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Marketing of Scientific and Research Organizations
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This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Print) 2353-8503 - ISSN (Online) 2353-8414
Published by Sciendo

[370 journals]

Political and Legal Conditions of Marketing Activity of Businesses in the
European Market
- Abstract: The article tackles the political and legal environment within the borders of the European Union (EU) member states. Determinants of the political and legal environment of the European market were identified on two levels: (1) the framework, i.e. supranational European political and legal conditions; (2) the classical political and legal environment of the EU member states. Afterwards, an analysis of individual factors of the political and legal environment in the aforementioned levels was performed. Four legal areas in the EU states were demonstrated: Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and mixed; three jurisdictional systems were identified: case law, continental and Scandinavian law; and the legal framework of the Union was found to consist of primary legislation, secondary legislation and adjudications of the Court of Justice of the EU. The problem of excessive duration of the administrative procedures, untimeliness and incomplete transposition of directives into the national law of the member states was discussed. It was also brought to attention that the diversity of laws and taxes is still a significant barrier to foreign operations of businesses in the EU internal market. It was also indicated that the integration of European law enables economic entities to perform marketing activities in the European market in the form of a representative office or a foreign branch without legal entity. Finally, it was stated that the factors of the political and legal environment are significantly unified in the supranational environment, while in the classical environment, there are some differences among the EU countries, but they allow for the use of unified marketing concepts, e.g. the concept of euromarketing.
  PubDate: Sat, 23 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
The Importance of Emotions in Consumer Purchase Decisions — A
Neuromarketing Approach
- Abstract: Traditional methods used in marketing research focus on the rationality of individuals and the conscious processes they are able to analyse and verbally expose. Developments in the field of neuroscience have proven that emotions are the fundamental basis from which the thoughts, behaviours and actions of individuals emerge. Thus, this paper explains the importance of the emotional dimension both in consumer decision-making and in measuring the impact of marketing activities. The purpose of the article is to indicate the current position of the use of neuromarketing and its tools in the analysis of consumer behaviour and show how an important role is played by emotions and the unconscious part of consumers’ minds during purchasing decisions. It is a review article, based on interdisciplinary knowledge, which brings to the fore new possibilities of studying not only the observed behaviour of consumers but also their minds — including decision-making processes, as well as the role of emotions and perceptions triggered by brands, products, messages and advertisements. New knowledge from the area of neuromarketing is not a categorical alternative to traditional marketing, but effectively complements it. Companies can adopt new research methods and invest in strategies that allow them to engage consumers emotionally in order to better connect with them and uncover hidden needs and desires.
  PubDate: Sat, 23 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Sector of Public Relation Agencies in Poland: Its State and Perspectives
After the Covid-19 Pandemic
- Abstract: The article is based on the results of research on the sector of public relation (PR) agencies in Poland, which is an important part of the entire PR industry. The purpose of this article is to determine the potential of this sector in the post-pandemic period in the light of research results. The analysis focused on key parameters that influence the condition of the PR agencies sector, such as the number of agencies, type of activity, legal form, territorial distribution and financial indicators. Desk research (qualitative methodology) was used as the main research technique. The research was conducted on the basis of available databases and own datasets, such as lists of PR agencies, data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), records stored in the Bisnode database, data from PR agencies’ websites and others. At a further stage, quantitative analysis of the collected statistical data was applied. The article illustrates the role of PR agencies in terms of the entire PR industry and presents a scheme for building a sampling frame on this type of companies.
  PubDate: Sat, 23 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Motives for the Usage of Collaborative Fashion Consumption Online
Platforms
- Abstract: In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in consumer interest in participating in the sharing economy. One of the markets in which this is particularly visible is the clothing market. Dynamic technological progress and the virtualisation of life have contributed to the creation of applications with which consumers can buy, exchange or borrow clothes. The use of this type of application is treated as a manifestation of sustainable consumption. The main aim of the article is to determine the influence of selected motives on the attitudes towards these applications and their use. The article discusses the results of the research conducted in 2021 on a sample of 412 respondents. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used in the process of analysing the results. The research results suggest that the most important motives for using the discussed applications were economic and utility, with their impact on attitudes towards these applications and the willingness to use them confirmed. Social motives turned out to be the lowest-rated group of determinants. Moreover, their negative impact on both attitudes towards the application and the willingness to use it was confirmed. Ecological motives turned out to be relatively important determinants of using the discussed solutions. Their influence on attitudes towards the application and consumption behaviour was confirmed.
  PubDate: Sat, 23 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Innovative Determinants of the Investment Attractiveness of a Country: The
Case of Ukraine
- Abstract: The study is devoted to the peculiarities of the investment attractiveness of a country in conditions of uncertainty. The article generalises the scientific approaches to the definition of investment attractiveness. The authors summarise the results of the international ranking of countries by the level of investment attractiveness and define the important role of innovation in ensuring a favourable investment climate. The article considers the peculiarities of the formation of investment attractiveness in Ukraine and summarises the priorities for the implementation of an innovation strategy, which will contribute to the possibility of post-crisis recovery. A promising area of further research is the evaluation of the effectiveness of Ukraine’s international partnership for the implementation of joint innovation projects in the direction of Industry 4.0.
  PubDate: Sat, 23 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Young Consumers Towards Smart Homes
- Abstract: Year after year, smart home systems continue to increase in popularity among consumer households. Consumption of smart home systems is also predicted to increase steeply in the coming years. Therefore, the article aims at assessing the attitude of young consumers towards a smart home and its devices. The article is based on primary and secondary sources of information. While primary information indicated the attitude of young consumers towards smart homes in their capacity as potential buyers, secondary information allowed for the definition of the issues discussed pertaining to smart homes and their devices. Using direct research, the online survey technique was employed on a sample of 588 consumers aged 18-34 years living in Poland in 2021. The respondents’ declarations showed that they intend using smart home services in the future, and that they thought using smart home devices would be enjoyable. In addition, respondents agreed with the statements that smart home devices are easy to use and valuable in everyday life, and that using smart home devices helps complete household chores faster. In their opinion, using a smart device at home can increase security and safety by detecting gas and smoke emissions and by creating an alert in the event of unauthorised home intrusion.
  PubDate: Sat, 23 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Research and Development Expenditures in the Sector of Polish Enterprises
as an Instrument of Research and Development Policy
- Abstract: One of the important and open issues in modern businesses is the financing of research and development (R&D) activities, treated as an instrument of research and development policy. Maintaining the competitiveness of business entities requires the systemic creation and implementation of innovations, which requires expenditure on R&D activities. The aim of this paper is to identify the level, dynamics and structure of expenditures on R&D activities in Poland and in Polish businesses. The time range of the study covers the years 2015–2019 (or 2017–2019 inthe analysis of expenditures in the enterprise sector), the scope concerns the financial aspects of R&D activity on a national scale and in the sector of Polish enterprises, and the sources of the data for analysis are publications of Poland’s Central Statistical Office (Statistics Poland). The study applied the following methods: a critical and cognitive analysis of literature in identifying the research problem, a descriptive and comparative method in presenting the problem, a statistical method in calculating percentage shares, and a projection method in proposing model solutions. Overall, the analysis found a relatively low level and dynamics of expenditures incurred on R&D in Poland and in the enterprise sector. Therefore, R&D policy among Polish enterprises can be described as conservative and ad hoc in nature.
  PubDate: Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT
A Systems Approach to the Development of Educational Standards for
Fostering Personal Values
- Abstract: This article proposes to consider the education system as a factor in the formation of people’s personal values. We examine students’ perceptions of the degree to which existing educational standards are oriented towards the formation and development of personal values, as well as formulate proposals for the implementation of a systems approach to the development of educational standards as a factor in improving the existing complex of personal values. The methodology applied included: desk analysis by comparison, deduction, and induction; a questionnaire study; variance, discriminant, factor and morphological analysis. Respondents were segmented according to the criteria “presence of groups of values” — “conjugation of groups of values with variables.” University students, i.e., the part of society that is considered the most active and progressive, were found to have a low level of moral and ethical values. After considering the place of education in the macro-environment of the country was substantiated, we propose a number of measures to address the problem of raising the level of values among all participants in the educational process, in order to reduce the gap between the pace of technical advancement and humanitarian development of society.
  PubDate: Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Testing Polish Secondary-School Students’ Written Social Communication
Competence Based on a Timed Composition Task
- Abstract: This study experimentally evaluated Polish school students’ competence at written communication, understood as one of the forms of social communication. The task, performed online, was designed to see if the students were able to select the most important information from a given base text and to compose new texts on this basis to comply with three different length requirements, and how they behaved under the pressure of the time allocated to complete the sub-tasks. Results from an overall pool of 500 secondary school students from a diverse sample of schools (in the city of Poznań and the surrounding Wielkopolska province) that differed in terms of type and ranking suggest an overall poor competence at various composite skills involved in written social communication: information selection, summarization, logical structuring, and cohesive embellishment. Participants clearly exhibited various problems with concisely formulating thoughts, properly complying with instructions, etc. Composing a short, written message (based on a provided base text) and/or freely embellishing and reformulating information clearly caused them considerable difficulty. The article closes with some suggestions for how the methods used could potentially be improved in future studies of this type.
  PubDate: Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Quality Policy in Creating Organizational Maturity in a Medical Tourism
Enterprise
- Abstract: This article examines the concept of organizational maturity, with particular emphasis on the importance that it can play in medical tourism. First, the concept of organization is subjected to an interdisciplinary interpretation in the light of the Polish and international literature on the subject. The influence of this area of enterprise management on the decisions made and the shaping of the pro-quality policy of the enterprise is considered - noting that the continuous and comprehensive improvement of intra-organizational processes, decisions taken and monitored, and long-term planning are determinants of the level of organizational maturity and contribute to the implementation of planned activities, while effectively responding to the needs of stakeholders. Next, selected results of a qualitative study conducted among selected private medical institutions specializing in medical tourism are presented. Despite the relatively rich literature in the field of tourist and medical services, few studies have looked at the importance of quality in management in private healthcare entities and its significant impact on the purchasing decisions of tourist patients, with a simultaneous emphasis on entities serving foreign medical patients. The survey was carried out in 2021 using the IDI (Individual in-depth Interview) technique, with a purposive sample of Polish and Croatian clinics providing services in the field of medical tourism holding a significant position in their respective market.
  PubDate: Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Brand as a Customer Value Driver: Relationships with Customer Engagement
- Abstract: This article presents theoretical considerations regarding the concept of ‘brand’, identifying it as a value driver for customers and defining how important a brand is in the value creation process. Brand-related constructs (brand strength, brand value, brand equity, brand awareness, brand knowledge, brand reputation, brand image, and brand identity) found in the literature are defined, paying particular attention to brand equity as a construct more closely related to the concept of perceived value. The article also discusses the various levels of meaning of a brand and presents the concept of customer engagement (CE), identifying the relationships between a brand, the concept of perceived value, and customer engagement. The conclusions highlight the strong relationships between brands and the category of customer value. Additionally, the article presents the phenomenon of customer engagement as a theoretical perspective for brand identification in the process of customer value creation.
  PubDate: Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Knowledge and Entrepreneurial Skills in the Startup Ecosystem — The
Case of Georgia
- Abstract: Georgia, despite the country’s specific and complex geostrategic position, continually tense political environment, diverse views on economic development among its society and many other issues, nevertheless resolutely strives towards an overarching national idea: liberation from Russian occupation, unification of the country, formation of a knowledge economy and European integration. Crucial for this idea is economic development, which in turn hinges in part on innovation. The pace and scale of innovation are shaped primarily by scientific research and entrepreneurial achievements. Robust economic development therefore requires universities to increase entrepreneurship and initiate change in the areas of science, technology development, and new technology startup support in economic and social terms. In this article, we examine the strong relationship between the development of an appropriate ecosystem for start-ups and support for the process of new business formation in Georgia. Academic centers form one of the essential components of the ecosystem for start-ups in Georgia; their development guarantees access to knowledge and the ability to manage entrepreneurship, and the development of new companies, including innovative ones.
  PubDate: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Zero Identity — The New Cybersecurity Paradigm
- Abstract: Global cybercrime is exploding geometrically. The traditional methods of securing cyber systems via complex passwords frequently fail, exposing the computer systems to many types of cybercrimes. Cybercrime of all kinds is a growing concern for individuals, government and business organizations, and society. Zero Identity is a new technology that “bubbles, cloaks, and hides” computers and their contents from cybercriminals. Zero Identity is a mature and proven military-based technology with over a 20-year history. Cylentium, a cybersecurity startup, is adapting Zero Identity technology to consumers and civilian organizations. Market and technological acceptance of Zero Identity may lead to a cybersecurity paradigm shift in the next decade. This paper explores the history of Zero Identity, what it does, how it works, and its future prognosis. One of the original developers (Rob Langhorne) of the Zero Identity concept was interviewed, as was the concurrent entrepreneur (Wayne Ronhaar). Both Langhorne and Ronhaar became coauthors of this article to contribute their first-hand historical perspectives, challenges, and insights to transform technology into a commercial product in a series of articles.
  PubDate: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Consumer Opinions on the Causes of Food Waste — Demographic and
Economic Conditions
- Abstract: Reducing the quantities of food lost or wasted will be an emerging challenge in coming years. The sector contributing the most to food waste is households. The aim of this study is to evaluate consumer behavior on the food market in the context of wastage identification and assessment of consumer opinions in Poland regarding the causes of the problem of food waste in households. A quantitative study was carried out using individual direct questionnaire interviews (N = 1,145). Results showed that Polish consumer opinions regarding reasons for wasting food vary according to demographic and economic conditions. The least educated consumers and families with several children were found to be guided by economic premises in their purchases more often than other groups and plan their purchases more rationally. The causes of food wastage related to irrational behavior were more often named by consumers with higher standards of living and by the younger generation.
  PubDate: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT
A Survey of Polish Consumers’ Views on Health and Nutrition Claims
Made on Food Packaging
- Abstract: Goal: To examine the impact of nutrition and health claims on Polish consumers’ buying attitudes and intentions.Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire-based survey was conducted with a group of 200 Polish consumers using the CAWI method, selected by means of purposive, “snowball” sampling. The survey form consisted of 4 parts: A — evaluation of photos of sample products with nutrition claims, health claims, both type of claims, or no claims (control group); B — answering questions about food labelling and the use of nutrition claims; C — opining on health and nutrition claims presented as separate, non-product-specific messages.Findings: The perception of the health and nutrition quality of products with health and nutrition claims was found to be strongly dependent on the consumer’s attitude towards a given type of food. The presence of claims seems to have a neutral effect on the perception of the taste of products connoted with healthy eating, but a negative influence in the case of products considered unhealthy. Despite the great interest in the information contained in the labels of food products and healthy eating, Polish consumers still display only a slight degree of knowledge about such claims. At the same time, they seem to be skeptical of the reliability of the health and nutritional- related information on the packaging of food products, which is not correlated with their level of knowledge on the subject. The presence of claims is not decisive for consumers in terms of making purchasing decisions, and claims are less important to them than the use-by-date or the price of the product. Also, claims do not mean the product is perceived by consumers as less caloric.Practical implications: In order to meet the expectations of modern consumers, food producers should consider placing both types of claims on labels, as well as undertaking other promotional activities that draw consumers’ attention to the health and nutrition benefits of their products. Due to the fact that a good knowledge of and interest in healthy eating does not translate into a better understanding of nutrition claims, it is necessary to increase consumer awareness of food law. Due to consumer skepticism about health and nutritional-related information, food producers should ensure that the information on their product labels is as consistent as possible.Originality and value: This is one of the few studies conducted among Polish food consumers that examine how the presence of health and nutrition claims on food labels affect perceptions and purchasing intentions regarding food products.
  PubDate: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Motives for and Barriers to the Use of Electric Moped Scooter Sharing
Services
- Abstract: In line with the concept of sustainable development, changes in various forms of urban transport have been observed over the past few years, and the implementation of low-emission transport solutions is becoming a priority for local government. One of the key changes observed worldwide taking place on the urban transport market is the dynamic development of various forms of shared micro-mobility. One of these forms are electric moped scooter sharing services and despite their rapid growth in popularity, the existing research contributions on determinants of the use of this micro-mobility mode are limited to only a few studies. The goal of this paper is to advance knowledge regarding the motives and barriers to the use of electric moped scooter sharing services. The paper discusses the results of a study that was carried out in 2021 on a sample of 352 Polish users of electric moped scooter sharing services. The most important reasons for using these services included the convenience of this mobility mode and no city parking costs. The biggest barriers in choosing this micro-mobility mode for Polish consumers were those related to the safety of use.
  PubDate: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT
A Survey on Polish Consumers’ Perceptions of Meat Produced from Stem
Cells
- Abstract: Despite the dynamic development of technology related to the production of artificial meat, this product faces one more important challenge in terms of gaining consumer acceptance. In the literature on the subject, limited research has been done on the perception of meat in vitro across different societies; therefore, there is little knowledge of the possibility of its acceptance and the type of barriers it may encounter. The aim of this study was to assess the perception of meat produced from stem cells in vitro by Polish consumers. The study was voluntary and was conducted based on an internet survey addressed to people aged 12 to 60+. Convenience sampling of respondents was used. The research sample consisted of 424 respondents with a diversified sociodemographic profile. The results showed a diversified interest in meat produced from stem cells in vitro among Polish consumers. Many respondents were not able to clearly define their preferences for this type of product. Young people showed the greatest positive interest in innovative in vitro meat. The greatest concerns of consumers were related to the lack of knowledge about this type of food, the lack of its inherent naturalness and potential negative health effects.
  PubDate: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Application of the Design Thinking Method in Customer Experience
Management
- Abstract: The aim of this paper is to conceptualize Design Thinking and customer experience management (CEM), to situate the use of the Design Thinking method in customer experience management processes and to present its practical application based on a case study from the financial services industry — the trade credit insurer, Euler Hermes Poland, Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń S.A. This article is an attempt to identify actionable Design Thinking process elements and tools and their intersections with the components of the Customer Experience Management processes.
  PubDate: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Changes in E-Education Brought By the Covid-19 Pandemic in Poland:
Behaviour and Perceptions of Young E-Education Service Consumers and
Service Providers
- Abstract: This study — carried out in May 2020, early on during the COVID-19 pandemic - examines the situation in the Polish e-education market, as perceived by secondary school and university students who consume e-education services and by the providers of such services. Firstly, to set the stage, in-depth interviews were carried out with eight owners of companies offering commercial e-education services. Next, an extensive online survey was carried out among secondary school and university students in the 2019–2020 school/academic year using the CAWI method on a sample of 803 respondents — with secondary school students (group I) accounting for 30% of the sample and university students (group II) making up the remaining 70% — concerning their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with e-education services. Taken together, the findings allow for an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of distance learning and point to the increased demand for e-education services during the pandemic, in tandem with a continually shifting e-education services market.
  PubDate: Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT
Attitudes of Young Consumers on the Security of their Data Collected By
Smart Devices in the Age of the Internet of Things
- Abstract: The popularity of smart devices that collect and share data on user behaviour grows every year, and the number of such devices in households is forecast to rise steadily. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present the attitudes of young consumers regarding the security of their data collected by smart devices, interconnected via the existing Internet infrastructure or other network technologies within the Internet of Things (IoT) systems. The paper was written based on both secondary and primary sources of information. Secondary sources were used to define the discussed issues related to the Internet of Things and the security of data collected by smart devices. Primary sources, on the other hand, offered direct evidence of the attitudes of young consumers on the security of such data. Direct research was carried out using an online survey carried out in 2021 on a sample of 588 consumers aged 18–34 living in Poland. The results show that more than half of the respondents pay great attention to where the data collected by the devices used in their households is kept and whether such data is safe. In spite of such declarations, more than half of those surveyed have no knowledge about the level of the security of such data. The respondents agreed with the statement that consumers accepted the uncertainty related to the loss of control over their personal data collected by smart devices more quickly than the risk involved in becoming disconnected from them.
  PubDate: Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT