The scientific periodical journal (indexed on Web of Science) published by the Tomas Bata University in Zlin offers results of basic and applied economic research in the English language.

The paper summarises the factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions and the changes the factors have undergone over the last 15 years. The research aimed to determine what changes have occurred in the intensity of the traditional factors influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions over the past 15 years and to identify the new factors currently shaping consumers’ purchasing decisions. The research was carried out by means of a questionnaire survey conducted in the Czech Republic (N = 686). The survey results were subjected to descriptive statistics combined with multivariate exploratory factor analysis. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis which showed that between 2007 and 2022, there were no significant changes in consumers’ perceived importance of traditional factors influencing their purchasing decisions in different categories of consumption. The research has confirmed that consumers perceived quality, price and necessity as the most important factors across the different categories, while advertising was still the least important. However, the perceived importance of advertising has increased slightly in some shopping categories, such as Clothing and Footwear and Transport, along with the perceived importance of discounts. However, new factors have emerged to influence consumers before making a purchase decision. The Clothing and Footwear category was selected for detailed factor analysis because consumers assigned more importance to the emerging factors here than other purchase categories. By applying factor analysis, the authors identified five determinants of consumer decision-making in purchasing Clothing and footwear category, including new and traditional factors. The first determinant was the current trends in the market. The second determinant was recommendations, including recommendations from family, friends and professionals, together with the chance to try something new. The third purchase determinant was experience based on the consumer’s previous experience, which also shaped the subsequently preferred parameters and product quality. The fourth determinant was pricing. The final determinant of the purchase decision was sustainability in both consumption and purchase. The research results are useful for market players, especially in the innovation of customer communication and company marketing management.

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, the scientific journal of the Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic

This paper deals with the evaluation of selected available indicators of living standards, divided into three groups, namely economic, environmental, and social. We have selected six countries of the European Union for analysis: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, France, and Great Britain. The aim of this paper is to evaluate indicators measuring living standards and suggest the most important factors which should be included in the final measurement. We have tried to determine what factors influence each indicator and what factors affect living standards. We have chosen regression analysis as our main method. From the study of factors, we can deduce their impact on living standards, and thus the value of indicators of living standards. Indicators with a high degree of reliability include the following factors: size and density of population, health care and spending on education. Emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also have a certain lower degree of reliability.

The paper aims to?identify the changes and intensity of?the factors influencing consumers’ purchasing decision-making process in?the food market. The research offers a?unique comparison of?the situation between the years 2007 and 2022 an...

The reduction in the number of households living at risk of poverty is a common objective of EU countries but the social policy of each member state is different. This paper provides an overview of components of social transfers and their share in total household incomes in EU countries. The aim of the paper is to assess the effectiveness of the social systems of each on the basis of the number of households at risk of poverty determined before and after the payment of social benefits. Four segments of EU countries were identified in cluster analysis according to their approach to social transfer settings using primary data from EU-SILC survey. The combination of high share of social benefits and low share of old age pensions proves to be better in the fight against poverty. The relationship between an economic performance and a functioning social policy system appears in EU countries.