Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between personality traits, risk-taking attitude and investment decisions among potential private investors in a post-Soviet transition country, i.e. Kazakhstan. The study provides valuable insights to investment experts and policymakers to understand investors' behavior in post-Soviet transition countries. Design/methodology/approach -A quantitative research method is used to measure personality traits, risk-taking behavior and investment decisions of the respondents. A survey was conducted among the students and teachers of a business school in Kazakhstan. Based on literature review, two multiple regression models were development and tested in this study. Software packages SPSS and EViews were used to analyze the data. Findings -The findings revealed that personality traits have some impact on an individual's risk-tolerance behavior, which, in turn, influences investment decisions about stock, securities and bonds. The results of this study imply that investment advisors should consider personal characteristics and individual risk tolerance, among other factors, when giving investment advice to private investors. Originality/value -At present, there is no study or research available about investors' behavior and risk-taking attitudes on post-Soviet transition economies. Therefore, this study will contribute significantly toward the understanding of investors' behavior in these countries and will help policymakers and investment bankers make appropriate suggestions on financial advising.

Purpose Using a multi-level perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate impact of transformational leadership on employees’ creative process engagement and mediating roles of intrinsic motivation, task complexity and innovation support in the process of influence. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a quantitative method. Using a multi-item survey instrument, a total of 400 questionnaires were distributed among employees of small and medium enterprises registered with the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bangladesh. Collected data were analyzed using structural equation model as well as factor analysis and path analysis to test the hypotheses and to assess the moderating and mediating effects of the variables. Findings The findings reveal that transformational leadership has a significant impact on employees’ creative process engagement. The study further shows that task complexity and support for innovation moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ creative process engagement. Research limitations/implications Based on the premises of interactionist perspectives on creativity, this study integrates multi-level variables to investigate leaders’ influences on followers’ creative process engagement. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on influence of transformational leadership on employees’ creative process engagement as well as the impact of both individual- and organizational-level variables. Originality/value The study adopts a distinct model comprising five different variables to investigate creative process engagement from a multi-level perspective, i.e., creative process engagement and intrinsic motivation at the individual level, task complexity at the unit level, and support for innovation and leadership at the organizational level. This integrated model of using predictors from multiple levels supports the theoretical assumptions that creative process engagement results from the interaction of individual-, group- and organizational-level factors.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and determinants of sustainability performance disclosures reported by publicly traded companies in Kazakhstan by using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. Among the different possible determinants, stand-alone sustainability reporting (SR), reporting language, leverage, cash flow capacity, profitability, size, age and auditor type were selected to investigate their impacts on the quality and scope of sustainability information. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzes data from publicly traded companies at the Kazakhstani Stock Exchange for the years 2013–2015. To investigate the extent, nature and quality of sustainability reports, the study measures and analyzes economic, environmental and social performance parameters, as suggested in the GRI guidelines. Findings The results indicate that determinants such as stand-alone reporting, reporting language, firm profitability, firm size and auditor type substantially influence the extent, nature and quality of sustainability-reporting practices of Kazakhstani companies. Practical implications The findings of the study suggest that managers, practitioners, regulators and policy makers in emerging economies should adopt the GRI guidelines to report sustainability performance disclosures and focus on specific factors to improve the quality of sustainability disclosures. Originality/value This study is one of the first studies to investigate the extent, nature and possible determinants of corporate SR in central Asian-emerging economies.

The objective of this study is to examine the effects of board characteristics and country governance quality on both individual aspects and the overall level of environmental performance through the lens of agency, resource dependency, and institutional theories. The study is based on a sample of 3023 firm-year observations from European companies operating in 22 countries between 2009 and 2016. Data on the resources, emissions, and innovation dimensions of environmental performance and board governance data were collected from the Refinitiv database, whereas financial data were extracted from the Worldscope database. The study employs a multilevel modeling analysis and the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique to analyze the data. The findings suggest that board gender diversity and the presence of a corporate social responsibility and sustainability committee have a positive impact on environmental performance. The results also show that country governance quality is positively related to environmental performance. The findings have important implications for practitioners, regulators, and policymakers with respect to the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms and country governance systems in determining corporate environmental practices.