The research aims at the identification of factors influencing mentoring services with a particular emphasis on the country of origin of the mentor and the mentee. The quantitative research was conducted in four Central and Eastern European countries, i.e., Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania and one Southern European country, Italy. The implemented methodology covered Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and reliability analysis, which were performed to identify factors influencing the process of communication in the mentor–mentee relationship. Moreover, to diagnose statistically significant differences between individual countries in terms of factors influencing the effectiveness of communication, the Kruskal–Wallis H Test and the Mann–Whitney U Test, as well as pair-wise comparisons, were used. Factors influencing communication in the mentor–mentee relationship are mentor traits, mentor’s personal background, mentor’s professional background, non-verbal communication channels, communication barriers, written communication channels, online communication, quality of content and the ability of content processing by the mentee. There are differences in the perception of individual factors in the analysed countries. So far, no cross-country comparison has been conducted of factors influencing mentoring services. As a direction for future research, more detailed research can be recommended concerning factors of the mentoring process in such countries as Lithuania, Latvia and Italy by developing separate models (or EFA) for mentors and mentees.
Keywords:
mentoring services mentor mentee Exploratory Factor Analysis
This study aims to assess the lecturers’ opinions about the use of e-learning tools to support distance and blended learning in higher education in Portugal, evidently reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was based on a qualitative methodology, specifically, a focus group with professors from five higher education institutions from different geographical areas in Portugal. The obtained results were analysed along four main dimensions: (1) the level of knowledge of e-learning tools, (2) the reasons for using or (3) not using them, and, finally, (4) the opinion of lecturers on the student assessment process using these tools. The results showed that in addition to the concerns with smooth running classes and the appropriate delivery of the syllabus, the lecturers considered the transition to the e-learning context to have been easy. They noted a high level of literacy in the used tools, believed in the continued use of e-learning in the post-pandemic context, indicated several advantages for those involved in the e-learning context and a majority of limitations related to the time required for the adoption of more tools; and, finally, underlined the student assessment issue, which was pointed out as the most sensitive topic in the whole e-learning context. The study informed on the lecturers’ perspective on e-learning and the used tools and provided insight into their perceived usefulness and benefits for lecturers and students. An especially strong concern was verified on the part of lecturers to optimise e-learning tools to provide better knowledge delivery to students.
Keywords:
education communication educational technologies e-learning tools
The article aims to identify and compare behaviour patterns of Polish social enterprises, especially those operating in the IT branch and using social media to communicate with their clients. The research consisted of a multidimensional qualitative and quantitative content analysis, including Cramér’s V correlation coefficient based on chi-squared statistic, also suitable for nominal data types. The article focused on client communication content created and placed on social media by Polish social enterprises from the IT and other branches. The research sample comprised 301 entities. According to the adopted assumption, the statistical research (correlation analysis) results showed certain behaviour patterns within the scope of the analysed area and revealed significant circumstances that affect communication. Due to the profile of professional competencies, the IT industry prefers communicating via social media, which aims to formulate a concise and precise message. Social enterprises in the group of the most economically effective entities have a unique way of using social media. They choose the most popular social media and, at the same time, to some extent, expand their communication to more specialised platforms. The applied approach is a new way to analyse social enterprise activities in social media. The analysis findings contribute to a greater understanding of connections between the discussed phenomena. The presented research procedure can be applied to determine the impact of other competencies of the analysed entities on sustainability communication in social media. According to research, IT entities enrich the current trends in social media use by social enterprises. The research results may be useful for banks, investors and public institutions forecasting the success of social enterprises and making support-related decisions. The scale and scope of the use of social media platforms for communication with the market may be a criterion in measuring the chances to commercialise goods and services offered by social enterprises.
Keywords:
social entrepreneurship sustainability communication
Various indicators are used to determine the level of company diversification. Their adequacy largely depends on the structure of the production programme. Its essential feature is the comparative weight of the main product in the total scope of the company’s work. In this situation, the intensity of the diversification process is reflected by the decrease in the volume of this product due to the inclusion of new products in the production programme. In this case, the adequacy of the diversification indicator can be reflected by comparing the scale of the main product with changes in the value of these indicators. The adequacy will be higher with more changes in the values of diversification indicators corresponding to changes in the volumes of the main product. Four indicators of corporate diversification are the most well-known and widely used: the Berry index, the entropy measure, Utton’s measure and the DG index. All of them have both strong and weak sides, so it is important to determine situations of the company’s production programme in which diversification indicators are appropriate to use, i.e., in which situations their adequacy is the greatest. The research has established that if the comparative weight of the main product of the production programme in the total scope of work is greater than 0.5, then the adequacy of the entropy measure and index DG is higher compared to the Berry index and Utton’s measure. If it is lower than 0.5, the other two diversification indicators should be used. The obtained results will help to more efficiently manage the process of diversification as a company’s development strategy.
Keywords:
strategic management diversification indicators adequacy
Mobile trip planning applications may contribute to popularising public transport, provided they work efficiently and gain high user acceptance. This article aims to take a closer look at the functioning of the JakDojade application, which has been the most popular platform in Poland for several years, supporting travel planning by public transport. In the presented case study, the authors tried to diagnose problems and indicate the directions of application development. At the same time, through this analysis, the authors aimed to demonstrate the usefulness of researching user comments from the viewpoint of managing the development of mobile applications and related services. A case study methodology was used to perform a descriptive study. Data on user feedback on JakDojade mobile application in Poland comes from Google Play Store. Semantic categorisation of user comments and sentiment analysis allowed for identifying user problems and diagnosing emotions related to its use. The presented methodology allowed for diagnosing typical user problems for the JakDojade application, which may help indicate further development directions. The authors attempted to demonstrate the usefulness of researching user comments from the point of view of managing the development of mobile applications and related services. The semi-automatic approach to text analysis presented in the article highlights the problems related to the study of user reviews. The limitations of the proposed methodology and the possibilities for its improvement were indicated.
Keywords:
public transport mobile application user experience UX sentiment analysis semantic analysis software engineering
As a tool, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) guide local and regional leaders in developing policy approaches for better social development. SDGs are 17 ambitious objectives towards a greener, healthier, more peaceful and equal planet, promoted by the United Nations to achieve by 2030. Having this performance in mind, countries and regions can measure their level of SDG implementation and rethink how they could promote prosperity, cooperation among regions and progress. This study focuses on SDG-9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure in ten municipalities of the Alto Minho region, Portugal. The main idea is to assess the level of each municipality in the achievement of the indicators related to this SDG. The similarities and differences between the municipalities can underline areas for joint efforts or investments in the development policy. This paper selected a performance analysis as a tool for informing on the amount of effort required to achieve SDG-9 at a local level, i.e., the Alto Minho region in the north of Portugal. If the trend of evolution is maintained, only Viana do Castelo will reach the full range of indicators for SDG-9, and Caminha will have 50 % of the indicators achieved. The remaining municipalities will reach at least half of the indicators, thus achieving a value lower than half of the target value. This approach could be replicated in other SDGs and other regions. This assessment allows the region’s stakeholders to indicate areas of required action to achieve the SDG.
Keywords:
Sustainable Development Goals innovation regional performance mapping
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly and permanently changed modern life in the private and professional dimensions, where numerous consequences of the virus have affected employees and employers. Both groups were forced to implement numerous changes to ensure the work process’s safety. The multi-dimensionality of this concept and, consequently, the multi-directionality of its potential and required actions taken by companies have become the basis for a theoretical and practical analysis of conditions for supporting broadly understood employee safety during the COVID-19 pandemic in selected production companies in Poland. The pilot studies’ results indicated the leading direction and scope of actions taken so far, their main types, stimulating factors and barriers, perceived benefits and future trends. The article’s conclusions may form the basis for universal good practices supporting the safety of employees in the production sector, which, regardless of the duration of the pandemic, may be used as effective and efficient improvement measures in generating measurable benefits for all stakeholders.
Keywords:
safety management COVID-19 pandemic manufacturing companies
The focus of this research is on assessing the perception of public service quality through a customer-centred approach. Public service quality comprises multiple factors that are prioritised differently by customers. Therefore, the study aims to conduct a literature review to identify the primary quality dimensions of public services and evaluate the heterogeneity of their perception within the context of Lithuania. The research measures the user perceptions of public service quality. The literature review allowed for identifying service quality indicators and grouping them into dimensions based on unifying characteristics. Such identification of service quality dimensions grounded the research methodology. An adapted SERVQUAL model was used to analyse data collected by a survey to interview customers of Lithuanian public service organisations. Logit and probit models were applied to examine the effect of socio-demographic characteristics and the type of service on customer perceptions of different quality aspects of the provided public services. Explored heterogeneity of attitudes and detailed analysis of socio-demographic factors revealed that women with higher education are the most satisfied users of public services, while less educated men usually have a negative attitude towards the quality of public services. The study confirmed that marital status and income level are not related to customer satisfaction with service quality. Although gender, age, family size, education level, and employment status explain heterogeneity in customer satisfaction, they still account for only a small amount of variance compared to the place of residence and type of service. The study is a significant contribution to the field of service engineering as it introduces a systematic approach to the development of service quality, incorporating models and methods that enable the assessment of service quality and efficiency. The literature review has identified several research gaps related to public service quality, including a lack of research on general public services and areas such as tourism, real estate management, fire protection and rescue.
Keywords:
public sector public sector organisation public services service quality SERVQUAL model logit model probit model