Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN ECONOMICS, BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT – EBM 2026

Jelena Erić Nielsen

The International Scientific Conference Contemporary Issues in Economics, Business and Management – EBM 2026 will be held on 16th and 17th December, 2026, at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Kragujevac. Since 2010, the Conference has been held biannually, and this year marks its ninth edition, bringing together researchers from the region and European higher education institutions to analyze and exchange insights on current issues and challenges in the fields of economics, business and management.

Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

QUALITY DIMENSIONS IN SLOW TOURISM: TRENDS AND PERSPECTIVES FROM A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Vedran Zubović and Ema Petaković Ikica

Tourism faces challenges from today’s fast-paced lifestyles, in response to which slow tourism is gaining traction, promoting fewer but richer, more sustainable travel experiences focused on quality over quantity. This study reviews 47 research articles from the Web of Science and Scopus to analyze slow tourism’s impact on the sustainability and perceptions of tourism and service quality. It identifies six key quality dimensions: spatial quality, product and service quality, the local quality of life, travel experience quality, perceived service quality, and transport quality. The originality of the study stems from the synthesis of the findings from various sources which enrich the insight into the dynamics and consequences of soft tourism for both travelers and destinations.

Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

MEDIATION MECHANISM OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT: UNRAVELING PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE’S IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES’ INTENTION TO LEAVE

Ivana Jolović1, Stefan Zdravković2 and Nevena Jolović3

Starting from the adage that “individuals’ perceptions shape their reality,” research in organizational behavior underscores the importance of recognizing employees’ subjective experiences of the workplace circumstances. The employees’ perception of procedural, distributive, and interactional justice forms a strong predictor of the workforce “steadiness” – organizational justice. The paper aims to investigate the impact of this phenomenon on employees’ intention to leave the organization, while concurrently exploring the mediating role of organizational commitment in the mentioned relation. A comprehensive review of the relevant literature, coupled with thematic and desk analysis techniques, laid the foundation for the research. The study’s empirical component included 99 individuals (Millennials) employed in the Serbian economy at the outset of 2023. Their views were noted via an electronic, online questionnaire. The data were processed using advanced statistical tools, namely the SmartPLS 4.0 and SPSS 26.0. The findings validated the main research premise proposing that organizational commitment mediates the relationship between perceived organizational justice and millennial employees’ intention to leave the organization.

Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

IDENTIFICATION, MEASUREMENT AND RECORDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS: THE CASE OF COMPANIES IN SERBIA

Dejan Jovanović1, Milan Čupić1, Ivana Medved2 and Jelena Poljašević3

Starting from the importance of proper identification, allocation, and management of costs, as well as the fact that, in addition to the economic dimension, the ecological aspect is also crucial for company operations – and considering the low level of the integration of environmental aspects into accounting practices – this paper aims to examine the extent to which companies are familiar with environmental cost-accounting methods and whether practices differ depending on the implementation of the ISO 14001 standard. The research was conducted on a sample of companies obliged to report data to the National Register of Pollution Sources. The data analysis was carried out using quantitative statistical methods, primarily descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests. The results indicate that companies pursue a reactive environmental policy, recognizing costs only after they occur, while preventive measures are neglected. Environmental costs are often hidden within general costs due to reliance on traditional accounting methods. It is concluded that the main issues are an inadequate regulatory framework and a lack of motivation. The research highlights the need for systemic changes, greater company motivation, and the improvement of the regulatory framework.

Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYER BRAND AND INTENTIONS TO STAY IN ORGANIZATIONS

Nemanja Berber, Agneš Slavić and Dimitrije Gašić

In the modern highly competitive business environment, companies characterized by labor shortage are struggling to attract, motivate, and retain talents. As a mix of functional, economic, and psychological benefits that stem from employment, employer brand is one of the approaches that companies develop to create employee value proposition and maintain their workforce. Many employees decide to stay in or leave a company based on the whole human resource management system that a company offers. This paper mainly aims to investigate the relationship between the perceived employer brand and employees’ intention to stay in an organization. The research is based on a sample of 209 employees working in Serbia. The research methodology consists of the theoretical and empirical quantitative research in the proposed relationship. The analytical procedure used is PLS-SEM. The results show a positive relationship between the observed variables and points to the conclusion that a positive perception of employer brand leads to employees’ higher intention to stay in an organization. The strongest effect on intention to stay was made by a healthy working atmosphere, followed by training and development, work-life balance, ethics and corporate social responsibility, and finally, compensation and benefits.

Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

LOGISTICS AS A DRIVER OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE: AN INDUSTRY-LEVEL ANALYSIS

Filip Ž. Bugarčić1 and Viktorija Skvarciany2

The growth of global trade in the last few decades and a more active involvement of countries in trade flows and supply chains have highlighted logistics as one of the most important trade facilitation factors. However, the question is who benefits the most from logistics. The paper aims to examine the contribution logistics make to the promotion of exports and imports in the selected industries in the OECD countries, the evaluation and comparison of the importance of logistics performance depending on the specific sector and product characteristics. Panel regression modelling was employed to evaluate the impact of logistics on international trade. The findings reveal its importance in international trade at the industry level. The results indicate a special contribution of logistics to the stimulation of the trade of industrial products and time-sensitive goods, with a greater contribution to imports. These findings emphasize the special importance of a logistics system and related operations in the identified sectors.

Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Zoran Mastilo1, Adis Puška2 and Anđelka Štilić3

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a key factor in the development of countries. Countries have recognized the potential of using AI to achieve sustainable development. This research explores the potential of the Southeast European (SEE) countries in the field of AI applications. The Government AI Readiness Index, with its nine indicators, is used to assess readiness for AI applications. A comparison of the SEE countries for the application of AI was conducted using Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. The methods used were MEREC (Method based on the Removal Effects of Criteria) and CORASO (COmpromise Ranking from Alternative SOlutions). The results of the MEREC method show that the maturity and adaptability indicators have higher weight values ​​compared to the other ones. The results of the CORASO method show that Greece and Bulgaria have the strongest indicators, with the sensitivity analysis confirming these findings.

Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

EDITORIAL 2026 (1)

Vladimir Mihajlović

Upon completion of the double-blind peer review process, Issue 1 Volume 28 Year 2026 of the scientific journal Economic Horizons contains five original research papers, one review paper and the announcement of the scientific conference.

Volume 28 Number 1, January – April 2026

Volume 27 Number 3, September – December 2025

THE LIST OF AUTHORS AND TITLES 2025