Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives: Proceedings of the 39th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference (Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics, 26) 3031300602, 9783031300608

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Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics 26 Series Editors: Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin · Hakan Danis

Ender Demir Mehmet Hüseyin Bilgin Hakan Danis Fabrizio D'Ascenzo   Editors

Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives Proceedings of the 39th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference

Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics Volume 26 Series Editors Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin, Faculty of Political Sciences, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Türkiye Hakan Danis, U.S. Bank, Oakland, CA, USA

Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics is the official book series of the Eurasia Business and Economics Society (www.ebesweb.org). Each issue of the series includes selected papers from the EBES conferences. The EBES conferences, which are being held three times a year, have been intellectual hub for academic discussion in economics, finance, and business fields and provide network opportunities for participants to make long lasting academic cooperation. Each conference features around 250 research articles presented and attended by almost 500 researchers from more than 60 countries around the World. Theoretical and empirical papers in the series cover diverse areas of business, economics, and finance from many different countries, providing a valuable opportunity to researchers, professionals, and students to catch up with the most recent studies in a diverse set of fields across many countries and regions.

Ender Demir  •  Mehmet Hüseyin Bilgin Hakan Danis  •  Fabrizio D'Ascenzo Editors

Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives Proceedings of the 39th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference

Editors Ender Demir Business Administration Reykjavik University Reykjavík, Iceland Hakan Danis U.S. Bank Oakland, CA, USA

Mehmet Hüseyin Bilgin Faculty of Political Sciences Istanbul Medeniyet University Istanbul, Türkiye Fabrizio D'Ascenzo Department of Management Sapienza Universitá di Roma Rome, Italy

ISSN 2364-5067     ISSN 2364-5075 (electronic) Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics ISBN 978-3-031-30060-8    ISBN 978-3-031-30061-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30061-5 The authors of individual papers are responsible for technical, content, and linguistic correctness. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

This is the 25th issue of the Springer’s series Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics, which is the official book series of the Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES, www.ebesweb.org). This issue includes selected papers presented at the 39th EBES Conference – Rome, which was held on April 6–8, 2022, with the support of the Istanbul Economic Research Association and in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. The conference was held in hybrid format with both in-person and online paper presentation. We are honored to have received top-tier papers from distinguished scholars from all over the world. We regret that we were unable to accept more papers. In the conference, 205 papers will be presented and 436 colleagues from 49 countries will attend the conference. We are pleased to announce that our distinguished colleagues David B. Audretsch from Indiana University (USA), Giovanni Dosi from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Italy), Klaus Zimmermann from GLO (Germany) and EBES, Kevin Lang from Boston University (USA), and Marco Vivarelli from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy) will join the conference as invited editors and/or keynote speakers. In addition to publication opportunities in EBES journals (Eurasian Business Review and Eurasian Economic Review, which are also published by Springer), conference participants were given the opportunity to submit their full papers for this Issue. Theoretical and empirical papers in the series cover diverse areas of business, economics, and finance from many different countries, providing a valuable opportunity to researchers, professionals, and students to catch up with the most recent studies in a diverse set of fields across many countries and regions. The aim of the EBES conferences is to bring together scientists from business, finance, and economics fields, attract original research papers, and provide them with publication opportunities. Each issue of the Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics covers a wide variety of topics from business and economics and provides empirical results from many different countries and regions that are less investigated in the existing literature. All accepted papers for the issue went through a peer review process and benefited from the comments made during the conference as well. The current issue is

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Preface

entitled “Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives” and covers fields such as education, management, accounting, finance, cryptocurrencies, public economics, and regional studies. Although the papers in this issue may provide empirical results for a specific county or region, we believe that the readers would have an opportunity to catch up with the most recent studies in a diverse set of fields across many countries and regions and empirical support for the existing literature. In addition, the findings from these papers could be valid for similar economies or regions. On behalf of the series editors, volume editors, and EBES officers, I would like to thank all the presenters, participants, board members, and keynote speakers, and we are looking forward to seeing you at the upcoming EBES conferences. Best regards Reykjavík, Iceland  Ender Demir

Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES)

EBES is a scholarly association for scholars involved in the practice and study of economics, finance, and business worldwide. EBES was founded in 2008 with the purpose of not only promoting academic research in the field of business and economics but also encouraging the intellectual development of scholars. In spite of the term “Eurasia,” the scope should be understood in its broadest terms as having a global emphasis. EBES aims to bring worldwide researchers and professionals together through organizing conferences and publishing academic journals and increase economics, finance, and business knowledge through academic discussions. Any scholar or professional interested in economics, finance, and business is welcome to attend EBES conferences. Since our first conference in 2009, around 16,198 colleagues from 102 countries have joined our conferences and 8861 academic papers have been presented. EBES has reached 2,869 members from 87 countries. Since 2011, EBES has been publishing two journals. One of those journals, Eurasian Business Review—EABR, is in the fields of industrial organization, innovation, and management science, and the other one, Eurasian Economic Review—EAER, is in the fields of applied macroeconomics and finance. Both journals are published quarterly by Springer and indexed in Scopus. In addition, EAER is indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics), and EABR is indexed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). EABR has an impact factor of 3.574 (2021 JCR impact factor). Furthermore, since 2014 Springer has started to publish a new conference proceedings series (Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics) which includes selected papers from the EBES conferences. The series has been recently indexed by SCOPUS. In addition, the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th (Vol. 1), and 30th EBES Conference Proceedings have already been accepted for inclusion in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index—Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH). Other conference proceedings are in progress.

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Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES)

On behalf of all EBES officers, I sincerely thank you for all your support in the past. We look forward to seeing you at our forthcoming conferences. We very much welcome your comments and suggestions in order to improve our future events. Our success is only possible with your valuable feedback and support! I hope you enjoy the conference! With my very best wishes, Klaus F. Zimmermann President EBES Executive Board  Klaus F.  Zimmermann, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, and Free University Berlin, Germany Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Türkiye Jonathan Batten, RMIT University, Australia Iftekhar Hasan, Fordham University, USA Euston Quah, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore John Rust, Georgetown University, USA Dorothea Schafer, German Institute for Economic Research DIW Berlin, Germany Marco Vivarelli, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy EBES Advisory Board  Ahmet Faruk Aysan, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Michael R. Baye, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, USA Mohamed Hegazy, School of Management, Economics and Communication, The American University in Cairo, Egypt Cheng Hsiao, Department of Economics, University of Southern California, USA Noor Azina Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia Irina Ivashkovskaya, State University—Higher School of Economics, Russia Christos Kollias, Department of Economics, University of Thessaly, Greece Wolfgang Kürsten, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany William D. Lastrapes, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, USA Sungho Lee, University of Seoul, South Korea Justin Y. Lin, Peking University, China Brian Lucey, The University of Dublin, Ireland Rita Martenson, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Steven Ongena, University of Zurich, Switzerland Peter Rangazas, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, USA Peter Szilagyi, EDHEC Business School, France Amine Tarazi, University of Limoges, France Russ Vince, University of Bath, UK Adrian Wilkinson, Griffith University, Australia Naoyuki Yoshino, Faculty of Economics, Keio University, Japan

Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES)

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Organizing Committee  Klaus F. Zimmermann, PhD, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, and Free University Berlin, Germany Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin, PhD, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey Hakan Danis, PhD, U.S. Bank, USA Alina Klonowska, PhD, Cracow University of Economics, Poland Orhun Guldiken, PhD, University of Arkansas, USA Ender Demir, PhD, Reykjavik University, Iceland Sofia Vale, PhD, ISCTE Business School, Portugal Jonathan Tan, PhD, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Ugur Can, EBES, Turkey Tolga Er, EBES, Turkey Reviewers  Sagi Akron, PhD, University of Haifa, Israel Ahmet Faruk Aysan, PhD, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin, PhD, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey Andrzej Cieślik, PhD, University of Warsaw, Poland Hakan Danis, PhD, U.S. Bank, USA Ender Demir, PhD, Reykjavik University, Iceland Emanuele Giovannetti, PhD, Anglia Ruskin University, UK Oguz Ersan, PhD, Kadir Has University, Turkey Conrado Diego García-Gómez, PhD, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain Orhun Guldiken, PhD, University of Arkansas, USA Peter Harris, PhD, New York Institute of Technology, USA Mohamed Hegazy, The American University in Cairo, Egypt Gokhan Karabulut, PhD, Istanbul University, Turkey Alexander M. Karminsky, PhD, National Research University, Russia Christos Kollias, PhD, University of Thessaly, Greece Davor Labaš, PhD, University of Zagreb, Croatia Veljko M. Mijušković, PhD, University of Belgrade, Serbia Ghulam Mustafa, PhD, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Nidžara Osmanagić-Bedenik, PhD, University of Zagreb, Croatia Euston Quah, PhD, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Peter Rangazas, PhD, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, USA Ralph Sonenshine, PhD, American University, USA Doojin Ryu, PhD, Chung-Ang University, South Korea Dorothea Schafer, PhD, German Institute for Economic Research DIW Berlin, Germany Uchenna Tony-Okeke, PhD, Coventry University, UK Sofia Vale, PhD, ISCTE Business School, Portugal Marco Vivarelli, PhD, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy

Contents

Part I Eurasian Business Perspectives: Education The Impact of Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Education Sector: The Experience of Slovakia����������������������������������������   3 Zuzana Stoličná and Jana Barjaková Role of Social Media to Influence the Environmental Knowledge and Awareness Toward Education for Sustainable Development in Malaysia��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  25 Wajiha Moughal, Shahrina B. T. M. Nordin, Rohani B. T. Salleh, and Haider Ali Abbasi Part II Eurasian Business Perspectives: Human Resources Management The Effect of Personal Branding Factors on Generation Y Employability and Career Satisfaction: The Case of Croatia ��������������������������  39 Marina Tomas and Irena Pandža Bajs  Captain on Deck: A New Understanding of Leadership No in Cross-Border Post-­M&A Integrations������������������������������������������������������������  57 Wenjia Chang-Howe and Sylvia Van De Bunt Academic Spin-Offs’ Growth: Exploring the Role of Team Vertical Diversity and Academic Knowledge Corridor����������������������������������������������������  83 Giulia Tagliazucchi, Bernardo Balboni, and Gianluca Marchi Part III Eurasian Business Perspectives: Management Cross-Industrial Analysis of High-Growth Firm Performance During the Pandemic: Middle-Sized Russian Firms’ Evidence������������������������ 101 Dmitri Pletnev and Kseniia Naumova

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Data Management in Enterprises Under the Influence of Digital Transformation������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 121 Yordan Balabanov How to Manage Delays and Disruptions at Intermodal Transportation Hubs in a Better Way?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 135 Janina Scheelhaase, Benedikt Scheier, Erik Grunewald, Saskia Seidel, Thomas Christ, Ulf Noyer, Sven Maertens, Gunnar Knitschky, and Florian Rudolph Part IV Eurasian Business Perspectives: Marketing  Social Media Effect on Fast Fashion Retailing: Romanian Case Study ���������� 149 Andreea Strătilă Irimia, David-Florin Ciocodeică, Magdalena Ciobanu Stoian, Angela Madan, and Mihai Mehedințu  “Does Your Restaurant Deliver?” The Change in Consumer Behavior Due to COVID-­19 Pandemic in Restaurant Delivery Market: Study of Restaurants in Rome, Italy�������������������������������������������������������������������� 163 Tetyana Kholod and Ieva Jākobsone Bellomi The Complexity of International Marketing: Pitfalls of Dolce & Gabbana Marketing Communication Strategy in China���������������� 175 Ieva Jākobsone Bellomi and Tetyana Kholod Part V Eurasian Economic Perspectives: Accounting Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning System and Its Implication on Accountants ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 189 Kenny Wei Jie Quah, Zubir Azhar, and Krishnen Kishan Business Continuity, Business Crisis and Evolution of the Auditors’ Opinion������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 203 Maurizio Rija and Dominga Anna Ippolito Part VI Eurasian Economic Perspectives: Cryptocurrencies  The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Bitcoin Prices�������������������������������� 221 Hansheng Yu and Jianing Zhang Is the Market Success of Dominant Stablecoins Justified by Their Collateral and Concentration Risks? �������������������������������������������������� 235 Konrad Sobański, Wojciech Świder, Katarzyna Włosik, and Blanka Łęt

Contents

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Part VII Eurasian Economic Perspectives: Finance Stock Price Synchronicity and Information Disclosure Quality: Evidence from China �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 255 Zhenghai Chi and Chun Lu  Waqf Fund Management and the Blockchain Horizon�������������������������������������� 271 Hiba Ali Al-Saudi  The Impact of COVID-19 on the Liquidity of Chinese Corporate Bonds�������� 285 Xinyi Cai and Jianing Zhang Determinants of Financial Inclusion: An Evidence from an Emerging Market�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 301 Mohammed Hersi Warsame, Alhashmi Aboubaker Lasyoud, and Yousif Abdelbagi Abdalla Part VIII Eurasian Economic Perspectives: Growth and Development How Do Inequality and George Floyd’s Protests Affect the Vote Shares of Trump? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 323 Yidi Wu and Jianing Zhang Welfare Perceptions of the Youth: A Case Study of University Students in Turkey ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 339 Bilal Bagis and Aynur Yumurtaci Part IX Eurasian Economic Perspectives: Inequality Regional Development of Central European Countries in the Pre-COVID Period���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 359 Ingrid Majerova and Ainur Abdrazakova Healthcare Indicators of the Czech Republic Compared with Selected Countries of the EU ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 377 Karin Gajdova Part X Eurasian Economic Perspectives: Public Economics Public Procurement Between Emergency and Transparency: Where We Are�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 393 Anna Maria Bagnasco

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 The Italian Monetary Unification and the North/South Divide������������������������ 409 Andrea Filocamo Economists Making Art: Contemporary Art and New Narratives in Political Economy���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 423 Raúl de Arriba and María Vidagañ Part XI Eurasian Economic Perspectives: Regional Studies The Economic Impacts of EU Climate Policies on Intra-European Aviation ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 433 Katrin Oesingmann The Role of Household Consumption in a Very Small, Very Open Economy������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 453 Zuzana Stoličná and Lucia Klapáčová International Capital Flows and Monetary Policy in the Emerging Economies �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 469 Agnieszka Wójcik-Czerniawska

Contributors

Haider  Ali  Abbasi  Management and Humanities Department, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia Yousif Abdelbagi Abdalla  Department of Accounting, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE Department of Accounting and Financial Management, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan Ainur  Abdrazakova  Institute of Management, Academy of Public Administration Under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan Hiba Ali Al-Saudi  College of Islamic Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar Zubir Azhar  School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia Bilal Bagis  Economics Department, Sabanci University, Bingol University, Istanbul, Turkey Anna  Maria  Bagnasco  Business, Law, Economics and Consumer Behavior Department, IULM University, Milan, Italy Irena  Pandža  Bajs  Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Yordan  Balabanov  Department of Public Communications, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia, Bulgaria Bernardo Balboni  Department of Economics Marco Biagi, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy Jana  Barjaková  Department of Economics and Finance, Faculty of Management, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia Ieva  Jākobsone  Bellomi  Department of Business Administration, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy

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Contributors

Xinyi Cai  College of Business and Public Management, Wenzhou, China Wenjia Chang-Howe  Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Zhenghai  Chi  Department of Decision Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China Thomas  Christ  Institute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Braunschweig, Germany Magdalena  Ciobanu  Stoian  Marketing Department, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania David-Florin Ciocodeică  Marketing Department, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania Raúl de Arriba  Department of Applied Economics, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain Andrea  Filocamo  Department of Law, Economics and Human Sciences (DIGIES), Mediterranean University, Reggio Calabria, Italy Karin  Gajdova  Department of Economics and Public Administration, Silesian University in Opava, Karvina, Czech Republic Erik  Grunewald  Institute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Braunschweig, Germany Dominga  Anna  Ippolito  Department of Business and Law, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy Tetyana  Kholod  Department of Business Administration, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy Krishnen Kishan  School of Management, Penang, Malaysia Lucia  Klapáčová  Department of Economics and Finance, Faculty of Management, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia Gunnar Knitschky  Institute of Transport Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany Alhashmi  Aboubaker  Lasyoud  Solent Business School, Southampton Solent University, Southampton, UK Blanka  Łęt  Department of Applied Mathematics, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland Chun  Lu  Graduate School of Business Administration, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan Angela  Madan  Marketing Department, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania

Contributors

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Sven Maertens  Institute of Air Transport and Airport Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany Ingrid  Majerova  Department of Economics and Public Administration, Silesian University in Opava, Karvina, Czech Republic Gianluca Marchi  Department of Economics Marco Biagi, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy Mihai Mehedințu  Marketing Department, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania Wajiha  Moughal  Management and Humanities Department, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia Kseniia Naumova  Department of Economics of Industries and Markets, Chelyabinsk State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia Shahrina  B.  T.  M.  Nordin  Management and Humanities Department, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia Ulf  Noyer  Institute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Braunschweig, Germany Katrin  Oesingmann  Institute of Air Transport, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany Dmitri  Pletnev  Department of Economics of Industries and Markets, Chelyabinsk State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia Kenny  Wei  Jie  Quah  School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia Maurizio Rija  Department of Business and Law, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy Florian  Rudolph  Institute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Braunschweig, Germany Rohani B. T. Salleh  Management and Humanities Department, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia Janina  Scheelhaase  Institute of Air Transport and Airport Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany Benedikt  Scheier  Institute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Braunschweig, Germany Saskia  Seidel  Institute of Transport Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany Konrad  Sobański  Department of International Finance, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland

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Contributors

Zuzana  Stoličná  Department of Economics and Finance, Faculty of Management, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia Andreea Strătilă Irimia  Marketing Department, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania Wojciech  Świder  Department of Public Finance, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland Giulia Tagliazucchi  Department of Economics Marco Biagi, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy Marina  Tomas  Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Sylvia  Van  De  Bunt  Servant Leadership Centre for Research and Education, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands María  Vidagañ  Department of Education and Didactics of Specific Subjects, University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain Mohammed Hersi Warsame  Department of Finance and Economics, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE Katarzyna  Włosik  Department of Investment and Financial Markets, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland Agnieszka  Wójcik-Czerniawska  Department of Economics and Finance of Local Government, Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland Yidi  Wu  College of Business and Public Management, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, China Hansheng  Yu  College of Business and Public Management, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, China Aynur Yumurtaci  Faculty of Economics, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey Jianing Zhang  Center for Big Data and Decision-Making Technologies, College of Business and Public Management, Wenzhou, China

Eurasian Business Perspectives: Education

The Impact of Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Education Sector: The Experience of Slovakia Zuzana Stoličná1 (*) and Jana Barjaková1 1 

Department of Economics and Finance, Faculty of Management, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia [email protected]; [email protected] Abstract.  The paper is focused on the analysis of the development of the COVID-­19 pandemic and its effects on the education of students in Slovakia in the context of managing distance education and reopening schools and making other strategic decisions in this field. The starting materials are legally binding documents and strategic documents to combat the COVID-19 pandemic considering specific anti-pandemic measures and recommendations in the school environment and data on the positivity of pupils and school staff from particular national authorities with an impact on the classroom and school closures and the transition to distance education. The aim of the paper is to clarify current legislation and other strategic documents regulating the anti-pandemic management system in schools and through data analysis to determine whether the overall maintenance of full-time education during the pandemic affects its development and whether the school closure positively or negatively affects the pandemic. Within the information processing, several methods of analysis of materials, data, and legislative documents are applied, as well as practical knowledge and experience from the education sector. The main findings of the paper are planning during a pandemic is problematic due to different behaviors of variants, and schools and regional public health authorities can independently decide, within their competence, to close schools, but the effectiveness of these decisions is questionable in terms of the development of COVID-19. The main output of the paper is an evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of anti-pandemic measures in the education sector in the Slovak Republic. Keywords:  Schools · Pandemic · Ministry of Education · Full-time education Distance education

1 Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on many areas of life. One of the most affected sectors is education. On the one hand, it is necessary to minimize social contact to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. On the other hand, following the first © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 E. Demir et al. (eds.), Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives, Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics 26, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30061-5_1

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Z. Stoličná and J. Barjaková

wave of the pandemic and the widespread closure of schools worldwide, and considering the negative effects on children’s education and mental health, the need to keep schools open is emphasized. For this reason, it is necessary to pay attention to the management of the anti-pandemic measures in schools and to the impact of strategic management on the development of the COVID-19 pandemic in the education sector. The paper is focused on the analysis of the development of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the education of students in Slovakia in the context of managing distance education and reopening schools and making other strategic decisions in this field. This paper maps the development of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Slovak Republic in children and pupils of primary and secondary schools and the education of these students during the pandemic in the first half of the school year 2021/2022. The need to ensure full-time education is important not only in terms of students’ access to education but also to ensure the work of their parents and the economy, as in the case of interruption of full-time education, childcare, and supervision in the home environment, is also necessary. The Slovak Republic is a country that has chosen the path of maintaining full-time education as much as possible in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this goal, two main activities were provided—vaccination of children and voluntary home testing with antigenic self-tests. The aim of the paper is to clarify current legislation and other strategic documents regulating the anti-pandemic management system in schools and through data analysis to determine whether the overall maintenance of full-time education during the pandemic affects its development and whether the school closure positively or negatively affects the pandemic. In order to achieve the main goal, the following sub-goals are set: 1. To clarify the basic framework and the legislative framework defining measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic 2. To find out the pandemic development in terms of the positivity of children and students’ PCR tests, the utilization rate of the voluntary antigen home tests and positivity reported by these tests, and the vaccinations of children and students 3. To find out how distance education took place during the first half of the school term 2021/2022 4. Based on those specific data draw conclusions about whether the school closure positively or negatively affects the pandemic The starting materials are legally binding documents and strategic documents to combat the COVID-19 pandemic considering specific anti-pandemic measures and recommendations in the school environment and data on the positivity of pupils and school staff from the National Health Information Center and the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic with an impact on classroom and school closures and the transition to distance learning. Within the information processing, several methods of analysis of materials, data, and legislative documents are applied, as well as practical knowledge and experience from the education sector. This paper is based on the available literature and studies to

The Impact of Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Education Sector…

5

date, which demonstrate the need to sustain full-time education during a pandemic, but focuses on the use of tools to maintain full-time teaching in a country-specific setting. A similar issue was researched in Slovakia by Nebeský and Fabuš (2021). Still this study focused only on the development of a pandemic in a shorter period to the delta variant and its impact on full-time education. It did not take into account other aspects affecting the maintenance of full-time teaching. The perspective on the impacts of COVID-19 that draws upon experience of business schools in Asia, Australia, and the United Kingdom was presented by Brammer and Clark (2020), but was focused on higher education institutions—universities and business schools. Hughes et al. (2022) accent the need for confirmatory testing to avoid the education loss. Amodio et  al. (2022) deal with potential impact of school opening on the upsurge of contagion by combining a weekly panel of geocoded COVID-19 cases in Sicilian census areas with a unique set of school data. The effect of school closure policy on the incidence of COVID-19 in Pakistan was researched (Mueed et al., 2022) by comparing changes in COVID-19 incidence across cities that completely and partially closed schools during the second wave of COVID-19 in Pakistan. Study in Norway was focused on the effects on COVID-19 testing prevalence and the positive test rate of reopening Norwegian schools after a 6-week closure aimed at reducing contagion (Godøy et al., 2022). The contribution of this paper is proof that maintaining the full-time form of study during a pandemic is possible, and if the conditions of full-time teaching are set correctly, it is possible to prevent school-wide closures, and even incorrectly timed lockdowns may not have a positive effect on pandemic situations in schools. This paper as the first in Slovakia comprehensively follows the development of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of COVID-19-positive children identified from the NHIC’s database and performed voluntary antigen self-tests and the rate of vaccinated children in correlation with the setting of the policy of classes and school’s closing and reopening based on the strategic documents of the management of the pandemic in the school environment. The results can be useful in the next wave of the pandemic, as the emergency situation constantly lasts, for the decision-making of the relevant authorities, and initiation of changing the current settings. The main findings of the paper are planning during a pandemic is problematic due to different behaviors of variants, and schools and regional public health authorities can independently decide, within their competence, to close schools, but the effectiveness of these decisions is questionable in terms of the development of COVID-19. The main output of the paper is an evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of anti-­ pandemic measures in the education sector in the Slovak Republic. The first part of the paper presents education management during the pandemic and the need to maintain full-time education. The second part describes in more detail the data and the methodology. The third part of the paper describes the anti-pandemic management documents in the education sector in Slovak Republic. The fourth part presents the results of data processing obtained from the National Health Information Center and the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic about the positivity and vaccination of students with an impact on the classroom and school closures and the transition to distance learning.

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2 Theoretical Background: Education Management During the Pandemic and the Need to Maintain the Full-Time Education The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected many areas and is fundamentally transforming society and often deepening social and economic inequalities. Governments around the world have implemented various measures in an attempt to limit the spread of this virus, including the suspension of face-to-face classes in schools. This measure, according to De Giusti (2020), affected approximately 95% of the world’s student population and is the largest disruption to education in history. The rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world has prompted a wide range of government responses that have been broadly the same worldwide and include school closures, travel restrictions, bans on public gatherings, emergency investments in health facilities, contact tracing, and other interventions to limit the spread of the virus, but also governing the economic consequences of these actions. Governments in individual countries, and often even within countries, differed substantially in the measures they took and how quickly they took them. This variation has opened a debate among policymakers and the public regarding the level of response that should be implemented and reversed and how quickly to do so, as public health professionals learn in real time which actions and measures are more or less effective (Hale et al., 2020). According to Litvinova et al. (2019), it is highly likely that the main reason that led governments to close schools was evidence that its early implementation was highly effective in preventing the spread of influenza and associated clinical, social, and economic problems during both seasonal and pandemic influenza outbreaks. On the other hand, according to another study (Esposito & Principi, 2020), it is not at all certain that the same benefits can be expected in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to these authors, based on model studies, it is even possible that closing schools can have the opposite, negative consequences and lead to greater health, economic, and social problems. This conclusion, that is, that closing schools did not contribute to the control of the epidemic, is also brought by Ferguson et al. (2020) citing data from SARS outbreaks in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Likewise, modeling studies of COVID-19 from the United Kingdom using data from Wuhan, China, predict that school closures would prevent only 2–4% of deaths, far less than other social distancing interventions (Ferguson et al., 2020). On the contrary, according to Wright et al. (2020), quarantine orders are among the most economically costly and robust anti-pandemic measures, but they effectively reduce population movement and slow the spread of COVID-19 by reducing the risks of human-to-human transmission. Moreover, various problems have been identified in the implementation of online education, including (1) availability of facilities; (2) use of the network and the Internet; (3) planning, implementation, and assessment of learning; and (4) cooperation with parents, despite teachers’ understanding of the concept of online education (Fauzi & Khusuma, 2020), but up to 80% of teachers feel dissatisfied with full online education, despite the general conclusion that online education helps teachers during the COVID-­19 pandemic, but is considered ineffective. It was expected that this research will also be an evaluation material for educational policymakers in the implementation of online

The Impact of Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Education Sector…

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education and can help to develop online education research, especially in primary schools. Also working against online instruction are the results of a study by Engzell et al. (2021), who found that there is clear evidence that students learn less during a break from face-to-face instruction than in a typical year. Esposito and Principi (2020) point to other criteria, such as the systematic wearing of masks and all hygiene measures to prevent COVID-19, screening with temperature measurement, or closing classrooms with infected students, which must be implemented after face-to-face teaching resumes. Government measures to prevent social contact have both positive and negative economic impacts, and therefore school closures have important political implications (Ashraf, 2020). On the other hand, Viner et al. (2020) draw attention to the negative economic effects of school closures on the economy compared to the positive benefits of school closures from a pandemic perspective, and costs have been estimated to be as high as 0.2–1% of UK’s national gross domestic product (GDP) per annum for school closure for 12–13 weeks or up to 3% of GDP for an 8-week closure in US studies (Viner et al., 2020). At the same time, however, in terms of mitigating the economic consequences, government public awareness programs, testing and quarantine policies, and income loss compensation largely lead to positive market returns (Zaremba et  al., 2020), and these conclusions should also be considered when creating anti-pandemic policy in the education sector.

3 The Data and Methodology As for the theoretical part of the paper, there are legally binding documents and strategic documents used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic considering specific anti-­ pandemic measures and recommendations for the school environment. In addition, it was necessary to consider generally binding legal regulations, government resolutions, and departmental internal regulations. The starting point for the literature review was current materials, articles, papers, and surveys about distance education and the reopening of schools worldwide and research work on the issue from Slovakia. The data on the positivity of pupils and students and school staff from the National Health Information Center and the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic with an impact on classroom and school closures and the transition to distance education were used to find out the pandemic development in terms of the positivity of children and students’ PCR tests, the utilization rate of the voluntary antigen home tests and positivity reported by these tests, and the vaccinations of children and students and how distance education took place during the first half of the school term 2021/2022. Within the information processing, several methods of analysis of materials, data, and legislative documents are applied, as well as practical knowledge and experience from the education sector. Areas of data processing were weekly reporting of schools according to the school traffic light including rapid antigen self-test positivity, positivity on PCR tests, and vaccination of children.

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In order to maintain a safe environment in schools and minimize the risk of closing schools, schools provided the Ministry with up-to-date information on the development of the epidemiological situation in the school. For this purpose, the Ministry has prepared an online form “weekly reporting of schools according to school traffic lights.” Schools were obliged to regularly report information about the situation at school through an online form to the Ministry on Mondays and every time there is a change in positivity in the school for the occurrence of COVID-19. The first step in data processing was sorting the reported data. We grouped the data into a contingency table. Duplication of data for the entire mapped period could not occur, because each school is defined under an EDUID number when reporting. This number is unique, and in case of repeated data filling for one school, the last change remains in the resulting database. This ensured the elimination of accidental errors. We treat the divided data in the contingency table for gross errors by comparing the reported total number of school pupils with the actual total number of pupils from the Departmental Information System (DIS, 2020). Reported data that differed from the actual number of pupils from the RIS portal were removed. The next step was to process and interpret the error-corrected data with the assumption that the occurrence of systematic errors is very unlikely. The interpretation of the results of the processed results was, in addition to the frequency, also in percentage form. The processed results were consulted upon with the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic. The data in the database is processed from the official government website on health data from the National Health Information Center, with the assumption that the data is treated for all errors and usable for further processing and interpretation. The database is divided into eight categories. Each of the categories describes the frequency of occurrence of the given phenomenon in the category, along with information defining the geographic location, gender, and age category. The Ministry decided, to be able to make relevant decisions during the pandemic, to monitor the development of the number of positive tests, the development of the number of tests, and the positivity of tests aimed primarily at pupils, divided into four categories from 0 to 19 years. The database was updated daily. We used time series analysis to calculate the 7-day incidence (number of positive persons per 100,000 population in the age group). To obtain the results, we also needed statistical data on the number of inhabitants in the monitored age category obtained from the Statistic Office of the Slovak Republic, specifically from the public DATAcube database with data valid as of December 2020 (DATAcube database of the Statistic Office of the Slovak Republic, 2020). Subsequently, for a better representation of the results and monitoring of the course of the waves of the pandemic (delta and omicron), we continuously represented the results in a polygon. Another monitored parameter was the development of vaccination against COVID-­19 in all age categories in a monthly interval. The development of vaccinated children was monitored at weekly intervals. The data was taken from the category “Vaccination” from the database of the Institute of Health Analysis. Due to the gradual expansion of access to vaccination for different age categories, three age categories from 0 to 17 years were chosen. Data from the Statistic Office of the Slovak Republic were also used for the purpose of providing a percentage expression of the share of vaccination of children.

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We used analytical and descriptive method for approximation and analysis of the basic framework and the legislative framework defining measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We also used analysis, synthesis, abstraction, and comparative method and time series analysis of positivity of children and school staff and classroom and school closures and the transition to distance education available for school term 2021/2022 (from September 7, 2021 to February 15, 2022). We worked with data relevant for the school year 2021/2022. From the data available at the National Health Information Center, we abstracted data on the positivity based on PCR tests of students or children from 0 to 19 years of age and divided them into four age categories. We used time series analysis to determine the incidence of their positivity at 7-day intervals. From the data available at the National Health Information Center, we also used data to map children’s vaccinations. In this case, we have chosen only three categories, due to the gradual expansion of the age categories of vaccination of students, for whom vaccination is legally decided by the parents. Another source of data was data provided to the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports directly by schools on a regular weekly basis on the positivity of pupils and the closure of classes and schools according to the rules of the COVID school traffic light. We used data on the number of antigen self-tests performed, which students had the opportunity to use for voluntary home self-testing, and data on the number of students in full-time and distance learning.

4 Anti-pandemic Management Documents in Education Sector in the Slovak Republic The strategic anti-pandemic management in schools depends on legally binding acts of other bodies, which are issued independently of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic. The declaration of the state of emergency and other related obligations and measures is issued by the government of the Slovak Republic. The highest office for regional public health offices in Slovakia is the public health authority (hereinafter referred to as “PHA”), which coordinates, controls, and manages the execution of state administration. The legal basis for competencies and tasks of PHA in the field of protection, promotion, and development of public health is stated in a particular special legal Act (PHA, 2022a). PHA is authorized to order quarantine and isolation, the obligation to wear face masks, conditions and prohibitions on entering buildings, prohibition to organize mass events, and other tools for managing the pandemic in all areas, including education (Government Gazette, 2022). As for regional public health offices, 36 such offices have been established in the Slovak Republic. According to a special law that regulates their competencies, they perform specialized tasks of public health and threats to public health during and outside the pandemic, and they order measures to prevent diseases and measures against threats to public health within the scope of their territorial jurisdiction (PHA, 2022b). The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports is according to the “Act on the organization of government activities and the organization of the central state

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Z. Stoličná and J. Barjaková

administration” the central state administration body for kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, primary art schools, language schools and universities, school facilities, lifelong learning, science and technology, and state care for youth and sports (Stoličná & Barjaková, 2021). Specifically, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Education Act was amended to allow for a flexible response to changes caused by the pandemic in schools and to expand the competencies of the Minister and school principals in organizing the school year and school education. The Minister is therefore entitled to decide on extraordinary interruptions of teaching, on the dates and lasting of school holidays, or other decisive events and dates for the organization of the school year. The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports has issued and regularly updates the document “COVID school traffic light,” which sets out the basic operating conditions of schools and school facilities, including the specifics of compliance with anti-epidemic measures and recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to maintain a safe environment in schools and school facilities and to minimize the risk of classroom closures, the Ministry regularly obtains information from schools about the development of the epidemiological situation using the online form, which is published on the website. During the school year, parents have the opportunity to use voluntary self-testing of students by antigen self-tests in the home environment. Every primary, secondary, and special school student whose parent shows interest receives self-tests for home self-testing. The possibility of antigen self-testing could be used by all students, including vaccinated and those who have overcome COVID-19. If the parents decide to use the option of self-testing of students at home, it is recommended to do it on Monday and Thursday mornings before starting school (Minedu, 2022a).

5 COVID-19 Pandemic Development and Transition to Distance Education Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4 present school reports on a weekly basis according to the COVID school traffic light provided to the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports during the first half of the school year 2021/2022 with a slight overlap to February 15, 2022. In the individual tables, we can monitor the development of individual categories of reported data on a weekly basis in quantity and percentage. Due to a certain deviation caused by the non-reporting of all data by all schools, data from the National Health Information Center on the positivity of children and students under the age of 19 are used for the development of the pandemic in schools as shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 1, we can see the different behaviors of the delta and omicron variants. The omicron variant is more infectious, but the course of the disease is milder, and reports have risen rapidly from week to week, so the education sector has had to address the situation dynamically and take new measures to keep full-time teaching in a safe environment, such as changing quarantine and isolation lasting—shortened from 10 or 14 days to 5 days, ending the isolation of whole classes in case of positivity of only one student. As this legislation change is not in the competence of the Ministry of Education,

Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b)

21.9.2021 5424 777,395 748,588 28,807 1391

15,588 43,249 97.7% 42,259 2.3% 851 121,471 0.3% 460 0.5% 705 155,217 730 0.6%

1.5%

0.3%

2054 53,267 52,878 389 113,435 222 334 10,179 14

10,070 38,149 99.3% 37,265 0.7% 884 106,986 0.2% 342 0.3% 547 39,955 249 0.1%

% 14.9.2021 % 75.8% 4706 68.4% 685,888 98.8% 658,318 96.0% 1.2% 27,570 4.0% 0.0% 739 0.1%

7.9.2021 5210 756,033 746,680 9353 213 15,109 42,231 97.7% 41,222 2.0% 894 118,808 0.4% 559 0.6% 798 225,697 580 0.5%

2.0%

5.10.2021 5965 804,206 770,148 34,058 2007 19,700 44,761 97.6% 43,393 2.1% 1191 126,687 0.5% 774 0.7% 1031 265,832 1032 0.3%

2.0%

% 28.9.2021 % 78.9% 5393 77.3% 758,719 96.3% 730,193 96.2% 3.7% 28,526 3.8% 0.2% 1469 0.2%

Table 1  COVID school traffic light—weekly school report (September 7, 2021–October 5, 2021).

COVID school traffic light—weekly school report Number of schools reporting data Total number of registered students Number of students in full-time education Number of students in distance education Number of reported students with actively confirmed COVID-19 disease Number of students quarantined Total number of reported classes Number of registered classes in full-time education Number of registered classes in distance education Total number of reported employees Number of employees with active COVID-19 disease Number of quarantined employees reported Number of reported performed Ag self-tests Number of reported positive from Ag self-tests Positivity of reported Ag self-tests

0.4%

0.6% 0.8%

96.9% 2.7%

2.4%

95.8% 4.2% 0.2%

% 86.7%

The Impact of Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Education Sector… 11

1.1% 2273 296,060 2797 0.6%

128,283 0.7% 1227 1.0% 1445 288,787 1723 0.8%

125,289 914 1236 276,912 2250

126,866 1.0% 1766

4.2% 3216

3.1% 1908

1343

4.1% 51,159 44,448 95.1% 40,436

26.10.2021 5943 802,379 715,076 87,303 5694

2.9% 33,472 45,149 96.5% 42,927

19.10.2021 % 6044 87.0% 810,278 755,463 93.2% 54,815 6.8% 3358 0.4%

22,986 43,992 42,440

12.10.2021 % 5895 85.7% 792,124 753,256 95.1% 38,868 4.9% 2420 0.3%

Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b)

COVID school traffic light—weekly school report Number of schools reporting data Total number of registered students Number of students in full-time education Number of students in distance education Number of reported students with actively confirmed COVID-19 disease Number of students quarantined Total number of reported classes Number of registered classes in full-time education Number of registered classes in distance education Total number of reported employees Number of employees with active COVID-19 disease Number of quarantined employees reported Number of reported performed Ag self-tests Number of reported positive from Ag self-tests Positivity of reported Ag self-tests 0.9%

1.8% 1866 297,564 3562

123,866 1.4% 2394

7.2% 2007

6.4% 35,580 43,325 91.0% 40,855

09.11.2021 6252 828,863 734,930 93,933 8553

1.2%

1.5% 2834 330,955 3908

131,529 1.9% 3148

4.6% 3542

4.5% 57,129 45,814 94.3% 41,954

% 02.11.2021 % 85.5% 5796 83.4% 782,610 89.1% 720,835 92.1% 10.9% 61,755 7.9% 0.7% 6992 0.9%

Table 2  COVID school traffic light—weekly school report (October 12, 2021–November 9, 2021).

1.2%

2.2%

2.4%

7.7%

91.6%

6.9%

88.7% 11.3% 1.0%

% 90.0%

12 Z. Stoličná and J. Barjaková

1.8%

12.9% 5780 130,439 2.7% 4326 2.7% 3360 379,959 6813 1.4%

5511 122,391 3298 3323 376,341 5178

Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b)

2.6% 3423 440,190 6832

11.0% 87,816 45,558 85.8% 39,221

85,092 42,598 36,566

130,337 3.3% 4370

12.7% 7672

10.7% 97,240 45,288 86.1% 36,972

% 23.11.2021 % 89.3% 82.0% 6202 821,670 82.8% 679,870 82.7% 17.2% 141,800 17.3% 1.4% 13,167 1.6%

16.11.2021 5698 776,735 642,820 133,915 10,574

30.11.2021 6179 816,149 637,008 179,141 13,580

1.6%

2.6% 2344 379,447 5438

122,082 3.4% 3289

16.9% 12,133

11.9% 69,579 42,365 81.6% 29,677

14.12.2021 5266 667,515 322,724 344,791 6238

1.4%

1.9% 1417 282,957 3023

106,295 2.7% 2355

28.6% 13,889

9.0% 38,960 37,512 70.1% 21,337

% 07.12.2021 % 88.9% 5678 81.7% 771,085 78.1% 498,846 64.7% 21.9% 272,239 35.3% 1.7% 10,835 1.4%

Table 3  COVID school traffic light—weekly school report (November 16, 2021–December 14, 2021).

COVID school traffic light—weekly school report Number of schools reporting data Total number of registered students Number of students in full-time education Number of students in distance education Number of reported students with actively confirmed COVID-19 disease Number of students quarantined Total number of reported classes Number of registered classes in full-time education Number of registered classes in distance education Total number of reported employees Number of employees with active COVID-19 disease Number of quarantined employees reported Number of reported performed Ag self-tests Number of reported positive from Ag self-tests Positivity of reported Ag self-tests

1.1%

1.3%

2.2%

37.0%

56.9%

5.8%

48.3% 51.7% 0.9%

% 75.8%

The Impact of Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Education Sector… 13

0.5% 44,673 45,540 99.4% 42,988 0.3% 2466

4058 44,719 44,464

115

4261

1248 0.4%

470,786

0.2% 1245

286

320,550

1.5% 1902

1972

132,907

0.3% 5174

2813

130,943

1.3% 57,930

0.9%

11,887

563,470

0.9% 3099

1.4% 3624

132,493

5.4% 8181

5.4% 137,846 45,330 94.4% 37,007

0.6% 15,822

2.1%

20,275

617,964

2.3% 4040

2.7% 6521

132,037

18.0% 9027

16.7% 144,930 45,154 81.6% 35,864

1.9% 25,391

3.3%

18,043

617,256

3.1% 3405

4.9% 6696

131,514

20.0% 5257

17.6% 91,067 45,003 79.4% 39,456

3.1% 21,853

2.9%

16,665

598,037

2.6% 2698

5.1% 6424

130,168

11.7% 6611

11.1% 108,704 44,481 87.7% 37,683

2.7% 19,092

2.8%

2.1%

4.9%

1.9%

84.7%

13.4%

2.4%

17.8%

15.2.2022 % 6161 88.7% 812,378 667,809 82.2%

15.4% 144,569

08.2.2022 % 6268 90.2% 818,491 692,212 84.6%

24.1% 126,279

01.2.2022 % 6279 90.3% 823,659 624,871 75.9%

21.2% 198,788

25.1.2022 % 6282 90.4% 827,707 652,579 78.8%

6.9% 175,128

17.1.2022 % 6299 90.6% 834,858 776,928 93.1%

10,642

11.1.2022 % 6334 91.1% 818,445 807,803 98.7%

Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b)

COVID school traffic light— weekly school report Number of schools reporting data Total number of registered students Number of students in full-time education Number of students in distance education Number of reported students with actively confirmed COVID-19 disease Number of students quarantined Total number of reported classes Number of registered classes in full-time education Number of registered classes in distance education Total number of reported employees Number of employees with active COVID-19 disease Number of quarantined employees reported Number of reported performed Ag self-tests Number of reported positive from Ag self-tests Positivity of reported Ag self-tests

Table 4  COVID school traffic light—weekly school report (January 11, 2022–February 15, 2022).

14 Z. Stoličná and J. Barjaková

The Impact of Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Education Sector…

15

COVID 19 variant OMICRON

14000 12000 10000

COVID 19 variant DELTA

8000 6000

group age 0-4 years

4000

group age 5-9 years

2000

group age 10-14 years

0 9/7/2021

group age 15-19 years

10/7/2021

/202 21 11/7/2021

12//7/2021 12/7/2021

1/7/2022

2 /7/20 022 2/7/2022

Fig. 1  Graphic interpretation of the 7-day incidence of positive PCR tests in the age group 0–19 years. Source: Author’s study based on NHIC (2022a).

Science, Research and Sports, the legislation amendment through a government resolution and a decree of the public health authority was effective from January 25, 2022, i.e., the peak of the omicron variant infection. The curve has almost the same development in all age groups, and there is a significant deviation in children from 0 to 4 years, but these have probably not been tested to the same extent as older children. We consider the week between November 23, 2021, and November 30, 2021, to be the peak of the delta variant infection, and subsequently, there was a decrease in positivity. In Fig. 1, visible peak of the delta variant infection on December 3, 2021, is incorrect data. Behind the high number of positive PCR tests reported by the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic is the addition of data that had not yet passed from the laboratories to the information system (The News Agency of the Slovak Republic, 2021). The peak of the omicron variant infection is visible on January 25, 2022. One of the measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is vaccination. Vaccination of children was started gradually from the oldest to the youngest group. In the period under review, it was possible to register children aged 5–11 for vaccination from December 22, 2021, even without a doctor’s recommendation (Ministry of Health, 2021). Figure 2 represents a graphic interpretation of vaccination with the first dose of vaccine in the age group 0–17  years. Data is obtained from the National Health Information Center and is related to the first dose of vaccination for children under 18 years old. We can see that the growing trend of children’s vaccination is associated with an increasing number of positive cases of the disease when compared with Fig. 1. The largest increase in children vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine is recorded on November 20, 2021, and at the turn of 2021 and 2022, where there is a relatively high interest in children’s vaccination of age group 5–9 years by parents after vaccination permit for this age group.

16

Z. Stoličná and J. Barjaková 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 September

October

age group 5-9 years

November

December

age group 10-14 years

January

age group 15-17 years

Fig. 2  Graphic interpretation of vaccination with the first dose of vaccine in the age group 0–17 years. Source: Author’s study based on NHIC (2022b). 3.3%

7,00,000

3.5%

2.9%

6,00,000

3.0%

5,00,000

2.8%

4,00,000

1.8% 1.2%

3,00,000 2,00,000 1,00,000 0.1% 0 September

0.8% 0.6% 0.1%

1.4% 1.2%

2.1%

1.6% 1.4%

1.3%

0.9%

1.5% 0.9%

0.6%

January

1.0% 0.5%

0.4%

November

2.0%

1.1%

0.3%

October

2.5%

February

0.0%

Fig. 3  Graphic interpretation of the performance of antigen self-tests. Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b).

From the beginning of the school year 2021/2022, the conditions in the education sector were set to avoid school-wide closure. One of the measures to maintain schools open was the procurement of antigen self-tests for all students who were tested at least twice a week to ensure a safe environment in schools and not to repeat the previous school term situation, when the schools had been closed from November 2020 to the end of January 2021. There are data used from school reports in COVID school traffic light for Fig. 3. Figure 3 presents a graphic interpretation of performance of antigen self-tests provided to students by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports with the positivity of students. As it was based on a voluntary basis and on the parent’s interest, it is possible to see that the interest in voluntary home testing has grown with the growing number of positive cases, or rather, it copied the development of the pandemic according to Fig. 1.

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Table 5  Students in full-time and distance education based on the school’s weekly reports. Students in full-time and distance education based on the school’s weekly reports Percentage of students in Percentage of students in Percentage of schools Date full-time education distance education that reported data 7.9.2021 98.8% 1.2% 75.8% 14.9.2021 96.0% 4.0% 68.4% 21.9.2021 96.3% 3.7% 78.9% 28.9.2021 96.2% 3.8% 77.3% 5.10.2021 95.8% 4.2% 86.7% 12.10.2021 95.1% 4.9% 85.7% 19.10.2021 93.2% 6.8% 87.0% 26.10.2021 89.1% 10.9% 85.5% 28.10.– Autumn holiday 1.11.2021 2.11.2021 92.1% 7.9% 83.4% 9.11.2021 88.7% 11.3% 90.0% 16.11.2021 82.8% 17.2% 82.0% 23.11.2021 82.7% 17.3% 89.3% 25.11.2021 Lockdown 30.11.2021 78.1% 21.9% 88.9% 7.12.2021 64.7% 35.3% 81.7% 13.12.2021 Distance education 14.12.2021 48.3% 51.7% 75.8% 18.12.– Christmas holiday 9.1.2022 11.1.2022 98.7% 1.3% 91.1% 17.1.2022 93.1% 6.9% 90.6% 25.1.2022 78.8% 21.2% 90.4% 1.2.2022 75.9% 24.1% 90.3% 4.2.2022 Half-year holiday 8.2.2022 84.6% 15.4% 90.2% 15.2.2022 82.2% 17.8% 88.7% Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b)

Table 5 and Fig. 4 show the percentage of students in distance and full-time education. Reported data on the total number of schools are also available and visible in Table 5 and Fig. 4. The data are drawn from regular reports of schools on the development of the pandemic regularly sent to the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports on a weekly basis. The lowest numbers of reports from schools are at the beginning of the school year and around mid-December 2021. The numbers prove that due to any holidays or interruption of the teaching process lasting at least 3 days, there is a positive impact on the development of the spread of COVID-19 by students as well as by school staff. Students do not meet in groups, thus minimizing further disease transmission contacts. It is visible during the autumn holiday, Christmas holiday, and half-year holiday. A different situation on the other hand is visible during a nationwide lockdown. In fact, the introduction of the nationwide lockdown into the education sector did not bring any effect, because we recorded the peak of the delta variant infection

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100%

78.9% 86.7% 68.4% 75.8%

91.1% 85.7% 83.…90.0%89.3% 90.4% 87.0% 90.3% 88.9% 90.2% 88.7% 81.7% 82.0% 85.5% 75.8%

80%

90.6%

Half-year holiday

Christmas holiday

Distance education

40%

LOCKDOWN

60%

Autumn holiday

77.3%

20%

Percentage of students in distance education Percentage of schools that reported data

7.9.2021 14.9.2021 21.9.2021 28.9.2021 5.10.2021 12.10.2021 19.10.2021 26.10.2021 28.10.2021 2.11.2021 9.11.2021 16.11.2021 23.11.2021 25.11.2021 30.11.2021 7.12.2021 13.12.2021 14.12.2021 18.12. - 9.1.2022 11.1.2022 17.1.2022 25.1.2022 1.2.2022 4.2.2022 8.2.2022 15.2.2022

0%

Percentage of students in fulltime education

Fig. 4  Graphic interpretation of students in full-time and distance education based on the school’s weekly reports. Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b).

during the announcement of the lockdown (see Fig. 1). Based on the announced nationwide lockdown, the number of cases would be reduced and more favorable numbers would be reflected at the earliest 2–3  weeks after the announcement, but they came much earlier. Nevertheless, at the peak of the delta variant infection, 82.7% of students were educated full-time and only 17.3% of students were educated in distance form. In the case of the period after the announcement of the national lockdown, an increase in the number of students in distance education can be seen, even though the number of COVID-19-positive cases was decreasing. This is due to the fact that individual regional public health offices and school principals might close the whole classroom or school in case of an infection. During this period, schools were closed in 35 districts out of 78, which in some cases, was unnecessary due to the current pandemic situation. Figures 5 and 6 show examples of two districts in Slovak regions where the transition to distance education had no justification considering the development of the pandemic in their territory. During the peak of the omicron variant infection, 78.8% of students were in full-­ time education and 21.2% were educated in distance form. These numbers seem worse than during the peak of the delta variant infection, but the number of positive PCR tests of children in all age groups from 0 to 19 during the peak of the delta variant infection was almost 15,000.00, and during the omicron variant infection, it was almost 20,000.00.

The Impact of Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Education Sector… 50%

19

45.1% 41.3%

LOCKDOWN

40% 29.8% 30%

20%

10%

15.4%

14.1% 8.0%

13.7% 14.9% 14.1%

9.0%

9.3%

1.4% 0.6% 1.0%

1.9%

1.6%

1.6%

1.6%

1.0%

1.2%

0%

students in distance education

0.4%

0.2%

COVID-19 positively tested students

Fig. 5  Percentage expression of the number of students in distance education and with active COVID-19 infection in the district of Stará Ľubovňa. Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b) and NHIC (2022a).

50% 42.1%

30%

26.7%

20% 11.2% 10%

0%

LOCKDOWN

40%

0.7%

1.1%

27.2%

16.2%

12.1%

.0% 13.0%

10.3% 7.9%

8.2% 0.5%

42.9%

1.3%

1.0%

students in distance education

0.7%

1.4%

1.1% %

1.3%

0.8%

0.7%

COVID-19 positively tested students

Fig. 6  Percentage expression of the number of students in distance education and with active COVID-19 infection in the district of Kysucké Nové Mesto. Source: Author’s study based on Minedu (2022b) and NHIC (2022a).

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6 Results and Discussion In the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Slovak Republic decided to follow the path of sustainable full-time teaching as long as and as much as possible. The reduction of the full-time form of education is therefore considered to be the last option to limit the spread of COVID-19, in contrast to the procedure during the first wave of the pandemic, when Slovakia also followed the trend of other countries, as de Guisti (2020) states. The management of the pandemic in schools in the Slovak Republic in the period under review followed the findings of Engzell et al. (2021), and thus that there was clear evidence that students learned less during a break than in a typical year. At the same time, it is possible to agree with the conclusions of Fauzi and Khusuma (2020) that online education helps teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, but is considered ineffective, which is the main reason of maintaining full-time education as a strategy as much as possible and avoiding widespread closure of schools. Beyond the measures recommended by Esposito and Principi (2020) such as wearing masks, lessons on the issue, and all hygienic measures to prevent COVID-19, screening with temperature measurements or closing classes with infected students, the Slovak Republic has introduced other measures, such as voluntary regular antigen self-testing. Also, in Slovakia, during the fight against the pandemic in schools, it can be observed that public health experts, as noted by Hale et al. (2020), are learning to introduce anti-­ pandemic measures whose effectiveness is in question. An example from practice in Slovakia is the confirmation that the holidays prevented the spread of COVID-19. However, the holidays were predetermined as part of the school year’s organization, unlike the lockdown introduced by the government and by public health experts. Moreover, the closure of schools by regional public health authorities in the districts, despite the decline of positive cases, is illogical and inefficient, although the regional authorities are run by public health professionals. Thus, based on the results of the research, it can be partially agreed that school closures may contribute to epidemic control as confirmed by Ferguson et  al. (2020), although mortality data based on this study cannot be confirmed. Based on the results of the introduction of a nationwide lockdown in Slovakia in the observed period, including school closures, the conclusions of Wright et al. (2020), according to which on-site protection policies and related quarantine orders and “lockdowns are among the most cost-effective and robust measures taken by governments to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, but their evidence shows that these policies are generally effective in reducing population movements and, as evidence in medicine and epidemiology shows, slowing down the spread of COVID-19 by reducing risks of interpersonal transmission, cannot be accepted. Hughes et al. (2022) emphasize the need for confirmatory PCR testing after antigen testing and for local public health directors to take more control of school testing. On the contrary, the result of this study is the need to ensure control over the directors of regional public health offices’ decision-making. The reason is their decisions to close schools were demonstrably taken even at a time when positive cases of COVID-19 were decreasing, and thus closing schools in the regions was unnecessary. An analysis by

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Amodio et al. (2022) found that areas in Sicily where schools opened earlier experienced a significant and positive increase in the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases, and its results suggest that the reopening of schools caused a one-third increase in cases. Also, this study confirms that closing schools positively affected the pandemic development during autumn, Christmas, and half-year holidays. In case of a total lockdown in schools, these measures introduced outside the set management measures performed by the Ministry of Education did not contribute to the reduction of the positive cases. Mueed et al. (2022) also concluded that school closures reduce pandemic transmission and used similar data from relevant national authorities as in this we did, but compared pandemic behavior during urban and rural school closures and after school closures and reopenings. However, they draw attention to the loss of education for kids and income for parents. On the contrary, according to a research in Norway (Godøy et al., 2022), there is no evidence that COVID-19 incidence increased among students, parents, or teachers following the reopening of schools. They assumed that because children are more often asymptomatic, they are less likely to be tested, thus causing a potential under-reporting of COVID-19 prevalence among children, but a study comprising systematic testing of contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases in 13 outbreaks in schools in the Norwegian capital region during August–November 2020 found minimal transmission from children (below age 14) to peers and adults (Brandal et al., 2021 in Godøy et al., 2022). In this study, we take into account antigen tests that are performed voluntarily, which were provided to parents for home testing regularly on Mondays and Thursdays and permanently in case of COVID-19 symptoms. Parents’ interest in this testing increased in direct proportion to the increasing positive cases and followed the development of the pandemic, with the highest positivity rate of 3.3% reported at the omicron variant peak. Based on the results of the data analysis, holidays and social distancing decreased the spread of COVID-19. The nationwide lockdown in Slovakia did not contribute to the decrease in the number of COVID-19-positive cases in schools. Pandemic management in schools enabled respond flexibly to development and around 80% of students to full-­ time education during the peaks of individual variants. After the nationwide lockdown, distance education in a lot of schools increased due to the regional public health authority’s decisions in 35 of 78 districts in Slovakia, even though the number of positive cases decreased, so these decisions seem to be unnecessary and ineffective.

7 Conclusion Evaluating the results of research, the goals are achieved. The current legislation and other strategic documents regulating the anti-pandemic management system in schools are analyzed. Based on the results of the data analysis, we have found out that holidays and social distancing decreased the spread of COVID-19 in schools, but the nationwide lockdown in Slovakia did not contribute to the decrease in the number of COVID-19-­ positive cases in schools. Pandemic management in schools enabled respond flexibly to development and around 80% of students to full-time education during the peaks of individual variants. After the nationwide lockdown, distance education in a lot of

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schools increased due to the regional public health authority’s decisions in 35 of 78 districts in Slovakia, even though the number of positive cases decreased, so these decisions seem to be unnecessary and ineffective. We processed legally binding documents and strategic documents to combat the COVID-19 pandemic as generally binding legislation, government resolutions, and departmental internal regulations considering specific anti-pandemic measures and recommendations in the school environment. The article contains current data on the positivity of pupils and students and school staff from the National Health Information Center and the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic with an impact on classroom and school closures and the transition to distance education. Within the information processing, several methods of analysis of materials, data, and legislative documents are applied, as well as practical knowledge and experience from the education sector. We used analytical and descriptive methods for approximation and analysis of the basic framework and the legislative framework defining measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We also used analysis, synthesis, abstraction, and comparative methods, and time series analysis of the positivity of children and school staff and classroom and school closures and the transition to distance education available for school term 2021/2022 (from September 7, 2021 to February 15, 2022). By application of these methods, it was possible to bring conclusions about the impact of measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in the education sector.

References Amodio, E., Battisti, M., Kourtellos, A., Maggio, G., & Maida, C. M. (2022). Schools opening and Covid-19 diffusion: Evidence from geolocalized microdata. European Economic Review, 143, 104003. Ashraf, B. N. (2020). Economic impact of government interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: International evidence from financial markets. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 27, 100371. Brammer, S., & Clark, T. (2020). COVID-19 and management education: Reflections on challenges, opportunities, and potential futures. British Journal of Management, 31(3), 453. Brandal, L. T., Ofitserova, T. S., Meijerink, H., Rykkvin, R., Lund, H. M., Hungnes, O., Greve-­ Isdahl, M., Bragstad, K., Nygård, K., & Winje, B. A. (2021). Minimal transmission of sars-­ cov-­2 from paediatric covid-19 cases in primary schools, Norway, august to November 2020. Eurosurveillance, 26(1) 2002011DATAcube database of Statistic Office of the Slovak Republic. 2020. Accessed March 5, 2022, from https://datacube.statistics.sk/#!/view/sk/ vbd_dem/om7015rr/v_om7015rr_00_00_00_sk De Giusti, A. (2020). Book review: Policy brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnología en Educación y Educación en Tecnología, 26, 110–111. DIS/Departmental Information System. (2020). [online]. Accessed March 5, 2022, from https:// crinfo.iedu.sk/risportal/register/ Engzell, P., Frey, A., & Verhagen, M. D. (2021). Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(17).

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Esposito, S., & Principi, N. (2020). School closure during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: An effective intervention at the global level? JAMA Pediatrics, 174(10), 921–922. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1892 Fauzi, I., & Khusuma, I.  H. S. (2020). Teachers’ elementary school in online learning of COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Jurnal Iqra': Kajian Ilmu Pendidikan, 5(1), 58–70. Ferguson, N. M., Laydon, D., Nedjati-Gilani, G. et al. Report 9: impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand. Accessed April 22, 2020., from https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk:8443/bitstream/10044/1/77482/14/2020-­03-­16-­ COVID19-­Report-­9.pdf Godøy, A., Grøtting, M.  W., & Hart, R.  K. (2022). Reopening schools in a context of low COVID-19 contagion: Consequences for teachers, students and their parents. Journal of Population Economics, 35(3), 935–961. Government Gazette/Government Gazette of the Slovak Republic. (2022). [online]. Accessed March 5, 2022, from https://www.minv.sk/?2022-­1 Hale, T., Petherick, A., Phillips, T., & Webster, S. (2020). Variation in government responses to COVID-19. Blavatnik School of Government Working Paper, 31(2020–11). Hughes, D. M., Bird, S. M., Cheyne, C. P., Ashton, M., Campbell, M. C., García-Fiñana, M., & Buchan, I. (2022, fdac003). Rapid antigen testing in COVID-19 management for school-aged children: An observational study in Cheshire and Merseyside, UK. Journal of Public Health (Oxford, England). https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdac003 Litvinova, M., Liu, Q. H., Kulikov, E. S., & Ajelli, M. (2019). Reactive school closure weakens the network of social interactions and reduces the spread of influenza. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(27), 13174–13181. Minedu/Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic. (2022a). Školský semafor. [School traffic light]. [online]. Accessed February 16, 2022, from https:// www.minedu.sk/skolsky-­semafor/ Minedu/Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic. (2022b). Formulár Covid - školský semafor. [Form Covid – School traffic light]. [online]. Accessed February 16, 2022, from https://covid2021.iedu.sk/ Ministry of Health/Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic. (2021). COVID-19: Očkovanie detí od 5 do 11 rokov je široko dostupné. [COVID-19: Vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 is widely available]. [online]. Accessed December 21, 2021, from https://www.health.gov.sk/ Clanok?ockovanie-­deti-­od-­pat Mueed, A., Aliani, R., Abdullah, M., Kazmi, T., Sultan, F., & Khan, A. (2022). School closures help reduce the spread of COVID-19: A pre-and post-intervention analysis in Pakistan. PLoS Global Public Health, 2(4), e0000266. Nebeský, Ľ., & Fabuš, M. (2021). Education in times of Sars-Cov-2 pandemic – Why we didn’t closed our schools. In 2nd international scientific conference economics, politics and management in times of change (pp. 1–9). NHIC/National Health Information Center. (2022a). covid19-data/PCR_Tests/. [online]. Accessed February 20, 2022, from https://github.com/Institut-­Zdravotnych-­Analyz/covid19-­data/tree/ main/PCR_Tests NHIC/National Health Information Center. (2022b). covid19-data/Vaccination/. [online]. Accessed February 25, 2022, from https://github.com/Institut-­Zdravotnych-­Analyz/ covid19-­data/tree/main/Vaccination PHA/Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic. (2022a). [online]. Accessed March 3, 2022, from https://www.uvzsr.sk/en/ PHA/Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic. (2022b). [online]. Accessed March 3, 2022, from https://www.uvzsr.sk/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1 7&Itemid=7

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Stoličná, Z., & Barjaková, J. (2021). The possibilities of the optimization of managing organizations of education sector. In M. H. Bilgin, H. Danis, E. Demir, & G. Karabulut (Eds.), Eurasian business and economics perspectives. Eurasian studies in business and economics (Vol. 20). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­030-­85304-­4_6 The News Agency of the Slovak Republic. (2021). ČÍSLA PRUDKO VYSKOČILI: Na Slovensku pribudlo 15.278 nakazených. [The Numbers jumped up: There were 15,278 infected people in Slovakia]. [online]. Accessed December 8, 2021, from https://www.teraz.sk/slovensko/na-­ slovensku-­pribudlo-­15278-­pripadov-­n/595071-­clanok.html Viner, Russell M., et al. (2020). "School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: A rapid systematic review." The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 4.5 (2020): 397–404. Wright, A.  L., Sonin, K., Driscoll, J., & Wilson, J. (2020). Poverty and economic dislocation reduce compliance with COVID-19 shelter-in-place protocols. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 180, 544–554. Zaremba, A., Kizys, R., Aharon, D. Y., & Demir, E. (2020). Infected markets: Novel coronavirus, government interventions, and stock return volatility around the globe. Finance Research Letters, 35, 101597.

Role of Social Media to Influence the Environmental Knowledge and Awareness Toward Education for Sustainable Development in Malaysia Wajiha Moughal1 (*), Shahrina B. T. M. Nordin1, Rohani B. T. Salleh1, and Haider Ali Abbasi1 Management and Humanities Department, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] 1 

Abstract.  Sustainable education is a big concern to protect the planet from natural catastrophes. Environmental awareness and knowledge can play a significant role in mitigating and reducing these calamities. This paper aims to measure the role of social media to influence environmental knowledge and awareness of education for sustainable development in Malaysia. Moreover, innovative technologies, such as social media, can be used effectively to raise environmental concerns among educational institutes. Different platforms have been used in enhancing environmental education but social media have been rarely used to enhance environmental awareness and knowledge. So, this study conceptualizes and investigates the idea of social media to enhance sustainable education by environmental knowledge and awareness. The educational sector is critical to educating and enhancing students’ awareness about sustainable environments. Therefore, the paper’s objective is to examine the impact of social media on environmental knowledge and awareness in educational institutes in Malaysia. This study developed the conceptual model to enhance students’ environmental knowledge and awareness with the help of social media. Keywords:  Environmental awareness · Environmental knowledge · Social media · Sustainable education · Sustainability · Education for sustainability

1 Introduction Global concerns about environmental degradation are increased by the speed of invention and growth in science, technology, and industrialization. As a result of technological development, a number of problems—including climate change and environmental degradation—require worldwide behavior, knowledge, awareness, and education toward sustainability (Ayush, 2008; Lahiri, 2011). Sustainable education, awareness,

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 E. Demir et al. (eds.), Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives, Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics 26, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30061-5_2

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and knowledge propagation among individuals require a particular mode of communication. Social media can be an active mode of communication and an efficient tool for informing others about environmental issues. Social media can be actively utilized to enhance environmental issue-related awareness much faster and among the large mass. Social media effectively enhances public behaviors toward environmental concern and responsibility (Krätzig & Warren-Kretzschmar, 2014). Social media apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are the most used apps worldwide, effectively exchanging and generating different environmental themes to enhance public awareness, and among educational institutes, social media can be active to enhance environmental awareness and knowledge. The significance of sustainable and environmental education among the public can be revealed through social media quite effectively. Malaysia has highlighted the significance of environmental sustainability in the Third Malaysia Plan, 1976–1980 and the sustainable environment development in its national agendas (Somasundram et al., 2018). Malaysia strictly sticks to the sustainable plan and introduces in the 11th Malaysian Plan sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and later integrates sustainability into the formal educational sector. It persists with the 12th Malaysian Plan, 2021–2025, by keeping the ecological sustainability dimension in the development sector. Sustainable and environmental education among educational institutes is found to be very limited, which is why student acts usually result in environmental degradation. Educational institutions can be the most crucial sector in enhancing sustainable education and development with the help of social media (Chiong et al., 2017). Social media is an effective tool to disseminate information and awareness regarding environmental issues. However, there is a lack in the literature regarding social media usage in enhancing environmental awareness and knowledge among educational institutions. The present paper focuses on the social media’s moderating effect on enhancing environmental awareness and knowledge toward sustainable education. Social media is a tool for disseminating information and creating awareness about environmental issues, which is lacking in the educational sector (Abbasi et al., 2022; Hamid et al., 2017). This study highlights on stimulating sustainable education through environmental awareness by publicizing the environmental theme through social media. This study reviews several past studies in this field and constructs the framework centered on literature (Sukma et al., 2020). Consequently, the research gap is using social media effectively to promote the theme of a sustainable environment and hence raise awareness and knowledge among students related to sustainable education from a universal perspective in the educational sector (Ardoin et al., 2013). This study could be effective in enhancing the students’ attitude and behavior toward sustainable environment and promoting environmental knowledge to protect them from degradation. A gap in the literature shows how social media influences environmental awareness and knowledge among individuals (Hamid et al., 2017). Social media is an appropriate platform for practitioners and educators to

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propagandize and teach students, as well as raise their awareness and knowledge of environmental education. Different platforms have been used in enhancing environmental education (Lacka et al., 2021; Saari et al., 2021), However, promoting environmental awareness and knowledge using social media is a rare sight. Therefore, this study conceptualizes and explores the concept that social media can improve sustainable education by increasing environmental knowledge and awareness. This study studies the effects of social media (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) on students’ environmental knowledge and awareness of sustainable development by reviewing existing research on social media. Thus, the goal of this study is to investigate how environmental knowledge and awareness affect instruction for sustainable development. Such research investigations are either uncommon or not widely available, according to a thorough analysis of earlier literature on social media technology. Therefore, this study looks into how social media affects students’ environmental awareness and knowledge. Social media raises people’s environmental consciousness and knowledge. Consequently, it is important to research how social media can moderate the impact of environmental knowledge and awareness on education for sustainable development.

2 Literature Review Environmental education can be part of sustainability, where it directs the generations not to compromise on the ecosystems and healthy lifestyle. Individuals with sustainable education can reduce the usage of economic resources (Alkhayyal et al., 2019), where social media can effectively enhance public behavior in the educational sector. The role of social media in enhancing environmental education can encourage individuals to protect the environment from global challenges (Chiong et al., 2017). Environmental education includes several aspects such as knowledge, awareness, and attitudes toward environmental challenges and participation in several activities that lead to the resolution of the issue (Varela-Candamio et al., 2018). Environmental education is a significant determinant of green behavior, and this education guides the individual to analyze the issue through problem-solving and critical thinking skills (Freeman & Vermeule, 2007). Student education related to increasing environmental knowledge and awareness can be carried out at all stages of life (Lee et  al., 2017). Environmental knowledge and awareness are the significant factors encouraging sustainability integration among students (Erhabor & Don, 2016). However, to enhance sustainability goals among society and government, awareness is very significant in this modern era, and social media is an active platform for this activity. Adoption of sustainable education toward environmental knowledge and awareness among students has many challenges (Aminrad et al., 2013).

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2.1 Conceptual Model and Hypotheses 2.1.1  Environmental Knowledge.  Individuals’ pro-environmental attitudes can be explained by their environmental knowledge, which includes their awareness of environmental issues and “basic knowledge of information about the ecosystems” (Fryxell & Lo, 2003). Fu et al. (2020) argued that pro-environmental behavior could be considerably predicted by environmental knowledge. Individuals’ environmental understanding could result in better environmental education, where awareness can greatly influence conduct toward eco-­friendly nature. Some research, however, claim that there is no connection between environmental knowledge and pro-eco-friendly actions, claiming that it is difficult to make good environmental decisions if one has insufficient or no knowledge at all (Levine & Strube, 2012). People who are knowledgeable about the environment are more hopeful about discovering solutions to environmental problems (Abbasi et al., 2021a; Pickett-Baker & Ozaki, 2008). Bamberg (2003) revealed that environmental knowledge and awareness are closely related and support one another, especially when searching for information about ecological concerns. Erhabor and Don (2016) examined that when educational institutions were more knowledgeable about green products, their awareness of environmental education was more likely to change. Social media is one of the most popular platforms on the universe, and educational institutions can use it effectively to learn more about environmental education. In fact, several research on environmental knowledge have revealed social media to be an important indicator of critical issues. Wang et al. (2014) emphasized the importance of social media for learning environmental awareness and knowledge in educational institutions. Erhabor and Don (2016) also suggested that environmental awareness can promote environmental education among the students. Sukma et al. (2020) revealed that although people have a high level of environmental awareness and knowledge, their understanding of environmental concerns and degradation is rudimentary. It may be possible to improve one’s awareness and knowledge of environmental issues with the use of social media. H1: Environmental knowledge positively influences sustainable education. 2.1.2  Environmental Awareness. In order to propagate the organization’s vision, mission, publications, events, and activities, the public and private sectors, nongovernmental organizations, and others must use social media on a global scale. Typically, posts about the environment, including those about forest fires, illegal dumping, etc., are shared on social media. A rapid response is also possible if education is used to raise people’s awareness of environmental issues (Roshandel et al., 2016). Students will be given the values and norms necessary to act in an environmentally friendly manner via environmental awareness of sustainable practices in education. Social media can be used to promote environmental knowledge by encouraging people to explore new ideas and work toward a sustainable future. Some research have found that social media campaigns are (Ali, 2011; Hussain, 2012) an effective approach to enhancing environmental-related awareness.

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Due to the growing global population and their healthy lifestyle standards, which have a significant negative influence on environmental sustainability, it is crucial to address the issue of environmental awareness (Hamid et  al., 2017). Environmental awareness is considered a significant factor in increasing sustainable behavior among individuals (Alshuwaikhat & Abubakar, 2008; Gadenne et al., 2009), and worldwide strategies to enhance environmental knowledge toward sustainability have been in progress positively (Ralph & Stubbs, 2014). Additionally, there is a link between environmental knowledge and awareness, showing that an increase in environmental knowledge corresponds to an increase in environmental awareness (Abbasi et  al., 2021a; Hungerford & Volk, 1990; Zsóka et  al., 2013). This study proposed the following hypothesis: H2: Environmental awareness positively influences sustainable education. 2.1.3  Social Media.  A collection of web-based apps known as “social media” allow for the creation and exchange of user-generated content and are founded on both technological and ideological pillars (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Various social media channels have been used to promote connection and communication among users (Tobey & Manore, 2014). Social media is an efficient kind of connection that is very accessible in the present era, reaching a broader audience much faster than traditional communication channels (Erdoğmuş & Cicek, 2012). Environmental education and awareness are significant to realize that individuals clash with the environment using hazardous materials (Idumange, 2012). Social media is an active platform to improve environmental awareness among students (Abbasi et  al., 2021b; Erhabor & Don, 2016). A further study suggested social media usage effectiveness to transmit environmental knowledge and awareness positively (Aminrad et al., 2013). Social media is an art of communication and awareness regarding specific issues (Roshandel et al., 2016). Social media should also be utilized to teach students about environmental awareness and knowledge (Chung et  al., 2020), because social media can effectively discuss critical issues and provide education and awareness (Abbas et  al., 2019). Additionally, social media is a crucial medium for acquiring knowledge in the modern world (Idumange, 2012; Roshandel et  al., 2016). Social media raises public, staff, and student awareness of environmental issues by spreading information (Liobikienė & Poškus, 2019). Additionally, social media platform can be used to spread knowledge and awareness of environmental sustainability (Anthony, 2016; Hamid et al., 2017). Similarly, another study recommends that the Internet and social media are the fastest way to create environmental awareness and disseminate information among the public (Ansari & Khan, 2020). This study also proposes that social media effectively enhances environmental awareness and knowledge among educational institutions. This study suggests the following hypothesis: H3: Social media positively moderates between environmental knowledge and sustainable education. H4: Social media positively moderates between environmental awareness and sustainable education.

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2.1.4  Education for Sustainable Development.  Sustainable education is an effective field when environmental distortions result from human efforts, and education can be the only way to correct the behavior to dominate nature (Gurbuz & Ozkan, 2019). Environmental education is the process of purifying the values and thoughts to develop behavior for people to realize the relationship between society and the bio-natural environment (Olanrewaju et al., 2020). Education is another way to enhance knowledge and awareness through social media among individuals (Wu et al., 2018). Sustainable education guarantees the protection of environmental problems (Kioupi & Voulvoulis, 2019). Enhancing environmental awareness, behavior, and knowledge are all significantly improved by sustainable education (Sousa et al., 2021). Social media could be utilized as a teaching and learning tool, as well as a way to involve students in environmental issues and help to increase environmental sustainability (Ansari & Khan, 2020). Social media could be used for environmental sustainability in the form of environmental education tools to involve individuals in issues related to the environment (Castellanos & Queiruga-Dios, 2021). Sustainable education is gaining significant importance among education institutions (Alam, 2021; Nölting et al., 2020), and for this reason, significant institutes are actively engaged in green-related activities (Alkhayyal et al., 2019; Mohammed & Dominic, 2021), and this also lies in Malaysian institutes (Subramaniam et al., 2020).

3 Theoretical Framework The model and the proposed hypothesis relationship is mentioned in Fig. 1.

Social Media

(H3+)

Environmental Knowledge

(H1+) (H4+) Education for Sustainable Development (H2+)

Environmental Awareness

Fig. 1  Theoretical framework. Source: Author’s own work.

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The theoretical framework shown in Fig. 1 describes how environmental knowledge and awareness as independent variables influence education for sustainable development as a dependent variable and the relationship among variables based on reviewed literature review.

4 Discussion This study witnessed the significance of social media in enhancing one’s environmental knowledge and awareness. However, prior studies lack significance of social media’s moderating effect in enhancing environmental knowledge and awareness of sustainable education. Earlier studies use different models to examine the educational sector’s environmental knowledge and awareness (Alkhayyal et  al., 2019; Aminrad et  al., 2013; Gadenne et al., 2009; Hamid et al., 2017), and social media has been used separately in different studies to create awareness (Alkhayyal et al., 2019; Idumange, 2012; Scholtz et  al., 2016). However, both factors, environmental awareness and knowledge and social media, have not been considered in one study. This study has given the idea of merging both factors toward sustainable education. This study wants to boost the student’s awareness and knowledge of sustainable education to develop their eco-friendly behavior. Two research questions proposed in this study are answered by reviewing the effectiveness of social media in enhancing sustainable education. Practically, this study idea contributes to enhancing social media use to increase individual environmental awareness and knowledge. This study recommends that students have sustainable education to develop their behavior toward a sustainable environment. Overall, this study contributes to attaining sustainable education goals. Individual environmental knowledge and awareness changes their behavior toward adoption of sustainable education, and by using social media, it is remarkably effective, as social media is the most active platform worldwide that connects maximum number of individuals in a short period of time. Almost 59.3% of the population globally are using social media; this means that it is very important to influence individual toward specific product adoption. Promoting sustainable education through environmental knowledge and awareness on social media by the policymakers can be very useful to motivate individuals toward its adoption. The theoretical contribution can work out as a part of the framework for sustainable education in educational institutes. The framework uses social media to enhance environmental knowledge and awareness about sustainability. This influences the behavior toward sustainability and potentially contributes to eco-friendly behavior.

5 Conclusion The educational sector is key in shaping behavior toward the environment in the global context of environmental protection through the adoption of sustainable education goals. Social media’s cutting-edge technologies can be successfully applied to raise

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public awareness of environmental issues. To understand how social media affects environmental knowledge and awareness of education for sustainable development, this study looks at its effects. By exploring the suggested framework and developing practical policies to raise awareness, this research adds to the body of literature already in existence. Furthermore, given that this study is conceptual in nature, it also suggests looking at the real data analysis. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2050 will be made possible with the aid of people who are as conscious as possible of the need to protect the environment and by using social media to raise awareness for a large number of audience toward sustainable education hastily. This study reveals that environmental knowledge and awareness among individuals are being nurtured to foster sustainable education for efficient development. This study was limited to develop the conceptual model where it encourages future studies which can analyze this study using the data to get better results toward sustainable education. This study proposed recommendations based on the conceptual model. Sustainable education contents should be analyzed by making use of the actual data for the study. Environmental knowledge can be used along with advertisement to enhance sustainable education among societies.

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Eurasian Business Perspectives: Human Resources Management

The Effect of Personal Branding Factors on Generation Y Employability and Career Satisfaction: The Case of Croatia Marina Tomas1 and Irena Pandža Bajs2 (*) Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia [email protected] 1 

2 

Abstract.  Personal branding as a concept is increasingly analysed in theory and practice, as it can significantly contribute to the development of young people’s careers after graduation. Generation Y’s importance and impact on the labour market is evidenced by the fact that Millennials are the generation with the highest education rate and soon they will make up the most of working population in the labour market. Accordingly, it is important to analyse the Generation Y’s personal branding concept and its impact on their career satisfaction. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between Generation Y’s personal branding variables, perceived employability and career satisfaction. The concept of personal branding is analysed through three variables: strategic, technological and differentiation factors. For the analysis of direct and indirect relationships and the impact of one variable to another, structural equation modelling was used. The research results show that strategic factors of personal branding affect the construct of career satisfaction indirectly, through perceived employability. It means that an individual who acts strategically and focuses his activities on building and developing his professional image at the same time raises the level of his perceived employability and is more satisfied with his own career. In conclusion, the obtained research model can be used as a model for assessing development orientation, use of personal branding and career satisfaction. Keywords:  Personal branding · Career satisfaction · Generation Y

1 Introduction Personal branding helps to change the perception of one’s career development. In order for individuals to achieve their goals in career planning, it is certainly good to have guidelines and incentives that help them use their abilities and achieve a career that will be in line with their talents and aspirations (Smolarek & Dziendziora, 2022).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 E. Demir et al. (eds.), Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives, Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics 26, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30061-5_3

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Today, personal branding is the best way for self-presentation in the business world. In times when the labour market is expanding, the usual and random search for an employment no longer brings expected results. Job insecurity today results in reliance on the level of one’s own employability. Individuals who consider themselves easily employable cope better with job insecurity (Martini et  al., 2022) and achieve career success more easily. It is expected that the importance of personal branding will only grow in the future. Accordingly, individuals need to think about the skills needed to be developed, which will be valued when entering the labour market. Career success is reflected through career satisfaction as a subjective component, while salary and job promotions are reflected as an objective component (Arthur et  al., 2005; Stumpf & Tymon, 2012). Some research has shown that personal branding significantly affects an individual’s success in the labour market (Gorbatov et al., 2019, 2021; Martini et al., 2022), which is reflected in his behaviour and private and professional development. The literature analysis shows that there is insufficient research on the connection between personal branding concepts, perceived employability and career satisfaction, especially among Generation Y, which is currently the most represented generation on the labour market. Also, there is a lack of research on how different factors of personal branding affect perceived employability and career satisfaction, and which factor has the greatest impact. Accordingly, primary research was conducted among Generation Y in Croatia. This research has shown that career satisfaction and perceived employability change depending on how much an individual invests in personal branding, mostly in strategic factors. If an individual strategically plans and presents his knowledge and skills and invests more in his personal branding, his perception of employability will be more positive, and he will be more satisfied with his own career. Accordingly, such individual believes that he can easily change jobs, choose where to work and for how much money and considers this a career success. Due to all of the above, it is necessary to recognize the importance of personal branding for career development and satisfaction of the generation that has an increasingly important impact on the labour market, since the labour market trends and employee behaviour will develop and change accordingly. The aim of this research is to analyse the main factors of the concept of personal branding and their impact on the perception of employability and career satisfaction of the Generation Y. Following the example of research by Gorbatov et al. (2019), the variable personal branding is divided into three subconstructs: strategic, differentiation and technological factors. The results of this study show that only the strategic factor variable indirectly affects career satisfaction through perceived employability, meaning perceived employability is a statistically significant mediator between strategic factors and career satisfaction. In conclusion, this model can be used as a model for assessing the orientation towards the development and use of personal branding and increasing self-actualization in the context of personal branding under the influence of one’s career satisfaction. The paper is divided into four chapters: Introduction, Theoretical Framework, Empirical Research, Discussion and Conclusion.

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2 Theoretical Framework 2.1 Personal Branding Concept Research on personal branding as a separate scientific concept began in the early 2000s (Gorbatov et  al., 2018), and the term “personal branding” was originally defined by Shepherd (2005) based on available literature. There are two main categories for defining the concept of personal branding—category based on marketing theory and the one based on the theory of self-presentation and reputation building (Gorbatov et al., 2018). Arruda (2009) describes personal branding as an awareness of character traits that make a unique individual, and as an ability to use these traits for the purpose of self-­ differentiation from others. According to Pathmanathan and Dodamgoda (2018), with the help of personal branding, young professionals can build recognizable image, reputation and credibility in the labour market, and that is a base for career advancement. Elements of personal branding include appearance (e.g. clothing, style, attractiveness), personality (e.g. behaviour, manners and etiquette, values), competences (skills, knowledge and abilities), strengths (academic achievement, work experience), areas of interest and motivation and accomplishments they want to achieve in the future. According to Gorbatov et al. (2019), personal branding is a proactive behaviour that, with the help of marketing strategies and tactics, enables the achievement of career goals in three different ways: strategic, by differentiation and based on technological achievements. Accordingly, the concept of personal branding can be analysed through three subconstructs: strategic, technological and differentiation factors. Strategic factors refer to the activities an individual carries out in an organized and targeted manner, in order to develop his professional image. Differentiation factors include positioning in the labour market, i.e. the activities an individual carries out in order to differentiate from the competition and the way he communicates his own value. Technological factors relate primarily to the use of the Internet and social networks for the purpose of conducting personal branding activities. 2.1.1  Strategic Factors of  Personal Branding. Personal branding involves certain behaviour and presentation that have a strong influence on the perception and opinions of others (Rampersad, 2008) and has become a very important element of personal success in the modern world of the Internet and virtual communities. Strategic emphasis of an individual’s characteristics which he considers to be the most important for employment and career (Zarkada, 2012) represents personal branding as a pre-planned activity by which individuals present themselves in the labour market with the purpose of getting employed easier. Hood et al. (2014) state integrated marketing communication as a component of personal branding, in which an individual presents himself as a product which includes planned activities aimed at one’s professional development. According to Khedher (2014), the starting point is the assumption that everyone has the ability to develop their own personal brand, while on the other hand, most people are

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not familiar with the concept of personal branding nor are they able to develop it strategically, consistently and effectively. In the context of strategic and planned development as part of personal branding, it is necessary to work in an organized manner on building cultural and social capital (Khedher, 2019). Cultural capital can be defined as a set of professional skills acquired during a career, cultural activity and lifelong learning (formal and non-formal). Social capital (Khedher, 2014) is described as networking—creating business and personal relationships with others, with the aim of gathering references and information and gaining support. Planned and strategic building of social and cultural capital significantly affects the personal branding of an individual and his success in the labour market. Building a professional image is a strategic activity of personal branding. Fritz et al. (2017) state that through research disciplines, authenticity is primarily understood as a behavioural component. Personal identity is the most important factor in building a strong professional image, and an individual’s personal brand should be authentic, reflecting his true character, while the basis for building should be personal values, strength and authenticity of the individual (Labrecque et al., 2011; Rampersad, 2008). A professional image based on these elements communicates a certain value and makes a strong, clear and complete personal brand. 2.1.2  Differentiation Factors. Through personal branding, an individual creates a certain image of himself that helps to promote himself and his values, better positioning in the labour market and it is what distinguishes an individual from others (Potgieter & Doubell, 2019; Figurska, 2016). By differentiating in the labour market, an individual creates his position in the market and builds a competitive advantage. If his personal brand, i.e. professional image, is positive, strong and recognizable, he becomes “kind of identifier, a promise of expected benefits, a carrier of desired values, an emotional bond between the owner of the brand and the audience” (2016). Karaduman (2013) believes that the concept of personal branding differs from the concept of image management and points out that personal branding is designed as a direct support to create market value of a brand related to a particular person or individual, while Rampersad (2008) states that this positioning strategy is more complex than classic marketing and self-promotion activities and stands behind some of the world’s most successful people, such as Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Bill Gates. Rampersad (2008, p. 34) defines personal branding as a “synthesis of all the expectations, images, and perceptions it creates in the minds of others when they see or hear your name”. Zarkada (2012) concludes that in the upcoming decades, the individual’s competitiveness in the labour market will be extremely important. Most authors (Potgieter & Doubell, 2019; Figurska, 2016; Rampersad, 2008) agree that personal branding makes a difference and helps an individual to differentiate and create a certain image, private and professional. In addition to cultural and social capital, one can single out direct and indirect self-­ presentation and authenticity and appearance (Khedher, 2019) by which an individual builds his position and differentiates himself in the labour market. Khedher (2019) defines mediated (nonverbal) self-presentation as a form of self-presentation using a

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variety of communication platforms—online communication tools, resumes or a portfolio of one’s own achievements. Immediate (verbal) self-presentation is a way in which an individual communicates his skills, competencies and achievements, personal information, attitudes and opinions. Authenticity is considered to be a sense of truthfulness towards oneself and others, and as components one states personal style, honesty and integrity, which should be the basis for building a personal brand of an individual. It is his personality or unique combination of strengths and weaknesses that reflects his real character and makes him unique and authentic. Appearance implies physical appearance and care for one’s body, e.g. nutrition, physical activity and sports, hygiene and clothing. Figurska (2016) concludes that a strong personal brand and good personal branding increases an individual’s competitiveness both within the organization and in the labour market. Higher level of competitiveness within the organization itself gives employees greater prospects for advancement, decision-making ability and executive autonomy. The authority of the individual also increases, so it is easier to earn a promotion to managerial positions. 2.1.3  Technological Factors of  Personal Branding. Personal branding popularity growth can be attributed to the growth of social networks, Internet communication and the fact that the concept of personal branding is becoming increasingly important in the digital age (Labrecque et  al., 2011). Van Dijck (2013) describes social networks as “stages” for expressing views, self-promotion and communication, and this enables building a personal brand in a private and professional environment. Social networks can be defined as a group of Internet applications with a purpose of creating and sharing content, based on technological and ideological principles of Web 2.0 (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Wilson et al. (2011) define Web 2.0. as “the second generation of the Web in which user-centric web applications and services promote social connectivity, the exchange of media and information, user-generated content, and collaboration between individuals and organizations”. The following platforms are classified as social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace and Twitter. Initially, platforms like Facebook were considered a space for personal self-expression and networking, but soon users realized the benefits of online self-presentation and the importance of social media as a tool for professional self-promotion (Van Dijck, 2013). Goffman (1959) in Labrecque et al. (2011) state that self-presentation is a way for an individual to share personal information with others and as a mechanism for creating and maintaining a professional image. He concludes that Facebook, in addition to sharing personal content, is also used for social networking and digital creation of a personal brand. Professional networks like LinkedIn have become more important as job seekers are increasingly turning to their Internet contacts and social networks. Individuals on social networks create content that affects the attractiveness of the profile through c­ ommunication and active promotion of their business success, knowledge and skills they have acquired and the expression of their opinions and views. By actively updating the profile, the individual increases a probability that the target group (e.g. talent scouts or human resources specialists) will notice the profile during their search and perceive it as desirable in terms of employment or business (Harris & Rae, 2011).

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Labrecque et al. (2011) conclude that the creation of personal websites and profiles on various social networks is in full swing precisely because Web 2.0 contains tools that simplify the process of creation and encourage the publication of user content. With fewer technological barriers and increasing frequency of use, the Internet has become an ideal platform for conducting personal branding activities. Potgieter and Doubell (2019) conclude that personal branding is a much broader concept than the facts that individuals present about themselves through social media. The success of creating a personal brand does not only depend on their skills, interests and motivation but also on how effective the way they present themselves is—that is, authentic and true self-presentation. Harris and Rae (2011) conclude that building and maintaining a personal brand in the virtual world is becoming the most important difference between proactive and reactive members of society, and that it’s crucial to take care of all the information posted online in a way that will encourage rather than discourage potential employers. Facebook and LinkedIn are widely used social networks for selecting and recruiting candidates and are very often used in evaluating candidates in the recruitment process (Hood et al., 2014). 2.2 Perceived Employability Fugate et al. (2004) define employability as a psychosocial construct which includes individual traits that encourage adaptability and influence behaviour and the improvement of an individual’s performance in the workplace. According to Berntson and Marklund (2007), perceived employability refers to an individual’s perception of the possibilities for obtaining and retaining employment, or to the fact how easy it is for an individual to get a new job. Furthermore, perceived employability does not necessarily include the very intention to leave the current organization in order to find a better employment. It implies a passive perception of whether and how likely it is to acquire alternative employment, especially in situations where the organization or employee is facing difficulties (Kim et al., 2015). Berntson and Marklund (2007) state that employability reflects the way an individual perceives their opportunities in the labour market and that an individual with a high level of employability finds it easy to get a new job. In this context, “being employable” or a high level of employability means that one has the opportunity to change the work environment and consequently be less exposed to possible poor working conditions. Smith (2010) states that making yourself employable means developing privately and professionally, with the goal of maximizing your own employment opportunities. In this context, personal branding and differentiation in the labour market can enable an individual a high level of employability and success in the labour market. According to Hillage and Pollard (1998), employability is divided into three phases. The first phase begins with the entry of an individual into the labour market, i.e. his first employment. The main issue related to employability at this stage is how an individual without work experience will present himself and position himself in the labour market. The second is characterized by concern for job retention and the individual’s efforts to remain attractive to his employers, while in the third, the individual focuses on the ability to find new employment.

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2.3 Career and Career Success The concept of career can be defined as the evolving sequence of a person’s work experience (Arthur et al., 2005). At the very beginning of the development of the theory, career was defined (Wilensky, 1961) as a series of hierarchically arranged and connected jobs through which people move in an ordered sequence throughout their lives. Later, in the late 1980s, the evolution from “jobs” to “experiences” was reflected in a turn in the social sciences (Savickas, 1995) when the focus shifted from the objective to the subjective concept of work. Judge et al. (1995, p. 486) defined career success as “a positive psychological outcome or achievement related to work as a result of one’s work experience”. Career success is usually assessed by measurable criteria, i.e. salary and promotions, but the perception and subjective evaluation of the individual about the success of his own career should be taken into account (Turban & Dougherty, 1994). Based on literature related to career theory (Arthur et  al., 2005; Volmer & Spurk, 2011), it can be concluded that career success consists of subjective and objective components. As objective indicators of career success, authors (Stumpf & Tymon, 2012; Volmer & Spurk, 2011) cite an advancement and change in salary, i.e. obvious and visible career achievements. Subjective career success is an individual’s inner understanding and personal evaluation of their career according to dimensions that are important to the individual himself (Arthur et al., 2005). Stumpf and Tymon (2012) defines subjective career success as a reflection of an individual’s judgment of his career, and it includes an assessment of the value of his own human capital, an assessment of his own value and ability and the satisfaction he experienced during his career. An evaluation of self-worth is carried out through the concept of core self-evaluation, while career satisfaction reflects the impact associated with the accumulated experiences from the working life of the individual. According to Volmer and Spurk (2011), an individual’s subjective success is a positive assessment of their career and is reflected through career satisfaction and job satisfaction. Some studies (Gorbatov et al., 2019) confirm that the perceived employability of an individual has a positive impact on his career satisfaction and a positive perception of his own success in the labour market. 2.4 Characteristics of Generation Y in the Labour Market Smith and Nichols (2015) define Generation Y, also called Millennials, as individuals born between 1980 and 2000, and the same time span according to the Goldman Sachs Asset Management - Investing in the Millennial Effect (2016) is confirmed by Goldman Sachs Fundamental Equity (2016). Based on available sources, and according to the definitions of most authors, it can be concluded that Generation Y refers to individuals born between 1980 and 2000. “Millennials” are considered to be a generation with the highest rate of education and by 2025 will make up to almost 75% of working population in the labour market (Maiers, 2017). Bannon et al. (2011) believe that members of this generation are more technologically advanced, educated and ethnically diverse than members of any previous generations. The dominant characteristics of Generation Y are self-confidence and

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self-assurance that allows them to advance to leadership positions (Kamau et al., 2014), self-esteem and assertiveness, focus on achievement, high level of responsibility, teamwork and use of technology (Smith & Nichols, 2015). The results of a study by Pinzaru et al. (2016) show how Millennials are motivated by approval and public recognition from others, and also immediate and frequent positive feedback. They also need a balance between personal and professional life, a comfortable working environment and flexible working hours, are less willing to work overtime and give more importance to personal life and family. They are motivated by working in a non-conformist environment without strict rules and traditional work approaches and characterized by frequent job changes, and according to Jackson (2010), they are less loyal than the previous generations. Bochantin (2017) believes that most members of Generation Y actually work on creating a personal brand both planned and consciously as well as unconsciously. To substantiate his claim, he states several reasons. The first reason is the fact that Generation Y is present on the Internet much more than any other Generation and is therefore connected to the media. They live in a time of having a multitude of marketing tools at their disposal. They are very skilled at using social media and presenting themselves through those social media, which means they understand the concept of personal branding. They are aware of the possibility of positioning themselves in their work environment as “a person who has a solution” for all technological needs, which makes them priceless within their working group. Sharp (2015) in his dissertation concludes that although in the past personal branding was not of great importance for business success, today it is needed and even a key part of personal and professional development of an individual and considers it a key activity when it comes to career success. Also, because of the technological advances of society that have led to the rapid sharing of information over the Internet, in the context of Generation Y notes the importance of building and managing one’s personal brand and professional image— because if an individual does not create and shape his personal brand, others will do it for him. Several organizations, e.g. Pew Research Center, PwC, KPMG and Deloitte, have conducted research (Bannon et al., 2011) with the aim of determining the ways in which Generation Y will affect the workplace. Combining the key findings of this research, the authors identified five different characteristics of Millennials, which include advanced technological skills, attitudes towards work-life balance, social responsibility, e­ ducation and diversity. Gorbatov et al. (2019) state that the number of individuals doing their work online is rising. This global trend of digitalization brings many job seekers the opportunity to offer their knowledge, skills and competencies globally and beyond the borders of industries and organizations and is achieved through personal branding, i.e. presenting their own value to the target audience. Job-changing is now a common practice of employees in private companies, and Millennials are more prone to it than any other generation (Nolan, 2015). According to a KPMG (2017) survey, an average Millennial remains in the current employment for a maximum of 3 years. With the high level of networking, the ability to compare with the competition and the online job search options available today, it’s understandable how quickly they become eager for the next business challenge.

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Based on research by De Vos et al. (2011), it is concluded that working on the development of one’s own competencies affects an individual’s perception of his level of employability, and perceived employability is positively correlated with career satisfaction. Maxwell and Broadbridge (2017), on the other hand, argue that Generation Y’s career satisfaction levels affect their job satisfaction. Therefore, it can be concluded that career satisfaction, perceived employability, and also job satisfaction or current position are closely related and interdependent concepts.

3 Empirical Research 3.1 Research Goals and Hypotheses The aim of this research is to analyse the impact of personal branding on perceived employability and career satisfaction of Generation Y’s members. Dimensions that determine the concept of personal branding are strategic, differentiation and technological factors. In this context, their impact on Generation Y’s perceived employability and career satisfaction was analysed. In accordance with the analysis of secondary data in the theoretical part of the paper, the hypotheses of primary research are defined as follows: H1: Strategic factors of personal branding positively affect the Generation Y’s perceived employability. H2: Factors differentiating personal branding positively affect the Generation Y’s perceived employability. H3: Technological factors of personal branding positively affect the Generation Y’s perceived employability. H4: Perceived employability has a positive effect on the Generation Y’s career satisfaction. 3.2 Methodology The research was conducted using a questionnaire which was created based on statements and questions taken and adapted from the relevant scientific literature (Gorbatov et al., 2019; Spurk et al., 2011; Berntson & Marklund, 2007). Personal branding was measured by statements taken from the paper “The impact of personal branding on career success” (Gorbatov et al., 2019), and measured through strategic, differentiation and technological factors. Perceived employability was measured by statements taken from research by Spurk et al. (2011), and career satisfaction by statements taken from research by authors Berntson and Marklund (2007). The Likert scale (1–5) was used to measure the variables. The research was conducted in 2021, using a purposive convenience sampling method. The questionnaire was distributed to potential respondents in Croatia via Facebook and LinkedIn social networks. The target group of respondents consisted of

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the members of Generation Y due to their importance for the labour market, but for the analysis of career satisfaction, members of Generation Y who had just entered the labour market were excluded. Accordingly, the minimum criteria necessary for a respondent to complete the survey are that the respondent should be (1) employed for a minimum of 3 years and (2) born between 1980 and 2000. Statistical methods in accordance with the set research problems were used for data analysis. Initial analysis of the psychometric characteristics of the scales and the description of the sample and the relationship between the variables were made in the SPSS26 software. Psychometric analysis was performed, i.e. the reliability of the internal consistency type and factor structure were examined as the indicators of construct validity. Construct validity refers to the empirical conclusion whether a scale measures a target construct, and factor analysis is used as a way of verification (Petz, 1981). Therefore, the analysis of the main components with Varimax rotation and compliance with the Kaiser-Guttman criterion in factor extraction was performed. The results were compared with the structure obtained in other studies. In order to obtain an initial insight into the relationship between the variables set in the model, but also to check the convergent validity of the scales, correlations between the observed variables were analysed. For the analysis of direct and indirect relationships and the impact of one variable on another, structural equation modelling in SmartPLS 3.0 was used. Some of the key indicators of model suitability are the suitability index (NFI) and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR). Both of the above measures are criteria for determining the suitability of models and data. The statistical program SmartPLS3.0 was used to test the impact and relationships in the model. 3.3 Research Results The research was conducted on a sample of 191 respondents. The largest number of respondents was women (56%), with a university degree (50%), aged 30–34 (40%), with 3–5 years of service (44%) and with monthly revenues between 650 and 1.000 EUR (almost 40%) (Table 1). In the context of the employment classifications, i.e. fields in which the respondents are employed, the largest number of respondents is employed in “economics, accounting and finance” with 31 responses (16%). Administrative professions are also predominantly represented with 10%, followed by tourism with 8% and marketing and PR with 8%. Before defining the final structure model that includes all variables, it was necessary to analyse each variable separately to determine the validity and reliability of the measurement scales used. The reliability of the individual scales used in the measurement of the latent variable was examined by analysing Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Reliability analysis showed that the coefficients for each scale measurement were above 0.7 and ranged from 0.74 to 0.91. To determine which variables will be used in the structural model, it was necessary to examine the reliability of each latent variable as well as the manifest variables (statements) that define them. Each measurement scale is assumed to have convergent valid-

The Effect of Personal Branding Factors on Generation Y Employability and… Table 1  Demographics of the respondents. Category Frequencies % Gender    Male 83 43.5    Female 108 56.5 Age    20–24 18 9.4    25–29 49 25.7    30–34 73 38.2    35–40 51 26.7 Work experience    3–5 84 44.0    6–8 36 18.8    9–11 27 14.1    12–14 21 11.0    15+ 23 12.0 Education degree   Secondary 54 28.3 education   University 33 17.3 Bachelor’s degree   University Master’s 96 50.3 degree    MBA/PhD 8 4.2 Salary/month (EUR)    Up to 650 29 15.2    650–1.000 74 38.7    1.001–1.200 37 19.4    1.201–1.500 26 13.6    1.501–1.700 11 5.8    1.701–2.000 4 2.1    Above 2.000 10 5.2 Source: Authors’ work

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ity if the manifest variable for measuring the latent variable has high factor loads on the same factor and low loads on others. To determine the factor load, an exploratory factor analysis was performed. In order to define the factors, the principal component method was implemented, together with Varimax rotation using the SPSS statistical software. Factor analysis resulted in the extraction of five latent variables (factors) and 22 manifest variables. The results of the reliability of the variables in the model are given in Table 2. To test hypotheses and determine the relationship between variables, structural modelling was performed. It involves different statistical methods that examine the relationships between one or more independent variables and one or more dependent variables. It also includes standard modelling and analysis techniques, simultaneous modelling, covariance analysis, path analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. According to the research hypotheses, the career satisfaction model is designed in such a way that the variable of perceived employability is a sort of mediator between independent variables (technological factors, strategic factors and differentiation factors) and dependent variables of career satisfaction.

Table 2  Reliability analysis of variables in the model. Variables/indicators Technological factors Differentiation factors Strategic factors Career satisfaction Perceived employability Source: Authors’ work

Number of particles 5 3 5 5 4

Me 2.23 3.55 4.36 3.42 3.69

SD 0.26 0.64 0.07 0.22 0.22

Min 5 3 5 5 4

Max 25 15 25 25 20

R 20 12 20 20 16

α 0.91 0.74 0.78 0.90 0.84

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Table 3  Composite reliability indicators and average extracted variance. Variables/indicators Perceived employability Strategic factors Technological factors Career satisfaction Differentiation factors

Composite reliability 0.893 0.848 0.931 0.927 0.845

Average variance extracted, AVE 0.676 0.531 0.730 0.717 0.650

Source: Authors’ work

In order to examine the reliability of the model, composite reliability indicators and average extracted variance were defined. The composite reliability indicator should be at least 0.7 for each individual variable, and at least 0.5 for the average extracted variance (Mikulić & Prebežac, 2011). The results of the analysis of preliminary indicators of the structural model indicate the absence of irregularities since all indicators of composite reliability are higher than 0.7, and all indicators of average extracted variance are higher than 0.5 (Table 3). To examine further assumptions of the structural model, multicollinearity testing of variables in the model was performed. The problem of multicollinearity occurs when the coefficient of determination between two variables is greater than 0.8, and its VIF index exceeds the value of 5 (Hair et al., 2017). The results of the multicollinearity test for the observed model showed that the VIF values of all variables were less than 5. According to the results of the basic indicators of structural modelling, a model was created in the Smart PLS3.0 software (Fig. 1). Indicators of statistical significance and coefficients of influence of variables in the model are summarized in Table 4. The results of the analysis indicate that some coefficients of influence in the model are statistically significant. The table above shows the contribution of individual variables to career satisfaction. The variable perceived employability and strategic factors of personal branding have levels of statistical significance of Sig = 0.00 and Sig = 0.001, respectively, which are below 0.05, i.e. the impact of these variables on the variable satisfaction can be interpreted as 95% accurate. Namely, perceived employability has a statistically significant effect on the construct of career satisfaction (t = 10.82; p