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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of the dynamic managerial capabilities (DMC) of the spouse (either working or non-working) of a family firm owner on firm innovativeness. This paper assesses the role of three elements of the DMC of owners' spouses (emotion regulation, conflict resolution and networking capabilities) that are bridged by familiness on family firm innovativeness.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the results of a multiple case study. Twelve cases were selected: six innovative and six non-innovative family firms in Lithuania. The study design enabled a comparison not only of innovative and non-innovative family firms but also of non-working and working spouses of family firm owners.FindingsThe findings show that family firm owners' spouses contribute to firm innovativeness through their DMC in terms of emotion regulation, conflict resolution and networking capabilities.Research limitations/implicationsThis research focused on a sample of firms in Lithuania. Future studies should broaden the research to other countries.Originality/valueThis research provides empirical evidence of the hidden role of the DMC of family firm owners' spouses and their contribution to firm innovativeness. This paper extends the application of DMC to family business research.

In many EU countries economic and social development stagnates. The reasons are various and depends on the country. Some countries are still leaders (Germany, Great Britain, France), but depending on political events and complicated issues in each of them common EU internal market is kept as rather passive and not expanding in terms of consumption and investments. Especially it is related to countries suffering their internal business problems. The research problem of this paper is related to the issues how to provide some innovative solutions to traditional enterprises in Lithuania and Poland for their prosperous development. The aim of the paper is to analyse the situation and problems of traditional business in rural areas of Lithuania and Poland and propose development possibilities applying social initiatives and becoming social enterprises. The research object of the paper is traditional and social enterprises in rural areas. The research discloses that in Lithuania and Poland the situation in rural areas has a lot of similarities in terms of development and problems. Social entrepreneurship in both countries is kept as possibility but still problems and specificity exist in the countries.

The paper analyses the peculiarieties of social economy, focusing the scientific attention to social enterprises and their environment in EU and, especially, Lithuania. The research problem of the paper lays upon revealing the situation and development of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in EU and Lithuania, especially emphasizing rural areas and their peculiarities. The aim of the paper is to disclose the role of social economy and the importance of social enterprises in it, especially concentrating on the environment analysis for such business in Lithuanian rural areas. In the research paper, there were analysed social economy context and importance, legal, economic and social environment of social enterprises in Lithuanian rural area, and social enterprises in Lithuania in terms of latest statistical data. Main findings of the fulfilled research are following: social economy remains very important in EU countries, but the exposure of it is quite different in various countries. Lithuania is trying to implement the principals of social economy in the policy of the country. Now the attention is focused on social entrepreneurship and social enterprises as the unused potential for economy boost in the country. Environement analysis of social enterprises, especially focusing on rural areas of Lithuania, revealed that situation is getting better, but there are a lot of things to be improved for successful development of social business in the country. The improvement should start from public institutions and their focused activity to improve conditions for social enterprises. Otherwise, intentions from business actors are very important also. The further guidance of this research could lead to deeper analysis of social entrepreneurs' intentions due to starting up social business gathering primary data from the potential and existing entrepreneurs. Rural areas remain as unexplored area for social business creation, especially when additional financial support is planned for them.

In the frame of this article, the authors maintained that natural resources and environmental conditions are the basis of material production and the life of the population. Systematization of the scientific sources on sustainable development indicated that the state of the environment and the quality level of resource use, protection, and reproduction largely determine the rates of economic growth and production efficiency. The relevance of this scientific problem decision is that at the present stage of economic development, consideration of the ecological and social factors when making decisions on sustainable development is becoming especially significant. One of the factors affecting social behaviors when it comes to sustainable decisions is awareness of the importance of sustainability. The primary purpose of this research is to measure sustainability awareness in Uzbekistan. A survey of 440 Uzbek citizens was conducted to fulfill the research aim. The survey results were analyzed using SmartPLS software. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis, which showed that environmental awareness is positively and significantly connected with energy conservation. At the same time, the authors found that energy conservation is positively and significantly connected with sustainability issues. In line with the above findings, the obtained results allowed stating that sustainability issues are positively and significantly connected with sustainability awareness. The authors concluded that raising awareness among the population could positively effect the sustainability issues being solved in the region. The scientific novelty of this research could be described in the fact that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no such research has been previously conducted.