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1 – 10 of 647Chih-An Lin, Yu-Ming Hsu and Homin Chen
During COVID-19 restrictions, people spent more time in cyberspace and consuming health-related information. An increase was also observed in mediated caring messages or…
Abstract
Purpose
During COVID-19 restrictions, people spent more time in cyberspace and consuming health-related information. An increase was also observed in mediated caring messages or health-relevant information sent to one another. This study aims to explore how the information and interactions around COVID-19 can provide a good learning opportunity for public health, specifically related to eHealth literacy and eHealth promotion.
Design/methodology/approach
While mainstream literature has concentrated on experimental designs and a priming effect, this study inspects psychological distance related to a health threat under real-life circumstances. The article adopted a survey approach and utilized PLS-SEM techniques to examine the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
Results indicated that whereas closer social support correlates with closer psychological distance and less usage of the social media approach, more substantial COVID-19 impacts were associated with closer psychological distance but greater use of social media. Since both closer psychological distance and social media approach contribute to eHealth literacy, social support from closer and virtual social networks should be embraced but utilized through different routes and for different purposes. The timing of messages but not psychological distance affects people's social media approach, indicating that morning messages should be employed. Moreover, eHealth literacy mediates timing preferences and leads to a preference for eHealth communication earlier in the day. Overall, morning messages create a virtuous circle during a health crisis.
Originality/value
This paper establishes a mechanism of virtuous cycles for eHealth communication during a health threat. Additionally, it bridges existing research gaps by expanding chronopsychology and CLT in the health domain using an empirical approach, a real-life case and an extension of performance regarding information-seeking and utilization.
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The purpose of this study was to obtain valuable insights into students’ engagement and experiences within the virtual learning environment, especially in the context of crises…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to obtain valuable insights into students’ engagement and experiences within the virtual learning environment, especially in the context of crises. Among the innumerable challenges people throughout the world faced during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, those of students in institutions of higher education needing to engage in online academic studies are of special interest. Using an online survey, this study could predict students’ online engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic through three theoretical frameworks: the students’ academic motivation to study, the Big Five personality traits, and loneliness, and with a new tool measuring the participation in the Zoom platform.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine the psychological and technological factors predicting the students’ engagement, this study surveyed 547 students from different academic institutions of higher learning.
Findings
Findings show that the less lonely the students felt, the less neurotic they were, and the higher they scored in levels of extroversion, agreeableness, consciousnesses and openness to experience, the greater their engagement in their academic studies. In addition, students who were older, more educated, with higher intrinsic motivation and lower lack of motivation were more engaged in their online academic studies. Finally, participating in classes through the Zoom platform and experiencing it positively was a significant predictor of higher academic engagement.
Originality/value
Recognizing these factors can enable educators, institutions of higher learning, counselling services and students to obtain tools for higher engagement in online learning.
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Gabriele Boccoli, Luca Gastaldi and Mariano Corso
This study explores the impact of transformational leadership on work engagement within remote work settings. More specifically, we investigate whether supervisor’s perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the impact of transformational leadership on work engagement within remote work settings. More specifically, we investigate whether supervisor’s perceived digital communication skills moderate the relationship between perceived supervisor support and work engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Moderated mediation model has been tested using a sample of 410 consultants in Italy who worked within a fully remote work setting during Covid-19 pandemic.
Findings
Drawing on construal level theory and social presence theory, our study provides insights into the dynamics of leadership and work engagement in remote work settings. We demonstrate that, despite the challenges posed by physical distance, transformational leaders can effectively stimulate the work engagement of remote collaborators. Moreover, our findings suggest that the perceived digital communication skills of supervisors play a crucial role in moderating the relationship between perceived supervisor support and work engagement. This underscores the importance of supervisors' adept use of digital tools in conveying psychological presence and fostering employee engagement in remote work environments.
Practical implications
Our study highlights the importance of developing supervisors' digital communication skills to support and stimulate employee engagement in remote work settings.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by providing one of the first empirical tests of the relationship between transformational leadership, perceived supervisor support, supervisor’s digital communication skills and work engagement within a remote work setting. By challenging prior assumptions and offering novel insights, our research enhances understanding of leadership dynamics and provides practical guidance for organizations navigating the challenges of remote work.
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This paper aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students' employability skills and give insights into preparation for future crises that may…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students' employability skills and give insights into preparation for future crises that may happen.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing an interpretative phenomenological approach with the frame of social cognitive theory, the current study examined the changes in environmental, behavioral and personal elements of human functioning for employability skills being affected by the conditions during the pandemic.
Findings
Findings based on ten in-depth semi-structured interviews with students at universities in Vietnam highlighted that the global pandemic performed as both challenge and an opportunity for employability skills development, yet the extent to which the students can benefit from the new studying conditions attributed to each individual's initiatives in taking advantages of resources and acting against difficulties.
Originality/value
Whether the pandemic became a hindrance or a motivation for students' employability skills to develop and whether students effectively utilized an agency to overcome challenges and improved their skills after the pandemic have not yet been investigated. This study added to the body of literature regarding self-regulated learners by demonstrating agency in the learning process as well as how to manage careers and improve employability skills by making use of resources in disconnected settings.
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Pham Tien Thanh and Pham Bao Duong
Women migrant street vendors are considered a vulnerable group in societies, thereby being hard hit during a crisis. This research aims to examine effects of COVID-19 social…
Abstract
Purpose
Women migrant street vendors are considered a vulnerable group in societies, thereby being hard hit during a crisis. This research aims to examine effects of COVID-19 social distancing on their businesses, consumption, health and general lives; solutions and mitigation strategies that they adopted in response to these adverse effects; and their recovery of socioeconomic lives after social distancing.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from the women migrant street vendors in urban Vietnam. Descriptive statistics, probit model and ordered probit model were used for empirical analysis.
Findings
Women migrant street vendors faced immense challenges during social distancing. They also lacked solutions to sustain their businesses and were forced to resort to various mitigation strategies. Their socioeconomic lives were also slow to recover after social distancing. In addition, those experiencing greater business loss faced more adverse effects during social distancing and have more difficulties in the recovery of socioeconomic lives after social distancing.
Practical implications
This research highlights the importance of redesigning social policies to support women migrant street vendors during crises. It also emphasizes the need to formalize and legalize their activities to foster sustainable and inclusive development in the long term.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first attempts to explore the effects of COVID-19 social distancing on the women migrant street vendors and to examine how they respond to these adverse effects.
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Mellina da Silva Terres, Simoni F. Rohden and Letícia Vedolin Sebastião
The changes in the service context due to COVID-19 have challenged service marketers to understand and react to consumers’ feelings that impact their shopping behavior in…
Abstract
Purpose
The changes in the service context due to COVID-19 have challenged service marketers to understand and react to consumers’ feelings that impact their shopping behavior in services. Moreover, consumers had to face a challenging situation with an impact on mental health. This study aims to assess the impact of spirituality and compassionate love as coping mechanisms that might increase hope, which, in turn, decreases anxiety. Hope also mitigates the impact of fear on anxiety. The authors also investigate the mediate effect of hope in its relationship to spirituality and well-being during the pandemic in Brazil and its potential impact on services marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate the relationship between fear, anxiety, hope, compassionate love, spirituality and well-being, the authors conducted an online survey with 469 Brazilians who had been in quarantine for more than 45 days. To conduct the investigation, the authors used a purposive sampling to reach respondents due to the exceptional situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings
Using a structural equation model, the authors found that hope is a mediator with a buffer effect on the relationships between anxiety and fear and between spirituality and anxiety. Moreover, the authors found that hope mediates the relationship between spirituality and well-being, leading to greater levels of well-being. Service companies in general can benefit from using these findings to better manage their relationships with consumers during and after COVID-19 pandemic.
Research limitations/implications
The sample included only Brazilian respondents, and pre-pandemic well-being was not measured.
Originality/value
There is evidence that traumatic events (e.g. war) influence feelings and consumer behavior. The findings suggest that the adoption of practices related to spirituality during an extreme, stressful situation has an influence on people’s hope and potentially mitigates anxiety. Increasing spirituality and hope can also benefit perceptions of well-being. Besides, in this context, the authors recommend that service providers communicate unobservable elements in a transaction (e.g. care, safety) by providing observable signals of spirituality and hope to reduce negative emotions.
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Betül Yılmazer, Ömer Saraç, Hüseyin Pamukçu and Orhan Batman
Social/physical distancing rules that resulted in the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have caused restrictions on national and international transportation. Since tourism activities…
Abstract
Social/physical distancing rules that resulted in the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have caused restrictions on national and international transportation. Since tourism activities are an industry based on transportation and travel, they have been affected negatively because of COVID-19. It has become necessary to create a contactless environment by leveraging technology to mitigate these negative impacts. smart transportation system (STS) applications have played a crucial role in enabling contact-free travel in providing the continuation of tourism activities in a controlled manner by utilizing information and communication technologies. Therefore, in this study, it was tried to determine whether STS applications are functional in ensuring the contactless transportation required in COVID-19 and in the face of possible future outbreaks. In this study, COVID-19 and STS terms are tried to be defined, and the importance of these two concepts in terms of tourism activities has been discussed considering their cause–effect relationship in line with the purpose of the research. STS applications have been determined to be the most appropriate approach in terms of carrying out controlled tourism activities in accordance with the social/physical distancing rules arising from COVID-19. According to the findings of the research, STS provides an opportunity for people to use contactless payments and purchase tickets online with smart phones. Additively, by controlling passengers’ luggage through mobile applications and reducing the time spent waiting in the lobby, thereby minimizing prolonged interpersonal contact.
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With increasing globalization, the importance of referring to cross-cultural contexts is also amplifying in the contemporary era. The models, framework and dimensions devoted to…
Abstract
Purpose
With increasing globalization, the importance of referring to cross-cultural contexts is also amplifying in the contemporary era. The models, framework and dimensions devoted to such situations are increasingly mannered in practice today. With due consideration derivation to the input manner, an organization’s performance is also taken aside for its increasing marginality. The following study aims to examine the American multinational oil and gas company operating in Kuwait's oil sector to evaluate the respect. The branch has a total of 600 employees, which were all included in the data collection phase. Hence, the results derived with cumulative aspects of leadership, power distance and organizational value as their impact on human resource management (HRM) functions.
Design/methodology/approach
Through the quantitative approach of a self-adapted questionnaire, 101 responses were collected, and through SPSS Version 22, results were discreet.
Findings
The results reverted with the manual that the cultural dimension of Hofstede, i.e. power distance, did not have an apparent impact on the HRM functions. Whilst leadership and organizational values had their dissolved set of effects on HRM functions of the chosen firm. However, HRM functions were apparent enough to have its impact upon leadership, power distance (PD) and organizational value accumulated. Opening to the opportunities where in the future studies, a greater extent of population as well as variables could be considered for a better impact.
Research limitations/implications
The Major limitation of the study is related to the number of respondents as the research was conducted solely for the chosen branch of this private oil and gas firm in Kuwait, which makes its results limited and narrowed in the analysis phase. Moreover, the methodology selection did not do justice to the resulting research’s agenda, which was restricted due to the pandemic’s situation. Where with a better and respective methodology approach, better results could be attached.
Originality/value
The rationale of research refers to the gap concerning theoretical aspects within a field of business. As for the resulting study, in a cross-cultural management setting, the relevancy and implication of HRM functions concerning their transparency have not been explored. Globally, in different industries, the, study of similar nature has been conducted but has not examined, the fossil fuel industry particularly, which would be the focal point of this research.
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Denise R. Quatrin, Roberta Aguzzoli and Jorge Lengler
Companies target globally mobile workers and face the war for talent, while individuals are more reluctant to engage in global mobility. This scenario led us to propose a model to…
Abstract
Purpose
Companies target globally mobile workers and face the war for talent, while individuals are more reluctant to engage in global mobility. This scenario led us to propose a model to understand the individuals' decision process to engage in global mobility.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on the self-determination theory, the theory of planned behavior and the literature on decisions for global mobility, the authors propose mechanisms through which psychological variables and assignments' factual and perceived contextual aspects (directly or indirectly) explain the decision to engage or not in global mobility.
Findings
This study offers a conceptual model with the authors' novel propositions to explain individuals' decision to engage in global mobility.
Originality/value
The model provides a more comprehensive explanation of the individuals' decision-making process to engage in global mobility than previous models and potentially yields more effective organizational practices to attract both well-established and emerging phenomena of globally mobile workers.
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No country is free from financial crime issues. Therefore, this paper aims to discover how to control financial crime from the perspective of national culture.
Abstract
Purpose
No country is free from financial crime issues. Therefore, this paper aims to discover how to control financial crime from the perspective of national culture.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted a bibliometric approach and systematic literature review analysis of 47 publications in the Scopus database.
Findings
Bibliometric and content analyses show that national culture is more often associated with tax evasion, money laundering and corruption. The role of national culture is less investigated currently in the schemes of financial statement crime, workplace fraud and cybercrime. Overall, the study concludes financial crime can be prevented by developing a culture that supports anti-fraud measures. These include individualized country profiles, feminism, low power distance, tolerance for uncertainty, short-term orientation and restraint.
Originality/value
This research provides clear knowledge of the role of the six dimensions of national culture in fighting financial crime. Finally, this study is also valuable for decision-making in designing more effective financial crime prevention programs.
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