In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the Law on Internal Trade, it is planned to restrict work on Sundays for most sales facilities. This would apply to the territory of the entity concerned, i.e., 51% of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territory. Previously, unlike other countries that introduced the same or similar practices, there have been no significant social and political discussions or surveys of the views of workers, employers, and citizens. This paper aims to research the citizens' views of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on non-working Sundays and thus offer a basis for a better discussion of this issue. A convenience sample of 406 respondents from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB&H) entity was used. Despite the expressed bias on the topic of banning trade on Sundays, the analysis of respondents’ answers regarding the willingness to work on Sundays (with the condition of a second day off some other day and 50% higher wages for working on Sundays) showed that more than half of the respondents support working on Sundays under this condition. The survey results showed that citizens are less inclined to restrict the operation of smaller shops and that the ban on working on Sundays is mainly supported by those who do not work on Sundays.

Frontier capital markets are a specific category within emerging markets, characterized by lower market capitalization, liquidity, and fewer investment constraints. These markets do not offer opportunities for investment and their functionality for companies to finance their future endeavors is not efficient. This paper offers a comprehensive examination of smart contracts, including their functioning principles, prevalent platforms, and uses. Consequently, it suggests a model for a junior stock market that utilizes blockchainsupported smart contracts. The model gives a framework for organizing the Junior stock exchange segment in frontier capital markets by offering a new fundraising method for SMEs. Application of this model simplifies the entry of smaller companies, allowing them to enter the market without regular trading requirements. Therefore, shift in financial instrument supply and alternative financing for young companies can boost market liquidity and capital mobilization. Blockchain technology ensures transparency and strengthens market confidence.

The purpose of this work is to show the development and evaluation of behavioural intentions of students by using mobile banking. The research goal is to explain determinants of students’ intentions towards the use of mobile banking. PLS SEM (partial least squares structural equation modeling) analysis was used for the model evaluation. The sample consists of 83 students from four higher education institutions operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). Research results confirmed that subjective norm and attitude are significant predictors of the user’s attitude towards mobile banking acceptance, while the influence of self-efficacy was not determined. Attitudes related to mobile banking acceptance are primarily determined by perception of usefulness and self-efficacy, and to a lower degree by perception of privacy and security risk. Perception of mobile banking usefulness appeared to be the most significant predictor of attitudes, while simultaneously it influenced positively on acceptance of behavioral intention, including intervening effect of attitude variable. Digital literacy was proved to be a significant predictor for self-efficacy. From the perspective of banks, it is very important to see how a generation that a high potential for the use of modern technologies has perceives mobile banking, and what affects it to accept mobile banking. The results of this research are useful for banks to attract new younger users of mobile banking and increase their own benefits.

Behavioral economics suggests that people do not always decide rationally but are even predictably irrational. This gives rise to the concept of nudge, which creates an architecture of choices that encourages people to behave as they wish. Loss aversion is one of the best-known phenomena in behavioral economics and a central notion of the prospect theory. The main idea behind this phenomenon is that losses hurt more than gains feel good. The framing effect is a bias where people choose some options differently, depending on whether they are presented as a gain or a loss. In this quasi-experimental study, the authors examine the role of loss aversion and framing effects on students' engagement and academic success. This study aims to test the hypothesis that students will have a stronger reaction to the reduction of awarded points, as opposed to an increase of awarded points, as they progress through the course. This will motivate them to work harder and achieve better academic success. The results show significant differences between the two groups in favor of the group being graded using the point reduction grading scheme. This suggests that the power of loss aversion can be exploited to increase students' engagement and academic success. The existence of framing effect in this case has been demonstrated, which shows it might be possible to use the choice architecture to improve the student results.

Under modern conditions of globalization nowadays, economic activity is undergoing changes. Innovative technologies, new forms of business, dynamic changes taking place in the world today result in the emergence of the necessity to minimize risks in order to maximize benefits. The cooperation between experts from different fields with the aim to ensure sustainable growth – policymakers, scientists, universities representatives and business elites is essential nowadays. With the purpose to bring them together and discuss the main issues of todays’ global world this conference took place in Ternopil, Ukraine. As Ukraine is now passing through a dynamic period of changes, recommendations coming up from such discussions can be very beneficial for building stronger society and meet the risks globalization brings up. This monograph provides a useful review of economic, financial and policy issues in the context of globalization processes and has proven extremely popular with practitioners and industry advisors. This edition is given the continued high demand and interest for experts form different areas working on diminishing of business risks wishing to keep abreast of current thinking on this subject. According to many experts process of managing risks is currently one of the most relevant business technologies and at the same time it is a complex process which requires ground knowledge in the research field and practical experience. The popularity of business risks management is due to objective reasons such as dynamics of society, interconnections and interdependence between different players in the society, increasing role of human capital in the country’s sustainable development

The voucher system of education implies the use of vouchers as instruments of financing public and private education. Unlike the traditional ways of financing education, the voucher system creates the assumptions for increasing the freedom of choice regarding educational programs within different levels of education. Paper will use scientific methods of systematization and analysis of existing literature regarding school vouchers, in order to give a critical review of the influence of vouchers on increasing the competitiveness of education. The paper will also present the results of the research of student and parental attitudes towards voucherization of education. The research sample includes respondents from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia, and the Republic of Serbia. Along with the conclusion, the paper also offers some recommendations regarding the use of vouchers for the improvement of local education systems.

Capital markets of the Western Balkan countries have been predominantly classified as frontier capital markets. Above all, these markets are characterized by a low level of liquidity, small trading volumes, and a low value of market capitalization. Also, there are high transaction costs involved, inefficiency in terms of the efficient market hypothesis, problem of determining the right market prices of securities, lost credibility of the stock market, and the marginalization of the influence of investment funds. Due to these features, frontier capital markets have a low level of their competitive ability. Competitive ability of the frontier capital markets has only recently become interesting to the academic community, which has seen the importance of strengthening competitiveness in less developed capital markets. The connection between the overall economic development and the level of development of the capital market points to the importance of strengthening the competitiveness of the frontier capital markets in order to empower the economy in general. Improving the competitiveness of frontier capital markets implies improvement of the key determinants of these markets, bearing in mind the complexity and two-dimensionality of the competitiveness of the capital market itself. The conducted empirical research focused on the frontier markets of the countries of the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia). The research analyzed liquidity as the most important determinant of competitiveness of the selected frontier markets. Also, the research included potential investors as well as issuers on these markets. Based on the identification and analysis of the aspects critical to assessing the competitive ability of frontier capital markets, concrete strategies for improving the competitiveness of frontier capital markets have been created, which was the main goal of the research.

Consumer ethnocentrism is a tendency of consumers to buy and consume domestic products and services. Th e aim of the paper was to identify the key attitudes and barriers related to consumer ethnocentrism, and to examine the impact of socio–demographic characteristics of households on the tendencies in consumer ethnocentrism in the Tuzla Canton area. Th e study was conducted on a random sample of 110 households, and the questionnaire consisted of two parts. In the fi rst part, questions were answered from the standard CET scale with 17 claims, while the second part of the questionnaire consisted of a set of questions that concerned habits and preferences of consumers, barriers to consumer ethnocentrism, and socio-demographic characteristics of respondents. It was found that Bosnia and Herzegovina consumers are ethnocentric, most prominently in the purchase of domestic food products. Th e extent of Pearson’s coeffi cient of correlation shows that their tendency towards purchasing domestic products signifi cantly correlates positively with promotional activities. Th e results of the study showed that for most of the socio–demographic characteristics of the respondents there was no statistically signifi cant diff erence in relation to the tendency of consumer ethnocentrism. Th e only exception is the ethnicity of the respondents. In addition, consumers do not reject foreign products, but agree that they should be limited in the Tuzla Canton area. Th e results of the conducted empirical research can provide valuable guidelines for improving the business activities of production companies in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Tuzla Canton.

A company follows the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) when, in addition to its basic economic functions, it fulfi lls other functions to achieve greater social goals. Corporate social responsibility is an imperative in the modern world of business while in theory, it is still the subject of discussions. Nevertheless, within diff erent theories, there is a certain consensus specifi cally related to the understanding of the importance of stakeholders and the existence of diff erent levels of CSR. Th e main aim of this paper is to explore and analyze employee perceptions of CSR activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Th is paper will present a survey of the perception of 100 corporate representatives related to CSR, with an analysis of the infl uence of sociodemographic factors and job characteristics on their attitudes. In addition, the paper off ers the conclusion, with a number of recommendations for improving the current state of CSR in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This research analyzes interdependence and low efficiency of the selected capital markets in the period before and after the escalation of the global financial crisis. The aim is to show, based on the obtained results, the position that can be taken by potential investors in frontier capital markets of the Western Balkan countries. The sample included the daily values of the selected stock market indices for the period October 04, 2005 to October 25, 2012. The results showed that during the crisis potential benefits of international diversification based on investments in the observed frontier capital markets decrease as the correlations among capital markets during the crisis are higher than expected, which is marked as the “contagion effect”. In terms of low efficiency, it can be concluded that the results for the period before the crisis are expected, meaning that all the selected capital markets of the Western Balkans were inefficient. Efficiency tests for the period after the escalation of the crisis show somewhat contradictory results due to the characteristics of these markets and the effect of exogenous shock such as the financial crisis.