Adina Letiția Negrușa

The rapid expansion of the online food delivery market has brought a significant challenge for platforms and restaurants: shopping cart abandonment. The primary aim of this study is to investigate how the financial, technological, and psychological factors influence cart abandonment among young Romanian consumers, specifically Generation Z. It seeks to understand the situations when the convenience of using a food delivery application is overshadowed by different types of barriers. To achieve this objective, a quantitative research methodology was used. Primary data was collected through an online survey, resulting a sample of 190 active users of food delivery apps, predominantly youths aged 19 to 22 from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The collected data was processed using descriptive statistics and One- Way ANOVA tests to measure the impact of different stimuli on the consumers’ purchasing behavior. The findings reveal a significant shift in the modern consumer’s decision-making process. The most critical conclusion is that financial transparency is a non-negotiable expectation, as hidden delivery and service fees added at the final checkout step universally trigger immediate cart abandonment, regardless of the user’s income level. Furthermore, the lack of promotional offers heavily segments the market, driving lower-budget youths to abandon their orders. Psychologically, the lack of trust in a restaurant’s hygiene standards outweighs the initial need for convenience, acting as a definitive purchasing barrier. On the other side, the study proves that young consumers do not mind a longer checkout process or a visually cluttered app interface as much as other studies have shown. JEL Classification: M30, L80 Article History: Received: May 5, 2026; Reviewed: July 31, 2026; Accepted: September 8, 2026; Available online: September 23, 2026.

Global food waste is a pressing issue, with around 1.3 billion tons wasted annually worldwide. While estimates may vary, the scale of this problem is undeniable, impacting the environment, society, economies, and global food security. Restaurants, facing rising food costs, industry competition, and environmentally conscious consumers, are under growing pressure to tackle food waste effectively. In Romania, vegetables, baked goods, and fruits are among the most wasted items, accounting for 13–17% of food waste. This study investigates the root causes of fruit and vegetable waste in restaurants and explores potential solutions. The research addresses three exploratory questions: “How do restaurant professionals perceive the meaning, types, and extent of fruit and vegetable waste?”; “What factors do they identify as drivers of fruit and vegetable waste in the food service sector?”; and “What strategies do they propose for reducing fruit and vegetable waste?” A qualitative approach was employed, consisting of in-depth interviews with restaurant employees. The results show that inefficiencies in handling and poor communication, both internally and with external partners, are seen as the main causes of fruit and vegetable waste in restaurants. Proposed solutions include better inventory management, portion control, and staff training. These findings call on chefs and managers to critically reassess their operational practices and ensure alignment with existing legislation. By providing a systematic framework of causes and potential solutions, this study offers practical and actionable guidance for reducing food waste within the restaurant industry.

The Generational Theory, on the other hand, has been used uniformly in numerous studies without taking into account the historical, social, and cultural variations from one place to another. Because Generation X, and Millennials are currently the most significant generational cohorts for the employment market, this study aims to investigate from a historical perspective the fundamental and work value, leadership styles, and work attitudes of these generations, taking into account regional differences between the North America and European nations. The review indicates that an increasing number of studies have adopted the assumption that, regardless differences in social and economic situations of different nations, generational cohorts have the same patterns and biases. The research conducted in this article contributes to enhancing the approach of generational theory in organizational behaviors studies and highlighting the idea of stark disparities across various areas and nations based on various historical occurrences. Article history: Received: February 22, 2024; Reviewed: March 10, 2024; Accepted: March 25, 2024; Available online: March 29, 2024. JEL classification: N30, J10.

This period of mandated remote work has been challenging the Romanian employees to adept to the new paradigm of telework for most of them. While prior to COVID-19 pandemic employees were accustom with the work environment and its variables, they were suddenly replaced. The psychological place for restoration, called home, got invaded and occupied by working life. In this time remote workers were learning to adapt to the new way of working from home and balancing it with everyday life. While employers are searching for new and performing approach to accomplish their goals, employees are addressing new conditions affecting their working performance and personal or family life. The study presents and analyses data of two surveys conducted by the “European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions”. The impact and consequences of telework on work-life balance and well-being of workers are discussed, seeing that the working time and work intensity dimensions have a direct influence. The search for sustainable telework requires customized working conditions, adapted skills, tackling emerging risks and involving all stakeholders in Romanian working environment. Article history: Received 18 February 2022; Revised 4 March 2022; Accepted 21 March 2022; Available online 30 May 2022; Available print 30 May 2022. JEL Classification: M100, M540, M150

Nowadays, the role of the sharing economy in tourism increases, the number of people involved as guests or hosts rising day by day. This dynamic generates a viable alternative to the traditional services, allowing tourists to customise their trips and enrich their experiences. This paper focuses on accommodation services, investigating the factors influencing the prices established by Airbnb hosts. Using structural equation modelling, the authors analyse the influence of different categories of factors (listing’s characteristics, hosts’ involvement, listing’s reputation, listing’s location, and rental policies) on the average daily rate. The results emphasise that the hosts establish the listing’s price based on listing’s characteristics and on their involvement – the owners managing only one listing and the ones charging a security deposit value more their involvement, while the other hosts focus more on the listings’ characteristics. The location of the listing counts for experienced owners, while for opportunist owners it has no importance. The listings’ reputation has a negative impact on the price, contrary to the conclusions achieved in other studies, an aspect that supports the idea that price determinants differ across regions.

Big events are playing an important role in our society and lives; therefore, there was an increase in their number in the past ten years, which automatically made them also an economic power in different countries. Throughout the paper, we are focusing on the music festival events that grew organically since their existence, and together with their development; it helped the society and economy of Romania grow. The study is focusing on good practice in organizing these events from planning to the target market and all the things that need to be taken into consideration when creating an event. The study focused on assessing the managerial team perceptions, attitudes, and values regarding the development strategy for this event with the scope to identify the key elements used in their process. To conduct the study analysis, we created a research process structured in two phases. Phase 1 involved observations of the main decisions and actions implemented during the previous editions of the festival and analysis of the official points of view of the festival’s managerial team. The results of this part of the study together with the main aspects identified in the literature prepared the second part that aimed to detail more the strategical thinking of the managerial team. Therefore, this study’s main goal is to identify what strategic elements are required to develop strong festivals’ identities and brands in the market. JEL classification: Z32, Q56

While universities expanding the short-term study abroad programs and international mobility for their students, these were identified as a substantial contribution toward the increasingly globalisation and promotion of global citizenship values. Lately few authors considered the global citizen dimension from a learning process perspective, suggesting a model of cultural citizenship linked with transformational learning process. This paper review the literature related to citizenship identity characteristics and the benefits resulted from international mobility programs. The final purpose is to create a new research model for evaluating the impact of the international experience through study abroad programs on attaining a set of explicit skills and attitudes which direct towards the classification of a global citizen. JEL Classification: M53, A13

The innovation process for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continues to play a critical role in their development. Due to their ability to provide differentiated products and services, SMEs which innovate are more successful than their non-innovative competitors. The hospitality industry is considered a highly competitive sector therefore enterprises acting in this field should develop new innovative offers. Research in the field of innovation behavior in the hospitality industry has not been systematically investigated, and especially regarding the food services sector from Romania. Thus, this paper aims at covering this gap. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategic features of the innovation process applied by food service SMEs from Cluj-Napoca, based on their behavior towards innovation and on its impact upon their business activity. A qualitative study has been developed, based on personal interviews with entrepreneurs of food-services SMEs. The research results present the types of innovations most frequently implemented, the resulted benefits and the future expected goals based on these innovations, and the entrepreneurs’ features which support the innovation process. This is the first study, which provides an investigation regarding the innovation behavior of the food service enterprises from Cluj-Napoca and contributes to the existing literature on innovation, presenting a practical approach on the strategic behavior of the SMEs from this sector. JEL classification: L83, O31.