Mass gatherings can trigger suicidal behaviour when people experience the so-called 'broken promises effect' when the hoped-for miracle fails to happen, according to an international team of researchers, including Eduard Ponarin, Head of the HSE Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR) in St. Petersburg, who studied the association between mass events and suicidal behaviour

The role of corporate values ​​in managing a business is an increasingly popular topic, but its implementation is usually triggered by exceptional circumstances, such as an upcoming IPO launch or ambitious plans of expanding into new markets, according to a study of corporate values in Russian companies conducted by Veronica Kabalina and Lyudmila Cheglakova of the HSE's Faculty of Management

The economic crisis in European countries did not pass by unnoticed as concerns the public’s set of values. In some groups, there was a shift from emancipative values to more traditional ones. Above all, this involves the socially vulnerable strata that the crisis hit hardest of all, Natalia Soboleva, a researcher with HSE’s Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSS), concluded in a study

In recent years, all advertising of contraceptives has disappeared from Russian television, replaced by messages denying that sex can be made safer. While television in Russia supports the state's attempts to regulate people's private lives, condom commercials have migrated to the internet, a place that still remains relatively free of government control, according to the report '(Un)safe Sex Ads as a Mirror of Political Change in Russia' by Associate Professor of the Department of Integrated Communications Lyubov Borusiak

In Russia, the role of connections in career success is important, but connections through friends or family and business connections can contribute to careers in different ways. While business connections help those who have already earned a good professional reputation, friends and family can give one’s career a headstart, but their role often stops at this, according to a team of researchers* of the HSE's Centre for Study of Social Organisation of a Firm (CSSOF)

The family meal, a tradition which has for centuries helped strengthen family ties, is becoming a rare phenomenon, increasingly replaced by a fast food culture and various individual dietary strategies, according to Irina Sokhan, Associate Professor at the HSE's Department of Applied Political Science (St. Petersburg)

Commenting on Live Journal is often concentrated around the most popular bloggers. Who authors the posts plays a more significant role in forming discussions than the subject matter. These are the conclusions of researchers at the HSE Laboratory of Internet Studies LINIS, Olessia Koltsova, Sergey Koltsov and Sergey Nikolenko

Education and professional experience in reaching success are not as important for Russians as useful connections. It is specifically connections in the majority of people’s perception that play the main role in climbing the social ladder. Such mind-sets of the population do not allow for the national economy to grow or develop, the head of the Institute of Humanitarian Development of the Megapolis’ Center for Scientific Research and Education, Elena Avraamova, concluded during a research study presented at the HSE

The number of foreign specialists working in Russia has been declining rapidly over the last several years. These specialists often perceive Russian capitalism as something temporary that depends on oil prices. Under such conditions, expats are not likely able to make a serious contribution to the modernization of the Russian economy, but their view of local realities is nonetheless valuable for understanding the processes that hinder economic development, researchers from HSE’s Laboratory for Comparative Analysis of Post-Socialist Development Vladimir Karacharovskiy, Ovsey Shkaratan and Gordey Yastrebov concluded from a research study

The number of foreign specialists working in Russia has been declining rapidly over the last several years. These specialists often perceive Russian capitalism as something temporary that depends on oil prices. Under such conditions, expats are not likely able to make a serious contribution to the modernization of the Russian economy, but their view of local realities is nonetheless valuable for understanding the processes that hinder economic development, researchers from HSE’s Laboratory for Comparative Analysis of Post-Socialist Development Vladimir Karacharovskiy, Ovsey Shkaratan and Gordey Yastrebov concluded from a research study

There is a big gap between the intention to start a business and actually doing it. According to Anna Lipatova, Junior Research Fellow of the HSE's International Laboratory for Socio-Cultural Research, less than one third of those who think of becoming entrepreneurs or starting another business bring their ideas to life

Russians are increasingly using online communication for professional and business reasons in addition to personal ones. They are exploring advanced solutions and strategies to access, process, and share information on the web, according to a study by the HSE's Laboratory for Studies in Business Communications