Radmila Bjekić, Maja Strugar Jelača, Slobodan Marić and Marko Aleksić
Trust is an essential feature of leadership that can often go unrecognized until it weakens. The study aims to investigate the relationship between trust in leadership and leadership outcomes, as well as the mediating role of psychological empowerment in this relationship. The sample consists of 351 employees from organizations operating in Serbia. The hypotheses are tested using the PLS-SEM and the results show that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between trust in the leader and leadership outcomes, and that the psychological empowerment of employees also has a significant mediating role in this relationship. Motivated by the insufficiently explored concepts of trust and psychological empowerment in the sphere of leadership within the business environment of developing countries, including Serbia, the authors contribute to the field by examining the mediating role of psychological empowerment, while also advancing the understanding of trust and highlighting their importance in achieving positive leadership outcomes.
Jadranka Đurović Todorović1, Marina Đorđević1, Milica Ristić Cakić1 and Branimir Kalaš2
This study examines the gap between statutory and effective corporate income tax rates, with tax incentives identified as a key factor in this divergence. The objective is to quantify the gap and analyze the relationship between statutory and effective rates in the OECD countries in the period from 2000 to 2022. The methodological framework is based on the Devereux–Griffith model and employs descriptive statistics, t-tests, and correlation analysis. The empirical results demonstrate that tax incentives significantly shape the effective tax rate, thereby contributing to its deviation from the statutory rate. The analysis confirms a positive correlation between the two rates and identifies statistically significant differences in certain years. The findings contribute to the literature on tax policy and provide practical guidelines for policymakers aimed at reducing the gap between rates and improving the transparency of tax incentives.
Nikolaos Kalantzopoulos, Athanasios Mandilas, Stavros Valsamidis and Dimitrios Kourtidis
This study investigates the key factors influencing the evolution of non-performing loans (NPLs) in Greece, during and after the financial crisis, which severely affected the Greek banking sector. Greece documented the highest NPL ratio among the European countries, reflecting the economic effects of the crisis. Using data pertaining to the period from 2004 to 2018, regression analysis was applied to assess the influence of the macroeconomic and banking variables. The data were mainly derived from the Bank of Greece and the Hellenic Statistical Authority. The findings highlight a strong correlation between NPLs and the macroeconomic factors which significantly affected the Greek banking system. Addressing NPLs is a challenge, and effective resolution requires reversing the impact of the crisis and restoring growth in order to support the recovery of the banking sector. While focused on Greece, a broader Eurozone data analysis is suggested due to the fact that the EU economies are interlinked. While several studies have examined the determinants of non-performing loans in Greece so far, this study contributes to the topic by applying an extensive regression model and incorporating a broad range of variables.
Velimir Lukić and Svetlana Popović
Since the financial system in Serbia is characterized by a high level of euroization, there are two distinct deposit interest rate pass-through processes at work: the domestic interest rate pass-through and the imported (cross-border) interest rate pass-through. The findings for the domestic interest rate pass-through imply that the long-term pass-through varies within a range below unity, so the pass-through from the interbank (money) market rate to deposit rates is incomplete; the evidence on the short-term pass-through is weak, and the speed of adjustment to the long-term equilibrium is relatively high. The imported interest rate pass-through shows the stronger evidence of cointegrating relationships across interest rates in comparison to the domestic interest rate pass-through, and very closely mimics the interest rate pass-through in the euro area in all relevant criteria. In effect, the findings show that the monetary policy in the euro area is integrated well with the domestic monetary policy in Serbia in terms of the cost adjustment of the deposit portion of banks’ liabilities. Overall, the findings show that the monetary policy in the euro area is integrated well with the domestic monetary policy in Serbia in terms of the cost adjustment of the deposit side of banks’ balance sheets stemming from the monetary policy decisions.
Olha Mulska, Iryna Leshchukh, Mariana Bil and Ihor Baranyak
This paper aims to assess the socio-economic resilience of Ukraine’s regions in the face of shocks, including the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, territorial annexation, the 2014 socio-political crisis, and the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic. The comprehensive methodological approach applied in this paper combines the construction of temporal and spatial composite indicators of the labor market, and social, demographic, and economic development, with the identification of shock-related losses, the recovery capacity, and the dynamics of vulnerability and recovery. The framework distinguishes between immediate losses and the long-term adaptive capacity. The empirical results show that the two major shocks (the 2014 crisis and the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic) caused significant regional losses, with the deepest labor market decline in Donetska Oblast and Luhanska Oblast and higher resilience in the western and central regions. Vulnerability lasted for two to three years, while recovery exceeded four years. Overall, resilience depends not only on overcoming immediate shocks but also on strengthening demographic stability, the institutional capacity, and adaptive mechanisms to ensure sustainable postwar recovery.
Saša Obradović
The Western Balkan countries have invested considerable resources in order to achieve peace, establish political stability and sustain economic growth. This study aims to empirically assess the impact of military expenditure on economic growth in a panel of five Western Balkan countries from 2001 to 2022. The research uses a panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL-PMG) model to estimate the short-run and long-run relationships between the variables of interest. In addition, the fully modified least squares method is applied to ensure the reliability of the findings. A positive relationship was identified between military spending, and economic growth. The results strongly indicate that military expenditure is beneficial for economic growth. The empirical findings of the study provide support for the view that policymakers should increase investment in the military defense sector so as to contribute to economic growth.
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.
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.
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.
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.