Klaipėdos universitetas

The article and the research presented here relies on the fact that the Law of Voluntary Activity, adopted in Lithuania, has been prepared during the European year of volunteering, so a presumption may be held, that the text of the Lithuanian Law of Voluntary Activity has been influenced significantly by the intensive political and valuable discourse of EU of volunteering promotion, which could been observed in Lithuania as well as in the whole EU in 2011. So the fallowing questions, which describe the scientific problem of the article, may be raised: how much the regulations of the volunteering promotion discourse of EU reflect in the text of the Law, which must create definitional-regulating conditions for the volunteering practice in the country by its content and functions? How did the valuable position of EU, which could been observed in the public space of EU in 2011, influence the definitions of volunteering and the regulating attitudes towards it in the text of the Lithuanian Law of Voluntary Activity? How does Lithuania contribute to the official position of EU towards understanding of volunteering?

The article discusses the results of value-based communication analysis in the electoral programs of winning parties in Republic of Lithuania Seimas’2016 year election (LVŽS, LSDP, TS-LKD, LRLS, TT, LLRA-KŠS). With the application of three criteria of programs’ analysis – the volume of thematic parts, semantic segments, and ideological values – these questions were addressed: the connection and differences between winner parties’ attitudes towards values; whether traditional parties have preserved ideological identity; what coalitions after the election in the Seimas were possible based on values. The research data revealed that communication of values relevant to society in all analyzed programs is very similar, and, through cluster analysis, the connections between ideological values’ communication were established foremost between traditional parties (first cluster). The second cluster consists of less related programs of other parties. Almost identical results were established when analysing this aspect based on programs’ structural parts. Thus two separate structural elements with stronger (first case) and weaker (second case) interconnections were determined.

An aging population is defined in the scientific literature as changes in the structural age composition of the population, which leads to growth in the population of those who are 60 years and older. The aging of population is a social and economic problem that needs to be understood and addressed. Aging of the population has a significant impact on national economies, as well as within individual regions of the country. The old age index has a significant impact on regional supply of services. It is worth stressing that in order to improve a community’s quality of life and reduce disparities between regions, it is necessary to continually assess the level of development and regional development opportunities. Evaluation of the regional socio-economic situation should be performed periodically, so that regional policy measures can be directed to the areas of greatest need.

Straipsnyje pateiktas naujas požiūris į ekonominį augimą ir jo tvarumą. Požiūris grindžiamas nauja bendrųjų procentų idėja. Pristatomas apibendrintas ekonominis logistinis augimo modelis. Straipsnyje parodoma, kad iki šiol egzistuoja nepakankamai ištirtas didėjančio produktyvumo fenomenas, pasireiškiantis kaip bendrųjų procentų augimo normos priklausomybė nuo rinkos prisotinimo laipsnio. Atskleidžiama procentų įtaka rinkos virsmui ir besivystančios sistemos augimui. Tyrimo tikslas – remiantis bendraisiais procentais atskleisti ir pagrįsti klasikinės bei keinsistinės ekonominių teorijų suderinamumą. Atliktas tyrimas rodo, kad įmanoma suderinti klasikinės ir keinsistinės teorijų prieštaras. Parodoma, kad, atsižvelgiant į rinkos prisotinimo laipsnį, t. y. pasiūlos ir paklausos santykį, rinka gali būti įvairių tipų. Pasiūlos ir paklausos santykio pasikeitimas lemia rinkos virsmą. Būtent rinkos virsmas leidžia pagrįsti klasikinės ir keinsistinės teorijų suderinamumo galimybę.

The image formation and support, reputation-building and active marketing are vital for the existence of the nowadays modern country and its development. Today the country’s nature, history, people and traditions became the exclusive brands that strengthens the economy and cross-border relations, a competitive advantage is obtained. There are many image definitions and classifications, each author analyses it from own perspective. It was found that individual elements make a big influence for a general country’s image. In order to use it effectively systemic attitude is required. Country’s image in the international tourism market is explained by tourist behavioural characteristics: how a person behaves in respect of country, how he or she perceives the country – as a neighbour or distant, closed or open, acceptable or unacceptable, how much the person trusts the provided information, if he or she is ready to travel to the country. Personal characteristics has an influence for perceived location’s image. Despite Lithuania’s efforts to make the image better abroad and inside the country, it’s rank on the international agencies surveys, evaluating country’s political and economic situation in the world context and how famous it is, remains low. There are no innovative strategy for building Lithuania’s image. During the 2006–2015 period, there were no core changes in associations, created for foreigners by the word “Lithuania”. The research found that foreigners imagine Lithuania as underdeveloped, neglected agriculture country, people are closed, not willing to communicate – the same as was imagined in 2006. Lithuania’s touristic image was better after the visit. More facts about Lithuania was known by tourists from neighbouring countries. During the 9 years Lithuania’s touristic image has not changed.

The aim of the paper is to review the global research on household saving behaviour, to review the scientific literature, and to consider the selection of the optimal research methodology for the thesis ‘Lithuanian Households’ Saving Behaviour for Retirement in an Ageing Society’. The paper reviews the main theoretical perspectives defining household behaviour and the methodological approaches of research conducted in the USA, Germany, Japan, the UK and Scandinavian countries. The traditional approach of economists to the human being in the economy is compared with the theoretical perspective of behavioural economists. The article presents recommendations for the methodology of research in Lithuania, by proposing to analyse the data from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, and, based on the assumptions of behavioural economists, to provide recommendations to help people save more for retirement.

Survival of the organizations nowadays depends on their ability to learn how to properly and quickly increase their efficiency and performance and adapt to the changing environment. Creating an organizational learning culture (OLC) has achieved an increase in the survivability of organizations. This paper examines OCB and OLC questionnaires, tests their reliability and validity and adapts them to the public sector. This study analyses 161 questionnaires filled in by municipality employees of one of the northern cities in Israel.

The objective of this paper is to analyze the results of recent empirical research concerning the impact of corporate governance on firm performance and reflect potential research design problems which lead to inconsistent results. By means of a literature review including all articles of academic journal data bases with a journal quality rating of at least a C-rating in the VHB Journal Rating or above ‘3’ in the ABS Academic Journal Rating, respectively, the recent empirical research articles are analyzed regarding their main results. Two main groups of studies are identified: studies on company level to determine the impact of single corporate governance variables such as board size, chairman-CEO duality, etc. on a small set of performance measures, and studies with a larger sample and a longer time period using multivariate analysis to determine the overall impact of corporate governance on companies measured with an extended set of financial research variables measuring multiple dimensions of impact. Overall, the results of recent research show no consistent impact of corporate governance on firm performance. Beside this, a trend to studies with larger samples and longer time periods can be seen. However, also these studies come to inconsistent results. The inconsistencies of empirical research may be grounded in mostly small size of samples and small time periods, and the application of research constructs instead of financial research metrics to measure firm performance. As this is a conceptual paper, the objective is to define a research design based on the findings of this analysis.

The development of information technology (IT) in the process of modern primary education poses new challenges for participants in this process. Despite the fact that the development of IT enhances teaching/learning, and makes it modern and attractive, the unrestricted and irresponsible use of IT can have negative consequences for both the physical and the mental health of younger school-age children. The article analyses problems related to features of creating a healthy child-friendly teaching/learning environment in the context of the development of IT in primary education. A total of 237 primary school teachers in western Lithuania were interviewed by means of a written (questionnaire) survey research method.The research results show that a computer is the main IT tool in the primary education environment. Almost all the interviewed teachers had them in their classrooms. Teachers lack in particular interactive boards and tablets. Only a very small number of teachers had them in their classrooms. The teachers interviewed lack more diverse means of IT in their classrooms, which limits the possibilities for using IT in the education process. The results of the research reveal that although primary school students know about safe use and health-care when working with IT, they are not able to apply the available knowledge in practice. Children lack the acquisition of practical actions and skills in applying them in life situations. Only a third, and even fewer teachers, agreed that while using IT children are able to sit correctly at a desk, protect their eyesight, do eye exercises, coordinate eye and hand movements, etc. Therefore, not only are modern means of IT and their safe installation important for the creation of a healthy child-friendly primary teaching/learning environment in the context of IT, but so is the development of safe and healthy child-friendly behaviour with IT: the regulation and distribution of work time with IT at school and at home, the responsible use of IT; not only the provision of knowledge about the use of IT to students, but also the formation of practical skills and their application in life situations.

Straipsnyje analizuojamas profesinio mokymo proceso kokybės valdymas. Aptariami teoriniai profesinių mokyklų kokybės valdymo aspektai, pristatomi juridiniai dokumentai, reglamentuojantys kokybės valdymą, ir atlikto tyrimo duomenys. Iš viso atliekant tyrimą apklausti 628 tyrimo dalyviai (240 mokytojų, 340 mokinių ir 48 mokyklų vadovai). Atsitiktiniu atrankos metodu pasirinkta po tris profesinio mokymo mokyklas iš kiekvieno Lietuvos regiono (Marijampolės, Alytaus, Utenos, Panevėžio, Šiaulių, Telšių, Tauragės, Klaipėdos, Kauno, Vilniaus).