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This paper develops a panel data econometric analysis in order to determine the main macroeconomic causes of household indebtedness in the European Union countries from 1995 to 2019. During that time, household indebtedness reached unprecedented and unsustainable levels, which played a crucial role in the emergence of the last financial and economic crisis. This is not clearly well interpreted by the mainstream economics, which advocates that household indebtedness is just an instrument to smooth consumption in a continuous process of utility maximization over life. This paper estimates a model according to which the household indebtedness depends on seven macroeconomic causes, namely housing prices, financial asset prices, personal income inequality, the households' labour income, welfare state expenditures, the working-age population and interest rates. This paper finds that housing prices, welfare state expenditures and interest rates impact positively on household indebtedness in the European Union countries, whilst the financial asset prices, personal income inequality and households' labour income impact negatively on household indebtedness in the European Union countries. This paper also finds that the fall of household labour income and the rise of the housing prices have been main triggers of household indebtedness in the European Union countries since 1995.

The process of Competences Recognition, Validation and Certification , also known as Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL), is an innovative means of attaining school certificates for individuals without an academic background. The main objective of this process is to validate what people have learned in informal contexts, in order to attribute academic certificates. With the increasing interest of the qualification of workers and governmental support, more and more Portuguese organizations promote this process within their facilities and their work hours. This study explores the relationship between the promotion of this Human Resource Development Programme and employee's attitudes (Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment) and behaviours (Extra-role Organizational Citizenship Behaviours) towards the organization they work for. Results of a cross-sectional survey of Portuguese Industrial Workers (N=135) showed that statistical significant results are in the higher levels of Voice Behaviours (a dimension of Extra-role Organizational Citizenship Behaviour in the groups of workers who were involved or had graduated from the firm promoted APL process.

This paper aimed to empirically deepen our understanding of the growing phenomenon of negative consumer-brand relationships in the Internet, striving to investigate "who and why" consumers join anti-brand communities against the top ten global brands. In particular, this study aims to investigate whether the consumers' profile affects whether they develop negative feelings or not, and the main reasons for their negative feelings. Methodologically, this study is based on the quantitative methodology of the survey and on the statistical verification of several research hypotheses formulated on the impact of the main consumer characteristics (gender, age, country of origin, education, empathy) on their behavior towards the hated brands. Regarding "who", our findings show that gender, age and country of origin are the main consumer characteristics affecting both their negative feelings towards brands and their willingness to join an anti-brand community. Regarding "why", low quality of products/services and a lack of corporate social responsibility are the main reasons for hating brands. Finally, this study contributes to knowledge of negative consumer-brand relationships in the Internet domain and provides advanced insights into consumer behavior with reference to the top global brands. It also encourages further research on the interconnections among the central questions of this paper, i.e., who and why individuals join anti-brand communities, and represents a starting point for further studies aimed at expanding the consumer characteristics investigated in this paper, including personality traits. This study also pioneers the profile of anti-brand community participants in the Internet, which is so pertinent in the rise of marketing 5.0.