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It is worth focusing on the examination of factors influencing the quality of the work environment. The purpose of this paper is to verify the influence of the HRM system and organisational trust on employee commitment.

The survey was conducted in Poland among 370 employees in organisations from two sectors of the economy: services and industry. The verification of the theoretical model was performed based on structural equation modelling.

Research findings made it possible to successfully verify the model of the relationship between the HRM system (practices, process), organisational trust and commitment. The starting point for trust in an organisation followed by commitment is the HRM system. It seems that the impact of the HRM process on creating organisational trust is higher. Research findings have also confirmed a relationship between each type of organisational trust and calculative commitment based on benefits, which is a strong determinant of affective commitment. Organisational trust is, therefore, an intermediary factor because the organisation must build trust in employees first before they become affectively committed.

Current studies have not examined the issue of a mutual relationship between three constructs: perceived HRM practices and process, organisational trust and commitment. What is more, previous research was confined to the constructs analysed holistically without considering their complexity (different types of trust and commitment). In addition, the authors attempted to enrich Allen and Mayer’s (1991) model with a new aspect of the commitment – calculative, which is linked to the benefits received by employees. The authors also identified the mediating influence of the trust and calculative commitment onto the affective commitment.

Earlier studies into consumer ethnocentrism focused on identification of the level of ethnocentric tendencies in different countries and their investigation for various categories of products. This research contributes to a wider understanding of that phenomenon, aiming to explore the characteristics of Polish consumers' national and regional ethnocentric attitudes and behaviours, especially symptoms of those attitudes in relationship with locally produced brands of beer.

All the data were collected on a university campus in Poland in late autumn 2007 in a group of ten university students. Purposive sampling was used to establish two focus groups within the industry's main target market age group, each of which met on two occasions, three weeks apart.

The main identified issues broadly covered two main categories: national ethnocentrism and regional ethnocentrism. The findings point to the relative importance of elements such as brand image (based on Polish culture and referring to its symbols), local brands as contributors to local identities and the form of their expression, as well as a moral obligation to buy local brands.

Indicative findings suggest that several areas need to be further investigated in future research in order to better understand the characteristics of national and regional ethnocentric tendencies, and the contribution they make to local identities.