Vasile Dinu

Stakeholders’ perception of sustainability orientation within a major Romanian University

Purpose The research attempts to aim to evaluate the perception that different stakeholder groups have of one of the largest and most important Romanian university with respect to its sustainability orientation. The exploratory empirical research reveals some important aspects which must be closely pursued and properly implemented by the management of the university to further develop sustainability strategies. The paper offers a novel approach regarding the way a university can and must focus on different specific measures on sustainability to gain a better position on the educational market, to attract new students and lifelong learning (LLL) programme participants, as well as to become a trend setter for defining and transferring good practices within the society. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected by questionnaires and in-depth-interview guides which were distributed to different stakeholder groups: bachelor (undergraduate) and master’s students versus LLL programme participants coming from different high schools across the country enrolled on a training course organized by the university and high school principals versus staff members of the university holding coordination and/or management positions. The collected data were then analyzed by means of econometric analysis. Data validity, reliability and internal consistency were checked (Cronbach’s α coefficient, “item-to-total” correlation, the KMO criterion (>0.7) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity). With the help of exploratory factor analysis, the way in which different stakeholders value and perceive the specific measures and efforts undertaken by the university has been extracted. Findings Students, LLL participants and members of the university staff perceived the university’s positive orientation towards sustainability and the measures taken in this respect. All stakeholders expressed highly favourable opinions of the university’s dealings with different sustainability aspects, such as its attitude towards its employees, its performance within the higher education market and its establishment of an attractive and innovative educational programme, in compliance with sustainability principles, environmental protection and modern attitudes towards society. Research limitations/implications The research has been conducted on a sample of students of bachelor and master level, belonging to the biggest faculty of the university (as to number of students and staff). In a more comprising study, the focus should also be on bachelor, master and PhD students of the other faculties of the university, as well as on citizens of the community or in general on people from Transylvania and/or Romania. The university under investigation is one of the most important employers of the region. Further dimensions of sustainable development could also be pursued in a future study. Social implications The university shows an orientation towards civil society by means of specific actions and programs. The university supports and takes part in the organization of cultural and artistic events in cooperation with local authorities and other cultural and/or social institutions and organizations. Respondents also refer to some examples of best practices that might be applied by education institutions to educate young people towards developing a proper sustainable mentality. Originality/value There exist almost no comparative empirical studies of sustainability on Romanian universities that take account of the perspectives of students, LLL participants and staff members. The findings have a high potential in developing a proper strategy for the university involved but could also be used by the government if designing a national wide policy regarding this issue. Different authors argue that young people are more conscious about sustainability, organic stuff, environmental protection, green marketing, etc. Taking into consideration the sensitivity of young peoples (students, staff members, etc.), as well as the fact that the university establishes social trends, the idea of studying sustainability in a university could be regarded as a novelty approach.

Scientometric approach of productivity in scholarly economics and business

Some scientometric studies attempt to explain the factors affecting a country’s scientific output, which is usually measured by proxy variables such as the number of articles and citations in internationally-renowned journals. This paper highlights the main drivers for scientific output in economics and business, namely, financing of education and research, population size, the number of scholarly journals and English as the official language. We use multiple OLS regressions and data provided by Web of Knowledge and the World Bank covering 56 nations. The study also highlights the relationship between scientific output and the efficiency in using the research funding. The rankings of sample countries show that there is a learning process at national level, the output being doubled by efficiency.

Cross-Generational Investigation of Ethics and Sustainability. Insights from Romanian Retailing

When targeting consumers, retailers have to increasingly rely on ethical principles, motivated by the need to achieve a favourable competitive position in their minds, exhibit a sustainable behavior and ensure the aesthetics and durability of sold merchandise. Business practices such as exploitation of labour, environment pollution, enforcing inhumane working conditions etc. are sanctionable worldwide and are key factors for individuals when taking buying decisions.

Services and structural patterns of a post-transition Romanian economy

The present paper reflects a first step in exploring in a systematic way the manner in which services are embedded in the economic life in Romania. The authors believe that service industries, in particular knowledge intensive services, are at the core of this transformational process and economic transitions. This article presents the input–output tables and their role for the real GDP and real growth estimations, the importance of correlation between goods and services, an econometrical analysis of some major matrix of correlation developed from data, and a set of conclusions describing the impact of goods-services correlation on the Romanian economic growth. The three sections are the distinct research objectives: (a) the input–output descriptive images, emphasising statistical characteristics of goods-services liaisons; (b) the evaluation of these correlations with the dynamics of real Romanian GDP, based on the R-squared matrix; (c) the identification of the impact on the real growth of goods-services liaisons for the Romanian economy as a specificity of its stage of development.

A classical German view of public debt and investment in Romania and other ex-socialist economies

The article uses the angle, and it is placed under the influence of the contributions of the representatives of German classical financial economic school, from Carl Dietzel and Lorenz von Stein to Adolph Wagner, whose works, reassessed by Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich in 2013, are comparable, through their originality, to the English and other European classical schools of economics. The section devoted to the literature review is based on the contributions of the three German economists; the section devoted to method critically analyses the ratio of public debt to GDP, highlighting both the positive aspects of this convergence indicator, and its negative sides, as a relative indicator constructed from comparing two completely different statistical indicators, i.e. stock and flow. The results and discussions focus on the evolution, over the last two decades, of the debt in Romania and other ex-socialist economies, emphasising the need to prioritise the quality of debt management through the agency of the investment factor derived from the overall impact of public debt, and the final conclusions emphasise the need for relativisation of thresholds, taking into account the behaviour of the economies analysed, placing relative emphasis on the case of Romania.