Issue #1 (Volume 6 2022)

Academic resilience and emotional intelligence are considered important personal resources for furthering students’ academic performance. However, many educational organizations seem to trivialize the performance implications of these constructs in teachings and curriculum. Consequently, it can decrease not just their academic performance but also their employability, as they lack the generic competencies to adapt and survive in a stressful context. Even so, empirical evidence on integrating academic resilience, emotional intelligence, and academic performance remains unexplored in the Nigerian university context. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the linkages between academic resilience, emotional intelligence, and academic performance in Nigeria. The partial least square (PLS) modeling method was utilized for testing the stated hypotheses with data collected from 179 final year undergraduate students in the regular B.Sc. Business Administration and B.Sc. Marketing program at Delta State University, Nigeria. From the PLS results, the study reported that academic resilience was positively related to emotional intelligence (β = 0.125, p = 0.007), academic resilience (β = 0.231, p = 0.000) and emotional intelligence (β = 0.260, p = 0.000) were positively related to academic performance, and emotional resilience mediated the positive relationship between academic resilience and academic performance (β = 0.057, p = 0.005). While academic resilience predicted academic performance, it also predicted emotional intelligence, which affected academic performance significantly and positively.

Nowadays, the procedures for stimulating the improvement of the quality of higher education in Ukraine are mainly based on periodic expert evaluations. Besides, existing metrics of university efficiency are usually imperfect due to the frequent negative effects of Campbell’s Law and Goodhart’s Law. In addition, the war significantly limited resources for external quality assurance of educational programs. Given this, the aim of this paper was to develop a methodology for an additional self-regulation system of continual improvement of the quality and efficiency of educational activities of Ukrainian universities. The study is based on the advantages of the quantitative approach, measurement methods, and algorithmization in the management system of higher education. As a result, key indicators for the formation of national rankings have been developed by different segments. Moreover, the study elaborated algorithms and mechanisms to constantly encourage higher education institutions to improve quality and efficiency. The paper proposes preventive procedures to reduce the negative effects of unfair achievement of key performance indicators. The result of applying the methodology is additionally acquired or partially lost by the university the volume of license rights for the training of specialists in the current year. This will help curb the process of mass education with a low level of quality. In addition, the proposed system will balance the weaknesses of the accreditation expertise procedure, as well as actively stimulate the independent striving of each educational program for sustainable development and continual progress.

Acknowledgment
To the Armed Forces of Ukraine (https://www.mil.gov.ua/) and the democratic world (https://bit.ly/3BLtuem) for the protection of the future of the Ukrainian State and its people. To the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance for the possibility to take part in accreditation expertise and consulting evaluation of educational programs in universities of Ukraine (https://en.naqa.gov.ua/). Also, the appearance of this alternative idea was facilitated by the declared goal of the World Bank project “Ukraine Improving Higher Education for Results” (ID P171050), namely: to improve the efficiency, conditions for quality, and transparency in Ukraine’s higher education system (https://bit.ly/3vpx2iM).

This paper highlights war effects on publication activities and scientific interests of Ukrainian researchers. Moreover, it presents the moods and motives of Ukrainian scientists regarding their scientific activity and the publication of their results in academic journals. The research method was a survey (Google Forms) distributed through Facebook professional groups “Ukrainian Scientists Worldwide,” “Ukrainian cuisine of scientific publications,” “Scientific Conferences and Publications,” and “Higher School and Science of Ukraine: Disintegration or Blossoming?” 690 Ukrainian scientists took part in the survey. Only 35.7% of the respondents stated that the war did not affect their research process. Results from respondents demonstrated that 27.7% of the respondents changed their scientific interests because of full-scale Russian aggression. Furthermore, scientists have psychological problems due to the loss of home, relatives, and relocation. The survey showed that motivation for publishing scientific articles varies from informing colleagues of their scientific results, scientific interest to motives distant from scientific values – “fulfillment of the requirements of the institution where I work,” “I do not want to be fired,” etc. 20.0% of the respondents noted that they had not got any motivation for scientific activity and publishing. At the same time, most scientists consider state security, debunking the propaganda of the Russian Federation, economic development, military medicine, ecology, education, social sphere, and agriculture to be the leading research areas. They also see the need to raise public awareness of the role of science and synchronize current multidisciplinary scientific research.

This paper attempts to understand how emotional intelligence (EI) can affect students’ academic performance by investigating the relationship between EI and student performance. A structured questionnaire comprising 25 questions was developed on a five-point Likert scale employing the five components of EI stated by Daniel Goleman. The five elements are self-analysis, self-control, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills. 350 MBA students from premier institutes in Warangal, India, were taken as a sample through a convenience sampling technique. Correlation analysis was performed amongst students’ EI and their cumulative grade point average (CGPA). The coefficient value obtained showed a minimal linear relationship between EI and student performance. For further analysis, students were segregated gender-wise, male and female, and then a correlation was performed. In the case of female students, a negative relationship is exhibited between EI and performance. In contrast, in the case of male students, a positive relationship is exhibited that is higher than the overall coefficient. Moreover, correlation is applied to each component separately to identify which of the five components has higher linear relationship. The findings concluded that self-control and empathy followed by self-motivation had linear relationship, especially in the case of male students. Finally, it was difficult to correlate the EI of female students with their performance.

Higher education institutions train professional and scientific personnel. Therefore, the quality of higher education and its funding are vital for training highly qualified specialists. This study analyzes the annual volume of expenses (investments) per student in groups of countries, divided according to their socio-economic development, and competitiveness of higher education. The division of countries into groups is based on simultaneous compliance with the criteria for the quality of higher education and the level of social and economic development. The Ward’s clustering method was applied. The analysis was conducted based on data from 32 OECD countries and partner countries. The paper found a significant direct correlation between the level of competitiveness of higher education and the amount of its funding per student (R = 0.895). At the same time, a significant direct correlation was revealed between the level of competitiveness of higher education and the human development index (R = 0.787) and the global competitiveness index (R = 0.888). Finally, a significant direct correlation between the amount of expenditures and the level of competitiveness of higher education was found only in the cluster with the highest indicators of socio-economic development (Rs = 0.707). In other clusters, the correlation is weak or weakly inverse.

Big Data Analytics (BDA) is one of the most digital innovations for supporting supply chain firms’ activities. Empirically, multiple benefits of BDA in Supply Chain Management (SCM) have been demonstrated. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between technical, organizational, and environmental factors and supply chain firms’ performance using the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory. This study was conducted at medium-large supply chain firms in Saudi Arabia, the sample size reached 700 firms recognized by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry in different domains. In this study, a questionnaire was used to collect primary data. The collected data are analyzed using SPSS version 26.0. SPSS is used to describe respondents’ demographic profiles. The percentage of respondents to the questionnaire reached 57%. In addition, to test hypotheses and accomplish research goals, PLS-SEM version 3.0 is used to examine the relationship between independent and dependent variables. From the PLS results, the study reported that complexity (β = 0.097, t = 2.817), security (β = 0.222, t = 3.486), IT expertise (β = 0.108, t = 1.993), and external support (β = 0.211, t = 3.468) were positively related to firm’s performance; in contrast, relative advantage (β = –0.006, t = 0.200), compatibility (β = –0.020, t = 0.314), top management support (β = –0.046, t = 0.386), organizational resources (β = –0.065, t = 1.179), competitive pressure (β = –0.011, t = 0.199), and privacy (β = –0.05, t = 0.872) were negatively related to firm’s performance.

The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has adversely affected enterprise performance, which has led to inequalities, particularly for rural micro-entrepreneurs. Therefore, ensuring business survival through social capital and entrepreneurial skills as coping strategies for the rural micro-entrepreneurs is important to sustain their livelihoods. Both coping strategies can enhance the survival rate during a crisis, but there is limited knowledge on how enterprise performance of rural micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) can be improved. This study examined the linkages between social skills, entrepreneurial skills (knowledge, experience), and enterprise performance during a crisis. The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) Triangle Village was selected as a proxy for the rural population, and sampling frame of 543 micro-entrepreneurs was obtained from the Local District Office. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed in a systematic random order based on a minimum sample size of 85 calculated using the G*Power statistical tool. The final 134 usable samples were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results ascertained that the direct positive effect of social capital on enterprise performance was significant (β = 0.521, t = 8.060, p < 0.001) and that social capital had a specific and indirect effect on enterprise performance through entrepreneurial skills (β = 0.520, LCL = 0.378, UCL = 0.651, p < 0.001). The study also reported the full mediating effect of entrepreneurial skills on the social capital-enterprise performance relationship. This study proposes practices to develop adaptive entrepreneurs that can adapt to crisis challenges.

Financial literacy is becoming an urgent challenge in many countries. This situation is more acute in a developing country with a Soviet experience. The affected population, who are in advanced positions in the international financial machinations of the current period, is unmistakable proof of the low level of financial awareness in Georgia. The present study aims to determine the impact of student financial literacy on consumer behavior in Georgia as a Post-Soviet country. The study uses statistical methods, both probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling. The paper reviews foreign experience and is a similar study conducted in Asia and Europe. The number of interviewed respondents was 295 students from the Imereti region (there are two universities in the region), which is 35% of the total number of students. The questionnaire consisted of 21 questions. The respondents were interviewed from October to mid-December 2021. The study has shown that financial awareness is relatively low; students do not perceive that they need to raise their financial education and skills, which makes the current situation even more dramatic. Among the positive trends was that 81% of students were ready to raise their level of financial education. The reason is that the Georgian educational system needs to be reformed to raise financial awareness by studying the essence of elementary money and the simplest budget planning models. The study results showed that in conditions of low financial awareness, students cannot plan the budget, control, and use financial services effectively and efficiently.

In advanced economies, the acceleration of scientific and technological progress, the introduction of innovations are connected with the opportunities for developing the knowledge economy, commercialization of technologies and innovation transfer networks. The current stage of scientific and technical progress takes place in conditions of dynamic global competition and at the same time requires cooperation and collaboration. This paper aims to determine the dependence of economic development on indicators characterizing the potential of a country’s knowledge economy and transfer of innovations. The study focuses on finding ways to assess the impact of the potential of the country’s scientific and educational activities on innovative development using the characteristics of the “business-education-science” system in the field of innovation transfer. The methodological research tools are the abstract-logical method and correlation-regression analysis, which allowed establishing relevant links between the indicators of the development of education, science and the economy in the context of the knowledge economy and the transfer of innovations for Ukraine and European countries in the period 2016–2021. It was found that in many countries of the “new” Europe (Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal), as well as in Ukraine, the trend of independence of GDP growth from indicators of the development of science and education is maintained. At the same time, the countries of “old” Europe maintain their innovative progress at a high level, investing in science-intensive activities, infrastructure and the R&D sector. The results can be used to improve the efficiency of innovation transfer in Ukraine, for which the paper provides relevant recommendations.