Judaismo and modernity following the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

The study aims to mainly address the study of the SARS-CoV-2 health emergency and its repercussions from the point of view of the Jewish communities;in particular, the answers that Halakhah offers in response to the need of the change of pace in the strategies of adaption, prevention, containment and mitigation and, therefore, of the adoption of internal regulatory instruments, capable of imposing suitable rules and solutions to address the pandemic and its various implications. © 2021 Societa Editrice il Mulino. All rights reserved.

Extrinsic motivations behind mobile shopping: what drives regular and occasional shoppers?

Purpose This paper aims at shedding light on the competing extrinsic motivations behind the mobile shopping process of regular and occasional shoppers. Price and convenience, shopping security, order delivery and post-sale service are investigated as antecedents of the mobile shopping attitude-intention path. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis is based on a multigroup structural equation model (SEM) developed on 903 online questionnaires collected among Chinese shoppers in a pre-Covid-19 pandemic retailing context. Findings Findings evidence contrary motivations behind the attitude - intention to shop using a mobile retail app of regular and occasional shoppers. While all the investigated aspects result to be positively relevant for regular m-shoppers, shopping security and post-sale service do not impact the attitude - intention path of occasional mobile shoppers. Results support retailers' strategies in the context of mobile shopping growth. Originality/value The paper contributes to the emerging retailing literature on mobile shopping by offering a comparison of the motivations behind the mobile shopping intention of regular and occasional shoppers. Extrinsic motivations before, during and after the transaction are jointly investigated in the study.

Consumers’ Channel Switching Behaviour from Off-line to On-line: The Role of the Fear of Covid-19

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic is heavily altering how people shop. For instance, a push in on-line purchases is evident. The current work applies the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to understand consumers’ intention to switch from off-line to on-line channels in the aftermath of the lockdown. Specifically, within this framework, we explore how different sources of consumers’ fears generated by the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic – symptomatic and emotional - impact on consumers’ channel switching behaviour, leading shoppers to switch from buying grocery in physical stores to purchase them on-line. The empirical analysis is settled on 310 questionnaires collected on-line survey and processed using a linear regression analysis. Our findings show that consumers’ switching intentions to on-line channels are significantly and positively impacted by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, showing a better predictive power when the dimensions of Covid-19 fear are added. While symptomatic fear acts positively on the intention to switch to on-line, emotional fear exerts a negative role. Managerial insights for retailers are provided. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Business resilience and risk management during the Covid-19 pandemic: The Amadori case-study

Purpose of the paper: The work aims at exploring business resilience against a natural biological disaster - such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic - through the lens of risk management. Specifically, the work seeks to assess the resilience capacity demonstrated in the procurement activity by a specific company used as a case-study by identifying the indicators that enable the dimensions of organisational resilience to be detected in a longitudinal approach. Methodology: The study implemented a qualitative research approach to develop the case-study. The analysis was carried out by examining internal documents and holding a series of interviews with Amadori's Chief Purchasing Officer (CPO). Results: Resilience dimensions vary longitudinally and require different organisational responses. In brief, to respond to the different sources of risk, redundancy and rapidity were crucial during the lockdown phase, while robustness, rapidity and resourcefulness became key factors in the post-lockdown phase. Research limits: The study's results are based on a specific business case, thus limiting generalisation. Moreover, the results are preliminary as the pandemic is still ongoing. Practical implications: Findings can represent concrete help for other businesses to gain direction and adopt good practices of risk planning and management in view of resilience and business continuity. Originality of the paper: In the management literature, the study of business resilience is limited. This work contributes to extend theoretical and managerial knowledge on resilience dimensions that can be implemented during the different phases of highly unforeseen events with a consistent and prolonged impact on businesses. © 2021 Fondazione Cueim. All rights reserved.

Social distress among medical oncologists and other healthcare professionals during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread to every country around the world taking on pandemic proportions. Since 8 March 2020, the Italian government ordered a nationwide lockdown with unavoidable social isolation. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) represent the most physically and emotionally involved category. The aim of this study is to assess the social distress among HCPs in Italy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this online, totally anonymous survey, 24 multiple choice questions were posed to medical staff employed in the Italian Healthcare System during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection was performed from 30 March to 24 April 2020. RESULTS: A total of 600 HCPs completed the questionnaire. The majority of respondents expressed the fear of being at higher risk of contagion than the general population (83.3%) and the weighty concern of infecting their families (72.5%). An insufficient supply of personal protective equipment (PPE; P = 0.0003) and inadequate training about procedures to follow (P = 0.0092) were seen to significantly coincide with these worries. More than two-thirds declared a change in family organisation, which showed a significant correlation with the concern of infecting their relatives (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first Italian survey on social distress among HCPs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The unavailability of PPE, screening procedures and adequate training strongly affected HCPs' emotional status. Although there was a predominance of oncologists (especially from the North of Italy), which impairs the generalisation of our findings, this survey underlined the social impact that this health emergency has had on HCPs.

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: Socialdistress and gender imbalance among health careprofessionals

Introduction: During the last months coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread abruptly to nearly everycountry, taking on pandemic proportions. The Italian government ordered a nationwide lockdown to hinder thespread of the contagion with unavoidable social isolation and substantial changes in lifestyle habits. Therefore, COVID-19 affected not only physical but also psychological health and well-being. Health care professionals fightingthe epidemic represent the most involved category, resulting in more physical and emotional involvement. The aimof this study is to assess the social stress level of health care workers in Italy. Materials and Methods: In this online, totally anonymous survey, 24 multiple-choice questions were broadcast tomedical staffs employed in the Italian health care system during COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection wasperformed from 30th March to 24th April 2020. Descriptive statistics have been applied to describe and summarizeour findings and the correlation analyses between categorical variables were performed using Pearson's Chi-Square. Results: A total of 600 health care professionals completed the questionnaire with a prevalence of young (32.3%between 36 and 45 years old), female (74.0%) oncologists (58.8%). Participants mainly belong to Lombardy (31.3%)and Marche (30.3%), two of the most affected regions, but almost all the Italian regions contributed to the survey. The majority of respondents expressed the fear of being at higher risk of contagion than the general population(83.3%) and the weighty concern of infecting their own families (72.5%). An insufficient supply of personal protectiveequipment (p = 0.0003) and inadequate training about procedures to follow (p = 0.0092) significantly correlated withthese worries. Furthermore, more than two thirds declared a change in family organization and daily life, showing asignificant correlation with worry about infecting their own relatives (p < 0.0001). Discussion: This is the first Italian survey on social distress among health care professionals during the COVID-19pandemic. The unavailability of personal protective equipment, periodic screening procedures, adequate training, and the correct spread of information strongly conditioned health care professionals' emotional status, familyorganization, and daily life. With this survey we underlined the social impact that this health emergency has onhealth care workers, especially on women, who deal with “caring” in the hospital as well as at home, juggling to fulfillmultiples roles of professionals, mothers, wives, and caregivers for elderly parents. We wish that institutions couldinvolve themselves concretely to guarantee that health care professionals safely perform their work in a contextappropriate to proper professional skills and with the adequate social and psychological support. Reducing workers'fear of contagion and psychological distress will certainly bring significant positive repercussions for the nationalhealth system.