Purpose: This study presents a nine-factor, 32-item measure of work environment scale in the service sector. A healthy work environment is one in which employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy working with the people (Levering and Moskowitz, 2004).

Methodology: This instrument builds on the conceptual model espoused by Insel and Moos (1974), Gordon (1973), Fletcher and Nusbaum (2010), Amabile et al. (1996), and Spector (2003). The scale included items elicited through a literature review, the use of the Delphi technique with a panel of experts, and tested on 824 full-time employees from nine service sector industries and five major cities in India.

Findings: The Work Environment Services Scale (WESS) is a reliable and valid scale useful for measuring the nine work environment factors in the Indian services organization, with its own norms and a detailed manual.

Originality/Value: The prevailing scales for measuring work environment do not capture the influence of ethics, recreation facilities, and the impact of social giving on the work environment. Most scales were suitable for sectors in the Western context, and there were no Indian scales measuring service employees’ perception of their work environment.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate whether controversial TV content impacts the effects of non – standard advertising such as sponsorship vignette among female viewers.

Methodology: The present study used two field experiments (n = 222; n = 219) conducted as a Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) questionnaire, during which video material was presented. The study manipulated controversial and non-controversial and the variable of congruence and incongruence – through the argument of video material in the form of TV programs and advertising spots.

Results: The empirical investigation revealed that controversial and incongruent content does not necessarily alter the effect of a sponsorship vignette. Loyal viewers who consistently follow programs were found to have higher purchase intent than less loyal ones.

Implications: The results suggest that advertisers should consider placing their messages in the context of controversial TV programming, which does not have to be congruent with the ads displayed.

Limitations: The stimuli applied in the studies were arbitrary, to a certain extent. The study did not investigate program’s about sex that fit the definition of controversiality.

Originality/value: The study contributes to the existing literature on ad–content congruence by investigating consumer responses to innovative ad format: the sponsorship vignette. We investigated how specific content watched in longer periods of time (i.e. a series) may impact the advertising effectiveness of embedded sponsorship vignettes. This approach allowed us to demonstrate the importance of viewers’ loyalty towards a TV program, resulting in a change of the level of purchase intent of advertised product.

Purpose: The article sought to answer research questions regarding investigated branded content generated by players in simulation video games. How does the process work in video games? What are the characteristics of branded user-generated content in video games? To what extent players are willing to participate in branded content creation?

Methodology: I conducted 20 in-depth interviews among Polish players, with the application of snowball sampling. The study participants were adult users of chosen simulation video games: The Sims, Second Life, and Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Findings: We can distinguish content based on game mechanism, official add-ons, or game modding. Players frequently check some brands from a set offered by game developers and create content (e.g. in The Sims users can design house interiors with IKEA furniture). Some players are not satisfied by what a game offers and generate content based on modding (e.g. DHL trucks or McDonald’s restaurants inside the Euro Truck Simulator 2). In this respect, the article refers to Smith’s, Fischer’s, and Yongjian’s content dimensions. Branded game modifications described by respondents are characterized by a high level of similarity towards real brands and positive brand sentiment (valence). I noted no statement about player and marketer (brand) communication in gathered material. The biggest challenge for practitioners in the field of UGC in video games is how to manage brand messages.

Practical Implications: Brand-related user-generated content is an important phenomenon in terms of the brand-building process and its impact on brand reception, which all require marketers’ attention. For game developers, such a content is a source of information about customer expectations. Players show their personal expectations by game modding.

Originality/Value: Brand-related content generated by users is frequently associated with social media. The scholarship shows a lack of knowledge of branded user-generated content in video games.

Purpose: The increasing role of digitalization in the operation of enterprises actualizes the
implementation of the basic methods of proper digitalization processes. The selection of an
appropriate method to introduce digitalization is crucial, as it affects the optimization level of the business processes.

Methodology: Specific multicriteria selection method includes five steps to identify these approaches, considering the relative error for each approach, as it affects the outcome with the performance indicator of business process digitalization. The strongest criterion value is used to identify the optimal approach. The evaluation of the methods showed that the performance of the logistic, administrative, and innovative methods is not worse than the Pareto principle.

Findings: Introducing digitalization in the administrative method has the biggest impact. The chosen method showed that Human Resources processes require modification to reduce costs. A mechanism to digitalize the personnel management processes using artificial intelligence was developed.

Implications: The results of multivariate multicriteria analysis show that the implementation of artificial intelligence minimizes human factors and optimizes time and costs.

Originality: The main contribution is the development of the method for the selection of an appropriate digitalization approach, which encompasses an implementation mechanism that can be adapted to enterprises’ needs.

Purpose: Although social capital and positive reputation in organizations are essential for career success, there is a limited perspective in the literature on the political characteristics (motivation and ability) that enable one to acquire and develop the two elements. This study seeks to investigate the sequential role of political skill and network resources as serial mediators of the political will–personal reputation relationship.

Methodology: In total, what provided data for the study were 457 sales executives from 13 different sectors in the cities of İstanbul, Kocaeli, and Bursa, which is an economically leading region of western Turkey. Executives rated their political will, political skill network resources, and personal reputation. Based on the complementary theories of political influence, social network, and signaling, we analyzed the relationships between constructs with structural equation modeling.

Findings: Political skill mediated the relationship between political will and network resources,
network resources mediated the relationship between political skill and personal reputation, while political skill and network resources sequentially mediated the relationship between political will and personal reputation.

Implications: The data were collected from a single source.

Practical Implications: Political will, political skill training, and social networks may help individuals manage their personal reputation at work, thus benefiting their careers.

Originality/Value: This is one of the first studies to sequentially investigate how individuals’ characteristics (motivation and ability) develop their social network and personal reputation at work. Moreover, theories of political influence, social capital, and signaling were jointly used for the first time ever.

Purpose: Capital flows, tax competition, multinational companies and tax havens weakens governments’ ability to lead independent tax policy. This race to the bottom, especially in the case of CIT rate, seems to work. Aim of the text is to show that the governments are not as powerless as it is often claimed. Despite common opinion, nation-states retain a relatively significant autonomy in creating their own fiscal policies, including tax instruments. Size of funds kept in tax havens have not been growing for few years and international cooperation of tax authorities is more and more efficient in dealing with the tax fraud.

Methodology: The study uses desk research method for theoretical reasoning to verify the research
hypothesis. Moreover, the study seeks answering if the application of EU tax policies determines national tax policy. To that end, the authors utilize time series and cause-effect analysis, as well as quantitative research for the systematization of statistical information and regression analysis for the examination of statistical dependencies. Tax competition or the functioning of tax havens naturally limits the realization of the fundamental functions of fiscal policies, although the taxation remains one
of the most crucial instruments of macroeconomic and income policy of national authorities.

Findings: The most important data on public revenues structure in different OECD countries indicate
that taxation remains one of the most crucial instruments of macroeconomic and income policy of
national authorities. We also show that impact of FDI on hosting economy is not as positive as it is
said to be. There is no relation between FDI and R&D spending and level of wages in hosting country
is even affected in the negative way by the FDI inflow. Irrespective of the regulatory details introduced at the EU level – the basic factor affecting jets coordination in the field of cooperation between tax services brings effects both in terms of the current collection of tax liabilities
and the creation of regulations that hinder tax avoidance and under statement assessment.

Originality/value: The study focuses on an analysis of tax policy. The view that taxation of international corporations is fraught with difficulties finds support in the undeniable reality of tax competition.Moreover, a large and growing share of profits is transferred to low-tax places. The prospects for taxing international companies with positive rates seem unoptimistic. Therefore, it is essential to check how the national economy is affected by the FDI inflow in OECD countries.

Purpose: The purpose of the research was to find out the correlation between the motivation and costs of internal or external locus of control and the propensity to mentor. Investment of time and per sonal energy was regarded as factors with an internal locus of control, whereas a lack of mentee’s achievement, problems caused by a mentee, unhealthy or unfriendly relation, and a risk to be replaced by a mentee were regarded as factors with an external locus of control. In the case of internal factors, their locus of control is the mentor him/herself while, in external factors, their locus is outside of the mentor and lies in a situation or an environment.

Methodology: A quantitative cross-sectional study among Polish managers.

Findings: First, the results show that uniquely intrinsic motivation relates to the propensity to men tor, while extrinsic motivation has no importance. Second, before deciding to mentor, managers estimate the costs of mentoring: the higher they are the lower the propensity to mentor. Third, the costs related to the internal locus of control – time and personal energy invested by a mentor in men toring – are most important when deciding to mentor. The risk of destroying a mentor’s reputation, problems caused by a mentee, unfriendly or unhealthy relationship and a risk to be replaced by a mentee emerged as of little importance. Fourth, previous experience as a mentor or mentee positi vely influences the propensity to mentor.

Value: The study contributes to existing research, theory, and practice in the field of organizational behavior in the context of mentoring. The findings shed light on decision patterns in managers’ pro pensity to mentor and thoroughly explore the role of the anticipated cost of mentoring.

Purpose: Digitalisation of healthcare in Poland which covers e-prescriptions, e-referrals, and shar ing electronic medical records (EMR) on the P1 platform3 is supposed to be fully completed and implemented from 1 January 2021. The success of that implementation is strictly connected to the level of digital skills of both healthcare providers and healthcare service users. The purpose of the present paper is to indicate potential problems which may arise from the digitalisation of healthcare in social groups which are not adapted to using information and communication technologies (ICT) in their day-to-day lives, especially in case of the elderly.

Methodology: In order to indicate a potentially high level of digital exclusion in society, secondary data collected by Eurostat, Statistics Poland and CBOS4 were used. Problems in the healthcare sector, including those resulting from the digitalisation implemented in Poland, were presented against the backdrop of the changing law which applies here.

Findings: The introduction of digital solutions in the healthcare sector in Poland, including EMR, e-referrals, and e-prescriptions, was postponed numerous times, which can indicate the lack of the proper preparation of providers for a digital revolution. However, a potentially greater problem may lie with healthcare service users, especially considering the fact that such services are used mostly by the elderly. The phenomenon of digital exclusion, generally associated with the lack of skills neces sary for using ICT, is frequently observed particularly among senior citizens. It can lead to social isolation which is a risk factor that influences the health of senior citizens and the quality of their lives.

Originality/value: Some of the issues resulting from the adopted solutions and the legislation govern ing healthcare in Poland, including the digitalisation of said healthcare, and proposals for amend ments in this regard were provided in this interdisciplinary paper. It seems that those solutions could be used to reduce the threats of the digital exclusion of a significant part of Polish society, particularly in the group of seniors.

Purpose: This article seeks to identify the similarities and differences in the narratives of corporate histories published in different periods of time.

Methodology: This study is based on a comparative content analysis of corporate histories of three pharmaceutical plants operating under the “Polfa” Union of the Pharmaceutical Industry based in Poland.

Findings: Corporate histories change depending on the period in which a given history is published. The study reveals that corporate history depends on the nature of the state authority in power at a given time.

Research limitations and implications: This exploratory study concentrates on examination of four corporate histories and contributes to the research on the “uses of the past” in organization studies. Nevertheless, it has several limitations, including a limited number of companies included in the analysis and the adoption of a qualitative approach only.

Originality and value: This is the first article that focuses on a comparative content analysis of corporate histories published at different times in search of the similarities and differences in the domain of corporate narrative.

Purpose: The article analyzes the possible methods of public debt management, which not only aim to meet regulatory requirements but also obtain a market premium in the form of an optimal level of the yield on government bond yields that will be profitable for the issuer. The study analyzes the situation in the public finance sector in the countries that form the Visegrád Group (V4). The authors evaluate the main regulatory requirements of EU law in the area of numerical fiscal rules and their impact on the yield on basic securities such as ten-year government bonds, which directly influences the cost of servicing long-term public debt.

Methodology: The study uses desk research method for theoretical reasoning to verify the research hypothesis. The study seeks to answer the question of whether the application of national and EU fiscal rules in V4 budgetary frameworks contributes to lower yields on ten-year bonds and thereby reduces the cost of public debt. The authors utilize time series and cause-effect analysis as well as quantitative research for the systematization of statistical information and regression analysis for the examination of statistical dependencies.

Findings: The basic parameters subject to financial assessment within the fiscal rules index are (1) the deficit of public finance sector and (2) public debt with its servicing costs. In 2005–2016, the ratio of the public finance sector deficit to GDP was shaped in such a way that most V4 countries required the institution of excessive deficit procedures and further disciplinary regulations. The assessment of the situation in the public finance sector in the area of budget deficit and public debt does not translate into the yield on government bonds of non-Eurozone countries. Model-based testing indicates that the financial markets – when deciding to evaluate or purchase government bonds of non-Eurozone countries – failed to acknowledge the implementation of fiscal rules in these countries and its possible effects.

Originality: The study focuses on a unique comprehensive analysis of national fiscal rules employed in individual V4 countries and their impact on the yield on government bonds throughout the entire EU membership of the V4. What holds the greatest cognitive value in this article is the answer to the question of whether Eurozone membership impacts the valuation of a country’s public debt.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to identify what are the cause-effect patterns of how company actions influence value drivers in Polish frms.

Method: The method used in the study consists of (1) the generation of informant reports (stories) about what actions performed in their frms influenced the value drivers and (2) the identifcation of the repeating (replicating) patterns of such influence.

Results: The study identifes fve actions that reduce the unproductive time of participants of business processes and three actions influencing new product introductions or modifcations.

Managerial implications: Managers should (1) use standardization and automation, delegation of secondary activities, and trainings in teamwork to reduce unproductive time, more quickly fulfll contracts (with current products), and influence four fnancial value drivers. Moreover, they should (2) gather knowledge about the alternative ways of thinking about particular problems and (3) use personal participation of knowledge possessor’s teams in clients’ problem-solving places.

Limitations and future research: The author identifes fve limitations of the performed study and formulates relevant suggestions for future research.

Originality/value: The study contributes to management theory by (1) clarifying conceptual relations between the actions of frms (causes) and value drivers (effects) and (2) analyzing the manager reports about the real business value-creation processes.

Purpose: The article explores the grounds of possible interrelations of snob and bandwagon consumers’ inclinations in the luxury fashion sector. The reason to investigate this comes from the growth of inconsistent evidence among analyses of this subject. Consumers’ perception of luxury goods seems not only compound but also quite ambiguous at the same time. One of its reasons may be the wrong assumption that snob and bandwagon inclinations are opposite trends that cannot co-exist among individual motives of luxury purchases.

Methodology and fndings: The mixed method research – in the form of international consumers’ e-survey and semi-structured interviews with affluent consumers – reveals that mutual relations of these two trends are clearly visible and can both motivate purchase at the same time.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the factors that determine the Japanese approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) to facilitate future empirical research in the Polish conditions.

Methodology: To conduct the research, the available literature concerning CSR, managerial behaviour and stakeholder relations in Japan was studied. The research was conducted onsite in Japan after consultation with local experts, both Japanese and foreigners, specialized in Japanese management and the economy.

Findings: The Japanese approach to CSR is strongly determined by their religious, philosophical, cultural, historical, economic and legal factors. It is proof of the concept of CSR contextuality, which provokes questions about the nature of the business relations of Japanese companies with their foreign counterparts and their style of management while investing abroad.

Research limitations: The methodology was only supposed to gain a general view of the factors infl uencing CSR in Japan. Studying more detailed issues with the use of empirical data was complicated because of the short time available for the research (6 weeks) and the relatively low level of transparency of the Japanese companies.

Value: The study helped in understanding managerial decisions and Japanese business behaviour in the context of corporate responsibility and the ethics of its everyday operations. It was the first research thoroughly analyzing many of the determinants of CSR in Japan, which may be valuable for any counterparts cooperating with the Japanese companies and foreign researchers analyzing Japanese management systems.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to discuss the problems related to consumer time valuation and its implications. This domain remains relatively unexplored in marketing literature.

Methodology: The author approached the time valuation problem in a synthetic and interdisciplinary way. To facilitate the analysis of time characteristics as a consumer resource and temporal decisions, the comparison with money was applied, which is an approach well established in the literature.

Findings: Time can be a source of value only to selected consumers, as not all perceive time as scarce. Mental accounting for time is diffi cult; hence consumers tend to use heuristics to arrive at their temporal decisions and prefer immediate discounting of temporal benefits. Contrary to a popular adage, time is not money, at least in the context of the majority of consumers’ decisions.

Research limitations/implications: Despite growth in the number of publications, knowledge of temporal aspects in consumer behavior is limited and fragmented. Less is known about how to turn the perceived value of time into customer value. Further investigation is needed to identify consumer groups that truly value time.

Practical implications: The knowledge of temporal aspects of consumer behavior, and how consumers value time, would be of particular use in the service industry, where the “when” of customer value is usually provided in the form of “convenience”.

Originality: This study sheds light on research gaps in the literature in an under-investigated subject, examining the link between the perceived value of time and possibilities to generate value based on temporal benefits.

Purpose: The paper presents a review of the latest research on executive compensation and indicates the main problems and weaknesses of the existing solutions as well as trends for the future.

Methodology: In the analysis executive compensation constitutes a crucial element of corporate governance. The analysis is based on a review of the latest studies and research on the effectiveness of executive compensation referring to its size, structure and disclosure.

Findings: The paper presents the latest fi ndings in the practice of executive compensation and it points to the extension of the period of time giving rise to the payment of cash bonuses, the introduction of a range of different indicators, based on which executives are evaluated, simplifying compensation packages, the implementation of deferred payments, the introduction of the “say on pay” rule and clawbacks.

Practical implications: The analysis points out the main weaknesses of executive compensation, which were particularly emphasized in research studies on companies affected by the financial crisis. The paper presents a wide range of suggested solutions that could be implemented in the fi eld of executive compensation in order to provide for a better alignment of the interests of executives with those of shareholders and for the increase in shareholder value.

Originality/value: The paper attempts to identify the most severe corporate governance problems with reference to executive compensation and to confront them with research results as well as the recently proposed and implemented reforms and recommendations.

Purpose: Modernity consists of many confl icting aspects: It brings many empty promises, yet has resulted in new institutions that create bridges between the values and interests of millions of people who seek freedom, prosperity, quality of life, strengthened democracy and social justice. In this paper I attempt to a gain and loss account against modernity, because institutional rules are not only conducive to cooperative interactions, but to hostile interactions as well. People are not always guided by moral commitment, but rather more often driven by cold calculation or coercion.

Methodology: Modernity has at least three defi nitions. The fi rst defi nition is based on ideas that took over the imagination of the era. The second defi nition is based on an analysis of the behavior of people who respond to reason as well as emotion and believe that they act more rationally than their ancestors or the traditional “others”. The third defi nition is the one closest to my heart, consisting of the use of institutional categories.
Institutions offer practical ways of connecting ideas and people. The challenge for them is the result of deepening local and national interdependencies, but increasingly often also regional (e.g. European) and global. Interdependencies are the result of the scientifi c and technological revolution, global markets, global governance mechanisms, the emergence of new social forces and cultural confl icts (against the background of reconciling identity and differences).

Conclusions: The most important task is to identify the mechanisms of complex systems so that people know how to act under conditions of uncertainty, risk and crisis. Hence, the expectations toward institutions often exceed their abilities. Even though new institutions are being created and old ones are being fixed, we are witnessing and participating in, institutional paralysis and the decay (e.g. corruption). In this situation, it is imperative not only to improve control methods (e.g. legal), but also to resort to normative systems (values and identity) and knowledge (competence and skills). The source of this paralysis is often man himself, convinced of his own maturity and equipped with all sorts of rights, but manipulated on a scale not yet seen in the past. We are experiencing our own struggle as to what roles are closest to us, e.g. consumer, investor, or citizen?

Research Implications: Modernity is an emblematic, but confusing term. Therefore, the most important task is to identify the activities of complex systems, so that people know how to act under conditions of uncertainty, risk and crisis. People – agencies must operate in structures that defi ne the boundaries of their actions. The main task of social sciences is to identify the conditions for the construction of successful confi gurations of agencies and structures.

Originality: Sometimes the “old” is better than the “new”, but to adopt this as a principle of life would be a mistake. It is better to think that the “new” is a metamorphosis of the “old”, sometimes expected, sometimes not. Based on the example of capitalism – fi rst commercial capitalism, then industrial capitalism, and today financial capitalism – I demonstrate how the mechanisms of institutional morphogenesis work, with emphasis on structured cooperation and organized conflict.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to identify the important role of the family in shaping the values and attitudes of the young generation and especially to answer the question of whether family can be a democracy.

Methodology: This article reviews the current positions on democracy in the family, and the results of the discussion that took place during the conference: “Time to develop. Strategic thinking in work and everyday life”. The subject of the discussion was decision-making issues and achieving objectives in family life.

Findings: There is no doubt nowadays that family is important for a child, or regarding the significance of the development and educational environment of a child. The personality of a child is greatly influence by the parents. However, this influence only lasts for several years. Specific parental attitudes affect the school achievements of children, as well as the development of emotional stability and socio-emotional maturity, the formation
of self-image and that of the peer group.

Originality: The analysis of the problem is only an attempt to signal the important role of family decisionmaking, the development of values and sophistication in the young generation, as well as taking responsibility for one’s own actions. Based on the analysis of the family, the changes taking place in this area could be seen as a necessary effect of changes in the social system.