Central European Countries Research Articles

Chinese and Hungarian Financial Relations

Banking and financial relations sometimes precede, sometimes follow, but in all cases reinforce economic and political cooperation. This is also the case between China and Hungary. China, which is increasingly assuming its role as a world power, is - for obvious pragmatic reasons - open towards the Central and Eastern European countries wedged between Asia and Western Europe. It is doing so along traditional Chinese trade routes, as part of the 'One Belt, One Road' programme. In this programme, Hungary can build on its known Eastern origins, its deeper understanding of different political systems, and its multifaceted personal relationships to establish successful economic and political cooperation with the financial sector playing its part.

Challenged by postmaterialism: left-wing parties in postcommunist Europe

ABSTRACT The article explores the evolution of left-wing voting in the postcommunist countries of Central and Eastern Europe against the background of value shifts. The main trend indicates that those societies are witnessing a gradual transition to postmaterialism. However, examining the parties’ electoral manifestos allowed the authors to conclude that the twenty-first century cannot be characterized by uniform trends: only in the case of environmentalism did the left-wing parties adapt to the changing values of their electorate, while for other indicators the situation was the opposite. The main argument of the study, supported by regression analysis is that only the appeal to green policies prevented the left-wing parties from losing out in electoral campaigns, while the references to multiculturalism and social equality had the opposite effect. Curiously enough, the verbal commitment to traditionalist values also helped the left-wingers to retain their electorate. To get a more complete picture of the voting patterns, the authors carried out an investigation into the left-wing electorate. The conclusion was that supporters of the left-wing parties are increasingly inclined toward postmaterialism. At the same time, the study showed the ineffectiveness of the left-wing political programs. This creates a gap between the left-wing parties and their electorate.

Geographical variations, prevalence, and molecular dynamics of fastidious phloem-limited pathogens infecting sugar beet across Central Europe.

In Europe, two fastidious phloem-limited pathogens, 'Candidatus Phytoplasma solani' (16SrXII-A) and 'Candidatus Arsenophonus phytopathogenicus', are associated with rubbery taproot disease (RTD) and syndrome basses richesses (SBR) of sugar beet, respectively. Both diseases can significantly reduce yield, especially when accompanied by root rot fungi. This study investigates the presence, geographic distribution and genetic traits of fastidious pathogens and the accompanying fungus, Macrophomina phaseolina, found on sugar beet across four geographically separated plains spanning seven countries in Central Europe. The survey revealed variable incidences of symptoms linked to these fastidious pathogens in the Pannonian and Wallachian Plains, sporadic occurrence in the North European Plain, and no symptomatic sugar beet in the Bohemian Plain. Molecular analyses unveiled the occurrence of both 'Ca. P. solani' and 'Ca. A. phytopathogenicus' throughout Central Europe, with a predominance of the phytoplasma. These fastidious pathogens were detected in all six countries surveyed within the Pannonian and Wallachian Plains, with only a limited presence of various phytoplasmas was found in the North European Plain, while no fastidious pathogens were detected in Bohemia, aligning with observed symptoms. While 16S rDNA sequences of 'Ca. P. solani' remained highly conserved, multi-locus characterization of two more variable loci (tuf and stamp) unveiled distinct variability patterns across the plains. Notably, the surprising lack of variability of tuf and stamp loci within Central Europe, particularly the Pannonian Plain, contrasted their high variability in Eastern and Western Europe, corresponding to epidemic and sporadic occurrence, respectively. The current study provides valuable insights into the genetic dynamics of 'Ca. P. solani' in Central Europe, and novel findings of the presence of 'Ca. A. phytopathogenicus' in five countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Serbia, and Romania) and M. phaseolina in sugar beet in Slovakia. These findings emphasize the need for further investigation of vector-pathogen(s)-plant host interactions and ecological drivers of disease outbreaks.

The rising cost of servicing public debt: challenges for fiscal policy in a crisis environment

The study is devoted to the challenges for the fiscal policies of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, resulting from the strong growth of public debt and its servicing costs under the conditions of the pandemic and war shocks. The purpose of the study is to answer the questions: i) what factors caused the sharp increase in sovereign debt yields? ii) is there a correlation between the degree of implementation of sound economic governance (SEG) principles and the cost of servicing sovereign debt? ii) how strong was the response of the sovereign deficit and debt to the shocks caused by the pandemic and war in Ukraine? iii) does the rising cost of servicing debt threaten the sustainability of public finances? v) do the adopted SEG principles remain relevant during periods of shocks? The study covered the 6 largest economies in this part of Europe, i.e. Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, and Slovakia, but its results apply indirectly to many other countries. The results were confronted with a plan for reforming the EU’s economic governance system in order to identify the fundamental challenges facing the countries studied in this context. On the basis of the study, recommendations were put forward for shaping the assumptions of the state debt management strategy and multi-year financial plans.

The Relationship Between Topics, Negativity, and User Engagement in Election Campaigns on Facebook

Negativity is a common feature of current online political communication during elections. Previous studies on negativity and its impact on user engagement focused mainly on Western European countries. Considering the political particularities of the Central and Eastern European countries, the present study focused on Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova, and Romania, where national election campaigns took place from 2020 to 2022. We aimed to investigate comparatively different topics prevalent in the negative messages and look at users’ engagement with negative communication. We applied manual content analysis of N = 4,095 Facebook posts published four weeks before the elections by political parties elected in the national parliament. Results showed significant differences across countries using negative messages and the associated topics. The posts’ highest rate of negative statements was identified in Czechia (52%), while the lowest was in Lithuania (17%). There are topics consistently associated with negative statements across most countries, such as corruption, economy and finance, foreign policy, labor, and social issues. However, given that those elections took place during the Covid-19 pandemic in Czechia, Lithuania, Romania, and the Republic of Moldova and, in Hungary, after Russia invaded Ukraine, we also identified contextual topics such as health, war, and conflicts with other countries and defense that were mainly associated with negative messages. Furthermore, negative posts generate more reactions and comments than posts containing no negative statements. Addressing foreign policy in negative posts generates significantly more reactions and comments.

Optimisation of global stem cell donor recruitment based on analysis of unsuccessful donor searches.

Despite over 41 million registered potential volunteer stem cell donors worldwide, many patients in need of a transplant do not find an HLA-matched unrelated donor or cord blood units, with the respective odds differing significantly between various populations. In this study, we analysed data of 2205 unsuccessful real-life donor searches sent to the DKMS Registry to identify populations in which further donor recruitment would be associated with particularly large patient benefits. For that purpose, we estimated haplotype frequencies of 67 donor populations at various sample sizes and entered them into two different mathematical models. These models assessed patient benefits from population-specific donor recruitment, operationalised by the number of originally unsuccessful searches that may become successful due to new donors. Consistently, across the different mathematical models and sample sizes, we obtained several countries from East and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines) and the population of Asians in the USA as countries/populations where donor recruitment activities would be particularly beneficial for patients. We also identified various countries in Southeast and Central Europe as possible target regions for donor recruitment with above-average patient benefits. The results presented are registry-specific in the sense that they were obtained by optimising unsuccessful searches that had been sent to the DKMS Registry. Therefore, it would be desirable to apply the presented methods to a global data set that includes all unsuccessful stem cell donor searches worldwide and uses population-specific haplotype frequencies based on all donors available in the WMDA Search & Match Service.

The influence of supervisory support on clinical learning as experienced by Czech Nursing and health professional students in the context of patient safety events: A qualitative study

AimTo explore the influence of supervisory and mentoring relationships on the clinical learning experiences of Czech Nursing and health professional students in the context of patient safety events BackgroundClinical experience is integral to healthcare education, shaping skills, behaviours, values and professional identity. During clinical placements, students may encounter memorable patient safety events and experience varied reactions from mentors/supervisors/others. Some research has highlighted challenges faced by students on clinical placement. Few studies involve multiple professions, most emanating from Western Europe, the UK, the USA and Australia with little relating to central European countries such as the Czech Republic. DesignTwo stage interpretivist qualitative study based in social constructionism MethodsConvenience sample across 13 undergraduate and 18 postgraduate health professions courses. Stage 1 (2022): using SLIPPS Learning Event Recording Tool translated into Czech. 20 students’ (Midwifery=11, Nursing=1, Paramedic=1, Occupational therapy =7) submitted 21 patient safety learning event narratives. Stage 2 (2022): Focus group with 2 nursing and nine midwifery students. Phased thematic analysis involving multiple researchers. ResultsThree themes illustrate the circumstances and impact of placement mentoring/supervision experiences, conceptualised as: ‘Clinical and Emotional Companionship’, ‘Clinical and Emotional Abandonment’ and ‘Sense of agency - Professional and personal growth’. ‘Companionship’ reflected the students’ feelings of being welcomed, respected, heard, trusted and supported. Conversely ‘abandonment’ emerged from feelings of being unheard, vulnerable, humiliated, afraid, leaving students feeling abandoned, lonely and ‘useless’. Notwithstanding these conditions, students showed the ability to identify patient safety issues with agency evident in reactions such as stepping-in to try to ameliorate a situation, rather than speaking-up. Professional and personal growth was also apparent in their narratives and a conceptual diagram illustrates the students’ learning journeys in a patient safety context. ConclusionThe findings and new conceptualisations around abandonment and companionship emerging from this study expand the evidence base regarding the profound impact of clinical experience and mentorship/supervision on learning and students’ emotional wellbeing. A sense of companionship appears to play a buffering role even in challenging circumstances of involvement in or witnessing compromised patients’ safety. Allowing students a sense of belonging, to vent, grow, feel supported and safe to ask/learn - contributing to ‘emotional safety for learning’, promotes students’ behaviour that may prevent/minimize hazards or ameliorate the aftermath. However, we must not simply blame mentors/supervisors, staff, or the students themselves- they are simply part of a much larger complex environment of professional education encompassing hidden curriculums, power dynamics and professional socialisation.

Detection of earnings manipulations during the corporate life cycle in Central European countries

Research background: The growing trend of financial distress risk worldwide increases the need for effective tools to detect accounting manipulation by stakeholders (debt holders, shareholders, suppliers, and customers). However, the well-known models of accrual earnings management do not reflect the financial specificity of individual life cycle stages and their cash flow patterns. Purpose of the article: The study examines the impact of the corporate life cycle on the reliability of accrual earnings management models and identifies appropriate models for detecting accounting manipulation in Central European countries. Methods: Seven accrual earnings management models were used. They were evaluated based on five criteria: explanatory power (adjusted coefficient of determination), overall significance of the regression model, significance of the regression coefficients, predicted sign of the regression coefficients, and standard errors of the estimated regression coefficients. Finally, a comprehensive scoring model was used to determine the overall quality of the models examined. The study was conducted on a sample of more than 30,000 enterprises from four Central European countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), with data covering the period 2017–2021. The Dickinson non-sequential life cycle model was used to distinguish life cycle stages according to cash flow patterns. Findings & value added: The results of the study suggest that, firstly, discretionary accruals vary across countries as well as over the firm's life cycle; earnings manipulations have an inverted U-shape with mature firms tending to reduce their accounting profit. The reliability of the models examined was poor in the case of start-ups. This reflects the need to distinguish between life cycle stages in the detection of earnings manipulation.

ECONOMIC AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF PROVIDING INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMY IN THE CONDITIONS OF INCREASED INFLUENCE OF FACTORS OF A MILITARY NATURE: THE EXPERIENCE OF UKRAINE AND THE COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

The purpose of the article is to analyze the state of innovative development of the economy of Ukraine and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and to identify the problems of its provision in the conditions of martial law. The results of the study prove that factors of a military nature have an ambiguous effect on stimulating the innovative development of the country's economy. It has been established that economic evolution through innovation is a prerequisite for strengthening its competitiveness in countering modern challenges and threats. The results of the empirical study made it possible to find out that during the large-scale aggression of Russia on the territory of Ukraine in 2022, a decrease in the level of innovative economic development was also observed in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It was established that in 2023, the countries of the analyzed group managed to increase the indicators of innovative activity of business entities and the parameters of the innovative development of the economy. Important problems in ensuring economic progress through innovative activity have been identified: (1) shortcomings of the legislation regulating the innovation sphere; (2) lack of formation of a unified innovation infrastructure; (3) significant tax burden; (4) lack of an effective system of taxation and provision of tax benefits and preferences; (5) lack of effective investment mechanisms in the field of innovation; (6) low level of technological capacity of production facilities; (7) imperfection of the education system; (8) low level of financing of research activities; (9) focus on the export of raw materials and dependence on high-tech imports. In order to ensure sustainable innovative development of the country's economy, it is necessary to create appropriate conditions for the development of innovative potential, activate the creation of cross-border innovation clusters, and strengthen the country's investment attractiveness.

Polityka papiestwa w Europie Środkowej i na Bałkanach w okresie działalności Konstantyna i Metodego w państwie morawskim oraz misjonarzy łacińskich w Bułgarii

The subject of the article is the policy of the Holy See during the pontificates of Nicholas I, Hadrian II and John VIII with regard to countries in Central Europe and the Balkans. It was the result of the complex relations between the papacy and the Carolingians, the Byzantine Empire as well as the Slavic states. The Moravian rulers (Rostislav and Sviatopluk) and, Boris-Michael, the Khan of Bulgaria, used the interest of the Holy Sees diplomacy in these regions to implement their own ecclesiastical and political plans. An analysis of mutual diplomatic contacts shows more interest in Boris-Michaels state in the diplomatic activity of the papacy than in the Moravian state. The change in the policy of the Holy See took place after the fiasco of making the Bulgarian state dependent on the Church, as well as with the deterioration of relations with the East Frankish monarchy (in ecclesiastical and political matters). This contributed to the growing importance of the Moravian state in the diplomatic activities of Rome in Central Europe (the Gloria in excelsis Deo papal bull).

Business model innovation elements and product innovation radicalness: Central European lessons for innovation leaders and followers

Research background: Despite the increased interest in business model innovation (BMI) in the last 20 years, the current research landscape still lacks empirical efforts aimed at investigating the underexplored link between BMI and innovation performance. This is doubly true in specific contexts like Central European countries, whereas innovation systems are weaker than in Western ones, and firms strongly depend on internal R&D activities and absorptive capacity and technology upgrades via cooperation with other countries. Purpose of the article: This study draws on the BMI theory with the aim of analyzing the effects of each individual BMI element on firms’ performance in terms of creation of radical innovations vs incremental ones. Methods: The data used are from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2018 — the latest micro data available to date — focusing on 16,364 firms in Central Europe, namely 5,749 Czech, 7,377 Hungarian, and 3,238 Slovakian firms. As the explained (dependent) variables are dichotomous (binary: 1 indicates the answer is yes, 0 indicates the answer is no) for all estimated models, a binary logistic regression is used in order to focus on the individual elements representing BMI and analyse their separated effects on firms’ creation of radical and incremental innovations in Central Europe. Individual BMI elements are: BMI methods, logistics, communication, accounting, external relations, human resource management, and marketing. Moreover, we check for control variables such as tax credits and allowances of R&D, public funding of innovation, cooperation with other organizations on R&D or other activities, in-house R&D activities and contracted out ones, lack of finance, lack of skilled employees and internal financial resources, and size. Findings & value added: For radical innovators, practices for organising procedures and external relations are important. For incremental innovators, methods of organising work responsibility, decision making, and human resource management are significant. Surprisingly, regardless of the innovation radicality, several BMI elements are significant. This study suggests that managers should enhance strategic collaborations with external partners out of Central Europe, exploit their absorptive capacity, and increase the knowledge and experience of their employees, whilst policymakers should keep on providing tax credits and allowances for innovation activities, maintaining a supportive infrastructure and reducing administrative burdens.

Effect of reputation and social media on the financial performance of SMEs – a comparison between selected business sectors

Research background: The growing popularity of social media increased its significance as a tool for enhancing corporate reputation. However, SMEs are less engaged in social media than large companies. For this reason, numerous SMEs miss the benefits they could derive from using the potential of social media and fail to optimize their reputation management strategies. Furthermore, substantial diversity among SMEs in their social media engagement practices is evident. Consequently, it is crucial to investigate this problem and identify SME owners' and managers’ perceptions of reputation and social media in specific business sectors. Purpose of the article: The aim of this study is to examine and quantify the effect of the importance of corporate reputations and social media on financial performance. Methods: The questionnaire was completed by 864 SMEs engaged in business activities within one of the following sectors: manufacturing, trade, services, and construction. Subjective perceptions of owners and managers of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were analyzed. Data collection was conducted in the four Central European countries in the years 2022-2023. The statistical hypotheses were verified using correlation analysis and linear regression modelling. Analytical software IBM SPSS Statistics no. 28 was used in the statistical evaluation of the research data set. Findings & Value added: The corporate reputation of companies is a significant factor, which has a positive effect on the acceptable profit of a company in the business sector of manufacturing, trade, construction, and services. The strongest effect is present in the sector of construction. Social media is an important factor with a positive effect on the perception of a sufficient profit of a company by each business sector except construction. The strongest effect is present in the sector of manufacturing. Corporate reputation was found to be insignificant for the perception of the ability to pay obligations (solvency) in the manufacturing sector. This effect is stronger in the construction sector in comparison to the trade and services sectors.

Macroeconomic Prospects for Public Finance Management Sustainability: An Econometric Approach for Debt in Central and Eastern European Countries

Macroeconomic Prospects for Public Finance Management Sustainability: An Econometric Approach for Debt in Central and Eastern European Countries

Understanding Homeownership Rates: the Impact of Co-residence Patterns

The socio-demographic context, which includes the co-residence patterns associated with the decisions of young adults on whether to live in the parental household or enter homeownership or renting, is directly reflected in homeownership rates at the aggregate level as a consequence of these decisions. However, the way in which tenure statistics are reported also matters in this respect. This applies specifically to household-level statistics, which are most often used to characterise housing systems. It is therefore possible to ask whether countries with high homeownership rates and, simultaneously, high shares of adult children living with their parents are truly high-homeownership societies. This study identifies the countries for which the reported tenure statistics are more influenced by demographic conditions as compared to other countries. These are the Mediterranean countries and the Central and Eastern European countries (with some exceptions).

The missing link between digital transformation and business model innovation in energy SMEs: The role of digital organisational culture

Increasing levels of competitiveness and intensified efforts to source energy from renewable sources, as well as growing pressure to implement green solutions, are challenging the effectiveness of conventional business models in the energy sector. Previous research on the processes of change in the energy sector highlight the necessity to implement business model innovations supported by digital transformation solutions. It is also clear that the process of implementation, particularly for SMEs, is associated with a high risk of failure. Based on research linking organisational culture and digitalisation, this article aims to explain how digital culture mediates the relationship between digital transformation and business model innovation in energy companies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries. The results suggest that the limited direct impact of digital transformation on business model innovation in energy companies is realised indirectly through digital organisational culture, indicating the importance of digital organisational culture in successful business model transformation.

Geography of Knowledge Production in European Urban Studies

The production of scientific knowledge in urban studies is not evenly distributed. Studies produced in some academic centres are cited more frequently than others and have a larger impact on the academic community. This article traces the spatial concentration of urban studies in European countries over the last decade. On a theoretical level, it refers to the theory of dependent development, distinguishing areas of global core, periphery and semi-periphery, and applying this theory to the production of academic knowledge.Based on the bibliometric data of articles from selected renowned international journals, the article constructs a synthetic index of the centrality of academic knowledge production in urban studies, developed in the academic centres of individual countries. In particular, it draws attention to the peripheral or semi-peripheral position of almost all Central and Eastern European countries.

Digitalisation and income inequality in Central and Eastern European countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital technologies in business and daily life. The paper aims to explore the theoretical and empirical aspects of the relation between digitalisation and income inequality in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries between the years 2000-2020. It contributes to existing research on determinants of income inequality, focussing on the potential negative role of digitalisation as an unnoticeable driver of income inequality in CEE countries. To investigate the potential impact of digitalisation on income inequality, empirical analysis was performed for the sample of 10 CEE countries, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The results of canonical correlation analysis indicated that the sets of variables related to digitalisation and inequality as a group are significantly related to each other and a strong correlation exists between them. The relative contribution of each indicator to each standardised function showed that the highest values of significant standardised coefficients were observed for income inequality indicators such as the top 10% share, the Gini coefficient, and the top 1% share, while in digitalisation measures, the highest value was observed for Internet users and fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions.

Accelerated farmland bird population declines in European countries after their recent EU accession

Agricultural intensification is a major driver of global biodiversity loss. In Europe, intensification progressed over the 20th century and was accelerated by instruments of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries standing outside the EU until the beginning of the 21st century employed less intensive farming and are considered one of the continent's farmland biodiversity strongholds. Their recent EU accession might be either viewed as a threat to farmland biodiversity due to the availability of funds to increase agricultural production or as an opportunity to implement conservation measures aimed to preserve biodiversity. Here we assessed these possibilities using long-term monitoring data on farmland bird populations in seven CEE countries. We tested whether mean relative abundance and population trends changed after countries' EU accession, and whether such changes also occurred in agricultural management and conservation measures. Both agricultural intensity and spending for agri-environmental and climatic schemes increased when the CEE countries joined the EU. At the same time, farmland bird populations started to decline and their relative abundance was lower after than before EU accession. In addition, increases in fertilizer application were negatively associated with annual changes in relative farmland bird population sizes, indicating a negative impact of intensive agriculture. Taken together, these results indicate that despite the great power of the EU's environmental legislation to improve the population status of species at risk, this does not apply to farmland birds. In their case, the adverse impacts of agricultural intensification most likely overrode the possible benefits of conservation measures. To secure this region as one of the continent's farmland biodiversity strongholds, policy and management actions are urgently needed.

Transferability of new methods for health technology assessment in the field of diabetes between early and late adopters’ countries

This study aimed to investigate the transferability of novel artificial intelligence (AI) methods for prediction modelling of diabetes based on real-world data (RWD) between early and late adopters of emerging health technologies from the perspective of developers and health technology assessment (HTA) experts. A two-step approach was used. Developers of the new AI methods within HTx consortium completed a survey about the benefits, usability, barriers associated with implementing the new prediction models in routine HTA practices. Then, HTA experts from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries participated in a focus group discussion. Developers generally expressed optimism regarding the transferability of the methods, while acknowledging potential disparities across CEE countries. Key benefits that were identified included enhanced understanding of diabetes, improved cost-effectiveness modelling, and refined patient stratification, all of which could contribute to clinical and reimbursement decisions across various jurisdictions. The focus group underscored the value of real-world data for diabetes prediction modelling, serving as a beneficial resource for both clinicians and HTA agencies. However, there was a recognized need to clarify the processes of integrating randomized clinical trial data with real-world data. For the other stakeholders, the advancement of the methodology will improve the diagnosis and therapy during the process of decision making. Experts from CEE countries recognized the potential of artificial intelligence-based methods employing real-world data for diabetes modelling. These methods are seen as instrumental in elucidating the heterogeneous nature of the disease, supporting clinician decision-making and holding promises for HTA purposes.

The analysis of premature mortality in selected Central and East European countries

The analysis of premature mortality in selected Central and East European countries