Roland Zsolt Szabó

57201525566

Publications - 13

Digital Transformation of Public Services: The Case of the Document Management Application

Roland Zsolt Szabó Borbála Szedmák László Varga

Publication Name: International Journal of Public Administration

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: Unknown

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The article examines digital transformation in the public sector, focusing on its implementation and impact. A key milestone in Hungary’s municipal digitalization is analyzed through a case study on the document management system of the Application Service Provider. Based on longitudinal data from over 3,000 municipalities, findings show that digital transformation delivers significant value to citizens and shortens administrative lead times. It enhances transparency, comparability, and efficiency in public administration. The study also emphasizes that adopting new technologies, standardizing processes, and centralizing IT management are critical factors in achieving these efficiency gains and modernizing public sector operations.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1080/01900692.2025.2520522

Post-pandemic pursuits: Activity preferences of rural tourists in Western Transdanubia

Roland Zsolt Szabó Csaba Kőmíves Ferenc Darabos

Publication Name: Hungarian Geographical Bulletin

Publication Date: 2024-10-01

Volume: 73

Issue: 3

Page Range: 283-301

Description:

This study examines the changing preferences of rural tourists in Western Transdanubia, Hungary, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to uncover how rural tourism has changed and identify the new winners of the shifting demand. In 2021, we conducted a comprehensive survey with 925 participants and introduced a novel activity-based segmentation of rural tourists, revealing a strong preference for complex service packages. Practically, our findings highlight that village caterers who have strategically segmented the market have emerged as winners, successfully attracting different age groups and genders with customized packages. Cluster analysis revealed a segment of rural tourists who, without exception, were enthusiastic about diverse activities. In particular, our cross-cluster analysis points to a significant amount of potential demand among middle-aged tourists. These findings help practitioners develop a targeted product mix and marketing strategy to meet the changing demands of rural tourism.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.15201/hungeobull.73.3.5

The event-driven social responsibility in small and medium-sized enterprises

Adrienn Reisinger Roland Zsolt Szabó

Publication Name: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management

Publication Date: 2024-09-01

Volume: 31

Issue: 5

Page Range: 3927-3939

Description:

Since the survival and growth of small firms depend largely on their ability to acquire legitimacy within the institutional environment, social responsibility plays an important role in their lives. The aim of this study was to investigate how a disruption in the normal course of business can lead to an evolution and change in the social responsibility activities of small and medium-sized enterprises. Such disruptions, called critical incidents, interrupt the normal functioning of the business. The case-based exploratory study found that such critical events can have a positive impact. In particular, they can initiate the integration of socially responsible business practices. This is a journey from philanthropic donations to fully integrated socially responsible practices, often driven by internal triggering events such as organisational growth, unanticipated changes in management, or generational change, which allow new values to be brought on board. When such an internal event is followed by a highly critical but external event, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the transformation gains momentum. The findings also suggest that social responsibility can be a new source of competitive advantage.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1002/csr.2775

Environmental Sustainability, Digitalisation, and the Entrepreneurial Perception of Distances as Drivers of SMEs’ Internationalisation

Roland Zsolt Szabó Borbála Szedmák Anna Tajti Péter Bera

Publication Name: Sustainability Switzerland

Publication Date: 2023-02-01

Volume: 15

Issue: 3

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The complex relationship between sustainability, digitalization, entrepreneurship and internationalization has received less academic attention, although each of these topics is an important research area on its own. Thus, our research aims to understand the effect of environmental sustainability, the usage of digital systems, and the entrepreneurial perception of distances on the intention to export in the case of SMEs. The authors have developed a survey to examine three main hypotheses. Based on the answers of 315 SMEs, the article highlights that the communication of environmental sustainability, the usage of ERP systems, and the perception of cultural distance as opportunities to foster internationalisation.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/su15032487

Social media communication of the spa industry during the four waves of the COVID-19 pandemic

Roland Zsolt Szabó Veronika Keller Erzsébet Printz-Markó

Publication Name: Journal of International Studies

Publication Date: 2023-01-01

Volume: 16

Issue: 4

Page Range: 97-116

Description:

Tourism and the spa industry have been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The social media strategies of top spa destinations were studied during the period from March 1, 2020, through February 28, 2022. Together There are 2,539 posts of selected spas (from Iceland, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary). Based on former research, four major themes emerged: (i) Facebook versus Instagram communication during the two years of the pandemic; (ii) Live Vividness of the social media communication; (iii) Activity of the followers; (iv) Use of hashtags. Findings show that social media plays a significant role in fighting against the negative impacts of a crisis. Communication on social media is especially effective when emotional, affective images and positive emotions are presented to the target customers. Our findings extend not only crisis management theory, but also provide valuable insights into tourists’ psychometrics, which is essential for tourism destinations in developing their communication strategies.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2023/16-4/7

The Impact of Environmental Sustainability and Digitalization on SMEs’ Financial Performance

Roland Zsolt Szabó Borbála Szedmák

Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions

Publication Date: 2023-01-01

Volume: 107

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 529-534

Description:

The complex relationship between sustainability, digitalization, and profitability has received less academic attention, although each of these topics is an important research area on its own. The aim of the research is to understand the effect of environmental sustainability and the usage of management information systems on profitability in the case of SMEs. Based on the answers of 315 SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), the article highlights that not all management systems increase profitability. The novelty of the research is that it outlines that the usage of Document Management Systems contributes to profitability while other systems don’t, e.g., the usage of Enterprise Resource Planning systems is not significant, which suggests that its introduction and application no longer represent a competitive advantage; this system alone is not enough. There is an ecosystem of management information systems, the basis of which is document management. The research also highlights that focusing on environmental sustainability has no effect on profitability in the case of Hungarian SMEs, neither in the short term nor in the long term. Thus, it is not a competitive advantage.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3303/CET23107089

Assessment of digital maturity: the role of resources and capabilities in digital transformation in B2B firms

Marian L. Mocan Lilla Hortovanyi Anita Romanova Robert Hanak Dóra Horváth Roland Zsolt Szabó Iva Vuksanovic Herceg Dragan Djuricin Robert E. Morgan

Publication Name: International Journal of Production Research

Publication Date: 2023-01-01

Volume: 61

Issue: 23

Page Range: 8043-8061

Description:

Digital transformation is a major organisational challenge for manufacturing firms due to the extremely low success rate of such transformations to date. Capability Maturity theory suggests that firms need to develop digital transformation capability incrementally by focusing on a ‘vital few’ improvement priorities for advancing progress. The practitioner literature lacks empirical studies that validate extant capability maturity models (CMM) for digital transformation despite their importance. Moreover, there is a lack of assessment methods, and those that exist do not specify improvement points explicitly, nor prioritise them. Our research aims to address this gap through a systematic, quantitative analysis of digital capability by understanding the deployment of IT-enabled resources. Based on a sample of 302 manufacturing firms, results indicate that the digital transformation stages are punctuated by various resource-capability combinations. Results highlight that strategy- and organisation-related IT-enabled resources are the key drivers of digital transformation. We also observe that as a firm’s digital capability grows at each maturity stage, successively greater IT-enabled resources are required to support this in a stepwise function. To succeed, firms should be incentivised and supported to think beyond technology and develop five specific digital capabilities simultaneously. We also indicate the limitations that underlie our empirical work.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2022.2164087

Intended benefits and challenges of cooperation between FinTechs and commercial banks

Ádám Kerényi Dóra Horváth Roland Zsolt Szabó

Publication Name: Acta Oeconomica

Publication Date: 2022-09-30

Volume: 72

Issue: 3

Page Range: 289-308

Description:

The financial industry has undergone several changes in recent years. One of these changes is the emergence of financial technology (FinTech) companies that are radically transforming the industry, posing a significant challenge to traditional commercial banks. In this study, we examined the responses of the Hungarian banks to the emergence of innovative FinTech startups and explored the benefits and barriers of the FinTech accelerator programs launched by banks. We conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with top executives of banks, FinTech startups and scaleups, investors and regulators to identify the potential benefits and barriers during the cooperation between banks and FinTechs. The most important results of our research show that during the partnership, several advantages can be gained by both parties. Still, the realization of these benefits is significantly hindered by the excessive exploitation focus of banks. Ambidextrous internal champions or suppliers of the banks are needed for successful cooperation between FinTechs and banks.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1556/032.2022.00023

What are the conditions to become smart? A systematic analysis of the smart city strategy and smart city development activities of Budapest

Roland Zsolt Szabó Máté Csukás

Publication Name: Informacios Tarsadalom

Publication Date: 2022-01-01

Volume: 22

Issue: 2

Page Range: 9-26

Description:

Smart cities (SCs) became a key mission in the European Union’s biggest research programme (Horizon Europe). The urban transition to smartness, making smart decisions and strengthening capabilities for resilience are appreciating today, with such external shocks as the COVID-19 pandemic. Finding the way to become smart is more important than ever. Since literature is mostly engaged with excellent cases, in this paper we analyse the SC strategy of a less-well-performing city: Budapest in Hungary, Central Eastern Europe, using a case-study methodology. We reveal that in the case of Budapest the SC strategy uses a top-down approach that over-weighs the deployment of technological solutions to manage urban sustainability issues rather than using a bottom-up and holistic approach. The framework conditions for implementing the SC strategy are rather neglected. In the case of the model for cooperation, Budapest adopts a double-helix model rather than a triple- or quadruple-helix model.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.22503/inftars.XXII.2022.2.1

Construction 4.0 organisational level challenges and solutions

Ilona Papp Roland Zsolt Szabó Orsolya Nagy

Publication Name: Sustainability Switzerland

Publication Date: 2021-11-01

Volume: 13

Issue: 21

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

The construction industry (CI) is ancient and has evolved along with humanity, yet it has become increasingly inefficient due to fragmentation, the use of traditional solutions and the lack of innovative technologies and methodologies which are no longer sustainable. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has started to transform this industry, and Construction 4.0 (C4) can advocate this change to become a more efficient cyber-physical ecosystem. However, technology alone will not solve all challenges. While research on C4 focuses mainly on technology, management also plays a key role. We asked experienced company executives for their opinions on the digital transformation in the CI. Research proves that it is not just a technology but primarily a management and strategic challenge.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/su132112321

AI-Powered Digital Transformation of Government Human Resource Management: A Bibliometric and Systematic Literature Review

Roland Zsolt Szabó Aweewan Panyagometh Xiangyu Bian Bin Wang

Publication Name: Journal of Innovation Management

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: 13

Issue: 3

Page Range: 66-95

Description:

Recent developments in modern artificial intelligence (AI) have driven profound changes in public sector human resource management systems, offering remarkable opportunities alongside intricate challenges. Governments across the globe are progressively integrating AI tools to modernize HR operations, enhance workforce planning, and respond to evolving socio-economic demands. This research utilizes the PRISMA framework for systematic literature review to explore the role of AI in transforming government HR practices. By analyzing 47 peer-reviewed articles published from 2019 to 2023, the study identifies five central themes: ethical and governance models for AI in public administration; AI’s influence on HR functions and organizational behavior; implementation barriers and potential benefits; AI applications in digital governance and policy formulation; and innovations in HR technologies driven by big data. The findings highlight critical success factors such as strong data infrastructure, structured employee training initiatives, and well-defined ethical standards. Key challenges identified include concerns around data privacy, biased algorithms, workforce adaptation, and wider societal implications like employment shifts and changing competency needs. The study underscores the importance of: (1) adaptive regulatory frameworks that support innovation while safeguarding public interest; (2) robust data governance strategies to manage confidentiality and cybersecurity risks; (3) tailored training programs aimed at improving AI understanding among government staff; and (4) collaborative efforts across sectors to promote ethical AI adoption and mitigate socio-economic disruptions.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.24840/2183-0606_013.003_0003

Evaluating Large Language Models for Food Supplement Development: A Case Study in Glycemic Control

Roland Zsolt Szabó Mária Figler Andor Zsolt Háber

Publication Name: Nutrients

Publication Date: 2026-04-01

Volume: 18

Issue: 8

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Background/Objectives: The rapidly expanding landscape of digital technologies is transforming innovation processes across industries, and the food sector is increasingly encouraged to adopt novel tools that can enhance development workflows and support competitive positioning. In the context of Industry 4.0, it is particularly important to examine open innovation approaches that may increase the efficiency of engineers and researchers involved in the research and development of food supplements. Such approaches enable broader access to relevant scientific information, including new bioactive ingredient research and their physiological implications, potentially contributing to the development of better-informed and higher-quality products. Methods: In the present study, we evaluated the deep research capabilities of several popular large language models to assess their suitability for supporting the conceptual design of a blood glucose-optimizing food supplement intended for prediabetes management. The comparative analysis focused on the level of detail in the outputs generated by each model, the robustness of the conclusions drawn, and the capacity to produce formulation-oriented recommendations grounded in scientific literature and regulatory frameworks. Our evaluation was primarily qualitative and subjective, highlighting both the potential and limitations of these models. Moreover, the study outlines a forward-looking concept for product validation using wearable smart devices and medically certified wearable devices with continuous biometric monitoring, which could provide an innovative avenue for assessing supplement efficacy. Results: The findings indicate that large language models can support the collection, organization, and preliminary interpretation of complex scientific information. Conclusions: Nevertheless, expert input remains essential for accurate evaluation, scientific validation, and regulatory compliance, as these models cannot yet replace domain expertise or rigorous experimentation in food supplement development.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/nu18081228

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN A BORDERLAND CONTEXT: INSIGHTS FROM GREAT RYE ISLAND RESIDENTS IN SLOVAKIA

Roland Zsolt Szabó Csaba Kőmíves Ferenc Darabos

Publication Name: Geojournal of Tourism and Geosites

Publication Date: 2026-01-01

Volume: 65

Issue: 2

Page Range: 759-768

Description:

This study examines residents’ perceptions of sustainable tourism and regional development in Great Rye Island, Slovakia, which is particularly well-suited for cross-border urban and rural tourism. The area’s development falls short of its potential, and we examined the reasons for this from the perspective of the attitudes of local residents. Drawing on social exchange theory, the research explores how local identity, satisfaction with services and infrastructure, and expectations for development shape attitudes toward sustainable tourism. A survey of 528 residents was conducted between January and March 2025. Participation in the research was voluntary and anonymous, and the respondents were selected randomly. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS, and the following analytical techniques were applied: descriptive statistics, ANOVA, principal component analysis (PCA) and k-means cluster analysis. The research revealed moderate satisfaction with local conditions and that residents prioritize social, cultural, and educational development over commercial or tourism-related services. Besides, development initiatives are likely to gain stronger legitimacy and community support when they build on settlement or Great Rye Island identities rather than on more distant regional or national frames. Furthermore, the analysis identified five underlying factors and eight resident groups with distinct profiles. Results show that dissatisfaction with basic infrastructure-especially utilities, roads, and cleanliness-emerges as a common concern and a prerequisite for tourism development. Moreover, identity alone does not determine support for tourism; rather, attitudes are shaped by the interplay of satisfaction, expectations, and local identities. The findings highlight the heterogeneity of borderland communities and underline the need for tailored development strategies that combine infrastructural improvements with initiatives enhancing community cohesion, cultural vitality, and environmental quality.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.30892/gtg.65213-1718