The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in companies is advancing rapidly. Consequently, multidisciplinary research on AI in business has developed dramatically during the last decade, moving from the focus on technological objectives towards an interest in human users’ perspective. In this article, we investigate the notion of employees’ trust in AI at the workplace (in the company), following a human-centered approach that considers AI integration in business from the employees’ perspective, taking into account the elements that facilitate human trust in AI. While employees’ trust in AI at the workplace seems critical, so far, few studies have systematically investigated its determinants. Therefore, this study is an attempt to fill the existing research gap. The research objective of the article is to examine links between employees’ trust in AI in the company and three other latent variables (general trust in technology, intra-organizational trust, and individual competence trust). A quantitative study conducted on a sample of 428 employees from companies of the energy and chemical industries in Poland allowed the hypotheses to be verified. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate the existence of a positive relationship between general trust in technology and employees’ trust in AI in the company as well as between intra-organizational trust and employees’ trust in AI in the company in the surveyed firms.

The innovation capability of a company is considered the determinant of its competitiveness in the long-term. Therefore, it is of increasing importance to understand the critical variable behind a firm’s innovation capability. The paper explores these issues and contributes to the research on the factors that drive a company’s innovation capability. The aim of the paper is to identify which factors determine the innovation capability of manufacturing enterprises operating in Poland. In the theoretical part, it provides an overview of recent contributions to the literature on a company’s innovation capability enhancers. The empirical contribution of the paper refers to recognising the relationship between the certain practices pursued by Polish manufacturing enterprises and their innovation capability measured by innovation output. Using a model for panel data, the study finds that that the factors driving innovation capability of manufacturing enterprises operating in Poland are the following: inter-organisational cooperation, hiring employees in research and development (R&D) activities as well as firms’ internal expenditures on R&D. The study is based on the data from publications of the Central Statistical Office of Poland, which contain information on the activities of manufacturing enterprises and reports presenting the results of research on the innovation capability of enterprises.

The growing flow of people into cities causes several challenges for their functioning. This brings the need to ensure, for example, efficient transport, sustainable waste, and appropriate energy policy. Particularly capital cities are exposed to the above-mentioned risks, due to their large numbers and densities of inhabitants. Therefore, the state of the environment in cities should be monitored systematically. The research aim of this article is to evaluate the level of environmental sustainability in capitals of European Union countries. A synthetic indicator was made up of diagnostic variables, using quantitative and qualitative indicators relating to the quality of the environment. Based on the ranking, results reveal that Europe is spatially divided according to the level of environmental quality. The best results were achieved by capital cities of the northern European countries. The analysis presented here has some application potential. It can serve to identify challenges to improving the quality of the environment, and to raise public awareness of the importance of changing individual behaviour (e.g., use of public transport).

The present study investigated the country-specific determinants of intra-industry trade between Poland and its European Union trading partners in clothing and footwear during the time period 2004–2017. The econometric model for panel data was used to identify the factors determining bilateral intra-industry trade with EU countries. The research findings show that the size of the trading partners' economies has a positive impact on the development of intra-industry trade in clothing and footwear. The size of the country, measured by the size of its GDP, is equated with the size of the market and the possibilities of selling differentiated products in it. The geographical distance separating the trading countries turned out to be a factor limiting the development of intra-industry trade. An unfavourable effect on the intensity of intra-industry trade is also the degree of imbalance in trade between trade partners. The study confirmed that the direction of the impact of all determinants of intra-industry trade identified is consistent with the predictions of the theory.