One of the most important aspects influencing the quality of life is education. The paper includes the research results from an analysis of how the level of education affects quality of life, and the development of different initiatives and values. An analysis of scientific literature is performed, with a more detailed analysis of data from Latvia, taking into account the level of household income and satisfaction with life. Research methods applied: analysis of scientific findings, analysis of time-series on several indicators of development related to different education indicators, and income indicators depending on educational level, with a calculation of income confidence interval with a probability of 0.95 for households with different educational levels. Data used in the research: data from databases of the Official Statistics Portal of the Republic of Latvia, Household Finance and Consumption Survey. The research results indicate that households in Latvia with a higher education have a significantly higher income than households with primary or no education.
Social networks are an important tool for human resources management to identify employees. The number of suitable candidates to fill a position is decreasing. Companies need new channels for the recruiting process. This paper evaluates the usefulness of the different social networks under consideration of the advantages and disadvantages. “Employee recruit Employees” is a useful tool to identify suitable candidates. The aim of the paper is to analyse the different motivators and reasons of individuals to recommend somebody to identify employer. The research methods are: theoretical studies of published scientific findings and survey with 251 respondents. The data obtained in the survey were analysed with indicators of central tendency or location: arithmetic mean, median or mode and t-test to compare the gender differences.
This paper describes the difference between business social network sites and private social network sites under consideration of the employment seeking process. The objective of the paper is to explain the different use of social network sites for different purpose. The use of social network sites can be explained with social capital theory which has been tested with the collected data. This paper test if the social capital theory can be expanded to explain social network sites under consideration of the employment seeking process for Xing as business SNS and Facebook as private SNS. The purpose of this article: According the survey to analyze the difference of social network sites explained with the employment seeking process. The research methods: analysis of scientific literature, interpretation, quantitative research, data analysis using SPSS program. The research method has been an online survey with 271 young SNS members who are participants for the research project. The sample has a gender bias which has to be under consideration by the interpretation of the results.
Human resource management uses social networks to identify new employees. This research investigates if people use social networks to identify employment opportunities and how they improve their networks to get easier and quicker access to information and resources. Researchers worldwide devote their attention to different aspects of identification of new employees via social networks. The authors of the paper have done empirical research based on an online survey with 298 respondents, and the data obtained from the survey has been analysed using various statistical tools. The number of suitable candidates for employment is decreasing and companies need knowledge about the employment seeking process to have an effective and efficient recruiting strategy. This paper studies the information channel on employment possibilities, i.e. social network, and how individuals develop and improve their networks for the employment seeking process. Moreover, the authors analyse how people use social networks in the employment seeking process compared with other channels on possible employment opportunities.
Straipsnyje analizuojama muziejų paskirtis ir jų veiklos kismas keičiantis visuomenei. Muziejai turėtų ne tik atlikti kaupiamąją, šviečiamąją, bet ir auklėjamąją funkcijas, siekdami pritraukti išrankius (ypač jaunesnio amžiaus) lankytojus, todėl svarbu paslaugas modernizuoti. Pritaikius stebėjimo metodą, aplankyti 22 muziejai Lietuvoje ir Latvijoje. Taikant teorijoje išskirtus paslaugų modernizavimo kriterijus muziejuose nustatyta, kad vis dar daugelio jų lankymo laikas nepatrauklus, pasigendama paslaugų žmonėms su negalia, trūksta įtraukimo į muziejinę veiklą, elementarių paslaugų, kaip kavinių, parduotuvių, kur lankytojai galėtų nusipirkti replikas, eksponatų suvenyrų kopijas.
Innovation and an innovative approach in management, education and leadership have been changing over decades, according to the dynamic world we are living in. Changes start at an individual level, with the personality, and only those who have changed themselves can start to lead others towards global change. The Latvian National Development Plan defined aspects of polycentric development for all the regions of Latvia. Each region has resources, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, but human resources are the most important resource for change, creative ideas and sustainable development. The education system changes very slowly, from lecture learning to a more inclusive ‘learning by doing’ approach. This approach has been used in northern countries for a while, but Latvia has just now started to implement the approach. The term ‘innovation’ today is wider than product, process, service or organisational innovation. At a national and regional level of development, it is crucial to encourage inhabitants of the region to stay in or return to rural areas, and create knowledge and enterprises in the region and their home town.The aim of the paper is to evaluate the involvement of residents in management activities and regional development processes, and their willingness to participate in the creation of knowledge and innovative entrepreneurship and co-creation. The paper is a review of literature on theoretical aspects of the creation of innovation in the region in a combination of survey analyses of residents. The methodological approach is based on two steps: a review of research literature, and an analysis of the results of a survey of residents of the region of their willingness to be involved in processes and tasks for regional development, and some aspects of analysis of entrepreneur opinion about innovative solutions in their companies. The article consists of four main parts: 1) the theoretical findings of a systemic approach to innovation and development; 2) the role of the innovation process in development from different perspectives; 3) an analysis of a survey of the region’s residents about their willingness to be involved in processes of regional development; 4) aspects of innovation used in regional entrepreneurship. The significance of the paper is to define aspects of regional development relating to innovation and co-creation.
Recent developments of information technologies have supported fast development of Internet shopping worldwide and also using mobile devices. Internet shopping creates convenience for customers, bigger selection of goods and services from one side, but also creates several challenges for companies as well as some problems for companies and customers from the other side. Active research on different aspects is done by businesses, academic researchers alone and in co-operation of business and academic researchers. The aim of research is to find recent ideas of customers on Internet shops and problems raised in Internet shopping using mobile devices and to compare the results with other countries. The authors used the research methods such as: scientific publications’ studies, analysis of statistics on Internet shopping development, a survey realised in Latvia at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018 on Internet shopping in co-operation with the company iMarketing, University of Latvia, and Chamber of Trade and Commerce of Latvia. The main results and findings of the study, theoretical and practical implications are the following: the response rate of respondents was very high in comparison with other surveys, respondents have also expressed their suggestions and improvements for Internet shopping using mobile devices. The main conclusions of research: increase in Internet shopping in Latvia using mobile devices is not so fast as in other countries, mobile devices for shopping on the Internet are used not so often as in other countries; several local brands already having experience on Internet shopping encounter big challenges in development of Internet marketing; customers highly evaluate previous personal experience and good references of relatives and friends (word of mouth) in use of a respective brand for Internet shopping, but does not want to leave personal information (bank card information, personal code, etc.).
Emotional intelligence can play an important role in an individual’s education and career success. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the opinion of employers on the importance of competencies related to emotional intelligence in the recruitment process in Latvia, as well as the extent to which these competencies can be developed in vocational education and training. Total of 750 companies participated in this research, rating the importance of competencies and the performance of vocational education institutions using a four-point Likert scale. The list of methods currently applied in vocational education developing emotional intelligence competencies was developed through in-depth interviews with the managers of vocational education institutions. The research results show that most of employers evaluate ability to work independently, work motivation and problem-solving skills as very important in the recruitment process. Vocational education institutions need to pay more attention to improving ability to take responsibility in students. The main methods used by vocational education institutions to develop competencies linked to emotional intelligence are extra-curriculum activities, international events and mobility, as well as work-placements, which are supplements to education programmes rather than core curriculum, indicating to low link between emotional intelligence competencies and expected learning outcomes of vocational education. The research provides the basis for reconsidering the vocational education curriculum in the light of its contribution to development of competencies that are highly valued in the labour market.
Recent academic researchers have indicated that there are possible inequalities concerning work and pay in different countries, professions and economic sectors. The aim of current research is to analyse recent scientific findings on the wage gap depending on gender and empirical data in Latvia using EU-SILC surveys, Labour Surveys and monthly statistical data on wages and salaries for women and men. The findings indicated that in various economic fields and occupations women were under-represented, and amongst most of these fields the modal net wage interval for women was lower than the modal net wage interval for men. It was also concluded that in January 2018 the average gross income from work of women and men were statistically significantly different, confirming that men on average earned more than women.