Macroeconomics of Western Balkans in the Context of the Global Work and Business Environment

180 Pages·2022·17.18 MB·English

by  Mirjana Radović-Marković, Borislav Đukonović

Macroeconomics of
Western Balkans in the
Context of the Global
Work and Business
Environment

Macroeconomics of
Western Balkans in the
Context of the Global
Work and Business
Environment
Mirjana Radović-Marković
Business Academy University
Borislav Đjukanović
University of Donja Gorica
-
INFORMATION AGE PUBLISHING, INC.
Charlotte, NC • www.infoagepub.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov
ISBNs: 978-1-64802-914-1 (Paperback)
978-1-64802-915-8 (Hardcover)
978-1-64802-916-5 (ebook)
Copyright © 2022 Information Age Publishing Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written
permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Preface ......................................................................................................ix
PART I: THE MACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT IN THE
WESTERN BALKANS COUNTRIES
1. Macroeconomic Environment
Mirjana Radović-Marković ..............................................................3
Economic Growth ............................................................................4
Employment ......................................................................................4
New Models of Employment ........................................................6
Gender Differences ...........................................................................7
Labor Productivity ............................................................................7
Public and Foreign Debt ...................................................................8
Investments .......................................................................................8
2. Inclusion in Global Business Flows
Mirjana Radović-Marković ............................................................13
Comparison of the Globalization Index Between Western
Balkan Countries ...................................................................13
The Impact of Globalization on Competitiveness ..........................15
Global Competitiveness Index ...................................................17
The Impact of Globalization on Innovation ...................................18
Global Innovation Index GII .....................................................19
The Impact of GDP Per Capita on Innovation Growth ............26
The Impact of Education on Innovation ...................................27
Conclusion ......................................................................................30
v
vi CONTENTS
3. Remote Work in Western Balkans: Economic
Impact Assessment
Mirjana Radović-Marković ............................................................31
Introduction ....................................................................................31
Freelancers Versus Self-Employed ..................................................32
Technological Infrastructure..........................................................33
Research Goals ...............................................................................35
Methodology ...................................................................................36
Research Results and Discussions ..................................................37
Conclusions .....................................................................................51
References .......................................................................................54
PART II: SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF NEW
MODALITIES OF WORK
4. COVID-19 and Remote Work in Western Balkans:
Sociopsychological Impact
Borislav Đjukanović ........................................................................63
Introduction ....................................................................................63
Literature Review ...........................................................................64
Comparison of Working From Home Before and After the
COVID-19 Pandemic..............................................................76
Psychosocial Problems Due to Working From Home .....................78
The Negative Aspects of Working From Home Originate
From Psychological and Psychosocial Issues .........................80
The Method ....................................................................................91
The Sample .....................................................................................91
Key Findings ...................................................................................92
Analysis of the Scale of Psychosocial Adaptation to Work
From Home for the Total Sample ......................................97
Differences in Sociodemographic Characteristics and
Factor Scores of the Respondents in Four Countries .........98
Activities From Home by Countries .............................................102
Psychosocial Adjustment Scale and Economic Aspects of
Working From Home ........................................................104
The Influence of Freelancing on the Psychosocial
Adjustment to Work From Home .....................................121
Four Sociopsychological Profiles of Psychosocial
Adjustment to Work From Home and Differences
Among Them ....................................................................129
Contents vii
Bosnia and Herzegovina .....................................................129
Montenegro .........................................................................131
Northern Macedonia ...........................................................132
Serbia ...................................................................................134
Differences and Similarities .........................................................135
Discussion and Conclusions ..........................................................138
References .....................................................................................143
Appendix I—Questionnaire for the Economic Part: Doing
Business From Home by Countries (Montenegro, B&H,
Serbia, and North Macedonia) ....................................................155
Appendix II—Questionnaire for the Economic Part: Employment
in the “Gig Economy” in Montenegro ........................................161
Appendix III—Questionnaire for the Sociopsychological Part:
Working From Home by Countries (Montenegro, B&H,
Serbia, and North Macedonia) ....................................................165
About the Authors .................................................................................167

PREFACE
New information and communication technologies have created a new
world of work in which large international institutions stimulate compe-
tition without restrictions on the global labor market through network
platforms. This offers for a “virtual migration” similar economic benefits
as classic physical migration. It is assumed that the underdeveloped regions
of Africa and especially Southeast Asia, which have already progressed very
quickly (e.g., Pakistan), will receive special benefits from these “virtual
migrations.” Namely, it is known that those who have the highest unem-
ployment rates, would get the greatest benefits.
Western Balkan countries will also need to cope with the new social and
economic conditions on the global labor market. In this way, they will not
only reduce unemployment rate, but also the gap with developed countries.
This study represents a significantly expanded continuation of the
study on work from home (Radović-Marković et al., 2021). Unlike previ-
ous research in the case of Serbia, this one cover three more countries in
the Western Balkans such as BiH, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia.
We did this with an aim to compare results based on the application of the
same research instruments at the regional level. In this way, we indirectly
wanted to examine the validity and reliability of our instruments that we
constructed by ourselves.
Considering four countries in the region, we were able to examine the
similarities and differences of work from home. Finally, unlike the previous
Macroeconomics of Western Balkans in the Context of the Global Work
and Business Environment, pp. ix–x
Copyright © 2022 by Information Age Publishing
www.infoagepub.com
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ix