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However, the scale of corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation in Polish media organisations is diversified. The survey, which was conducted among the CEOs of some regional radio broadcast partnerships in Poland, indicates that only one of them has in fact accepted the CSR solutions. The majority of this group think there is no need to implement CSR because they consider it to be a duplication of the public media mission. Considering commercial media, all the biggest TV and radio stations apply CSR. The pressure is manifested by the fact that numerous media organisations – commercial and public ones – have accepted solutions of CSR. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

To verify the hypotheses, a survey was conducted from January to June 2015, in 12 (out of 17) Polish regional radio stations (independent partnerships). The research was of quality character – each media organisation selected for the survey was a separate case study. To collect the required data, two research methods were applied: in-depth interviews with the radio station CEOs (N1-N12); analysis of organisation documents concerning the mission of public organisations. We assumed that an in-depth analysis of a fragment of the empirical material in the form of a case study comes as an element of universal experience, and it reflects the universe (Denzin and Lincoln, 2009).

The survey suggests that only one organisation implements CSR standards. Its CEO, however is mainly driven by business reasoning. He considers that “it is an excellent tool to improve the image of the organisation in the advertisement market” and “a good way to present a radio company as a reliable business partner”.

A critical attitude to CSR in media organisations has a double source: generally, CSR is not adequate to all organisations; CSR multiplies social functions of a media organisation, and a role which it plays in the society. It comes as an immanent feature of the way how a media organisation functions in its basic dimension. As presented above, the attempt to define specific elements, which allow us to analyse the level of “advance” characteristic for a media organisation, drives us to a following conclusion: communication and implementation of the CSR standards seems natural in the context of such activities of media companies as placing orders (relations with business partners, internal policy of employment, etc.), however, it only comes as a confirmation of such expectations from media organisations which are connected with maintenance of journalist standards.

As the survey of the CEOs of Polish public radio companies suggests, the problem of multiplying social responsibility of media refers, first of all, to public media. Majority of the executives considers CSR as duplication of fulfilling the public mission, and as some superfluous practice in public media.

Considering this situation, it is possible to state that the concept of CSR, first of all, results from the presence of media entities in the market, where they compete mainly for the attention of listeners and advertisers. The consumer-investor dimension of media operations also contributes to the perception of CSR as the operation which is apparently pro-social, however which truly aims at increasing the company value by the improvement of its image as goods and service provider.

The source of acceptance for public media is a strong belief in social value of honest and competent information reporting and its contextualisation. At the same time, however, a basic deteriorating factor of media legitimisation is their transformation into market-oriented economy. Commodification of media means constant pressure to increase the role of “business” rhetoric and “business” solutions. The pressure is manifested by the fact that numerous media organisations – commercial and public ones – have accepted solutions of CSR.

Perceived compatibility between requirements of managerial work and attributes of women is believed important to the advancement and success of women, and research demonstrates continued ambivalence about women executives. The question of how images of women executives are disseminated, reproducing or contesting negative characterizations, has received little attention. The research reported here focuses on US business press as a cultural carrier disseminating images of women executives. Critical discourse analysis examined 27 front page Wall Street Journal accounts of 22 women executives in the year following Carly Fiorina’s appointment to head Hewlett‐Packard; 20 front page accounts of 24 men executives were used as comparison. Prominently featured articles on women executives provide fractured images of women as executives: while some accounts are positive, other portrayals reinforce negative perceptions of women’s competence and likeability as executives and concerns about the social order. Similar issues are not raised in coverage of male executives. Author gender does not seem to affect the portrayal.

Given the significant amount of public infrastructure spending and the widely expressed concern about the declining quality of the American public infrastructure system, research about the effectiveness of public infrastructure investment is especially timely and crucial. The study extends public service production theory and public choice theory to the public infrastructure field, and develops a realistic and full theoretical model of public highway production by taking state highway efficiency differences into account. The panel fixed-effects method is used to examine the effects of state highway finance on state highway infrastructure quality. This study finds that state highway maintenance spending plays a crucial role in improving state road and bridge quality. Moreover, highway efficiency elements matter for state highway infrastructure quality.

The purpose of this paper is to identify selected tools of external public relations (PR) employed by the public media in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to exemplify them with the activities of Radio Gdańsk in the years 2012-2015.

The opening section of the work is based on studies of the desk research type, i.e. analysis of the literature and industry data, plus exploration of the Radio Gdańsk website. The core part of the work was compiled based on primary research conducted under the quality method – a direct unstructured telephone interview held with a member of the Radio Gdańsk Supervisory Board. The interview concerned the activities of Radio Gdańsk in the years 2012-2015. The information acquired via telephone surveys has been supplemented with more written sources. The sources contained some detailed data without which the analysis of the subject matter would not have been possible. The authors of this study maintain that not only have the data acquired made the analysis possible but also that the paper ought to be treated only as a preliminary study with some interesting findings and a starting point for further analyses.

Reaching for actions of the CSR area carries tangible benefits also to the public media which consolidate their competitive edge thanks to the positive image of a socially engaged enterprise. Thus, using CSR tools, the public media are setting a model of a kind for others. Analysis of the Radio Gdańsk activity areas reveals that the broadcasters successfully employ the selected tools of external communication (external PR) which enable them to put in flesh the postulates of CSR and effectively create their image of a sensitive and socially engaged institution.

This study is based on an analysis of one of a dozen public radio stations and it has some interesting findings, which may be a starting point for further research into the subject. However, it gives the authors no answer as to whether other public media outlets in Poland implement CSR strategies, and what tools they apply in this respect. The authors think that the phenomenon deserves comprehensive and thorough research, which would help us broaden our knowledge of the problem. Yet another interesting aspect of the study, which is mentioned in the introduction, is the question whether (and if so – to what extent) the public media outlets implement CSR policies as part of their market strategy. The policies may after all be merely some intuitive attempts resulting from the general mission of such entities and unstable market situation, and in such cases the noble goals of CSR may be achieved solely by accident.

Using CSR tools, the public media are setting a model of a kind for others (i.e. commercial firms).

The assumptions of a CSR strategy can be found reflected in public media operations and become an action model of a kind for the management of commercial firms.

In a society with dispersed knowledge, entrepreneurs have to identify opportunities, recognize them as relevant, and match them with (demand) preferences, technological feasibilities, and their own skills. According to Austrian theory, this is done on a subjective basis: different people not only have different preferences but also different perceptions, interpretations, and understandings of values and feasibilities, which they adapt in mutual interaction and communication in specific contexts over their unique life courses (Nooteboom, 2000). Different minds think different things (Lachmann, 1978), and the entrepreneurial opportunities people perceive very much depend on their prior knowledge (Shane, 2000).

As the substantial contribution of resistant starch to food nutritional quality and disease prevention becomes more obvious, the challenge of incorporating it in the diet and increasing its intake remains. Western diets in particular, are estimated to have very low levels of resistant starch, and this has been linked to the prevalence of some of the non‐infectious diseases such as colorectal cancer and type 2 diabetes. There is a need therefore to increase the consumption of foods high in resistant starch. Resistant starch levels in food are determined by the nature of the starch and the processing techniques applied in production. Application of processes that optimize and stabilize resistant starch and its utilization as an ingredient in functional food product development will greatly contribute to its availability for consumption. This will enable attainment of the attendant physiological benefits of resistant starch, primarily in the area of disease prevention.

This paper aims to address how national culture moderates the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction.

The authors examine the most recent data collected from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in 2015 from a group of 33 countries. Hofstede's cultural model is used to represent and measure national culture.

One of the most significant findings from the authors’ two-level regression analysis is that having an interesting job contributes more to job satisfaction in individualistic countries than in collectivist countries. The authors also find that the newly introduced cultural dimension indulgence vs restraint has some significant moderating effect on the relationship between job security, salary, the perceived interest of a job and job satisfaction. Job security also seems to contribute less to job satisfaction in societies that are long-term oriented.

This study provides further support for a more careful, nuanced examination of job motivation theories. Multinational companies should understand the needs of their employees and diversify their compensation packages accordingly. More attention should be paid to job design in individualistic or indulgent-oriented countries to create a satisfying job experience.

The authors examine the most recent data from ISSP and extend the literature by incorporating two additional cultural dimensions from Hofstede's model as moderators.

This paper aims to analyse the construction of gender in business media through identification of media discourses in terms of vocabulary and vocabulary structures.

The authors conduct critical discourse analysis and linguistic text analysis of media articles in two Swedish business magazines, focussing on vocabulary and vocabulary structures used to describe men and women as managers.

Media texts fall into traditional, gender-stereotyped patterns. The use of metaphors, choice of words and sentence structures construct and maintain stereotyped models of gender. The linguistic practices and use of specific and gender-biased vocabulary shape discursive practices, contributing to the construction and reconstruction of institutionalised gender-stereotyped patterns of behaviour and established social norms.

The focus on vocabulary and vocabulary structures extends the technique and application of critical discourse analysis, enabling fine-grained analyses, in this case of media texts. This research also indicates a need for future studies that adopt a critical discourse analysis to take into account analytical procedures that shed light on micro-mechanisms that support the materialisations of gender inequalities.

Texts that portray both men and women show gender bias that is deeply rooted in the vocabulary and vocabulary structures and thus help to reinforce established discursive practices and gender inequalities. Therefore, there is a need for a fundamental change in the media reports on managers.

The research contributes to the analysis of media texts and representations of men and women as managers by providing a detailed analysis of discursive practices that takes into account vocabulary and vocabulary structures. The findings show the deeply rooted structure of gender-stereotyped patterns in media texts.