<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The strengthening of professional identity (PI) of teachers of higher education institutions (HEI) is one of the ways to improve the quality of educational process. Performance of professional role(s) can be identified as the key component of PI. The contemporary university teacher performs many professional roles: she/he is a lecturer, researcher, supervisor of students’ research works, expert, and so on. Multi-role activity of a teacher is considered as a characteristic feature of the profession by the colleagues in Latvia, Russia and other countries. This research is based on the data obtained during the implementation of the Project ‘Professional Identity of Contemporary Pedagogue’ in 2014–2016 by the researchers from Riga (Latvia) and Smolensk (Russia). In the realization of the project, the six-component structural model of the content of HEI teacher’s PI was created and the survey was carried out using the questionnaire ‘HEI Teachers’ Professional Identity’ developed by the project participants. Overall, a total of 198 teachers were surveyed in Riga and Smolensk. The aim of this article was to analyze and compare the data obtained for the PI component ‘Professional Roles’ in the samples of HEI teachers of both the countries. The data were analysed using statistical methods. The results showed that teachers of both the countries perform their professional roles at a high level. Overall, the answers of teachers of the two countries were well agreed. However, some peculiarities in the data of Riga and Smolensk were observed, and some problems of PI of HEI teachers were identified, which require attention of executives of the education reform and teachers.</abstract>

University College of Economics and Culture

Professional Roles as the Structural Component of Professional Identity of Higher Education Teachers in Samples of Riga and Smolensk

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The past decade constitutes a significant turning point in the orientation of policy makers in the Israeli educational system. This period is characterized by comprehensive structural and pedagogical reforms intended for the promotion of the system’s achievements. ‘Pedagogical Flexibility’, a reform in the professional development of teaching staff implemented in 2015, constitutes a significant breakthrough in the perception of development and learning in Israel. The school principals play a main role in leading the reform and in the development of a new organizational culture in the staff as well. This led to the creation of focused learning frameworks for school principals who sought to improve their knowledge and skill in the leadership of the reform. The article presents the main points of the first pilot program implemented in the North District for the training of 20 school principals in the reform and the main findings from the evaluation of the program, data from a questionnaire, and a focus group. In addition, the article proposes a critical look at the program effectiveness and indicates further focuses for future learning. The article presents a view of the role of the school principal in the leadership of the professional development in Israel and reviews theoretical aspects that arise from the research regarding this issue.</abstract>

Professional Development of School Principals in the Pilot Program of ‘Pedagogical Flexibility’: The Israeli Case

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article demonstrates the size of the budget gap that arises in a household after the death of that member who was the breadwinner of the family. It also describes how this gap can be covered by motor vehicle liability insurance. One source of funding for this gap could be, for example, an annuity for indirect victims. In many EU countries, people who are members of the household of the deceased are considered to be affected as a result of his death. Those indirectly affected will include the family members and relatives of the deceased (spouse, parent, child, sibling, and cohabitant). The person responsible for the death should pay compensation to the family members of the deceased. One of the elements determining this compensation should be the loss of income to the family of the deceased. The second element is compensation for the lost personal contribution. This paper presents the study of literature as an introduction to the relevant issues. The problem of compensation for lost income will be illustrated by legal regulations and calculations based on the account actuarial-term annuity. The study focuses on the selected EU countries. This article is part of a broader study by the author on the material consequences of personal injury and sources of their financing.</abstract>

Compensation for Those Indirectly Affected by the Death of a Household Member

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Brand value building and managing is an interdisciplinary issue with serious impact on company's effective market performance. Knowing this, more and more companies try to extract the competitive advantage of a valuable brand. But there are a lot of practical restrictions that result from universal application of formulated theory without respecting national specifics and which often lead to company's activities in scope of branding and brand value measuring not being successful. This is the reason for scepticism towards the implementation of brand management activities, especially in former socialistic countries where the tradition of brand is not so developed due to the long-term application of principles of planned economy. So, the undesirable spiral mechanism is evident – domestic companies apply inconvenient methods of branding and brand value evaluation – brand value decreases – companies rather do not build and manage theirs brands – brands lose their competitive potential in comparison with foreign competitors and the market deforms – only strong foreign brands applying their national branding mechanisms survive – the impression of the so called ‘good practice’ is created – the domestic companies apply inconvenient methods of branding and the circle starts again. According to this, the aim of this paper is to critically discuss the applicability of selected brand valuation methods in the specific conditions of Slovak republic and to verify its applicability in the context of framework conditions of their applicability. To achieve this aim, after the application of selected criteria, we applied the following methods of brand value measurement: royalty savings and brand value added.</abstract>

Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications

By Disobedience to Success: When Brand Value should be Measured in a Different Way than how the Theory Recommends

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Internationalisation of education and student mobility (incoming and outgoing) has become a significant factor in the sphere of higher education. These processes lead to interaction between local students and exchange students, as well as between exchange students and host universities. Being in the foreign country for a certain period (one or two semesters) requires some cultural and social adaptation that could or could not be problematic for various reasons. In order to maximise benefits for the exchange students and host universities, it is important to identify existing problems and to offer possible solutions. The aim of the current paper is to research the critical aspects of cultural adaptation process of ERASMUS students in Latvia. The international group that consists of a professor of the University College of Economics and Culture and three exchange students from Italy and Spain carried out the research. The empirical methods used were the following: a survey of ERASMUS students (non-probability purposive sampling) and semi-structured interviews with the host university ERASMUS coordinators. The data processing methods were the descriptive statistics as well as the thematic content analysis. On the basis of critical issues identified during the research process, the authors worked a set of practical solutions aimed at the host institutions.</abstract>

The University College of Economics and Culture

Cultural Adaptation of Erasmus Students in Latvia and Host University Responsibility

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In accordance with generally accepted accounting standards, most intangibles are not accounted for and not reflected in the traditional financial accounting. For this reason, most companies account intangible assets (IAs) as expenses. In the research, 57 sub-elements of IAs were applied, which are grouped into eight main elements of IAs. The classification of IAs consists in two parts of assets: accounting and non-accounting. This classification can be successfully applied in different branches of enterprises, to expand and supplement the theoretical and practical concepts of the company's financial management. The article proposes to evaluate not only the value of financial information for IAs (accounted) but also the value of non-financial information for IAs (non-accounted), thus revealing the true value of IAs that is available to the companies of Lithuania. It names a value of general IAs. The results of the research confirmed the IA valuation methodology, which allows companies to calculate the fair value of an IA. The obtained extended IAs valuation information may be valuable to both the owners of the company and investors, as this value plays an important practical role in assessing the impact of IAs on the market value of companies.</abstract>

Determination of the Value of Intangible Assets in the Companies of Lithuania

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The banking sector has developed and extended the use of its services in the past decade. In fact, nowadays mobile banking (M-banking) is the most developing service offered by a bank. In order to encourage customers to use m-banking services, it is extremely important to get clients to trust the M-banking services provided by the bank. This article discusses private clients’ trust in mobile banking in Latvia. Hence, the goal of the research is to identify the key factors driving individual customer’s confidence in mobile banking. In order to determine the weight of each factor, expert evaluation method based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used. The results showed that the most vital factor affecting private clients’ trust in mobile banking is customer characteristics, especially customers’ computer literacy. However, after summarizing all the subfactors, it became clear that the most powerful in the trust-building process is convenience/practicality of using a mobile application. However, there is a limitation – the survey was conducted by interviewing experts, which means that the results may differ from the responses of the clients themselves.</abstract>

Factors Influencing Customer Trust in Mobile Banking: Case of Latvia

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 20 (2023): Issue 2 (December 2023)

Volume 20 (2023): Issue 1 (June 2023)

Volume 19 (2022): Issue 2 (December 2022)

Volume 19 (2022): Issue 1 (June 2022)

Volume 18 (2021): Issue 2 (December 2021)

Volume 18 (2021): Issue 1 (June 2021)

Volume 17 (2020): Issue 2 (December 2020)

Volume 17 (2020): Issue 1 (June 2020)

Volume 16 (2019): Issue 2 (December 2019)

Volume 16 (2019): Issue 1 (June 2019)

Volume 15 (2018): Issue 2 (December 2018)

Volume 15 (2018): Issue 1 (June 2018)

Volume 14 (2017): Issue 2 (December 2017)

Volume 14 (2017): Issue 1 (June 2017)

Volume 13 (2016): Issue 2 (December 2016)

Volume 13 (2016): Issue 1 (June 2016)

Economics and Culture

Aims and Scope  Journal Economics and Culture is a international open-access journal that publishes original scientific papers on the latest empirical and theoretical research in the fields of economics, business management and culture. All articles are doubl-blind peer-reviewed.  Authors are specially welcomed to submit their papers focused on cultural economics, application of statistical methods to the field of culture, cultural and event management, cultural education, business issues in culture and creative industries, i.e. topics combining economic, management and culture issues.  Journal Economics and Culture has been published since 2010 by the EKA University of Applied Sciences. Periodicity of the edition　– 2 times per year (June and December).  Peer-review process. The journal uses double-blind peer review (neither the authors nor the reviewers know the identity of each other) to avoid bias. See more information in the section „For Authors – Reviewing Policy“  Plagiarism policy. Authors should strictly avoid plagiarism, including self-plagiarism. Papers submitted to Economics and Culture must be original and not be published or submitted for publication elsewhere.  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.  Open access statement. The journal is an Open Access journal that allows a free unlimited access to all its contents without any restrictions upon publication to all users.  Copyright policy. Economics and Culture publishes open-access articles licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License  Since Volume 2022, the journal has changed its license to the Creative Commons BY NC ND 4.0. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)  Archiving policy. Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  APC policy. To publish in Economics and Culture, the authors are not required to pay an Article Processing Charge. 