Managing Global Transitions International Research Journal issN 1854-6935 • www.mgt.fm-kp.si EDITOR Suzana Laporsek, University ofPrimorska, Slovenia, suzana. laporsek@fm-kp.si ASSOCIATE EDITOR Robert D. Hisrich, Thunderbird School of Global Management, us a, rhisrici@kent. edu MANAGING AND PRODUCTION EDITOR Alen Jezovnik, University ofPrimorska, Slovenia, alen.jezovnik@fm-kp.si EDITORIAL BOARD Jani Bekô, Univerza v Mariboru, Slovenia, jani.beko@uni-mb.si Heri Bezic, University ofRijeka, Croatia, bezic@efri.hr Guido Bortoluzzi, University of Trieste, Italy, guido. bortoluzzi@deams.units.it Branko Bucar, Walsh University, usa, bbucar@walsh. edu Suzanne Catana, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, usa, catanasl@plattsburgh.edu David L. Deeds, University of St. Thomas, usa, david.deeds@gmail.com Evan Douglas, Griffith Universitiy, Australia, e.douglas@griffith.edu.au Dean Fantazzini, Moscow School of Economics, Russiafantazzini@mse-msu.ru Jeffrey Ford, The Ohio State University, usa, ford.1@osu.edu William C. Gartner, University of Minnesota, usa, wcg@umn.edu Noel Gough, La Trobe University, Australia, n.gough@latrobe.edu.au Henryk Gurgul, agh University of Science and Technology, Poland, henryk.gurgul@gmail.com José Solana Ibanez, University Centre of Defence San Javier - Technical University ofCartagena, Spain, jose.solana@cud.upct.es Andras Inotai, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary, inotai.andras@krtk.mta.hu Hun Jo on Park, Yonsei University, South Korea, hjpark@yonsei.ac.kr Renata Karkowska, University of Warsaw, Poland, rkarkowska@wz.uw.edu.pl Tanja Kosi Antolic, Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, Slovenia, tanja. kosi-antolic@gov.si Leonard H. Lynn, Case Western Reserve University, us a, leonard.lynn@case.edu Monty Lynn, Abilene Christian University, usa, monty.lynn@coba.acu.edu Massimiliano Marzo, University of Bologna, Italy, massimiliano.marzo@unibo.it Luigi Menghini, University of Trieste, Italy, menghini@univ. trieste.it Karim Moustaghfir, Al Akhawayn University inlfrane, Morocco, k.moustaghfir@aui.ma Kevin O'Neill, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, usa, kevin.oneill@plattsburgh. edu Hazbo Skoko, Charles Sturt University, Australia, hskoko@csu.edu.au David Starr-Glass, State University of New York - Empire State College, us a, david.starr-glass@esc.edu Ian Stronach, The University of Manchester, uk, ian.stronach@manchester.uk Marinko Skare, University ofPula, Croatia, mskare@unipu.hr Nada Trunk Sirca, International School of Social and Business Studies, Slovenia, trunk.nada@gmail.com Irena Vida, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, irena.vida@ef.uni-lj.si Manfred Weiss, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Germany, m. weiss@jur. uni-frankfurt. de INDEXING AND ABSTRACTING Managing Global Transitions is indexed/ listed in the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, EconLit, doaj, EconPapers, Cabell's, ebsco, and ProQuest. Managing Global Transitions International Research Journal VOLUME 14 ■ NUMBER 2 ■ SUMMER 2016 ■ ISSN 1854-6935 117 Asymmetric Convergence in Globalization? Findings from a Disaggregated Analysis Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias, and Petros Messis 137 Bilateral Trade and SEE-Eurozone Countries Growth Rate Alignment Valerija Botric and Tanja Broz 157 Financial Development and Shadow Economy in European Union Transition Economies Yilmaz Bayar and Omer Faruk Ozturk 175 The Influence of Leadership Factors on the Implementation of ISO 14001 in Organizations Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec 195 Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews as Factors Influencing Online Product Comparison Sites Usage by Young Consumers Radoslaw Mqcik and Dorota Macik 217 Abstracts in Slovene AIMS AND SCOPE Transition is the widely accepted term for the thorough going political, institutional, organizational, social, and technological changes and innovations as well as economy-wide and sector changes in societies, countries and businesses to establish and enhance a sustainable economic environment. Managing Global Transitions is a social sciences' interdisciplinary research journal. The aim of this journal is to publish research articles which analyse all aspects of transitions and changes in societies, economies, cultures, networks, organizations, teams, and individuals, and the processes that are most effective in managing large scale transitions from dominant structures to more evolutionary, developmental forms, in a global environment. The journal seeks to offer researchers and professionals the opportunity to discuss the most demanding issues regarding managing of those transitions to establish and enhance a sustainable economic environment. TOPICS COVERED • Business (accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, informatics, technology, innovations,...) • Business law, law and economics, business ethics • Demographic and labour economics, human resources, knowledge management • Econometric and mathematical modelling of business and economic processes, operations research • Globalisation, international economics • Historical transitions, transition experiments, transition pathways and mechanisms, visions of the future • Macroeconomics (growth, development, business cycles, government regulation, fiscal policy, monetary and public economics, welfare,...) • Microeconomics (theory and applications, industrial organisation, market structure, competition, innovation, . . .) • Sociological, psychological and politolo-gical issues of transitions • Sustainability issues, environmental business and economics • Urban, rural, regional economics CONTENTS Managing Global Transitions publishes original and review articles and case studies. SUBMISSIONS The manuscripts should be submitted as e-mail attachment to the editorial office at mgt@fm-kp.si. Detailed guide for authors and publishing ethics statement are available at www.mgt.fm-kp.si. Managing Global Transitions is an open access journal distributed under the terms ofthe Creative Commons cc by-nc-nd 4.0 License. No author fees are charged. editorial office University of Primorska Faculty of Management Cankarjeva 5, 6104 Koper, Slovenia mgt@fm-kp.si • www.mgt.fm-kp.si published by University of Primorska Press Titov trg 4, 6000 Koper, Slovenia zalozba@upr.si • www.hippocampus.si m VA v* v o 0 * s* 1 < f Í* «v Revija Managing Global Transitions je namenjena mednarodni znanstveni javnosti; izhaja v angleščini s povzetki v slovenščini. Izid revije je finančno podprla Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije iz sredstev državnega proračuna iz naslova razpisa za sofinanciranje izdajanja domačih znanstvenih periodičnih publikacij. Asymmetric Convergence in Globalization? Findings from a Disaggregated Analysis Paschalis Arvanitidis University of Thessaly, Greece parvanit@uth.gr Christos Kollias University of Thessaly, Greece kollias@uth.gr Petros Messis University of Macedonia, Greece pmessis@uom.gr Using the kof index of globalization that allows for the multidimension-ality of the process, the paper sets out to examine the presence of convergence among countries in the three dimensions of the globalization process: economic, social, political. The sample used in the empirical investigation consists of 111 countries and covers the period 1971-2011. To allow for differences in the speed of convergence, countries were clustered into four income groups: high, upper middle, lower middle and low income in line with the World Bank's classification. The results yielded and reported herein point to an asymmetric process of convergence with different speeds both between groups as well as in the different dimensions of globalization. Key Words: globalization, convergence, unit roots jel Classification: C23, F01, f6o Introduction Spurred by the seminal theoretical contributions of Solow (1956) and Swan (1956) as well as the studies by Barro (1991) and Barro and Salai-Martin (1992), there is a steadily and rapidly expanding large body of literature, examining a diverse array of issues associated with the theoretical treatment as well as the empirical investigation of the presence (or not) of convergence among countries on various spheres (Heichel, Pape, and Sommerer 2005; Islam 2003; Holzinger 2006; Abreu, de Groot and Florax 2005; Galor 1996). Originally, convergence analysis focused on the question of whether over time the growth process is an equalizing one, tending to promote inter-country or inter-regional convergence with Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 117-135 118 Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias, and Petros Messis regards to various characteristics such as per capita income, labor productivity, labor force structure etc. (Ozguzer and Ogu§-Binatli 2016; Novak 2011; Artelaris, Arvanitidis, and Petrakos 2011; Mazumdar 2003; Borsi and Metiu 2015). This, often heated debate, has rapidly spilled-over into other spheres where convergence could be taking place (Ezcurra and Rios 2013; Cao 2012; Arvanitidis, Kollias, and Anastasopoulos 2014; Schmitt and Starke 2011; Heckelman and Mazumder 2013; Anagnostou, Kallioras, and Kollias 2015; Jorda and Sarabia 2015). In the broader spirit of such studies, this paper sets out to examine international convergence in terms of globalization, a process that creates complex, multilevel links and interdependencies between countries and through them leads to an increasing international integration (Dreher, gaston, and Martens 2008; De 2014; Caselli 2008; 2012). The sample used in the empirical investigation consists of 111 countries and covers the period 1971-2011. The structure of the paper is as follows. The next section offers an epigrammatic literature survey of the issues associated with the multifaceted process of globalization. The third section presents the data used and contains a descriptive analysis of it. The steps of the empirical methodology adopted are described in the fourth section, and the findings are presented and discussed in the fifth section. Finally, the sixth section concludes the paper. Globalization: An Epigrammatic Literature Review As Mukherjee and Krieckhaus (2012) note, the multidimensional character of globalization is probably one of the few rare instances where a universal consensus exists among scholars and researchers from a cohort of different perspectives and disciplines. The economic, political and social outcomes of this dynamic process have come under growing empirical scrutiny. However, given the wide divergence of opinions and reported findings in the relevant theoretical and empirical discourse, quite the opposite assertion is the case when it comes to its effects. On balance, it could tentatively be argued that most studies focus on the various economic effects of the growing global economic interdependence while a particular strand of the expanding globalization literature, addresses the possible effect this deepening process has on national democratic governance (Chang, Lee, and Hsief 2015; Gurgul and Lach 2014; Potrafke 2013; Salvatore and Campano 2012; Zhou et al. 2011; Dreher and Gaston 2007; Chang and Lee 2010). Keohane and Nye (2000) and Sahlberg (2004) point out that the mul- Managing Global Transitions Asymmetric Convergence in Globalization? 119 tifaceted process of globalization essentially involves three major dimensions: the economic, the social and the political. The first is probably the most dominant feature of globalization and has understandably attracted most of the attention in the relevant literature. Essentially, it refers to the steadily growing flows of goods, capital and services between countries. The second and the third dimension of this dynamic and multidimensional process are perhaps less overt, but nevertheless also having substantial effects. The social dimension of globalization includes the spread of ideas and information as well as cultural and consumer habits. The political, involving the diffusion, harmonization, emulation and even imposition of government policies across countries. Hence, the intensifying flows generated by the process of globalization are not, as Clark (2000) observes, limited to goods and capital but include among others information, human mobility, diffusion of ideas and norms. As a result, the bonds that it creates are not limited to the economic realm but it nurtures the cross-fertilization between countries and societies in many and varied spheres, including governance and institutions, economic policies and organization, societal structures and norms, cultural and consumer habits (Bezemer and Jong-A-Pin 2013; Eichengreen and Leblang 2008; Gartzke and Li 2003; Decker and Lim 2009; Kirby 2006; Avelino, Brown, and Hunter 2005; Drezner 2005). The globalization convergence issue is empirically investigated for all the aforementioned three dimensions - i.e. economic, social and political (Sahlberg 2004; Keohane and Nye 2000). The reason being that it is possible for countries to present an asymmetric behavior in terms of convergence and integration. For example, a country may be more integrated in the economic aspect of this process but less so in the social or political side. In other words, integration and convergence in this process maybe taking place in any one or all of these three dimensions albeit with different speeds. Countries can be converging faster in one of the three globalization dimensions and at a lower speed in another. For example, convergence in the economic dimension of globalization as depicted by things such as trade flows, fdi, portfolio investment etc. could be much more prominent and empirically traceable compared to the political or social dimension. Convergence in the latter two spheres maybe proceeding at a slower pace given that it involves changes that usually take place more gradually and over comparatively longer time spans. Furthermore, the speed and degree of convergence may differ depending on a country's traits (Lenschow, Liefferink, and Veenman 2005; Obinger, Schmitt, and Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 120 Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias, and Petros Messis Starke 2013). To this effect, it was decided to conduct the empirical analysis both with the entire sample of 111 countries as well as different subsam-ples. We opted to use the level of development as a criterion of grouping the countries together in more homogenous groups. Again, the postulated idea is that it is possible that the degree and speed of convergence could be influenced by a country's developmental level and standards of living. Once again, convergence may not be uniform and balanced across all three globalization dimensions and may very well depend on their development level. The Data: A Descriptive Presentation As already noted above, globalization is a multifaceted process. A number of globalization indexes such as the csgr Globalization Index; the Maastricht Globalization Index (mgi); the kof Index of Globalization; the New Globalization Index (ngi); the G-Index; the Global Index, have been constructed in order to capture and quantify this multidimensional-ity. A critical survey of these indexes can be found in Martens et al. (2015), Samimi, Lim, and Buang (2011; 2012), Caselli (2008; 2012) and hence we refrain from repeating a similar exercise which in any case is well beyond the scope of this paper. For our purposes here, we use the kof1 index of globalization from where all the data is drawn (Dreher 2006; Dreher, Gaston, and Martens 2008). This choice is driven by data availability considerations. Some of the aforementioned indexes are not updated to recent years or are not available on an annual. Just as other indexes, the ko f index, is a composite index that encapsulates the multifaceted characteristics of globalization, allowing for the three main dimensions of the process (Sahlberg 2004; Keohane and Nye 2000). To this effects, it is made up by three sub-indices that quantify the economic, social and political aspects of globalization. The three sub-indices have a weighted contribution towards the construction of the overall composite ko f globalization index: 36% for the economic, 38% for the social and 26% for the political dimension. The aggregate ko f globalization index as well as the three sub-indices are measured in a 0-100 scale with higher scores indicating a greater degree of integration by a country in the globalization process and in each of the three dimensions quantified by the sub-indices. A number of metrics are employed to this effect.2 For instance, among others they include international trade and fdi flows, restrictions on trade and capital controls for the economic globalization sub-index. The social dimension is captured by things such as for example international tourism, Managing Global Transitions Asymmetric Convergence in Globalization? 121 table 1 Average Globalization Scores in Selected Countries, 1971-2011 Algeria (a) 41.22 China (a) 33.20 Paraguay (a) 39.83 (b) 23-31 (b) 25.18 (b) 30.13 (c) 70.22 (c) 57.97 (c) 52.12 (d) 41.98 (d) 36.60 (d) 39-35 Belgium (a) 85.60 Luxemburg (a) 94.10 Philippines (a) 45.47 (b) 71.91 (b) 70.72 (b) 30.99 (c) 93-73 (c) 61.21 (c) 61.57 (d) 82.53 (d) 76.71 (d) 44.18 Brazil (a) 46.79 Myanmar (a) 38.79 Singapore (a) 92.99 (b) 31.95 (b) 5.96 (b) 80.69 (c) 78.00 (c) 24.77 (c) 51.67 (d) 49.28 (d) 22.73 (d) 77.60 Bulgaria (a) 52.28 Norway (a) 72.81 Tanzania (a) 28.63 (b) 37.36 (b) 71.29 (b) 16.51 (c) 68.69 (c) 88.47 (c) 43.19 (d) 50.90 (d) 76.31 (d) 27.83 Burundi (a) 19.35 Pakistan (a) 28.59 Turkey (a) 45.12 (b) 14.75 (b) 21.54 (b) 38.97 (c) 34.46 (c) 69.63 (c) 75.82 (d) 21-53 (d) 36-59 (d) 50.77 notes Row headings are as follows: (a) economic, (b) social, (c) political, (d) kof index. Based on data from http://globalization.kof.ethz.ch. foreign population in the country, trade in books, information flows, internet users while for the political dimension sub-index the number of foreign embassies, membership of international organizations and participation in un peace missions and treaties are used to construct it. The sample of countries used here present a quite varied picture in terms of the scores each country gets either in the overall ko f globalization index or the three constituent sub-indices that contribute towards its construction. Table 1 presents the average scores for a group of countries over the period 1971-2011 as these are estimated from the ko f database. Although it cannot be claimed that the countries included in it are strictly speaking representative examples, they were nevertheless selected in such a way as to depict and highlight the quite diverse picture presented by the coun- Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 122 Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias, and Petros Messis tries in our sample. For instance, the sample includes countries such as Belgium that score quite high in terms of their level of integration into the globalization process both in the overall kof index as well as the economic, social and political dimensions. The same applies for Norway and Luxemburg. In other words, they are countries that exhibit a fairly balanced and symmetric integration into the three dimensions of globalization. On the other end of the spectrum, countries such as Burundi or Myanmar, chosen as examples, score fairly low in all the indices and present a symmetric but very shallow integration. Others, such as for instance the Philippines, Turkey or Bulgaria fare better in their average scores. Also interesting to observe is that fact that in a number of cases the average scores in each of the sub-indices countries achieve can differ substantially in terms of magnitude. Singapore for instance scores a fairly high average in terms of the economic and social aspect of globalization but appreciably lower in terms of the political dimension. In broad terms, Algeria presents an opposite picture if one compares the score in the political dimension with those for the economic and social. Others present a more homogenous picture. As a general observation however, it would appear that in terms of the political dimension countries on the whole tend to score comparatively higher that the economic and social ones. Needless to point out that the picture emerging from the random examples contained in table 1 is essentially a static one. It does not allow for a broader perspective in terms of how the integration of the countries into the globalization process evolved through time, nor can one draw inferences with respect to the presence or not of a convergence process either in terms of the overall globalization index or in terms of each one of the three sub-indices. In order to chisel out differences in the degree of integration in the globalization process owed to the development level of the countries contained in the sample, they were clustered into separate development groups. To developmentally categorize the countries, we adopted the World Bank's groupings at the time of the estimations that are based on per capita gdp: high income with 35 countries in this subsample, upper middle income containing 22 countries, lower middle income with 28 countries and low income countries with the remaining 26 countries of the total sample of countries. For each of the three subsamples the convergence question is empirically examined using both the overall kof globalization index as well as the three sub-indices reflecting the multi-dimensionality of the process. Managing Global Transitions Asymmetric Convergence in Globalization? 123 table 2 Average Globalization Score per Income Group Globalization score (1) (2) (3) (4) KOF 30.58 40.74 49.76 67.70 Economic 31-72 41.32 51.05 68.13 Social 18.12 29.59 40.08 64.24 Political 47-14 56.15 62.06 72.15 notes Column headings are as follows: (1) low income, (2) lower middle income, (3) upper middle income, (4) high income. Based on data from http://globalization.kof. ethz.ch. As can be seen in table 2, the groups present a fairly diverse picture in terms of the average score per income group per index over the entire sample period. Perhaps not surprisingly the High income group exhibits the most homogenous picture as far as the integration of the countries in this group in terms of each the sub-indices (economic, social, political) and achieves the highest scores vis-à-vis the other three groups with an overall average for the ko f globalization index of 67.7 compared to 49.76 for the Upper Middle income group, 40.74 for the Lower Middle and 30.58 for the Lower income one. The Upper Middle, Lower Middle and Low income groups show a comparatively greater diversity in each of the subindices (table 2). The lowest score in all three cases is the one achieved in terms of the Social globalization sub-index and the highest in terms of their integration in the Political dimension of the globalization process. Again, this is a static picture and does not reveal a convergence process if present nor the speed at which is taking place. In the sections that follow we first briefly discuss the empirical methodology adopted and then we proceed with the presentation of the findings yielded by the empirical analysis. Methodology and Empirical Strategy A number of sequential steps are used in order to probe into the globalization convergence question addressed here. In line with previous studies on convergence (De 2014; Arvanitidis, Kollias, and Anastasopoulos 2014), we start by estimating the coefficient of variation (cv) across the entire sample as well as the four income sub-samples for all the globalization indices i.e. for the overall globalization index as well as the three sub-indices. In the presence of convergence, these coefficients should decline significantly over time. Following the estimation of the coefficients of variation we will proceed to test for stationarity using the adf test Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 124 Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias, and Petros Messis (Dickey and Fuller 1979; 1981) which involves the estimation of the following regression equation: where Glbt is the corresponding globalization index (i.e. the kof aggregate index or the economic, social, political sub-indices) at time t. The inference is based on the Dickey-Fuller t-statistic of coefficient 7. In order to allow for further insights into the dynamics of the convergence process and enhanced robustness with respect to the adf unit roots analysis, it was decided to take two further steps. The first, involves the re-estimation of the adf test statistic using recursive and rolling regressions on the first differences of the selected indexes for the entire sample. Then, a number of further unit root tests will also be conducted. These include the adf-gls modification of the adf test proposed by Elliott, Rothenberg, and Stock (1996), the Ng and Perron (1995; 2001) test as well as the Phillips and Perron (1988) one and the kpss unit root test by Kwiatkowski et al. (1992). Finally, the next step in the empirical investigation that follows in the next section will be to estimate the trend coefficients and their significance using the following o ls regression: LnYt = a + bt + eit, (2) where Yit is the coefficient of variation for each group of countries and each individual globalization index. Findings: Presentation and Discussion Given the steps of the empirical methodology outlined in the previous section, we now turn to the presentation and discussion of the findings. We start with the adf unit root test conducted for the estimated coefficients of variation for the aggregate ko f globalization index and the three sub-indices per income group. The results of the adf test are presented in table 3, where, as can be seen, the level series have a unit root but not so in their first differences. This finding suggests the presence of convergence in all the cases examined i.e. for the whole sample as well as the sub-samples across in all the sub-indices that make up the aggregate kof index of globalization. Noteworthy, however, are the differences among the estimated coefficients, pointing to different speeds of convergence. These differences are present both between the four income groups as Managing Global Transitions Asymmetric Convergence in Globalization? 125 well as within each group in terms of the three different dimensions of globalization. For the entire sample of countries, the highest coefficient is estimated in the case of the economic globalization index (-0.874), followed by the political one while the coefficient for the social globalization index is appreciably lower (-0.185) suggesting a lower rate of convergence in this dimension of globalization. A finding that accords with the earlier descriptive presentation. Indeed, with the exception of the Lower Middle income group, the social globalization coefficient is the lowest among all the other income groups. Focusing on the aggregate kof globalization index the highest coefficient is that of the Lower Middle income group of countries (-1.144) followed by the Low (-0.992) and Upper Middle (-0.980) income groups while the lower value is found in the case of the High income group (-0.532). In terms of economic globalization, the highest coefficient is that of the Low income group (-1.615) followed by the High income sample of countries (-0.850). The Lower Middle group has the highest coefficients both in terms of social (-0.852) as well as political globalization (-1.041) and one could tentatively suggest that in comparative terms it is the fastest converging group of countries (table 3). The faster speed of convergence in the economic dimension of globalization should not come as a surprise given that this is by far the most dominant feature of globalization (Caselli 2012; Dreher, Gaston, and Martens 2008). Indeed, a tentative inference would be that integration into the economic dimension of globalization precedes convergence in the other spheres of this process. As pointed out in the previous section where the methodology adopted was presented, the next step is to re-estimate the adf test statistic using recursive and rolling regressions. In figures 1-4 the plots of the recursive and rolling regressions are presented. They include both the aggregate kof index of globalization as well as the economic, social and political sub-indexes for the entire sample of countries.3 For the estimation of the rolling regression we start with a fixed sample of 10 years. The same number of observations is the starting point for the recursive regression estimation and we proceed by adding for each year the corresponding index value. As can be seen in the relevant figure, at the end of the sample the same value as the one reported in table 3 for each index for the entire ample of countries above is depicted. Then, a buttery of further unit root tests is conducted as described in the previous section. The findings for the entire sample of the df-gls, pp, kpss, and Ng and Perron unit root tests as well as for the sub-sample Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 126 Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias, and Petros Messis table 3 adf Test for Stationarity of c v of the Globalization Indexes (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Levels KOF 0.010 (0.571) 0.023 (0.988) -0.214 (-2.099) -0.023 (-0.485) 0.022 (0.556) Economic 0.022 (1.401) -0.017 (-1.067) -0.043 (-1.100) -0.007 (-0.298) 0.034 (1.170) Social -0.024 (-1.477) 0.006 (0.230) -0.111 (-2.183) 0.008 (0.341) 0.043 (1.707) Political -0.015 (-0.844) -0.041 (-2.062) -0.104 (-2-533) -0.061 (-0.890) -0.037 (-0.543) First diff. KOF -0.438 (-3.209)* -0.532 (-2.323)* -0.980 (-5.988)* -1.144 (-6.474)* -0.992 (-6.055) Economic -0.874 (-5.330)* -0.850 (-5.075)* -0.764 (-4.784)* -0.814 (-4.506)* -1.615 (-6.138) Social -0.185 (-1.958)** -0.322 (-1.836)** -0.481 (-3.427)* -0.852 (-5.368)* -0.410 (-1.857) Political -0.869 (-4.897)* -0.692 (-4.360)* -0.716 (-4.580)* -1.041 (-6.077)* -0.755 (-4.739) notes Column headings are as follows: (1) form, (2) globalization indexes, (3) entire sample, (4) low income, (5) lower middle income, (6) upper middle income, (7) high income. * and ** indicate that the coefficient is significant at the 5% and 10% level respectively; i-statistics in parentheses. 0.00_ -0.25_ -2.00_ 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 figure 1 Plots of the Recursive (light) and Rolling Regressions (dark) for the kof Aggregate Index (Entire Sample) of the income groups - High, Upper Middle, Lower Middle and Low - are presented in table 4. On the whole, the results of these unit root tests seem to confirm and support the earlier ones presented in table 3. They also reveal an asymmetric convergence process both between income groups Managing Global Transitions Asymmetric Convergence in Globalization? 127 0.00 -0.25 -2.00_ 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 figure 2 Plots of the Recursive (light) and Rolling Regressions (dark) for the Economic Sub-Index (Entire Sample) -1.50_ -1.75- -2.00_ 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 figure 3 Plots of the Recursive (light) and Rolling Regressions (dark) for the Social Sub-Index (Entire Sample) 0.00_ -0.25_ -1.25- -1.50_ -1.75- -2.00_ 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 figure 4 Plots of the Recursive (light) and Rolling Regressions (dark) for the Political Sub-Index (Entire Sample) as well as within each income group with respect to the speed of convergence in each of the three dimensions of globalization. For instance, just as before, the coefficients of the Social dimension of globalization are Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 128 Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias, and Petros Messis table 4 Unit Root Tests for Stationarity of cv of the Globalization Indexes (l) (2) (3) DF-GLS pp KPSS Ng and Perron (4) (5) (4) (5) (4) (5) (4) (5) o Ü i}- (7) / MObl). (8) ylN-^VariW») N'T ^ °° Empirical Analysis cross-sectional test and homogeneity test We tested the cross-sectional dependence with cdlm1 test of Breusch and Pagan (1980), because time dimension is higher than cross-sectional dimension (T = 12, N = 9). The results were given in table 4 and since probability values were lower than 5%, the null hypothesis (cross-sectional independency) was rejected. So the findings indicated a cross-sectional dependency among the series. table 4 Results of cdlm1 Test Variable Test statistic Probability shaec 9.523 0.001 DCRD 7.226 0.034 efr 9.821 0.010 We employed adjusted delta tilde test of Pesaran, Ullah, and Yamagata (2008) and the findings were given in table 5. Since the null hypothesis (slope coefficients are homogenous) was rejected at 1% significance level, we concluded that there was heterogeneity. table 5 Results of Adjusted Delta Tilde Test Test Test statistics Probability ^ adj. 28.97 panel unit root tests Panel data analysis requires that the variables should be I(o) to avoid the possible spurious relationship among the series. First we analyzed integration levels of the variables with cips test of Pesaran (2007) regarding the cross-sectional dependence among the series and the results of Managing Global Transitions Financial Development and Shadow Economy 167 the test were given in table 6. The findings denoted that all the variables were I(i). table 6 Results of cips Test Test SHAEC DCRD EFR cips 7-532* 8.002* 7.271* notes * Significant at the 0.05 level. Secondly, we employed unit root tests of Narayan and Popp (2010) and Im, Lee, and Tieslau (2010) regarding structural breaks. In this context, we applied the second model of Narayan and Popp (2010) test which allows two breaks in both level and trend and the findings were given in table 7. table 7 Results of Narayan and Popp (2010) Panel Unit Root Test Country Test statistic TB 1,TB2 sHAEC DCRD EFR Bulgaria 4.764* 4.732* 6.834* 2008, 2009 Croatia 9.328* 6.543* 5.925* 2009, 2012 Czech Republic 6.035* 4.007* 5.112* 2009, 2012 Estonia 9.692* 5.328* 6.733* 2008, 2009 Hungary 7.551* 3.982* 8.492* 2009, 2012 Poland 8.634* 7.831* 5.629* 2008, 2009 Romania 5.992* 9.447* 4.227* 2008, 2009 Slovakia 8.426* 6.263* 4.752* 2009, 2010 Slovenia 9.113* 4.771* 6.994* 2009, 2012 notes * Significant at 5% level. Critical values are -5.882, -5.263, and -4.941 at the 1%, 5%, and 10% significance levels, respectively for model 2 with 50.000 replications for endogenous two breaks test. The results indicated that the series were 1(1) with structural breaks. The dates of structural breaks showed that recent financial crises, global financial crisis and Eurozone debt crisis, induced significant structural shifts in the series of dcrd and efr. We also used the different versions of the panel lm unit root tests considering and not considering structural and the findings tests were given in table 8. The findings denoted that the variables had unit root when the structural breaks were disregarded. On the other hand when we ap- Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 168 Yilmaz Bayar and Omer Faruk Ozturk plied the version considering two structural breaks, two different test statistics were obtained depending on the cross-correlations. The first test statistic ignores the cross-correlations, while the second test statistic regards the cross-correlations by considering the Pesaran s ca procedure. The results indicated that the variables were stationary when the cross-sectional dependence was ignored. However, the variables were not stationary, when the cross-sectional was considered. table 8 Results of Panel lm Unit Root test Panel lm test statistic without break Panel lm test statistic with two breaks Panel lm test c a statistic with two breaks notes * 0.05 significance level. basher and westerlund (2009) cointegration test We employed Basher and Westerlund (2009) model which allows structural breaks in constant and trend and the findings were presented in table 9. The findings revealed that there was cointegrating relationship between the variables of our study with structural breaks and cross-sectional dependency. table 9 Results of Basher and Westerlund (2009) Cointegration Test Test statistic Probability value 56.987 0.258 notes Probability values obtained by using bootstrap with 1.000 simulations. estimation of long run cointegrating coefficients The individual cointegrating coefficients were estimated with cce (Common Correlated Effects) method of Pesaran (2006) and the cointegrating coefficients of the panel were estimated with ccmge (Common Correlated Mean Group Effects) method of Pesaran (2006) and the findings were given in table 10 (p. 169). The findings revealed that development of financial sector and improvements in institutional quality decreased the shadow economy. dumitrescu and hurlin (2012) causality test We investigated causal relationship among shadow economy, financial development and institutional quality with causality test of Dumitrescu Managing Global Transitions -0.234 -7-335* -0.872 Financial Development and Shadow Economy 169 table 10 Long run Cointegrating Coefficients Country dcrd efr Coefficient i-statistic Coefficient i-statistic Bulgaria -0.089* -3-854 -0.053* -4.263 Croatia -0.112* -4.012 -0.114* -5.883 Czech Republic -0.108* -4-348 -0.156* -3.915 Estonia -0.142* -5.924 -0.083* -3.772 Hungary -0.096* 6-993 -0.145* -6.834 Poland -0.063* -5.326 0.102* -3.992 Romania -0.135* -3.261 0.081* -4.036 Slovakia -0.152* -4.772 0.126* -5.823 Slovenia -0.133* -3.725 0.105* -6.432 Panel -0.146* -4.045 0.170* -3.886 notes * Significant at 5% level. table 11 Results of Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) Causality Test Null hypothesis Test Statistics Prob. shaec does not homogeneously cause dcrd WHNC 3.632 0.000 ^HNC 5.943 0.001 Z - bar 6.523 0.013 dcrd does not homogeneously cause shaec WHNC 5.998 0.000 ZHNC 3.642 0.022 Z - bar 4.022 0.000 shaec does not homogeneously cause efr WHNC 6.531 0.000 ZHNc 5.773 0.011 Z - bar 4.254 0.004 efr does not homogeneously cause shaec whnc 3.992 0.000 ZHNc 2.880 0.000 Z - bar 3-638 0.032 and Hurlin (2012) and the findings were given in table 11. The findings revealed bidirectional causality both between shaec and dcrd andbe-tween shaec and efr. Conclusion We researched the relationship among shadow economy, development of financial sector and institutional over the period 2003-2014 in eu tranVolume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 170 Yilmaz Bayar and Omer Faruk Ozturk sition economies benefiting from Basher and Westerlund (2009) cointe-gration test and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) causality test. Our findings revealed that there was a cointegrating relationship among shadow economy, development of financial sector and institutional quality. Moreover, development of financial sector and improvements in institutional quality decreased the shadow economy in the long run. Finally, the results of causality test revealed a two-way causality between shadow economy and financial development and shadow economy and institutional quality. So our findings verified an interaction among shadow economy, development of financial sector and institutional quality and were consistent with the predictions of theoretical studies and the results of empirical studies in the literature. This study also verified that financial development and institutional quality are important factors affecting shadow economy. In this regard, improvements in financial sector and institutional quality will be useful in combat with shadow economy considering our findings, theoretical and empirical literature. References Ang, J. B. 2011. 'Savings Mobilization, Financial Development and Liberalization: The Case of Malaysia.' Review of Income and Wealth 57 (3): 449-70. Basher, S. A., and J. Westerlund. 2009. 'Panel Cointegration and the Monetary Exchange Rate Model.' Economic Modelling 26 (2): 506-13. Bittencourt, M., R. Gupta, and L. Stander. 2014. 'Tax Evasion, Financial Development and Inflation: Theory and Empirical Evidence.' 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'Shadow Economy, Voice and Accountability and Corruption.' http://www.econ.jku.at/members /Schneider/files/publications/LatestResearch2010/Torgler_Schneider _Macintyre.pdf Zhang, J., L. Wang, and S. Wang 2012. 'Financial Development and Economic Growth: Recent Evidence from China.' Journal of Comparative Economics 40 (3): 393-412. This paper is published under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.o/). Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 The Influence of Leadership Factors on the Implementation of i so 14001 in Organizations Nastja Tomšič Mahle Letrika d.o.o., Slovenia nastja. tomsic@si.mahle. com Mirko Markič University of Primorska, Slovenia mirko. markic@fm-kp.si Štefan Bojnec University of Primorska, Slovenia stefan. bojnec@fm-kp.si Top managers have a key role in implementing the environmental component of sustainable development in the organization. This paper presents the results of the unique research that was conducted among top managers from a variety of large Slovenian organizations, in order to determine the dominant leadership factors that positively influence the implementation of the environmental component of sustainable development (the iso 14001 standard) in the organization. The research involved 321 large Slovenian organizations. It was found that vision, credibility, collaboration, accountability and action orientation are the dominant leadership factors to be considered by top managers in achieving sustainable development. Key Words: iso 14001, large organizations, leadership, sustainable development jel Classification: M12, Q56 Introduction Since the mid-1990s, the importance of the concept of sustainable development, where economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection - the so-called 'triple bottom line' (Elkington 1997) - are treated equally and are mutually supportive, has increased significantly. In Slovenia, as well as in other countries of the European Union (eu), the principles of sustainable development are gradually becoming realized but with ongoing imbalances in all three components of sustainable development. Of these, the environmental component is the most notable, because rapid economic growth increases pressure on the natural Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 175-193 176 Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec environment, which is not in line with the objectives of sustainable development (Sachs 2015). Several countries are adopting rigorous environmental protection measures, but most of them are based solely on strict legislation. For the effective protection of the natural environment, normative regulation of relations between people and nature is indispensable, but not sufficient. As stated by Albino, Dangelico, and Pontrandolfo (2012), initiatives that promote sustainability and protection of the natural environment should become an integral part of business strategies. A leading management tool for improving organizations' environmental performance is the standard is o 14001 (International Organization for Standardization 2004; Testa et al. 2014). As stated by Poksinska, Dahl-gaard, and Eklund (2003), without commitment from top management the environmental management system will not gain any substantial credibility in the eyes of the employees and, consequently, the success of its implementation is questionable. Zeng et al. (2005) pointed out that the environmental consciousness of top managers is the most decisive factor affecting implementation of is o 14001 and is generally indispensable in environmental protection. Haslinda and Fuong (2010) found that top management's commitment is the foremost challenge in implementing iso 14001. Top managers who commit their full support to enduring the organizational changes associated with the implementation can be a factor leading to a continual improvement in environmental performance. For some top managers, the implementation of is o 14001 represents a new challenge, but for many it remains only a draft and theory (Po-točan and Mulej 2003). According to the data of International Organization for Standardization (International Organization for Standardization 2014) the percentage of annual growth of obtained iso 14001 certifications in the world is growing, but extremely slowly. There is a similar pattern in development in Slovenia. According to the data of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (see http://katalogi.gzs.si), among large organizations (with over 250 employees), since 2004 until the end of 2014, the percentage of obtained iso 14001 certifications increased by only 40%. These patterns of weak implementation of iso 14001 in large Slovenian organizations and the literature (which has mainly emphasized the general role of top management in implementing iso 14001) have motivated our research to investigate the influence of specific leadership fac- Managing Global Transitions The Influence of Leadership Factors 177 tors, such as vision, credibility, collaboration, feedback and recognition, accountability, communication and action orientation, on the implementation of iso 14001 as a measure of the environmental component of sustainable development in large Slovenian organizations. In this respect the following research question was set out: 'Which are the dominant leadership factors that positively influence the implementation of the environmental component of sustainable development (the iso 14001 standard) in the organization?' This research contributes to the development of theory and analysis on the association between top managers' perceptions and the environmental component of sustainable development in organizations. The research findings may raise the awareness among top managers of implementing the environmental component of sustainable development in the organization. The rest of this paper is organised as follows. In the second section theoretical background is presented. The third section goes on to present the research methods. The fourth section presents the unique survey data for the sample of 96 Slovenian large organizations and discusses the empirical results. The fifth section presents managerial implications and implications for research. Finally, the sixth section concludes with the importance of the research findings. Theoretical Background The following section presents the environmental component of sustainable development - iso 14001 and seven leadership factors. ENVIRONMENTAL COMPONENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: STANDARD ISO 14001 Protection of the natural environment is an essential part of the sustainable development process at different levels, from the global level to the local, and on to the micro-organizational level. Organizations are faced with challenging market, in which consumers are increasingly aware of the importance of protecting the natural environment for its long-term survival (Fortunski 2008). This consumer awareness, in addition to laws and other regulations (Zhang et al. 2008), care for the organizations' image (Psomas, Fotopoulos, and Kafetzopou-los 2011), maintenance and acquisition of competitive position in the global market (Sambasivan and Fei 2008), directs organizations towards environmentally friendly production and service processes. Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 178 Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec Good environmental performance of the organization or good environmental protection management should include a comprehensive management of the environmental aspects of production or service activities, compliance with the legislative requirements, the balancing of costs, the exploitation of resources, and a response to the requirements and expectations of customers, owners and other interested parties (Slovenian Institute of Quality and Metrology 2013). Dealing with the above-mentioned environmental tasks requires a systematic approach with deliberate and carefully planned activities, which is focused on the long-term responsible environmental behaviour. Internationally recognized frameworks for a systematic approach to the protection of the natural environment are the requirements of iso 14001. This standard has become the dominant international standard (González-Benito, Lannelongue, and Queiruga 2011) and the most widely used environmental standard in the business world (Sebhatu and Enquist 2007). A body of literature has evaluated the impacts of iso 14001 on improvements in environmental performance; the findings are mixed. While most studies tend to highlight the positive nature of these impacts and the fact that iso 14001 certification improves environmental performance (Pun and Hui 2001; Melnyk, Sroufe, and Calantone 2003; Potoski and Prakash 2005; Goh Eng, Suhaiza, and Nabsiah 2006; Arimura, Hibiki, and Katayama 2008), other studies question these benefits (Welch, Rana, and Mori 2003; King, Lenox, and Terlaak 2005; Christmann and Taylor 2006; Barla 2007; Blackman 2012). After reviewing the scientific literature in different databases (e.g., Sci-enceDirect, Science Research Network, Emerald, ProQuest, and ebsco), we have determined that while there is a body of literature on the adoption of standards in organizations, thus far no research has been published on the topic of the influence of selected leadership factors on the implementation of iso 14001 in organizations. Our research aims to fill this gap in the literature. leadership factors Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena (Burns 1978). It has been conceptualized in the multitudes of ways. Tabassi and Bakar (2010) defined leadership as a process whereby a leader - a person in a formal position of authority - with his intelligence and willpower has a bearing on a group of subordinates to be able them to de- Managing Global Transitions The Influence of Leadership Factors 179 velop their potentials so as to attain the organizational objectives within granted time, funding, and quality. Krause (2005) identified the following important leadership factors: vision, credibility, collaboration, feedback and recognition, accountability, communication and action orientation. They represent leaders' characteristics, behaviours, and functions. The focus in the research is on their role in the implementation of iso 14001. Vision is one of the characteristics that shape a leader. A good leader knows that communicating an inspiring, clear and understandable vision is essential to mobilise followers, i.e., employees (Stam, van Knippenberg, and Wisse 2010). Importantly, vision communication can reinforce the common goals of the team (Joshi, Lazarova, and Liao 2009) or may also improve employees' motivation and organizational performance (Stam, van Knippenberg, and Wisse 2010). Good leaders recognise credibility as the 'currency' of leadership (Leavy 2003). Men (2012) argued that leaders' credibility includes leaders' expertise and trustworthiness. The author pointed out that a credible leader who is deemed trustworthy and who demonstrates expertise helps nurture positive employee evaluation of the organization. In turn, this may encourage employee engagement in organizational improvements or changes. Collaboration is a goal of a modern, contemporary management. Leaders should be aware that employees (their dedication, creativity, experiences, skills and knowledge) are a crucial factor for the operation and existence of the organization. This is one reason they should involve employees in the decision-making process, allowing them to participate in defining and achieving goals. As explained by Elele and Fields (2010), participation in decision-making leads to better employee-management relations, stronger employee attachment to organizations, better quality decisions, and improved productivity. Feedback is a way of aiding personal development of a leader as well as the development of followers, i.e., employees. A good leader always seeks feedback to improve his performance (Stoker, Grutterink, and Kolk 2012); feedback also provides support and encourages employees to develop greater confidence in their abilities to pursue goals (Rego et al. 2012). More specifically, timely and objective feedback is more influential. Feedback is also recognition for a job well done or (public) recognition for the contributions of individuals in the organization. A leader is accountable for the quality of business operations. Dive Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 68 Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec (2008) listed key responsibilities that enable a leader to add value on a spine of accountability. These are: deciding who comes into the organization and who will do what jobs; securing employee commitment to specific goals and providing resources for them to achieve those goals; appraising staff, identifying development needs and deciding on performance rewards; ensuring that staff meet goals or changing the goals if appropriate; providing solutions to problems; making change happen; achieving results from colleagues and from external agencies (customers, suppliers, and shareholders); setting measures of success (timelines, quality, quantity, and services levels). Communication (verbal and written) is the most fundamental of the leadership skills (Mumford, Campion, and Morgeson 2007). Without communication, there is no exchange or distribution of information, which is crucial for the successful functioning of an organization. Listening is also a vital part of persuasive communication. Leaders should know how to listen and take employees views into account, because this allows mutual understanding. One piece of advices from Drucker (2004) is how to become and remain a successful leader: 'First listen and then talk.' Action orientation is also a valuable leadership factor. A good leader needs to be proactive rather than reactive in addressing business issues. This leader is persistent and innovative, gives timely responses, demonstrates a sense of personal urgency and energy to achieve results, and demonstrates a performance-driven focus by delivering results with speed and excellence (Krause 2005). Research Methods A target population of 321 large Slovenian organizations was included in the in-depth survey research. Data were collected using a written questionnaire. Its fourth part was developed on the basis of an accurate review of the professional and scientific literature in different databases such as Emerald, ProQuest, Sci-enceDirect, Science Research Network, and ebsco. A pre-test of the questionnaire with 10 randomly selected top managers of large Slovenian organizations was also carried out. Five of them provided useful guidance for improving the clarity of the terminology used in the questionnaire. The questionnaire contained closed-ended questions in the first, second and third parts, and statements using the Likert's 5-graded marking scale, in which '1' meant 'I do not agree at all' and '5' meant 'I agree Managing Global Transitions The Influence of Leadership Factors 181 table 1 Variables Directly measurable variables Indirectly measurable variables Sector Statistical region Age of organization Gender Age of respondent Level of education Years of working experiences Vision Credibility Collaboration Feedback and recognition Accountability Communication Action orientation Role in the organization Environmental management system according to iso 14001 completely,' in the fourth part. In the first part of the questionnaire, we gathered the data about organizations, such as in which sector they were active, which statistical region they belong to and how many years the organization has existed. In the second part, we collected data on the participants, such as their gender, age, level of education, years of experience and their role in the organization. The third part was used to gather the data about organizations' experience in the field of the environmental management system according to iso 14001. In the last, fourth part, research on leadership self-assessment was conducted, with seven leadership factors included. The questionnaire was sent by email to all top managers of the organizations included in the research. A total of 55 fulfilled questionnaires and three negative responses came back after the first distribution. After the second distribution, there were 41 more completed questionnaires. Altogether, 96 completed questionnaires were returned out of 321 sent. A response like this was expected (29.91%). Thus, 96 fulfilled questionnaires were included in the empiric part of the research. The research results were statistically processed and analysed with the use of spss software. Throughout the research, the following methods were used: descriptive analysis, reliability analysis using Cronbach's alpha test and analysis of variance. Along with the descriptive analysis, also presented are some basic characteristics of sample items as well as of variables used (table 1). Cronbach's alpha test was used to measure the reliability of each of the seven analysed leadership factors. An acceptable value of Cronbach's al- Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 182 Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec pha for the reliability of these constructs is greater than 0.7, whilst lower value indicates unreliability (Field 2006). The analysis of variance was used to examine the average equality of leadership factors according to the categories (do not implement, planned, in the middle of implementation and already in use) of variable environmental management systems according to iso 14001. In this manner, we obtained the information about whether the differences among the average values of leadership factors are statistically significant. In other words, it was used to find out which are the dominant leadership factors that positively influence the implementation of the environmental component of sustainable development (the iso 14001 standard) in the organization. Results and Discussion DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS The majority of the analysed organizations came from the manufacturing sector (41.7%). Quite a large number of organizations (37%) were from the Central Slovenian statistical region. Most of them (75%) had existed for more than 40 years. According to gender, 27.1% of the participants were women and 72.9% were men. Most of them (40.6%) were more than 50 years old. Most of the participants had between 15-25 years (33.3%) or 25-35 years (37.5%) of working experiences. More than half of the participants (59.4%) had a university education. As to their position at the organization, 25% worked as general managers, followed by chairmen of the board and its members (16.7%). In assessing the situation in the field of the environmental management system according to iso 14001, we determined that the system was already in use in 54.2% of organizations; 8.3% of organizations were in the middle of system implementation; 11.5% of them had planned on implementing it; and 26% of the organizations had no intention of implementing the system. To assess the reliability of leadership factors, we performed Cronbach's alpha test. As can be seen from table 2, Cronbach's alpha value for each of the leadership factors is close to or above the 0.7 criteria. Therefore, the reliability of leadership factors was confirmed. The in-depth research of leadership self-assessment (table 3) showed that all participants had a relatively high self-assessment for each of the Managing Global Transitions The Influence of Leadership Factors 183 table 2 Cronbach's Alpha Test Leadership factors Cronbach's alpha value Vision Credibility Collaboration Feedback and recognition Accountability Communication Action orientation 0.779 0.697 0.783 0.762 0.792 0.784 0.763 notes Number of observations is 96. leadership factors. As can be seen, in the context of vision, the participants gave the highest mark to the statement that they are open to accepting new ideas, including environmentally friendly ones. This can be understood to be a reasonable basis for sustainable development with the main idea of protecting the natural environment. However, they put less emphasis on how to help the rest of the employees to start thinking about their personal standards in relation to iso 14001. There are two possible explanations for this: first, a perceived lack of time and a lack of interest by top managers, and second, some other more important work within the organization taking priority. Regarding credibility, the participants gave the highest mark to the statement that they advocate for equality and justice. This can contribute to higher levels of confidence towards top managers and a stronger sense of belonging among workers, which consequently leads to the organizations' successful performance. In contrast, they are not willing to accept solutions that are in accordance with the requirements of iso 14001. Although the statement: 'I correctly perform prescribed standards, even environmental ones' received a rather high mark, it is more likely that top managers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of environmental standards or regulations. It is particularly important that this awareness is transformed into real actions and does not remain a mere idea or theory. Regarding collaboration, the participants emphasized synergy in the principle of creative collaboration, which could be defined as a good foundation for continuous improvements. The lowest mark was given to the statement about helping employees to be able to solve the challenges of iso 14001 independently. The other sorts of collaboration might be Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 184 Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec table 3 Leadership Self-Assessment Results Factor/Statement (1) (2) c I have a high personal standard in relation to iso 14001. 4.00 1.086 ' 'JTj E> I help employees to start thinking about their personal standards in relation to iso 14001. 3-67 1.073 I personally inform employees about organisations' vision. 4.18 0.871 I realize that vision is a basic guideline for employees' operation in the organization. 4.17 0.660 I am open to accepting new ideas, including environmentally friendly ones. 4-57 0.576 I can define a compelling framework for future actions. 4.24 0.661 Average 4.14 ¡t -O I admit my mistakes. 4.19 0.685 My words are consistent with my actions. 4.41 0.515 Si u I am looking for suggestions and ideas for personally improvement. 4.45 0.630 I correctly perform prescribed standards, even environmental ones. 4.25 0.711 I treat everyone with dignity and respect. 4.52 0.598 I advocate for all employees. 4.45 0.647 I advocate for equality and justice. 4.61 0.489 I accept solutions that are in accordance with the requirements of iso 14001. 3.80 1.062 Average 4.41 c I promote synergy - the principle of creative collaboration. 4.40 0.624 tti u o -O I encourage employees to be involved in improvement activities related to the requirements of iso 14001. 3.74 1.107 O U I promote the adoption and implementation of new solutions. 4.22 0.699 I obtain the consensus of employees before implementing improvements. 4.05 0.773 I have confidence in others. 3.86 0.720 I help employees to be able to solve the challenges of iso 14001 independently. 3.54 1.104 I support the independent decisions of employees. 4.28 0.593 Average 4.01 Continued on the next page understood as a way of transferring activities to the colleagues whom they trust and delegate tasks to. Regarding feedback and recognition, the participants gave the highest Managing Global Transitions The Influence of Leadership Factors 185 table 3 Continued from the previous page Factor/Statement (1) (2) c 0 I publicly recognize the contributions of other employees. 4-53 0-542 t o c I timely and properly give recognition to individuals and groups for their efforts at all levels of the organization. 4-03 0-656 er -d n I motivate all employees in the organization. 3-89 0-613 a I encourage and do not criticize experiments. 4-03 0-606 a _o -0 e e F I give positive feedback on measures related to the requirements of iso 14001. 3-53 1-105 I collect and evaluate feedback from employees. 3-83 0-777 I value (positive or negative) feedback about myself. 4-08 0-763 Average 3-99 & S3 _o at I unambiguously and transparently define roles within the organization. 4-02 0-680 tn 3 o c c I define responsibility for tasks related to the requirements of iso 14001. 3-52 1-205 < I demand responsibility of employees for accepted tasks. 4-43 0-628 I define appropriate criteria for set goals. 4-09 0-712 I periodically analyse results achieved on the basis of defined criteria. 4-08 0-691 I recognize the need for changes and implement them. 4-24 0-628 I encourage independence at work. 4-44 0-662 Average 4-12 Continued on the next page mark to the statement that they publicly recognize the contribution of other employees, i.e. that they are totally aware of employees' needs to receive regular feedback upon their work. They know that in this way employees can be more effective. Giving positive feedback on measures related to the requirements of iso 14001 is ranked in the last place. Regarding accountability, the participants emphasized that they encourage independence at work and that they demand responsibility for accepted tasks. In this way, employees have more responsibility and an opportunity for creativity at work. In last place, the participants ranked the statement about defining responsibility for tasks related to the requirements of iso 14001. The main reason for this can be because the requirements of iso 14001 are not their priority. Concerning communication, the participants gave the highest mark Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 86 Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec table 3 Continued from the previous page Factor/Statement (1) (2) c I establish and promote a network of personal connections inside the entire organization. 4.12 0.684 '3 d I ask employees for their opinions. 4-32 0.703 S S I tell what I think in a constructive way. 4.30 0.600 <3 I share my own experiences and motivation with employees. 4.29 0.695 I deal directly with different situations soon when they appear. 3-99 0.718 I establish an atmosphere that allows employees to talk about the challenges in a relaxed way. 4.06 0.765 I listen carefully. 4.16 0.686 Average 4.18 C I define reasonable priorities. 4.21 0.664 C I take advantage of every opportunity that leads to improvement. 4.05 0.731 0 I encourage innovation and creativity. 4.37 0.669 C tj < I strive to integrate the requirements of iso 14001 into the organizations' policy. 3.77 1.128 I systematically encourage employees to accept the requirements of iso 14001. 3.60 1.110 Average 4.00 notes Column headings are as follows: (1) average value (1-5), (2) standard deviation. Number of observations is 96. to the statement that they usually ask employees for their opinions. This indicates that top managers include employees in solving and improving organizational matters. In this way, they actually exercise the aim of communication, i.e., the exchange of opinions and feelings. Top managers ranked the statement: 'I deal directly with different situations as soon as they appear' the lowest. This indicates the absence of the process-based organizational structure, in which top managers are directly involved in all segments of the organization. The most striking finding was that the hierarchical organizational structure is still present in large Slovenian organizations. Concerning action orientation, the participants ranked the statement about encouraging innovation and creativity in the first place. Thus, top managers encourage employees' creative thinking and innovation, which in fact keeps the organization current. Of the least importance for them is the systematic encouragement of employees to accept the requirements Managing Global Transitions The Influence of Leadership Factors 187 of iso 14001, which obviously is not so significant and reveals some other priorities. As can be seen from the average value of each leadership factor, credibility is at the top of the scale, followed by communication, vision, accountability, collaboration, action orientation, feedback and recognition. The results are interpreted with caution, because they can be biased to self-assessment of top managers. The results cannot necessary reflect the real true situation in studied organizations. However, for the measurement of possible gap between the mangers statements and real true situation we do not have well founded tool and argument. Generally, responses by top managers on the written questionnaire in this kind of getting information can turn out to be overstated. They can evaluate and present situation in the organization better than actually it is. We have been aware of this possible subjective element in answers as limitation for results from the very beginning of the research. Therefore, our interested focus has been merely on the subjective perception of the interviewed managers in the large Slovenian organizations on the studied topics. THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP FACTORS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ISO 14001 IN ORGANIZATION Throughout the analysis of variance (table 4), we determined that the differences among the average values of variables (vision, credibility, collaboration, accountability and action orientation) are statistically significant (p < 0.05) according to the categories of a variable environmental management system under iso 14001. This means that organizations differ from each other in the way the actions related to vision, credibility, collaboration, accountability, and action orientation are carried out in comparison to what phase of iso 14001 they are currently implementing. The differences between the average values of the variables of feedback and recognition, and communication are statistically insignificant (p > 0.05) according to the categories of variable of the environmental management system under iso 14001. This means that organizations do not show significant differences among each other in their actions related to the way feedback and recognition, and communication are carried out in comparison to what phase of iso 14001:2004 they are currently implementing. On the base of these results, it was found that the dominant leadership factors that positively influence the implementation of the environmental component of sustainable development (the iso 14001 standard) in Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 88 Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec table 4 Analysis of Variance Leadership factors (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Vision 3.75 3.9l 4.l3 4.38 9.006 0.000 Credibility 4.44 4.05 4.46 4.46 3.980 0.0l0 Collaboration 3.65 3.70 4.05 4.25 l0.5l8 0.000 Feedback and recognition 3.9l 3.79 4.l3 4.05 l.370 0.257 Accountability 3.90 3.83 4.2l 4.27 4.82l 0.004 Communication 4.l7 3.88 4.l4 4.25 2.026 o.ll6 Action orientation 3.57 3.69 4.l3 4.26 8.968 0.000 notes Environmental management system - iso 14001: (1) do not implement, (2) planned, (3) in the middle of implementation, (4) already in use, (5) analysis of variance, (6) F/Welch statistic, (7) ^-value. the organization are vision, credibility, collaboration, accountability, and action orientation. Managerial Implications and Implications for Research This research has developed an empirical approach for the evaluation of top managers' perceptions in their organizations in order to implement the environmental component of sustainable development in the organizations. The derived managerial implications are raising awareness among the top managers in the organizations towards social responsibility for improvements in implementation of the environmental component of sustainable development in the organizations. More specifically, managerial implications are related to those leadership factors that were found to be significantly associated with the implementation of iso 14001. In order to improve the situation, top managers should be presented with the meaning of iso 14001 implementation in a way that employees will perceive it with enthusiasm; that will provide employees, especially environmental managers, appropriate training and education about the standard; that will strive for continuous improvements, and stimulate employee involvement in improvement activities, related to the requirementsof iso 14001; thatwillrelyonemployeesanddelegateapart of accountability to them; and that will provide incentives for proactive behaviour to consider iso 14001 implementations in organizations' policies before the actual implementation. On the basis of research limitations, there are some implications for future research. First limitation of the research is the focus on a single envi- Managing Global Transitions The Influence of Leadership Factors 189 ronmental component of sustainable development. Future research with focus on the other two components of sustainable development (economic and social) can allow extending the results and obtaining the whole picture of how the presented leadership factors could influence the implementation of the concept of sustainable development in organizations. Second limitation of the research is the focus on seven leadership factors. The inclusion of other leadership factors, such as charisma, mindfulness, integrity, delegation, and enthusiasm, can be an interesting issue for future research. Third, an additional research limitation is the size of the organizations. Only large organizations were included in the research. Future research could also be conducted among small and medium-sized enterprises. They represent a driving force of the economy and, as such, should operate in a sustainable way, so as to also be environmentally-oriented. It would be interesting to identify the dominant leadership factors to be considered by top managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in achieving sustainable development. Finally, the research was aimed at the top managers of organizations and, due to such a survey sample selection, the empirical results are based on the manager's perspective. The inclusion of other respondents, such as employees, might bring another perspective on the influence of leadership factors on the implementation of iso 14001 in organizations. Therefore, it would be interesting to research how employees with regard to leadership factors see their top managers in the implementation of the environmental component of sustainable development. Conclusions Top managers have a key role in introducing sustainable development into their organization and, thus, also in introducing its environmental component. Top managers should provide incentives in this direction and encourage employees in this way. They should be the employees' mentors or 'gurus' showing the way forward to common goals. Thus, leadership is said to be the main force within new changes. Our research contributes insight into how leadership factors influence the implementation of the environmental component of sustainable development in terms of iso 14001 in large Slovenian organizations. The research has shown that the dominant leadership factors that positively influence the implementation of the environmental component of sustainable development (the iso 14001 standard) in the organization are vision, credibility, collaboration, accountability, and action orienta- Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 190 Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič, and Štefan Bojnec tion. The fact is that top managers should convey the vision in a compelling way throughout the organization. Their vision will be taken seriously if they will be credible. Only when top managers have a decent record of consistency, are known for keeping their word, and stick with the truth even when it is not popular will the things they say have real meaning and be influential. If they have vision and if they are credible, they also need to have a strong action orientation. Therefore, when they see the facts clearly, it is essential to take decisive action. Since no organization can exist without its employees, top managers should actively collaborate with them, including them in the process of making new decisions and defining goals. Top managers are accountable for the quality of business. Delegating a part of this accountability to other employees is extremely important. Thus, this can make employees stronger and develop feelings of independence and their participatory role in the organization. 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Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews as Factors Influencing Online Product Comparison Sites Usage by Young Consumers Radoslaw M^cik Maria Curie-Skiodowska University, Poland radoslaw. macik@umcs.lublin.pl Dorota M^cik University of Finance and Management in Warsaw, Poland dorota_macik@tlen.pl Paper describes young consumers' behaviour connected with online product comparison sites usage as an example of online decision shopping aids. Authors' main goal is to check whether or not such factors as: previous experience in such sites usage, personal innovativeness in domain of information technology - piit, and particularly cognitive trust (in several subdimensions), as well as affective trust toward online product comparison site, influence purchase intention via mentioned sites (acting as intermediaries in online sales channel), and anticipated satisfaction from choice made by consumer. Also indirect influence of users' opinions about product and sellers on mentioned constructs has been researched. Study on effective sample of 456 young consumers with data collected through cawi questionnaire confirmed reliability and validity of measurement scales. Path model estimated via pls-sem confirmed most hypotheses settled, particularly confirming strong positive relationships between cognitive trust (mostly in competence) on affective trust, and later on purchase intention and choice satisfaction. Product and sellers reviews were partially mediating some of those relationships. Key Words: information technology, market, online product comparison sites usage, trust, products/sellers reviews, purchase intention jel Classification: 033, D12, C39 Introduction Common access to online shopping by consumers changed their buying habits during last 10-15 years. The share of online retail spending (on goods) increases over the time, breaking on most mature markets as United States, United Kingdom or Germany the barrier of 10% share in total retail recently, with uk being the leader with mentioned share Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 195-215 196 Radosiaw Macik and Dorota Mqcik about 13.5%, and growth rate of online sale in Europe by 18.4% between 2013 and 2014 (see http://www.retailresearch.org/onlineretailing.php). This involves a large number of decisions to find products and sellers online. Although finding online retailer by choice the largest brands (like Amazon) or places where someone bought previously with satisfaction is common, finding the best deal - often with help of product comparison sites - is another popular option. Contemporary online product comparison sites offer possibilities to compare products using many criterions regarding product features and opinions about them (sometimes also so called 'trusted opinions' of real and not anonymous for the site customers who bought particular product), as well as prices and sellers' credibility (typically also based on customers opinions). Product comparison sites evolved form more simple price comparison engines introduced nearly 20 years ago. General mechanics of product comparison site is to aggregate information from product comparison agent or bot, that is configured to gather product information (such as actual price, product availability, product description etc.) from online vendors and/or product information databases, usually on agreement via programming interface, or parsing html data from online vendors. In this paper approach differentiating product comparison agent from product comparison site is proposed, as typical consumer interacts with product comparison site, typically known for him/her, and is not interested about underlying technology allowing the site to present demanded information on request - product comparison agent should be transparent to the comparison site user. Aggregated information awaits online shopper request and is revealed to him/her usually in form of ranking on request. Interacting with product comparison site consumers create some traces of their behaviour, that are valuable for online vendors for their marketing activities (figure 1). As the exact rules of product information aggregation and presentation by product comparison site may not be known to the consumer, the consumer should believe that such site acts benevolently for him/her. Trusting beliefs that business model of such service is based on customer satisfaction, and not on presenting distorted data on behalf of sellers paying higher commission or advertising within service, are important part of trust as a whole, and trust to product comparison site is important factor of such service usage. Modern product comparison sites are also rich in product and sellers ratings or reviews, their presence and content can mediate relationship between trust and shopping process outcomes, as described later in the paper. Managing Global Transitions Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews 197 (1) Product information (5) Consumer shopping behaviour information (2) Information aggregation (4) Comparison information (3) Shopper request figure 1 Place of Product Comparison Sites in e-Commerce Ecosystem (numbers Young consumers are more innovative toward information technology usage. They also are using online decision shopping aids including product comparison sites, and connected with them mobile tools, more often and in more extensive way (Macik and Nalewajek 2013), so studying this group behaviour can be useful to make predictions by analogy for consumers later accepting new technologies. Previous research also suggests the power of online opinions and reviews for this group of consumers (Nalewajek and M^cik 2013). Although the influence of online reviews on purchasing behaviour has received empirical support from a numerous studies in the information systems and consumer behaviour literature (e.g., Forman, Ghose, and Wiesenfeld 2008; Khammash and Griffiths 2011), in most studies the effect of positive and negative reviews for particular e-commerce site have been studied, and product reviews have been left from detailed consideration. Particularly negative reviews are believed to have a stronger effect on consumer behaviour than positive ones (Park and Lee 2009), as they are seen as more diagnostic and informative (Lee, Park, and Han 2008). Typically set of product reviews and seller opinions available for consumer via online product comparison sites are a mix of positive and negative reviews, this situation is considered in literature as inconsistent reviews setting (Tsang and Prendergast 2009). For instance, a consumer easily can find positive review stating that an online retailer is very helpful in answering consumers' questions or doubts, and another review being exactly opposite to the first one (negative review). To understand how consumers make decision in this circumstance, particularly when both types of reviews are coming from the same time (and differences cannot be attributed to improvement or decrease in service quality over time), it represent steps of information flows between ecosystem members; adapted from Wan, Menon, and Ramaprasad 2007, 66) Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 198 Radosiaw Macik and Dorota Mqcik is important to investigate the influence of inconsistent reviews, to check whether the negative information in inconsistent reviews is overemphasized (Zhang, Cheung, and Lee 2014), and whether or not decreases purchase intention at particular site, or leads to change previously chosen retailer. In this study focus lies on the extent of usage of reviews that are mediating trust toward product comparison site and shopping outcomes, under assumption that typically consumer is exposed on mixed reviews - both positive and negative. Trust-Based Acceptance Model Numerous research show that online trust is a key driver for the success of e-commerce (Cheung and Lee 2006; Hong and Cho, 2011), and consumer trust is believed to have essential role in successful operation of online retailer (Kim and Park 2013). Many studies researching consumer trust toward e-commerce site are following Komiak and Bensabat (2006) trust-based acceptance model built upon well-known and widely used in e-commerce studies theory of reasoned action (tra) (Hoehle, Scor-navacca, and Huff 2012; Komiak and Benbasat 2006). According to tra individuals' behaviour is predicted by their behavioural intention, while behavioural intention is formed as an effect of attitude, beliefs, and subjective norms (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975). Those connections are causal relationships, so can be modelled using sem approach. Another concept to include trust in e-commerce research is exploring antecedents of trust toward online seller in the context of trust-risk-benefit triangle explaining intention to buy online (Kim, Ferrin, and Rao 2008). In this approach trust is one dimensional construct opposite to risk, and both of them are explained by set of the same factors varying in sign of influence. Trust in this research is mostly an effect of perceived privacy protection and website information quality (Kim, Ferrin, and Rao 2008). More sophisticated and relevant for presented research is approach proposed by Komiak and Benbasat (2006) including studying different types of trust. They proposed mentioned trust-based acceptance model to understand the adoption of online recommendation agents. Komiak and Benbasat (2006) examined two types of trust in the model: cognitive trust and emotional trust. Cognitive trust is conceptualized as trusting beliefs, while emotional (affective) trust is rather a form of trusting attitude. In online environments, consumers often affectively evaluate trust- Managing Global Transitions Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews 199 ing behaviour. A high level of emotional trust suggests that consumers have favourable feelings toward performing the behaviour. The trust-based acceptance model highlights that cognitive trust affects emotional trust, which further leads to individuals' adoption intention (Komiak and Benbasat 2006). This is convergent with tra approach when adoption process is in sequence of belief 'attitude' intention, although subjective norm is not considered in trust-based acceptance model as adoption behaviour is considered as voluntary rather than mandatory (Komiak and Benbasat 2006). Cognitive trust can be analysed in three, usually correlated, main categories: competence, benevolence, and integrity as suggest McKnight, Choudhury, and Kacmar (2002). Trust in competence refers to the extent to which consumers perceive an online retailer as having skills and abilities to fulfil what they need (Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman 1995). Trust in benevolence is consumers' perception that the retailer will act in their interest (Hong and Cho 2011). Trust in integrity refers to consumers' perception about honesty and promise-keeping by online retailer (McKnight, Choudhury, and Kacmar 2002). For proposed study all mentioned three dimensions of cognitive trust are researched in the context of product comparison sites and their usage by consumers. Affective (emotional) trust captures consumers' affective evaluation of performing trusting behaviour (Sun 2010). Relatively high level of affective trust suggests having favourable feelings by consumer toward performing shopping behaviour. Including emotional dimension of trust toward online vendor or intermediary such as product comparison site may lead to oversimplified analysis of consumers' behavioural decision (Ko-miak and Benbasat 2006). The trust-based acceptance model assumes that cognitive trust (including its sub-dimensions) affects emotional (affective) trust, and the latter leads to individual adoption intention. Subjective norm present in theory of reasoned action (tra) is dropped in this case, as consumer adoption behaviour is in most cases voluntary in the context of internet shopping aids usage, as it is possible not to use them, or choose the tool from wide set of possibilities, during decision-making online. Miller and Hartwick (2002) suggest that subjective norm is more important in mandatory rather than voluntary settings. In effect the trust-based acceptance model follows process of belief ^ attitude ^ intention in the form cognitive trust ^ affective trust ^ behavioural intention for explaining consumer online shopping behaviour (Zhang, Cheung, and Lee 2014,90). Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 200 Radosiaw Macik and Dorota Mqcik figure 2 Conceptual Research Model (* for online product comparison site) Research Model and Hypotheses Previously mentioned concepts, particularly Komiak and Benbasat (2006) approach, putted in context of online product comparison sites usage, were leading to propose and validate conceptual model shown on figure 2. In this model previous experience in online product comparison sites usage and personal innovativeness in domain of information technology - pi it (Agarwal and Prasad 1998) are predictors for cognitive trust for online product comparison site. pi it influences cognitive trust directly and indirectly, trough experience in online product comparison site usage. Cognitive trust is measured in three sub-dimensions: trust in competence, trust in benevolence and trust in integrity - as suggested by McKnight, Choudhury, and Kacmar (2002). Cognitive trust (each of three dimensions) influences affective trust, and later purchase intention - similarly as in Komiak and Benbasat (2006) research. Purchase intention leads to buying behaviour (analogically to the usage intention and actual use relationship in classical tam), but as there were no actual purchase in this research, anticipated satisfaction from choice made is substituting the real purchase behaviour and satisfaction. The influence of affective trust on purchase intention and on choice satisfaction is mediated by products and sellers reviews available for consumer within product comparison site. This way the original trust-based adoption model proposed by Komiak and Benbasat (2006) is extended by adding selected antecedents of cognitive trust, and also by introducing choice satisfaction as final explained construct, with products/sellers reviews mediating consumer's decision-making process outcomes. Following hypotheses have been formulated for this research: hi Personallnnovativeness in domain oflnformation Technology (put) will positively affect cognitive trust to product comparison site. Managing Global Transitions Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews 201 H1a put will positively influence cognitive trust in competence to product comparison site. H1b put will positively influence cognitive trust in benevolence to product comparison site. H1c put will positively influence cognitive trust in integrity to product comparison site. H2 Personal Innovativeness in domain of Information Technology will indirectly positively affect cognitive trust to product comparison site trough previous consumer experience with product comparison site. H3 Previous consumer experience with product comparison site usage will positively affect cognitive trust to product comparison site. H3a Previous consumer experience with product comparison site usage will positively influence cognitive trust in competence to product comparison site. H3b Previous consumer experience with product comparison site usage will positively influence cognitive trust in benevolence to product comparison site. H3c Previous consumer experience with product comparison site usage will positively influence cognitive trust in integrity to product comparison site. H4 Cognitive trust sub-dimensions are interconnected. H4a Cognitive trust in competence will influence cognitive trust in benevolence. H4b Cognitive trust in benevolence will influence cognitive trust in integrity. H4c Cognitive trust will positively affect affective trust to product comparison site. H5 Cognitive trust will positively affect affective trust to product comparison site. H5a Cognitive trust in competence will positively influence cognitive trust in competence to product comparison site. H5b Cognitive trust in benevolence will positively influence cognitive trust in competence to product comparison site. H5c Cognitive trust in integrity will positively influence cognitive trust in competence to product comparison site. h6 Affective trust to product comparison site will positively affect purchase intention. H7 Purchase intention will positively affect anticipated choice satisfaction. Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 202 Radosiaw Macik and Dorota Mqcik Cognitive trust in h8 Product and sellers reviews available for consumer from product comparison site will mediate relations between affective trust and shopping process outcomes. H8a Product and sellers reviews available for consumer from product comparison site will mediate the relationship between affective trust and purchase intention. H8a Product and sellers reviews available for consumer from product comparison site will mediate the relationship between affective trust and anticipated choice satisfaction. Research model derived from conceptual one has been assessed via structural equation modelling approach utilizing pls-sem. Sample and Measures sample Data have been collected through cawi questionnaire with e-mail invitation sent to authors students and their peers that returned 461 responses from 575 sent invitations, giving response rate of 80.2%. Study participants were motivated to respond by giving course credit (bonus points for activity if a student responds and effectively invites one other person - points given have value of 3% of maximum grade for the course), and also the promise of presenting preliminary study results on final lecture in consumer behaviour has been given. For analysis 456 responses have been qualified as complete and usable. In effect sample consists of 60.1% women and 39.9% men. Mean age of participants is 24.6 years with standard deviation of 5.3 years (range: 18-36 years old, median: 23 years). i/3rd of participants are inhabitants of rural areas. All participants must be active internet users and make at least one online purchase during a year prior study. Sample structure Managing Global Transitions Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews 203 table 1 Scales Used in Study Construct (1) (2) (3) (4) Personal Innovative-ness in domain of Information Technology PUT (Agarwal and Prasad 1998) translation 4 Consumer experience in product comparison sites usage b EXP Own n/a 9 Cognitive Trust in Competence CT_Competence (McKnight, Choudhury, and Kacmar 2002) travestation 4(3)a Cognitive Trust in Benevolence CT_Benevolence (McKnight, Choudhury, and Kacmar 2002) travestation 4(3)a Cognitive Trust in Integrity CT_Integrity (McKnight, Choudhury, and Kacmar 2002) travestation 4(3)a Affective (Emotional) Trust Emo_Trust (Komiak and Ben-basat 2006) reconstruction 4 Purchase Intention Purchase_Int (Gefen, Karahanna, reconstruction and Straub 2003) 4 Choice Satisfactionb Choice_Satisf Own N/A 4 Product Reviewsb Prod_Reviews Own N/A 2 Sellers Reviewsb Sellers_Reviews Own N/A 2 notes Column headings are as follows: (1) short name, (2) source of items, (3) level of adaptation, (4) number of items. a One item dropped due to low factor loading. b Scale items presented in table 8. regarding to gender and age is close to population of full-time and parttime students of public university located in South-East part of Poland, where data have been collected. MEASURES Items to measure constructs used in the research have been adapted mainly from previous studies published, and scales prepared by authors. As questionnaire language was Polish, this required to translate and culturally adapt (by authors) scales written originally in English, including reconstruction where needed. In effect used scales are derived from original measures. Basic data about used scales provides table 1. Data analysis for this study has been performed using Smartpls 3.2 Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 204 Radosiaw Macik and Dorota Mqcik table 2 Reliability of Measures - Cronbach's Alpha Constructs (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) c T_Benevolence 0.713 0.710 0.030 24.150 0.000 0.645 0.763 CT_Competence 0.732 0.730 0.027 26.797 0.000 0.672 0.780 c T_Integrity 0.777 0.775 0.023 33.312 0.000 0.726 0.817 Choice_Satisf 0.778 0.777 0.023 33.255 0.000 0.727 0.818 EXP 0.928 0.928 0.006 155.309 0.000 0.915 0.938 Emo_Trust 0.802 0.801 0.020 39.243 0.000 0.759 0.838 PiiT 0.821 0.820 0.015 56.054 0.000 0.790 0.847 Prod_Reviews 0.788 0.788 0.025 31.153 0.000 0.736 0.835 Purchase_Int 0.797 0.796 0.021 37.941 0.000 0.752 0.833 Sellers_Reviews 0.835 0.834 0.021 39.706 0.000 0.791 0.872 notes Column headings are as follows: (1) original sample; bootstrap estimates: (2) sample mean, (3) standard error, (4) i-statistics, (5) ^-values; bootstrap bias corrected 90% confidence interval: (6) low, (7) high. table 3 Reliability of Measures - Composite Reliability (cr) Constructs (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) c T_Benevolence 0.839 0.838 0.014 60.961 0.000 0.808 0.863 CT_Competence 0.849 0.848 0.013 65.332 0.000 0.821 0.872 c T_Integrity 0.871 0.870 0.012 74.224 0.000 0.845 0.891 Choice_Satisf 0.857 0.856 0.013 66.032 0.000 0.829 0.880 ExP 0.940 0.940 0.005 196.583 0.000 0.929 0.948 Emo_Trust 0.871 0.870 0.012 75.155 0.000 0.847 0.892 PiiT 0.882 0.882 0.009 102.417 0.000 0.862 0.897 Prod_Reviews 0.904 0.904 0.010 87.452 0.000 0.883 0.923 Purchase_Int 0.868 0.867 0.012 72.980 0.000 0.843 0.889 Sellers_Reviews 0.924 0.923 0.009 103.049 0.000 0.905 0.940 notes Column headings are as follows: (1) original sample; bootstrap estimates: (2) sample mean, (3) standard error, (4) i-statistics, (5) ^-values; bootstrap bias corrected 90% confidence interval: (6) low, (7) high. software (see www.smartpls.com), as most of measurement variables were not normally distributed. Bootstrap precedure with 10000 repetitions (resampling with replacement, sample size equal of original sample size - 456 observations) has been utilised to get inference statistics for measures and model. Managing Global Transitions Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews 205 table 4 Convergent Validity of Measures - Average Variance Extracted (ave) Constructs (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) CT_Benevolence 0.635 0.634 0.023 27.112 0.000 0.585 0.678 CT_Competence 0.652 0.652 0.023 28.768 0.000 0.606 0.695 CT_Integrity 0.692 0.691 0.022 31.377 0.000 0.646 0.732 Choice_Satisf 0.600 0.599 0.025 23.880 0.000 0.549 0.647 EXP 0.636 0.636 0.019 32.962 0.000 0.594 0.670 Emo_Trust 0.628 0.627 0.024 26.375 0.000 0.582 0.673 piit 0.656 0.654 0.017 37.687 0.000 0.618 0.686 Prod_Reviews 0.825 0.825 0.017 48.025 0.000 0.791 0.858 Purchase_Int 0.622 0.621 0.024 25.964 0.000 0.574 0.667 Sellers_Reviews 0.858 0.858 0.015 55.580 0.000 0.827 0.887 notes Column headings are as follows: (1) original sample; bootstrap estimates: (2) sample mean, (3) standard error, (4) i-statistics, (5) p-values; bootstrap bias corrected 90% confidence interval: (6) low, (7) high. reliability and validity of measures Reliability of measures in this study has been assessed by Cronbach's Alpha coefficient and Composite Reliability (cr) measure, as they represent lower and upper boundaries of true scale reliability respectively (Henseler, Ringle, and Sarstedt 2014). Using both criterions reliability of all constructs meets typical requirements - values of Alpha and cr are all over 0.7 (Hair, Ringle, and Sarstedt 2013, 7) - tables 2 and 3. In most following tables information structure includes original sample estimates, bootstrap estimates including sample mean and standard error from 10000 bootstrap samples with corresponding i-test statistic and its p-value, as well as 90% bootstrap bias-corrected confidence interval. These values are reported to confirm that results are valuable in terms of meeting typical criteria of reliability and validity. Convergent validity of used measures is very good - all constructs are meeting criterion of Average Variance Extracted (ave) over value of 0.5 as suggested by Fornell and Larcker (1981) - table 4. Discriminant validity of used measures is also good. The Fornell-Larcker Criterion stating that ave for each construct should be higher from all squared correlations between construct and other measures (Fornell and Larcker 1981) is met for all constructs beside one (pair: Emotional Trust and Choice Satisfaction) - table 5 (see also note, as in table this criterion is reported in alternative form). Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 206 Radosiaw Macik and Dorota Mqcik table 5 Discriminant Validity of Measures - Fornell-Larcker Criterion (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (1) 0-797 (2) 0.657 0.807 (3) 0.691 0.700 0.832 (4) 0.538 0.693 0.556 0.774 (5) 0.106 0.210 0.179 0.225 0.798 (6) 0.609 0.746 0.633 0.790 0.252 0.792 (7) 0.042 0.117 0.117 0.073 0.307 0.035 0.810 (8) 0.121 0.185 0.121 0.247 0.316 0.263 0.084 0.908 (9) 0.500 0.596 0.503 0.738 0.285 0.739 0.062 0.224 0.789 (10) 0.202 0.209 0.140 0.283 0.311 0.229 0.211 0.570 0.211 0.926 notes Column/row headings are as follows: (1) c T_Benevolence, (2) c T_Competence, (3) cT_Integrity, (4) Choice_Satisf, (5) exp, (6) Emo_Trust, (7) piit, (8) Prod_Reviews, (9) Purchase_Int, (10) Sellers_Reviews. Numbers on matrix diagonal are square roots from ave for each construct; numbers off-diagonal are correlations between constructs, this is alternative form to report Fornell-Larcker Criterion (Henseler et al. 2014,117). Results On the base or conceptual model shown on figure 1 and initial data analysis path model presented on figure 4 has been estimated using SmartPLs 3.2 software. Initial checks led to exclude from final model direct relationships between piit and any of cognitive trust constructs - there are no valid direct relationships between them, and piit influence on other constructs in this model is only indirect, via consumer experience with product comparison sites. Also path between consumer experience and cognitive trust in benevolence, as well as influence of product/sellers reviews on purchase intention have been dropped from the same reason. Other changes include adding direct relationship between cognitive trust in integrity and anticipated choice satisfaction. It has been also assumed that cognitive trust constructs are interconnected, so cognitive trust in competence influences trust in benevolence, and trust in benevolence is connected with trust in integrity. Table 6 presents path coefficients values in original sample and inference statistics for paths obtained via bootstrapping. Model exhibit reasonable fit - proportion of variance explained, measured with R-squared statistics is over 0.5 for main explained variables, particularly 0.591 for Emotional Trust and 0.605 for Choice Satis- Managing Global Transitions £ £ K PIIT3 PIIT4 EXP3 EXP4 EXP5 EXP7 EXP9 PRREV1 PR REV2 SEL REV1 9i3■»I SEL REV2 I 3 s V) a 3 Si. o »» K S3 a < figure 4 Path Model (final form; values in dark grey ovals representing latent variables are ^-square values for this constructs) to o vi 208 Radosiaw Macik and Dorota Mqcik table 6 Path Coefficients in Estimated Model Paths (direct effects) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) CT_Benevolence — CT_Integrity 0.679 0.678 0.032 21.090 0.000 0.613 0.737 CT_Benevolence — Emo_Trust 0.149 0.149 0.053 2.828 0.005 0.047 0.255 CT_Competence — CT_Benevolence 0.657 0.657 0.037 17.967 0.000 0.585 0.727 CT_Competence — Emo_Trust 0.544 0.543 0.046 11.943 0.000 0.450 0.630 CT_Integrity — Choice_Satisf 0.242 0.240 0.042 5.776 0.000 0.156 0.320 CT_Integrity — Emo_Trust 0.149 0.149 0.049 3.034 0.002 0.055 0.246 exp — c T_Competence 0.210 0.213 0.051 4.101 0.000 0.116 0.317 exp — CT_Integrity 0.107 0.108 0.034 3.126 0.002 0.043 0.178 Emo_Trust — Prod_Reviews 0.263 0.264 0.048 5.481 0.000 0.172 0.359 Emo_Trust — Purchase_Int 0.739 0.739 0.029 25.595 0.000 0.685 0.796 Emo_Trust — Sellers_Reviews 0.085 0.084 0.040 2.094 0.036 0.005 0.163 put — exp 0.307 0.313 0.046 6.618 0.000 0.233 0.414 Prod_Reviews — Sellers_Reviews 0.548 0.549 0.038 14.354 0.000 0.474 0.623 Purchase_Int — Choice_Satisf 0.590 0.592 0.044 13.456 0.000 0.510 0.679 Sellers_Reviews — Choice_Satisf 0.125 0.125 0.032 3.886 0.000 0.063 0.189 notes Column headings are as follows: (1) original sample; bootstrap estimates: (2) sample mean, (3) standard error, (4) t-statistics, (5) p-values; bootstrap bias corrected 90% confidence interval: (6) low, (7) high. faction. Also srmr (Square Root of Mean Residuals) is low. srmr value of 0.039 that is less than suggested 0.09 by (Iacobucci 2010, 97) confirming reasonable model fit to the data. As model is quite complicated, some indirect effects are present, particularly for mediation of product and sellers reviews between affective trust and choice satisfaction. As total effect is the sum of direct effect and indirect effect(s), only direct and total effects are reported (tables 6 and 7). Indirect effect in this case is easy to calculate as the difference between total and direct effects (or as multiplication of particular path coefficients). In case of lack of direct relationship total effect equals indirect effect -such cases are italicized in table 7. On the base of model estimation results hypotheses were assessed. There are no valid direct relationships between put and any of cogni-tivetrustconstructsinfinalmodel,thushypotheses Hia-Hic arenotsup-ported. put influence on other constructs in this model is only indirect, via consumer experience with product comparison sites, that satisfies hypothesis H2. put stronger indirectly influences cognitive trust in competence and integrity than in benevolence, and those influences are statistically significant (table 7). Mentioned consumer experience influences cognitive trust in compe- Managing Global Transitions Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews 209 table 7 Total Effects in Estimated Model Paths (direct effects) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) CT_Benevolence — CT_Integrity 0.679 0.678 0.032 21.090 0.000 0.613 0.737 CT_Benevolence — Choice_Satisf* 0.280 0.280 0.036 7.691 0.000 0.210 0.354 CT_Benevolence — Emo_Trust 0.250 0.251 0.046 5.448 0.000 0.164 0.344 CT_Benevolence — Prod_Reviews* 0.066 0.066 0.018 3.599 0.000 0.033 0.104 CT_Benevolence — Purchase_Int* 0.185 0.185 0.035 5.271 0.000 0.119 0.256 CT_Benevolence — Sellers_Reviews* 0.057 0.058 0.016 3.476 0.001 0.028 0.091 CT_Competence — CT_Benevolence 0.657 0.657 0.037 17.967 0.000 0.585 0.727 CT_Competence — c T_Integrity* 0.446 0.446 0.041 10.977 0.000 0.365 0.525 CT_Competence — Choice_Satis*f 0.437 0.439 0.034 12.678 0.000 0.376 0.510 CT_Competence — Emo_Trust 0.709 0.708 0.031 23.071 0.000 0.646 0.765 CT_Competence — Prod_Reviews* 0.186 0.187 0.034 5.478 0.000 0.120 0.254 CT_Competence — Purchase_Int* 0.523 0.524 0.036 14.349 0.000 0.454 0.595 CT_Competence — Sellers_Reviews* 0.162 0.162 0.033 4.937 0.000 0.099 0.227 CT_Integrity — Choice_Satisf 0.311 0.310 0.047 6.633 0.000 0.211 0.398 CT_Integrity — Emo_Trust 0.149 0.149 0.049 3.034 0.002 0.055 0.246 CT_Integrity — Prod_Reviews* 0.039 0.039 0.015 2.573 0.010 0.012 0.070 CT_Integrity — Purchase_Int* 0.110 0.110 0.036 3.031 0.002 0.041 0.183 CT_Integrity — Sellers_Reviews* 0.034 0.034 0.013 2.614 0.009 0.010 0.060 exp — CT_Benevolence* 0.138 0.140 0.035 3.955 0.000 0.074 0.211 exp — c T_Competence 0.210 0.213 0.051 4.101 0.000 0.116 0.317 exp — CT_Integrity 0.201 0.203 0.048 4.151 0.000 0.112 0.301 exp — Choice_Satisf* 0.125 0.127 0.031 4.012 0.000 0.070 0.192 exp — Emo_Trust* 0.165 0.167 0.040 4.098 0.000 0.092 0.250 exp — Prod_Reviews* 0.043 0.044 0.014 3.082 0.002 0.020 0.075 exp — Purchase_Int* 0.122 0.124 0.031 3.904 0.000 0.066 0.188 exp — Sellers_Reviews* 0.038 0.039 0.013 2.882 0.004 0.016 0.066 Emo_Trust — Choice_Satisf* 0.464 0.467 0.041 11.455 0.000 0.394 0.552 Emo_Trust — Prod_Reviews 0.263 0.264 0.048 5.481 0.000 0.172 0.359 Emo_Trust — Purchase_Int 0.739 0.739 0.029 25.595 0.000 0.685 0.796 Emo_Trust — Sellers_Reviews 0.229 0.229 0.046 5.007 0.000 0.143 0.318 Continued on the next page tence (H3a - supported) and in integrity (H3C - supported), but is not connected directly with cognitive trust in benevolence (H3b - not supported). Cognitive trust in competence strongly influences cognitive trust in benevolence (this supports H4a), and cognitive trust in benevolence connects with cognitive trust in integrity (H4b - supported). This sequence of influence is consistent with McKnight, Choudhury, and Kac-mar (2002) suggestions. Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 210 Radosiaw Macik and Dorota Mqcik table 7 Continued from the previous page Paths (direct effects) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) put — CT_Benevolence* 0.042 0.044 0.013 3.202 0.001 0.022 0.074 put — c T_Competence* 0.064 0.067 0.020 3.285 0.001 0.033 0.110 put — c T_Integrity* 0.062 0.064 0.019 3.271 0.001 0.032 0.107 put — Choice_Satisf* 0.038 0.040 0.012 3.211 0.001 0.020 0.067 put — exp 0.307 0.313 0.046 6.618 0.000 0.233 0.414 put — Emo_Trust* 0.051 0.052 0.015 3.268 0.001 0.026 0.087 put — Prod_Reviews* 0.013 0.014 0.005 2.652 0.008 0.006 0.025 put — Purchase_Int* 0.037 0.039 0.012 3.172 0.002 0.019 0.066 put — Sellers_Reviews* 0.012 0.012 0.005 2.505 0.012 0.005 0.023 Prod_Reviews — Choice_Satisf* 0.068 0.069 0.018 3.735 0.000 0.033 0.105 Prod_Reviews — Sellers_Reviews 0.548 0.549 0.038 14.354 0.000 0.474 0.623 Purchase_Int — Choice_Satisf 0.590 0.592 0.044 13.456 0.000 0.510 0.679 Sellers_Reviews — Choice_Satisf 0.125 0.125 0.032 3.886 0.000 0.063 0.189 notes Column headings are as follows: (1) original sample; bootstrap estimates: (2) sample mean, (3) standard error, (4) t-statistics, (5) p-values; bootstrap bias corrected 90% confidence interval: (6) low, (7) high. * Only indirect effect. Hypotheses H5a - H5C stating positive relationship between cognitive trust (particular sub-dimensions) on affective trust are supported, with cognitive trust on product comparison site competence having much stronger influence on affective trust than other cognitive trust constructs. Also hypotheses h6 and H7 are supported - affective trust strongly influences purchase intention, and purchase intention is positively connected with anticipated choice satisfaction. Added path for direct relationship between cognitive trust in integrity and anticipated choice satisfaction is also significant, this can be explained in following way: high cognitive trust in integrity means having trust beliefs about honesty and promise-keeping by online retailer (McKnight, Choudhury, and Kacmar 2002), in such circumstances it is easier to declare satisfaction from choice made. In hypotheses H8a and H8b indirect influence of product and sellers reviews on relationship between affective trust and purchase intention or choice satisfaction have been hypothesized. Gathered data are suggesting - contrary to pilot study - that: products and sellers reviews mediation relationship is not confirmed for affective trust and purchase intention, not supporting hypothesis H8a. However there exists mediation of mentioned reviews on affective trust to choice satisfaction indirect relationship, supporting hypothesis H8b. In other words both review types are Managing Global Transitions Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews 211 table 8 Scales Items Construct Short name Item name Item wording Consumer exp exp1 I can easily find the information I seek using product experience comparison sites and consumer e-opinions sites in product comparison sites usage (5-point Likert-type Exp 2 exp3 I consider myself as an experienced user of product comparison sites, such as Ceneo.pl, Skapiec.pla I consider myself as an experienced user of consumer e-opinions sites, such as: Opineo.pl, Znam.tob scale) exp4 I use product comparison sites to compare prices exp5 I use product comparison sites to compare product attributes exp6 I use product comparison sites to look at the opinions about products / brands I consider as worth to buy exp7 I use product comparison sites to learn about online retailers reputation exp8 I use consumer e-opinions sites to look at the opinions about products / brands I consider as worth to buy exp9 I use consumer e-opinions sites to learn about online retailers reputation Continued on the next page influencing much stronger choice satisfaction, than (if any) purchase intention (figure 4). Also product review usage explains i/3rd of variance of sellers review usage, much more than emotional trust directly (table 6). Partial mediation of review constructs on affective trust to choice satisfaction occurs and is significant, while affective trust and purchase intention path is not significantly mediated as it was hypothesized. Conclusion and Limitations Performed research generally confirms conceptual model as well as measurement reliability and validity of used constructs. Main paths of influences adopted from Komiak and Benbasat (2006): cognitive trust ^ affective trust ^ purchase intention [and anticipated choice satisfaction -as added construct] is confirmed by relatively strong positive influence. Although the effect of selected for model antecedents of cognitive trust is lower than expected, and also mediation of product/sellers review affects stronger choice satisfaction than purchase intention, own extension of Komiak and Benbasat (2006) trust-based acceptance model is promising. Also main relationships found for product comparison site usage are similar to those found in case of online retailer (Zhang, Cheung, and Lee 2014), that confirms study external validity. Obtained results confirm possibility to relatively good explain con- Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 212 Radosiaw Mqcik and Dorota Mqcik table 8 Continued from the previous page Construct Short name Item name Item wording Choice Choice_Satisf csi I think I would have been satisfied making the pur- Satisfaction chase on the basis of the suggestions from comparison (5-point site I used Likert-type CS2 I think that the comparison site I used, would allow me scale) to make a good choice cs3 I believe that through the use of the comparison site I used, I would reduce the risk of buying the wrong product cs4 I believe that through the use of the comparison site I used, I would reduce the risk of unreliable vendor selection Product Prod_Reviews p r_r e v i To what extent in decision-making which product to Reviews choose you have paid attention on product ratings (4-point (described as numbers, points, stars, etc.) scalec) PR_REV2 To what extent in decision-making which product to choose you have paid attention on product written reviews Sellers Re- Sellers_Reviews s e l_re v 1 To what extent in decision-making which product views (4- to choose you have paid attention on vendor ratings point scalec ) (described as numbers, points, stars, etc.) SEL_REV 2 To what extent in decision-making which product to choose you have paid attention on vendor written reviews notes In questionnaire items were worded in Polish. a Ceneo.pl and Skapiec.pl are product comparison sites commonly used by consumers in Poland. b Opineo.pl and Znam.to are consumer e-opinion sites commonly used by consumers in Poland.c With answer choices: 1 - 'for any of the listings,' 2 - 'only for the listing selected eventually,' 3 - 'for listings under consideration,' 4 - 'for all viewed listings.' sumer decision-making outcomes in terms of proposed model. Enhancing known model by new constructs gave possibility to better explain product comparison site usage, and contributed new findings to the existing knowledge - particularly by emphasising the role of cognitive trust in competence for product comparison sites usage and choice satisfaction (for the last one with cognitive trust in integrity); also finding that sellers reviews are more important than product ones confirms behaviour focused on minimising the risk of dissatisfaction because of unreliable online seller activity, rather on bad choice in terms of product features -these are most important practical implications from the study. As own measures exhibit at least required reliability, as well as convergent and discriminant validity. Replication of proposed study will be welcomed by authors - all own measures in English translation are given in table 8 (measures adopted from previous studies are easily available from literature). Comparison of future replications with this study results al- Managing Global Transitions Trust and Product/Sellers Reviews 213 though should be careful, as English translation of own measures have not been tested in terms of validity - study participants answered questions in Polish. Main limitation of this study is relatively homogenous sample in terms of participants' demographic background - university students and their working or studying peers only were surveyed. This suggests that some of influences in more diversified sample - particularly in terms of age -can be different than obtained, e.g. influence of put on cognitive trust should be higher and more direct for older consumers. Another possibility is to improve model is to enhance antecedents list by set of consumer decision-making styles, giving opportunity to better explain trust measures in model. References Agarwal, R., and J. Prasad. 1998. 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'Is a "Star" Worth a Thousand Words? The Interplay between Product-Review Texts and Rating Valences.' European Journal of Marketing 43:1269-80. Wan, Y., Menon, S., and A. Ramaprasad. 2007. 'A Classification of Product Comparison Agents.' Communications of the acm 50 (8): 65-71. Zhang, K. Z. K. , C. M . K. Cheung, and M . K. O. Lee. 2014 . 'Examining the Moderating Effect of Inconsistent Reviews and its Gender Differences on Consumers' Online Shopping Decision.' International Journal of Information Management 34 (2): 89-98. This paper is published under the terms ofthe Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016 Abstracts in Slovene Asimetrično zbliževanje v globalizaciji? Ugotovitve iz disegregacijskih analiz Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias in Petros Messis Z uporabo kof indeksa globalizacije, ki omogoča multidimenzional-nost procesa, se članek ukvarja z raziskavo prisotnosti zbliževanja med državami v treh dimenzijah globalizacijskega procesa: ekonomski, družbeni in politični. Vzorec, ki ga uporabimo v empirični raziskavi, je sestavljen iz 111 držav in pokriva obdobja 1971-2011. Da bi v hitrosti zbliževanja dopustili razliko, so bile države glede na prihodke razdeljene v štiri skupine: višji, kažejo na asimetričen proces zbliževanja z različnimi hitrostmi, tako med skupinami kot v različnih razsežnostih globalizacije. Ključne besede: globalizacija, združevanje, korenine enot Klasifikacija jel: C23, F01, f6o Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 117-135 Bilateralno trgovanje in razporeditev stopnje rasti držav jugovzhodne Evrope Valerija Botric in Tanja Broz Cilj članka je raziskati vlogo trgovanja pri poravnavi sinhronizacijskih vzorcev med jugovzhodnimi evropskimi državami - Albanijo, Bosno in Hercegovino, Bolgarijo, Hrvaško, Makedonijo, Kosovim, Črno goro, Romunijo in Srbijo - in člani evrskega območja. Natančneje. raziskujemo, ali bilateralni trgovinski tokovi vplivajo na sinhronizacijski donos med državami evrskega območja in jugovzhodnimi evropskimi državami, ter primerjamo izmenjevalno sinhronizacijske vzorce med ugo-vzhodnimi evropskimi državami in novimi državami članicami, ki še niso uvedle Evra (nms). Rezultati kažejo, da so nivoji podobnosti v donosu držav jugovzhodne Evrope in držav članic, ki niso še uvedle evra, različni in da imajo države jugovzhodne Evrope nižjo donosno korela-cijo s članicami evrskega območja kot z državami članicami, ki še niso uvedle evra. Raziskovanje vloge trgovine pri poravnavi vzorcev rasti je v nekaterih primerih ugotovilo pozitivne učinke, mnogo močnejše za države jugovzhodne Evrope, ki imajo nižji nivo intenzivnosti izmenjave. Argumentiramo, da je razlog za te rezutate povezan z dejstvom, da so lahko v državah članicah, ki še niso uvedle evra, dominantni drugi dejavniki (poravnava ukrepov politik znotraj e u), medtem ko so imeli pri Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 217-219 218 Abstracts in Slovene državah jugovzhodne Evrope možnost za uveljavitev učinkov v v analiziranem obdobju le menjalni odnosi. Ključne besede: sinhronizacija poslovnega cikla, integracija, jugovzhodna Evropa Klasifikacija jel: F15, E32 Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 137-155 Finančni razvoj in siva ekonomija v tranzicijskih ekonomijah Evropske unije Yilmaz Bayar in Omer Faruk Ozturk Siva ekonomija je resen problem z različnimi razsežnostmi v vseh dohodkovnih skupinah in ima na razvoj ekonomij pomembne škodljive učinke. Zatorej se vse države poskušajo boriti proti sivi ekonomiji z raz-ližnimi ukrepi. Ta študija raziskuje medsebojno vplivanje med sivo ekonomijo, razvojem finančnega sektorja in institucionalno kvaliteto med obdobjem 2003-2014 v tranzicijskih ekonomijah Evropske unije, pri čemer uporablja analizo panelnih podatkov. Empirične ugotovitve kažejo na integrirajoče odnose med sivo ekonomijo, razvojem finančnega sektorja in kvaliteto inštitucij. Še več, finančni razvoj in instiucionalno kvaliteta na dolgi rok negativno vplivata na sivo ekonomijo. Ključne besede: siva ekonomija, finančni razvoj, institucionalna kvaliteta, analiza panelnih podatkov Klasifikacija jel: C23, G20, h 11, H26, 017 Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 157-173 Vpliv dejavnikov vodenja na implementacijo iso 14001 v organizacijah Nastja Tomšič, Mirko Markič in Štefan Bojnec Vodilni managerji imajo ključno vlogo pri implementaciji okoljskih komponent trajnostnega razvoja v organizacijah.ključno vlogo. Pričujoči članek predstavlja rezultate edinstvene raziskave, ki je bila narejena med vodilnimi managerji iz različnih velikih slovenskih organizacij, z namenom, da se ugotovi dominantne dejavnike vodenja, ki pozitivno vplivajo na implementacijo okoljskih komponent trajnostnega razvoja (standard iso 14001) v organizaciji. Raziskava je zajela 321 velikih slovenskih organizacij. Ugotovili smo, da so vizija, kredibilnost, sodelovanje, odgovornost in orientiranost k akciji dominantni dejavniki vodenja, ki jih vodilni managerji vzamejo v obzir pri doseganju trajnostnega razvoja. Managing Global Transitions Abstracts in Slovene 219 Ključne besede: iso 14001, velike organizacije, vodenje, trajnostni razvoj Klasifikacija jel: M12, Q56 Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 175-193 Zaupanje in ocene izdelka/prodajalca kot dejavniki, ki vplivajo na uporabo spletnih strani s primerjavo izdelkov s strani mladih porabnikov Radostaw Macik in Dorota Mqcik Članek opisuje obnašanje mladih porabnikov, povezanih z uporabo spletnih strani s primerjavo izdelkov na spletu, kot primer spletnih pripomočkov za odločanje pri nakupovanju. Avtorjev cilj je preveriti, ali dejavniki, kot so prejšnje izkušnje z uporabo takšnih strani, osebna inovativnost na področju informacijske tehnologije (piit) in še zlasti kognitivno zaupanje (v več poddimenzijah) kot tudi afektivno zaupanje spletnim stranem s primerjavo izdelov, preko omenjenih strani (pri čemer pri spletni prodaji delujejo kot posredniki) vplivajo na nakupovalni namen in pričakovano zadovoljstvo zaradi izbire, ki jo je porabnik opravil. Raziskovali smo tudi posredni vpliv mnenj uporabnikov o izdelkih in prodajalcih na omenjene konstruke. Študija učinkovitega vzorca 456 mladih porabnikov s podatki, zbranimi preko vprašalnika cawi, je potrdila zanesljivost in veljavnost merskih lestvic. Model pls-sem je potrdil večino postavljenih hipotez, še posebej močan pozitiven odnos med kognitivnim zaupanjem in afektivnim zaupanjem in ka-snejemed nakupovalnim namenom in zadovoljstvom z izbiro. Delna posrednika pri nekaterih od omenjenih odnosov sta bile ocene izdelkov in prodajalcev. Ključne besede: informacijska tehnologija, tržišče, uporaba spletnih strani s primerjavo izdelkov, zaupanje, ocene izdelka/prodajalca, namen nakupa Klasifikacija jel: 033, d 12, C39 Managing Global Transitions 14 (2): 195-215 Volume 14 • Number 2 • Summer 2016