Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Internet Use in the Marketing Activities of Higher Education Institutions in Poland and Ukraine

Kisiołek, Artur; Karyy, Oleh; Halkiv, Liubov Article Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Internet Use in the Marketing Activities of Higher Education Institutions in Poland and Ukraine Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe Provided in Cooperation with: Institute of Economics, University of Łódź Suggested Citation: Kisiołek, Artur; Karyy, Oleh; Halkiv, Liubov (2020) : Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Internet Use in the Marketing Activities of Higher Education Institutions in Poland and Ukraine, Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe, ISSN 2082-6737, Łodz University Press, Łodz, Vol. 23, Iss. 2, pp. 87-102, https://doi.org/10.18778/1508-2008.23.14 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/259235 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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Central and Eastern Europe Volume 23, Number 2, 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/1508-2008.23.14 Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Internet Use in the Marketing Activities of Higher Education Institutions in Poland and Ukraine Artur Kisiołek Ph.D., Professor, Head of the Department of Economics, The Great Poland University of Social and Economics in Środa Wlkp., Środa Wlkp., Poland e-mail: [email protected] Oleh Karyy Ph.D., Professor, Head of the Department of Management of Organizations Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, Ukraine, e-mail: Oleh.I.K[email protected] Liubov Нalkiv Ph.D., Professor, Department of Management of Organizations Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, Ukraine email: Lyubov[email protected], lubakr[email protected] Abstract In the information age, the role of higher education as a factor of social progress is increasing. The competition among higher education institutions is also growing. This requires higher education institutions’ (HEIs) marketing policies to be diversified, digitalized, and integrated into the virtual space. In order to find out the role and importance of Internet tools and in marketing activities, a questionnaire survey was conducted among managers and specialists of HEIs in Ukraine and Poland. The data served as the basis to study the level of variation, structure similarity, and consistency of the generalized responses of the respondents of the two countries. We verified hypotheses about (1) the absence of significant differences between the estimates of the role of the Internet in the marketing activities of HEIs in Poland and Ukraine; (2) the consistency of answers of the respondents of the two countries regarding the use of the Internet in market activites of HEIs; (3) HEIs’ use mostly geo-targeting potential consumers of higher education online. 88 Artur Kisiołek, Oleh Karyy, Liubov Нalkiv The dominant feature of the Internet – quick access to information – enables effective marketing activities. The management of HEIs should increase the awareness of their marketing staff in using the Internet to expand the delivery of educational services, intensify interviewing practices for obtaining feedback from customers, attract sponsors, promote their own brands, do market research, and so on. Keywords: higher education institution, marketing activity, Internet-marketing, marketing communications, structure similarities, variations, rank correlation JEL: I23, M3, P52 Introduction Inthe 21 st century, world-leading institutions have recognized the growing role ofhigher education insocio-economic transformations. That iswhy scientists are now positioning acountry’s higher education system country asthe main driver ofnational economic and social progress. The effectiveness ofthe higher education influence onthese socio-economic changes depends from anarray ofprerequisites. Among these prerequisites, wecan distinguish three significant positive social roles performed bythe higher education environment: –the realization ofthe mission ofthe main source ofknowledge; –the promotion ofeconomic innovations through the formation ofhuman capital and intellectual potential; – ensuring that social systems are highly competitive and sustainably developed. The formal providers ofhigher education services are traditionally higher education institutions (HEIs). HEIs should beunderstood asinstitutions ofaparticular kind with the following characteristics: –itis alegal entity under private orpublic law; –itimplements activities atcertain levels ofhigher education; –itdisseminates and generates new knowledge toachieve individual and institutional development goals ofsocial systems; –itdevelops the intellectual potential ofthe recipients (consumers) ofits services and prepares them for sustainable employment and active citizenship. The leading measure ofHEIs’ performance efficiency ishow they interact with internal and external stakeholders. Inparticular, the production ofnecessary impact onthe target consumer inthe process ofcommunication isessential for improving their efficiency. HEIs can produce the necessary impact not only with public relations tools, training courses and program offers, promotion oftheir teaching personnel but also through promoting the institution’s values, inparticular, students’ orgraduates’ successes (e.g., grants that have been awarded, completed projects, career progress, socially responsible behavior, etc.). 89 Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Internet Use in the Marketing Activities… The new economy ofthe information age puts new demands ondigitalizing the communication tactics and strategies ofHEIs. There isno doubt that today, the problem ofimproving the efficiency ofmarketing communications ofHEIs cannot besolved without considering their marketing activities onthe Internet. The key benefits ofInternet marketing include interactivity, quality targeting, lack ofterritorial restrictions, accessibility, and the possibility ofpost-click analysis, among others. These global trends also suggest that acomparative analysis ofthe practice ofusing e-marketing byHEIs indifferent countries will not lead toradically different estimates (results). The similarity ofthe neighboring countries inthe size ofthe population and the number ofHEIs made itexpedient toimplement aresearch project onthe example ofPoland and Ukraine, some results ofwhich are presented inthis article. Analysis of recent research and publications on the selected topic Ananalysis ofaselection ofUkrainian electronic scientific periodicals available onthe V.Vernadsky National Library website revealed that among the main topics ofmarketing HEIs via the Internet, the following have been brought up: –research into the characteristics ofelectronic marketing tools use byUkrainian universities and the rationale for reorganizing marketing departments through the creation ofan informational and analytical sector and marketing communications sector (Petrunya & Petrunya 2018); – adescription ofthe advantages provided bythe building auniversity’s image onthe Internet (mass and geographic scale; continuous access; feedback; flexibility; efficiency and completeness ofinformation; minimum expenses), and characteristics ofthe main Internet technologies and tools tocreate and manage auniversity’s image onthe Internet: Websites, website search engine optimization; thematic groups; viral Internet-marketing; direct Internet-marketing; advertising and publishing information oninformational web sites, blogs, and forums (Beztelesna & Vasyliv 2016); – identifying marketing tasks inthe process ofimplementing distance learning inUkrainian HEIs and describing tools worth using for distance learning promotion: targeted advertising onsocial networks, targeted advertising oneducational websites, contextual advertising, banner advertising, web-analytics (Zabolotskiy 2016); –anassessment ofthe capabilities ofInternet marketing tools and methods, and the rationale for their complex application byhigher education institutions inorder topromote their scientific and educational services according todifferences between on-line and off-line marketing communications – the new set ofknowledge, skills, experience, beliefs, personell behavior and relationships, their readiness and ability toapply Internet-technologies effectively invarious aspects 90 Artur Kisiołek, Oleh Karyy, Liubov Нalkiv ofscientific and educational activities inorder togain economic orother benefits (Illiashenko 2014); – the use ofthe smartphone application “Instagram” asan Internet marketing tool for social communications topromote the brands ofHEIs and their subdivisions (Mozgova & Kolosovska & Onishchenko 2017); –digital communication strategies inmarketing higher education services (Daynovskyy & Semak & Boychuk 2018; Prosovych & Botsman 2018); – identifying the non-systemic implementation ofabusiness model inhigher education that isbased onMarketing 4.0, and the development ofan organizational and management mechanism for social media marketing strategy formation and implementation inHEIs (Zhehus 2018). The latest scientific research inthe field ofHEIs’ marketing communications inPoland mainly concerns the use ofsocial media. Integration into the virtual space, which involves the provision ofservices via the Internet, electronic advertising, and positioning insearch engines, has become anintegral element ofuniversity marketing strategies (Buchnowska 2013). Generation Z(post-Millennials), which significantly affects the make-upof the modern cohort ofstudents, forces the management ofhigher education institutions tomore actively use IT-technologies inmarketing communications tobenefit the following: “the possibility of‘closer relationship’ ofindividual stakeholder groups and their deeper relationship with the university; rapid flow ofinformation (opinions, experiences, advice, and recommendations) between the university and different staholders, particulary important for the candidates seeking information about studies onthe first year and second level ofstudy and for choosing amajor ofstudy” (Hall & Peszko 2016). Based onresearch of403 higher education institutions available onthe Ministry ofScience and Higher Education ofPoland website in2018, the highest popularity ofthe Facebook website has been proven against the backdrop ofthe increased use ofseveral profiles onother social networks: YouTube; Twitter; Google+; Instagram; LinkedIn (Wojciechowska 2018). The issue ofmarketing communication with the use ofthe new media isinscribed inthe concept of360° marketing, which comprises several means ofcommunication, e.g., websites, search engine marketing, direct marketing, social media marketing, and Internet advertising. These instruments have been researched by320 companies inthe B2B sector inboth Polish and foreign markets (Bartosik-Purgat 2018). The same sector ofthe new media, this time with reference tothe market ofhigher education, ispresented inthe monograph edited bythe researchers from the University ofEconomics inKatowice (Smyczek & Matysiewicz 2015). Leading international scientists and sociologists recognize the importance ofthe Internet inimproving the information provided toprospective students and in the personnel recruitment process atuniversities (Table 1). Atthe same time, trends that contribute tothe greater efficiency ofHEIs’ activity onthe Internet and which are used inmarketing include: 91 Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Internet Use in the Marketing Activities… –simplifying the user interface byusing awebsite that isintuitive and accessible ondifferent devices orplatforms; –search engine optimization (SEO), which puts the institution higher upthe list ofsearch results; – initiating communication inthe form ofonline lectures, real-time chats with university representatives and bloggers, and guest posts indiscussion forums; –improving the analysis ofthe marketing activities results, based onawide range ofavailable information and Internet-analytics; –developing communication byexpanded investment inbanner advertisements, promotional articles, robo-calls, and apps for mobile Internet users onmarkets ofeducational, training, informational, innovative and other services; – improving content-management by means of the personalization pyramid (1 – search engine optimization; 2 – segmentation; 3 – content orientation toaspecific person). Table 1. The main digital marketing strategies of higher education institutions Strategy Facts Video Advertisements It is estimated that 65% of the population learn better by seeing images rather than reading words Personal Voice Assistants It is estimated that about 60% of households use Voice Assistants in USA Accessibility on mobile devices It is estimated that 60% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices SMM It is estimated that a billion people use social media. There is a need to reorient strategies from well-known news feeds and focus on capturing the attention in “Stories”. SEO It is estimated that 93% of people use a search engine to begin surfing the web Email On average, more than 2% of promotional emails are read in their entirety Source: authors’ own elaboration based on the data of e-resources (The 7 hottest higher ed digital marketing trends for 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.higher-education-marketing.com; The Most Important 2019. Higher Education Marketing Trends. Retrieved from: https://linchpinseo.com (accessed: 10.07.2019). Characteristics of HEIs and the array of empirical data Higher education institutions use awide range ofInternet possibilities intheir operational activities. Inorder toidentify the role ofInternet tools and their importance inthe marketing activities ofhigher education institutions, aquestionnaire survey was carried out onthe following subject: “Internet inthe activities ofhigher education institutions.” This research project was implemented inUkraine and Poland between 2015and2017. Itcovered 123 and 62 higher education institutions ineach country, 92 Artur Kisiołek, Oleh Karyy, Liubov Нalkiv respectively (more than 10% ofhigher education institutions ineach country). The issues ofdata collection techniques and tools are described inafew publications, e.g., Kisiołek 2018; Kisiołek & Karyy & Prokopenko 2018. The research project was based onaquestionnaire method (one questionnaire corresponded toone higher education institution) and asampling observation method tojustify the representativeness ofthe sample. The target group comprised managers and specialists ofhigher education institutions whose activities focused onmarketing. The questions provided from three toseven answer options (depending onthe essence ofthe question). The empirical data obtained inthe course ofthe project was used toascertain the level ofstructural similarity and consistency ofthe respondents’ responses inboth countries, and toidentify ties between individual factors. Hypotheses of the research The authors hypothesize: 1 – there are nosignificant differences instructural responses between the assessments ofthe Internet inmarketing activities ofPolish and Ukrainian higher education institutions; 2 – there isconsistency between HEIs inthe two countries regarding Internet use inmarketing activities, and therefore there are strengths and weaknesses inthese practices: 3 – there isan order ofpreferable criteria (geographic, demographic, behavioral) oftargeting the audience ofHEIs. Research methodology Within this article, the similarity coefficient ofstructures was used for the two arrays ofdata inorder toassess the level ofsimilarity ofstructural responses ofrespondents inPoland and Ukraine: 1 1 12 m UP jj j P dd = =- - å,(1) where U j d – isthe share ofj’s response ofrespondents ofUkraine; P j d – isthe share ofj’s response ofrespondents ofPoland. The following indicators were used toassess the variation ofindividual indicators: Coefficient ofvariation: 100 õ s s n=´ (2) Interquartile range ofvariation: RQ= Q3 – Q1 (3) 93 Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Internet Use in the Marketing Activities… where Õ – isthe average characteristic value inthe range; σ – isthe standard deviation ofthe characteristic value inthe range; Q3 and Q1 – are the values ofthe third and the first quartiles ofthe characteristic distribution inthe range, respectively. Ifthe value ofthe coefficient ofvariation exceeds 33%, the sample isconsidered heterogeneous, and the average value isconsidered atypical.Ifthe characteristic value isoutside the interquartile range, itis considered an“outlier.” The Spearman coefficient was used toestimate the rank correlation: ( ) 2 2 6 11 d nn r=- ´- å , (4) where п – isthe number ofpositions; d – isthe difference between the position ranks bycountry. The value ofr varies from -1 to+1, characterizing the direction and density ofthe tie. The tie isconsidered significant (atthe significance level of1-a), ifthe observed value ofr exceeds the critical value r1-a(n). The Chuprov correlation coefficient (C) was used toassess ties between categorical characteristics: 2 ( 1)( 1) xy Cnm m c = -- (5) where mxand myare the numbers ofthe groups according tothe factor and efficiency characteristics, respectively; 2 c – isthe Pearson chi-squared test: 2 21 ij ij ij f nff c åå éù êú =- êú × êú ëû åå (6) fij – isthe frequency ofthe characteristic ofthe i-throw (ofthe i-thfactor group) onthe j-thcolumn (j-thefficiency groups); fiΣ and fΣj – are total frequencies bygroups offactor and efficiency characteristics; n – isthe sample size. The value ofС varies from 0 to1, characterizing the density ofthe tie. The tie isconsidered significant (atthe significance level of1-a), ifthe observed value ofthe Pearson chi-squared test ( 2 c) exceeds the critical value ( ) 2 1( 1 ( 1)) xy km m a c - = -´ - . Tosummarize the respondents’ estimates inthe form ofrank scales, the indicator ofthe average centred rank was used: __ max min 2 o RR RR + =- , (7) where Rmax, Rmin, _ R – are the maximum, minimum, and average values ofthe ordinal ranks. Ifthe average centred score ispositive, the phenomenon isgenerally positive. 94 Artur Kisiołek, Oleh Karyy, Liubov Нalkiv The contents and description of the comparative analysis The first question ofthe research project was related toclarifying the role ofthe Internet inthe marketing activities ofan HEI. The question comprised 12 items concerning the role ofthe virtual environment asacertain tool, which: 1 – substantially supports the creation ofthe image ofan HEI; 2 – ischeaper compared totraditional mass media tools that are used inmarketing activities; 3 – makes itpossible toreach the target groups ofpotential students inmarket segments where anHEI operates; 4 – provides anopportunity for clear access tonew market segments; 5 – provides anopportunity for quick access toinformation onthe educational services market; 6 – isused toenhance positive interactive communication with students; 7 – helps toimprove services for students; 8 – contributes toabetter understanding ofstudents’ needs; 9 – strengthens the feeling ofinteraction between anHEI and students; 10 – makes itpossible toobtain detailed information about existing and potential students; 11 – helps toimplement new elements ofthe educational offer byan HEI; 12 – supports the implementation ofeducational services. For each item, one ofthe three possible answers was offered (see Table 2). Table 2. Structure and level of similarity of Polish and Ukrainian respondents’ responses to the role of the Internet in the marketing activities of higher education institutions Number of the item Share of answers, % Рagree disagree Difficult to say Poland Ukraine Poland Ukraine Poland Ukraine 182.1 95.2 0.0 0.0 17.9 4.8 0.869 266.7 79.1 22.0 16.1 11.4 4.8 0.875 375.6 64.5 4.1 21.0 20.3 14.5 0.831 461.0 50.0 5.7 8.1 33.3 41.9 0.891 5100.0 98.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.6 0.984 693.5 88.7 0.8 3.2 5.7 8.1 0.953 795.1 85.5 1.6 6.4 3.3 8.1 0.901 841.5 59.7 11.4 21.0 47.2 19.3 0.722 940.7 46.8 15.4 22.6 43.9 30.6 0.865 10 48.0 53.2 21.1 21.0 30.9 25.8 0.948 11 84.6 77.4 1.6 11.3 13.8 11.3 0.905 12 95.1 66.2 0.0 3.2 4.9 30.6 0.712 Source: compiled and calculated by the authors according to their own survey. The overwhelming majority ofthe respondents inboth countries chose apositive answer ineach item. The maximum value for “Iagree” (100.0% ofthe respondents inPoland and 98.4% inUkraine) concerned the statement ofthe possibility ofhaving quick access toinformation onthe educational services market via the Internet. For the ninth item – i.e., the Internet strengthens the feeling ofinteraction between anHEI and students – the scores ofPoland and Ukraine were low and quite similar, 101 Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Internet Use in the Marketing Activities… References Bartosik-Purgat, M.(2018), Nowe media wkomunikacji marketingowej przedsiębiorstw narynku międzynarodowym, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa. Beztelesna, L., Vasyliv, V.(2016), Internet marketing asaformation resource ofimage policy and competitiveness ofUniversity, “Herald ofthe National University ofWater and Environmental Engineering, Rivne”, Vol.3(75), pp.17–29. 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Retrieved from: https:// linchpinseo.com/marketing-trends-in-higher-education/ (accessed: 10.07.2019). 102 Artur Kisiołek, Oleh Karyy, Liubov Нalkiv Wojciechowska, I.(2018), The Scale ofUsing Social Media byUniversities inPoland, “Modern Management Review”, Vol.25(1), pp.169–182. Zabolotskiy, А.(2016), Internet marketing ofDistance Learning inUkrainian Universities (for example, the University ofEconomics and Law “Krok”). “Youth and the Market”, Vol.3(164), pp.164–167. Zhehus, О.(2018), Forming ofthe Social Media Marketing strategy ofhigher education institutions, “Marketing and Digital Technologies”, Vol.2 (2), pp.58–75. https://doi .org/10.15276/mdt.2.2.2018.5 Streszczenie Analiza porównawcza praktycznego wykorzystania internetu w działaniach marketingowych uczelni wyższych w Polsce i na Ukrainie W warunkach ery informacyjnej zwiększa się rola szkolnictwa wyższego w systemie czynników stymulujących postęp społeczny, wzrasta też poziom konkurencji w środowisku dostawców tych usług. Wymaga to dywersyfikacji polityki marketingowej instytucji szkolnictwa wyższego, jej digitalizacji i integracji w przestrzeni wirtualnej. W celu zbadania roli narzędzi internetowych i ich znaczenia w działaniach marketingowych przeprowadzono badania ankietowe wśród menedżerów i specjalistów instytucji szkolnictwa wyższego na Ukrainie i w Polsce. Uzyskane dane posłużyły jako podstawa do badania poziomu zmienności, podobieństwa struktur i ogólnej spójności odpowiedzi respondentów z tych dwóch krajów. Zweryfikowano hipotezy dotyczące braku istotnych różnic między przewidywaną rolą Internetu w działalności marketingowej instytucji szkolnictwa wyższego w Polsce i na Ukrainie, spójności odpowiedzi respondentów z tych dwóch krajów na temat poziomu rozpowszechnienia praktyk korzystania z Internetu w działaniach marketingowych instytucji szkolnictwa wyższego oraz docierania przez Internet do potencjalnych studentów przez szkoły wyższe z uwzględnieniem czynników geograficznych. Dominująca cecha Internetu – szybki dostęp do informacji – umożliwia skuteczne działania marketingowe. Osoby zarządzające szkołami wyższymi powinny zwiększyć świadomość pracowników działów marketingu w zakresie korzystania z Internetu w celu rozszerzenia świadczenia usług edukacyjnych, zintensyfikowania interakcji z klientami, przyciągnięcia sponsorów, promowania własnych marek, badań rynku i tym podobnych. Słowa kluczowe: instytucja szkolnictwa wyższego, działania marketingowe, marketing internetowy, komunikacja marketingowa, podobieństwa strukturalne, wariacje, korelacja rang