AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL VIEW ON DETERMINANTS OF EDUCATION AS A
PRODUCTIVE ELEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL AND HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION IN THE
CONTEXT OF FUTURE CHALLENGES OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC
a
MARIANNA PSÁRSKA,
b
JAKUB HORÁK
Institute of Technology and Business, School of Expertness and
Valuation, Okružní 517/10,
37001 České Budějovice, Czech
Republic
email:
a
psarska.m@gmail.com,
b
horak@mail.vstecb.cz
Abstract: By selecting a specific productive element of household, or individual,
consumption, i. e. education, in view of its future significance, the paper´s main
objective is to find out and verify the importance of determinants that influence one´s
decision-making about it. It is necessary to characterize the productive element of
consumption and a certain approach to it, thereby allowing one to become aware of the
current situation and point out its magnitude in the context of the SR´s future
development. The analytical part comprises analyses of the current situation and
determinants of the selected productive element (primarily from the economic and
psychological points of view) and then outlines probable challenges of future
development in the country´s conditions. In terms of initial data sources, the paper
follows from the Household Budget Survey statistics and research, own research and
own questionnaire survey used for the purposes of this paper. The paper claims that
decision-making of households about education expenditures is influenced by several
simultaneous factors de-pending on an observed group of respondents, particularly in
terms of their standard of living, perceived satisfaction, and overall attitude. The
analytical part also reveals that decision-making of Slovakian households confirms a
number of conclusions made by behavioural economists in the sphere of decision-
making mechanisms.
Keywords: productive elements of consumption, alternative decision-making theories,
determinants of decision-making, expenditures on education, personal approach to
education
1 Introduction
The reason for choosing education as a particularly productive
element is that it has been treated insufficiently and only a partial
solution to this phenomenon has been presented. To be
adequately introduced to the issue, it is essential for one to
understand the decision-making mechanism associated with it,
which is the key to understanding its future formation (Psárska,
2018a, pp. 2).
As the main objective is to look into the productive element of
household or individual consumption (namely, expenditures on
education and the overall attitude to education issues in terms of
analysing productive aspects of education decision-making), it is
necessary to examine them from a theoretical as well as
a practical point of view (Ronzhina et al., 2016). According to
recent research, the so-called alternative approaches to
rationality have been used, hence a psychological view of the
issue should be incorporated as well enabling one to uncover a
particular approach and background of the mechanism.
According to Valenčík (2004, pp. 2), the so-called productive
consumption economy considers behaviour of households and a
certain growth of the present value of expected future income
(from generating and operating of assets that constitute their
"family portfolio") as the target orientation. Productive elements
of consumption are seen as parts of a household´s consumer
basket that are investments in the human and social capital by
their nature. From the economic point of view, these are
therefore elements not essential for survival, but their
significance is proven to increase only after a certain standard of
living of households has been reached (Ashmarina et al., 2018).
However, what if the current situation does not create
sufficiently favourable conditions for investments in the human
and social capital in the form of education – not from the
economic and material perspective, but from the time or
motivational one? What is the main reason for the fact that
people do not feel any motivation or joy of changes that may
occur with education? In this respect, the paper focuses on what
the actual situation is when deciding on costs on education in the
SR, and also in the context of deciding on consumption of this
element and discovering the process of implementing such
decisions to the present as well as anticipated future
development, including the attitude that individuals have
towards the future and the overall productive aspect (Madarász
et al., 2010, pp. 28).
In connection with the paper outcomes, it should be noted that an
analysis of the educational structure of population in relation to
its income level showed that the level is (with few exceptions)
determined by the level of
education attained (Čitáryová and
Chrenko, 2011). From that standpoint, education is, therefore,
necessary for development and success in the modern knowledge
society and every economy. Additionally, it represents a kind of
investment for each individual through which they can gradually
increase not only their income but to use the knowledge gained
and streamline their work step by step (regarding a particular
way of learning indeed). While considering household budgets,
it may be observed that the level of expenses on education for
individual types of Slovakian households in the 2010-2017
period averages 0.3-0.6 % of the total net household monetary
expenditures, which is fairly low (Psárska, 2018a, pp. 6-7), with
self-employed individuals being the most eminent in that area.
There are several possible causes for such low-level spending on
education: one´s busyness of work duties that go beyond regular
working hours, one´s lack of motivation to his / her self-
education as well as other spending priorities (e.g. other
members of the family, children), and even the still existing
misconception that it is sufficient to finish a school and no
further self-education is needed. From the psychological point of
view, this may also involve one´s aversion and reluctance to
changes or a sense of comfort and / or self-doubt. All of these
factors have been confirmed in the author´s recent survey, with
the variability of questionnaire answers being large despite the
fact that 97 % of respondents consider spending on education to
be beneficial and useful, which strongly contradicts the answers
being subsequently expanded. The survey also indicated that the
respondents were aware of reactions of people around them and
felt a positive and/or a negative response having emerged from
them. Here, the benefits of education expenses, embodied in
higher income, non-monetary benefits, knowledge, contacts, and
the respondents´ well-being, were obvious. It should also be
taken into account that all these variables are of great importance
in the long term and have an impact on the level of one´s
financial and mental wealth (Psárska, 2018b, pp. 2).
Following from the above survey, the paper will primarily
address determinants forming decisions on education spending
and the overall attitude towards education as a productive
element of individual consumption in the SR.
2 Literature Review
Learning is seen as a continuous process resulting in a level of
education or training and involving a sum of knowledge and
cognitive abilities that an individual has acquired on the basis of
the process. From the psychological perspective, a more detailed
process of learning and learning forms has been described by
specific definitions and supplemented by a number of theories.
Given the scope of the issue discussed here, the author has
chosen a definition by Gage and Berliner (1986), where learning
is seen as a process through which an organism changes its
behavior based on its own experience. This definition points to
the fact that learning takes time and its results are measurable
over the course of time in connection with an individual
behaviour. Some psychologists (behaviorists) concentrate their
attention only on the directly observable behaviour of
individuals adapting to stimuli from the environment, whereas
cognitive psychologists consider observable actions to be
information about what has already taken place in the memory of
a person who is in an active balance with the environment. Next
is humanism, where one is perceived as an active individual
seeking environment in which he/she would be allowed to
implement their learning plans. By learning about the previously
mentioned stances, it is possible to recognize the essence and
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