Conference Issue 2018

Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business
 
 
Special Conference Issue 2018

9th International Conference "An Enterprise Odyssey: Managing Change to Achieve Quality Development"  

Zagreb, Croatia, May 23-26, 2018

 

Guest Editors: 
Božidar Jaković  
Ivana Načinović Braje
Ivana Pavić
 
 
ABSTRACTS
 
When Consumers are in Doubt, You Better Watch Out! The Moderating Role of consumer Skepticism and Subjective Knowledge in the Context of Organic Food Consumption


Merima Činjarević
Emir Agić
Almir Peštek

Abstract: Despite numerous scholarly attempts, there is a lack of consensus regarding the relevance of various factors influencing consumer’s intention to purchase organic food. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of subjective and personal norms on consumer attitude toward buying organic food. Moreover, this study aims to explore the moderating role of contextual factors - product knowledge and consumer scepticism on the norms- attitude link. Data were collected through an online survey on a sample of 212 organic food buyers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moderated regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized relations between the constructs of interest. Findings indicate the subjective and personal norms are positively and significantly related to consumer attitude toward organic food purchases. Also, our findings revealed that product knowledge strengthens the subjective norms-attitude relationship, while consumer scepticism toward organic food claims weakens the subjective norms-attitude link. This study informs producers, marketers, and policy-makers about the relative importance of norms, scepticism, and knowledge in the context of organic food consumption.
 
Keywords: Subjective norms; Personal norms; Consumer skepticism; Subjective knowledge; Organic food
 
JEL Classification: M31


The Impact of Gender-Specific Human Capital on Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation for Turkey​

Hacer Simay Karaalp-Orhan

Abstract: In this study, how the human capital disaggregated by gender and physical capital affects economic growth in Turkey is examined for the period of 1971–2015. By using an arithmetic average of health and education indicators as a proxy of human capital formation, an attempt was made to examine the relationship between the human capital and economic growth under the scope of gender inequality. In this context, an ARDL-bounds testing approach and the unrestricted error-correction model were used to investigate the co-integration in the long- run and short run. Further, the causality test was also conducted to identify the direction of the causality between the variables. The main finding indicates that male human capital has been the central variable affected by both economic growth and physical capital. On one hand, a significant positive relationship was found between the economic growth and physical capital and male human capital in the long-run, while on the other hand, the female human capital was associated negatively to the economic growth. There is no evidence of causality that links the female human capital to other variables. This result suggests that women are not well utilized in the Turkish economy and the country suffers from untapped potential of women.
 
Keywords: ARDL; economic growth; human capital; gender; Turkey
 
JEL Classification: F43, C22, J24


Do Croatian Companies Recognize Benefits of Integrated Reporting?​

Nikolina Dečman
Ana Rep

Abstract: Timely access to information and business transparency make the foundation for business success. Companies present their financial position and financial performance through the financial statements. As a financial information is not the only relevant factor of business value creation, presentation of non-financial information brings added value to different stakeholders. For the purpose of more transparent business operations and international comparability of the presented data, it is especially important that reports are compiled according to internationally accepted rules. The paper has sought to investigate whether Croatian companies recognize benefits of integrated reporting. The aim of the paper was to identify whether and to what extent largest companies in Croatia present the information regarding their intellectual capital, principle customers, business partners, environmental considerations, future plans, investments, market conditions, and further expectations of business development. Based on the research results, suggestions for improvement of the non-financial reporting in Croatia have been given.
 
Keywords: integrated reporting; sustainability; benefits; stakeholders; Croatian companies
 
JEL Classification: M41
 

Performance Analysis of Fundamentally-Weighted Indices in the Croatian Capital Market

Davor Zoričić
Denis Dolinar
Zrinka Lovretin Golubić

Abstract: The work of Arnott et al. (2005) presented an interesting fact that the fundamentally- weighted indices generally outperform the market capitalisation-weighted counterparts in the US stock market. The research results prompted the introduction of fundamentally-weighted indices in the US market. Since research dealing with Croatian capital market also points out the inefficiency of the risk return trade-off of the cap-weighted (CROBEX) index this paper examines more closely the risk return characteristics of the potential fundamentally-weighted alternative and analyses the source of higher returns in the case of fundamentally-weighted indices. We use the original and propose a modified Fama French three factor model in order to try to capture specific sources of risk in the small and illiquid market. We find evidence in support of the view that better risk return trade-off of the fundamentally-weighted indices is driven by additional exposure to risk factors in comparison to CROBEX index.
 
Keywords: fundamentally-weighted indices; risk-return trade-off; benchmark efficiency
 
JEL Classification: G11, G12
 

The Perception of Administrative Barriers and Their Implications for SMEs’ Performance: Evidence from Slovenia​

Marko Ropret
Aleksander Aristovnik
Dejan Ravšelj

Abstract: The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is widely recognised for the Slovenian economy. However, the issues regarding legislative and other administrative barriers and their perception by SMEs as a heterogeneous group of enterprises are not yet fully investigated. The main research hypothesis concerns that there exist significant differences in the perception of administrative barriers among characteristic SME groups. Consequently, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the key administrative barriers SMEs face in Slovenia. This entails three activities: (1) identifying the main areas in which barriers are found; (2) establishing what they imply performance-wise; and (3) providing policymaker guidelines tailored to different SME groups (size, legal form, sector, age). The empirical results, based on one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post hoc tests on a sample of 925 SMEs, show differences in the various groups of SMEs mentioned above. Thus, it is shown that it is most promising to address the administrative barriers through an in-depth approach that targets specific enterprise groups and is reflected within guidelines for responsible policymakers.
 
Keywords: administrative barriers; SME; Slovenia; public administration; policy
 
JEL Classification: L26, K20, K23