J24 - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor ProductivityReturn

The topic of the relationship between human capital and economic growth has been intensively examined in empirical studies since the 1980s. Although the positive impact of education and human capital on growth has been repeatedly confirmed, there are still doubts about the strength and probable inverse causality of the relationship. The quality of human capital is frequently mentioned in the empirical literature as an important factor which can help to understand and properly determine the link. The quality of human capital is a key focus of this paper. It tests and confirms the hypothesis that the quality is an important factor which significantly influences the intensity of the relationship. The main hypothesis has been tested using the dynamic panel data technique (GMM estimation) on panel data covering 65 countries in 1960-2005. It has been confirmed that the years of schooling have a higher positive impact on economic growth in countries with a higher quality of education.

The paper focuses on competitiveness of the Prague University of Economics' graduates from the point of view of competence levels. The aim was to compare the achieved and required levels of competences evaluated by graduates. We analyzed the data collected within the international projects REFLEX 2006 and REFLEX 2010. We only analyzed responses of graduates from master degree studies at the University of Economics, Prague. We compared the achieved and required levels of competences within each period, then we compared the competence levels between the two periods, and finally we compared our results with the results of other surveys. The obtained knowledge indicates positive development in the area of competence levels acquired by the graduates. In addition to standard statistical coefficients of association, agreement and similarity, a new competence coefficient was proposed for the comparison of achieved and required levels of competences.

Work culture has the potential to enhance managerial performance. The objective of the present study is to examine the dominant work culture prevalent in the two private sector manufacturing organizations X and Y and to study its impact on the contextual performance and motivation level of the employees at the middle management level. The statistical tools used to test the hypothesis were the mean, standard deviation, t-test, correlation, one-way ANOVA, and regression. The findings show that the technocratic culture has the strongest partial correlation or the purest relationship with role motivation. Through a regression analysis, the technocratic culture emerges as a strong predictor of motivation while the entrepreneurial culture as a strong predictor for performance. The findings imply that when individuals are satisfied with their roles and feel that their supervisor or leader provides them with support, their contextual performance is expected to increase.

The basic aim of this paper is to investigate the impact that individuals' level of education and participation in training programmes (apprenticeship, intra-firm training, continuing vocational training, popular training) have on their job prospects in Crete and the Ionian Islands, both among Greece's top tourist destinations, during the implementation of the first Community Support Framework - CSF (1989-1993). We try to see whether the level of education itself and participation in training programmes increased the chances of finding a job. More specifically, we examine the social and demographic characteristics that increase the chances of someone in the examined population finding a job, how those chances change (if they do) after the introduction of training courses and, also, whether university graduates, in contrast to most of the rest of the EU member states, face greater difficulties in finding a job than non-university graduates, as a series of studies for Greece conclude. In our analysis we use individual anonymised records (micro-data) of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for both employed and unemployed at NUTS-2 level.

In recent years, interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) has risen considerably due to stakeholder expectations: "conscientious consumers", institutional investors' interest in Socially Responsible Investment (SRI), the increasing demand for highly qualified employees, the political community's interest in sustainability culminating in various initiatives, discussion among the general public about corporate responsibility. CSR can contribute to the success of a company in many ways; e.g., improve its risk management techniques; reduce the reputation-damage risk; attract and retain qualified employees; generate a beneficial business environment. CSR could be a source of competitive advantage if it generates a unique character of the company or product brand.