Ewa Chojnacka

Social Security in Poland - Cultural, Historical and Economical Issues

In the first place, the paper analyses the cultural-historical background of the social security in Poland. Given the largely enrooted Catholicism of the country, the development of the social teaching of the Catholic Church is surveyed. It is followed by a short history of the social security legislation in Poland from 1918 to 1997, and finally the current economical conditions of the system are analysed. The paper concludes with the opinion, that the current system, providing large social endowments to various strata of the population, generally answers the expectations of the people as well as corresponds to Catholic social teaching.

The Relationship Between CSR Engagement and Firm Risk in Polish Public Companies

The paper deals with the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on firm risk. The first part of the study concentrates on theoretical descriptions of the relationship between CSR and firm risk in the light of former research concerning this issue. The second part of the paper presents our own analysis of the situation of Polish public companies listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange. For quite a long time, CSR engagement of firms has been an important issue in developed markets whereas in Poland this problem has not been sufficiently examined so far. The econometric model used in the article is the result of our study of the extant accounting and finance literature as well as of data availability. The results show that CSR engagement is not significantly related to firm risk in the Polish public companies we analyzed. Perhaps the data that we used were not sufficient to construct a reliable model. It is also possible that the CSR idea itself is not important enough on the Polish market when it comes to evaluating firm risk. Thus, it must be emphasized that the present paper is only a preliminary study and the problem requires further analysis.

Benefts of Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement in Companies: The Case of Poland

Abstract Purpose: This study investigates the benefits of being perceived as a socially responsible company. The main purpose of the research was to find out whether company managers consider that certain aspects of company activity may benefit from being perceived as socially responsible. Methodology: The research methods included a literature review and a survey conducted in several Polish companies regarded as socially responsible. The so-called RESPECT Index, including socially responsible companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange Main List, as well as annual rankings of responsible companies were used as a kind of reputation database for choosing survey respondents. Findings: The most important benefits indicated by the respondents included better firm image/reputation, improved relations with stakeholders, increased employee motivation, better communication inside the company, as well as more effective management and control over new aspects not considered before. Additionally, the identified benefits were analyzed using different criteria, such as the size of the company or its field of activity. Research limitations: The primary source of data used in this study was a survey of respondents’ views and opinions rather than an analysis of extensive numerical data. Originality: The problem analyzed in this study is important, yet it is still not a sufficiently examined issue in many emerging markets including Poland. As benefits taken into consideration in the survey are also valid for other financial markets, the results can be used for comparative studies of Poland and other countries.

Saving preferences of households in Poland

The purpose of this article is to present the savings’ preferences of households in Poland. Households in Poland invest primarily in deposits made in Polish zloties. Their primary motivation is saving for flats and houses and in the second motivation is saving for durable goods. For the purpose of the analysis authors used the data published by National Bank of Poland and statistical data published in the Social Diagnosis 2011 report.