Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how students’ entrepreneurial attitudes are related to their economic attitudes regarding business, investments, savings and consumption. The study presents a new research tool to analyze the characteristics of the economic mind – the economic attitudes questionnaire. Design/methodology/approach The method consists of a multiple-factorial questionnaire, a verification of reliability and internal validity (exploratory and confirmation factor analyses), a quantitative survey and a correlation analysis. Findings Two main ways of preparing students for a market economy are identified: one is connected to entrepreneurship, and the other to rational investment and financial planning. The complex nature of economic attitudes’ interaction is confirmed: by the direct relationships between entrepreneurial attitudes of students and investment activity, and between risk and satisfaction and consumer opportunities, as well as by the negative relationships between entrepreneurial attitudes and the level of mistrust to banking structures, unwillingness to make savings, unwillingness to share and financial pessimism. The economic attitudes questionnaire was developed and it showed sufficient validity and reliability on samples of student youth. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to Russian students. Originality/value Adapting the questionnaire to other cultures will allow conducting cross-cultural research of entrepreneurial attitudes, which may be relevant in the global economy.
Today, insurance enables the functioning of the market system. In modern Russia, such a mechanism of protection against internal and external threats exists to ensure the economic security of each citizen. Indeed, individual insurance policies continue to gain importance as the most effective risk management tool to guarantee the safety of the health and property of private citizens. The goal of this study was to investigate Russian citizens’ attitudes towards insurance policies and investment bearing in mind the concept of personal economic security. Preparations for this study were focused on theoretical understandings of economic security problems, taking the field of insurance as an example. Our research consisted of four stages, with a total of 1794 participants. The results of this study can offer insight to improve the functioning of the insurance market in accordance with the framework of the Insurance Industry Development Strategy for the Russian Federation—2020. The obtained results can be used from both a political and economic standpoint in the development of a set of measures dealing with the control of financial institutions, promotion of financial literacy, preparation of courses for universities, and trainings for participants in the insurance market. Policyholders can also use this information to advocate for improved insurance programs for citizens.
Objective. Search for socio-psychological antecedents for the individual’s belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic. Revealing the dynamics of Internet users’ attitudes to the coronavirus pandemic in March-early June 2020. Background. As part of the study of the psychological mechanisms of the impact of the pandemic on the individual and society, an increasingly urgent task is to clarify the socio-psychological prerequisites of belief in conspiracy theories of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the relationship between attitudes towards the pandemic and the involvement of the individual in the use of social media. Study design. The paper presents the results of two online surveys conducted in March-April and May-June 2020 to study the dynamics of Russians’ belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the COVID-19, taking into account involvement in social media and gender differences. Participants. The first study involved 668 people (78.2% women) aged 17 to 80 years (M=30; SD=12.7); the second survey involved 986 people (56.9% — men) aged 18 to 76 years (M=36.63; SD=10.2). The survey geography covered various regions of Russia. Measurements. The basic tool in both studies was developed by T.A. Nestik questionnaire “Attitude towards the epidemiological threat”. The first study additionally measured the social axioms (SAS), moral foundations (MFQ), belief in the justice of the world and trust in social institutions. The second study additionally measured involvement in social media communications. Results. The 1st study found a connection between conspiracy beliefs and belief in a just world, low self-efficacy, moral foundations of ingroup/loyalty and authority/respect, low institutional trust, and social cynicism. In the 2nd study, it was shown that, compared to March-April, the level of belief of social media users in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic, the severity of distrust in the health care system and skepticism about vaccinations significantly increased; both the fear of infection and the controllability of the threat have become less, but fears of a recurrence of epidemics have increased. It is shown that involvement in social media increases anxiety about the consequences of the coronavirus crisis, which in turn intensifies the search for conspiracy explanations of pandemic. Conclusions. Low social trust and the experience of an uncontrollable threat increase the susceptibility of social media users to belief in conspiracy theories of the origin of the pandemic.
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