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PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the growing body of empirical evaluations of workers' subjective well being by assessing the impact of values, beliefs, important job attributes and autonomous institution building on employees' job satisfaction across ten countries in Central and Eastern Europe.Design/methodology/approachData derived from the European Values Study 1999/2000 is being utilised, which provides detailed information not only on job satisfaction and socio‐demographic characteristics, but also on individuals' subjective views, beliefs and important job attributes. Following a descriptive narrative on the transformation in emerging market economies, ordered probit regressions are performed to determine the significance of these characteristics, values and beliefs on workers' job satisfaction.FindingsThe empirical findings suggest that reported attitudes, values and beliefs and their impact on job satisfaction evince traits of a legacy of communist industrial relations as well as subsequent experiences with economic and social transition. What is more, the study also uncovers the positive influence of trust and confidence in autonomous institution building on workers' job satisfaction, specifically in the context of reformed trade unions, education and social security.Originality/valueIn previous studies, job satisfaction has been examined primarily in Western Europe and the USA. In contrast, empirical examinations to identify the determinants of job satisfaction for employees in Central and Eastern Europe have not figured prominently in this literature. This paper adds value by providing robust empirical results for this region.

This article investigates how parties can influence the level of political sophistication their supporters have. Although the importance of parties in providing their supporters with political information was first suggested in early studies of voting behaviour, this level of analysis has been omitted from individual studies of political sophistication. Focusing on the political environment of post-communist societies, where parties played a key role in helping citizens understand politics, I theorize both a direct and an indirect path through which parties can contribute to the level of sophistication of their supporters. Using cross-national data from the Eurequal 2007 project on 13 post-communist countries, I show three characteristics related to parties' motivation to mobilize the electorate against the status quo that have an impact on individual level political sophistication. Results from a multi-level model suggest that supporting a non-incumbent, smaller or right-wing party is related, either directly or in interaction with individual characteristics, to higher levels of political sophistication. These findings shed light on how looking at political parties can help us better understand the differences in the levels of political sophistication among citizens.

Der Verfasser setzt sich mit der Problematik der Rückgabe verstaatlichten Eigentums an die ursprünglichen Eigentümer auseinander, einer Maßnahme, die vor allem in der Anfangsphase des Transformationsprozesses einen hohen symbolischen Stellenwert hatte. Er stellt politische, wirtschaftliche und institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen sowie gesetzliche Regelungen zur Eigentumsrestitution in Deutschland, der Tschechoslowakei, Ungarn, Bulgarien und Polen dar. Als unterschiedliche Wege der Eigentumsrückerstattung werden die Rückgabe des Eigentums an die ehemaligen Eigentümer in seiner ursprünglichen Form, die Rückgabe eines gleichwertigen Besitztums, eine Kompensation in Geldform sowie die Ausgabe von Reprivatisierungs-Coupons herausgearbeitet. (BIOst-Wpt)