Research at Webster Vienna

Energy and Economic Growth: New Chapter by Prof. Antonakakis and WVPU Student Yaroslav Usikov

Prof. Nikolaos Antonakakis, Full Professor and Area Coordinator for Economics at WVPU, and WVPU student Yaroslav Usikov have collaboratively published a research chapter titled "Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions, and Economic Growth Nexus in EU Countries Over the Period 1995-2020". 

Featured in the "Handbook on Energy and Economic Growth" by Edward Elgar Publishing, edited by Mohamed Arouri and Mathieu Gomes, this chapter employs advanced methods such as panel vector autoregression (PVAR), panel Granger causality, and panel impulse response functions to analyze data from 26 European countries over a 25-year periods.

Their findings provide insights into the relationships between energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth. Notably, the research underscores an N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), challenging the effectiveness of current renewable energy policies in promoting sustainable growth.

This publication exemplifies the valuable contributions of WVPU students and faculty to critical global discussions on energy and economic policy. 

Antonakakis, N., & Usikov, Y. (2024). Energy Consumption, CO2 emissions, and Economic Growth Nexus in EU Countries Over the period 1995-2020, CH 2, in M. Arouri & M. Gomes (Eds.), Handbook on Energy and Economic Growth (pp. 30-62). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Faculty — Business and Management

Faculty and Staff

Professor Bátora published his research on “thought communities” in the European Union

How do citizens in European Union (EU) member states think about the EU? And what are the implications of different ‘thinking styles’ for citizens’ preferences regarding formation of policies, politics and polity in the EU? In a new article published in Journal of Common Market Studies, professor Jozef Bátora from IR Department at WVPU and his co-author Pavol Baboš (Comenius University) use relational class analysis (RCA) and analyze perceptions of the EU as a political order by citizens in six selected EU member states.

The article introduces a new approach to analyzing public opinion about the EU: unlike traditional surveys examining attitudes, the current article can identify ways of thinking - intersubjective cognitive constructs - that people use when forming their opinions about the EU. Based on an online survey (N=6000) of respondents in France, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Italy and Slovakia, the analysis identifies two "thought communities" - statists and pragmatists - which are present to varying degrees in individual member states.

People belonging to individual communities think about the Union on the basis of the same construct, but not with the same preferences: for example, statists include nation-state sovereigntists as well as Euro-federalists - all who use the ‘state’ as a frame of reference. The article analyzes the implications of thought communities for public support of different visions of political integration in the EU.

Faculty — International Relations

Faculty and Staff

Dr. Anthony Löwstedt, Assistant Professor at the Media Communications Department, and Natalia Hatarova, a WVPU strategic communications alumna who is currently pursuing an MA at Central European University, have just published an important article in the Journal of Media Ethics. It is titled ‘Transcultural and Transnational Communication Values: Suggestions for Minimum and Maximum Values as a Common Ground’ (doi: 10.1080/23736992.2024.2333500). 

Löwstedt and Hatarova employ the term “Values” to refer to either principles or single positions, or to certain, defined ranges of positions or principles. The communication ethics issues addressed are incitement, deception, greed, truth, freedom of expression, privacy, and self-regulation. Within each issue, a range of acceptable to good positions  are presented. Incitement, deception, and greed are rejected, but not necessarily completely, the same with affirmation of the other four issues. There are some positions that are excluded from the values, especially prescriptive elitism, sexism, racism, classism, ableism, and heteronormativity. 

Together, the positive values are referred to as a system or code of values, as one that can be found in both the Instruction of Ptahhotep (written 3,890 years ago) and the International Federation of Journalists’ Bordeaux Declaration, one of the world’s most copied and applied media ethics codes, but also in whole or in part in many cultures and general ethical systems. However, these values are largely unconscious as both ethicists and practitioners seem to have stuck to a single normative position on each issue rather than to a range of positions. 

After analyses of samples of communication ethics from a number of major value systems around the world, Confucian, Buddhist, Stoic, Christian, Islamic, Aborigine, Cree, San, Māori, Ubuntu, Kantian, socialist, and liberal, the authors conclude that there is plenty of room for consensus and even more room for agreement. An inclusivist global consensus on ranges of acceptable communication ethics (rather than specific principles) is not an impossibility. It could provide cornerstones for a regulatory system for any kind of communication, including social media, journalism, and AI. 

Faculty — Strategic Communication

Faculty and Staff

Exploring Resilience, Mindfulness, and Self-Esteem Amongst University Students

Leila Jamasbi, a recent student of the Master of Arts in Psychology with an Emphasis in Counseling program, successfully completed her master's thesis titled "Exploring the Mediating Role of Resilience in the Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-Esteem: An Examination Among University Students." Her research examined the potential mediating role of resilience in the relationship between mindfulness and self-esteem among university students.

Jamasbi's study involved 102 university students who completed assessments using tools such as: the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Additionally, six semi-structured interviews provided further qualitative insight. Results revealed no mediation effect of resilience in the relationship between mindfulness and self-esteem, as well as no direct correlation between mindfulness and self-esteem. However, a significant positive relationship was found between mindfulness and resilience, highlighting the importance of resilience and mindfulness for psychological well-being.

While the hypothesized mediation effect of resilience was not found, the positive connection between mindfulness and resilience suggests important avenues for future research. These findings offer valuable insights into psychological well-being, particularly in educational settings.

Faculty — Psychology

Faculty and Staff