Evaluation of Confidence Level of Primary Healthcare Workers to Manage Patients with COVID-19 Infection

The COVID-19 epidemic has significantly impacted frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) and challenged an existing fragile healthcare system of South Africa (SA). Evaluation of the confidence levels of Primary Healthcare (PHC) workers in managing COVID-19 cases was conducted. A cross-sectional survey was used to investigate the level of training and confidence to manage COVID-19 cases. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate analysis were undertaken. The majority of HCWs were female (82.8%), unmarried (56.6%), and nurses (65.4%). The study identified that only 30.1% of the respondents received training on the COVID-19 treatment guidelines and 30.6% of staff were trained on reporting of COVID-19 cases to the authorities. Significantly, higher proportions of HCWs learned about COVID-19 case management by self-reading as opposed to formal training (88% vs 64.7%, P<0.05). The overall confidence level in handling and managing COVID-19 cases of the HCW translated to a 58% level of confidence. Medical practitioners had a significantly higher level of confidence (88.9%) than nursing practitioners (75.5%) and allied HCWs (52.5%, p<0.05). HCWs who received training on 5 or more items of COVID-19 case management had a significantly higher ( 83.1%) level of confidence (p<0.05) than those who had training on 4 or less items (61.7%). This study revealed that training on aspects of COVID-19 case management significantly increased their confidence levels. Timely interventions are needed to improve the confidence levels of HCWs and perceived barriers in the training of COVID-19 need to be urgently addressed.

Does perceived behavioral control mediate customers' innovativeness and continuance intention of e-money? The moderating role of perceived risk and e-security

Purpose: With the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the usage of e-money has been reinforced to reach the next level. Therefore, this study aims to examine the mediating role of perceived behavioral control (PBC) on the nexus of customers' innovativeness and continuance intention of electronic money (e-money). This study also explores the moderating roles of perceived risk (PR) and electronic security (e-security) in relationships. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed a structured questionnaire for data collection and the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for empirical estimations. Findings: The authors' findings reveal that customers' innovativeness promotes continuance intention of using e-money and demonstrate that PBC partially mediates the relation between customers' innovativeness and continuance intention of using e-money. The empirical findings also reveal that PR negatively moderates the relationship between customers' innovativeness and continuance intention and the relationship between customers' innovativeness and PBC. The empirical findings also exhibit that perceived e-security enhances the degree of the relationship between customers' innovativeness and continuance intention and the relationship between customers' innovativeness and PBC. Practical implications: The findings shed light on an important factor that increases the likelihood of repeat e-money usage and has direct managerial implications for customer experience and risk concerns. Hence, the findings imply that e-money service providers should run a promotional advertisement highlighting what additional features are included or offered and how these could be beneficial for the customers. Furthermore, e-money service providers should provide some tutorial videos in order to increase innovative customers' control over e-money services as well as highlight how risk and security are protected. Originality/value: This paper integrates three key theories: the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the PR theory in post-adoption behavior of e-money usage. The current study also attempts to fill a literature gap by examining the moderating role of PR and e-security, which could be useful within the relationship between customers' innovativeness, PBC and customers' continued intentions of e-money usage. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Did national holidays accelerate COVID-19 diffusion "during the first phase of the” of pandemic in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh registered 20,117,32 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the death toll crossed the grim milestone of 29,323 across the country as of August 31st, 2022. Despite the enforcement of stringent COVID-19 measures, the country witnessed an accelerated diffusion of coronavirus cases during the national events, inclusive of short festivals, in 2020. The present study aims to examine the association between these national holidays and the COVID-19 trasmission rate in Bangladesh. We employed a mathematical model and calculated the instantaneous reproduction number, Rt, of the 64 districts in Bangladesh to check the dynamics of COVID-19 diffusion. The comprehensive analysis shows a notable escalation of Rt value and thus the enhanced transmission rate in Dhaka and in all industrialized cities during the major events such as, garments reopening and religious holidays in Bangladesh. We further showcase the COVID-19 diffusion explicitly in Dhaka Division at the first phase of the pandemic in Bangladesh. Based on our analysis, a set of measures, including restricted public mobility and the celebration of festivals, alongside improving the public's awareness of the situation, has been recommended to evade the future pandemic risks while running the national festival activities in Bangladesh. © 2023, Intelektual Pustaka Media Utama. All rights reserved.

Entrepreneurial orientation and performance of SMEs: the roles of marketing capabilities and social media usage

Purpose Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are an important contributor to emerging countries' economic growth. However, SMEs have been struggling to sustain their performance in a highly competitive environment. Thus, this study aims to re-examine the effect of SMEs' entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on firms' performance during the COVID-19. This study has also studied the moderating role of social media usage and the mediating role of marketing capabilities and social media usage. Design/methodology/approach This study used a structured questionnaire for data collection, where the unit of analysis was the manager or owner of SMEs. The data were analyzed using partial least square-structural equation modeling. Findings The findings show that an EO has a significant and positive effect on an SME's performance, but the outcomes are conditional on the role of social media and marketing capabilities. The empirical results reveal that marketing capabilities significantly mediate the relationship between EO and SME performance. In addition, social media usage moderates the relationship between EO and SME performance and it also partially mediates the EO-performance nexus of SMEs. Finally, this study discovers that the EO-Performance nexus of SMEs is serially mediated by social media usage and marketing capabilities. Research limitations/implications This study has important implications for SMEs that are seeking to gain a competitive advantage. For example, an SME should deploy market activities through social media channels. In situations such as a pandemic and uncertainty, this could be the most effective tool. Originality/value This study builds a theory-based mediation-moderation model to explain the link between EO and SME performance. In explaining mediation-moderation effects, the current study provides insight into EO-performance relationships. Moreover, the current model facilitates exploring whether serial mediation passes through social media usage and market capabilities. Therefore, with new findings, the study extends the literature on serial mediation in the EO-performance of SMEs. Additionally, this study extends the literature on the moderating role of social media on SMEs in Indonesia, which has not been investigated. Besides, the current study adds new insight into the EO-performance of SME in COVID-19 condition.

An early estimation of the number of affected people in South Asia due to Covid-19 pandemic using susceptible, infected and recover model

The Susceptible, Infected and Recover (SIR) model is a very simple model to estimate the dynamics of an epidemic. In the current pandemic due to Covid-19, the SIR model has been used to estimate the dynamics of infection for Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and compared with that of China. Numerical solutions are used to obtain the value of parameters for the SIR model. It is predicted that the active case in Pakistan due to the SARS-CoV-2 will be comparable with that in China whereas it will be low for Bangladesh and India. The basic reproduction number, with fluctuations, for South Asian countries are predicted to be less than that of China. The susceptible population is also estimated to be under a million for Bangladesh and India but it becomes very large for Pakistan. © 2020 World Scientific Publishing Company.