The Effect of Publicly Available COVID-19 Information on the Functioning of Society, Businesses, Government and Local Institutions: A Case Study from Poland.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected many world regions' societies and economies. The pandemic and the restrictions introduced in response to it have impacted social behaviour and the operation of businesses in various ways. The present study aimed to verify the impact of information on the COVID-19 outbreak in Poland on the frequency with which residents of Rybnik and the surrounding areas chose to stay in their houses or apartments, as well as the functioning of businesses. The originality of the study lies in the use of mediation modelling, in which the following were used as variables describing the epidemic in Poland: new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Poland; the number of deaths caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection in Poland; and the number of people quarantined due to the COVID-19 epidemic in Poland. On the other hand, data on tap water consumption were used as variables describing the frequency with which residents of Rybnik and the surrounding areas chose to stay in their houses or apartments, the operation of businesses in and around the city, and the operation of government and local government institutions. The study's conclusions confirm that publicly available information about the COVID-19 outbreak in Poland affected the frequency of residents of Rybnik and the surrounding areas staying in their houses or apartments as well as the functioning of businesses in Rybnik and the surrounding areas. The increasing number of people who died due to SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with the limited functioning of government and local government institutions in and around Rybnik, which contributed to restrictions on the functioning of service industry companies in the city and surrounding areas.

Remote Learning in Higher Education: Evidence from Poland.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a sudden transformation at universities. The previous mode of teaching has been replaced by remote education, the effectiveness of which depends, among other things, on the technological infrastructure of universities and the digital competence of lecturers and students. The main objective of this study is to evaluate remote learning in higher education from the students' point of view. The uniqueness of the present research approach lies in the identification of four dimensions (socio-emotional, developmental, time-financial, and negative attitude) of students' evaluation of remote learning in higher education. The survey was conducted on 999 students studying remotely, including 518 women and 481 men. Most of the students surveyed had been studying remotely for 1-2 years and were studying full-time for their first degree. The research tool consisted of 16 mixed survey questions. Six of them were related to sociodemographic factors (including those related to the respondents' education), and eight were related to their experiences with and opinions about remote education, respectively. The remaining two questions were used to collect respondents' evaluations of the degree of importance to them of various advantages and disadvantages of remote education. The research showed that among the advantages of remote learning for students, the most important are saving time, the possibility of studying at a university far from home (another city, another country), the possibility of combining work and study, and reduced commuting costs. On the other hand, the disadvantages of remote learning of greatest importance to students include the loss of social ties due to lack of contact with peers, feelings of fatigue resulting from excessive use of information and communication tools, and greater susceptibility to various forms of distraction. In addition, the shape of students' education was relevant to the different dimensions of their evaluation of remote learning in higher education. The social-emotional size of remote learning is more important for students who study remotely in a blended mode (compared to uniform). The developmental dimension is essential for students who participate in remote learning activities for longer during the day. In addition, a more extended period of remote learning promotes the greater importance of the time-financial dimension when evaluating remote knowledge.

Innovation Adoption: Empirical Analysis on the Example of Selected Factors of Organizational Culture in the IT Industry in Poland

Positive adoption of innovation by staff is a current and crucial issue for proper operation of businesses, industry, and socio-economic environment. The article discusses variables affecting innovation adoption and analyses selected organisational culture factors in terms of their impact on innovation adoption in Polish IT companies. A novelty here is a study of their impact separately at each stage of innovation. The objective was to assess the perception of the impact of selected organisational culture factors on adoption of innovation by Polish IT industry staff at different stages. Due to the complexity of the different research aspects, a method triangulation strategy was used, combining survey techniques, desk research, expert opinions and statistical analysis. The survey used an original questionnaire called “The Process of Innovation Adoption and Perception” to examine opinions on 15 organisational culture factors in the context of innovation adoption. The research confirmed that selected organisational culture factors have a different impact on innovation adoption at different stages of innovation introduction in the Polish IT industry. On this basis, groups of factors perceived similarly in terms of innovation adoption at the individual stages were identified, forming guidelines for the proper implementation of innovation in Polish IT companies.