Ethics of managers in Slovenian public administration

The main purpose of this paper is to examine how managers’ personal values and managers’ attitudes towards the natural and social environment are shaping the ethics of those same managers in public administration. The findings are based on a sample of 212 managers from Slovenian public administration. Personal values were measured using the Schwartz value survey, while attitudes toward natural and social environment were measured with a validated questionnaire. Results show that managers’ self-enhancing values are positively related to their attitudes toward both natural and social environment and their ethics. Managers’ self-transcendence values were found to be negatively associated with their attitudes toward the social environment and their ethics. Managers’ attitudes toward natural and social environment are both positively related with the managers’ ethics. The mediation effect of the attitudes towards the social environment on the relationships between managers’ personal values and their ethics is positive and significant. The main cognition is that managers’ attitudes towards the social environment are a significantly stronger predictor of managers’ ethics than are managers’ personal values

Management practices utilization in organizations – A comparison between catching-up and well-developed economies

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the utilization of management practices in catching-up and well-developed economies. Within that framework, the paper examines the utilization of management practices in Slovenian and Croatian organizations, as both are considered the representatives of catching-up economies from Central and East Europe (CEE), while also comparing the utilization of management practices in the two selected economies to the global use of management practices. Evidences about management practices utilization reveal that in well-developed economies in the forefront are management practices aiming to support customer relationship management, strength customer relations and customer satisfaction, while in Slovenia and Croatia prevail practices that are oriented toward optimization of the business and its processes. Based on the research results and the situation in organizations, a possible future pattern of management practice utilization in organizations operating in catching up economies is outlined, with the aim to reduce the developmental lag and increase competitiveness of those organizations. The paper also provides several practical implications for future utilization of management practices in catching-up economies. The sample of catching up-countries includes 155 responses from employees in Slovenian organizations and 185 from Croatian ones. Data for samples from well-developed economies are obtained from a global survey of management practices

Management practices utilization in organizations – A comparison between catching-up and well-developed economies

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the utilization of management practices in catching-up and well-developed economies. Within that framework, the paper examines the utilization of management practices in Slovenian and Croatian organizations, as both are considered the representatives of catching-up economies from Central and East Europe (CEE), while also comparing the utilization of management practices in the two selected economies to the global use of management practices. Evidences about management practices utilization reveal that in well-developed economies in the forefront are management practices aiming to support customer relationship management, strength customer relations and customer satisfaction, while in Slovenia and Croatia prevail practices that are oriented toward optimization of the business and its processes. Based on the research results and the situation in organizations, a possible future pattern of management practice utilization in organizations operating in catching up economies is outlined, with the aim to reduce the developmental lag and increase competitiveness of those organizations. The paper also provides several practical implications for future utilization of management practices in catching-up economies. The sample of catching up-countries includes 155 responses from employees in Slovenian organizations and 185 from Croatian ones. Data for samples from well-developed economies are obtained from a global survey of management practices

Innovativeness of IT Managers - Exploring Influences of Personal Values on IT Managers’ Innovativeness

AbstractOur research aims to establish the influence of IT managers’ personal values on their innovativeness. We examine the directions and intensities of considered influences related with the survey which included 208 IT managers’ responses from Slovenian enterprises, obtained in 2012. Schwartz values survey questionnaire was used for measuring IT managers’ personal values and typical behavior of managers in most innovative IT enterprises was used for measuring IT managers’ attitudes toward innovativeness. Exploratory factor analysis reveals proposed measure as reliable. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the selected influence. Findings from hierarchical regression analysis reveal that the values on the level of high-order dimension of self-transcendence have positive association with typical innovative behavior. Values’ sub- dimension of power has negative association with typical innovative behavior, while achievement has positive association with innovative behavior. High importance of ambition, success, freedom, and helpfulness has a positive association with typical innovative behavior, while a high importance of wealth, detachment, and accepting ‘my portion’ in life, has a negative association with typical innovative behavior

Toward a holistic perception of socially responsible ethics

Cel - propozycja holistycznej definicji społecznie odpowiedzialnej etyki biznesu rozumianego jako system. W artykule rozważany jest podstawowy problem: Jak interesariusze rozumieją społecznie odpowiedzialną etykę? Z tego punktu widzenia biznes powinien być badany pod kątem współczesnej etyki. Holizm w percepcji społecznie odpowiedzialnej etyki w biznesie jest nieunikniony; może on wynikać z badań dotyczących wzajemnych zależności pomiędzy praktyką biznesową, ogólną etyką i etyką społecznie odpowiedzialną. Projekt/metodologia/podejście: w artykule prezentowane jest podejście jakościowe opierające się na etyce, etyce biznesu oraz teoriach dialektycznych i systemowych. Wyniki - Etyka może być rozumiana jako subiektywny element punktu wyjścia każdego ludzkiego procesu, włączając w to biznes. Etyka biznesu jest tak samo kluczowa jak innego rodzaju wiedza oraz znajomość zewnętrznych/ obiektywnych warunków, ponieważ ludzie są zarówno bytami racjonalnymi, jak i emocjonalnymi i to połączenie tworzy synergię. Żeby uściślić i wykorzystać w odpowiedni sposób społecznie odpowiedzialną etykę, należy zrozumieć relacje pomiędzy globalizacją a biznesem jako systemem, wziąć pod uwagę nowe koncepcje rozwoju biznesu i społecznie odpowiedzialnej etyki. Badania/ograniczenia/implikacje: Badanie ogranicza się do hipotez i analizy jakościowej. Praktyczne doświadczenie jest zakładane implicite. Hipotezy są testowane przez informację zwrotną pracowników na temat ich percepcji wybranych elementów społecznie odpowiedzialnej etyki w firmach słoweńskich. Do badania przypadków wykorzystano analizę zależności, elementy opisowej statystyki i przedstawiono wyniki graficznie. Praktyczne implikacje: Jest to krok w kierunku rozwijania biznesu z uwzględnieniem koniecznego holistycznego podejścia bazującego na intuicji całości. Zasugerowano bardziej szczegółowe i zorientowane na cele rozumienie i badanie społecznie odpowiedzialnej etyki biznesu jako systemu, funkcjonującego we współczesnym otoczeniu. Oryginalność/wartość: Zaprezentowano nowe podejście dotyczące bardziej holistycznego rozumienia i rozważań w etyce biznesu, które jest rzadkie w głównym nurcie literatury, jak również nowe rozumienie i definicję społecznie odpowiedzialnej etykiPurpose - To offer a new requisitely holistic definition of socially responsible ethics (SRE) of Business systems (BSs). The contribution considers a basic problem: How do stakeholders understand and think about SRE? Therefore business should be investigated from the viewpoint of modern ethics. Requisite holism of perceiving SRE in business reality is unavoidable; it can result from findings and considerations of the interdependence between business practice, general ethics, and SRE. Design/methodology/approach - In this paper qualitative research is performed based on Ethics, Business Ethics, Business, and Dialectical Systems Theories. Findings - Ethics can be viewed as the subjective part of the starting points for any human process, including business. Business ethics (BE) are equally crucial as knowledge and outer/objective conditions are, because humans are both rational and emotional and spiritual beings, and are so in synergy. To clarify and beneficially use SRE, one must understand relations between globalization and characteristics of BSs, new and prevailing development concepts of BSs, and SRE and prevailing BE in BSs. Research limitation/implications - Research is limited to hypotheses and qualitative analysis by means of desk research. Practical experience is considered implicitly. Postulated hypotheses are tested by employees' feedback about their perception of selected factors regarding SRE in Slovenian organizations. For case investigation we used factorial analysis, elements of descriptive statistics, and graphical representation of results. Practical implications - This is a step toward development of business with a requisitely holistic approach founded on requisite wholeness of insight. We suggest a more specifically created and target-oriented approach to understanding and research of SRE of BSs in the current environment. Originality/value - We offer a fresh approach for more holistic understanding and consideration of BE, rarely found in main-stream literature. A new perception and definition of SRE is offere

Social responsibility and strategic orientation of higher education - Cases of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

The main purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the current state of higher education’s social responsibility activities, their strategic orientations and linkages between them. A survey was conducted among Croatian and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s students. The results are based on 219 answers from Croatia and 172 answers from Bosnia and Herzegovina students. Regarding social responsibility, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are countries that share similar pattern and where social concern is in the forefront, followed by concern for ethical working and behaviour and concern for the natural environment, while the least important is concern for economic results. Regarding strategic orientation, the pattern differs between countries, although orientation towards social goals is in the forefront. Regarding the linkage between social responsibility and strategic orientation, the concern for economic results is the only significant and dominant one, while other dimensions do not have a significant impact on strategic orientation. Among controls, the level of study is a significant variable as master students perceive the flexibility of education and organizations orientation towards social goals less favourably. The findings will serve higher education organizations for rethinking their strategies and actions for a better response to the environmental and societal challenges, on which higher education can base its future actions

How Socially Responsible Are Business Students – Evidence from Slovenia?

This paper reports about research examining social responsibility of business students through students’ perception about corporate social responsibility (CSR). Study exposes the behavior and CSR theories and analyzes answers from 183 business students from Slovenia. Authors established a model, to examine students’ perception about the impact of the economic CSR - considered through the “primary concern for economic results” and “devoting resources for CSR”, to the “natural CSR” and “social CSR”. Among student the interest for the natural CSR prevailed, while the economic aspect of CSR is the least appreciated. In the considered sample, associations between CSR aspects reveal significant and negative association between the concern for economic results and the natural and social CSR. In addition, positive and significant impact of devoting resources for CSR to the natural and social CSR exists between students. Devoting resources contributes more to the concern for social than for the natural CSR. The economic CSR explains significantly more variance in the social than in the natural CSR. Findings could help improving students’ CSR behavior as future employees, but also development of education about CSR in the higher education organizations and society

Testing environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: the role of enterprise’s sustainability and other factors on GHG in European countries

The paper analyses the environmental Kuznets curve relationship between greenhouse gases and chosen indicators of economic development based on the panel data of 20 countries of the EU in the period 2006–2013. Besides the typical variables, such as the share of a particular polluting industry, environmental taxes, energy taxes, research and development, the dummy variable of the crises and enterprise’s sustainability score were also included in the model. The fixed effect panel model was used as a framework for the analysis. The original contribution of this paper is that the factor referring to the enterprises’ sustainability was empirically tested in the expanded model. Higher energy taxes, research and development and the number of sustainable enterprises decrease the level of greenhouse gases. The size of agriculture, production and construction has a positive sign, which means that a higher value of the indicator is associated with a higher level of greenhouse gases. This implies that the analysed set of factors can be applied to adjust the trend in the region and might be useful for the climate change policy adjustment

Values, environmental concern and economic concern as predictors of enterprise environmental responsiveness

This article reports on examination of the relationships between manager’s personal values, their attitudes toward concern for environment, concern for economic results and enterprise environmental responsiveness. Schwartz’s list of values and statements about the environmental and economic concerns is used. We analyzed 1179 managers’ answers from Slovenian enterprises with structural equation modeling. Manager’s concern results: (a) for environment positively and significantly and (b) for economics negatively and insignificantly, in influence on enterprise environmental responsiveness. Two value dimensions significantly influence enterprise environmental responsiveness and one negatively. Environmental concern mediates the effect of three, and concern for economic results mediates the effect of two value dimensions on enterprise’s environmental responsiveness. Generalization can be limited due to the focus on one Central Europe country; future examination is needed. Findings are useful for the development of enterprises’ pro-environmental behavior and development of enterprise value system. A model of enterprise’s environmental responsiveness is developed