Purpose: The study examines the influence of socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) on employees’ voluntary environmental behavior (VEB), and it tests the moderating effect of ecocentric leadership (EL).

Design/Method: We adopted deductive reasoning in a positivist paradigm by applying quantitative analytical techniques and structural equation modeling. We selected 187 respondents from clothing industry through a self-administered questionnaire survey in Chattogram, the commercial capital of Bangladesh.

Findings: The outcomes revealed that both SRHRM and EL influence VEB. However, the moderation analysis indicated that EL negatively intervenes in the effect of SRHRM on VEB.

Implications: One of the essential contributions of our study is its development of the knowledge related to valuing, developing, and measuring SRHRM’s contribution to improving VEB in a moderated model with the help of EL to ensure long-term sustainability.

Originality: Very little is known about the importance of SRHRM in fostering employees’ voluntary environmental behavior, so this study will be one of the first to examine the topic. Moreover, the moderating effect of EL posits that its interaction effect is not substantial in stimulating voluntary environmental behavior if organizations can institutionalize SRHRM.

Purpose: To determine the impact of changes in tax burden in Ukraine on the country’s economic freedom.

Methodology: The study applies qualitative methods for historical analysis, periodization of reforms, and classification of their key priorities and influences. Quantitative methods are applied to compare tax burden (tax-to-GDP ratio) in Ukraine and OECD countries. The overall success and failure of tax reforms was measured by the index of economic freedom, including its component, the index of tax burden (fiscal freedom). The first hypothesis suggested that a reduction in tax burden positively impacted the level of economic freedom in Ukraine; the second hypothesis stated that a reduction in tax burden positively affected the fiscal freedom of Ukraine. Regressions in average tax burden and the index of economic freedom, including the index of tax burden, were built in R software.

Findings: Regression analysis did not confirm the first hypothesis. The second hypothesis was confirmed. Reduced tax burden does not affect the level of economic freedom of Ukraine. This is explained by the slow progress of institutional reforms in Ukraine. The reduction of tax burden has a significant positive impact on the level of fiscal freedom.

Practical Implications: The results obtained have practical relevance for the elaboration of fiscal policies in developing countries, in accordance with the country’s economic and political development priorities.

Research Limitations/Implications: Future research will include a more in-depth comparative
analysis of tax reforms in Ukraine, focusing on the key taxes.

Purpose: The paper examines auditors’ experiences with corporate governance (CG) in general and
audit committees (ACs) in particular in the setting of a Polish two-tier board system and a capital
market characterized by high ownership concentration, which therefore extends the research on
CG practices of an economy beyond the well-researched Anglo-American model.

Methodology: This study adopts a qualitative research approach by using interview data from
fifteen interviews with auditors working with large publicly-listed companies in Poland to examine
the relationships among auditors, Audit Committees, and CG.

Findings: The auditors indicate that the CG environment has changed. However, the institutionalization
of an AC in Poland generally is the subject of coercive isomorphic pressures, which lead
to its decoupling and transition toward a ritualistic role. Moreover, auditors report only some
reliance on CG information in the planning phase and none in the field-testing or review phases.

Originality: The findings differ from those of prior studies conducted predominantly in the USA
and the UK, in which auditors reported far greater reliance on CG in all phases of the audit process.
The two possible reasons for this difference in findings could be the different development stages
between capital markets and different CG systems.

Purpose: The three goals of the article are: first, to show some arguments surrounding the notion of capitalism in theoretical perspective, and also somewhat bashful connotations since it was intro-duced in Poland after the fall of communism; second, to present some historical facts about the rise of capitalism in Poland in comparative perspective, mostly European; third, to look for cultural categories necessary for analysing the peculiarities of Polish socio-economic development as the part of so-called „the second Europe”.

Methodology: I go back to the history of European patterns of capitalist formation: Anglo-Saxon, French, German, Russian in order to show the Polish trajectory as strikingly different. Before enter-ing the Polish case, I present Mary Douglas and Aaron Widavsky’s proposal – how to analyze four cultures: individualist, egalitarian, hierarchical and fatalistic (authoritarian).

Implications: The main finding is that economic interests are always socio-cultural constructions, hence all definitions of the real life decisions (on public vs private, risk, externalities etc.) that the people make, must frame them within working life of given culture as the combination of universa-lism and particularism (of above-mentioned four cultures).

There is no alternative to the development of external interdependencies in the era of globalization. An alternative was even less conceivable when Poland switched from Communism to Western-style capitalism in the course of political transformation that began in 1989. Globalization projects may differ in terms of their institutional and ideological context, but they share common foundations, namely the objectively increasing interdependencies caused by the scientific and technical revolution; particularly apparent in the field of information and communication technologies, the growing openness of economic markets, soaring social expectations of mobility – especially the mobility of human resources – as well as the readiness to coexist with fellow humans that represent diverse cultures. Even in conditions of partial de-globalization – resulting from the protectionist economic policy of governments like the Trump administration – nobody really regards the idea of reversing the globalization trend as realistic or rational. Only those who hoped that globalization – albeit exclusively neoliberal! – would imminently diminish the importance of the nation-state are bitterly disappointed, given that the process merely redefined our understanding of the latter notion.

Purposes: The main goal of the paper is to determine the signifcance of selected sources of strategic information, used by Polish farmers in decision making. In addition, an attempt was made to determine the factors impacting the evaluation of those sources among the traits of the farmer and his farm.

Methodology: Data was gathered using the questionnaire method and analysed with standard tools of descriptive statistics.

Findings: The farmers deemed personalised sources of strategic information the most important, especially agricultural advisers, input suppliers and buyers of agricultural products. From among institutional (non-personalised) sources, local government and the chamber of agriculture were signifcant. Business information agencies and survey companies are the least important sources for farmers. The characteristics of the surroundings of the farm – specifcally, its geographic location and the size of settlement where it is located proved to have the widest impact on the evaluation of the sources included in the study. From among the organisational factors, only farm size has a signifcant impact.

Research limitations/implications: The study was confned to a representative group of farmers in Poland. A closed list of sources of strategic information was used.

Originality/value: The study results contribute to the knowledge on the functioning of Polish agriculture and may also be used in comparative studies, characterising this sector’s diversity within Europe. They can in turn contribute to properly focusing on supporting the policy of balanced agriculture development in the EU.

Purpose: This paper critically evaluates the development of the impact assessment instrument in
Lithuania’s public administration and suggests improvements to its impact assessment system.

Research question: What interesting conceptual imperatives have appeared in Lithuania’s investigation
of the impact of regulatory policy?

Methodology: This research study uses positivist methodology to analyse the problems that researchers
have identified in Lithuania’s impact assessment. This investigation explains why certain
problems have appeared, what has changed and what system changes can be identified traced. The
study proceeds as follows. First, the research on impact assessment carried out in Lithuania is
analysed. Second, regulations on impact assessment in Lithuania are investigated. A substitute for
non-existent integrated theory is emphased by the logical structure of the EU administrative system
imperatives, principles, and norms, whose modifications have become the basis of impact assessment
system design in Lithuania. The present research combines, integrates and consolidates the
theoretical and practical information on impact assessment into an explanatory scheme, which
could be developed into a model in the future. Information from two qualitative interviews conducted
in 2009 and 2010 was also used.

Conclusions: The present research reveals that Lithuania’s regulatory impact assessment model is
still being constructed and reconstructed towards evidence-based management. A model which
revises the old impact stereotype has been designed, based on contemporary methodologies (cost-
-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses), consultations with the interested parties, a small but
exhaustive legal initiatives impact assessment, and a centralised and institutional coordination of
impact assessment.

Practical consequences: The present research presents the issues which could be useful for the
states that are starting to implement a regulatory impact assessment model. This study described
the pitfalls to avoid in order to implement a successful evidence-based management initiative.

Originality: In the present research, regulatory impact assessment is emphased as an assessment
model and normative of the EU administration effectiveness and optimality, which can be used as
a good-practice example for the modernisation of administrative activities in Central and Eastern
Europe to the level their European counterpart

Purpose: The general purpose of this paper is to present living labs as a new form of innovation activity based on the concept of user-driven innovation. More specific goals are to show the development of living labs around the world and to identify the possibilities for the development of this new form of innovation in Poland.

Methodology: Because of the lack of offi cial statistics regarding the effects of living labs, this paper presents the quality aspects of the problem.

Findings: In Poland, living labs are in their fi rst stage of life. The possibilities of using new forms of innovation activities are determined by partnerships between firms, research institutions, authorities and local communities. The main obstacle for the development of living labs is the lack of an institutional and legal framework with respect to the concept of user-driven innovation.

Research limitations: Because of their short period of life, it is not possible to estimate the effects resulting from the activity of living labs. Therefore, this paper presents only the theoretical aspects of this new concept and reviews the opportunities of using it in practice.

Originality: The paper describes a new phenomenon in the area of innovation activities. The added value of the paper lies in the identification of various factors influencing the development of living labs.

Purpose: The paper aims at identifying the major information gaps related to the financial sector that have emerged during the last years, including the explanation of the reasons and consequences of these gaps.

Methodology: The analysis is conducted using the descriptive methodology based on real developments in the financial sector. This analysis identifies substantial institutional changes within the financial sector combined with the introduction of new financial instruments that significantly increased information gaps related to financial developments.

Findings: We found that one of the main reasons for the breakdown in the financial liquidity market was the sudden buildup of a systemic risk caused, among other things, by substantial information gaps and limitations in the transparency of financial markets. The low transparency of the financial markets has been caused by institutional changes and new financial instruments introduced within the financial sector. They were introduced by the financial institutions themselves to facilitate very risky financial activities that were very profitable for them in the short term, but – as it occurred – very disruptive for the whole financial system and the whole economy in the longer term.

Research limitations: The analysis is limited only to the consideration of the causes and consequences of statistical gaps substantially reducing the transparency of the financial sector. A more comprehensive project should also explore and provide an appropriate proposal for remedy data and – even more important – a proposal to setup a macroprudential policy framework.

Originality: The original contribution of the paper is the link between specific institutional changes within the financial sector as well as new financial instruments and the emergence of particular information gaps.

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to discuss the multidimensionality of the
distance construct and to provide a critical overview of the existing research on
distance and its significance for the internationalization process.

Methodology: The review of relevant literature, based on databases such as EBSCO,
Elsevier, JSTOR and ProQuest, covered empirical papers (keyword: “distance”
included in the title or abstract) investigating the relationship between the distance
and key issues in the companies’ internationalization. The presentation of results
was structured along five key dimensions of distance: geographic, economic, institutional,
cultural and psychic. The first four dimensions are antecedents to psychic
distance, which itself relates to the managerial perception of differences between the
countries.

Findings: The development of new forms of transportation and communication technologies, together with the increasing economic integration, have made many authors
and managers believe that distance is no longer relevant to the companies’
internationalization process. However, the empirical studies do not confirm this claim.

Research implications: The multidimensionality of distance and inconsistencies
in the body of research concerning the cultural dimension of distance create new
research challenges. The present article provides recommendations for the scholars
interested in the role of distance in international business.

Originality: The article presents an extensive literature review, explicitly indicating
the role of different dimensions of distance in key internationalization issues,
i.e. motives, market selection, mode of entry, level of local responsiveness and global
integration. It makes a clear distinction between psychic distance and country-level
distance.

Purpose: The article investigates whether performance of government-owned banks
is influenced by electoral considerations.

Methodology: To verify the political interference hypothesis, net interest margins
recorded by banks during different stages of the electoral cycle are studied. Univariate
tests are applied and random effects regression models are estimated.

Findings: It is established that government-owned banks exhibit statistically and
economically significantly lower net interest margins and interest incomes during
pre-electoral periods in Central European countries. The results support the view
that government-owned banks do realize political goals.

Research limitations: The role of only one political factor, i.e. electoral cycle is analyzed.
A comprehensive research project should encompass the effect of such factors
as political competition, non-electoral political events, electoral expectations,
government political complexion, and institutional development on governmentowned
banks’ behaviors. It should also assess the political determinants of lending
volume.

Originality: The article uses a new dataset including financial information since
1992, i.e. since the early transformation years.

Purpose: the purpose of this article is to attempt to identify the essential fundamental elements of the traditional mining ethos implemented in the ethical codes, which are
among others the primary tool for ethical education.

Methodology: the article describes basic and detailed (as well as characteristic) components of the mining ethos, and the causes and consequences of the mining professional devaluation after the Second World War and its impact on changes of the mining ethos. Also presented and discussed is the role of the codes of ethics of two Polish hard coal mining companies KHW (Katowice Coal Holding) and GKLW Bogdanka (Capital Group Lublin Coal BOGDANKA). It reviews their practices concerning communication, promotion and monitoring of the ethical principles among employees, suppliers and the local community, as well as tasks and activities of the ethics officers.

Findings: ethical codes took over the role of communication and they constitute a device for continuation of mining ethos. However, according to the expectations, they must be adapted to transforming the work environment and miners’ lives. Ethical codes are contemporary and vitally important devices for development of organisational culture and ethical education in both coal companies.

Originality: the article shows the continuity of mining ethos and its impact on modern business performance and management. At the same time, it describes the ethics institutionalization process and its positive effect for further development of coal mining industry.