Suchergebnisse

Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the link between universities and business incubators (BIs) and to determine how students, scientific researchers and entrepreneurs can benefit from this linkage. It creates an environment in which everyone can help the other to put their new ideas, special skills and abilities into new businesses. In other words, the traditional universities' role has changed and entrepreneurial universities are now needed to redirect new knowledge for economic development through BIs.


Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts an analytical descriptive methodology approach to describe the basic features of the data by using the descriptive research design. This research is based on examining a model provided by the author concerning boosting the entrepreneurial aspects and outcomes through university business incubators (UBIs) based on wide theoretical and empirical case studies. Also, the functional structural approach is used to investigate the relationship between two variables as UBIs are considered a new unit that has functions and structures to create an added value to universities and the society as a whole.


Findings
The educational system should create a favorable environment that enables young people to develop their mindset from employees to employers, and to prepare them to improve skills and knowledge to create jobs. UBI is the recent aspect of the BI evolution where the research outcomes are linked with the industry and development. This relationship between these entities will provide success to its stakeholders.


Social implications
Many incubators around the world are supported by universities. Others are making initiatives to link up with universities and higher education institutions to get the revenues and returns from its academic nature. Lately, university incubators became a type of incubator evolution and more supportive for entrepreneurs than other types of incubators.


Originality/value
The contribution of this study is to explain how UBIs succeeded to tie the results of scientific research with economy and development through entrepreneurial activities to accelerate and realize entrepreneurship strategies.

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to model the modern global practice of social management of human capital – at the state and corporate levels – to determine the perspectives of its optimization and to develop the basic principles of a new methodological approach to social management of human capital, which is preferable in the conditions of social market economy.Design/methodology/approachThe author uses mathematical tools, including correlation and regression analysis. These are applied to determine the influence of each of the 12 indicators for the labor market that are presented as part of The World Economic Forum's (WEF's) "The Global Competitiveness Report 2019" on The United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Index. The research objects are countries from each of the four categories of nations, as distinguished by UNDP, in the Human Development Index. By unifying the 2019 data from UNDP and WEF, a data set is formed.FindingsIt is substantiated that in modern economic practice, it is impossible to achieve the "ideal" conditions necessary for applying existing methodological approaches to the social management of human capital, which reduces how effectively current approaches function. Foundation on the existing methods leads to uncertainty as to management of human capital, which is social by 95.14% in 2019. Though the achieved value of the social management of human capital is close to being optimal, it is still not enough to achieve a high level of human development, which was 0.685 on average for the global economy in 2019 and is likely to increase by 31.43% until 2025, for acknowledging the social market status of the modern economy.Originality/valueIt is proven that there is a need for a new, mixed, methodological approach to the social management of human capital, which would optimally combine the best practices of both state and corporate management. The principles for the practical implementation of such an approach are offered, and proposals are developed to substantiate the contribution of this approach to the achievement of the global goals of sustainable development.

Abstract
Background
Descriptive studies examining publication rates and citation counts demonstrate a geographic skew toward high-income countries (HIC), and research from low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) is generally underrepresented. This has been suggested to be due in part to reviewers' and editors' preference toward HIC sources; however, in the absence of controlled studies, it is impossible to assert whether there is bias or whether variations in the quality or relevance of the articles being reviewed explains the geographic divide. This study synthesizes the evidence from randomized and controlled studies that explore geographic bias in the peer review process.

Methods
A systematic review was conducted to identify research studies that explicitly explore the role of geographic bias in the assessment of the quality of research articles. Only randomized and controlled studies were included in the review. Five databases were searched to locate relevant articles. A narrative synthesis of included articles was performed to identify common findings.

Results
The systematic literature search yielded 3501 titles from which 12 full texts were reviewed, and a further eight were identified through searching reference lists of the full texts. Of these articles, only three were randomized and controlled studies that examined variants of geographic bias. One study found that abstracts attributed to HIC sources elicited a higher review score regarding relevance of the research and likelihood to recommend the research to a colleague, than did abstracts attributed to LIC sources. Another study found that the predicted odds of acceptance for a submission to a computer science conference were statistically significantly higher for submissions from a "Top University." Two of the studies showed the presence of geographic bias between articles from "high" or "low" prestige institutions.

Conclusions
Two of the three included studies identified that geographic bias in some form was impacting on peer review; however, further robust, experimental evidence is needed to adequately inform practice surrounding this topic. Reviewers and researchers should nonetheless be aware of whether author and institutional characteristics are interfering in their judgement of research.

The article summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific debate on the application of the principles and practices of international law to assess the compensation of a State's damage as a result of the illegal acts and/or inaction of another State. The main purpose of the study is to analyze the causes of the crisis against the Rohingya ethnic group and to assess its likely devastating effects on Bangladesh. The systematization of literary sources and approaches to the settlement of international disputes of this kind indicate that in practice there are two approaches that can be used to file and pursue a claim for redress for Myanmar. The urgency of solving this scientific problem is that, as a neighboring country, Bangladesh has faced the need to resolve the issue of refugees from the region and accordingly takes an active part in resolving this protracted conflict caused by Myanmar's actions against the Rohingya ethnic group, the persecuted ethnic minority in the world. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the unlawful and brutal actions of the Myanmar army have forced more than a million Rohingya refugees to flee their homes and migrate to Bangladesh, causing enormous negative effects on its economy, the environment and the rule of law. The study confirms that, under international law, Bangladesh has the right to sue Myanmar for unfair and cruel oppression of Rohingya rights. During the course of the study, the author has used such sources as periodicals, UN reports, and documents from Rohingya human rights organizations. The principles of international law on state liability are used as a methodological tool for assessing Myanmar's liability. The results of the study may be useful for policymakers exploring the strategy of addressing the challenges of Myanmar's compensation claims, as well as for international organizations that are addressing the Rohingya crisis.

Keywords: cruelty, international wrongdoing, imperative norm, compensation, state responsibility, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Rohingya national migration, refugee rights, ethnic minorities, damages lawsuit.

Purpose: to demonstrate the links between social exclusion and the higher costs of treating customers depending on this social sector, unlike other customers who are neither unemployed nor live in poverty. Design/Method/Approach of the research: In the external study, a survey method was used, supplemented with a method of observation at the study site. The authors of the publication carried out research using the qualitative method, formalized interview with medical staff. This research was done in University Hospital in Wroclaw in 2018. Findings: Any health organization must create good relations inside the organization and mostly from outside. One of them is a patient that the author calls a "customer" as every person spends money on health organization leading to the proper hospital functioning. Decision-makers within the system continuously must make choices and seek alternative ways to measure illness costs. One of the factors that harm the optimization of the health services' scale is the social exclusion phenomenon, which is significantly affecting society. Socially isolated people's problems are deprivation, as a lack of access to the necessary level of high-quality, safe, and effective medical services, and cultural competence to provide such medical services. The ex-post analysis conclusions show that relationships between the analyzed areas and the social exclusion phenomenon have a medium and even large dependency and demonstrate cause-effect relationships. Management of customers with the disfunction of medical personnel social requires using other means of communication and building relationships on facts. The communication model between medical personnel and the customer should be founded on a moderate paternalistic model, which is based on facts and documents. The result will be a reduction in service time, which will affect consultation time, financial savings, and an increase in medical personnel efficiency. Originality/Value: In the research of socially isolated people's health problems, three aspects was distinguished: health problems caused by social isolation, health problems that cause social exclusion, and health conditions that are difficult to treat due to social isolation. Paper type: empirical.

PurposeThis purpose of this paper is to provide insight through analysis of the data collected from a pilot study, into the decision-making process used by organizations in cybersecurity investments. Leveraging the review of literature, this paper aims to explore the strategic decisions made by organizations when implementing cybersecurity controls, and identifies economic models and theories from the economics of information security, and information security investment decision-making process. Using a survey study method, this paper explores the feasibility for development of a strategic decision-making framework that may be used when evaluating and implementing cybersecurity measures.Design/methodology/approachA pilot study was conducted to evaluate the ways in which decisions are made as it relates to cybersecurity spending. The purpose of the pilot study was to determine the feasibility for developing a strategic framework to minimize cybersecurity risks. Phase 1 – Interview Study: The qualitative approach focused on seven participants who provided input to refine the survey study questionnaire. Phase 2 – Survey Study: The qualitative approach focused on information gathered through an online descriptive survey study using a five-point Likert scale.FindingsThe literature review identified that there is limited research in the area of information security decision making. One paper was identified within this area, focusing on the research completed by Dor and Elovici [22]. This exploratory research demonstrates that although organizations have actively implemented cybersecurity frameworks, there is a need to enhance the decision-making process to reduce the number and type of breaches, along with strengthening the cybersecurity framework to facilitate a preventative approach.Research limitations/implicationsThe partnership research design could be expanded to facilitate quantitative and qualitative techniques in parallel with equal weight, leveraging qualitative techniques, an interview study, case study and grounded theory. In-depth data collection and analysis can be completed to facilitate a broader data collection which will provide a representative sample and achieve saturation to ensure that adequate and quality data are collected to support the study. Quantitative analysis through statistical techniques (i.e. regression analysis) taking into account, the effectiveness of cybersecurity frameworks, and the effectiveness of decisions made by stakeholders on implementing cybersecurity measures.Practical implicationsThis exploratory research demonstrates that organizations have actively implemented cybersecurity measure; however, there is a need to reduce the number and type of breaches, along with strengthening the cybersecurity framework to facilitate a preventative approach. In addition, factors that are used by an organization when investing in cybersecurity controls are heavily focused on compliance with government and industry regulations along with opportunity cost. Lastly, the decision-making process used when evaluating, implementing and investing in cybersecurity controls is weighted towards the technology organization and, therefore, may be biased based on competing priorities.Social implicationsThe outcome of this study provides greater insight into how an organization makes decisions when implementing cybersecurity controls. This exploratory research shows that most organizations are diligently implementing security measures to effectively monitor and detect cyber security attacks. The pilot study revealed that the importance given to the decisions made by the CIO and Head of the Business Line have similar priorities with regard to funding the investment cost, implementing information security measures and reviewing the risk appetite statement. This parallel decision-making process may potentially have an adverse impact on the decision to fund cybersecurity measures, especially in circumstances where the viewpoints are vastly different .Originality/valueCybersecurity spend is discussed across the literature, and various approaches, methodologies and models are used. The aim of this paper is to explore the strategic decision-making approach that is used by organizations when evaluating and implementing cybersecurity measures. Using a survey study method, this paper explores the feasibility for development of a strategic decision-making framework that may be used when evaluating and implementing cybersecurity measures.

The main purpose of the article is to reconstruct the development of a socialized interpretation of shame in the Western philosophical tradition from antiquity up to the 17th century. Along with the standard methods of conducting research in the history of philosophy (critical, comparative, hermeneutical, etc.), the author resorts to a strategy of identifying the historical sources and rudimentary forms of contemporary theoretical approaches to understanding moral phenomena. With regard to shame, there are three such approaches, or three interpretations: socialized (identifying shame with negative feelings about a real or imagined loss of face), anthropological (identifying shame with a painful reaction to the generic imperfection of a person in the sphere of corporeality) and desocialized (identifying shame with negative feelings of an individual generated by the awareness of the worthlessness of his own moral character). Studying the development of each of them requires an understanding of how they historically interacted with each other. The first detailed description of shame from the socialized perspective was proposed by Aristotle. In it, shame appears as a fear of disrepute or suffering from it, that is, a negative feeling that presupposes that other people know that an individual has committed an objectively vicious act or that he does not have some objectively valuable quality. Aristotle viewed shame as a less perfect moral trait than virtue (in contemporary socialized conceptions of shame, guilt is usually its more perfect alternative). Thomas Aquinas relies on the Aristotelian understanding of shame, but: a) connects it with the anthropological interpretation proposed by Augustine, b) makes a special emphasis on the fact that shame is appropriate only in the case of the sinfulness of the act. The early modern socialized conceptions of shame are characterized by a movement from doubt about the reasonableness of this feeling to its partial or complete rehabilitation. At the same time, R. Descartes, B. Spinoza and J. Locke, unlike Aristotle and Thomas, approve of shame not only because it is an imperfect counterpart of virtue, but also in connection with its positive social role (as a means of social discipline and an expression of sociability). Although early modern thinkers discuss moral emotions of self-assessment that are not mediated by the "eye of others" (repentance, remorse), they do not oppose them to shame

PurposeThe concept of children's alienation from, and reconnection to, nature has gained international interest. The purpose of this paper is to explore how forest school as a growing phenomenon in the UK is promoting this reconnection to nature as well as benefiting children's well-being. At the same time, forest school is providing children and young people with a more divergent learning experience, away from the structural pressures of the neoliberal classroom. With its emphasis on play-based learning in wooded areas, and the freedom to make connections and spatially engage with what is around them at their own pace, such engagement in these "alternative" learning spaces can support the development of a post-human discourse and sensibilities. This is fundamental in developing children's emotional connection in promoting pro-environmental behaviours and their attitudes towards valuing and protecting the non-human.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on field notes documented during forest school leader training undertook by the author from April 2017 to May 2018. Further data were collected in the form of participant observations of forest school sessions in three schools; semi-structured interviews with the head teachers of these schools and two forest school practitioners. Supplementary data will also draw on the experiences of a group of second-year education studies university students after completing a module on forest school and outdoor learning, led by the author.FindingsThis article finds that the more children engage with wooded areas and interact with the natural environment and other creatures within that space, the more it affords meaning to them. This in turn promotes a sense of belonging and environmental stewardship, particularly in relation to non-human creatures. This article also finds that where schools provide forest school opportunities on their sites, such provision is conducive to supporting more creative practices within the "spatialities" of the neoliberal classroom.Originality/valueNeoliberal education policy with its focus on high stakes testing and performance outcomes increasingly shapes the spatial practices of school life. Consequently, time spent outdoors and its relationship with intrinsic learning has declined in many schools. With many schools placing less importance on outdoor learning, children and young people have become further alienated from engaging in different ways with their environments. Further, data highlighting the link between forest school and children's interest in plants and other animals have not been the subject of much research.

Purpose
Strategic socio-political views are notably scarce among contemporary discourses on the causes of abuse of vulnerable older people in care and nursing homes. This paper aims to catalyse higher order consideration and discussion of one socio-political characteristic that has relevance to the issue of abuse, that is, the market-like environment in which care and nursing homes in England operate. In doing so, the paper argues that the now firmly established but imbalanced "quasi-market" of care that has developed over many years fosters conditions under which both poor care and abuse are more likely to occur. The evidence presented in the paper focusses primarily on the rise to dominance of for-profit care home provision and the contraction of public sector provision. The paper does not examine in detail the characteristics and market presence of the not-for-profit sector because it has not held a numerically significant market share either historically or contemporarily.


Design/methodology/approach
Outcomes of the marketisation of the care home sector that has its origins in the political landscape prevailing in 1979 and thereafter, along with the concurrent development of its regulation and oversight, are narrated and analysed. From this, a mythos of the motives behind the transition to a market-like economy that has taken place over four decades is developed and used to explain how prevailing market conditions contribute to the perpetuation of poor care and abuse.


Findings
In the opinion of the author, there are identifiable consequences arising from the evolution of the current care economy that dispel the beliefs that providing care by means of current market-like arrangements is advantageous, that the independent regulation and monitoring of such a market is unproblematic and effective, and that the "consumers" in this market are exercising personal choice, in accord with classical economic theory.


Practical implications
The paper offers the opportunity for the reader to consider how the development of a "quasi" market of care and nursing home services that has come to be dominated by for-profit private providers, and that is subject to ineffective oversight, may have contributed to conditions where abuse is more likely to occur and endure.


Originality/value
This is a conceptual paper that explores the consequences of the creation of the market-like economy of care in which care and nursing homes now operate and suggests that it is time for prevailing market conditions to be re-visited and subjected to remedial strategic intervention.

This paper analyses the first world classifications of Serbian wines based on
Andr? Jullien?s famous Topographie de tous les Vignobles connus? published
as early as 1816 (18222, 18323). It points to the far-reaching importance of
Jullien?s work, clarifies the circumstances of its creation, its
methodology, the significance and types of data presented, and, which is
particularly important, identifies most of the sources used by the author.
Jullien?s Topographie is not a perfect book free of geographical and
historical errors, nor does it cover all winegrowing regions in the world.
However, it is the first general classification of all wines, both French
and ?foreign?, based on fairly clear criteria and written by an experienced
and, as it seems, unprejudiced connoisseur. Its importance was recognized
immediately after publication, and the global nature of its classification
made it the basis for all similar undertakings. The analytical focus in the
article is restricted to the territory of the present-day Serbia. In the
Ottoman ?province? of Serbia, he singled out the environs of Belgrade as the
most important winegrowing region, adding to it the environs of Pristina in
the third edition. Wines produced in the eastern Srem (Karlovci) stand out
in terms of quality. This overview also includes the winegrowing region of
Banat with Vrsac and Bela Crkva (Weisskirchen). In the wine world of that
time wines from Srem and Banat were classified as the wines of the Austrian
Empire or, more narrowly, as Hungarian wines. Andr? Jullien obviously did
not taste any of the mentioned Serbian wines personally. He relied above all
on the information available in encyclopaedias, statistic records,
geographies and travel accounts. The search for and identification of his
sources has shown how thorough, consistent and honest he was in using such
data. Undoubtedly, the best Serbian wines were made in and around Karlovci.
A sweet red wine, Ausbruch, gained a high repute around the mid-18th
century, retaining it into the 20th century. At first, Jullien classified it
into the third and then into the exceptionally high second class of all
world?s sweet red wines. For example, of all Hungarian wines, only Tokay was
rated above it. Karlovci?s semi-sweet and dry wines received the same high
second-class rating. Jullien?s classifications of Serbian wines confirmed
the continued existence of high-quality winegrowing areas in what is now
Serbia, from Roman times to the beginning of the 19th century.

Article is the first step in explaining complex relation between drugs and organized crime. Firstly, in order to better understand those relations, there are definitions of organized crime (type of property crime, determined by the existence of criminal organization which runs a permanent illegal business with the intention of maximizing profit, using violence to establish a monopoly over certain territory and the corruption of authority representatives) and drugs (illicit psychoactive substances - PAS - that affect addiction or changes in consumer consciousness). After that, author present their classifications and put an accent on "the new drugs" - club drugs and designer drugs. Before processing to the other considerations, he emphasize the distinctions among "drug-related crime" and "drug-addict crime" (crimes done by drugabusing offenders). Special attention is directed at the considerations of scientific research about influence of drugs on human behavior, especially on criminal conduct. It was concluded that between these phenomena there is a correlation, but not causality, which means that drug-abusing does not presume a crime. The importance of this assertion lies in the fact that media, general public, and even legislators often have completely opposite opinion on this problem. This is the reason why, on the one hand, citizens of various countries think that drugrelated crime means criminal activity, and on the other hand, political decision makers are constantly making criminal reaction too harsh not only towards wrongdoers who puts drugs into circulation ("dealing") only, but for drug-abusers, too. Unfortunately, the same thing has happened to Serbia which made criminal reaction quite severe in the area of drug-related crimes for many times in the last decade. Subjects who present considerable data about number of persons who are arrested or been serving a sentence in penitentiary institutions for drug-crimes should explain a few things. Firstly, they should account how many of them are deprived because they have been engaged in producing or selling substances that are declared narcotics. Secondly, they should clarify how many prisoners abused drugs before deprivation and how many during a sentence serving. Criminologists had an important assignment to persuade public and legislators that the most of actual beliefs about criminal reaction on drug-related crime are not based on scientific opinions. The biggest mistake is thinking that drug-abusing only leads to crime. In the environment where criminologists had major influence on the public and politicians, an apparent trend of reduction of criminal reaction or even decriminalization of some conducts in the area of drug-related crime has been noticed. They are treating narcotic addiction as medical, not criminal problem.

Authors: Dirk Zwerenz, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8677-6050 PhD Candidate, University Kaposvár, Hungary; Head of Major Project Service, German Doka formwork technology GmbH, Maisach, Germany Pages: 95-118 Language: English DOI: https://doi.org/10.21272/sec.4(4).95-118.2020 Download: Views: Downloads: 57 31 Abstract Performance incentives to increase motivation; potentials for meaningful activities in project management, the author will concretize this with meaningful activities in project management. The ideal project leader is described by Mark Twain in his novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (Twain, 1876) in the episode of Tom Sawyer painting the fence. Tom is able to motivate his friends for the actually boring activity in a way that they are willing to support him voluntarily. Regarding the law of human action discovered by Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain states: "To awaken a person's desire, all that is needed is to make the object difficult to reach" (Twain, 1876). In 2006 Ariely, Loewenstein and Prelec examined the rules of irrational action described by Twain. They conclude that individuals make decisions based on their intrinsic motivation and sometimes not on "what is reasonable" (Ariely, Loewenstein, & Prelec, 2006). This enthusiasm of a project leader is transformed in this article and is reflected as a component "project brand strength" in the performance assessment of a project leader (Zwerenz, 2019). The author's experience as a project leader in the implementation of several major projects also takes up this enthusiasm and expands it to include the identification of the project teams with themselves and the aspect of meaningful activities as an incentive in project management. That identification and motivation are on the one hand necessary to enjoy one's profession seems understandable, on the other hand the boundaries between vocation and exhaustion are quickly crossed. Schmalenbach describes this in the article "Sacrifice of passion" in "DIE ZEIT", issue 2-2019 with the provocative sentence "If you break down, you are a better person". Committed project managers develop a very similar passion for "their" project and thus a comparable identification with their profession. The tension between income, recognition and prosperity is discussed. Furthermore, the dependencies of meaningfulness, recognition and income are derived from the literature and presented as factors influencing personal well-being. Finally, this article contributes to the design of a motivating variable remuneration system for project managers and other exposed occupational groups. Keywords: variable compensation, value management, development of individual competences, knowledge management, team management, management of individuals – development, motivation and reward, leadership, management of stakeholders, management of human resources, engineering and construction, research theory on project management.

Purpose
Product ratings and reviews are popular tools to support buying decisions of consumers. Many e-commerce platforms now offer product ratings and reviews as ratings and reviews are valuable for online retailers. However, luxury goods industry is somewhat slow to adapt to the digital terrain. The purpose of this paper is to answer "how luxury consumers see user-generated product ratings and reviews for their online shopping experience and what important factors or values are perceived by the luxury consumers when they shop online?"


Design/methodology/approach
To understand how luxury consumers use product ratings and reviews before buying online, a survey with a situational set up of variations of rating, review and price options in association with a number of hypothetical luxury goods was conducted among 421 global luxury consumers out of over 6,000 people. The study was carried out from September to October 2018 for six weeks in the form of online and mobile survey. User population is high net-worth individuals or luxury consumers derived from the author's various professional and social networks and communities. Their geographical coverage would be global, but concentrated around the major cities.


Findings
The survey shows that ratings and reviews can be important source of information for luxury consumers. Online ratings and reviews are rated as helpful by 76.01% of the participants. People who chose the highly rated one (4.8/5) over the poorly rated (3.7/5) was 86.94%, while all else such as product category, star rating and price range are about the same. Feedback from the open question survey indicates that the perceived helpfulness of rating and review systems could vary. Comparing user reviews is time-consuming because of unstructured nature of contextual reviews and the relative nature of human perception on the rating scale.


Research limitations/implications
There are two aspects of ratings and reviews playing an important role for luxury consumers' buying decision. First, it is about helpfulness of collective rating score. Luxury consumers see a user-generated rating score and use the score when they make a choice even if the rating is not an absolute, but relative figure, not exactly like the star rating system in the hotel industry. Second, there is discrepancy between the status of the brand in association with its price position and perceived value as the industry does not cope with classifying their brands in any official star rating system.


Practical implications
Consumers need compact and concise information about the products they need. When there are only a few potential products left in their short wish-list, full user reviews can be helpful to get more details and general opinions about the products on the short list before making a final decision. In that regard, a primary indicator that will guide through the decision-making process of the luxury consumers would be the trustworthiness of user rating of each product in an aggregated score along with a potential use of sub-ratings, which has to be visible from the product landing page.


Originality/value
Even if there is a wide use and ubiquitous nature of product ratings and reviews in other consumer products, the author is curious about how luxury consumers use ratings and reviews for their buying decision because there are not that many researches done previously in spite of the importance of this issue. Luxury goods industry has hit €320bn in 2017 according to Bain and Co., and 25% of the trading volume will be replaced by the digital commerce by 2025.

Purpose
Despite certain political, organizational, technological and socioeconomic benefits that e-voting brings, governments around the world are beginning one by one to denounce its further use in the electoral process. In this regard, the paper aims to analyze reasons that led to the discontinuation of e-voting, resorting to the case of Kazakhstan, a transitional post-soviet country, which actively used the technology in 2004-2011, as a poster child of the global trend, elaborating on key political, socioeconomic, organizational and technological risks that could be associated with the possible return of this innovation in future elections.


Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on the combination of context and policy analysis, as well as focus groups studies and semi-structured interviews. The context analysis was aimed to understand various political and socioeconomic benefits in adopting e-voting in Kazakhstan. The policy analysis was useful in identifying implementation strategies of the government in promoting e-voting. The focus groups were helpful in understanding the perspectives of various audiences on e-voting. The semi-structured interviews were carried among independent developers in regard to the potential software products that could be used to propose new solutions in the area, including by experimenting with various blockchain platforms.


Findings
Analyzing the lessons from Kazakhstan, one can conclude that e-voting was introduced and used for several years by authorities in this country for certain economic and organizational benefits, but later they had to reject it and return to traditional paper ballot due to lack of confidence from the non-governmental sector in the capacity of public sector to ensure the integrity of e-voting procedures. As a result, building trust and applying innovative approaches should be a priority for policymakers in the area, if they wish to return to this technology, especially in adopting new presumably more reliable solutions based on blockchain technologies.


Research limitations/implications
The primary data that was collected by the author from field studies were indexed, refined and presented in a special matrix in a separate section, which were interpreted in the discussion session. These data could be used by other scholars for further interpretation and analysis in their own studies, setting new research agendas and testing hypotheses. This is a single case study research, which is focused on the analysis of reasons that led to the denunciation of e-voting in Kazakhstan, which results could be extrapolated mostly to similar transitional post-totalitarian settings.


Practical implications
The study can be used to inform ways of how to improve the current e-voting platforms, especially in ensuring better security and transparency of the systems, which could be useful for developers who work on blockchain-driven solutions.


Social implications
The results of the case study research and expert opinions expressed by various software developers in the e-government areas, which were presented in the paper, could be used by both an academic community and practitioners in understanding better a wide range of political, organizational, economic, social and technological drivers, risks and new opportunities in promoting e-voting technology as a trust generating social phenomenon.


Originality/value
The paper proposes the first case study of reasons that led to the discontinuation of e-voting in the context of such a typical transitional, post-totalitarian and post-soviet society as Kazakhstan, providing new insights into a wide range of political, regulatory, socioeconomic, organizational and technological aspects of related policy decision-making and implementation strategies adopted by public institutions in this country.

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of implementing a toxicity tax for heavily polluting vehicles in United Arab Emirates. A fast-changing world needs responsive policies to cope with the crisis human beings are currently facing on earth. Implementing a new policy represents a design for a change. Policies come in the form of regulations that have been officially agreed and chosen by either a political party, business or any other type of organization. This paper adopts the policy development cycle in the Australian policy handbook as a practical framework. A focus group comprising 35 participants and two decision makers thoroughly discussed each stage of the "policy development cycle". A qualitative analysis of the data showed that there is potential for implementing a new tax to be imposed on highly polluting vehicles in United Arab Emirates (UAE) the most appropriate policy instrument in UAE is a policy enacted through restricted law; it might take more than 3 years to work; the expected tax would range between $280 and $1,100 per year; and there is concern that this new tax would slow Dubai's preparation for EXPO 2020. These findings will help countries implement this new tax. Following the stages of the policy development cycle and their procedures will, therefore, inspire decision makers to formulate new environmental policies not only in UAE but around the world.


Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts the use of "focus groups" as its primary approach to data collection. A focus group is a common qualitative research technique and involves a small number of participants. The main reason for using qualitative research is because participants are asked for open-ended responses that convey their thoughts or feelings. The author of this paper served as the moderator who posed a series of questions intended to gain insight into the group's views on the implementation of a toxicity tax for heavy polluting vehicles in the UAE. Time and attention were given to what it is that you expect to get out of focus-group research. The group was invited for one full day to a big hall and was seated around one table. The group was sometimes divided to obtain more focused views. Overall, four primary groups participated in this study. A fifth group, consisting of three senior members of a governmental agency who acted as decision makers, took part in one-to-one interviews at their place of work. Table I provides details on the backgrounds of the participant.


Findings
Research highlights the policy development cycle to investigate a new transport policy in UAE. A focus group comprising 35 participants and two interviews with two decision makers. There is potential for a tax to be imposed on highly polluting vehicles in UAE. The expected tax would range between $280 and $1,100 per year. The best policy instrument in the region is policy by law. The truck industry will be affected, and there will be a public refusal.


Research limitations/implications
A new policy of implementing tax for high polluting vehicles was, therefore, discussed in this paper. Participants thought the tax would work, but an in-depth feasibility study on both microeconomic and macroeconomic aspects will be required; providing governmental incentives will help support the shift to less-polluting vehicles.


Practical implications
The policy development cycle was utilized as a practical framework for this research.


Social implications
People were engaged into this study to make the policy viable. People will react positively to this policy.


Originality/value
Due to the lack of such research in this area, this paper will fill a gap in the knowledge. Moreover, the policy will be real implementation based on this publication. The findings will not only help UAE but also many countries that share same environmental and social contexts.