s2fieldsofstudy: Business Economics

text:
The Problems of Managing Tourism Business in Bangladesh: Causes and Remedial Measures

Tourism Business is one of the fastest growing businesses in Bangladesh. It creates ample job opportunities for the unemployed people in Bangladesh. This business has been contributing remarkable to boost-up the economic development in Bangladesh. But the tourism business in Bangladesh has been suffering from the problems of effective management. Thus, this article aims to explore the causes of management problems facing the tourism business in Bangladesh. This article also attempts to provide the remedial measures to overcoming the existing management problems facing the tourism business in Bangladesh.

INTRODUCTION
Bangladesh is a developing country. It is located in the Indian Sub-Continent. The present population of Bangladesh is approximately 16 crore and unemployment rate is 14.2 percent. The various education institutions of Bangladesh are producing thousand-thousand graduates in every year. But these graduates do not get their jobs from the existing job facilities in Bangladesh. Thus, the government and private authorities can take the initiatives to flourish the tourism industry in this country. Many unemployed people may start their career in this industry when it will be developed. As a result, the unemployment rate of this country will be decreasing gradually.
In the modern business world, tourism has been considering as the world's largest and rapid growing industry. It is the most emerging industry in Bangladesh. It contributes tremendously to the economic development of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a country with full natural beauty. The reasons it behind some parts of Bangladesh are covered by Hills and some other parts by the rivers. It has six sea beaches of which one is the longest sea beach of the world. The largest Mangrove Forest Sundarban is located at the south part of Bangladesh and it enhances the opportunity of bringing more tourists in Bangladesh. Besides, there are many archaeological sites which can swiftly attract local and foreign tourists. Tourists are ready to pay more for visiting these places. But there are some problems of developing and making this industry more lucrative to the tourists. Tourism sector would be one of the potential sectors to earn huge foreign currency and contribute the economy of Bangladesh if proper policies and strategies can be formulated and implemented by the government in this country. For attracting more local and foreign tourists, natural beauty should be protected and facilities should be increased in Bangladesh immediately.

Objectives of the Study
The study has been conducted with the following objectives:  To investigate the various problems relating to managing the tourism business in Bangladesh  To explore the causes of the problems relating to managing the tourism business in Bangladesh  To provide some remedial measures to overcoming the problems relating to managing the tourism business in Bangladesh

Limitations of the Study
The main limitation of the study is that the author has not used structured questionnaire to collect the relevant data/information from the primary sources. Despite this limitation, the author has tried to accurately find out the root causes of the problems of managing tourism business in Bangladesh and also to provide some possible remedial measures to overcoming these problems which make the business more successful in Bangladesh.

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
The methodology for the study has been designed in the following ways:  Data Sources: There are two sources of data. These are as follows:  Primary data  Secondary data  Data Collection Methods: The primary data has been collected from the following ways:  Face-to-face discussion  Focused group discussion  Informal meeting  Small round-

LITERATURE REVIEW
Tourism has already been emerged as vital industry in Bangladesh. This industry can provide job facilities to the unemployed people in Bangladesh and also can contribute to the economic development in this country. Ali and Mohsin (2008) pointed out that tourism is considered as rapid growing industry not only in Bangladesh but also all-over the world. It is one of the leading sources of foreign currency in Bangladesh. But this sector is now facing severe problems. Parveen (2013) mentioned that the tourism industry in Bangladesh is now suffering from the instrumental facilities, which may discourage tourists to visit the historical places in Bangladesh. Alauddin, shah, and Ullah (2014) pointed out that the problems of developing tourism industry in Bangladesh. According to them, the tourism industry in Bangladesh in now suffering from the problems such as accommodation, poor image, transportation, lack of proper facility, complicated visa and travel facilities, lack of initiative to preserve , conserve maintain the tangible tourism products, lack of security, unstable political situation, lack of required fund allocation in national budget, lack of international standard hotel etc. Hall and Page (2000) told that the major problems of tourism in Bangladesh are natural disasters, unemployment, overpopulation and economic underdevelopment.
From the above literature, it can be said that there are many problems facing the tourism industry in Bangladesh. Thus, the authority of the tourism industry in Bangladesh is keeping busy them for managing the various problems to smoothly conduct the activities in this sector of Bangladesh. For this reason, the author has selected this topic to conduct the present study.

TOURISM BUSINESS IN BANGLADESH
Tourism business is becoming popular in Bangladesh day-by-day. The reason behind is the necessity of the people in Bangladesh. Some people are involved with conducting the tourism business and some people are availing the facilities of the business. This business provides tremendous job facilities to unemployed people. It contributes regularly to boost up the economy of Bangladesh. It also provides pleasure to the tourists. The tourism business in Bangladesh has been explained in the following ways:

Definition of Tourism
There is no universal definition of tourism. In still now, different people have defined the term tourism in different ways based on their own justification. According to Wikipedia( http:// em.wikipedia.org/wiki/tourism), tourism means going out and visiting place for religious purpose, gathering knowledge and having pleasure, fun, or economic benefit. Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes.
The word 'tourism' definition is not static in still today. There is no reliable available definition of tourism. According to the definition of UNWTO, "Tourism comprises the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes". According to the International Ecotourism Society ( www.ecodirectory.com), " Responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment and improves the well-being of local people". Methieson and Wall (1982) has defined the term 'Tourism'. According to them, "Tourism is the movement of people to destination outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their study in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs".

Types of Tourism in Bangladesh
There are various types of tourism in Bangladesh. These are as follows: i) Education Tourism ii) Medical Tourism iii) Business Tourism iv) Office Tourism v) Site Tourism vi) Religious Tourism vii) Other Tourism i) Education Tourism: Foreign tourists come in Bangladesh for education purpose. Many govt. and private universities in Bangladesh are regularly arranging international seminars, conferences, and symposiums. They are inviting foreigners to attend in these programs. These activities are increasing day-by-day for meeting the demand of the current world. As a result, the number of foreign tourists is increasing gradually in the education sector of Bangladesh. ii) Medical Tourism: There are some international standard hospitals in Bangladesh at present. Many foreign tourists come in Bangladesh to accomplish various medical activities. At present, the medical tourism is not well recognized in Bangladesh. But it may create a great opportunity in near future.
iii) Business Tourism: A large number of people across the world come in Bangladesh for business purpose. Bangladesh is a good for conducting business activities because of cheap labor cost. The private and government authorities of Bangladesh are now trying to construct the world class hotels, resorts, motels for the tourists. As a result, local and foreign tourists come to the historical places of Bangladesh for their enjoyment.
Tourists both local and foreign may come to see the lake district of Rangamati, the lake town of Kaptai, the hilltop town of Khagrachhari and the roof of Bangladesh Bandarban. They can come to close the nature of beauty in these places of Bangladesh. The tourists can develop their archeological knowledge about South Asia and Bangladesh from visiting the archeological sites of Buddhists monasteries, Hindu temples and Muslim mosques and places, etc. In addition to these, there are various nice places and institutions of Bangladesh which might draw the attractions of the tourists.

Income of Tourism and Travels in Bangladesh
The incomes of tourism and travels in Bangladesh are shown in the following table:  The above table shows the income of tourism and travels in Bangladesh. The income of tourism and travels in Bangladesh is not gradually up warding. Thus, the authority should be taken some necessary measures for ensuring the continuous upward growth & development.

Development of Tourism Sector in Bangladesh
The most dynamic and growing and also the most lucrative sector throughout the world is tourism industry. In order to increase the share in the world tourism market, each and every country is trying with the overall changing of the country. If a country wants enhance the tourism industry, then the authority of the country needs to be taken urgent innovative and strategic measures. The following steps are badly needed to develop and provide the tourism industry in Bangladesh at present: i) To make strengthen Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation: The only national tourist organization in Bangladesh is Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation. Thery should be given sufficient autonomy and power to take timely decision on issues relating to diversification of business, strategic joint venture with local and foreign partners, and ensure the required organizational development.
ii) To provide effective training to the employees: The staffs of hotels, motels and restaurants need training. In this regard, BPC should provide training to these people so that they can give standard service to the tourists. iii) To formulate adequate rules & regulations: The government of Bangladesh should be formulated adequate rules & regulations for developing and maintaining the tourism industry in Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh should also modify the existing tourism rules & regulations and make it up-to-date. iv) To give sufficient advertisement: The public and private owners of tourism organizations in Bangladesh should give adequate advertisement in the electronic and print media within and outside the country regarding different tourist sports and facilities. They can also make brochures, booklet, leaflets, diary, calendar, pen, etc. for the tourists. v) To develop the infrastructure: The infrastructure is one of the essential things to develop the tourism industry in Bangladesh. In this case, the government of Bangladesh should develop the roads & highways, water, electricity, gas and accommodation facilities for the tourists. The proper development of infrastructure may enhance the number of both local and foreign tourists in Bangladesh.
vi) To create sub-regional zones: Tourists want to get quick service. Thus, the government and private owners may establish the sub-regional zones so that the tourists can easily get service. It may be helpful to attract a large number of local and foreign tourists in Bangladesh.

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY
Tourism business is one of the lucrative and timely businesses at present in Bangladesh. It provides job opportunities for the unemployed people in this country. It also provides valuable contribution to the economic development in Bangladesh. But the various factors are affecting the image of tourism in Bangladesh at present. This industry is now suffering from plenty of problems. These are as follows:  The culture of Bangladesh is not favorable for the foreign tourists. That is why, the foreign tourists do not want to come in Bangladesh for their enjoyment.  The tourism industry of Bangladesh is now suffering from the problems of trained, skilled and efficient manpower.


The proper publicity is essential for the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh. But this industry is now suffering from the problem of proper and adequate advertisement.
 The tourism industry of Bangladesh needs adequate budgetary allocation in the national budget. But the government of Bangladesh doe not allocate sufficient budget for the development of this industry.  The sound political environment is badly needed for the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh. But the political environment of Bangladesh is not stable due to personal interest of the political parties.  The positive circular is essential for the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh.
But Bangladesh is highlighted in foreign electronic and print media as a country of cyclone, strike, flood, different types of violence, etc.  The good law and order situation is essential for the development of tourism in a country. But terrorism and robbing are common incident in this sector of Bangladesh. As a result, tourists' specifically foreign tourists may not want to come in Bangladesh.  The easy and simple formalities are essential for the tourists so that they can easily collect visa from Bangladesh Mission located in different countries in the world. But the visa and travel formalities in Bangladesh Mission are so much complicated. For this reason, foreign tourists do not want to come in Bangladesh for their enjoyment.
 The tourists need standard infrastructure facilities. But the present infrastructure facilities of Bangladesh are not attracting the foreign tourists.  The strong instrumental supports are needed for the development of tourism in a country. But the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism in general and the BPC in particular are suffering from the problems of instrume3ntal capacity.  The tangible tourism products need to maintain properly for attracting the tourists for long-long time in Bangladesh. In this case, the authority is not active to preserve, conserve and maintain the tangible tourism products. As a result, the tourists may not feel comfortable to come in Bangladesh.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The tourism industry in Bangladesh is now facing some severe problems. The following suggestions are recommended to overcoming these problems for ensuring the stable development of tourism industry in Bangladesh:  A favorable culture should create for the foreign tourists so that they are feeling comfortable to come in Bangladesh for their enjoyment.  The public and private authority should establish the different training and education institutes to produce trained, skilled, and efficient manpower for the tourism industry in Bangladesh so that they can provide quick service with quality to the tourists.  The proper and adequate advertisement should be given by the respective authority in various national and international electronic and print media so that local and foreign tourists may get proper information about the overall tourism industry in Bangladesh.  The government of Bangladesh should keep sufficient budgetary allocation in the national budget for the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh.  A favorable political culture should be developed by the government of Bangladesh in consultation with all stakeholders for the greater interest of the country.  The government of Bangladesh should take the immediate step to stop the negative news published in different foreign electronic and print media about the tourism industry in Bangladesh.  The government of Bangladesh must come forward quickly to make sound law and order situation for the tourists so that the tourists may feel encourage to come to visit the various beautifully places in Bangladesh.  The easy and simple visa & travel formalities should be formulated immediately by the government of Bangladesh and send it to the Bangladesh Mission located in different countries all over the world.  The government of Bangladesh should quickly take action for developing the infrastructure facilities of the country so that tourists may feel more excitement in their mind for coming in Bangladesh.  The government of Bangladesh should quickly take the action for making stronger the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and BPC so that they must be more active to enhance the facilities for the tourists.  The respective authority of Bangladesh should take immediate action for maintaining tangible tourism products of Bangladesh. As a result, the tourists can see these products for long time and can develop their knowledge.


Design of Tunable Monopole Arm Planar Spiral Antenna for Cognitive Radio

This paper presents a spiral antenna design operating in the frequency range of 1–15GHz having both selective notch bands and wideband response. The main feed arm of spiral antenna is configured as rectangular monopole of width quarter wavelength to achieve impedance matching with standard 50Ω excitation. Frequency tuning in the design is achieved by placing varactor diode at an appropriate position along the spiral arms and in the ground plane. The design offers a peak gain of 3.4 dB (simulated) and 3 dB (measured). The unique frequency response of antenna makes its suitable to be used for front-end system of cognitive radio for sensing the spectrum in various modes.

Introduction
The development of antennas in the past five decades has gone through various design changes, in order to enhance the overall radiation characteristics. The antennas which are being used in the present wireless communication technology are either having a multiple frequency response or a wideband response. But the rapid growth in the field of microwave communication has put a demand to develop antenna with wideband response due to their high data rates, great capacity, simplex design, and low power consumption. However, an antenna with ultra-wide band response mainly finds its application in electronic warfare and military purpose. It is found in [1][2][3] that, frequency independent antennas like logspiral, rectangular spiral and Archimedean-spiral are suitable to provide a wideband frequency response, but the problem that arises in such antennas is with the feeding system due to increased antenna impedance which is generally in the range of (140-200) Ω. So special wideband balun is required to be designed [4][5][6] for providing an impedance matching in the wide microwave range of frequency thereby making the whole system much more bulky and putting a constraint in their application.
Another main drawback of UWB antennas is their interference with existing communication channels like GSM (900-1800 GHz), UMTS (1.92-2.71 GHz), local area network  GHz), and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (Wi-MAX, 3.3-3.7 GHz) IEEE 802.11a in the United States (5.15-5.35 GHz, 5.725-5.825 GHz). The interference produces a high impulse noise which is difficult to eliminate at the receiver system and thereby increases the complexity of whole communication system. The cognitive radio system is the upcoming wireless technology for very high data rates even beyond 100 Mbps. Such a system requires a few design specifications which the antenna should meet. For example, antennas are expected to have a dual nature of frequency response, that is, wideband response to support higher data rates and multiple frequency bands so that they can support present wireless technology and the existing applications. Also features like frequency response conversion from wideband to multiple band and vice-versa and coarse and fine tuning for lower frequency range to support variety of application will make the cognitive system more efficient and smarter and allow to sense the spectrum in various modes like full mode (wideband spectrum scanning) and licenced and unlicensed band mode (scanning only selective frequency bands). This will certainly help to tackle the problem of spectrum scarcity.
In this paper, a design of spiral antenna is presented to meet the design requirements of upcoming and present 2 Advances in Electrical Engineering wireless technology. The spiral antenna is designed to operate in the frequency range of 1-15 GHz. The arms of spiral are configured as rectangular monopole to provide an impedance matching with standard 50 Ω excitation. A frequency response switching between selective band and wideband along with the tuning is achieved by changing the antenna electrical length with the placement of varactor diode at an appropriate position along the spiral arms. Optimization of ground plane is also performed to investigate its effect on the frequency response.

Spiral Antenna Design
The antenna is designed by taking a FR-4 substrate of permittivity ( = 4.3) and loss tangent ( = 0.025). The procedure begins by configuring each arm of the spiral as rectangular monopole. The width of arm ( ) is taken as /4, where where eff is effective dielectric constant, is higher resonant frequency, and is resonant wavelength. Therefore, assuming 9.2 GHz as the higher resonant frequency, the width ( ) is calculated as 5 mm. Figure 1(a) shows the basic geometrical design of spiral antenna which is composed of six arms. The alternate arms width has been kept as 2 , so as to increase the overall effective area which will eventually help to shift frequency bands response towards lower range also. Since the presented design is configured as microstrip, the ground plane dimensions are calculated using transmission line model [7]. The calculated ground plane dimension is at length ( ) of 157 mm and width ( ) of 126 mm. Figure 1(b) shows the layout of modified ground plane having a rectangular slot of cut-out width 2 mm along with the connection pad for varactor diodes which are incorporated for frequency tuning later.

Frequency Tuning and Biasing.
The coarse and fine tuning of frequency response in the designed spiral antenna is achieved by placing varactor diode at an appropriate position along the spiral arm and ground plane. Figure 2 shows the placement of varactor diodes along with RF/DC isolation network. Varactor diode model MA46H071 GaAs is used in the design. The main purpose for introducing varactor diode instead of PIN diode is to control the antenna electrical length ( ) and hence the resonant frequency with the help of DC bias. The equivalent circuit of diode proposed by the vendor is a series of RLC circuit with a parallel capacitance as shown in Figure 5(a). For diode model, the typical value of a series of resistance ( ) is 5 Ω and a series of inductance ( ) is 5 nH. The plot for junction capacitance ( ) as a function of reverse bias voltage for MA46H071 is shown in Figure 5(b).
The DC isolation in the design is given by a capacitor which offers low impedance at the RF frequency. So a DC blocking capacitor of 220 pF is placed along the main arm of spiral as shown in Figure 2(a).
It is important to note that for the placement of diode and DC blocking capacitor, a gap of 1 mm has been formed at the respective arm. This gap discontinuity introduces an extra capacitance in the form of equivalent ∏-network as shown in Figure 3. However, the extra capacitance ( ) given by reversed biased varactor diode and DC block will modify the equivalent circuit as shown in Figure 4. The numerical value of the capacitances can be found [8] using (2) Next, the radio frequency (RF) signal is isolated by putting a low pass filter (LPF) between the +ve connection pad and diode cathode terminal via a high impedance line (100 Ω). The LPF is a ceramic SMD component of Johanson filter. Figure 6 shows the plot of RF isolation, which is well below −30 dB indicating that RF signal will be isolated effectively. It is important to note that at higher frequencies, parasitic package effect of lumped components becomes more significant; here in the design this has been accounted to some extent by the use of high impedance line along with the filter which will provide an impedance mismatch between the antenna and DC source and will isolate RF.
To achieve frequency tuning at a greater extent, the ground plane of antenna is modified by introducing a square slot and three varactor diodes are placed between the slots in three different directions as shown in Figure 2(b). Lastly, the antenna frequency tuning network is biased via a typical voltage regulator circuit made using IC-LM317 as shown in Figure 7.

Results and Discussion
A numerical analysis of the proposed spiral antenna design is done using computer simulation tool (CST-2010) which works on finite integral numerical technique (FIT) [9]. Initially the design is solved without any diode biasing and a unique frequency response having both selective notches and wideband in the range of 1-15 GHz is achieved as shown in Figure 8 overall effective length and discontinuities between the adjacent arms which creates multiple maxima and minima in the current distribution at the rejection frequencies. A close agreement in the simulated and measured result of reflection coefficient can be seen in Figure 8(a). The comparative wideband gain plot of simulated and measured result for the design without any diode biasing is correspondingly shown in Figure 8 and gain analysis are illustrated in Table 1. The surface current distribution simulated for the notch frequency bands at 1.93 GHz, 2.79 GHz, 3.47 GHz, and 4.45 GHz is shown in Figure 9. It is observed that since the antenna surface current is relatively the same, the E-field pattern produced is 4   comparable as shown in Figure 10. The antenna under no bias condition has vertical polarization all the selective resonant frequencies shown in Table 1.

Advances in Electrical Engineering
Next, in order for the antenna to support multiple frequency channels, there is a need to convert wideband into notch bands. This is achieved by placing a varactor between the 3rd and 4th arm of the spiral as discussed in Section 2, which suitably helps to vary the antenna electrical length and eliminate the continuous time decay current component. This allows a fine tuning of frequencies in the spectrum of selective band as function of diode junction capacitance as shown in Figure 11(a). The excited notch resonant frequencies for the spiral with two different diode reverse bias capacitances are illustrated in Table 2. The radiation pattern plots for the notch band mode of antenna are not presented here, since they are comparable to those of antenna operating without any diode biasing.  Lastly, the switching action of three varactor diodes placed in the antenna ground plane provides a frequency band conversion back from multiple notches to notches and wideband which can be seen in Figure 11(b). Three different ON-OFF conditions are used in order to have increased frequency reconfigurability option in the design.
The diode ON-OFF conditions and their corresponding resonant frequencies are illustrated in Table 3. However, here in this case, a variety of radiation pattern are observed in the shape of omnidirectional, butterfly, eight and flower petal. This explains that, with diode placed in the antenna ground plane, both frequency and pattern reconfigurability have been Advances in Electrical Engineering achieved (Figures 12 and 13). The unique pattern plots in Eplane for D1, D1 + D2, and D1 + D2 + D3 condition at some of the resonant frequencies are shown in Figures 14 and 15  The radiation pattern plots for D1 + D2 configuration are not illustrated since they are comparable to those with D1 configuration.
It has been observed that a slight shift in the measured frequency response has occurred in diode bias conditions and ground plane diode switching conditions. This is possibly due to the rough soldering at the terminal joints of varactor diode and DC blocking capacitor. However, the unique pattern of frequency response as that of simulated results is also preserved in the measured results.

Fabricated Design
The design shown in Figure 16 is fabricated on lossy FR-4 material and a thin layer of tin has been coated on the antenna to prevent oxidation of copper material. The RF choke and blocking capacitor is of ceramic type with SMD package. Standard 50 Ω SMA connector is used to provide RF feed in the antenna. The red wire indicates a +ve DC connection and black wire is for DC ground.

Conclusion
A microstrip configured planar reconfigurable spiral antenna design has been demonstrated. The unique frequency response of notch and wideband together makes the antenna suitable to be used for front-end system of cognitive radio. Also the frequency band conversion from notch and wideband to multiple notch frequencies by placing a varactor diode at suitable position along the spiral arms not only Advances in Electrical Engineering increases support of various frequency channels but also helps to avoid adjacent channel interferences due to wideband. The measured and simulated results of the proposed design without any diode biasing are in close agreement to each other. It is found that the radiation patterns at resonant frequencies are almost comparable when the antenna is operating without any diode biasing. Thus we can say that designed antenna exhibits frequency reconfigurability. However, grating lobes which are the undesired lobes do exist when the antenna ground plane is modified with three diode switching conditions. The future work aims to find techniques to minimize the grating lobes and develop a smart array of such antenna design which will eventually help to provide a greater degree of freedom in frequency scanning of spectrums for the various mode of cognitive radio.


s2fieldsofstudy: Business Psychology

text:
The influence of ethical leadership on trust and work engagement: An exploratory study

CITATION: Engelbrecht, A.S., Heine, G. & Mahembe, B. 2014. The influence of ethical leadership on trust and work engagement: an exploratory study. SA Journal
of Industrial Psychology, 40(1):1-9, doi:10.4102/sajip.v40i1.1210.

Introduction
Organisations strive to be successful and productive in the competitive global market. One of the major factors or motivators of productivity and performance is work engagement (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008;Den Hartog & Belschak, 2012;Gruman & Saks, 2011;Rich, Lepine & Crawford, 2010;Tims, Bakker & Xanthopoulou, 2011). According to Gruman and Saks (2011, p. 124), work engagement is the 'key to an organisation's success and competitiveness'. Employees will be productive and perform well in the company when they are really engaged in the work. This means that the employee enjoys the work, is committed to the work and is more efficient and involved in the work (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004).
Identifying the situations that foster the work engagement of employees is vital for the sustainability and growth of organisations (Lin, 2009). According to Lin (2009), one of the conditions that are critical in strengthening work engagement is organisational trust. Because employees are more likely to engage in their work if they are self-motivated to perform their role, trust on the part of management is essential. Excessive monitoring and enforcement from management can hamper employees' ability to engage in their work. The significance of interpersonal trust should therefore be acknowledged. Trust is a core element in the relationship between an organisational leader and subordinates, and it has an influence on how positively the employee will perceive the work environment. and ethical leadership are linked with trust. Transformational leadership not only involves the moral elevation of individual followers, but also the creation of mutual trust and an ethical climate in organisations (Engelbrecht & Chamberlain, 2005;Van Aswegen & Engelbrecht, 2009). In ethical leadership, the emphasis is more on normative behaviour whereas servant leadership has a stronger focus on the personal growth of followers (Dadhich & Bhal, 2008;Sendjaya & Pekerti, 2010). The core aspects of authentic leadership are the manifestation of increased self-awareness, relational transparency, internalised transparency, balanced processing and an internalised moral perspective, which may lead to trust in leadership (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May & Walumbwa, 2005). Value-driven leadership influences the followers' self-concept and beliefs, which, in turn, affect their motivation, attitudes and behaviours (Den Hartog & Belschak, 2012).
One of the value-based leadership styles that comprise these elements is ethical leadership. Ethical leadership is critical to leaders' credibility and their potential to exert meaningful influence (Piccolo, Greenbaum, Den Hartog & Folger, 2010). This credibility in ethical leaders is likely to have a significant influence on trust between a leader and follower (Bellingham, 2003). Ethical leadership leads to valuable outcomes in itself. It has an impact on organisational effectiveness by increasing top-management effectiveness, follower performance and job satisfaction (Eisenbeiß & Giessber, 2012). Because ethical leadership affects the relationships in the organisation as well as other organisational outcomes, it is also likely to have a positive effect on the work engagement of employees.

Aim of the study
Work engagement is the driver behind an organisation's competitiveness and success, in that an engaged employee demonstrates the willingness to put extra effort into the work and to reach optimal performance. The importance of work engagement has to be emphasised in order to encourage organisations to invest in this valuable phenomenon as well as in the different elements that contribute to and enrich work engagement. Because the relationship between leaders and followers is so important in the company, trust and leadership are key aspects that should be considered in this case, especially when it can contribute to the presence of the work engagement of employees.
Ethical leadership is considered important because it promotes effective interaction between leaders and their followers by focusing on ethical behaviour in the workplace. According to Brown and Trevino (2006), ethical leaders are perceived as honest and trustworthy, which is necessary for healthy working relationships and may have a positive impact on work outcomes. The research objective of this study, therefore, was to make use of sound theoretical research and logical reasoning to analyse the influence of ethical leadership on trust in leaders and the work engagement of employees. The further aim was to validate a theoretical model that explicates the structural relationships between these variables in the South African business context.

The relationship between trust and work engagement
Work engagement is found when an employee is fully dedicated to the work through focused energy or vigour and a 'positive fulfilling, work related state of mind' or absorption (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma & Bakker, 2002, p. 74). Work engagement, therefore, is an indication that the employee is intrigued by the job and is truly willing to contribute to the organisation's success (Albrecht, 2010). Rousseau, Sitkin, Burt and Camerer (1998, p. 395) view trust as '… a psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectations of the intentions or behaviour of another'. When employees trust the leader, they expect that the leader will behave in a way that is favourable and acceptable to the employees and that the employees can entrust their work-life to the control of the leader.
When employees trust their leaders, they also assume the assurance that their leaders are fair in their behaviour and decisions. When the employees perceive the leaders as fair in the distribution of rewards and the treatment of their efforts, trust in the leaders will increase. Albrecht (2010) proposes that employees will engage in their work when the procedures and systems in the organisation are perceived as trustworthy, predictable and sensible.
In a study that was done on the effect that downsizing had on trust in an organisation, it was found that employees who experience an increase in trust also experience an increase in work engagement. The process that developed trust, therefore, contributed to higher levels of work engagement (Buckley, 2011). Wong, Spence-Laschinger and Cummings (2010) confirmed through their study that trust has a direct positive effect on work engagement (β = 0.19; p < 0.001). They indicated that increased trust includes the free exchange of knowledge, ideas and information and that this trust will lead to a climate in which employees are engaged in their work. It can, therefore, be hypothesised that an employee's trust in a leader has a positive influence on the work engagement of employees.

The relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement
Employees will experience work engagement when they are committed to the work, enjoy the work and will go to extra trouble for the work. Macey, Schneider, Barbera and Young (2009) propose that work engagement results when employees have the capacity, the motivation, the freedom and the knowledge to engage. Ethical leadership presents different characteristics which can be associated with work engagement in terms of the line of reasoning of Macey et al. (2009).
Employees, firstly, have the capacity to engage when organisations provide the necessary information and training opportunities to do the job well, as well as a supporting structure which contributes to the employee's ability to perform (Macey et al., 2009). Ethical leaders provide certain job resources for the employees that assist them in the execution of their work such as effective performance feedback and necessary information to do the job. According to Bakker and Demerouti (2008), these resources are positively associated with work engagement because they provide employees with the necessary assistance to be exceptional in their jobs.
Secondly, employees will be motivated to engage in their work when they are treated with respect and are valued by the organisation (Macey et al., 2009). According to Kim and Brymer (2011), the behaviour of ethical leaders leads to the follower's work satisfaction because they are treated fairly and experience care and support, which leads to positive follower attitudes. Highly satisfied employees will be motivated and willing to apply extra effort because they are more committed to delivering high-quality work (Kim & Brymer, 2011).
Thirdly, when an employee has the freedom to make decisions and take action without consulting the supervisor all the time, it can result in work engagement (Macey et al., 2009). Bellingham (2003) states that ethical leaders want to empower employees through training and support, and they want to provide freedom to their employees to show initiative through responsibility and authority. This provides a clear indication that ethical leaders provide the freedom for employees to engage in their work.
Lastly, as indicated by Macey et al. (2009), employees will engage in their work when they know what the strategic priorities of the organisation are and how they contribute to the company's goals through their work. Ethical leaders care about their followers and engage in frequent communication with their employees (Brown & Trevino, 2006). These leaders take their followers into consideration and, through frequent communication, make it clear what the organisation's goals are and what is expected of them. Tims et al. (2011) found a positive relationship between transformational leadership and the follower's daily work engagement (t = 2.33; p < 0.05). They further refer to transformational leadership as practised by a leader with 'individual consideration and support' for the employee (Tims et al., 2011, p. 122). Wong et al. (2010) indicated the positive relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement. Both transformational and authentic leadership can be associated with ethical leadership because they are viewed as value-based leadership, which has a positive influence on the followers' work engagement.
Through regression analysis, Den Hartog and Belschak (2012) confirmed that ethical leadership has a positive relationship with work engagement (β = 0.54; p < 0.01). They argue that the '… emphasis on shared moral values and the honesty, caring and fairness modelled by ethical leaders will foster employees' work engagement' (Den Hartog & Belschak, 2012, p. 35). They found that followers tend to report higher engagement in their work when they perceive their leaders as acting ethically. It can consequently be hypothesised that ethical leadership has a positive influence on the employee's work engagement.

The relationship between ethical leadership and trust in the leader
An employee will trust a leader if the leader is trustworthy and if the leader displays characteristics of trustworthiness such as honesty, kindness, generosity and acceptance (Zeffane, 2010). Ethical leadership comprises different characteristics that are evident in the trust relationship between a leader and a follower.
According to Brown and Trevino (2006, p. 597), ethical leaders are characterised as '… honest, caring and principled individuals who make fair and balanced decisions'. They further indicate that such leaders communicate ethics to their employees and set clear standards regarding how things should be done in the organisation. Ethical leaders also have the courage to transform their moral intentions into ethical behaviour, which can be referred to as a high behavioural consistency (Zhu, May & Avolio, 2004). When employees perceive this consistency, trust in the leader will result.
Ethical leadership involves employees in decision-making procedures and facilitates well-being and potential growth of the employees (Zhu et al., 2004). Employees will be inclined to trust ethical leaders because of their credibility and trustworthy behaviour. Dadhich and Bhal (2008) found that affective trust (the emotional bond between individuals) and cognitive trust (where trust is required in cases of imperfect knowledge) are predicted by ethical leadership. Van den Akker, Heres, Lasthuizen and Six (2009) found that ethical leadership is significantly related to the level of trust that the follower places in the leader.
Johnson, Shelton and Yates (2012) reported a positive relationship (r = 796; p < 0.01) between ethical leadership and organisational trust. Wong et al. (2010) also found that authentic leadership has a positive direct effect on trust (β = 0.43; p < 0.001). Authentic leadership is displayed by leaders who strive to relate to their followers with openness and truthfulness. These characteristics are also part of ethical leadership, which indicates the possible positive influence of ethical leadership on trust.
When employees exhibit the willingness to trust the leader and when an ethical leader establishes a basis of trust, the employee will also be inclined to trust the work environment and the organisation. It can thus be hypothesised that ethical leadership leads to employees' trust in the leader.

Conceptual model
Based on the in-depth literature review and theoretical arguments presented above, a structural model was formulated, showing the postulated relationships between ethical leadership, trust and work engagement. Ethical leadership is portrayed as the independent or exogenous variable whilst trust in the leader and work engagement are presented as endogenous variables. The structural model, illustrated in Figure 1, reflects the various paths and links between the different constructs.

Statistical hypotheses
Hypothesis 1: The overarching substantive research hypothesis was interpreted to indicate that the structural model depicted in Figure 1 provides a perfect explanation of the manner in which ethical leadership influences the trust between the leader and the follower as well as the work engagement of the follower in the organisation. The substantive research hypothesis was translated into the following exact fit null hypothesis: Where RMSEA is the root mean square error of approximation.
Hypothesis 2: If the overarching substantive research hypothesis is interpreted to indicate that the structural model provides an approximate account of the way in which ethical leadership influences the trust between the leader and follower as well as the work engagement of employees, the substantive research hypothesis would translate into the following close fit null hypothesis: The overarching substantive research hypothesis was divided into three more detailed, specific substantive research hypotheses. These three research hypotheses were converted into the following path-coefficient statistical hypotheses: Hypothesis 3: Trust in the leader (η 1 ) has a significantly positive influence on the follower's work engagement (η 2 ) (H 03 : β 21 = 0; H a3 : β 21 > 0).

Research approach
The objectives set out for this research were achieved through the use of a cross-sectional correlational research design. A quantitative survey design was used to achieve the research objectives.

Research participants
This study made use of non-probability sampling as a way of obtaining the appropriate sample. The research hypotheses were empirically tested using a sample size of 204 respondents which consisted of employees operating within various organisations in South Africa. The overall sample consisted of 81 male respondents (37.9%) and 123 female respondents (60.3%). The sample presented an average age of 37.53 years, which indicates that the majority of respondents were aged between 31 and 40 years. The race distribution of the sample was as follows: African respondents (5.4%), mixedrace respondents (2%), Indian respondents (34.8%) and white respondents (57.8%). The sample was furthermore compiled from respondents from different companies and industries. The majority of respondents came from middle-level management (58.3%) and from the retail industry (80.4%). The manufacturing (9.8%) and financial (7.4%) industries were also represented in the sample, but in smaller quantities.
A questionnaire designed to gather data was distributed through the Internet and was sent to the identified participants. Participants were required to accept the conditions specified in the instructions of the online version. Confidentiality was maintained by assuring participants that their responses would be treated as anonymous and no names would be revealed in the study. Respondents evaluated their own work engagement and the trust they have in their direct manager. They also assessed their manager's perceived ethical leadership.

Measuring instruments
Three measuring instruments were used to measure the constructs of ethical leadership, trust and work engagement.

Work engagement
Work engagement was measured by the original 17-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). The UWES, developed by Schaufeli and Bakker (2003), contains three dimensions of work engagement, namely vigour, dedication and absorption.
The UWES has demonstrated sound psychometric properties where the three-factor structure of the UWES fits well with the data of various samples and therefore confirms factorial validity. The three scales are highly internally consistent with Cronbach's alphas exceeding 0.7 (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003). Acceptable Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the scales were also found in South African studies (Rothmann, 2003).

Trust in the leader
Trust in the leader was measured by the 13-item Leader Trust Scale (LTS), developed for the purpose of this study. Eleven items of the LTS were adapted from the trust instrument by Bews (2000), and two items were adapted from the Workplace Trust Survey (WTS), developed by Ferres, Connell and Travaglione (2004).

Ethical leadership
Ethical leadership was measured by the 17-item Leadership of Ethics Scale (LES), which was developed for the purpose of this study. The LES was based on items from different measures of ethical leadership (Brown, Trevino & Harrison 2005;Spangenberg & Theron, 2005;Yukl, Mahsud, Hassan & Prussia, 2011).
All 10 items of the Ethical Leadership Scale (ELS) developed by Brown et al. (2005) were included in the LES. The ELS combines different leadership behaviours such as acting fairly and honestly and rewarding ethical conduct.
Three items of the Ethical Leadership Inventory (ELI) (Spangenberg & Theron, 2005) were integrated in the LES because they introduce the dimension of a vision and the transferring of ethical leadership into the organisation.
Four items from the Ethical Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ) (Yukl et al., 2011) were also included in the LES since they elaborate on the ethical practices of ethical leaders.

Missing values
Given the format of the online questionnaire that permitted participants to proceed only if the previous answer was filled out, missing values did not present a problem.

Reliability analysis
SPSS (Version 20) was used to perform an item analysis on all three measurement scales in order to ensure internal reliability and to identify the items that do not contribute to the internal description of the latent variables. After all of the scales were examined, it was concluded that all the Cronbach's alpha values exceed the required 0.7 cut-off (see Table 1) and all items present high item-total correlations. No items were consequently deleted. Each scale was, therefore, considered to be internally consistent and reliable.

Evaluating the measurement models
After internal consistency was confirmed on all scales, LISREL 8.80 (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 2006) was used to perform confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), based on items as manifest variables, on all the scales and subscales used in this study. This was done in order to investigate the goodness-offit between the measurement models and the obtained data and to identify any poor items.
The initial results of the CFA are discussed per scale in terms of the p-value test of close fit (where p > 0.05 indicates good model fit) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) (where RMSEA < 0.08 indicates a reasonable model fit and RMSEA < 0.05 indicates a good fit of the data) (Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2000). If poor fit was found, the modification indices were investigated in order to determine the possibility of deleting items with lower loadings on the completely standardised solution matrix and increasing model fit. After deleting poor items, an additional CFA was performed on the refined scale.
From the UWES, a poor item from the absorption subscale and one from the vigour subscale were removed in order to increase the model fit. All items including in the Leader Trust Scale (LTS) loaded satisfactorily (> 0.5) on the latent variable. Three items of the Leadership of Ethics Scale (LES) were deleted because of their low factor loadings. The deletion of these items resulted in a substantial improvement in the fit indices.

Goodness-of-fit: The refined UWES measurement models
The final step in the analysis of the measurement models was to test the individual fit of each measurement model in terms of goodness-of-fit statistics that were obtained after the final CFA had been performed separately on the refined subscales of the UWES. The fit indices are represented in Table 2.
The fit indices indicate that the refined measurement models of absorption, dedication and vigour present acceptable fit with the data. Not enough evidence was found to reject the null hypothesis of exact fit. Thus, there was a possibility of an exact model fit with the data. The RMSEA, which indicates how well the model fits the covariance matrix, suggests that the refined measurement models fit the obtained data adequately (0.0-0.055) (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson & Tatham, 2006;Kelloway, 1998).
The p-value for test of close fit (RMSEA < 0.05) ranges from 0.38-0.69, supporting the conclusion that the null hypothesis of close fit is not rejected (p > 0.05), and the various measurement models can be said to show close fit. An RMR of 0.03 was found, indicating a good fit (Hair et al., 2006). The standardised RMR is a more stable index to consider, and in this instance, the standardised RMR values are all below the 0.05 threshold, providing evidence of a relatively good model fit (Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2000).
A positive picture is also expressed by the GFI. The GFI for each of the measurement models are close to 1 and above 0.9. This indicates that good absolute fit has been achieved for each measurement model (Kelloway, 1998).
The results of the incremental fit indices indicate that all the measurement models achieved NFI, CFI and IFI indices that are > 0.9, which represents good fit (Hair et al., 2006). These

Goodness-of-fit: The LTS measurement model
The goodness-of-fit statistics for the LTS measurement model are indicated in Table 2. The reported indices indicate that satisfactory measurement model fit has been achieved. The null hypothesis of exact fit is rejected (p < 0.001). However, the p-value test of close fit (0.06) achieved a value that is indicative of close fit. The null hypothesis of close fit is, therefore, not rejected. The RMSEA (0.067) is also indicative of reasonable good fit.
The RMR value of 0.03 and the standardised RMR value of 0.03 are all below 0.05, which indicates good fit. The GFI failed to exceed 0.9 but still reached a satisfactory value close to 1, which indicates that the model comes close to reproducing the sample covariance matrix.
All the incremental fit indices presented in Table 2 exceeded the critical value of 0.9, and therefore, the model indicates good comparative fit.

Goodness-of-fit: The refined LES measurement model
The goodness-of-fit statistics for the Leadership of Ethics Scale (LES) measurement model are indicated in Table 2. The reported indices indicated that satisfactory measurement model fit has been achieved after the refinement of the model. The null hypothesis of exact fit is rejected (p < 0.001), and the RMSEA (0.067) and p-value test of close fit (0.052) indicate close fit. The null hypothesis of close fit is, therefore, not rejected. The RMR and Standardised RMR expressed a positive picture with values < 0.05, which indicates good fit. The GFI failed to exceed 0.90 but still reached a satisfactory value close to 1, which indicates that the model comes close to reproducing the sample covariance matrix.
The results of the incremental fit measures indicate that the measurement model achieved NFI, CFI and IFI indices exceeding the critical value of 0.9. These relative or comparative indices, therefore, appear to portray a positive depiction of model fit. The results seem to indicate that the model can be ascribed to more than chance.

Goodness-of-fit indices for the structural model
After it was found that the overall measurement model fitted the data reasonably well (RMSEA = 0.05; Standardised RMR = 0.05; NFI = 0.97), a CFA, based on items as manifest variables, was performed to evaluate the structural model. This was done to investigate the goodness-of-fit between the structural model and the data.
A thorough interpretation of all the fit indices led to the conclusion that the structural model fitted the data well. A summary of the most important fit indices is presented in  Kelloway (1998), LISREL provides the standardised RMR, which is a better index and indicates that values lower than 0.05 represents good fit. The standardised RMR value of this structural model is 0.046, which indicates a reasonably good fit.
The goodness-of-fit index (GFI) (0.74) of this model did not achieve the ideal value of 0.90. However, generally reasonable absolute fit has been achieved from the structural model.
The incremental fit indices, namely the NFI (0.97), CFI (0.99) and IFI (0.99), are above 0.90, which indicate good comparative fit relative to the independence model.
It was found that the structural model explained 79% (R² = 0.792) of the variance in trust in the leader and 39% (R² = 0.387) in work engagement.
To ensure a thorough assessment of the structural model, it was also necessary to investigate the modification indices to determine the extent to which the model explained the observed covariance amongst the manifest variables. Examination of the modification indices suggested that there were no additional paths between any latent variables that would substantially improve the fit of the proposed structural model. These results, therefore, indicated that the structural model was successful to the extent that it explained the observed covariance amongst the apparent variables.

Discussion
An examination of the theoretical links was necessary to determine whether these relationships specified at the Note: S-Bχ 2 , Sattora-Bentler Scaled Chi-square; df, degrees of freedom; RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation; Pclose fit, P-Value for test of close fit (RMSEA < 0.05); RMR, root mean square residual; SRMR, standardised root mean residual; GFI, goodness-of-fit index; NFI, normed fit index; CFI, comparative fit index; IFI, incremental fit index; LTS, Leader Trust Scale; LES, Leadership of Ethics Scale; SMODEL, structural model *, p < 0.05 conceptualisation stage were supported by the data. Further assessment on the structural model was therefore conducted to establish the significance of these empirical relationships between the various constructs.

The relationship between trust and work engagement
A positive relationship between trust in the leader and the work engagement of the employee was confirmed through the statistical techniques (t = 2.47; p < 0.05) (see Table 3). The SEM results revealed significant path coefficients between these two constructs, which led to the rejection of the null hypothesis (H 03 : β 21 = 0). The finding is consistent with the results obtained in the literature (Albrecht, 2010;Buckley, 2011;Wong et al., 2010).
The results support the study by Wong et al. (2010), which found that a climate in which employees are engaged in their work can be created through the trustworthy behaviour of the leader and the confidence the follower displays in the leader. Albrecht (2010) emphasised the increase in work engagement when the employee trusts the leader to be fair in the distribution of outcomes and in systematic procedures.
If employees trust their leader, they assume that the leader will make decisions with the employees' best interest in mind, and the employees will be more willing to engage in their jobs because they know that their work-life is in good hands (Buckley, 2011).
It was confirmed in the present study that a relationship expressive of trust in the leader will promote the presence of work engagement in employees. The employees will be driven and committed to the work on the basis of the trust that they have in the leader to make informed and fair decisions regarding work.

The relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement
Support was found in the present study for a positive relationship between ethical leadership (ξ 1 ) and followers' work engagement (η 2 ) (t = 2.27; p < 0.05) (see Table 3). Through SEM, this path was found to be significant in the model. This subsequently led to the confirmation of Hypothesis 4 (H a4 : This result offers support to similar research findings in the literature (Den Hartog & Belschak, 2012;Macey et al., 2009;Tims et al., 2011;Wong et al., 2010). The positive relationship supports the work of Den Hartog and Belschak (2012) who found that employees, who perceived their leaders as acting ethically, tend to report improved engagement in terms of feeling more vigorous, dedicated and absorptive at work. It was also found that transformational, authentic and ethical leadership are positively related to work engagement because they all have the main drive of value-based leadership (Den Hartog & Belschak, 2012;Tims et al., 2011;Wong et al., 2010).
It emphasises the fact that followers are highly engaged in their work when they perceive their leaders as acting ethically. Macey et al. (2009) propose that work engagement results when ethical leaders facilitate employees to have the capacity, the motivation, the freedom and the knowledge to engage in their work. Leaders who promote ethical behaviour empower employees by providing them with the necessary opportunities to become capable in executing their jobs. Ethical leaders treat employees equally and promote fair and principled decision-making. They communicate openly to their followers about goals and expectations (Brown & Trevino, 2006). Ethical leaders inspire employees through an ethical vision and provide the freedom for employees to take initiative in the workplace. This kind of behaviour in an ethical leader provides the environment and the opportunity for employees to be fully engaged in their work.
The degree to which leaders are perceived as trustworthy will influence the way in which followers place their confidence, trust and belief in the leaders. Ethical leadership is linked to trust because of the value-driven behaviour it promotes. A leader who values ethics and manages ethics in the workplace is likely to display honesty, fairness and care towards the employees (Brown & Trevino, 2006). An ethical leader is also dedicated to open communication and to involving others in decisions. These characteristics of ethical leadership are concurrent with leaders that are trusted by their followers.
As with authentic leadership that has been shown to have a significantly positive effect on trust (Wong et al., 2010), ethical leadership also strives to relate to followers with openness and truthfulness. When employees perceive their leader as someone with concern for ethical behaviour and who will take employees' needs into consideration when important decisions are made, they will be likely to display sincere trust in the leader. Thus, the positive relationship between ethical leadership and trust that was found in this study contributes to similar findings by various researchers in the field of organisational leadership.

Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research
Although the study offers valuable insight about important constructs of leadership and work engagement, some limitations need to be considered for the purpose of providing information on how future studies can be improved and extended. This study was firstly guided by an interest in employees' perceptions of the leader and how this related to their own outcomes. It was thus a single-source study and attention was not given to other sources. Multiple sources of data such as leaders' self-assessment of their own ethical leadership and peer ratings could be considered in future studies. Avey, Wernsing and Palanski (2012) also refer to the level of congruence between self and follower assessments, which can be utilised to obtain multi-source data.
Secondly, this study represents an attempt to explain specific relationships between the concerned variables in order to gain a better understanding of this complex network. It is, however, impossible to determine the exact scope of impact of these relationships and to include all the elements of the nomological network that may influence ethical leadership and work engagement. Future studies could explore other variables which may have an effect on these constructs, as well as other mediating and moderating variables, to clarify the relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement (e.g. organisational justice, ethical values, psychological empowerment and ethical climate). It is also suggested that a longitudinal study of the proposed conceptual model be executed to enable more substantial causal inferences.
A third limitation concerns the sampling method that was used. The non-probability sampling procedure may have reduced the ability to generalise the results of the study. It is suggested, therefore, that, when selecting respondents, future studies should avoid making use of a convenient sample but should make use of a sample that is chosen on the basis of greater probability and randomness.
A fourth limitation entails that the ethical leadership construct may be multidimensional (Spangenberg & Theron, 2005). In this study, it was found that the LES is uni-dimensional. It is, therefore, recommended that the LES be further refined to capture a broader domain of ethical leadership.
The last limitation involves the statistical power of testing a covariance structure model using RMSEA. It is suggested that a minimum sample size should be used to achieve a given level of power (MacCallum, Browne & Sugawara, 1996). Some evidence regarding a lack of adequate power to carry out planned hypothesis testing was found in the present study. A recommendation for future studies is to determine the minimum sample size required to achieve a given level of power and to ensure that sample size meets that criterion.

Managerial implications
With respect to work engagement, the present framework of the relationship between work engagement and trust in the leader is of help in identifying leadership practices that promote the development of work engagement. Managers should, therefore, put various mechanisms in place to promote the work engagement of employees. Bakker and Demerouti (2008) suggest that an important startingpoint for the promotion of work engagement is to measure work engagement and its drivers amongst all employees in the organisation. Interventions should then be aimed at striving to constitute work engagement at an individual and organisational level. Some of the practical methods that management could use are different motivating resources such as support and recognition by colleagues and supervisors. Successful performance feedback, with the focus falling on work engagement, could help to create high levels of engagement (Gruman & Saks, 2011). Opportunities for learning, development and the utilising of skills in own jobs are also options in promoting the work engagement of employees.
Trust between leaders and followers are critical for the creation of a trustful work environment and an engaged workforce, and management could thus implement a variety of organisational programmes to strengthen trust in the company. Practical means of improving the trust between management and employees could range from the promotion of open information sharing to the development and empowerment of employees. Management could also implement and articulate an appealing vision that promotes social justice and morality. It would be important, however, to acknowledge the immense impact of the managers' actions that determine their trustworthiness and, therefore, their influence on the trust the employee has in managers.
As confirmed through this study, mutual trust and the work engagement of employees will be strengthened by ethical leadership in the work environment. Practical guidelines would suggest leading through ethical role modelling, developing performance criteria that reward ethical behaviour, facilitating fair and ethical solutions to problems and conflict, monitoring fraud and corruption through internal and external audit systems and promoting a code of ethical conduct (Yukl, 2013).

Conclusion
Organisations should take full responsibility for ensuring that ethical leaders drive management practices and that trust in the leaders is developed through the presence of ethically based business systems and functions. By strengthening these factors, work engagement is promoted amongst employees because of the trust they have in their leaders for taking their interests into consideration and for behaving in a fair and ethical manner when decisions are made in a turbulent work environment.


EFFECT OF MALT MILLING FOR WORT EXTRACT CONTENT

Beer manufacturing is one of the most ancient procedures of food manufacturing. The four (in many cases much more) ingredients, the great numbers of technological steps and variations of technological parameters (temperature, time, pressure etc.) have a major influence on both type and quality of the final product. As a result of this, studying beer brewing may offer a great deal of possibilities for numerous researches, scientific examinations, and can provide useful informations for the manufacturing companies as well. At the „Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra” we examined an entire beer brewing process in October 2013, utilising the Ahlborn sensors, which were integrated in the instruments. Simultaneously, in Gödöllő at the Szent István University, we analysed the effect of malt milling on extract yield and the filterability of wort. We used the brewing parameters (temperature, time, volume ratios), which were experienced in the microbrewery and published in professional literature. Our results verify the conclusions drawn in the professional literature, however they point out the importance of grinding. Results performed on the yields with different grain-constitution might directly be utilised for the specialists of recently in Slovakia and Hungary spreading small-scale, handicraft, and homemade beer

INTRODUCTION
Malting, mashing, brewing, fermentation and bottling are usually mentioned among the beer brewing operational steps. From our perspective, the mashing is a crucial area, during which the malt grist is mixed with water and slowly heated up. The purpose of this process is that the useful substances, proteins and still in soluble phase existing starch shall be dissolved to the highest possible extent and be transformed into sugar. For this process the brewery mostly utilises decoction mashing. Characteristic for this procedure is, that 1/3 portion of the mash from the mash tun is led into a brewing kettle, there it is gradually boiled and then pumped back into the mash tun to mix it up again with the rest of the mash. This step is repeated twice or three times thus reaching the final temperature of 62 -79 °C of mashing. In smaller factories, home breweries, infusion-method is more commonly used; here the entire content of mash tun is gradually heated up to the desired temperature, applying necessary multiple pause periods. After reaching the desired mashing temperature, mash is stirred until transformation of starch into fermentable sugars terminates. This can be checked by the so-called iodine-test (Briggs, 1998;Fix 2000;Géczi 1994;Narziss, 1981). For quick determining the extract produced during the mashing is carried out by using Balling-grade [°B] or Brix-grade [°Bx] measurement unit, in laboratories the extrakt and dry substance content of wort might be determined by analytical means as well (Bamforth, 2006;Fix and Fix, 1997).
Methods of brewing and later on hop boiling (electrical, gas-operated, etc.) determine beer brewing from both economical and environmental aspects. Nowadays the technologies are deemed as environmental-conscious where energy-consumption is reduced, water-consumption is reduced or the amount of waste is reduced. From this perspective it is worth examining the grinding process from the beer production technological steps. The grinding is an extraordinarily energy-consuming procedure; at the same time it determines the quality of the final product. Grinding the malt is actually milling, executed between rollers, which is of vital importance from the aspects of chemical-biological transformations during mashing, quality content and extraction of wort, plus yield. Malt milling is very special because the grain husk and the internal core need different preparation. Milling the peel must be avoided as it plays an important role at wort separation, forming a filter-layer. In spite of this internal core needs fine milling because this contains the important ingredients from extraction point of view. Checking the malt grist in small-scale production-routine takes place by visual control, but by means of using sieves-series it is possible to acquire quantified evaluation. With the sieve-series, structure of grist can be established, distribution of grain-size is easy to depict in graphs and average grain size which is characteristic for the grist might also be determined

MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY
In the microbrewery of Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences we examined, documented and analysed a beer brewing procedure on 5 th November 2013. Quantities of basic materials, determining the technological temperatures and periods happened according to the recipe, which was based on the previous experiences. Ahlborn sensors mounted on the mash tun, brewing kettle and fermentation tank made it possible that pressure and temperature values of brewing and fermentation procedures can be continuously recorded and evaluated. Due to continuous sampling, the parameters (malt humidity, grain distribution after milling, extract content of wort, etc.), which are characteristic for brewing procedure, were also determined under laboratory circumstances after brewing in Gödöllő, at Szent István University, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Making the beer started with milling 13 kg of malt. A little portion of malt was milled twice, for the sake of more favourable grain-size distribution. Grain-size distribution was determined by sieve-analysis, (VEB MLW Labortechnik Ilmenau Thyr2, DDR). The received data is shown in Table 1. More than ten percent of malt grist was of flour quality, 15% of it can be characterised as fine grist and 30.5% was the so-called coarse grist. The fraction larger than 1.0 mm comprised of husks and uncrushed grain particles. The malt grist can be characterised with 0.99 mm average grain size. Country of origin of the malt is Slovakia.
The planned and measured temperature-rise of mashing is shown in Figure 1. Based on the recipe, mixing the malt took place in 50 °C water. After 10 minutes rest-time we increased the temperature to 55 °C. Including heating time, we had intended to keep it at this temperature for 20 minutes, and then the next target was 64 °C. Temperature territory of 55 -64 °C we had aimed to maintain for at least 60 minutes. Based on the recipe, the final temperature is 76 °C, at which the wort is kept until transformation of starch into fermentable sugars. It was checked by iodine-test. Due to inertness of electric heating the planned temperature-steps are not obvious based on our measured values. Temperature of wort increased continuously, after two and half hours of brewing we could start the separating of liquid wort from the residual grist (brewers' grains). This operation is the lautering or filtering.
As a result of quick evaluation performed by Balling-hydrometer the extract-content of wort is 15.2 °B, which was finally modified by the amount of mash and extract content to 9.8 °B. The introduction also pointed out that beer brewing is influenced by several parameters. Out of these factors we would like to emphasize the importance of malt milling hereafter. The aims of laboratory examinations investigated the extract-content and filterability of wort. It was prepared based on the values experienced during the hereby-presented beer-brewing and professional literature data. Quality of milling is interpreted by the grain-size distribution. Depending on the malt-type, breweries formed an "ideal" grain-size distribution, which results in greater and greater yield, however at the same time it does not obstruct separating wort from brewers' grains. To examine this, we made 5 samples of Münch Malt type malt (w = 3.54%, MSZ 318-3:1979) with different grain-size distribution, using laboratory mill (Młyn walcowy Typ SK, Sadkiewicz Instruments, Poland, Bydgoszcz) and household grinders (poppy-seed grinder, walnut grinder, grape press and mortar). For control purposes, we used the 6th sample of malt without milling. The characteristics of the 6 malt samples with different grain-size distribution were summarized in Table 2 as well.

Figure 2 Mashing in laboratory in water-bath thermostat
Grain-size distributions are rather different from each other; the malt used during the brewing in Nitra resembles the most to the sample prepared with poppy-seed grinder. The mashing was modelled under laboratory circumstances with using 100 g malt and 330 ml of water, in water-bath thermostat (Memmert WB 14, Germany). The "mashing" of the 6 samples took place simultaneously (Figure 2), mixing in the malt at 35 °C, then heated to 50 °C and 65 °C, finally to 79 °C and terminated after transformation of starch into sugars. At least 25 minute long break periods had been planned at each temperature step during the mashing process. Making the wort finally took 120 minutes; the temperature values measured in the brewing glasses are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3
Temperature-rise of mashing as a function the time measured in water-bath thermostat Separating the wort from the brewers' grains was carried out by sudden overturning of the brewing glass which was covered with filter canvas, gravity way. The quality of brewers' grains forming layers during filtering, the chronological build-up of flow rate presented the filterability. During the filtering experiment we measured filtered amount as the function of time and determined the volume of wort flowing through in 90 seconds. Determining the extract content of wort was performed by refractometer (OG-101/A, Hungary), which was also checked by analytical density measurement as well (SHIMADZU AY220M, Japan).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The quantified results of making wort under laboratory circumstances are presented in Table 3. The utilised grinding (milling) methods were classified into an ascending order based on the average grain size. It shows that the sample containing the finest grains produces the highest extract content and it gradually decreases aligning with the increasing average grain size. The amount of filtrate is quite the opposite, it is less in case of fine grains, and it is more with large grains. The filtrate amount flowing through in 90 seconds is displayed in the filtrate column, but the gravity-driven flow ceased in all cases due to the brewers' grains forming layers. Further amount of filtrate could be gained by moving and stirring up.

Time, t, [min]
Temperature of mashing It would seem to be logical to establish an ideal grain-size distribution. Though we represented the results in a bar chart as well (Figure 4), however it would be an incautious statement to choose the grist fraction which is characterised by a "quite high" column from both filterability and extract content perspective. As the amount of filtrate and extract content are different parameters from units of measurement aspect as well, therefore comparing them with each other largely depends on the scale of diagram. Figure 4 nicely demonstrates the conclusions drawn from the table.
To repeat, malt grist of finer grain size can be characterised with larger extract and worse filterability. A better filterability can be achieved with larger grain fractions but from yield perspective it is not preferred. In the small-scale routine the favourable grain distribution can be realised by double triple milling of one portion of the malt, considering at the same time the experimental fact that milling of the malt husks must be avoided.


Today Situation in Online Buying of Food Products in the Czech Republic

Actual news from abroad confirm that online buying is very frequent also in FMCG business. In the Czech Republic, iTesco.cz Rohlik.cz, Košík.cz and ZMarket.cz are pioneers in this area. The newest trends are mapped by professional media, especially the digital ones. Although online buying in the FMCG segment has not reached so significant market shares as in the United Kingdom or in France, this year the situation is expected to be changed dramatically. The iTesco concept prepares expansion in new regions and Rohlík.cz, already operating three quarters of year in Prague and surroundings, acquires new customers every week, Košík.cz has already started too and Koloniál.cz starts the sales at the beginning of the third quarter of 2015. The aim of the article is to present current situation in the area of online food products retailing in the Czech Republic and to outline the future development trends. This is a comprehensive study dealing with description of Czech online food products market and could be a first step for further research.

Introduction
A goal of the study is to describe nowadays situation in the Czech market of online food products. The main research question is to find out, how many subjects operate on the Czech food products market and what products and services they do offer.
A prerequisite of food products online buying on the Internet is an information skill to use the Internet, which is expressed in Internet penetration in the population. The attached chart shows how the rate of Internet use has changed in chosen European countries. In the Czech Republic internet coverage increased from 10% in 2000 to 78% in 2014. In the group of 20-30 years internet coverage is even higher than 90%. GfK company and its consumer panel analyzed how Czechs buy food on the Internet. It is a research finding, which is representative for the Czech population, and it was found out that the average Czech consumer buys food 5 times a year, 58% of respondents bought repeatedly and the average purchase accounted for 747 CZK (GfK Consumer Panel, 2014). How does the food products online shopping look like? This topic was analyzed by the company IGD (in Koubek, 2014), and their research shows that 40% of food eshops users make basic regular purchases, 39% make large monthly purchases (usually after the pay packet), 10 % more common basic purchases, 6% supplementary purchases and 4% occasional purchases.
But not only internet penetration is an important factor why customers use online buying more or less frequent. Soopramanien and Robertson offer conceptual framework for adoption and usage behavior of online shopping, which includes new variables, such as perceived benefits, perceived values, adoption and/or usage decision, whether to adopt internet as a shopping channel and how to use online shopping and if browse or buy (2007).

Figure 2. Framework of adoption of online shopping
In the future there is obviously plenty of space in the Czech market for expansion of food products shopping on the Internet. According to the research FutureBuy (2014), Czechs, when buying food online, evaluate this way of shopping as cool, simple, effortless, organized and safe, which corresponds with their high trust in e-shops in general. Among the advantages of online grocery shopping Czechs mention mostly good value, time-saving, wide choice of options and convenient delivery. Conversely, Czech consumers perceive as disadvantages the cost of delivery, they are also worried about the quality and freshness of the goods as well as they mention an obstacle when they are forced to wait for delivery of goods and merchandise they cannot see and try in advance in person. Also, the fear of a possible claim plays a big role (GfK FMCG e-Shopping, 2014).

Materials and methods
In this part authors would like to describe nowadays trends in the world market of food products online buying and what is the today´s situation in the Czech food products market. A case study methodology (Yin, 2003) was adopted as qualitative approaches are most appropriate to deeply investigate and understand complex phenomena, such as the one under investigation, as well as to develop hypotheses that later can be tested with confirmatory approaches. This case study was conducted according to the guidelines and suggestions for qualitative methodologies provided in relevant literature (Pratt, 2009). It focuses on four online shops with food products. Data collection was carried out from web pages of each online retailer and further secondary data were collected from databases, reports and other publications (such as annual reports, newspapers, articles, master's theses, blogs about food issues, books produced about the company, etc.).
In the Czech Republic in 2015 there operate four online shops with food products and all of them were put into our sample.
The share of food purchased on the Internet varies between countries. On the one side there are countries like South Korea and China, which, for example, offer a choice of food during a journey in the subway using smartphone and until they reach home, they can expect their purchase at the door. On the other side, Great Britain dominates in the share of online food products shopping in Europe and it is no accident that Tesco has pioneered this service in the Czech Republic too. Other European countries with the exception of France and the Netherlands show the share of online purchases only around one percentage point. For example, the largest Spanish retailer Mercadona focuses more on the sale of fresh products and private label food and its strategy of using online sales significantly.
The sales growth rate of food products on the Internet in 2013 and 2014 is interesting too. Between these years there was an increase in sales of food on the Internet around 34% in China, 22% in South Korea, 20% in Britain and 12% in France. In China, these services are most widespread in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.  In the future, experts expect that in 2025 the share of food purchased on the Internet should account for 10% in France, 10% in Britain, 15% in China and 30% in South Korea.

Country
When we analyze the categories of frequently purchased products in online shops, we conclude that, depending on individual countries, these vary considerably. While in South Korea and China moist wipes, baby food, diapers, powdered milk and dog food are the most commonly purchased goods, in Europe mineral water, canned and wet wipes are at the forefront of the popularity. All these named products have one feature in common: they are typically of spatially bulkier packaging, which is more difficult to bring back home by public transport, so customers often choose the delivery of online shop. Therefore, this list does not contain fresh and basic foods.
We also need to mention the finding that 55% of shoppers are still buying the same item repeatedly (Kantar, 2014).
Research (Kantar, 2014) also found out what are the main motivators for buying food online. In South Korea these are mainly savings in time, cost and the ability to shop using smartphone and its applications in China, consumers are also looking for competitive prices, home delivery service and a larger selection of products than is available in a physical store. European buyers also prefer saving time and home delivery service, which does not need to take special care, especially when buying heavy products. In the UK, consumers also look for e-shops, which offer lower prices than classical stores and French consumers highly value the advantage of the availability of e-shops for 24 hours a day.

Case study: Current situation in the Czech Republic
Online shops with food products have been moving from Prague to other and smaller cities. Among the leading companies we can mention the service "Potraviny online Food products online)" by Tesco, which expanded to the region of Benešov in March 2015 and now it, serves already four millions of customers in seven counties of the Czech Republic. Tesco is shortly followed by the ambitious shop called "Rohlík.cz (Roll.cz)", which entered the second largest Czech city -Brno in July, whereas the other competitors have been planning similar steps.
The sales in the online food products market are expected to reach up to 5.5 billion CZK this year. Last year Czech customers purchased online food products in the total value of 4.3 billion CZK (including alcohol and tobacco) (ČTK, 2015). According to newest information sources there are roughly 10 companies operating in the Czech food products market sold online. The biggest competition can be found in Prague, followed by Ostrava, Brno or Jihlava.
The Tesco retail chain started its e-shop "Potraviny online" at the beginning of 2012, soon after that it expanded to Brno and to the other areas of South Moravia (Blansko, Hodonín), Central Bohemia (Mladá Boleslav, Kladno, Kolín, Nymburk, Kutná Hora) and other big cities, such as Hradec Králové, Pardubice, Liberec and Jablonec nad Nisou. The online service of Tesco had over 200,000 of registered customers in July 2015 (Aktuálně, 2015).
If we look at the biggest iTesco.cz competitors, we need to mention mainly the specialized online shops such as Rohlík.cz. This company was established in September 2014 by the Miton and Enern groups and mainly by Mr. Tomáš Čupr, who is also the founder of Slevomat.cz or the service provider DámeJídlo.cz. Rohlík.cz expanded from Prague to Brno in July 2015, even though this should have happened in spring 2015 followed by expansion to other big Czech cities. For example, in Prague this shop completes more than 1,000 orders per day. Since spring 2015 we can observe the activities of another competitorthe e-shop Košík.cz, so far operating in Prague with almost seven thousand registered customers, who generate 70-110 orders per day (Aktuálně, 2015).
We also need to mention another ambitious project, called Koloniál.cz backed by the E-commerce holding, co-owned by the Rockaway group (which is owned by Mr. Jakub Havrlant and the Czech Media Invest company). Koloniál.cz has been in the market since June 2015 and the company is directed by Mr. Petr Vyhnálek, the former CEO of the Czech branch of the Globus retail chain. The main competitive advantage of Koloniál.cz should be the fact, that the company is supplied directly by producers. According to the newest information from Koloniál.cz it completes around several hundreds of orders per day.
The traditional retail chains consider starting their own e-shop, but they are rather reluctant, which means the lag between the above mentioned companies and the traditional food products retailers is getting bigger and bigger. Of course, the project of a food products e-shop is very demanding in terms of financing and logistics. For example, Billa, Kaufland, Lidl or Globus have expressed their intention not to step in the market of online shopping in the close future.
Besides the big players there are several smaller ones in the Czech Republic, such as My Food, which offers only durable food products (and the logistics is performed by regular courier) in the area of Brno and 30 km around the city (it also owns a chain of classical shops).
Other companies to be mentioned are Z-Market, operating in Prague since 2001, satisfying around 100 orders per day. This company serves the area of Prague and the outskirt areas (up 30 km distance from the city), or Potravinydomu.cz, also operating in Prague (this shop has free transport in case the value of the purchase is over 990 CZK) (Potravinydomu.cz, 2015).

Comparison of the most successful food products retailers selling online
In the further text we will analyze and compare the most important/ successful food retailers selling online in the Czech Republic, namely the following ones: iTesco.cz, Rohlík.cz, Košík.cz and Z-Market. In each of the case, the most important competitive strengths and weaknesses from the marketing perspective will be mentioned.

iTesco.cz Strengths
iTesco.cz has a very wide and deep assortment (more than 20,000 items) (Tesco, 2015). The online shopping service is available in many big and even smaller cities in the Czech Republic; therefore the accessibility of the service is perhaps the best in the country.
It is also important that there is not a financial limit, nor minimum in the value of the order, moreover customers can pick up the ordered goods personally in the Tesco shops (Tesco, 2015). Tesco as a company has a great advantage in the brand awareness and it can gain a lot from its size, even though its reputation has suffered a lot recently due to the accounting scandals.
If we are to evaluate the graphical level and user friendliness of the iTesco web site, the result is rather positive. The displayed products are well depicted and described, on top of that iTesco.cz offers quite well organized and logical loyalty program for its customers (Tesco, 2015).

Weaknesses
So far iTesco.cz does not allow paying in cash for the online orders, which may restrict customers with limited banking skills as well as several age groups of citizens. Last but not least, we need to mention, that the delivery day and time are strongly dependent on the actual traffic and ordering situation and thus may vary a lot (Tesco, 2015).

Rohlík.cz Strengths
One of the most important positive factors in this e-shop is the ease of the registration and very simple orientation at the e-shop´s web site. The company also concentrates on the food of higher quality, which slightly restricts its target audience, but on the other hand it allows the company to work with higher margins too. The company thus tries to capture the current trends in food retailing, such as the bio products or farmers´ food.
Shopping at Rohlík.cz is easy, as the company offers such a service, that customers can only send them a picture of their shopping list and the rest is done by the staff of the shop (Rohlík.cz).
The payment can be performed both in cash and by payment/credit card. Rohlík.cz is trying to guarantee fast delivery times (usually within 90 minutes after the order is sent), the costs of delivery are relatively low (from 29 to 99 CZK, in case the total purchase value is within 1,500 CZK) (Rohlík.cz, 2015).
Last but not least, we need to mention the service of cash refund, in case customers are not satisfied.
And there is also one big disadvantage to be mentionedthe online order and delivery service us performed in the full extent just in the area of the capital Prague.

Z-Market Strengths
This e-shop has quite a long tradition and brand awareness. Payment can be made both by cash and by payment / credit card. Z-Market even provides free transportation, even though only in the area of the capital Prague (Z-Market, 2015).

Weaknesses
The web site of this e-shop looks rather dated and even its user friendliness shows several shortcomings. If we look at the web site more thoroughly, we find out several negative pointssuch as missing descriptions in case of several items or too small product pictures. In this regard Z-Market does not show the same level of the web site quality and products descriptions as its direct and newer competitors.
On top of that, the company sets a minimum value of the purchase (Z-Market, 2015), which may prevent several customers from their purchase at this e-shop. Last but not least the company does not publish its business conditions on the e-shop web site.

Košík.cz
Košík.cz is a new e-shop, founded in spring 2015 with a wide range of products (in total 15,000 items/ SKUs), the offer contains food products and drugs mainly and the target of the company is to be competitive both by the wide and deep assortment and affordable prices. Košík.cz claims their prices are 10% lower than the prices of the direct competition (Košík.cz, 2015).
So far, the service and products are only available in Prague, but the company plans to extend its activity to other big cities in the Czech Republic (Brno, Pardubice, Plzeň and Hradec Králové) (Košík.cz, 2015).

Conclusion
The paper is focused on the analysis of online buying of food products in the Czech Republic and on the description of nowadays trends in the Czech online market.
Research shows that the average Czech consumer buys food 5 times a year, 58% of respondents purchased repeatedly with the average purchase in the value of 747 CZK. 40% of users of e-shops with food usually make basic regular purchases, 39% make large monthly purchases (after payment), 10% more frequent basic purchases, 6% supplementary purchases and 4% occasional purchases. In comparison with other analyzed countries, the share of online purchases in the Czech Republic is rather mediocre. Pioneers in internet food sales in the Czech market are concept online stores such as iTesco.cz, Koloniál.cz, Rohlík.cz and Košík.cz. The conventional retailers, however, are rather reluctant to enter the Internet market. If we are to compare the already existing food e-shops, iTesco.cz offers the widest range of available products (over 20,000 items) in comparison with Rohlík.cz -its assortment contains approximately 5,000 items. But Rohlík.cz and Košík.cz are the leaders in delivery time (no longer than 60 minutes in the case of Košík.cz and 90 minutes in the case of Rohlík.cz). These two online shops do not even charge transport costs (in case the purchase is over 1,500 CZK). Even though we can expect bigger expansion in regions in future, the biggest e-shops such as Košík.cz and Rohlík.cz still operate only in Prague, and iTesco.cz offers its services in ten Czech cities.
And what shall bring the future? It is quite hard to predict the further development of online food retailing. One of the visible trends is the expansion of online food shopping from Prague to other big cities in the regions. However, even though we can expect bigger expansion in regions, this process seems to be a little slower than it was expected, as the biggest e-shops such as Košík.cz and Rohlík.cz still operate only in Prague, and only iTesco.cz offers its services in ten Czech cities. Nevertheless, Tesco, as the market leader is facing severe problems in the whole Europe, as a result they have changed their organizational structure in the Central and Eastern Europe, which might have a substantial impact on its operations in the Czech Republic as well as on its online selling. Thus its future development is rather uncertain. We still believe that the online food market will be extended by the entry of new competitors and the whole market will become more and more saturated. On the other hand, many competitors will certainly not survive in the long term and the market will tend to be rather concentrated, which is actually the same scenario as in the case of the traditional food retailers in most European countries. A questions remains, if and when the conventional retailers introduce online selling of food. The decisive factor, in our opinion, will be the speed and extend in the change of shopping behaviour of the Czech consumer.