Editorial

Welcome to the final issue of the International Journal of Management and Economics in 2021. Let me start this editorial by sharing the very good news that our journal has been appreciated by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and has been granted 100 points on the evaluation list of scientific journals in Poland. This is one of the highest ranks among economic journals from our country. I am deeply grateful to all our dear authors and reviewers, as well as to the distinguished members of the Academic Board, for letting us constantly improve our academic standards. Of course, words of appreciation go also to all my dear colleagues from the Editorial Team, who work with me on a daily basis to make things run smoothly.

In this issue, we offer four empirical papers, two conceptual papers, and one book review. The scope of the papers lies in behavioral economics, finance, strategic management, human resources management, project management, and general macroeconomics. From the geographical perspective, two papers are dedicated to the US market, one to Indonesia, one to Poland, and one to Scandinavia.

The opening paper is by Marcin Palenik, and it is entitled “The effect of uncertainty on negative discounting”. The Author demonstrates that the commonly accepted assumption of positive discounting rates in intertemporal choices in some situations may not hold. In an experimental study, he shows how an increase of uncertainty increases the chances of negative discounting. He demonstrates that uncertain profit of high expected value might be more likely deferred over time than a certain profit of the same value. On the other hand, uncertain loss of a high expected value will be more likely accepted earlier than a certain loss of the same value. In both cases, negative discounting is observed more often due to increased uncertainty.

Serhii Lehenchuck and Tetyana Zavalii are authors of the second paper, entitled “The impact of consumer capital on company's market value: an empirical study from 100 U.S. stock market leaders”. Applying various models of regression analysis to data from reports of 100 U.S. stock market leaders, they generally confirm the positive (but statistically weak) relationship between the customer capital and the company's market value. As a kind of a side finding, the authors also suggest that particular attention should be paid to research and development (R&D) expenses, which have a significant impact on the company's market value according to their regression analysis.

The third paper, entitled “Strategic thinkers and their characteristics: toward a multimethod typology development”, is by the team of following authors: Katarzyna Piórkowska, Anna Witek-Crabb, Janusz Lichtarski, Maciej Wilczyński, and Sylwia Wrona. They explore the strategic thinking concept by searching for similarities and differences within the strategic thinkers’ population in order to allow their categorization. Additionally, the biographical method is applied to exemplify all the distinguishing features with real-life examples of globally well-known corporate leaders.

In the fourth article, entitled “The importance of emotional intelligence for the sales associates profession as a mediation between job stress and job satisfaction”, Christine Sandroto and Jessica Fransiska examine the effect of job stress on job satisfaction, with emotional intelligence as a mediating variable in the sales associate profession. The research sample consists of 100 sales associates in Jakarta (Indonesia), who work in malls that target middle-to-upper-class level customers. The study reveals that the higher the level of emotional intelligence, the stronger the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction is mediated. Emotional intelligence is an ability that can improve through training programs. Therefore, it might be advised that through emotional intelligence training, one can obtain a higher degree of job satisfaction.

The next paper, “Role of the state in implementation of strategic investment projects: The SaHo model for nuclear power”, is by Bożena Horbaczewska and Łukasz Sawicki. It presents an innovative business model designed specifically to enable the Polish government to implement nuclear power development plans. The SaHo model solves those problems identified in the nuclear energy sector that are mainly related to high investment risk and high cost of capital at the investment stage. Since the state is the investor at the initial stage, it takes over most of the risk in the short term. By selling the shares in the project before connection to the grid, the state significantly reduces the financial involvement in the medium and long terms. After connection to the grid and disinvestment by the state, the energy is sold to their shareholders at costs. It is also possible to use this model in other countries and sectors requiring high capital expenditures.

The final paper of this issue, “Disputes over the reasons for Sweden's economic success: Nima Sanandaji and his critics”, is by Bogusław Czarny. This is a follow-on paper of the article presented by Bogusław Czarny and Elżbieta Czarny in the previous issue of IJME. This time, the author analyzes selected views of the well-known Swedish analyst of Nordic economies, Nima Sanandaji, on the reasons for the economic and social successes of Sweden and other Nordic countries in the 20th and 21st centuries. In particular, the following theses have been challenged: the opinion that Sweden's prosperity arose before the development of the welfare state, the view that other Swedish successes (health, small inequalities, equal opportunities) are wrongly attributed to the Swedish welfare state, and the thesis that there is very limited scope for other countries to copy the Swedish (Nordic) experience. Bogusław Czarny, in an interesting manner, confronts some controversial claims of Sanandaji with arguments of his critics and occasionally enriches the discussion by his own remarks.

Last but not the least, there is also a book review included in this issue. Marian Gorynia summarizes and recommends the latest book by Jerzy Menkes and Magdalena Suska on the economic and legal impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Poland. (“The economic and legal impact of COVID-19. The case of Poland”, Jerzy Menkes and Magdalena Suska (eds.), Routledge: London and New York, 2021).

This is the last issue of the International Journal of Management and Economics in 2021. As is usual, on this occasion, at the end of the issue, we list the reviewers who helped us assess nearly 100 submissions considered for publication over the past year (vol. 57, issues 1–4). We would like to thank them cordially for their time and expertise in keeping our academic standards high. We express our appreciation also on behalf of the many authors who benefited from their inspiring remarks and suggestions on how to improve their articles.

Traditionally, at the turn of the year, I would like to wish all readers, authors, and other members of our academic community a Happy New Year 2022. Please accept our Best Wishes and Seasonal Greetings. Stay with us for more scientific reports and inspiring papers in further issues of the coming new volume.