Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and extent of corruption in the telecommunications sector in Azerbaijan and the associated issues of governance.

A case study examining a wide range of sources on Azerbaijan.

Unusually, perhaps uniquely, ownership of major operators has been concealed. Nonetheless, the presidential family controls one of three mobile operators and has a stake in a second.

A law from 2012 conceals the beneficial ownership of some operators, others merely use offshore registries.

One of only half a dozen case studies on corruption in telecommunications. It is very unusual in the extent to which ownership of operators is hidden.

This chapter examines the impoverishment process in three South Caucasian states: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It uses the concept of ‘order of curtailment’ of consumption expenditures to detect the order of curtailment of expenditures in the Caucasus region. It then suggests computing poverty rates on the basis of a threshold corresponding to the curtailment of a certain number of consumption expenditures categories and compares the poverty rates obtained with those derived from more traditional approaches to the unidimensional measurement of poverty. The empirical illustrations are based on the Caucasus Barometer surveys of 2009 and 2013.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of females' likelihood to work in a Muslim society, Azerbaijan.

To obtain more precise results, the authors analyze the relationships of interest in three different contexts: single (unmarried) females (n = 407, M = 0.779, Std. = 0.416), married female (n = 398, M = 0.706, SD = 0.456) and married male (n = 381, M = 0.378, Std. = 0.485). Linear probabilistic models and logistic regression techniques are employed to estimate regression parameters.

The results altogether display a strong positive impact of the educational attainment of both females and married males. Between the income of married males' and females' employment likelihood, nonlinear – inverse U-shaped association is found. The findings indicate that conservatism towards females' employment is not religiously opinionated, mostly due to insufficient educational attainment.

Based on the research findings, inspiring individuals are recommended to attain degree level qualifications. Simultaneously, the government should engage in mass media to increase awareness of the public about the non-monetary benefits of female employment.

The research results are highly useful for policy practices and fill the huge gap in the studies and research made on the Azerbaijan labor market.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2019-0557.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the customer attitude on Halal food products and determine major factors that affect the attitudes towards Halal food products in Azerbaijan. Within the framework of this research, theory of planned behavior was applied and influence of subjective norms, religiosity level, availability of Halal certification and health considerations on attitude toward Halal food products was measured.

Random sampling technique was used during these studies. Within the framework of current research, the local Muslim population was surveyed. The sample size for current research was 636, and specified models were estimated using Eview by applying a robust least squares method.

The impact of subjective norms, religiosity level and availability of Halal certification and health considerations upon consumer’s attitude is economically and statistically significant. Empirical findings show that the strength of the association between religiosity level and attitude toward Halal food products is dependent on the level of religiosity and some other factors such as age category, gender status and existence of halal certification.

As a predominantly Muslim country, exploring attitudes toward Halal food products in Azerbaijan can serve as a valuable source of information while developing Halal branding strategy in this market, i.e. insights gaining from this research will guide marketers while tailoring their marketing strategy for efficiently targeting this market.

This is the first empirical research in Azerbaijani market devoted to understanding factors that influence Halal food purchase attitude.

The purpose of this paper is to explore relatively neglected side of corruption – citizen-initiated bribe offers – to identify the degree to which citizens on the grassroots level are ready to support top-down government anti-corruption policies.

Drawing on Avessalom Podvodny’s framework of modalities, this research analyzes the results of the nationally representative survey of 1,002 respondents, and ten in-depth interviews – both held in Azerbaijan. The author uses both logistic regression and qualitative description to highlight research inferences.

Modalities provide a new way of making sense of the factors affecting corruption, and informality. Bribe offers are associated with imbalance within Local-Global, Symbol-Content, Active-Passive pairs of modalities. All of the relevant independent variables (except for one), drawn from relevant theories and organized around modalities, are statistically significant in predicting bribe offers.

The paper is able to pose and answer fundamental policy questions: why villagers in Azerbaijan prefer to invest in building mosques and cemeteries rather than schools and kindergartens? Why insurance is not perceived as a sphere of business by the Azerbaijani population? On a practical level, the paper shows that governments’ selective focus on bureaucratic graft neglects formidable argument that the problem of corruption is tightly woven into political culture of a post-Soviet society. Simple administrative measures cannot overcome fundamental value orientations within a society.

The paper adds to corruption researchers’ toolkit, by expanding research to factors affecting citizen voluntary choices to bribe. The research shows what specific variables should be considered and which of them are statistically significant in explaining citizen choices.

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively study the library and information services provided by three academic libraries – Baku State University Scientific Library, ADA University Library and Information Services and Khazar University Library and Information Center – located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Various types of library services are examined in terms of funding, acquisition and technical equipment support issues. Also, different subordination conditions (public/private) of the universities help to better understand the current position of academic libraries in different entities.

Most part of the conveyed information was obtained through review of related literature, libraries’ annual reports and personal communication with the directors of the academic libraries, to look for similarities and differences in provided library and information services. The results of the study are comparatively described through multiple tables and charts.

For improving services it is necessary to develop paid forms of library and information services, maintain various training possibilities for library staff in modern librarianship areas, increase the variety and number of public and outreach activities.

As the findings of the paper suggest new forms of library services and activities, it is necessary to continue the topic in further studies to develop practical methods and applications for local library conditions.

The paper can be accepted as the first comparative study of the library information services in academic libraries of Azerbaijan, which gives general overview and analysis of separate service ranges and types. The researchers interested in Azerbaijani librarianship may find it practical.