From peer support to proactive action: How psychological empowerment bridges social context and faculty proactivity in higher education

Technological changes that come with industrial revolution have largely affected businesses, as well as society. With the current technological shift and Fourth Industrial Revolution, many questions arise regarding the impacts and effects on current ways businesses operate. This study presents a retrospective analysis and overview of previous industrial revolutions. The aim of the retrospective analysis is to identify common characteristics that may lead to lessons learned for the forthcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution and thus complement the current debate on technological change. All previous industrial revolutions have led to change in business environments and new challenges for managers and owners. The findings show that all previous revolutions have led to increase in the number of service jobs created. The key approach of successful countries during the times of industrial revolution has included education as the source of new skills and knowledge necessary for adaption. Countries that were able to produce high skilled people could not only invent, but also adapt to new technologies sooner than others. Similarly, these approaches included introduction of new managerial practices in order to be able to utilize new technologies and new skilled workers effectively. The research article processes secondary data together with literature review on this topic.

As an upper-middle-income country, Armenia should develop and implement targeted policies, such as increased R&D investments, education reforms, and industry-academia collaboration, to enhance its innovation performance. Strengthening these areas is expected to contribute to higher Global Innovation Index (GII) rankings, reflecting improved national innovation capacity.
This study aims to estimate the impact of various GII components (including pillars, sub-indices, and sub-pillars) on the overall GII and pillar scores for upper-middle-income countries. Based on these findings, the study seeks to identify Armenia’s key policy priorities and provide targeted recommendations for enhancing its innovation performance. This study employs a cross-sectional regression to analyze the factors influencing GII scores in upper-middle-income countries, assessing the impact of sub-indices, pillars, and sub-pillars. The analysis reveals that market sophistication and creative outputs strongly influence GII scores among upper-middle-income countries, contributing significantly to national innovation performance. Additionally, knowledge and technology outputs, human capital and research, and infrastructure pillars show a statistically significant impact at the 5% level. Notably, even minor improvements in innovation output sub-index scores account for substantial variations in GII rankings. These findings suggest that Armenia should prioritize targeted education reforms, increase R&D investment, and strengthen university-industry linkages to enhance its innovation ecosystem and improve its global competitiveness.

Acknowledgment
The research was supported by the Science Committee of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the project No. 21T-5B234.

As education gains prominence in sustainable development strategies, assessing the effectiveness of public education spending has become essential, particularly in Southeast Asia. Despite being seen as a driver of economic growth, its actual impact remains debated due to differing outcomes across countries and stages of development. This study aims to analyze the impact of public education expenditure on economic growth in nine Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, during the period 1998–2022. The study employs secondary data sourced from the World Development Indicators. Econometric techniques used include Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effects Model, Random Effects Model, and the Generalized Method of Moments to ensure consistency and robustness in the estimations. The findings show that public spending on education in Southeast Asia during the studied period did not produce a clearly positive effect on economic growth. In several models, the coefficient of education spending on GDP growth was statistically insignificant or even negative. For instance, in the GMM model, the coefficient was –0.031 (p > 0.1) – a negative, though statistically insignificant, impact. Meanwhile, the institutional quality variable exhibited a positive and statistically significant effect, suggesting that the effectiveness of public spending depends strongly on the quality of governance and fiscal management. The study concludes that public education spending is unlikely to be effective without strong governance. Therefore, in addition to increasing budgets, countries should focus on institutional reform and improving education quality to ensure long-term economic benefits.