end of the article, the relevant conclusions and applicable recommendations are given.
  PubDate: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT