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Authentic leadership is a positive leadership theory, conceptualized under the influence of positive psychology and positive organizational behaviour movement. Although it has become a recognized leadership theory, it is still somewhat neglected in the hospitality literature. To address this gap, the paper seeks to develop and test a conceptual model linking authentic leadership to organizational performance in the hospitality context. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis on a sample of 226 employees from 24 hotels in Croatia. The research results confirmed the positive impact of authentic leadership on hotels’ operational performance, which was mediated by followers’ job satisfaction and performance. There was no empirical support for the hypothesized impact of authentic leadership on hotels’ financial performance. The findings suggest that authentic leadership behaviours, together with positive organisational settings, characterized by flexible organizational structure, are more likely to enhance desirable employees’ attitudes and behaviours, resulting in improved organizational performance.

Industries create specific business settings that exert a backward influence on industry prospects. In this paper, the manner in which two industries -the construction industry and the food and beverage processing industry -have behaved during a crisis period is examined and compared. First, the performance indicators available from statistic sources are compared; then, the panel data of the two subsamples of the largest Croatian firms in terms of capital and employment related to construction and food processing in the period 2005-2014 are subjected to comparison. The provided data demonstrate that the five largest business firms in the two industries have a tendency to employ different business behaviors specific to the industry they are part of. The basic idea behind this research was that industry characteristics are created by individual business firms through their adjusting their behavior, i.e. strategies, organizational design and operation models to perceived industry settings. So, in the longer time period, depending on resource availability at the firm level and the market opportunities in the industry, a dominant pattern of the business model will evolve. The research showed differences in the rate of the activity and business demography during the observed period. There is also evidence of different business models being employed in construction and food processing. However, at this stage of our research, we have not been able to establish a relationship between the business model employed and the firm´s or industry performance.

The aim of this research was to provide a better understanding of factors influencing the performance of (small) agricultural producers. Considering the importance of agricultural producers, not just for maintaining a steady supply of products but also for the preservation of the population (and cultural tradition) of rural areas, the development of sustainable agricultural business is a matter of public interest. This paper considers wine producers and their market channels, i.e., the factors influencing the relationship between wine producers and market intermediaries, by applying ideas taken from agency theory. We developed a conceptual model with our defined measure of agency costs as the mediator variable between multiple regressors and the firms’ financial and non-financial performance as regressions. We used the approach of Baron and Kenny to investigate whether agency costs act as a mediator variable. The data needed to test the proposed conceptual model were collected through questionnaires and contextual interviews with the Croatian wine producers (n = 124). We found that more self-reliance in the distribution process, supported by factors related to the bargaining strength, had a positive influence on wine producers’ performance. The results also support the assumption that agency costs act as a full mediator variable between a producer’s attributes and its performance.

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