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Due to population ageing, the European Union (EU) has adopted active ageing as a guiding principle in labour and retirement policies. Among the strategies for active ageing, age-friendly workplaces play a crucial role. This study compares age-friendly human resource (HR) practices in the Baltic and Nordic countries. The latter are pioneers in active ageing, and as the employment rate of older employees in the Baltics is like that in the Nordic countries, we may assume equally age-friendly workplaces in both regions.

We used the latest CRANET survey data (2021–2022) from 1,452 large firms in seven countries and constructed the fuzzy logic model on age-friendliness at the workplace.

Despite a high employment rate of older individuals in the Baltics, HR practices in these countries fall short of being age-friendly compared to their Nordic counterparts. Larger firms in the Nordic countries excel in every studied aspect, but deficiencies in the Baltics are primarily attributed to the absence of employer-provided health and pension schemes. The usage of early retirement is more frequent in the Nordic countries; however, its conceptualisation as an age-friendly HR practice deserves closer examination. Our findings suggest that the success of active ageing in employment has translated into age-friendly HR practices in larger organisations in the Nordics, but not in the Baltics. It is likely that high employment of older individuals in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is a result of the relative income poverty rate.

Our model represents one of the few attempts to utilise fuzzy logic methodology for studying human resource practices and their quantitative evaluation, especially concerning age-friendly workplaces.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the presence of psychological barriers both in the main stock market indices of the Baltic states and the most actively traded individual stocks. A psychological barrier refers to a specific price point, often at round numbers (i.e. powers of 10), that investors believe is challenging to breach, influencing their behavior and trading decisions.

We conduct uniformity tests and barrier tests, such as barrier proximity tests and barrier hump tests, to evaluate the presence of psychological barriers. Additionally, we explore variations in means and variances near these potential barriers using regression and GARCH analysis.

The findings reveal that psychological barriers do exist in the Baltic stock markets, particularly within market indices. The Estonian market index stands out with the most pronounced indications of psychological barriers. Individual stocks also display significant changes in means and variances related to potential barriers, albeit with less uniformity.

Collectively, our findings challenge the traditional assumption of random returns within the Baltic stock markets. For practitioners, the finding that psychological barriers exist opens up opportunities for investment strategies that can capitalize on them.

This study is the first to comprehensively investigate psychological barriers in the Baltic stock markets. Our results provide a valuable contribution to understanding the impact of that phenomenon on pricing dynamics, which is particularly pertinent in less-researched frontier markets like the Baltic states.

In the fashion of Martin (2012), we develop an innovative application to a standard, well-grounded methodology to investigate resilience in two critical dimensions: recovery and resistance. Our novel approach allows us to investigate the resilience performance to the 2008 financial crisis within countries of this macro-region according to their shock isolation and absorptive capacities.

By individually estimating six open economy DSGE models within the Central Europe and Baltic macro-region, we identify the business-cycle-volatility drivers for each country. Then, we use the outcome of our six estimates to conduct a principal component analysis to determine structural common characteristics required to explain economic resilience in the CEB macro-region.

In terms of resilience, Central European economies exhibit quite similar paths in terms of recovery, meaning they have similar economic structures. By contrast, Baltic countries behave differently, being outliers in opposite extreme positions. The contrary occurs for resistance: Baltic countries share a similar ranking, whereas Central European economies exhibit substantial differences.

It is important to acknowledge that a limitation of the analysis is that we explicitly consider each country as a stand-alone open economy which are subject to stochastic disturbances. Precisely, we do not model trade or other interactions across countries within the CEB region and with the rest of the world. Consequently, spillover effects in the aftermath of the shock are not accounted for.

We estimate the relative vulnerability or sensitivity of economies within the macro-region to disturbances and disruptions (resistance) and the speed and extent of recovery from such a disruption or recession (recovery). First, we built two different kinds of measures of resilience by aggregating the estimated parameters through non-centered and centered principal component analysis. Then, we use our model to investigate the relation between financial shock and the economic resilience across the region. The approach can be applied to several case studies, parsimoniously.

Prior research has extensively explored the dynamics of knowledge creation and transfer within entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). However, the research on knowledge integration within EEs, particularly by entrepreneurs, remains scant. Garnering and effectively using knowledge in such a dynamic and complex environment can provide entrepreneurs with a valuable asset for gaining a competitive advantage. To address this gap, this study aims to explore how entrepreneurs garner and capitalise on knowledge within the EE environment by using a transactive memory system lens.

This study is based on 26 semi-structured interviews with different actors and members of the same ecosystem – the northern Finnish health tech ecosystem. The data were analysed using the Gioia methodology.

This study results found that transactive memory processes (i.e. knowledge specialisation, credibility and coordination) and structures (i.e. differentiated-, shared- and meta-knowledge) influence knowledge organising in EEs.

This study provides a conceptual interplay between the EE and the transactive memory system’s processes and structures.

The study aims to assess military procurement strategy in NATO countries labelled as emerging markets (Czechia, Slovakia and Lithuania) and capitalist Norway, which vary in national culture as indicated by the Hofstede Culture Compass.

This comparative case study analyses the procurement of a simple, mass-produced, off-the-shelf military product (FN Herstal MINIMI gun) in four small but very economically free countries from 2008 to 2023. The study answers the research question of how the unit price of MINIMI guns varies across post-communist and historical NATO countries distinguished by the variables operationalising national culture.

The general disability of the government to control corruption deviates the strategy of military procurement in post-communist defence institutions from an effective strategy of liberal capitalism, minimising the unit price and risks (Norway), to an odd strategy maximising the unit price and risks by preferring middlemen as agent of hidden agenda (Czechia).

Some defence institutions in post-communist countries may be burdened by legislature capture, and detailed research is needed to determine this.

The authors argue that national culture may contribute to significant goal displacement in the procurement strategy adopted by the government in an economically liberal state.

Without perfecting the control of corruption in post-communist defence institutions, the NATO burden-sharing debate on 2% of GDP will remain controversial.

With variables characterising national culture and the government’s ability to control corruption, the study elucidates a slow pace of convergence of post-communist countries to NATÓs values and procedures.

Calculating an organization's carbon footprint is crucial for assessing and implementing emission reductions. Although Finnish higher education institutions (HEIs) aim for carbon neutrality by 2030, limited research exists on plans to reach a similar target in any country. This paper aims to address the shared and individual challenges Finnish HEIs have with carbon footprint calculations, reductions, resources and offsetting.

A survey was targeted to sustainability experts in all 38 HEIs in Finland to identify key patterns and trends in the focus fields of the study. SWOT analysis was used to classify main strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats, based on which a series of policy recommendations was drafted.

Finnish HEIs are committed to carbon footprint tracking (97%, annually by 87%). The lack of standardization and the number of external stakeholders complicate accounting indirect emissions, impeding comparability and reliability. Only 39% had set separate emission reduction targets, suggesting a preference for carbon footprint over other environmental impact indicators. Insufficient monetary and human resources emerged in 23% of institutions, especially those smaller in size. Only 52% had clear offsetting plans, with shared concerns over trust and responsibility.

By including both research universities and universities of applied sciences, the findings provide an unprecedented outlook into the entire Finnish HEI sector. The policy recommendations guide HEIs both locally and globally on how to improve their transparency and scientific integrity, reflect on core successes and weaknesses and how they complete their objectives of education, research and social impact while promoting stronger sustainability.

Based on the job demands-resources theory, the objective of the current research is to investigate the influence of contextual (i.e. change information), as well as, personal (i.e. meaning-making) change resources on the perceived change uncertainty (PCU) and employee burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion, cynicism, professional efficacy) relationship.

The paper examines (1) whether PCU is related to burnout, (2) the extent to which change information and meaning-making are directly associated with burnout and (3) whether change information and meaning-making moderate the relationship between PCU and employee burnout. The research data were collected (in three sequential phases) from 293 employees of a group of Luxury Hotels and Resorts located in Southern Greece that has undergone a major cultural change.

The research findings suggest that change information is related to exhaustion and cynicism, as well as, that meaning-making is directly related to all of the burnout components. Change information buffered the negative relationship between PCU and exhaustion and between PCU and cynicism. Meaning-making moderated the negative relationship between PCU and exhaustion.

The results support that leaders and managers will benefit significantly if they realize how important is to ensure that these change resources (i.e. change information and meaning-making) are in place during organizational changes and constantly evaluate the factors that can increase their employees’ well-being.

The originality of this study lies in the finding that change information moderated the negative relationship between PCU and exhaustion, as well as, PCU and cynicism; and that meaning-making moderated the negative relationship between PCU and exhaustion. Further, the study refers to the Greek tourism industry (9th in the word in terms of international tourist arrivals) which plays a pivotal role to the Greek economy. Finally, the research findings contribute to the uncertainty reduction theory, as well as, other related notions.