Resilience of Ukraine’s regional labour markets in conditions of full-scale war

The effective performance of any company is determined by the degree of motivation of its staff. In a pandemic, it is important to explore changes in the values and motivational profiles of staff, especially young people. The aim of the paper is to study the internal motives of millennials and Generation Z, to identify modern motivational tools, taking into account the challenges of an unstable global ecosystem. To assess the changes in the motives for work, a questionnaire was used. The survey was conducted (at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021) among young people in Kyiv (Ukraine) aged 17-22 (287 people participated), who had previous work experience. All results were proven to be valid. The results of the study showed that changes in the motivational profile of millennials and Generation Z under the influence of restrictive measures due to the pandemic occurred in the range of values of awareness of individuality: motives for maintaining health, balancing life, personal and professional growth came out to be more relevant. Such changes indicate positive opportunities for young people due to high adaptability to changing and unstable conditions, and, on the other hand, they bring challenges for companies – the loss of personnel. The most optimal models will be career-oriented and adaptive with elements of well-being management to motivate millennials and Generation Z.

The focus of the research is to develop recommendations of smart specialization (SS) for Ukrainian policymakers using European approaches. The authors revealed that the main SS projects are presented in such sectors as agri-food, industrial modernization and energy. More than 12 EU countries were the plot for conducted analysis of SS, as a result of which the level of activity of each country was determined. The creation of consortiums, including SMEs, associations, universities and other participants, disclosed the successful way of SS realization. The structure of SME’s innovative potential in Ukraine was identified underlining their main characteristic features like types of innovations and innovative activity, differentiation according to enterprise size, their regional distribution. The authors explored lack of innovations on regional and national level and significant territorial disparities, which could be eliminated through policy implementation of regional SS. The existing legislative norms for possibility of SS implementation in Ukraine were analyzed due to correspondence with the EU ones. The analysis provides the opportunity to consider them only as general framework documents without any action plans and sectoral prioritization at all. The weak points of these law documents are emphasized. As a result of research, the authors developed recommendations presented by direct action plan for Ukrainian policymakers, which include such activities as underlining key priorities (especially ICT applicability in every SS project) and their correspondence with the EU ones; eliminating regional imbalances by focusing on innovation development and reorientation of some regions according to SS priorities; respecting regional existing capacities; providing organizational mechanism for cooperation of stakeholders and financial mechanism for SS support through the EU structural funds.

This study aimed to investigate the differences in motivational focus and sources of satisfaction between family and non-family employees in family businesses. Data from a questionnaire survey conducted between May and September 2021 were used to examine the relationship of work motivation between family and non-family employees. Data were collected via a questionnaire and interviews with 56 non-family employees and 148 family employees from family businesses of eight Slovak regions. To meet the stated aim, relevant quantitative methods such as the two-sample Fisher’s F-test, two-sample Student’s t-test with inequality of variances, and the Pearson correlation method were applied. Based on the established results, it can be assumed that it is possible to adapt the dealings with the employees of family companies more closely to their individual needs, and thus contribute to their performance. Non-family employees are more oriented towards economic benefits. Family employees show a more balanced orientation between economic benefits and moral satisfaction. This confirms that financial considerations are still an important factor of motivation for non-family employees. According to the results of the study, non-family employees tend to focus on content and activity, while family employees rather focus on success. A possible explanation could be that family members perceive the success of a company more than their own and feel more confident in the choice of activities they would like to carry out, so they take this fact more than for granted.

Acknowledgment
This paper has been supported by funds of the project VEGA No. 1/0240/20. This study was supported by the project GAAA 5-5/2020 “Development of family businesses in Slovak regions”, which has received funding from Grant Agency Academia Aurea and by project VEGA 1/0813/19 “Managing the development of innovative and start-up forms of businesses in international environment and verification of INMARK concept”, which has received funding from the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.