Purpose – The article analyzes the challenges Slovak businesses and organizations are facing in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting human resource management solutions they apply.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors present a part of their research conducted in six Central Eastern European (CEE) countries. Based on timely data, the article presents socioeconomic characteristics of Slovakia and the results of the research “HRM Challenges in Times of the Covid-19 Crisis” conducted among employers in Slovakia. The survey method encompassed 247 Slovakian organizations.
Findings – The year 2020 was an extraordinary one for businesses, governments, and individuals alike. According to the results of this research, Slovak organizations were not prepared for the Covid-19 crisis. Respondents who had a pandemic action plan at the time of the breakout were hardly found. Measures taken to preserve human health directly impacted the way how work is done and organized. This poses significant challenges for both employers and employees. In general, small organizations used cost and staff reduction tools. On the other hand, some of the respondents, mainly large organizations have been using future-oriented solutions, e.g. organizational development.
Originality/value – In this research the authors analyzed the experiences of a Central European country, namely Slovakia. However, the experiences gained and collected here can be useful in the international arena as well.

Purpose: Self-employment is considered one of the responses to precarious employment, particularly among those who lost jobs during an economic crisis. Although starting a new business is widely available, operating new ventures remains challenging. This article aims to explore the premises of self-employment success, namely self-employment intention and proactive coping as crucial predictors of further performance.

Design/methodology/approach: The authors recruited participants among initially unemployed individuals who participated in the entrepreneurial program aimed at creating self-employment. Since entrepreneurs are expected to have specific personal characteristics important for performance, the authors assessed proactive coping as the key factor for self-employment intention.

Findings: The results depicted proactive coping as crucial in performing own ventures in the long run, which suggests that self-employment intention may change over time.

Practical implications: Proactive coping is particularly appropriate for self-employed at any stage of the entrepreneurial process because it maintains the intention to perform own business. Thus, the findings underline the need for proactive coping training for entrepreneurs, particularly those previously unemployed.

Originality/value: As the self-employment intention may differ in time, the importance of being proactive in operating small businesses increases.

Purpose: To analyze search funds as a new group of investment vehicles in Poland that constitutes a group of potential investors for family companies facing the lack of succession.

Methodology: The theoretical part presents family businesses, considers the problem of succession in Poland, and analyzes the literature on available forms of divestment of a family business owner.

Moreover, the article presents the roots of search funds creation and their characteristics, which reveals these investment vehicles as theoretically perfect for family businesses without successors. The empirical part presents a study into the sale of a Polish family business to a search fund, which was the first and only search fund deal in Poland until the end of 2020.

Findings: The study revealed that the sale of a family business to a search fund should be included in the catalog of possible forms of divestment of a family business owner facing the lack of successors.

Originality: The article fills a gap in the literature on family entrepreneurship in the context of
selling a business to a search fund in Poland, which has not yet been indicated as one of the methods for owners to exit a business.

Purpose: The main aim of the study is the analysis of the awareness of competency needs in businesses in relation to the development of Industry 4.0 and the possibility of meeting those needs within business cooperation networks.

Methodology: We formed a model of competency needs for companies operating as part of Industry 4.0 in Poland, considering the needs of managers and other staff members. The model was then employed in empirical studies. The pilot empirical study was conducted using two methods: a quantitative CAWI method, which covered 81 companies from the metal processing and machine industry in Podlaskie Voivodship, and a qualitative IDI on a sample of 25 organizations.

Findings: Manufacturing companies are not fully aware of the competency needs related to Industry 4.0, covered by the established model. Moreover, we found that the most strongly felt competency needs – both by managers and other employees – may not be met within the business cooperation network. In order to satisfy these needs, partners must be found outside the studied network. The business cooperation network that we studied may only satisfy the less noticeable competency needs.

Implications: The developed competency model should be studied and further verified, including testing with a larger sample of companies, specifying the behavioral competency gaps related to Industry 4.0, their filling in using formal education systems, lifelong education, internships, and apprenticeships. The need for further research is dictated by the intensity of processes occurring within the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Value: The pilot nature of the study and its limited sample do not undermine its contribution to the body of knowledge as it confirms that the competencies of managers and other staff members are one of the key determinants of successful implementation of the Industry 4.0 concept in Poland.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the role open data assumes in social innovation initiatives that combat the effects of Covid-19, in which quantitative information about these projects is complemented with the analysis of open data innovation capabilities.

Methodology: A mixed methods approach is adopted. Initially, quantitative data regarding the number of innovative projects is extracted from the OPSI framework. Then, in a second phase, qualitative data from each project is explored to explore the open data innovation capabilities offered by each initiative.

Results: The results reveal that most social innovation initiatives focus on the area of data visualization dashboards and open datasets. However, some projects address other areas, e.g. hackathons, service availability, and tourism information.

Implications: Covid-19 profoundly affects the lives of people and businesses, and open data can assume a determinant role in mitigating these effects and improve information transparency and collaboration between public and private entities.

Originality/Value: This study is relevant for the establishment of supportive public policies that promote the emergence of open-data-driven initiatives to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 in several areas such as the economy, education, and leisure.

Purpose: This article aims to assess strategy and technology as key drivers of Greek businesses’cdigital transformation and compare the results to those of international studies and sources.

Methodology: A research was conducted on 124 Greek businesses from different sectors and industries with the use of an anonymous questionnaire from December 2019 to January 2020. Greek businesses were categorized as early, developing, and maturing according to their perceptions about the level of their digital maturity, and differences were identified. The results were finally compared to an international relevant survey.

Findings: Several differences were located among the Greek businesses of the three digital maturity categories as formulated after their self-evaluation, and evolution has been identified on their perceptions about their digital strategy, its existence, objectives, and structure, which can be seen developing and expanding from the lowest to the highest levels of digital maturity.

Originality: The findings can be useful in creating an initial picture of the perceptions and practices applied by Greek businesses to their use of digital technologies. They can also become a measure of comparison for the self-evaluation of Greek businesses in their efforts to digitally transform.

Purpose: To explore how the predecessors and successors of Polish family businesses use and refine existing knowledge, identify knowledge deficiencies or absences, and create new knowledge during the working together stage.
Methodology/approach: The article builds on qualitative empirical material gathered in 2018 and 2019 with a problem-centered interview approach aiming to capture the complex and potentially diverging realities of both generations. Altogether, 48 preliminary interview questionnaires were completed and, subsequently, 46 interviews were conducted.
Findings: The study captured that the use of existing knowledge during the Working Together period is significantly supported by the fact that the old and young generation share several unarticulated beliefs, mental models, and behaviors. However, the identification of knowledge gaps and the creation of new knowledge are heavily hindered by the fear of confrontation and only declarative – instead of active – interest of the older generation in creating new knowledge.
Originality/value: The article bridges the gap between the literature on organizational ambidexterity and family business by empirically investigating the intergenerational dynamics of owners’ families regarding knowledge creation. Moreover, we introduce the concept of intergenerational familial ambidexterity.

Purpose: The study aims to build a typology of family businesses with relatively short experience in the free-market economy. The typology is based on the goal preferences of the family businesses.

Methodology: The research is based on empirical data from Polish medium-sized and large enterprises, collected in 2014. Using cluster analysis and variance analysis, we identified four types of family enterprises based on their goal perceptions and tested the differences among them.

Results: The article distinguishes and characterizes four types of family enterprises: “business first, family second,” “only business,” “immature,” and “family first, business second.”

Originality/value: The proposed typology is similar to that presented in the subject literature. Nevertheless, our contribution resides in the discovery that even if family and business goals are integrated in the enterprise, one of the systems will be dominant. Moreover, enterprises that only prioritize family goals were absent in the explored data set.

Purpose: The article attempts to identify the relationship between employers’ psychological contract
perception (relational and transactional expectations) and the occurrence of counterproductive
work behavior among their employees. The study seeks to extend the understanding of the
psychological contract concept and its correlation with counterproductive work behaviors. There
are numerous studies analyzing the perceptions of obligations and promises of a psychological contract
from the employee’s viewpoint. However, the question of employer expectations and the
perception of the fulfillment of these expectations is not less important, albeit much less
elaborated.

Methodology: Participants were 101 managers and owners of small and medium companies who
represent different businesses in construction industry in the Ukrainian market. Data were collected
through a questionnaire.

Key findings: The results of the study show that employers have a high level of expectations toward
their employees, and the relational character of the expectations is dominant. However, the perceptions
of the fulfillment of these expectations were at a moderate level. The results also show
that employers reveal a moderate level of counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and a significant
relationship between psychological contract (PC), relational expectations, an

Purpose: The article discusses the pace of internationalization by empirically verifying the speed of internationalization of Polish international firms and identifying which pattern is more frequently used by international startups from Poland: born global or born regional.

Methodology: The article employs a quantitative approach. It builds on a sample of 355 international businesses from Poland (CATI survey).

Findings: By using t test, U test, and ANOVA, the analysis showed a correlation between the compa-ny’s international strategy as a planning instrument and the speed and scope of internationalization. Research limitations/implications: Based on prior studies from other parts of the globe, we assume that among Polish companies the number of born regionals – i.e. businesses that are international from their inception – is growing, while their activity is mainly restricted to the European Union. Among Polish international firms, there are many born global. In the studied sample (selected randomly), the share of born globals was 61.5%, and global startups 43%, which is a very high rate. The results enable to adopt a hypothesis that the number of Polish-born regionals is relatively high in comparison with the traditional path and born globals.

Originality/value: The article describes one of the first studies to (i) capture the phenomenon of born regionals in Poland and (ii) enrich empirical studies on emerging markets such as Poland.

Purpose: The increasing pace of technological progress, hyper-competitiveness, volatility of markets, dominant in the contemporary society all cause signifcant changes in the approach to innovation and lead to the emergence of a new generation of models of innovation processes. An open innovation model is based on a systematic search for as well as research and use of various sources of opportunities for innovations that offer commercial potential. The main objective of this article is to analyse the possibilities of application of models of open innovation in management of micro, small, and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Poland. This article intends to explore the essence of open innovation by values, its inception, and conditions for its implementation in the management process specifc to the SME sector.

Methodology: The study has been based on in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted among business managers/owners responsible for innovation development of SMEs in Poland (16 interviews in total).

Findings: SMEs usually do not have their own research and development (R&D) departments, but need external support and R&D solutions tailored to their needs. SMEs need innovations and skills, which requires close cooperation with different partners. In order for SMEs to beneft from innovation processes, a structured cooperation not only with scientists and researchers, but also with other market partners needs to be established and intensifed. It changes both the creation of intellectual capital and the ways to manage it.

Originality: The new approach in the context of management of innovation is now one of the key challenges faced by smaller businesses. It is necessary to make changes in the approach to integration of external sources of innovation with the potential and resources at the disposal of a given company.

Purpose: The objective of the research was an assessment of the experiences of Polish owners of family companies in organizing family meetings as mechanisms of family governance as well as evaluating the usefulness of solutions developed in this sphere for both family and company.

Methodology: The character of the conducted research was qualitative. The main technique used to gather data involved interviews. A total of thirty nine respondents from twenty companies were questioned. Nineteen were representatives of the older generation while twenty represented the younger second generation of owners of family businesses.

Findings: Research results indicated the rather extensive use by the examined owner families of family meetings to discuss company matters. Depending on their needs, they developed various models ranging from the ad hoc bringing up of company matters to the transformation of such meetings into formal, family meetings of the management board organized in company offi ces. Regardless of organizational form, family meetings were an important forum for the exchange of information and views on the functioning of the company among family members. The experiences of the examined families of owners in building family governance systems, understood as a complex of structures and mechanisms making possible the maintenance of a balance between tensions stemming from economic and emotional ties among family members, both involved in the company and outside it, remain small.

Research limitations: The qualitative character of the research, including the size of the examined sample (twenty family companies represented by thirty nine representatives), means that the generalizations made for the purposes of this study refer only to the experiences and opinions of the interviewed respondents.

Originality: The research performed is the fi rst of its kind devoted to family meetings as a component of the system of family governance created in the family forum of owners of family companies. At present, questions of family governance subject to Polish conditions are not a popular research fi eld undertaken with respect to family companies. This is dictated by the current phase of development of most domestic family ventures, where no
signifi cant diversifi cation of stakeholders on the family level has as yet occurred. However, this should in no way suggest that Polish family businesses are not acquiring their fi rst experiences in the sphere of family governance that, in the future, may prove useful in the forming of more complex structures.

Purpose: The paper discusses issues associated with using funds that support the development of entrepreneurship – the purpose of the paper is to answer questions regarding the purposefulness and effectiveness of financial instruments from EU funds aimed at the development of emerging businesses (startups).

Methodology: The paper analyzes previously conducted research studies in the fi eld of the discussed topic, it systematizes and describes the fi nancial instruments from EU funds supporting self-employment and startups in their early stages of activity. It also provides an overview of evaluation reports concerning these instruments.

The paper also contains a case study: an analysis of the effectiveness of a selected project supporting the development of entrepreneurship (co-fi nanced from EU funds), in which the method of evaluating the net effect of the support in the short term has been used.

Findings: An analysis of previously conducted research studies has shown that properly designed State aid targeted at those starting up their own business is sensible, as it provides them with seed capital and it helps them survive the most diffi cult period of the so-called “startup”. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies to confirm the positive impact of business support interventions carried out using EU funds. The methodology of evaluating the net effect used by the Author in the conducted study has made it possible to identify the actualsize of the – positive – impact of the selected project on the growth of self-employment.

Limitations: The study revealed some limitations – the method and time of the study allow to capture the phenomenon on a micro-scale, in the short term. The institutions that are involved in the process of allocating funds should develop a comprehensive methodology that implements the idea of evaluating the net effect, allowing to assess the effectiveness of the support at regional and national level in the long term.

Originality: The originality of the paper consists in applying the theories and results of previous studies to the Polish practice of supporting businesses at their early stages of development as well as applying the method of evaluating the net effect, which allows to determine the actual impact of the intervention.