Volumen 58 (2022): Heft 2 (June 2022)

This research investigates the influence of brand and customer orientations on social media (SM) marketing engagement and how applications of SM in international marketing affect brand and firm performance in foreign markets. The study relies on a survey of a representative sample of 245 medium and large companies using SM in international branding. Performance metrics include an index of brand performance (BP) in a foreign market and return on assets (ROA). Structural equation modeling analysis reveals the overall effect of SM use in international branding as positive, with brand-image creation and market research being significant contributors to brand and firm performance in a foreign market. SM effectiveness is negatively moderated by foreign partner involvement and centralization degree. Firms co-owned by foreign entities turn out to be more successful than their Polish-only counterparts. Of the two antecedents of SM international marketing engagement, customer orientation is significant for all firms, while brand orientation is meaningful only for those with foreign capital.

The article investigates determinants of usage intention (IU) of online travel agencies’ (OTAs) services by consumers and their propensity for word-of-mouth (WOM). The determinants represent two groups of factors: (1) items reflecting the perceived quality of OTAs’ platforms (PQ) and (2) those corresponding to transaction quality (CST). The survey was conducted with the CAWI method on a representative net sample of 591 Polish OTA users. Statistical analysis involved building a covariance-based structural equation model to map out causal relationships between latent variables and test research hypotheses. The findings indicate that both groups of factors (PQ and CST) have a statistically significant positive effect on both IU and WOM. However, the impact of CST was found to be slightly weaker. Interestingly, there were no moderating effects from the respondents’ age, income, and education. The only demographical characteristic of issue was sex, which revealed different regression patterns between men and women.

The main aim of the article is to examine how cooperation with research institutions influences technological maturity of enterprises. It is accompanied with the additional aim, which is to assess the role of innovation policy interventions in this process, as captured by the concept of behavioral additionality, which is one of the externalities of public support for R&D. The focus of this article is put on one of the specific types of behavioral additionality—cooperation additionality—which takes place in the situation where public support influences the collaboration behavior of a firm receiving R&D support. The study was conducted with the use of firm-level data collected in a survey on the sample of 464 enterprises operating within national smart specializations in Poland. The results of the research suggest that public funding fosters the cooperation between scientific institutions and enterprises, thus confirms the cooperation additionality.

During the state of epidemic in Poland in 2020, all facilities providing medical services were subject to constant reorganization. Legal changes, which were introduced at a very rapid pace, did not allow the standardization of the work of the health service. Therefore, the assessment of the practical effects of the introduced legal measures is challenging due to the lack of fixed benchmarks. Accordingly, the research method used in the article is a survey conducted among employees of the Voivodeship Specialist Hospital in December 2020, in which 165 employees from different wards participated. For this purpose, the article presents the detailed description of policy regulations related to healthcare management introduced in Poland in 2020. Combining legal research and qualitative data allowed general conclusions to be drawn with regard to the quality assessment of the implemented policy measures from the perspective of healthcare professionals.

Foreign aid helps in transforming nations and ensuring that they attain economic development. Foreign aid levels in Iraq are higher than those of its oil-producing neighbors due to numerous factors that are discussed in the present study. Iraq is the second largest oil producer in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, but some activities within the country have curtailed development, leaving it at the mercy of foreign nations and investors. The present study aims to evaluate the level of foreign aid in Iraq, comparing it to its oil-rich neighbors. It highlights various factors that have increased Iraq's dependence on foreign aid and the role and management of this assistance. The article shows how negative factors like war, poor governance, and corruption have contributed to the over-reliance on foreign aid, in spite of Iraqbeing endowed with natural resources. The qualitative evaluation of the development of Iraq's oil aid reveals that continued reliance on foreign aid will jeopardizes the country's economic development.