Editorial

Welcome to the second issue of the International Journal of Management and Economics in 2024. In this issue, we present six papers written by authors representing various Polish universities and institutions.

The first paper written by Łukasz Mach, Ireneusz Dąbrowski, Adriana Politaj, Joanna Wicher, and Paweł Frącz presents a comparative analysis of regional and temporal labor market differentiation. The study attempts to identify the most attractive voivodeship in terms of the labor market during 2011–2021. To study the differentiation of voivodeship labor markets, the classical method of share shifts and the analysis of share shifts are used, taking into account spatial interactions. The number of employed people and the registered unemployed by gender were chosen as the measures of differentiation upon which the study is based. The results of the analyses allow to examine changes in the structure and assess the development of regional labor markets over time.

The second paper by Katarzyna Czernek-Marszałek, Patrycja Klimas, and Dagmara Wójcik aims to explore the negative impacts of social relationships on business activity. As a research context, the video game industry and the relationships maintained by video game developers are analyzed. In the study, 17 semistructured in-depth interviews and 1 focus group interview with Polish video game developers were conducted. The main findings are the following: (1) support for the five negatives of social relationships previously discussed in the literature (i.e., negative atmosphere, high costs, limited economic rationality and efficiency, hampered innovativeness, and opportunistic behaviors); (2) recognition of the four original negatives (i.e., employee turnover, buying up employees, inefficiency/termination of interorganizational cooperation, and confidential information leakage); and (3) recognition of the harmful results of social relationships as an industry-dependent issue.

In the third paper, Ewa Kozień and Marcin Stanuch identify the key criteria for project evaluation that go beyond the “project triangle.” The following problem was formulated: whether ex post evaluation of the project taking into account parameters of the “design triangle” is not an oversimplification in the context of uniqueness of design solutions that significantly affect civilization and technological development of societies in global terms. The study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, 109 completed projects were evaluated. The quantitative method was used to evaluate the projects. In the second stage, on the basis of the project evaluation results, the key criteria for ex post evaluation of project implementation were analyzed using the Hellwig’s correlation method. It was shown that for the proper ex post evaluation of project implementation, it is necessary to supplement criteria with strategic and societal effects.

The fourth paper by Alina Szypulewska-Porczyńska, Anna Horodecka, and Edyta Zduńska-Leseux delves into the diverse conceptualizations of the “common good” within economic discourse and scrutinizes their implications for European integration during the pressing period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing a comprehensive literature review, policy analysis, and case study examination, it explores the theoretical and practical manifestations of the common good in the context of EU policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two key interpretations emerge from the investigation: the first presents the common good as an ultimate objective, seeking a balance between individual and collective interests achieved via adept economic governance; the second considers it a continuous process underpinned by the principles that direct the journey toward such a balance.

The next paper written by Izabela Ostoj aims to discuss the results of the original survey in order to determine the number and structure of gig workers in Poland in the broader context of the existing knowledge on the subject in society and plans for the future. The article is based on the systematic literature review and the findings of the survey conducted on a representative nationwide sample of 3,165 Polish residents aged 18–70 years. The survey carried out in July 2021 showed that in Poland, online or offline platform-mediated work was performed by about 16% of the investigated population over the year and by about 8% over the month. Moreover, an increase in the interest in platform work can be expected.

The sixth paper authored by Paweł Folfas aims to examine the changes in global value chains (GVCs) in the years 2020–2022 (times of the COVID-19 pandemic) compared to 2019 (last year before pandemic). GVCs are illustrated by diagrams based on the statistics on international trade measured by the value-added. In this paper, the final demand approach is applied for measuring international trade by value-added. Value-added exports and value-added imports were computed based on intercountry input–output tables delivered by the Asian Development Bank.

I hope that all papers included in the current issue of the IJME will serve as good reading and a source of inspiration to our readers.