The role of social influence (SI) as a determining factor in accepting new technologies has been addressed in several studies using the initial or extended technology acceptance model (TAM). This research uses an adaptation of the extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to analyze the behavioral intention of Romanian consumers regarding the use of energy efficiency smart solutions (EESS) under the effect of social influence. Data were processed with the structural equation modeling technique (PLS-SEM). The sample consisted of 302 domestic electricity consumers in Romania. The study’s findings show that the respondents’ perceptions of the two social influence dimensions—network of friends, colleagues, or family (SI_FF); and public space (SI_PS)—and their effects on other conceptual model variables are significantly different. The main implications highlight that the proposed model addresses social influence on two levels (SI_FF and SI_PS), to highlight not only the differences in users’ perceptions, but also the main directions in which efforts to promote these technologies should be focused more intensively, in the context of implementing European policies regarding the reduction of energy consumption at the level of household consumers. An important component of the proposed model is the analysis of the role of hedonic motivation constructs, expected performance, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use in mediating the relationship between social influence and behavioral intention to use.

Tourism is a critical economic sector for many countries, making substantial contributions to GDP and job creation. Analyzing performance in this domain has become indispensable for understanding and enhancing its economic, social, and environmental impact while promoting the sustainability and competitiveness of tourist destinations. In the context of the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, the tourism field suffered the effects of a weakened economy and a heavily affected society. For this reason, countries and their tourism industries have been looking for ways to improve performance in this sector by trying to address salient determinants related to investments in this industry. This study employs the input-oriented DEA-CRS (Data Envelopment Analysis–Constant Returns to Scale) model to assess Romania’s tourism performance in comparison to 11 other Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. This analysis utilizes a dataset comprising three input variables and two output variables, with data corresponding to the year 2023. Half of the countries studied are deemed efficient, while only one is found to have a low level of efficiency in the tourism field. Following the analysis of the obtained results, four reference countries were identified, namely, Estonia, Croatia, Poland, and Slovenia. Practically, within the analyzed model, these four countries represent examples of good practices in the efficiency of the tourism industry for the other eight CEE countries.

This paper is presenting a reproducible and transparent model of bibliometric and systematic literature analysis, examining the evidence regarding the social and economic impact of European Union non-reimbursable funds on territorial development, with particular attention to the mechanisms used to evaluate the impact and to the factors that were taken into account to explain the observed outcomes. Using a mixed research design, we combined bibliometric science mapping, using R (Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny) to determine literature production trends, thematic structures and evolutions, with a systematic literature review, conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines that helped us capture detailed evidence on determinants and impact evaluation strategies. For the field mapping, a bibliographic corpus was retrieved from Web of Science Core Collection data base, yielding 305 records. In parallel, a two-stage screening process (title and abstract screening followed by full-text assessment) reduced the literature corpus to 18 eligible articles concerning relevant aspects to our research theme, such as the main territorial dimensions (public services, demography, education, infrastructure etc.) studied in regards with social and economic impact assessment, as well as the determinants, indicators and mechanisms that were taken into account to evaluate European investments on a certain territory. Our main findings indicate that, throughout 1998 to 2026, there was a shift in the conceptual structure of the thematic field regarding the impact of European funding. Whereas early studies were mainly cantered on aspects such as European integration and its core functioning principles, from 2014 onward, researchers began to pay more attention to the evidence that show how European funding can support growth, under which conditions and what factors can interfere. In addition to that, our findings highlight the fact that impact of European funding varies across territories and programming phases, with institutional and implementation factors repeatedly highlighted as key determinants.