Business Competency of IT Professionals and Job Satisfaction in Transition Economies: Insights from Poland

In this paper, we examine the effect of business competence of Information Technology (IT) professionals on their job satisfaction in Poland, a transition economy. The necessary data is collected by a survey conducted among IT professionals working in various companies located in Lower Silesia region, Poland. The preliminary results of this survey indicate that business competency, in general, positively affect job satisfaction of IT professionals in transition economies. However, the surveyed IT professionals feel that possessing business competency does not have any substantial effect on their salary level and professional promotions

Organizational Ethics, Position and Their Relationship to Gender, Before and During Pandemic

This research investigates the levels of organizational ethics (OETH) among knowledge workers (KW), using their work information and communication technologies (ICT) with their executive position (supervisor/subordinate), in regional enterprises in Poland before and during the COVID19 pandemic. We analyzed levels of OETH and its three dimensions as organizational optimism (ETO), corporate social responsibility (CSR), top management action (TMA). We conducted our study twice, using an online survey among 137 KW before and 127 KW during a pandemic, combining random and snowball sampling to select data. We used multivariate statistical methods such as analysis of variance and causal moderation analysis to estimate the indirect effect of gender, the effect of the pandemic, as well as their interaction in the relation between position and OETH and its subscales.. Our findings show superiors manifested higher levels of OETH assessment than their subordinates, especially before the pandemic. Both groups displayed a pessimistic and low level of OETH, especially ETO, before the pandemic, and on the contrary, increased significantly to an average level during the pandemic. Gender and the pandemic affected the levels of OETH and occurred to be moderators of the considered relationship

Gender and Business Competences of Knowledge Workers in Poland

The purpose of the research described in this article is to verify the influence of gender difference and firm size on the business competencies self-assessment of knowledge workers in small regional enterprises of Lower Silesia region, in Poland, a transition economy. An individual survey was conducted on the basis of the questionnaire of business competencies. Two trials of 169 knowledge workers were constructed via an interpersonal network and sequential random sampling, with the use of passive experimental design. Several dimensions of business competencies are investigated. The results show that females working as knowledge workers in regional small enterprises in Poland manifest less levels of business competencies self-assessment than male colleagues. However, females have the highest scores in sphere of knowledge self-assessment concerning organizational units and organizational responsibility. The novelty is the first use the adapted questionnaire of business competencies self-assessment among knowledge workers in relation to gender and regional small and micro firms, in Poland

The impact of job satisfaction on valuers’ attitudes towards professional ethics

Professional ethics is one of the two pillars of the valuer’s business practice, alongside expert knowledge. Ethical principles are usually formulated within a code of professional ethics which valuers are obliged to follow. The approach to professional ethics is a complex problem and it is conditioned by several factors. In our study, we pose the question whether higher professional satisfaction of real estate valuers translates into more ethical attitudes regarding work-related dilemmas. We conducted research on property valuation services in two European markets: Austria and Poland. Data for the analysis was drawn from 176 surveys in which valuers were asked to respond to hypothetical work situations corresponding to the principles of the real estate valuer’s code. The results obtained using the ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage last squares (2SLS) regression methods allow us to conclude that higher job satisfaction positively impacts valuers’ ethical attitudes. The segment of the market served is also an important driver. Valuers who mainly work for property developers show a significantly lower level of ethical attitudes. The influence of the country on professional ethics is ambiguous

Job satisfaction of IT professionals in Poland: does business competence matter?

This paper examines the effects of business competence on the job satisfaction of Information Technology (IT) professionals in Poland. The necessary data is collected from a survey conducted among 391 IT professionals working in various companies in Poland. The results of the analysis indicate that business competence, in general, positively affects the job satisfaction of IT professionals in transition economies. However, business competence seems to have mixed effects on various aspects of job satisfaction. Although business competence affects satisfaction with co-workers, supervision and work itself, the surveyed IT professionals feel that business competence does not have any substantial effect on their salary level and professional promotions. The theoretical implication of this study is that systematic development of human capital by building business competence will have positive effects on the job satisfaction of IT professionals in transition economies. This paper also has a practical implication for managers in transition economies seeking improvements in productivity as it may help them to devise a compensation and promotion system that would better account for competency in their employees

Identifying and Prioritizing Factors Affecting Sustainable Social Responsibility in a Private Mobile Operator Using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques

Since considering the social factors in organizations in the current era is as important as the income and profitability of organizations, the present study seeks to identify and prioritize the factors affecting sustainable social responsibility. Today\u27s organizations have found that by focusing on social responsibility, they can attract more customers and earn multiple their cost. Since several factors affect the social responsibility of companies, in this paper, first these factors are extracted and then, the factors related to a Private Mobile Operator are identified based on the Delphi method. Since no organization has the ability to define improvement projects for all factors of social responsibility, so they should be ranked to identify the most important factors of limited organizational resources allocated to them. The MABAK method has been used to rank these factors and its required initial weight were extracted by the SAVARA method. Finally, the results of factor prioritization are presented

Burnout in the Workplace: A Review of the Data and Policy Responses in the EU

This report looks at the extent of burnout experienced by workers in the EU, based on national research. As a starting point, the report sets out to consider whether burnout is viewed as a medical or occupational disease. It then examines the work determinants associated with burnout and looks at the effects of burnout, including psychosocial and physical work factors, work intensity and work organisation. It also reviews national strategies and policies regarding this issue, the involvement of the social partners in the current debate, as well as preventive actions currently in place

Schools of infomation : What do they mean by that ?

T here are 18 Schools of Information in the USA. Someone who comes across this name – School of Information (I-School) – might not understand what it refers to. All schools are about information, aren‟t they? According to the I-School Charter, these schools are “interested in the relationship between information, technology, and people”2. If this relationship is obviously at the core of many problems that companies are facing today, how could a school address such a broad issue? In France, there isn‟t any School of Information per se. There is a National School: ENSSIB, which is the “Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l‟Information et des Bibliothèques”. But the purpose of this school is restricted to the training of librarians so it is not exactly a School of Information. In Europe, there are some other schools with “information studies” or “information management” included in their name. For instance, there is a Department of Information studies at the University of Wales Aberystwyth and an International Centre for Information Management Systems and Services in Poland (Tedd, 2003). But once again, these schools are more about training professionals who are going to work in very specific institutions such as libraries, archives and museums. Other institutions like the German Center for Digital Technology and Management or the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK adopt a multidisciplinary approach on issues related to information, technology and people3. Their goal is to “promote the information society” (Molloy 2005) and could be compared, to a certain extent, to the I-Schools. However, these institutions remain unusual in Europe and they do not represent a whole network as do the American I-Schools. In this paper, we describe the purpose of American I-Schools which, far from being homogeneous, differ in their history, organization and major goals. We shall explore whether they have the same roots, centered around “information professions”, “information economy”, and “information science”. First, we examine to what extent these roots are the founding features of the I-schools. Second, we provide a description of these schools to characterize both their similarities and differences. Finally, we address the future perspectives of these atypical institutions and conclude.

Rational and relational bases of public managers’ new profiles in the context of trust research

Competencies are a set of distinctive resources and opportunities. They relate to specific capabilities of management and to performance of management methods. In the catalogue of existing managerial competencies, an increasingly important role is played by trust. The deep insight in this field of literature gives grounds for the inference that trust is rather a means to achieve public organisations’ goals, than being the end in itself. Therefore in this article we have assumed, that contemporary competencies, to a large degree, rely on trust which is rationally and relationally rooted. The main aim of this paper is to identify and evaluate components of trust with reference to the competences of public managers mirrored in their new profiles. To achieve the goal of the article, publications of the field of organisational studies and public management which aim to show the importance of creating trust within an organisation were reviewed to identify main managerial competences analysed in the context of public trust as an important factor of improving public organisations. Moreover, the results of a survey with 93 respondents carried out in 2014 in 8 units of local public administration from the Malopolska Region were used. As a result the main components of trust in new public managers’ profiles have been identified and assessed