MAP Social Sciences

Motivacija zaposlenika u organizaciji

2025-03-11T11:16:58+00:00

Cilj ovog rada bio je prikazati važnost motivacije te važnost motivacije zaposlenika za uspješno funkcioniranje organizacije i objasniti koji su to faktori koju utječu na motivaciju zaposlenika. Zaposlenici su jedan od ključnih čimbenika uspješnosti i kao takvi predstavljaju najvažniji resurs svake organizacije. Kako bi efikasno i efektivno obavljali radne zadatke koji se pred njih postavljaju, potrebno je da budu motivirani i zadovoljni poslom koji obavljaju. Upravljanje ljudskim potencijalima je složen i zahtjevan proces, pa zadaci koje obavlja menadžer ljudskih potencijala nisu nimalo jednostavni. On mora biti uspješan vođa, osluškivati puls zaposlenika, uočavati promjene u njihovom ponašanju i promptno reagirati kako bi povećao radnu motivaciju i spriječio eventualne negativne posljedice koje nezadovoljstvo poslom nedvojbeno povlači za sobom, a one se odražavaju i na zaposlenika, ali i na samu organizaciju i ostvarivanje ciljeva iste. Stoga je važno znati koji su to čimbenici koji motiviraju zaposlenike jer je samo zadovoljan zaposlenik garancija uspješne organizacije.

Freedom of Speech and Expression: Legal, Theoretical, and Cultural Review

2024-08-26T20:22:12+00:00

This paper offers a chronological review of the path free speech had from ancient societies till the contemporary recession. New media technologies created more access to gathering and disseminating information consequently inducing social changes from Guthenberg’s printing press till the Internet era. After the tragedy of WWII, the UN’s institutions defined freedom of speech and expression as individual freedom to articulate and express opinions and ideas without fear of censorship, retaliation, or legal sanction including the content and the means of expression. It is protected by law but is not absolute. Limitations are related to hate speech, libel, slander, etc. The Normative Theories provide a synthesis of ideas that express even conflicting views and are a reliable foundation for understanding the development of free speech and the change it induces in society, media, and culture. Libertarian vs. Authoritarian ideas about free speech raised a debate and provided a compromise between radical freedom of speech and government control of media to prevent possible harm in the form of social responsibility theory.

Analyzing Youth Perspectives on Soft Security: A Comparative Study of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia

2025-07-02T21:03:52+00:00

In recent decades, security threats have progressively shifted from traditional, state-centric paradigms to more complex, hybrid forms, thereby elevating the significance of so-called "soft security" issues in both academic and policy discourse. Against this backdrop, the present study aims to examine and compare the perceptions of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia regarding these emerging security challenges. Specifically, the research focuses on non-military risks, including economic insecurity, organized crime, corruption, and the impacts of climate change. The younger generations in the Western Balkans are increasingly reconfiguring their understandings of security in response to the rising prominence of hybrid threats that transcend conventional military frameworks. To explore how socio-political factors—such as Croatia’s accession to the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s fragmented governance structure—shape these perceptions, the study employs a comparative cross-sectional survey design. A total of 308 young respondents participated in the research, comprising 203 individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina and 105 from Croatia. The findings underscore the critical importance of formulating and implementing targeted policy measures aimed at addressing the specific concerns of youth, enhancing civic literacy, and fostering trust in governmental institutions. Moreover, the study highlights the pivotal role of youth engagement in the development of enduring security architectures in the Western Balkans, situating these perceptions within the broader regional security context. While the research does not claim statistical generalizability, the identified trends provide an essential foundation for ongoing monitoring of youth attitudes. These insights are instrumental for devising effective strategies to bolster the resilience of the Western Balkans' security frameworks and to promote sustainable, inclusive approaches to regional stability.

The Ethics of Influencer Marketing: An Analysis of Transparency and Accountability in Digital Advertising

2025-07-14T13:38:49+00:00

In the modern digital environment, where social networks represent a key communication channel, influencer marketing is growing into one of the dominant forms of advertising. Its ubiquity brings numerous advantages in terms of reach and perception of authenticity but at the same time raises a number of ethical issues, especially related to transparency and accountability to consumers. Influencers, as modern opinion leaders, have transformed the relationship between brands and audiences, especially among younger generations—Generation Z and Generation Alpha—who increasingly trust influencer recommendations, as opposed to traditional forms of marketing. The central challenge of this form of promotion lies in ensuring a clear distinction between sponsored content and personal recommendations. Covert advertising, or unmarked commercial cooperation, can erode user trust and result in the perception of manipulation. Although legal frameworks in many countries prescribe mandatory labeling of sponsored content, their implementation remains uneven. Additional complexity to the ethical and communication challenges is introduced by artificially generated influencers (so-called AI influencers), who are becoming increasingly present thanks to their popularity on platforms such as TikTok. Their use further blurs the lines between real and simulated messages, especially in the perception of younger users, thus creating a need for new regulatory and educational approaches to protecting digital consumers.

Gender diversity, workforce composition, and career development: The role of female leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2025-07-23T10:50:59+00:00

Gender diversity and the inclusion of women in leadership roles are increasingly recognized as critical drivers of organizational equity and sustainability, particularly through their influence on workforce diversity, employee development, and fair compensation practices. While these effects are well-documented in developed economies, evidence from transitional contexts remains limited.

This study explores the impact of female leadership on the social dimension of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance in private sector companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Focusing on three key outcome areas—inclusive hiring, investment in employee training, and average employee compensation—it examines whether a higher share of women in decision-making positions correlates with stronger ESG-related practices.

Using original data from 131 firms that applied for the 2024 United Nations Development Programme’s SDG Business Pioneers Award, the analysis reveals a positive association between female leadership and all three outcome variables. These findings suggest that gender-inclusive leadership contributes meaningfully to socially responsible business practices, even in transitional economies.

By providing empirical insights from Bosnia and Herzegovina, this study adds to the growing body of research on gender and sustainability. It highlights the potential of female leadership as a lever for advancing ESG goals and offers practical implications for policymakers and corporate actors aiming to align business strategy with inclusive and sustainable development.

Digital reception of culture: The role of social networks in emotional connection generation Z with festivals

2025-07-20T21:27:15+00:00

The role of digital media, especially social networks, in informing citizens about cultural events has become crucial in recent years in shaping public perception, behavior and consumer habits of visitors to cultural events. In the context of Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2010, these channels represent a dominant source of information and a platform for expressing cultural identity, as confirmed by numerous recent studies. This paper analyzes the reception of cultural festivals in Varaždin among members of Generation Z, with a special emphasis on information through digital channels, emotional engagement and perception of the cultural and tourist values of festivals.
The theoretical framework includes approaches of media reception, cultural diffusion and digital participation. Using a quantitative survey conducted among young people, the patterns of digital media use, personal identification with festivals and the perceived impact of visual and interactive content were analyzed. The results indicate the key role of Instagram and TikTok in the emotional engagement of young people and confirm the importance of user-generated content (UGC) and participatory culture in contemporary festival communication. Social networks play a major role in shaping contemporary cultural practices of reception, information and promotion of events, thus becoming an indispensable tool in the management of cultural and tourism policy. This opens up space for the development of targeted cultural and digital marketing strategies, as well as participatory management, the foundations of which will be an understanding of the affective and identity dimensions of cultural reception among young people.

Trade Protection and Inflation Dynamics: Evidence of Policy Endogeneity from a Panel VAR Analysis

2025-08-22T18:06:09+00:00

This research examines the interactive relationship between trade protection and inflation using analysis of 9,520 country-year observations. Employing Panel Vector Autoregression (PVAR), Granger causality tests, impulse response functions and policy simulations, a strong evidence of policy endogeneity in the tariff-inflation relationship is found. The key finding reveal an asymmetric causal effect: inflation changes strongly predict future tariff adjustments (χ² = 387.529, p < 0.001), while tariffs do not predict inflation changes (χ² = 6.708, p = 0.082). The observed correlation between protection and price levels results from systematic policy responses rather than direct causal effects of trade policy. The impulse response analysis shows that higher tariffs cause sustained price increases lasting 3 to 4 periods, whereas inflationary shocks lead to immediate tariff reductions. This creates a self-regulating mechanism where protectionist measures eventually diminish through inflation effects. Simulation results indicate that a 10 percentage point tariff increase results in an average of 0.8 percentage points additional inflation, although outcomes vary significantly across countries. These findings support current trade policy debates by demonstrating that moderate tariff hikes incur notable macroeconomic costs, yet political economy forces generally favor trade liberalization following inflationary episodes.