The paper proposes an approach to the integrated assessment of the social responsibility of EU countries with a combination of data from three international indices most relevant to the monitoring of social responsibility at the macroeconomic level: the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index, the Sustainable Development Goals Index and the Social Progress Index. Applying the method of taxonomic analysis on the example of index values for EU countries, we assessed the differences and leaders in ensuring social responsibility. The authors do not consider country-level social responsibility only as a consequence of the development of responsible practices at all levels. Taking into account that social responsibility should be a prerequisite for expanding opportunities in all spheres, in particular, in business, the authors conducted a correlational analysis of the relationship between the taxonomic indicator of social responsibility and the development of innovative business. As a result, we confirmed significant connections with “Business sophistication” indicators (as part of the Global Innovation Index) and the share of innovative firms of total SMEs (according to OESD statistics). The obtained results strengthen the grounds for considering social responsibility not only as an important socially oriented concept, but also as a reliable basis for the development of innovative business due to the created comfortable institutional environment of business development.

Research background: In the light of growing demand for highly skilled workers, driven by rapid changes in the labour market and business environment, the ability to attract the talented determines not only business performance, but also macroeconomic development prospects. This stimulates national governments to create positive conditions for the development and use of the human capital of migrants. One of the most important factors of brain gain can be country stability as a sign of a comfortable environment for the realisation of intellectual potential. Purpose of the article: The study aims to investigate the links between the factors of country’s resilience and brain gain, including its partial indicators. Methods: For a comprehensive assessment, migration indicators were used by categories of talented migrants: highly educated workers, foreign entrepreneurs, university students and start-up founders that we integrated into an integral index of intellectual migration. The data was collected for OECD countries for 2023. The authors used the methods of statistical and correlation-regression analysis, economic-mathematical modelling in the GRETL software environment. Findings & value added: Research has shown that the components of country’s resilience (especially Economic resilience and Supply chain) have a positive effect on brain gain. Considering the partial indicators of brain gain, it is found that resilience in the country of destination has the greatest influence on the migration decisions of highly educated workers and foreign entrepreneurs, i.e. migrants with a positive experience of economic activity and entrepreneurial capital, which, in turn, strengthens the resilience and competitiveness of countries. Such conclusions are important for the improvement of brain gain management programs in terms of the development of the environment for the attraction and retention of talents.

The study aims to investigate the role of leadership in creativity development, including opportunities arising from the attractiveness of countries for intellectual migrants. Using the authors’ approach for assessing leadership development in the European Union, it is found that the leading positions belong to Finland with an integral index value of 0.85, Denmark (0.83), and the Netherlands (0.76). To test hypotheses about the significant influence of leadership on the attractiveness of countries for intellectual migrants and creativity development, correlation analysis was used. Creativity development was analysed based on the most frequently used indicators of creative economics dynamics. Besides, it was considered that the most obvious result of creative thinking is the innovation development of the countries. The resulting pairwise correlation coefficients for the European Union show a strong relationship between the level of leadership and a country’s ability to attract (0.73) and retain talent (0.80). A positive impact of leadership on creativity development is confirmed by the links with the overall value of the Global Innovation Index (0.79), the growth of innovative companies (0.81), creative outputs (0.58), and cultural employment (0.68). The obtained results prove the need for the development of leadership competencies as an important driver of creativity, talent attraction and generation of innovative solutions.

Type of the article: Research Article The migration of highly skilled workers and its impact on productivity, competitiveness, and innovative development is becoming an increasingly relevant area of scientific research in the context of rapid digitalization of the economy. In this regard, the article aims to explore the relationship between the migration of highly skilled workers and digital economy development (using the example of EU countries). The study was conducted using correlation analysis and parametric data analysis methods, based on EU countries’ statistics on the migration of highly skilled workers, macroeconomic digitalization indicators, and the adoption of digital technologies at the business level. The results confirm that highly skilled migrants positively affect aggregate indicators of economic digitalization: correlation coefficients with the Global Digitalization Index and the DiGiX Digital Index are 0.735 and 0.692, respectively, and are statistically significant. At the company level, a significant influence of highly skilled migrants on the use of specific digital technologies in EU companies was confirmed. In particular, there is a strong correlation between the “Foreign Highly Skilled Personnel” indicator from the IMD World Talent Ranking 2024 and digital intensity indicators (level of application of key business-related digital technologies), as well as business activity in using big data analytics technologies: the correlation coefficients are 0.770 and 0.689, respectively, and are statistically significant. The proposed approach to analyzing the relationship between highly skilled worker migration and the digital development outcomes of companies and host countries can be used to develop and adjust knowledge and human resource productivity management strategies at both the micro- and macroeconomic levels. Acknowledgment This study is funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine under the project “Higher education in the conditions of war and post-war recovery: Determinants of development to overcome threats to the restoration of human capital” (State registration number 0124U000351).

Type of the article: Research Article AbstractForced migration of Ukraine’s population, caused by the war initiated by the russian federation, is a subject of national governance in demographic processes. In a country at war – rapidly losing human potential due to casualties among military and civil populations, as well as forced relocations – the social relations between internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities are of critical importance. The aim of this paper is to assess the perceptions of IDPs in host communities and to identify factors contributing to potential social tension. The research is based on a nationally representative sociological survey conducted in June–July 2024 in Ukraine, involving 514 IDPs and 850 residents of host communities. The findings reveal that social tension is generally low, with most ratings no higher than 3 out of 5. Notably, one-third of host community residents and two-thirds of IDPs did not observe any tension in social interactions at all. IDPs tended to be more optimistic in their evaluations compared to host community members: their perception was significantly lower, with only 7.3% reporting high levels of strain (4-5 out of 5). In contrast, the host population’s evaluations were more critical, particularly among young people and residents of regional centers, who expressed the most negative views. Key factors contributing to tension included negative changes in the housing market (44.8% of host community respondents), increased pressure on healthcare institutions (29.3%), and greater demand for administrative services (26.2%). The results highlighted the need for regular monitoring, which should complement traditional social management practices. AcknowledgmentResearch is supported by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine under the project No.2021.01/0343 “Ensuring social protection of ATO / JFO participants and social integration of IDP under the condition of increasing threats to social security”.