Global network economy society : information needs on the ethical framework and trust in transportation and logistics business among users of the Google search engine

PURPOSE: Diagnosis of information needs in the Internet network on the ethical framework and trust in the transportation and logistics business.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The article uses the methods of data analysis, topic mining, data mining, trend exploration and spatial differentiation. In addition, artificial intelligence was used to identify cause-effect relationships (Granger causality) and statistical methods, descriptive statistics, Augmented Dickey-Fuller test for data stationarity and Ljung-Box test for autocorrelation.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Research results could be useful in three dimensions. First, they could be useful for profiling information on trust and ethical frameworks depending on the user’s country and specific point in time (fashions). Secondly, they could serve to identify areas to improve awareness in this regard. Third, they could predict the demand for information based on delayed searches and linkages between issues, which is important from the information market’s point of view.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The originality of the study lies in filling the cognitive gap in the diagnosis of information needs in terms of the ethical framework and trust in the transportation and logistics business. Moreover, the study noted that the information needs of this narrow group of users of information on a given topic do not disappear once they are satisfied, and there is a delayed relationship or autocorrelation between the main issues. This means that information needs are complementary to each other, are seasonal and delayed, topics are being drilled and interest deepened.The project is financed within the framework of the program of the Minister of Science and Higher Education under the name "Regional Excellence Initiative" in the years 2019 - 2022; project number 001/RID/2018/19; the amount of financing PLN 10,684,000.00. The article is co-financed by Institute of Management of the University of Szczecin.peer-reviewe

Language audit in the management of language and cultural competences : research on the European Program Children's University ‘Little Polyglot’

PURPOSE: Identification of key factors in the balance of language competences of school-age children during the COVID-19 pandemic.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Statistical techniques and machine learning framework for NET were used in the analysis. The following were used to transform the data: one-hot encoding, replace missing value, normalize the mean variance data transformation, L-BFGS Logistic Regression algorithm (for the first model) and SDCA regression algorithm (for the second model).FINDINGS: The results indicate disproportions in improving English language competences as a result of the reorganization (change of the teaching model) by COVID-19. The average result of the knowledge test dropped by 19-21 percentage points in relation to the first test carried out as part of the language competency audit and, at the same time, by 15-17 percentage points in relation to the test as part of the placement language audit. In the course of remote learning, the disproportions in increasing competences between students increased approximately twice. These disproportions were influenced not only by the test results and the age of the student, but also the financial situation of the student and teacher.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The results obtained are important both for scientific institutions and teaching institutions, but also for economic practice. Results provide information that could be implemented in language education curricula, management of competences from the very beginning of education and cultural communication. The added value of this approach is to find gaps and weaknesses that can be eliminated in order to improve sustainable education.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The originality of the study consists in combining different test methods to conduct a language audit in the management of language competences. On the one hand, methods using artificial intelligence were used. On the other hand, qualitative and quantitative methods and dedicated to didactic evaluation. This is a novel approach, as it combines embedding research alongside trends that are now seen in similar issues.peer-reviewe

Financial and non–financial factors in companies’ adaptation process towards sustainability and sustainable business models

PURPOSE: The influence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors on financial performance has been confirmed in the literature. The article aims to examine the relationship between financial and non-financial factors in enterprises and to indicate for which groups of enterprises the relationship of ESG and financial performance is most visible in the context of building sustainable business models and the ability to adapt to sustainability. The article assumes that enterprises’ financial and non-financial results determine their adaptability to sustainability, and there is a relationship between financial results, non-financial performance, and companies’ sustainable business models. METHODOLOGY: The analysis encompasses 11 EU countries in the period 2008–2020. The study analyzed 6,864 observations, that is, 96,096 data cells. The data are divided into two groups of variables: financial and non-financial. The research is based on clusters analysis and ANOVA. It was carried out in two stages. In the first step, enterprises were grouped into clusters according to the financial condition criterion, considering the enterprise’s size and sector and country in which it operates. In the next step, it was checked whether enterprises with good financial standing also achieve better non-financial results. FINDINGS: It was found that large enterprises achieve better financial results than small and medium-sized enterprises, even though they operate in the same location and sectors. It can be emphasized there are statistical differences between entities with relatively good financial conditions and those with relatively weaker financial conditions in the context of such values as gender employment gap, total population living in households considering that they suffer from noise, greenhouse gas emission, Corruption Perceptions Index. The companies with relatively better financial standing achieve a smaller gender employment gap (at the national level) than entities with relatively worse financial conditions. It is similar to referring to the greenhouse gas (GHG) level. IMPLICATIONS: The results of this study may be useful for managements of companies in developing strategies of transformation towards sustainability, thanks to the fact that they provide information on what factors should be taken into account in the transformation process. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The originality of this study lies in the fact that it takes into account both financial and non-financial factors and examines the relationships between these factors in the process of companies’ adaptation towards sustainability and sustainable business model

Sustainable Development Programming of Airports by Identification of Non-Efficient Units

This article concerns the identification of inefficient airports and the exploration of spatial autocorrelation for programming sustainable development. The first research question was: do domestic airports cooperate by shifting passenger service and traffic to the geographically closest airport to respect the idea of sustainable development (in view of the rationalization of energy consumption)? The second question was: do they excessively compete for passengers and the carriers serving them? The aim was to identify ineffective units (taking into account energy consumption, airplane traffic, and passenger movement) and to evaluate the spatial autocorrelation between national airports, which shows whether airports cooperate or compete with each other. The study was conducted on 12 airports. An innovative extension of the data envelopment analysis method using methods in the field of spatial econometrics (including two-dimensional Moran I statistics and local LISA statistics) and artificial intelligence was applied. It was verified that ineffective airports have a non-rationalized structure of inputs to outputs. Based on the map-graph of connections, airports have been identified to which part of airplane traffic service can be transferred. Based on Moran statistics and local LISA statistics, it was confirmed that airports compete with each other. There was a strong polarization of efficient airports

Qualitative–Quantitative Warning Modeling of Energy Consumption Processes in Inland Waterway Freight Transport on River Sections for Environmental Management

The article concerns the assessment of the energy consumption of inland waterway freight transport on river sections in the context of environmental management. The research question was: Does the choice of the route determine the total energy consumption of inland waterway transport and therefore affect the potential of cargo transport of this mode? The article aims to indicate the directions of energy consumption by inland waterway freight transport depending on the route selection, the volume of transport, and the length of the route. The study was carried out on nine sections of the Odra River in Poland during the years 2015–2020. Statistical and econometric techniques were used, i.e., ANOVA, generalized linear models, Eta coefficients, Lasso and Ridge regularization, and X-average control charts (Six Sigma tool). Based on early warning models, river sections were identified that favor the rationalization of energy consumption in terms of the network. The sensitivity of the energy consumption of inland waterway transport to changes in the average distance and in the volume of transport was examined. With the use of Six Sigma tools, the instability of the energy consumption processes of inland waterway transport was identified, paying attention to the source of the mismatch, which was the increase in the average transport distance in the sections, where energy consumption increased due to the operational and navigation conditions of these sections

Rationalization of the energy consumption of road transport for sustainable development

This paper presents an approach to rationalize the energy consumption of road transport towards sustainability in a steady-state economy. The research hypothesis is that the rationalization of the energy consumption of road transport is affected by drift and shocks, which desynchronizes the adjustment mechanism from equilibrium. The objective of this research was to incorporate the model of energy consumption of road freight transport with the goals of sustainability by considering ecological and constructivist rational orders, the issue of order drift, and the occurrence of shocks. The research investigated Poland from the first quarter of 2004 to the fourth quarter of 2018. A model for rationalizing the energy consumption of road transport was constructed using the vector error correction model and cointegration techniques. The model revealed one cointegrating relationship and showed statistically significant unlimited drift. The level of changes to long-term equilibrium appeared respectively for GDP – 1.8%, PPI for energy – 7.3%, and for energy consumption – 10.9%. We observed a weak sustainability between the energy consumption of road transport and GDP and a strong sustainability between energy consumption of road transport and PPI energy. It was determined that price shocks had a positive impact (at the estimated point level around 0.06) and supply and demand shocks had a negative impact (at the level estimated point around –3)

Environmental Management from the Point of View of the Energy Intensity of Road Freight Transport and Shocks

The research aimed to identify the directions of rationalization of the energy intensity of road freight transport in the context of the long-term balance of the drifting economy. The study was related to the case of Poland, and its scope spans 8.5 years. The long-term drift of the economy and shocks from the production process of the construction, industry, and processing sectors were taken into account in the research. In addition, the structural shocks were decomposed and validated. Twenty-one statistically significant multidirectional and varying relationships between the energy consumption of road transport and production in the construction, industry, and processing sectors were confirmed, including 7 long-term and 14 immediate relationships. The leakage of shocks in production has been demonstrated in the construction, industry, and processing sectors. The shock from the construction sector lowered the energy consumption of road transport in the long run. The greatest impact of the shock occurred only after 6–12 months and slowly stabilized after approximately 24 months. On the other hand, the shock in production in the industry and processing sectors reduced energy intensity in the short term but increased in the long term. The shocks in the industry and processing sectors transformed relatively quickly

Trust and Distress Prediction in Modal Shift Potential of Long-Distance Road Freight in Containers: Modeling Approach in Transport Services for Sustainability

Confidence in intermodal transport has not yet been defined. There are many different approaches to the concept of trust. However, the authors have integrated them with the paradigm shift in light of the challenges of sustainability. The objective of this article is to indicate the directions and criteria for that indicate the implementation of the paradigm shift, relative to the idea of sustainable transport. The auxiliary objective is to predict which countries in a given year will have the TRUST status, i.e., implement the paradigm shift, and which ones will not implement it (DISTRESS). The study used taxonometric techniques and built a model using General Discriminant Analysis. On these bases, the utility function was approximated, including the directions of implementation of the paradigm shift, depending on the scale of the environmental load of transport. Over the course of this research, an original and innovative econometric model was constructed, pointing to three variables which have the greatest impact on trust. Thanks to the cognitive value of the model, it is possible to identify individuals who deserve trust (i.e., it will implement the paradigm shift) with 93% probability. In the future, it is worth expanding the research by programing models for each country

Trust and Distress Prediction in Modal Shift Potential of Long-Distance Road Freight in Containers: Modeling Approach in Transport Services for Sustainability

Confidence in intermodal transport has not yet been defined. There are many different approaches to the concept of trust. However, the authors have integrated them with the paradigm shift in light of the challenges of sustainability. The objective of this article is to indicate the directions and criteria for that indicate the implementation of the paradigm shift, relative to the idea of sustainable transport. The auxiliary objective is to predict which countries in a given year will have the TRUST status, i.e., implement the paradigm shift, and which ones will not implement it (DISTRESS). The study used taxonometric techniques and built a model using General Discriminant Analysis. On these bases, the utility function was approximated, including the directions of implementation of the paradigm shift, depending on the scale of the environmental load of transport. Over the course of this research, an original and innovative econometric model was constructed, pointing to three variables which have the greatest impact on trust. Thanks to the cognitive value of the model, it is possible to identify individuals who deserve trust (i.e., it will implement the paradigm shift) with 93% probability. In the future, it is worth expanding the research by programing models for each country

Linkages between Energy Delivery and Economic Growth from the Point of View of Sustainable Development and Seaports

This paper presents the synchronisation of economic cycles of GDP and crude oil and oil products cargo volumes in major Polish seaports. On the one hand, this issue fits into the concept of sustainable development including decoupling; on the other hand, the synchronisation may be an early warning tool. Crude oil and oil products cargo volumes are a specific barometer that predicts the next economic cycle, especially as they are primary sources of energy production. The research study applies a number of TRAMO/SEATS methods, the Hodrick–Prescott filter, spectral analysis, correlation and cross-correlation function. Noteworthy is the modern approach of using synchronisation of economic cycles as a tool, which was described in the paper. According to the study results, the cyclical components of the cargo traffic and GDP were affected by the leakage of other short-term cycles. However, based on the cross-correlation, it was proved that changes in crude oil and oil products cargo volumes preceded changes in GDP by 1–3 quarters, which may be valuable information for decision-makers and economic development planners