Iryna Didenko

Sumy State University,

Sumy, Ukraine

E-mail: i.didenko@uabs.sumdu.edu.ua

ORCID 0000-0003-1934-7031

Quality of scientific activity as a determinant of socio-economic development

Katarina Valaskova

University of Zilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, Zilina, Slovakia

E-mail: katarina.valaskova@fpedas.uniza.sk 

ORCID 0000-0003-4223-7519

Artem Artyukhov

Sumy State University,

Sumy, Ukraine

E-mail: a.artyukhov@pohnp.sumdu.edu.ua

ORCID 0000-0003-1112-6891

Serhiy Lyeonov

Sumy State University,

Sumy, Ukraine; 

Silesian University of Technology, Poland;

The London Academy of Science and Business, London, UK

E-mail: s.lieonov@uabs.sumdu.edu.ua

ORCID 0000-0001-5639-3008

László Vasa*

Széchenyi István University,

Győr, Hungary

E-mail: laszlo.vasa@ifat.hu 

ORCID 0000-0002-3805-0244

*Corresponding Author

Abstract. The purpose of this work is to identify the functional links between key indicators of scientific activity and socio-economic development and to check whether the quality of scientific activity and the dynamics of innovative development are the key determinants of socio-economic progress. Following the chosen methodology, the paper forms an array of input data that characterizes the level of scientific and innovative activity, economic and social development. The principal component method is used to identify the most relevant indicators from each group and to introduce three latent variables that denote each group separately. A system of simultaneous structural equations is obtained as a result of establishing functional relationships between manifest and latent variables and building a structural model. In addition, the paper determines two clusters of the studied countries to confirm the obtained results through structural modelling. The study is conducted for 35 European countries based on 33 indicators, which characterize the quality of scientific activity, economic and social development during 2014-2020. The obtained system of structural equations confirms the hypothesis regarding the importance of scientific activity quality in terms of ensuring the socio-economic development of the country.

Received: December, 2021

1st Revision: August, 2022

Accepted: September, 2022

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2022/15-3/17

JEL Classification: А13, I20, I25

Keywords: scientific activity, innovations, socio-economic development, national economy, structural modeling