EconLit

This article introduces the Integrated Purchasing Maturity Model (IPMM), designed to enhance Purchasing and Supply Management (PSM) capabilities in response to the evolving demands of the global marketplace. The IPMM integrates advanced information technologies, robust data management, and synchronized systems to facilitate effective decision-making and operational efficiency. Emphasizing sustainability practices and environmental standards, the model ensures organizations meet ecological responsibilities while maintaining competitiveness. Additionally, strategic risk management practices incorporated in the model strengthen SC resilience. The research includes a review of existing SC maturity models and their application within a logistics company. The article presents a qualitative study involving members of the management team from an international logistics company with at least 3 years of experience in SCM and relevant educational backgrounds. The study aimed to assess the company's SC maturity using an enhanced Purchasing and Supply Management Maturity Model (PSM3), which integrates sustainability, technological, and risk management aspects. The results revealed that the company has achieved an advanced maturity level but needs to further develop sustainability factors to reach a higher value chain orientation. The new model has contributed to increased efficiency, improved service quality, and strengthened competitive advantage.

In the contemporary world, it is very important to understand how people see and perceive our societies themselves. The main research objective of this article is to study imagined – perceived and desired – types of society using comparative analysis. The target group is composed of the 23 countries which participated in social inequality studies of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in 2009 and 2019. Among the questions to answer in this study are: What is the gap between the assessment of perceived and desired types of society? How are the perceived images of society related to different macro socioeconomic and political conditions? How are individual assessments influenced by sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics? The shortage of studies on topics relating to these questions justifies the importance of this article. A novelty of this study is not only in the cross-national comparison of images of society, but also in the linking of this concept to human and social capital, well-being, and subjective identities. The research results show that contemporary societies are perceived as socially unequal in most countries; however, the majority of populations still expect to live in more just societies in future.

This study investigates the relationship between taxation and financial stability in the European Union (EU) from 2005 to 2019, a period that encompasses a full economic cycle, including the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The EU’s diverse economic landscape, with varying tax systems, provides an opportunity to analyse the interaction between tax burden and national economic development. Using a quantile regression approach and hierarchical clustering (Ward method), the study examines the effects of different taxation levels across 28 EU member states. The research highlights the role of tax structures in promoting economic growth while maintaining financial stability, addressing how tax reforms—particularly lowering taxation rates while broadening the tax base—can impact financial systems. The findings demonstrate that while tax burdens play a critical role in shaping financial stability, this relationship varies across countries and time periods. Data from international organisations such as the World Bank and Eurostat were utilised to support the empirical analysis. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on optimising tax policies to foster stable and competitive financial environments in the EU, especially in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Climate change mitigation pledges require decarbonization of the economy and the creation of a carbon-neutral society. Men and women contribute differently to climate change and have different roles in low-carbon energy transition. Gender roles influence career choices, abilities to invest in low-carbon solutions, power of decision-making, dissimilar mobility and energy consumption demands, and different values and consumption profiles, shaping the individual carbon footprint and behavior. A feminist methodology in gender- just low-carbon energy transformation goes beyond the introduction of certain gender-equal redistribution measures and aims to deal with the core roots of the different unequal practices in all fields of society life. It seeks to rebalance prevailing power arrangements, centering the most marginalized individuals and groups. There are various frameworks developed for the analysis of linkages between climate change and women following the feminist theory, like gender impact assessment (GIA); gender equality training (GET) model, and so on. The paper applies the feminist theory approach to the analysis of low-carbon energy transitions. The main purpose of using a feminist lens in this study is to enable the discovery of how people interact within energy systems and to offer solutions to confront and eradicate oppressive structures for just low-carbon energy transition in the EU.

Sustainable energy consumption in household is linked to energy saving and the use of renewable energy sources. These are also the main measures of GHG emission reduction linked to energy consumption. There is a huge GHG emission reduction potential linked to energy consumption in households as climate change mitigation policies and measures aiming at sustainable energy consumption are mainly targeting energy supply sector. Climate change mitigation policies in households linked to promote of energy savings and use of renewable energy sources were not able to overcome behavioural barriers of sustainable energy consumption in households, as they were targeting economic barriers mainly. Therefore, new policies and measures targeting behavioural barriers of sustainable energy consumption inn households are necessary. The paper analyses behavioural barriers of sustainable energy consumption in households and provides analysis of policies and measures set to overcome behavioural barriers of sustainable energy consumption. The analysis of advantages and disadvantages of nudges is provided policy recommendations were developed based on analysis conducted.

Research background: Tourism sector is considered as a driving force of economic develop-ment and understanding factors that deter the flow of tourists and hinder its development, which is essential for all actors involved in this industry. Oeconomia Copernicana,14(3), 1009–10351010 Purpose of the article: The purpose of the article is to investigate the impact of rule of law, corruption, and terrorism on tourism in 14 coastal states of the Mediterranean Sea based on the United Nations classification. Methods: The short and long-run relationships among the rule of law, corruption, terrorism and tourism are respectively analyzed through Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test and LM bootstrap cointegration test taking notice of the presence of heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. Findings & value added: The causality analysis reveals that control of corruption has a signif-icant influence on tourism only in the short run. The cointegration analysis uncovers that terrorism negatively affects the tourism in Albania, Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia, but im-provements in corruption also positively affect the tourism in Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and Italy. Last, the rule of law has a positive impact on tourism in Egypt, Greece, and Israel. In this context, the rule of law can also be a key factor for tourism devel-opment via combat with corruption and terrorism. Based on some unique characteristics, the Mediterranean region has consolidated its position as the world's leading tourist destination, but to maintain this competitive position, it is crucial to recognize and adopt strategies that respond to all key challenges faced by this sector

Neretai Vilnius traktuojamas kaip vienas seniausių Europos kultūros miestų, pasižyminčių išskirtiniais architektūros šedevrais ir įtraukiančia miesto formavimosi istorija, kurią didžiąja dalimi lėmė daugiatautiškumo faktoriai. Atsižvelgiant į Vilniaus kultūrinio pažinimo paklausą virtualiuoju būdu ėmė formuotis virtualios kultūrinės veiklos, siūlančios pažinti miesto formaciją per skaitmenizavimo prizmę. Į virtualiąją pažinimo erdvę perkeliami ne tik istoriškai svarbūs literatūriniai, meniniai tvariniai, tačiau ir miesto urbanistinis kraštovaizdis. Siekiant išsiaiškinti kūrybiškos vietokūros reikšmę bei rezultatyvų pritaikomumą plačiuoju mastu, nagrinėjimui pasitelkiama užsienio ir lietuvių autorių literatūra. Tyrimo metu analizuojamas ryšys tarp technologijų pritaikymo per vietos (ir ne tik) bendruomenės įsitraukimą į lavinamąsias/saviraiškos veiklas, suteikiančias galimybę pažinti miestą ir besikeičiančius miesto socialinius bei fizinius aspektus. Atvejo analizei pasirinktas lygintinas, pridėtinę vertę kuriantis kultūros objektas, esantis Vilniuje, kurio iniciatyvų dėka jaunimas įsitraukia į kūrybinės vietokūros veiklas.

Research background: This paper integrates the marketing and corporate social responsibility concepts by investigating how the previous studies debated CSR as a business strategy. This discussion extended from academics to business practices. Hence, this study investigated the concept of CSR as a business strategy in a mul-tifactorial fashion in the marketing field. Purpose of the article: This study evaluates the modified model of CSR initia-tives as business and marketing strategy and their impact on customers' buying behavior. For this purpose, we have taken dimensions of Carroll's pyramid of CSR as marketing strategies. We have also examined the influence of brand loyalty and cause-related marketing as mediating variables and technology as a moderator be-tween dimensions of Carroll's pyramid and customers' buying behavior. Methods: We employed modified theoretical & conceptual model for evaluating the direct and indirect hypothesized relationship. We have collected 693 responses from the structured & adapted questionnaire. We employed SEM-based multivari-ate modeling to examine the hypothesized relationship. Findings & Value added: The finding of this research exhibited that dimensions of Carroll’s pyramid of CSR have a positive and significant impact on customers' buying behavior. The results further demonstrated that brand loyalty and cause-related marketing positively and significantly impact mediators between CSR dimensions and customers’ buying behavior. Finally, the technology has a signifi-cant influence as a moderator between exogenous and endogenous factors. The undertaken study demonstrated important theoretical and practical implications. The modified conceptual framework has provided several new dimensions for futu-re researchers to use and replicate in different economic sectors. On the other hand, practitioners of the pharmaceutical industry should incorporate Carroll's CSR py-ramid as business strategies to gain the trust and respect of their customers.

The global pandemic has affected all sectors and disrupted not only supply chains but also had a particular impact on the range of services provided and the whole service sector. Outsourcing is used to adapt to business environment changes. However, in the scholarly literature, outsourcing of services is analysed as a complementary part of the manufacturing process - there is a lack of research on outsourcing in service companies. This article analyses the enablers of outsourcing in all service groups. The aim of the semi-structured interview was to determine not only the enablers, their significance in each WTO (World Trade Organisation) group of services but also the use of outsourcing in the provision of core and non-core services. The results of the empirical study revealed that outsourcing is increasingly used in the service sector; however, enablers vary depending on the provision of services, the nature of the service company’s activities, and the needs they meet, public or for-profit

The global pandemic has affected all sectors and disrupted not only supply chains but also had a particular impact on the range of services provided and the whole service sector. Outsourcing is used to adapt to business environment changes. However, in the scholarly literature, outsourcing of services is analysed as a complementary part of the manufacturing process - there is a lack of research on outsourcing in service companies. This article analyses the enablers of outsourcing in all service groups. The aim of the semi-structured interview was to determine not only the enablers, their significance in each WTO (World Trade Organisation) group of services but also the use of outsourcing in the provision of core and non-core services. The results of the empirical study revealed that outsourcing is increasingly used in the service sector; however, enablers vary depending on the provision of services, the nature of the service company’s activities, and the needs they meet, public or for-profit