Sustainability has to penetrate more and more into higher education. It should not focus only on traditional elements. It should also enter new, but for future improvement, extremely important areas. Based on this premise, creativity and motivation, when additionally interconnected and supported by trust that is provided and achieved, decide on the progress and sustainability of universities. This connection is gaining importance especially from the point of view of building solid foundations and mechanisms that functionally preserve the potential effects of these elements in the future. For this reason and following the nature, importance, and content of sustainable academic motivation (SAM), the paper introduces two new concepts: sustainable academic creativity (SAC) and sustainable academic trust (SAT). For further original contributions, the paper hypothesizes the existence of mutual—spiral—relations of sustainable academic motivation (SAM), sustainable academic creativity (SAC), and sustainable academic trust (SAT). The empirical section tests the validity of this claim in the universities of two countries: the Slovak Republic and Poland. A survey performed on a sample of n=181 pedagogical, scientific, management, and administrative staff in higher education confirms the existence of these spirals. The results indicate the spiral effect of motivation when connected with creativity and trust and show that it is accented by the crucial principles of sustainability (responsibility, novelty, usefulness, progress, etc.). Therefore, the paper’s conclusion contains the explanations for the potential occurrence of three types of sustainably mutual systems and complexes. These are: (a) individual sustainable systems of SAM, SAC, and SAT; (b) group/sectional sustainable systems of SAM, SAC, and SAT; and (c) the global sustainable complex of SAM, SAC, and SAT in the university.

Decision-making of managers in companies is currently significantly influenced by instantly available information. This phenomenon was caused by advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) and the development of a new generation of machines and systems that create an abundance of diverse data. For managers, this data is a source of information that needs to be obtained in an appropriate manner using different technologies. Technologies that enable the acquisition of this information from available data become an essential part of each company and its management processes. Since technology is currently entering the decision-making process in a significant way, this can be seen as the digital transformation of decision-making processes in companies. The ability to capture, process and assess a very large amount of available data represents the implementation of decisions that make the company's activity more efficient and sustainable (e.g., achieving a competitive advantage, increasing sales or profits, development of new products, etc.). The article presents the results of the conducted research focused on identifying the benefits of implementing Big Data solutions in companies. The main method applied was content analysis of multiple cases followed by the categorization of data extracted. The research hypothesis was stated as follows: There are significant reasons that justify the application of Big Data in managerial decision-making to support the achievement of economic sustainability. The findings from the research (categories) support the importance of the Big Data solutions applied in the managerial decision-making for ensuring the sustainable operation of companies with the current trend of generating and processing a large variety of data.

The presented article focuses on the area of sustainable transport within the Smart City concept. Mobility, created in connection with the Smart City concept, is a service integrating several other types of transport services into one complex platform. The article examined the current situation in this area and its future development in the Slovak Republic. The main motivation of the authors for focusing on the Smart City concept was the topicality of this issue and its usability for process optimization, cost savings, and the achievement of sustainability. Methods such as orientation analysis, content analysis of documents, or sociological questioning using the questionnaire survey technique were used in the analysis. Several research questions and a research hypothesis were defined. It focused on the operation of local governments in the implementation of the Smart City concept and their orientation on the aspect of transport. The main findings include the fact that 22 Slovak cities out of the total number of 39 analysed cities are interested in the application of modern technologies. Another finding concerns the availability of a strategy focused directly on the Smart City concept on the city's website. It can be argued that only five websites had such a strategy available. The output of the research presented in this article was the creation of recommendations aimed at the implementation of the Smart City concept regarding the support of sustainable transport in the Slovak Republic. Using these recommendations, local governments will be able to formulate their digital strategies more effectively, leading to the practical implementation of the Smart City concept.

Objective: The paper deals with the theoretical and empirical examination of university values in relation to key competences of university teachers. The combination of values that universities should prioritize and the competences that university teachers should possess is seen in the paper as an important precondition for improving the quality and acceleration of modern university progress. The theoretical part analyzes, compares and synthesizes opinions on key terms examined in the paper, i.e. higher education, university, values, and competences. The empirical part presents, on the one hand, the results of the questionnaire survey aimed at defining important university values. The survey was carried out on a sample of n = 279 students of the University of Žilina, Slovak Republic, and obtained 1,786 statements on crucial values or sub-values of the university. On the other hand, based on results of the previous survey (n = 27 university teachers) which was targeted on key competences of the great university teachers, the empirical part seeks to experimentally link university key values with teachers’ key competences. Methodology: Analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction, questionnaire survey, thinking experiment. Hypothesis H1: University values defined by students will be repeated in the survey, i.e. student views on the core values of university will be identical or similar in content. Negation hypothesis H0: University values defined by students will not be repeated in the survey. Findings: Respondents reported a total of n0 = 1,786 statements regarding the university values or sub-values. A substantial consensus was found: many of values were repeated for respondents. Defined values were subsequently grouped: from the initially defined n1 = 229 values, n2 = 32 complex values were generated. This leads to a rejection of H0, in favor of H1: the university values generated by students are similar in the content. The results in the evaluative question confirmed the assumption that respondents considered most important mostly those values that the previous open question most frequently reported. Although depending on the study program is always the quality of education in the first place of importance, the order of importance of other values varies to some extent. Value Added: Opinions on university teachers’ competences and university’s values were discussed. Experimental linking of university values to competences of teachers was performed based on the survey results conducted by the authors in 2012 (this one consisted of three sequential interviews/workshops with teachers of University of Žilina). A logical conclusion was formulated: All the university teachers and scientists are becoming authorities competent to build, preserve and transform universal knowledge into an ever-higher level. Recommendations: A conclusion of the paper contains the characteristics recommended for achieve an effective process of developing university competences.

Creativity is highly valued in all areas of life, and it must be supported in the academic environment for the future prosperity of all organizations. This is the primary source of creativity for practice. The research presented is based on answering the following questions: Are an organization’s members willing to increase their motivation if the organization’s motivational efforts improve? What elements in decision-making are used to support the creativity and motivation of the organization’s members? The paper proposes a novel taxonomy of decision-making factors influencing organizations’ sustainable creativity based on linking the findings from the authors’ surveys. Its application will lead to an improvement in the organizations’ processes, especially in the process of education and knowledge generation. The sociological inquiry was used as the main data collection method. Other methods applied included content analysis, practical cases analysis, and comparison. Methods of mathematical-statistical analysis and deductive-inductive approach were used in the evaluation. This resulted in the confirmation of the impact of creative decision-making approaches by employees and managers on sustainable motivation and creativity in the organization. The taxonomy of decision-making factors for the support of sustainable creativity reflects the results of this original research combined with the findings summarized in the discussion.