Journal of Business Economics and Management

Could e-commerce activities drive to climate change mitigation? Novel evidence from panel quantile regression model

2025-04-15T16:23:34+03:00

This study aims at shedding light on how e-commerce contributes to climate change in European Union countries. To explore this relationship, we introduced a novel index designed to measure the evolution of climate change as the dependent variable, while considering e-commerce activities as the independent variable within 2011 to 2022 period. Our investigation of the correlation between these variables employed a panel quantile regression model. The outcomes revealed a statistically significant increasing trend for higher quantiles. This finding indicates that, as we traverse the climate change index from lower to higher percentiles, the impact of e-commerce becomes more conspicuous and is statistically significant. This underscores that the influence of e-commerce on climate change intensifies as we move towards the upper percentiles of the climate change index. To address how e-commerce affects climate change, it becomes imperative to introduce and enforce the concept of environmental responsibility in the management of e-commerce activities. This could involve adopting sustainable practices, optimizing packaging materials, and encouraging eco-friendly delivery methods. Policymakers and businesses alike should consider these findings in their efforts to strike an equilibrium between the convenience of e-commerce and the need to curb its environmental impact.

Determinants of AI adoption intention in SMEs. Romanian case study

2025-04-18T18:31:40+03:00

The paper investigates the drivers and barriers that encourage or hinder the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies within Romanian SMEs. By using the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework, we examined the role of several factors from each TOE dimension in predicting the AI adoption behaviour. The factors were constructed through factor analysis followed by the estimation of a linear regression model. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was then used in order to further explore the relationships and to check the robustness of the linear regression model. Our findings highlight the significant role played by leadership, organizational readiness, as well as the “push-and-pull” effect of competitors and customers in encouraging SMEs to adopt AI technologies. However, in the case of Romania, specific challenges related to a lack of digital skills among employees, a limited understanding of the relative advantage that digitalisation can offer, as well as a lack of marketing efforts from the side of vendors make it difficult for SMEs to consider the implementation of AI technologies. This exploratory study seeks to understand the underlying trends of the phenomenon and serves as a stepping stone for vendors, managers, as well as researchers to better understand the market for AI tools and solutions among Romanian SMEs.

Locus of control as critical moderator of the relationship between role stressors and intention to quit

2025-04-30T18:31:51+03:00

This research examines how employees’ locus of control moderates the relationships between role conflict, role ambiguity, and intention to quit when assessing the mediation effects of counterproductive work behaviour and work engagement. A quantitative method (survey) was used for this study, with 348 questionnaires completed online. The research results reveal that, with a strong internal locus of control, work engagement mediates the relationship between role conflict and intention to quit and between role ambiguity and intention to quit. The higher the internal locus of control, the more both role conflict and role ambiguity affect work engagement, leading to intention to quit. Moreover, the manifestation of locus of control varies according to the employee’s level of education, age, field of activity, and the organisation size. The study is the first to develop an integrative framework, which depicts how team-level factors comprehensively affect interrelations between role stressors and employee intention to quit. Our research delineates, explicates, and directs crucial aspects of human resource management in organisations. It also highlights that in studying the employee behaviour, scholars should inexorably assess situations in the complex manner that research demands to delineate employee workplace behaviour stemming from a combination of personal, contextual, and circumstantial factors.

The role of entrepreneurship in enhancing economic development: the mediating role of gender and motivations

2025-04-30T18:31:50+03:00

Starting from the significant role played by entrepreneurship in the economy and also from the pressing problem of gender inequality, in this paper we aim to analyse the link between entrepreneurship and economic development, with emphasis on the mediating role of gender and motivations of entrepreneurs. We apply panel data regression models on a sample of 53 world countries mapped by their development level. Data regarding countries’ economic development levels is obtained from the World Bank DataBank and the entrepreneurship rates from the annual reports of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. The level of economic development is measured by GDP per capita. Entrepreneurship rates by gender and motivations are used to test the mediating role. The results emphasise that male entrepreneurs motivated by necessity and female entrepreneurs motivated by opportunity would significantly stimulate economic development. The analysis of clusters of countries highlights that entrepreneurship enhances economic development, but the effects broken down by gender and motivations have particularities depending on the country. This study contributes to the literature in several ways, such as the comparative analysis, its large sample size and the emphasis on gender differences and entrepreneurs’ motivations.

Sleep quality and trading behavior of individual investors on the stock market

2025-04-30T18:31:50+03:00

There are various factors that influence the trading behavior of individual investors in the stock market. This study, based on data from 405 individual investors, is the first to investigate the relationship between sleep quality and investors’ trading behavior in the stock market. Sleep quality is assessed through factors such as sleep time, duration, number of awakenings during the night, and napping habits. By applying various regression methods (Logit, PCA, PLSR, GMM), the results show that increased sleep duration causes passive investors to hold fewer stocks in their portfolios during bull market years and to increase their holdings when the market declines. Conversely, for active investors, an increase of sleep duration prompts them to hold a greater number of stocks in their portfolios during bull market periods, and decrease their holdings during bear markets. Moreover, good sleep quality is correlated with improved investment performance for passive investors. Research also indicates that afternoon naps and nighttime sleep affect investors’ trading frequency. This study provides valuable insights into investors’ trading behavior in the stock market. We encourage investors to enhance the quality of their sleep and incorporate regular midday naps to remain mentally alert, ultimately leading to increased investment returns.