Human Capital Development—New Perspectives for Diverse Domains

A special issue of Administrative Sciences (ISSN 2076-3387).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 4425

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Managerial Theories, Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, University of Žilina, 010 26 Žilina, Slovakia
Interests: management; human capital; human resource management; project management; sports management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Macro and Microeconomics, Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, University of Žilina, 010 26 Žilina, Slovakia
Interests: management; economics; human capital; human resource management; human capital management; digitalization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Human capital is a crucial resource for all types of organizations in the current commercial or non-commercial environments. Its fundamental feature is that it is owned by the employees themselves, and they only use it to help the organizations reach their goals. On the one hand, this hinders the assessment of the efforts to further develop human capital. On the other hand, it pushes organizations’ managers and researchers to look for new perspectives and paradigms when approaching this topic. This Special Issue follows the current knowledge, recognizing the three widely accepted forms of human capital development (education, improvements in people’s health, and improvements in working conditions). The aim is to push for state-of the-art practices by identifying new forms of human capital development and the methods for their assessment. This is relevant across all organizations and domains including the public sector, academia, sports, and others.

Dr. Martin Mičiak
Prof. Dr. Alžbeta Kucharčíková
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • human capital
  • development
  • investments
  • working conditions
  • learning
  • employees’ health

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 780 KiB  
Article
Game-Based Intervention as a Tool for Enhancing Team Adaptation
by Katarína Stachová, Zdenko Stacho and Michal Hamar
Adm. Sci. 2025, 15(7), 265; https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15070265 - 9 Jul 2025
Viewed by 528
Abstract
In light of the changing demands of the labor market and the digital orientation of today’s student population, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of a digital game-based intervention as a tool for enhancing team adaptation and social perception in an academic [...] Read more.
In light of the changing demands of the labor market and the digital orientation of today’s student population, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of a digital game-based intervention as a tool for enhancing team adaptation and social perception in an academic environment. This research was designed as an experiment involving 90 university students who were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 45) or a control group (n = 45). The experimental group participated in a multiplayer cooperative MOBA-type game, in which each participant assumed a specific team role. Before and after the intervention, participants completed a standardized questionnaire focused on team dynamics, including trust, orientation towards shared goals, and mutual awareness. The results from the Wilcoxon test and Mann–Whitney U test revealed statistically significant improvements in identifying team members’ strengths and weaknesses, a reduction in the perceived lack of trust, and an increased orientation toward shared goals. The findings confirm that a digital gaming environment can activate key mechanisms of team dynamics and may serve as an effective tool for supporting the adaptation of young employees in practice. Future research should include more diverse samples and incorporate objective observation alongside self-assessment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Capital Development—New Perspectives for Diverse Domains)
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18 pages, 412 KiB  
Article
The Adoption of Modern Sports Technologies from Professional Settings to Everyday Life
by Ivana Gabrišová, Gabriel Koman, Jakub Soviar and Martin Holubčík
Adm. Sci. 2025, 15(7), 249; https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15070249 - 28 Jun 2025
Viewed by 1248
Abstract
This study examines how advanced sports technologies, initially designed for elite athletes, are being applied in everyday contexts. Despite the proliferation of wearable and AI-powered tools, the sports management literature has largely overlooked how these innovations transition from professional use to consumer settings. [...] Read more.
This study examines how advanced sports technologies, initially designed for elite athletes, are being applied in everyday contexts. Despite the proliferation of wearable and AI-powered tools, the sports management literature has largely overlooked how these innovations transition from professional use to consumer settings. Addressing this gap, the article evaluates key technologies based on cost, complexity, accessibility, and user-friendliness to determine their viability for broader adoption. The findings reveal a clear divide: while affordable, intuitive devices like WHOOP bands and Polar monitors are well-suited for general use, complex systems such as SportVU and VALD remain limited to elite environments. This study underscores simplicity, affordability, and contextual usability as critical enablers of adoption. By connecting theoretical innovation models with real-world patterns, this research offers practical guidance for developers, educators, and policymakers seeking to promote equitable access to sports technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Capital Development—New Perspectives for Diverse Domains)
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24 pages, 2235 KiB  
Article
Athletes’ Education for Their Successful Future Career After Sports—Perspective of Former Athletes and Potential Employers
by Michal Varmus, Martin Mičiak, Dominika Toman, Michal Jastraban, Matej Kuljovský, Jozef Sobol, Ivo Tongel and Andrea Zahumenská
Adm. Sci. 2025, 15(2), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15020046 - 5 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2070
Abstract
Although sports are a dream career for many young people, only a small percentage of athletes can make a living from this. Moreover, even elite athletes with high incomes must find other employment after sports. This justifies the development of their human capital [...] Read more.
Although sports are a dream career for many young people, only a small percentage of athletes can make a living from this. Moreover, even elite athletes with high incomes must find other employment after sports. This justifies the development of their human capital via education valued by employers. Our article originally approaches this issue with recommendations for the effective education of athletes. The aim is to identify and analyze the key skills that former athletes use in the work environment and that help them successfully integrate into employment outside sports. Our robust scientific approach, described in the methodology, combines relevant secondary and primary data and corresponding analytical methods. The secondary data analysis identified the skills required by employers as well as the employment of former athletes in areas outside of sports. Based on quantitative primary data (questionnaire on a sample of 237 young athletes), the skills perceived as important by young athletes were revealed. The qualitative component is represented by interviews with selected former athletes and employers from the corporate environment. The main findings include the alignment of the perceived importance of certain skills by young athletes and employers. The high perceived importance of education during sports careers was supported by all stakeholders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human Capital Development—New Perspectives for Diverse Domains)
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