The motivation of academic staff in higher education institutions has become a critical issue, particularly in the context of rapid digital transformation. Faculty motivation is a crucial factor influencing the quality of education, research productivity, and the performance of universities. This study aimed to identify the main factors influencing motivation and to develop recommendations for educational institutions to enhance staff motivation. The research utilized bibliometric analysis through the VOSviewer program to explore relationships between core motivational factors. Initial data were collected via the ePORTAL system, which aggregates comprehensive information about faculty activities, including publications, participation in scientific projects, and teaching performance. The findings suggest that the current motivational systems in Kazakhstan's higher education institutions require significant modernization. Key challenges include insufficient financial support, excessive bureaucratic procedures, and limited career development opportunities. Moreover, adopting digital tools like ePORTAL can enhance the transparency and objectivity of assessing teaching staff performance, providing more substantial incentives for professional growth. The study offers recommendations for university management of educational institutions to increase academic staff motivation that can be adapted to each educational institution's unique profile and priorities. Future research should investigate the long-term effects of digitalization on teaching quality and explore how motivation strategies can be fine-tuned to address regional and institutional disparities. Such efforts will ensure faculty development aligns with national and international educational standards, ultimately enhancing the competitiveness and effectiveness of universities in a global context.

The study argues that the development of Kazakhstan’s creative economy depends directly on the quality of human resource management (HRM) and on institutionalized, talent-supporting practices. Conventional industrial HR approaches do not fit the logic of creative labour; a flexible, human-centred and digitally supported HRM model is required. The aim of the article is to design a modular HRM model for creative-sector organizations and to empirically demonstrate its effect on key performance indicators. The scholarly and practical contribution lies in the operationalisation of employee experience (EX) and innovation-related metrics, which enables a shift from transactional to transformational HRM. The practical outcome is a “minimal” toolkit consisting of weekly check-ins, quarterly OKRs, mentoring, microlearning modules, recognition rituals and a basic HR analytics dashboard. Pilot implementation of the model in three creative organizations led to higher employee engagement, lower turnover and faster innovation cycles, confirming the need to combine flexibility with systemic HRM practices. Over the past two decades, research on the creative economy has moved from describing cultural industries towards conceptualising human capital as the core source of added value. While many studies address macro-level economic effects and cultural policy, substantially fewer examine HRM in creative sectors. This article addresses that gap by treating HR not as an auxiliary function but as a strategic condition for the sustainability of creative business in Kazakhstan.

Urban assessment is crucial for understanding the dynamics of city development, identifying areas for improvement, and formulating targeted policies to enhance the quality of life for residents. This study focuses on evaluating Kazakhstan’s megacities across nine indicators grouped into financial and economic condition, business development, and living standards. Using comparative analysis and ranking methods, the study assesses budgetary allocations, population dynamics, industrial growth, and the impact of strategic investments on urban development. Drawing on current economic and demographic trends, the study examines the role of cities as drivers of economic growth and highlights the importance of addressing social and economic inequalities. Through a literature review, the study contextualizes the findings within the broader discourse on urbanization and economic development, emphasizing the need for nuanced strategies to address regional disparities. Methodologically, a rating system based on quantitative indicators from 2010 to 2022 is employed, with a heatmap visualization to illustrate city rankings across various indicators. Using aggregated data on key economic indicators, the cities were classified into three categories: high-ranking, mid-ranking and low-ranking. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of urban development in Kazakhstan and provides insights for policy formulation aimed at promoting sustainable and inclusive growth across its megacities. The city ranking analysis depicts a varied economic landscape in Kazakhstani cities. High-ranked cities exhibit robust economic performance with low poverty rates, strong average salaries, and active retail trade, hinting at promising business prospects. Mid-ranked cities show mixed performances, while low-ranked cities face considerable economic challenges, including higher poverty, lower salaries, and potential declines in trade.

A detailed examination of the labor market trends from 2012 to 2022 in regard to labor force participation, employment, self-employment, and wage increase is presented. Using descriptive statistical techniques and regression, the following critical measures have been researched: hired and self-employment rate, gender gaps, unemployment rate in finding systemic trends, and significant correlations. It implies, finally, that labor force and hired employment keep improving steadily, while self-employment keeps falling due to changes in labor market structural preference. Gender inequality remains obvious with females suffering from their relatively slow labor force growth coupled with a rather moderate improvement of job opportunities. The regression analysis brings out that the year and selfemployment variables have a significant impact on determining wage growth, while hired employment and gender are not too significant. The unemployment rate turns out to be positively correlated with changes in wages, so it is possible that changes in wages have been smoothed over labor market fluctuations. This research also reflects on the possible impact of exogenous factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on employment structures and gender relationships. These findings expose the need for policy interventions on gender disparities, support for entrepreneurship, and equal access to labor market opportunities. This study gives some key recommendations toward sustainable and inclusive economic development through the light it casts on the long-term transformation in labor market conditions.

In the context of global digitalization, the creative economy is becoming a significant driver of economic diversification and labor market transformation. This study aims to develop a scenario-based forecasting model for the development of Kazakhstan’s creative economy, taking into account technological changes up to 2030. The empirical basis includes data on the current state of the sector, which accounts for approximately 3.5% of total employment (around 310 thousand people) and 2.7% of gross domestic product, as well as the results of a quantitative assessment of digitalization effects, indicating that a 1% increase in ICT service exports leads to an approximately 1.541% growth in the gross value added of creative industries. The research methodology integrates foresight approaches, scenario analysis, and econometric time series modeling. Three alternative development scenarios are proposed: “Innovative Breakthrough,” “Moderate Adaptation,” and “Technological Lag,” reflecting different trajectories of sectoral evolution. The results demonstrate a wide range of possible outcomes: under the innovative scenario, the share of creative employment may reach 5.8–6.2% by 2030, whereas the pessimistic trajectory suggests stagnation at 3.2–3.5%. The study identifies key success factors, including the development of digital infrastructure, reduction of regional disparities, modernization of the education system, and effective public policy support for creative industries. The practical significance lies in the formulation of implementation mechanisms and policy recommendations aimed at fostering the development of the creative economy and labor market.

Introduction: Unlike most previous studies that synthesized the literature using a single major technique, we used a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of the literature on cultural and creative industries in the developing-country context. Moreover, we integrated the PRISMA literature selection protocol. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of the Scopus and Web of Science databases covering January 2007 to December 2025; after screening and reapplying the developing-country eligibility criteria using the World Bank FY2026 income classification, we retained 151 articles for analysis. Results: The major findings suggest rapid growth in CCI publications after 2020 (annual growth rate 26.1%; 88% of the corpus published since 2020), with research output concentrated in China (41% of corresponding authors). Keyword clustering identifies six thematic clusters: (1) sustainable development, China and the creative and cultural industries; (2) cultural industries, tourism and regional/rural planning; (3) economic development, environment and urbanization; (4) SDGs, tourism industry and conservation; (5) cultural policy and creative ecosystems; and (6) creative city, entrepreneurship and design. SDG mapping reveals an imbalance: economic and urban goals (SDGs 8, 11, 9) dominate, while social (SDGs 1, 5, 10) and climate and environmental goals (SDGs 13–15) remain significantly underrepresented. Regarding research methods, quantitative approaches dominate (44%), while longitudinal and experimental designs are largely absent in CCIs and sustainable development. Discussion: Because the evidence base is concentrated in China and East Asia and drawn from two English-language databases, the findings characterize the indexed literature rather than all developing countries. The identified thematic, geographic, and methodological gaps inform a future research agenda.