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This paper embarks on revealing the main factors behind the intentions of youth in Lithuania to get involved in bribery.

A questionnaire survey of 432 respondents served as a source of primary data. The structural equation modelling – partial least squares techniques was employed as a main research tool.

It was revealed that youth in Lithuania display a high value congruity with their counterparts in Western Europe and a relatively reluctant to offer bribes. It can be stated that youths’ positive attitude towards some shadow economy activities is a forced response to government failures, rather than an intrinsic motivation created by cultural legacy or psychological issues.

It is one of the first scientific attempt to investigate reasons behind the formation of the positive attitude towards bribery and intentions to get involved in bribery among the youth.

The purpose of this paper is to provide answers regarding the factors that motivate or discourage the quadruple helix (QH) stakeholders and the wider public in citizen science (CS) activities. The research reveals a current overview of the perceptions, attitudes, concerns and motivation with regard to development of CS ecosystem in four countries: Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Spain.

The researchers deploy a mixed methodology, entailing an in-depth literature review and a large-scale quantitative survey (approximately 2,000 citizens) targeting QH stakeholders and general public from the local national ecosystems. The results contain both descriptive statistics and statistical analysis per country. After the comprehensive overview of drivers and barriers regarding the participation in CS activities in general, the focus is narrowed down on the engagement motivation of different QH stakeholders and the differences in enabling/hindering factors at the local ecosystems.

Depending on the country and the pre-existing level of CS maturity, the results provide a complicated network of factors that unlock or block participation in CS activities. These factors include, to name a few, political maturity, civic engagement, technological infrastructures, economic growth, culture of stakeholder collaboration, psychological stimulus and surplus of resources. The implications of the findings necessitate the alignment of the envisioned CS ecosystem with the local dynamics in each country.

The quantitative nature of the survey method, limited sample size and only four countries context are noted as limitations of the study and offer future research potential for longitudinal settings and mixed-methods studies.

The results contribute to the wider literature on CS that focuses on perspectives, possibilities and differences in local contexts with respect to the public engagement by developing CS ecosystem. At the same time, its added value lies in the overall practical proposition, and how the latter can effectively and efficiently attract and retain different stakeholder groups and citizens, under a collaborative approach.

This study examines the relationship between green psychological benefits and green apparel purchase behavior using stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) theory and a serial multiple mediation model.

Data were collected from 250 Lithuanians using a standardized questionnaire. Convergent and discriminant validity analyses were performed to ensure validity and reliability, and variable relationships were assessed using structural equation modeling.

The findings revealed utilitarian environmental benefits and warm glow benefits positively impacted Generation Z's (Gen Z's) attitudes toward green apparel. In contrast, the self-expressive benefits had no effect. In addition, attitude and purchase intention significantly predict green apparel purchase behavior. Attitudes and purchase intentions are crucial as serial mediators between green psychological benefits and green apparel purchase behavior.

These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers in Lithuania and highlight the importance of emphasizing the psychological benefits to encourage the purchase of green apparel. Moreover, policymakers and marketers should design apparel products that appeal to Gen Z, promoting green apparel adoption. By leveraging the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) theory, this research contributes to understanding pro-environmental behavior. It bridges the gap between attitudes, intentions and actual behavior in sustainable fashion research.

The importance of metacognitive awareness in learning, on the one hand, and the necessity of considering demographic variables, on the other hand, have encouraged the researchers to conduct this research. This research aims to initially determine the relationship between the level of metacognitive awareness and demographic variables of students from three Lithuanian universities, such as age, gender and area of study.

The quantitative research strategy was applied in this study using the survey with the students scoring the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). The research involved 296 students from three universities in Lithuania. Data were analysed using statistical analysis methods to compare different groups of subjects according to selected criteria.

It became evident that two demographic variables of age and the field of study had a relationship with knowledge of cognition. Conditional knowledge had a positive relation with the variables of age and the field of study. Procedural knowledge was the second area which had a relation with the area of this study. Therefore, it maybe be concluded that under specific circumstances, declarative and procedural knowledge is at the same level of performance while conditional knowledge revealed the highest relation with metacognitive awareness. Furthermore, no statistically significant difference was found with gender in all metacognitive subcomponents despite the initial assumption.

One of the limitations of this study is that the research did not address the actual application of metacognitive strategies during teaching and learning. The research would benefit from in-depth class observation and triangulation of data from various sources. The teaching model should be tested in a larger population to obtain aggregated results for a vast population.

Results are significant in identifying students' cognitive abilities which can be attributed to various factors such as creativity, which in turn may efficiently foster students' potential. Metacognitive awareness can be developed by explicitly informing students about the importance of metacognition and life-long learning. Lecturers' role-modelling induce students to continuously assess, monitor, plan and reflect on their own learning process as well as to recognize cognition along with metacognitive prompts, questions, checklists, reports and discussion of topics in the learning process.

This study aims to explore the use of gamification elements by micro and small e-tailers to enhance customer loyalty. Additionally, this research seeks to identify the most promising gamification elements that can be utilised for this purpose.

The authors adopt a qualitative approach to examine the impact of gamification on online customer loyalty to micro and small e-tailers. Data were gathered using a combination of two types of expert interviews. Semi-structured interviews were held with micro and small e-tailers while large e-tailers served as the control group. Structured interviews based on multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) models were conducted to determine the most promising gamification elements.

The content analysis reveals that gamification has significant potential for fostering customer loyalty and offering various other benefits. However, small e-tailers often refrain from implementing gamification solutions due to the resource requirements in terms of finances, time, information technology and human capital. By assigning weights as an essential step in MCDA models, the authors determined that badges, medals, quests, avatars and competitions are the most promising gamification options for small e-tailers’ efforts to enhance customer loyalty.

The study makes a unique contribution to the understanding of the usefulness of gamification in augmenting customer loyalty and identifying essential gamification elements for micro and small e-tailers.

The present paper seeks to reveal the factors underlying the intentions of women on maternity leave to engage in informal economy activities.

A representative cross sectional survey of 417 women on maternity leave was selected as a main research approach. A structural equation modelling – partial equation modelling served as a research tool.

The study revealed that the most important determinants of intentions to become involved in informal economy activities during maternity leave are unsatisfactory financial situation, complicated legal regulation and fear of becoming uncompetitive in the labour market.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, it is the first scientific attempt to investigate the informal work/economy during maternal leave.

When the factors affecting health expenditures are examined in the literature, it is seen that one of the most important factors is income. In this context, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between out-of-pocket health expenditures and disposable personal income and revealing the income elasticity of health expenditures.

Therefore, short/long-term coefficients were obtained by analyzing Westerlund (2007) co-integration analysis and pooled mean group (PMG) regression methods for 22 European Union (EU) member states during the period 2003–2017. In addition, a comparison of the long-term coefficients for each country was obtained with augmented mean group (AMG) estimator.

The results of the AMG and PMG tests show that the long-term coefficients between disposable personal income and health expenditures are 0.83 and 0.97, respectively. These results imply that there is a significant relationship between the variables, and that health care should be categorized in the group of normal goods. However, the fact that the long-term coefficient is very close to 1, despite being classified in the category of necessity goods, requires more care to be taken in evaluating whether health services are luxury goods or necessity goods.

The use of second generation econometric tests on both cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity demonstrates the value of the study. On the other hand, obtaining similar results by investigating the relationship between variables using different appropriate econometric models reveals the importance of the methodology used in this study. It reveals important details in terms of the literature regarding the long-term and short-term results obtained in this study.

The present paper aims to reveal how different cultures, as reflected by cultural norms, traditions, and social expectations, influence food waste behaviour in different regions of the world.

A systematic multifaceted literature review was employed as a main research tool.

The focal role of education and awareness campaigns in reducing household food waste and promoting responsible food consumption behaviours is revealed. The importance of guilt, behavioural control, negative attitudes towards leftovers, and social norms are among the most important factors predicting intentions to reduce food waste. Cultural beliefs significantly shape food attitudes and waste. Tailoring sustainable practices to traditions helps to ensure food security. Embracing cultural diversity can lead to the development of effective and sustainable food consumption patterns across different parts of the world.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper fully devoted to revealing how different cultural backgrounds shape food consumption habits and which marketing strategies aiming to nudge positive changes in responsible food consumption are preferred in different cultural contexts.

While extant research has increasingly examined minority entrepreneurs, less attention has been paid to Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs and the role that marketing agility and risk propensity play in their resilience and survival in Nordic countries. This paper aims to highlight the importance of these factors for Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs in the developed Nordic economy of Denmark.

This paper adopts the dynamic capabilities view as a theoretical framework and uses a qualitative research approach with interviews as the main data collection method. The empirical sample comprises 12 entrepreneurs originating from Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, who operate in Denmark.

The findings show that contrary to prior studies that have highlighted a reliance among the migrant entrepreneurial community on ethnic networks as their dominant target market, Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs located in Denmark, in contrast, focused on attracting Danish consumers as their target market audience. Leveraging multiple networks was therefore found to be critical to the survival of these immigrant ventures. Additionally, the entrepreneurs' marketing agility, underpinned by their optimistic approach, growth ambitions and passion for entrepreneurship, was found to play a pivotal role in their survival. Finally, despite the stable institutional environment in Denmark and the ease of doing business (both of which are influential factors in shaping the risk propensity and risk perception of entrepreneurs), the authors found immigrant entrepreneurs' risk propensity to be rather low, which was contrary to the expectations.

The current paper is one of the first studies that explicitly analyzes the roles of marketing agility and risk propensity in the resilience and survival of the ventures of relatively skilled immigrant entrepreneurs from Eastern Europe in a developed Nordic economy (Denmark). The paper's findings also challenge the notion associated with immigrant entrepreneurial ventures being primarily focused on ethnic customers or enclaves. The paper also specifies the peculiarities of marketing agility in immigrant entrepreneurial contexts and solidifies the importance of diverse networks in immigrant business survival and development.

This study aims to integrate the resource-based view (RBV) with other theories that consider external factors necessary to respond successfully to dynamic and uncertain entrepreneurial business conditions.

The paper introduces an multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach, utilizing the axial-distance-based aggregated measurement (ADAM) method with weights determined by the preference selection index (PSI) method, to rank eight European countries based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data. Additionally, the paper extends the existing entrepreneurial ecosystem taxonomy (EET), offering an additional classification.

The performed analysis emphasizes the importance and necessity of involving different dimensions of EE in assessing the countries' entrepreneurship performance, which facilitates creating adequate policy measures.

The crucial limitations are assessments based only on the GEM data from a particular period, possibly leading to a certain bias. Future research should involve data from various resources to increase the results' reliability.

The ranking results and country classification obtained using the ADAM-based approach and two distinct taxonomies served as the basis for formulating tailored policy recommendations, aiming to formulate tailored policy implications for increasing the number of new entrepreneurs and improving innovativeness, sustainability and internationalization of existing entrepreneurs for each group of countries.