This paper examines the impact of employees' commitment on the productivity of organizations in the Republic of Serbia. Employees' commitment represents the willingness of employees to make efforts for the benefit of the organization and the desire to remain in them. It can be seen as: affective, continuous and normative commitment. Affective commitment reflects a belief in the goals of an organization and a willingness to actively participate in its development; normative commitment reflects a sense of obligation on employees to remain in the organization while continuing commitment is due to employees' assessment that leaving the organization causes greater costs than benefits. Previous research shows that all types of commitment have a major impact on the performance of organizations. As the number of empirical studies on this topic in Serbia is limited, this paper examines the impact of each type of organizational commitment on the productivity of organizations in Serbia, as well as the impact of the overall commitment. The aim of the paper was to identify the types of organizational commitment that have the greatest impact on the performance of organizations in Serbia and to propose measures to HR managers whose implementation can improve the operations of domestic organizations. The starting point of the paper was that employees' commitment has a statistically significant effect on organizational performance. To verify the validity of this assumption, a primary survey was conducted. 169 employees of 17 organizations in Serbia were surveyed. By applying correlation and regression analysis methods, it has been proven that overall organizational commitment, as well as its certain types, have a positive impact on the productivity of organizations in Serbia, with the impact of normative commitment on performance greater than other types of commitment. At the same time, the contribution of continuous commitment to the performance of organizations in Serbia is negligible (statistically insignificant). In line with the obtained results, recommendations for human resources managers in Serbia are proposed. The theoretical implications of the paper are reflected in filling the gap in the national literature in the field of organizational commitment, while the empirical implications are reflected in the mechanisms and measures that are proposed at the end of the paper.

Digital skills are increasingly vital for enhancing employability, as they equip individuals to meet the evolving demands of the modern workforce. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of digital skills on employability, focusing on the influence of both basic and above-basic levels of information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, problem-solving, digital content creation, and safety skills, considered key components of digital competence. The research employs regression analysis using secondary data extracted from the Eurostat database. Based on data from 32 European countries, the findings indicate that three proxies for digital skills, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, and safety, significantly and positively influence employability. The contribution of this paper to the existing literature on digital skills and employability is twofold. First, by evaluating the influence of five categories of digital skills across different proficiency levels on employment rates, the study sheds light on which specific digital skills have the most substantial impact on employability in today’s labor market. Second, the findings provide a foundation for formulating recommendations aimed at enhancing the digital capabilities of the labor force.

Organizational citizenship behaviour is a form of employees' behaviour where employees go beyond their formal duties required by job description. Despite the fact that this form of behaviour is not recognized or accepted by the reward system, employees are ready to put in an extra effort in order to achieve organizational goals. However, the readiness of employees to manifest this form of behaviour is not completely unconditional. Numerous empirical studies suggest that such behaviour can be encouraged by employees' job satisfaction, fulfilment of their psychological contract, perception of a high level of organizational justice in the company, support provided to them, etc. Having in mind the importance of this form of employees' behaviour, precisely from the point of view of employers, as well as the factors that influence it, this paper examines the impact of employees' job satisfaction on the level of their organizational citizenship behaviour on the example of the companies in Serbia. The paper starts with three hypotheses. The first and second hypotheses are that employees in companies in Serbia are satisfied with their jobs and that they demonstrate organizational citizenship behaviour. These assumptions were tested using the t-test. The third hypothesis is that employees' satisfaction with their job has a positive effect on their organizational citizenship behaviour. In order to test this hypothesis, methods of correlation and multiple regression analysis were used. The analysis is based on data obtained by primary research realized during 2019. In the research, 244 employees participated. The research showed that there is a positive relationship between respondents' job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour, as well as the positive impact of job satisfaction on organizational citizenship behaviour of employees. This paper's contribution is twofold. First, it provides empirical data regarding the job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour of employees in companies in Serbia. Second, it adds to the existing literature from this field by proposing strategies for increasing the employees' job satisfaction, which will lead to increasing the employees' willingness to manifest organizational citizenship behaviour.

The growing participation of women in the labour market has been undoubtedly one of the main features of the evolution of the economies of the European Union (EU) during the last few decades. Nevertheless, maintaining this increase remains an important policy goal due to the existing population ageing and gender employment gap. This paper aims to analyse the main determinants of female labour force participation (FLFP) in the EU countries using panel data regression analysis covering the period from 2000 to 2021. By employing the fixed-effects regression analysis, an influence of dependent variables such as GDP per capita, presence of anti-discrimination laws, equal opportunities laws and affirmative action, women's participation in parliament work, total fertility rate, paid parental leave, retirement age with full pension benefits, women's education and annual net earnings are assessed on the female labour participation rate in the European Union. Moreover, the robust standard error procedure is performed for model estimation. The empirical results indicate that GDP per capita, total fertility rate, equal age of retirement for men and women, annual net earnings, female upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education and tertiary education enrolment represent significant determinants of FLFP, where all the stated variables have a positive influence on the FLFP rates. Therefore, improvement in education levels, annual net earnings and gender equality policies influence women to participate more in labour markets. These findings demonstrate the significance of improving education and earnings levels and the necessity of the development of adequate policies that will provide that. Implications for Central European audience: The results of this study provide insightful findings concerning the main drivers of female labour force participation in the European Union by taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic period labour market indicators.

This paper aims to examine the influence of R&D activity on the business performance of high-technology companies. In order to provide an empirical investigation of the impact of R&D activity on the business performance of high-technology companies, correlation and regression analyses have been utilized.This study discovered that investment in R&D has a positive influence on EBIT, net earnings, EBITDA, and total assets, while its influence on ROA was confirmed to be statistically significant and negative. Additionally, the influence of R&D intensity performance indicator (RDI) on ROA as a short-term financial performance indicator was not confirmed. The study revealed that return on R&D investment (RORDI) has a statistically significant and positive influence on ROA in the current, observed year.The evaluation of the obtained results can be a basis for drawing more detailed conclusions, contributing to the future R&D strategy and existing literature, and emphasizing the importance of R&D investment for various business performances.The originality of this study is reflected in the comprehensive analysis of the influence of specific indicators of R&D activity, such as RORDI, on the business performance of high-technology companies. This paper is also beneficial because none of the existing studies have explored the impact of investment in R&D on EBITDA.

The rapid urbanization of recent decades has intensified the need for sustainable and adaptive city models that balance economic growth, environmental protection, and social well-being. This study addresses the challenge of assessing the performance of European smart cities by proposing a composite index of urban sustainability based on citizens’ perceptions. Using data from the Quality of Life in European Cities Survey (2023), the research applies a multi-criteria analytical framework grounded in the Benefit-of-the-Doubt (Data Envelopment Analysis) approach, which allows each city to determine optimal indicator weights and eliminates pre-assigned biases. The analysis integrates six dimensions of smart city performance—mobility, living, environment, economy, governance, and people—to evaluate cities’ adaptability to the needs of their residents. Results reveal that cities such as Aalborg (Denmark), Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and Zurich (Switzerland) exhibit the highest performance, demonstrating balanced progress across sustainability-oriented domains. The findings suggest that integrating citizens’ evaluations with data-driven weighting provides a more comprehensive and context-sensitive understanding of urban sustainability. The study concludes that the proposed composite index provides a robust methodological framework for benchmarking European smart cities, supporting policymakers in designing targeted strategies for enhancing livability, inclusiveness, and sustainable urban growth.