Organizations are becoming increasingly involved in non-financial reporting (NFR) due to legal obligations and stakeholder pressure. The aim of this exploratory, qualitative study, conducted in Germany in the context of European NFR legislation, is to investigate the impact of mandatory NFR policies on corporate sustainability, with a particular focus on the role of human resource management (HRM). In our investigation, we identify a change in organizational power relations and interdependencies in the context of mandatory NFR, indicating that a resource dependence perspective to HRM and corporate sustainability is a fruitful—but so far overlooked—avenue of enquiry. Based on our rich empirical data set, we propose an exploratory framework that outlines how mandatory NFR is related to organizational resource dependence involving the HR function and the department responsible for coordinating NFR processes. Furthermore, we elaborate on the consequences of this dependence, i.e., the increased strategic relevance of HRM in terms of contributing to corporate sustainability, especially the implementation of sustainable HRM practices. Our main contribution consists of a new perspective on the role of HRM in the context of mandatory NFR and the promotion of corporate sustainability. The proposed framework opens avenues for the further theoretical advancement of the field of sustainable HRM and resource dependencies in various contexts.

Studies of employee ownership (EO) have repeatedly cautioned that selection effects may be in part responsible for the apparent effects of EO on employee attitudes. Favourable attitudes among employee owners may result from individuals with positive views towards EO selecting into the company or the EO plan. Using data from a US employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), this study investigates whether EO as a factor in employment choice influences psychological ownership and preferences for working in EO firms in the future. The findings reveal that joining the company due to EO has a substantial, independent effect on psychological ownership beyond the influence of plan participation. The article quantifies the magnitude of this selection effect. Additionally, joining for this reason strongly impacts preferences for future employment in employee-owned firms.

Purpose This paper investigates the effects of the European Union’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) on annual disclosure related to human resource management (HRM) and corporate governance (CG) matters in Poland and Germany – two countries with notably different experiences with non-financial reporting (NFR) and a propensity to disclose non-financial information. Design/methodology/approach Our study is based on a sample of 167 enterprises in Poland and Germany that were continuously listed on major local stock exchanges over a period of five years from 2015 to 2019. To measure the outcome variables, we created disclosure indices for both HRM and CG information based on systematically selected GRI-based items that were refined by using principal component analysis (PCA). A panel analysis based on the random effect Tobit censored model was conducted to test the hypotheses of our study. Findings Our findings show that after introducing the respective NFR legislation, the corresponding disclosure of both human resource management and corporate governance aspects improves. These positive developments are more significant in Polish than in German companies, which clearly reflects the longer tradition of NFR in the latter group. Out of the control variables, the impact of adopting GRI-based reporting and company size (measured by the natural logarithm of assets) on HRM and CG disclosure is significant. Originality/value Empirical evidence regarding the effects of laws and regulations on NFR quality and quantity as well as sustainable organisational practices, remains inconclusive and international comparative research is still limited. By applying our procedure for determining index items and building propensity to report indices, we strived to increase the validity of our study covering two different institutional contexts. The varying impact of the legislative action in Poland and Germany demonstrates country-specific differences in the legitimating effects of mandatory NFR.

Although the European Non-financial Reporting Directive (Directive 2014/95/EU) aims primarily to increase the transparency of non-financial reports, it is also suggested that it will impact organizational practices, especially with regard to corporate governance and human resource management (HRM), in European Union (EU) member state companies. Considering the scarcity of research on the effects of non-financial reporting (NFR), especially taking into account potential influences of country-context factors, our qualitative comparative study aims at explaining the similarities and differences of the impact of mandatory NFR on organizational practices in two EU member states, Germany and Poland. While we find many similarities, country-specific factors account for differences in the way NFR is carried out, highlighting the need for contextualization. In particular, the countries' individual reporting histories, as well as the varying levels of intensity relating to talent scarcity and societal debates about sustainability issues, greatly influence organizational responses to mandatory NFR. We suggest an explanatory framework that will contribute to better understanding of organizational responses to NFR-related EU directives while considering country context. We further propose that the institutional mechanisms illustrated in our framework may restrict means-ends decoupling, that is, NFR serving as an end in itself and not as a means of enhancing sustainability performance. Finally, future avenues for investigating the effects of mandatory NFR on both organizations and their environments are proposed.

Employee shareholder associations (ESAs) have emerged as a novel, and widely underestimated actor in the European corporate arena, established to collect and pool the shares and voting power held by a company's employees. As such, they parallel existing institutions for employee representation, potentially empowering employees in their role as shareholders and possibly even providing a counterweight to traditional company owners. Unfortunately, we know little about the actual functioning, the inner workings, and, particularly, the ESAs' contributions to date. To address these shortcomings this paper explores the limitations but also the potential of ESAs in large, German listed companies to contribute to employee share ownership (ESO), to organizational democracy (OD), and to corporate sustainability (CS). Our findings show that, as far as ESOs and OD are concerned, in the specific German context, ESAs usually do not offer alternatives to (or even to compete with) existing employee representation but are instead rather dependent on cooperation with them. Regarding CS, any contribution here is closely linked to the ESAs' own principles and depends on the extent to which the ESA management takes them seriously and prioritizes them over other objectives.

Given the current relevance and scope of the debate, this special issue aims to enter into conversation with the

In der folgenden Übersicht wird das Thema Angst aus Sicht der Allgemeinmedizin diskutiert. Der Fokus liegt – neben den Angsterkrankungen (nach ICD-10) – auf der bei vielen Patienten zu beobachtenden ängstlichen Verarbeitung von Alltagsproblemen oder Krankheitssymptomen. Um diese Fälle besser zu verstehen, ist das Modell des ängstlichen Beziehungsmodus hilfreich und wird hier dargestellt. Typische Fallstricke beim rechtzeitigen Erkennen von Ängsten werden beschrieben und diagnostische Hilfen genannt. Therapeutisch wird empfohlen zwischen leichten bis mittleren und schweren Ängsten zu unterscheiden. Bei ersten ist – entsprechende Kenntnisse vorausgesetzt – eine Behandlung in der allgemeinärztlichen Praxis möglich. Es werden Empfehlungen für das therapeutische Gespräch gegeben.

Organizations are becoming increasingly more involved in non-financial reporting (NFR) due to legal obligations and stakeholder pressure. Although NFR is not a primary human resource management (HRM) activity, its involvement is in line with current research emphasizing the potential contribution of HRM to enhancing corporate sustainability. In the context of the European Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), this qualitative study investigates the impact of mandatory NFR regulations on organizational practices in relation to sustainable HRM. When analyzing interview data on NFR practices from large German companies, we recognized that applying arguments from a resource dependence perspective to explain changes in the role of HRM and its practices related to sustainability is a fruitful—but so far overlooked—avenue of enquiry. In this vein, we suggest a theoretical framework outlining how organizational resource dependencies are managed by HR and sustainability departments through NFR, and how these dependencies lead to the enhanced strategic relevance of HRM in terms of contributing to corporate sustainability. Our major contributions consist of a rich primary empirical dataset, which draws our attention to a new explanation of the role of HRM in the context of NFR applied in the suggested framework and includes theoretical advancement that can enrich future research.

Purpose Long regarded as a far-fetched notion, companies from post-socialist economies (PSEs) increasingly compete with companies from advanced economies in their domestic markets and abroad. This study identifies PSE companies' motives and determinants of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in advanced economies. Design/methodology/approach This study analyses Slovenian business activities in Germany by juxtaposing eight Slovenian investors and three exporters using a multiple case study approach. The authors use content analysis to examine rich data from semi-structured interviews, databases and internal and external documents to provide comprehensive and in-depth insights into PSE investments in advanced economies. Findings The authors identify market-seeking motives and competitive advantages which differ from those of other emerging economy companies and offer theoretical suggestions. In contrast to findings from other emerging economies, the authors identify firm- and country-specific advantages, such as high technology, high service quality, a highly educated labour force, and European Union membership, which Slovene companies have employed to enter the advanced German market. Originality/value This study represents the first application of springboard theory to explain PSE company investment in advanced economies. The authors offer contextualised explanations of PSE investments in advanced host economies, which have been lacking thus far. The authors also contribute to the scarcity of studies on the effects of supranational institutions on OFDI from emerging economies.

Legitimacy in foreign markets, a concept rooted in institutional theory, has traditionally been examined for firms originating from advanced economies. However, it becomes more complex for firms from emerging and post-transition economies. Polish firms began establishing foreign subsidiaries after the accession to the EU, primarily in European markets. In this context, Germany was a key destination for Polish foreign direct investment (FDI). However, scholarly literature about foreign subsidiaries established or acquired by Polish firms is limited. This article presents the analysis of the legitimation strategies employed by post-transition country firms in advanced economies, using Polish subsidiaries in Germany as empirical cases. The empirical context is chosen due to its economic significance and the close linkages between Poland and Germany. With a conceptual framework, the authors synthesise legitimation strategies discussed in scholar literature and highlight some unique challenges for post-transition economy’s firms. The article presents outcomes from a qualitative study, extending the framework and offering some fresh perspectives in the field of international business legitimacy.

How do employees who are coerced to work from home during COVID-19 cope with this unprecedented situation? Drawing upon the job-demands-resources (JD-R) model and upon the literature on coping, we analyse empirical qualitative material which stems from two-stage interviews with and online diaries prepared by 15 white-collar employees in Romania. We identify four initial coping types in relation to mandatory working from home: ‘explorers’, ‘statics’, ‘chaotics’ and ‘irremediables’. In the follow-up stage of the field work, the ‘chaotic’ type of coping disappears. These findings in relation to the unique pandemic situation represent a significant contribution to the literature on working from home as well as on coping with stress.

This special issue focuses on the developments in ethical standards in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) including the former Soviet Union. Over thirty years have elapsed since the demise of the Soviet Bloc and, despite some common institutional features, the societies have had very different experiences with uneven developments across the region since the collapse of communism. In this special issue, the authors explore business and management ethics situated within the context of the challenges that face these still transforming post-communist societies. The papers cover a range of issues and countries including Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia. Potential further avenues for research are identified in the field of business ethics in post-communist societies.

The housing wealth-to-income ratio has been increasing in most developed economies since the 1950s. We provide a novel theory to explain this long-term pattern. We show analytically that house prices grow in the steady state if i) the housing sector is more land-intensive than the non-housing sector, or ii) technological progress in the construction sector is weaker than in the non-housing sector. Despite growing house prices and housing wealth, the housing wealth-to income ratio is constant in steady state. We hence study the dynamics in the housing wealth-to-income ratio by computing transitions. The model is calibrated separately to the US, UK, France, and Germany. On average, we replicate 89 percent of the observed increase in the housing wealth-to-income ratio. The key for replicating the data is the differentiation between residential land as a non-reproducible factor and residential structure as reproducible factor. The transition process from the calibrated model points to two driving forces of an increasing housing wealth-to-income ratio: i) A long-lasting construction boom that brought about a pronounced build-up in the stock of structures and ii) an increase in the demand for residential land that resulted in surging residential land prices.

To get an insight into internalization processes of Slovenian MNEs and particularly to their activities in Germany, we adopted a distinctively qualitative approach and conducted semi-structured interviews with key actors of five major Slovene companies we used as case studies. Our study shows that several major assumptions regarding frontier and emerging market MNE international activities do not fit to Slovene companies. They were found to act as innovation leaders with high quality products and services, as well as with competitive pricing, as long as their technological capabilities are competitive. The liability of foreignness as well as the liability of country of origin are steeply declining with increasing technological capabilities in Slovene EMNEs. They also showed high institutional familiarity and suffered little from uncertainty. Our study also shows that Slovene companies partially show competitive advantages compared to their German counterparts. Moreover, our findings confirm that economic liberalization, in this case Slovenia’s entry into the European common market, is a significant force driving company growth and internationalization. Thereby, this study presents generalizable insights into the internationalization process from Central and Eastern Europe and anywhere where large multinationals are scarce yet.

The trajectories of real housing rents and real house prices have shown an upward sloping trend in most industrialized countries since WW2. The burden of rising housing rents is likely to be distributed unequally because income-poor households devote a larger share of their consumption expenditures on housing than income-rich households. This inverse relation between income and the expenditure share of housing is labeled Schwabe's law. We analyze how the dynamics in housing rents affect household welfare, accounting for Schwabe's law and the endogeneity of housing rents in general equilibrium. We show analytically that Schwabe's law amplifies heterogeneous welfare effects that operate through housing rent changes. We then study how zoning deregulation affects household welfare in general equilibrium. Zoning deregulation triggers a temporarily slower growth in housing rents and house prices. The representative household experiences a welfare gain of 0.37 percent. This welfare effect is unequally distributed at the micro-level. The highest welfare gain amounts to 12.52 percent, while the highest welfare loss amounts to 1.63 percent. Lower housing rent growth drives most of the overall welfare gain, and Schwabe's law is responsible for most of the variation in the welfare gain across households.

In this article, we explore how a lead firm's strategy for corporate social responsibility influences the social upgrading of a supplier in a global value chain. Based on a single case study approach, we investigate the interaction between Dutch smartphone producer Fairphone and its Chinese supplier Guohong. On the one hand, the case illustrates how a cooperative approach to corporate social responsibility can lead to progress in suppliers' social upgrading. In particular, we highlight the role of a so-called workers' welfare fund as a mechanism not only for improving measurable labour standards but also for enabling rights. On the other hand, the case demonstrates how the limited production and technological capabilities of the suppliers, a competitive market environment and lead firms' limited strategic access to the supply chain might constrain the extent of social upgrading through a cooperative approach towards corporate social responsibility in a global value chain.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to enhance Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice for the analysis of power in multinational corporations. Therefore, they adopt and apply the Theory of Practice on power struggles within the board as the key field of power within the multinational company (MNC), which is interwoven with power struggles at the intraorganizational and interorganizational level of an MNC and its environment. Design/methodology/approach This paper describes the main elements of Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and demonstrates their applicability to power struggles in MNCs, particularly through the development of a multi-level framework. This argument is illustrated by the case of a large German MNC’s supervisory board. Findings Extending Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice to the analysis of power in MNCs provides several advantages. Above all, we show the relevance of the board as the key field of power within MNCs that influences and is influenced by power constellations and power struggles throughout the MNC and its environment. Thereby, a more differentiated picture of (key) actors involved in power struggles in MNCs, and a deeper comprehension of the very nature of power in MNCs is achieved. Research limitations/implications Placing the supervisory board at the center implies that our framework is relevant to the study of not only power in MNCs but also boards. In addition, the authors arrive at practical implications for organizational actors and politics. As they concentrate on the presentation and illustration of the conceptual framework, the discussion of its methodological applicability options, as well as the integration of the various, detailed empirical findings of the previous MNC literature remain limited. Originality/value In contrast to earlier studies, this paper introduces a theoretical perspective that is not limited to either the micro-, meso- or macro-level of organizational analysis, but includes them and balances aspects of structure and agency well. The value of this fresh perspective on power in MNCs and its capability to deal with the complexity of this specific type of organization is demonstrated.