Analysis of the Features of Sustainable Development of the Mercosur Countries in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to identify the features of sustainable development of the MERCOSUR countries in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use comparative and retrospective analysis to identify the distinguishing characteristics of countries meeting the sustainable development goals. The objects of research are the MERCOSUR countries. Findings: It has been established that Uruguay is the undisputed leader in sustainable development in the context of COVID-19. Two countries: Brazil and Venezuela slowed down the pace of implementation of national sustainable development strategies due to the pandemic and other reasons. Originality/value: According to the results of the analysis, it was revealed that countries that have long-term national strategies for sustainable development are more stable in achieving sustainable development goals. The size of a national economy does not guarantee that it can successfully overcome an external shock such as the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Effects of cross-border E-commerce customs declaration ceiling increase on export performance under COVID-19 conditions

Purpose: This study examines the impact of raising the ceiling value of Electronic Commerce Custom Declarations (ECCD) on Turkey's export performance processed via ECCD during the COVID-19 period. Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines the impact of the pandemic conditions on Cross-Border Electronic Commerce (ECCD) exports from Turkey to 47 countries over 42 months before and during the pandemic. An empirical analysis using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and Mean Group (MG), Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach was conducted to identify the factors affecting export flows. Findings: The findings suggest that raising the ceiling of the ECCD trade is a vital factor in increasing exports. and this result is robust after controlling for pandemic conditions. On the other hand, although the COVID-19 shock mitigates the export volume of ECCD in the short run, it changes by reversal and increases the export level in the long run. Additionally, the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Turkey have a significant and negative impact on export flows in the short run, while they have a positive and significant effect in the long run. Practical implications: The results of this study have practical implications for policymakers, emphasizing the potential and significance of Cross-Border E-Commerce (CBEC) trade. Originality/value: The study is a pioneering effort in the literature of CBEC to explore how changes in the upper limit on customs declarations can affect export flows, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees: an emerging economy perspective

Purpose: Anchored with turbulence emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic, the work environment has become more stressful with debilitating effects on the well-being of employees. Employees rely on varying means of coping including drug abuse. However, the association between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees in Ghana is unknown. Therefore, this study sought to examine the relationship between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts among employees in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: In a cross-sectional survey, this study purposively sampled 470 employees from three sectors of the Ghanaian economy (telecommunication, banking and manufacturing). The data was analysed using the multivariate analysis (MANOVA), Pearson's r test and hierarchical regression. Findings: Analysis of data revealed a positive relationship between drug abuse and suicidal thoughts, indicating that drug abuse is a risk factor for suicidal thoughts. Besides, it was also revealed that banking sector employees have a higher risk of having suicidal thoughts than employees in the telecommunication and manufacturing sectors. Practical implications: Managers of organisations need to redesign work to embrace the challenging circumstances brought about as a result of COVID-19 and post-COVID implications. The work environment needs to be more supportive to shield employees from the physical and emotional demands of work during and after this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today than ever, investment in the implementation of employee-assisted programmes (EAPs) and employee well-being programmes (EWPs) to equip employees with the needed skills to cope with stressful conditions has been more than justified. Originality/value: From a broader perspective, this study identifies drug abuse as a key risk factor for suicidal thoughts among employees, thereby highlighting the fact that smoking cessation programs and drug management therapies are an integral part of well-being programmes aimed at establishing equilibrium and gradually creating a wide gap between employees and suicidal thoughts. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Factors influencing small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) resilience during the COVID-19 outbreak

Purpose: This research paper highlights the economic impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to Coronavirus outbreaks. It proposes factors that influence the strengthening and survival of SMEs. Design/methodology/approach: In this research, resilience is reflected in the following aspects hope, problem resolution and persistence. This quantitative study analyses a purposive sample of 120 small and medium-sized firms in India. The study's primary data are the responses to questionnaires issued to respondents, analyzed and hypotheses formed and tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Findings: The study results show that all the variables significantly reduce the impact of COVID-19 on SMEs. The presented model is expected to help researchers, business modelers, analysts and real professionals with further studies in the SME context. Originality/value: This new approach adds to the business resilience knowledge of SMEs and has practical implications for manufacturing organizations seeking to become robust during and after COVID-19. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Consumer quality management for beverage food products: analyzing consumer' perceptions toward repurchase intention

Purpose: The research on consumerism has been dramatically rising in recent decades. However, in the food industry, little research has been empirically conducted in the beverage industry. This research empirically tests the consequences of consumer perceptions: perceived price (PPR), perceived quality (PQ), perceived packaging (PPG) and perceived taste (PT) on repurchase intention (RI) particularly;it unveils the consumer attributes, e.g. gender, age and ethnicity between consumer perceptions and RI of the consumers. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected from 403 consumers of the beverage industry (e.g. Nestle, Mitchell's Fruit Farms, Murree Brewery and OMORE) in Pakistan. The researchers used online survey questionnaires followed by a cross-sectional approach because data collection physically was not possible due to COVID-19. Findings: Data were analyzed by Smart partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) 3.3.3, and the results supported the significant influence of consumer perceptions separately, e.g. PPR, PQ, PPG and PT on RI. Additionally, gender, age and ethnicity were found to have a moderating role between consumer perceptions and RI, so, the truth of having consumer attributes has been revealed. Practical implications: The managers of beverage industries should provide ethical and operational strategies to tackle consumer's problems based on cultural norms. Furthermore, they should make sensible measures for the quality branding of the beverage products. In this way, the consumers will have a better experience of quality, price, taste and packaging, in turn, to RI. Originality/value: This research targeted the beverage industry that needs facts and figures based on consumer attributes, e.g. age, gender and ethnicity. This research also disclosed the behaviors of consumers according to their gender, age and area of residence. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Motivations for the initiation of knowledge management activities in times of routine and emergency

Purpose: This research seeks to understand, for the first time, what motivates knowledge-intensive organizations (KIOs) to initiate knowledge management (KM) activities in times of routine and emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic was placed at the center as a case study of an extreme crisis. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the adoption of the qualitative-constructivist paradigm, the study was conducted among 52 KM professionals through in-depth interviews and focus groups. The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis method, according to the principles of the grounded theory approach. Findings: The findings reveal that opportunities and risks are two types of catalysts which accelerate KM efforts in times of routine and emergency respectively. Due to KM's support of the transition to flexible employment during COVID-19, the authors show that this field experienced real growth and prosperity in the "new normal.” KM initiatives were promoted during the COVID-19 crisis in light of gaps in retention, sharing, accessibility and development of knowledge. Originality/value: Given that knowledge risks are a field with fragmented understanding, the results contribute to understanding the importance of risk management related to knowledge in times of crises and turmoil. The authors call for incorporating this niche into the overall risk management of the organization, while adopting a holistic and long-term perspective of KM. Furthermore, the authors uncover KM's position in KIOs during the global pandemic. The paper proposes food for thought regarding informal knowledge sharing in virtual environments typical of the "Corona routine”. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Are memes selfish? How Internet memes reflect crisis–Covid-19 pandemic in Israel

Purpose: The paper aims to explore, using an analysis of the three components of memes content, form and stance – whether and how the memes offer a broad picture of a specific society during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Design/methodology/approach: The author collected, from the two largest Facebook groups in Israel, 25 memes with the largest number of likes in each month, beginning from the month in which awareness of COVID-19 increased significantly, between March 2020 and February 2019. A total of 597 memes were collected. The data were analyzed by a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Findings: Findings indicate that meme culture effectively reflects a society's situation and the challenges it faces. Memes also reflect local cultural icons and effects. Meme contents vary across groups. During a crisis, memes do not function as fertile groups for sharp criticism or calls to take action to resolve society's social ills. Practical implications: Memes may serve as a tool to understand and explore an unfamiliar, foreign culture, its state of mind and its history through meme culture. Social implications: Memes may constitute a platform for relieving stress through light-hearted humor, unaccompanied by a true call to action;that is, "slacktivism” which gives a sense of active participation without involvement in actual activities for change. Originality/value: The study reveals that the Israeli meme culture is not activist and rather focuses on humor to relieve stress. Memes may be used as "bread and circuses” or a means of "slacktivism” that fails to call to genuine activism. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-07-2022-0381. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Inclusive organizational behaviour – the dynamic rules of building new workplaces

Purpose: This study aims to reflect on the future of work dimensions through the new concept of inclusive organizational behaviour (IOB) and its practices. Design/methodology/approach: This work is a reflective concept development paper that focuses on new dimensions of organizational behaviour (OB) exploring IOB practices in the new workplace which can broaden the concept of OB that fits into the future of work. Findings: The IOB practices will adapt and help in adapting to the new work dynamics that can create more humane and stimulating workplaces, thereby benefiting society at large. Individual positive psychological traits, team dynamics and a fusion of digital corporate culture with a human-centric approach and sustainability are highlighted in the redefined IOB, expanding the concept of OB from the three levels of analysis (individual, group and the entire organization's behaviour) in the new normal post-COVID situation. Research limitations/implications: Limited research studies are being conducted to investigate the future of work dynamics in the new standard post-COVID environment, which is dominated by digitization. The lack of literature and the changing situations that impact OB are the limitations. Practical implications: Corporate houses, policymakers and leaders who understand the workplace dynamics in the post-COVID scenario can effectively leverage the insights from this work and may chalk out a road map for future work through IOB practices. Originality/value: This research extends knowledge pertaining to IOB practices and the changing dynamics that need to be followed in the future OB practices. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Implications of COVID-19 policies on the sustainable corporate practices of European firms

Purpose: This study aims to analyze how mixes of COVID-19 policy responses are shaping the context in which companies will compete in the following years, defining how the crisis might impact firms' ability to keep their commitments to sustainable practices. Design/methodology/approach: European country-performance data for the years 2019 and 2020 were grouped into indicators of macro sustainability, then cross-analyzed against the policies adopted during the period (also grouped based on their impacts on sustainability pillars), using correlations, factor analysis and clustering. Findings: The influence of traditional sustainability determinants was reframed according to the novel context shaped by the policy responses to the pandemic crisis. The social and digitalization aspects gained the most relevance and appeared interconnected, with digitalization of employment attaining overall more traction. Moreover, changes in the leadership within sustainability domains were observed for each identified country-cluster, due to newly implemented emergency policies. In fact, environmental innovation, digitalization and social support policies appeared to be the main variables to be impacted by the intensity of the policy efforts. Practical implications: Businesses monitoring the developments of sustainability policies closely, will observe novel trends in technological applications. Social implications: Policymakers and researchers may gauge the efficacy of policies against the COVID-19 crisis in the domain of sustainable development and resilience. Originality/value: This paper provides a cross-analysis of quantitative macroeconomic and quantified policy responses to the 2020 pandemic crisis, linking each indicator to the pillars of sustainability that were relevant for companies between the crucial pandemic outbreak years 2019 and 2020. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Coping with COVID-19 using contact tracing mobile apps

Purpose: To cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, contact tracing mobile apps (CTMAs) have been developed to trace contact among infected individuals and alert people at risk of infection. To disrupt virus transmission until the majority of the population has been vaccinated, achieving the herd immunity threshold, CTMA continuance usage is essential in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. This study seeks to examine what motivates individuals to continue using CTMAs. Design/methodology/approach: Following the coping theory, this study proposes a research model to examine CTMA continuance usage, conceptualizing opportunity appraisals (perceived usefulness and perceived distress relief), threat appraisals (privacy concerns) and secondary appraisals (perceived response efficacy) as the predictors of individuals' CTMA continuance usage during the pandemic. In the United States, an online survey was administered to 551 respondents. Findings: The results revealed that perceived usefulness and response efficacy motivate CTMA continuance usage, while privacy concerns do not. Originality/value: This study enriches the understanding of CTMA continuance usage during a public health crisis, and it offers practical recommendations for authorities. © 2023, Chenglong Li, Hongxiu Li and Shaoxiong Fu.

Practical recommendations for a post COVID-19 resilient Generation Z workforce

PURPOSE: The purpose of this short communication is to provide theoretical considerations that support Human Resources (HR) professionals' decisions regarding the development of a post COVID-19 pandemic career resilient Generation Z's workforce. Building on the work of Pataki-Bittó Kapusy [1] and Pichler, Kohli Granitz [2], an effort to provide practical recommendations, that align workplace policies and practices with Generation Z's work values will be made, in order to develop a resilient workforce. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The authors review literature on Generation Z, namely regarding the factors that shaped their underlying development and consequent work values. Furthermore, literature regarding current organizational policies and practices focused on this generation was reviewed. FINDINGS: Although the recommendations made here allow worker integration and a better person-organization fit, this conceptual framework also suggests that very little is known about this generation, and as such, no one-size-fits-all recommendation exists for managers. It is our understanding that the recommendations set out here must be adapted to each organizational context, and each manager should pay more attention to its content than its form. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This short communication presents a reflection regarding recommendations, that align workplace policies and practices with Generation Z's work values, in order to develop a career resilient workforce. It is a work that combines previous works and as such it offers a more encompassing systematization of the latest recommendations regarding this generation. © 2023 - IOS Press. All rights reserved.

Risk management research in East Asia: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive analysis of risk management in East Asia from 1998 to 2021 by using bibliometric methods and tools to explore research trends, hotspots, and directions for future research. Design/methodology/approach: The data source for this paper is the Web of Science Core Collection, and 7,154 publications and related information have been derived. We use recognized bibliometric indicators to evaluate publications and visually analyze them through scientific mapping tools (VOS Viewer and CiteSpace). Findings: The analysis results show that China is the most productive and influential country/region. East Asia countries have strong cooperation with each other and also have cooperation with other countries. The study shows that risk management has been involved in various fields such as credit, supply chain, health emergency and disaster especially in the background of COVID-19. We also found that machine learning, especially deep learning, has been playing an increasingly important role in risk management due to its excellent performance. Originality/value: This paper focuses on studying risk management in East Asia, exploring its publication's fundamental information, citation and cooperation networks, hotspots, and research trends. It provides some reference value for scholars who are interested or further research in this field. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

An exploration of Australian attitudes towards privacy

Purpose: Using technology to meet national security expectations and requirements is not new. Nations attempt to strike a balance between security and the (expressed or otherwise) privacy needs of citizens. Attacks (physical or cyber) on citizens shift the equilibrium point towards security. In contrast, civil liberties organisations act to preserve or increase privacy. The purpose of this paper is to explore Australian attitudes towards privacy and surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this paper aims to discover what (if any) factors contribute to societal acceptance of privacy encroachment implicated by surveillance programs. Design/methodology/approach: Data collection occurred during 2021 using a cross-sectional survey comprising a variety of self-assessment questions. In addition, anchoring vignettes were introduced as a means of contextualising complex concepts, i.e. privacy and security. Finally, latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify homogenous patterns within the data, referred to as "classes” for the analysis of trust. Findings: First, the survey revealed that citizens appear to be unconcerned about surveillance in public and private spaces (although this may be a temporary effect resulting from the pandemic). The potential for identification, however, does raise concerns. Second, LCA surfaced a specific group that were more likely to trust entities and showed less concern about surveillance in society. Finally, even this latter group displayed a "trust deficit” in specific organisations (private businesses and social media firms). Research limitations/practical implications: The tension between security and privacy remains, even in a post-pandemic world;therefore, the authors consider that the results, whilst interesting, are preliminary. Notwithstanding this, the findings provide insight into Australian attitudes towards privacy and surveillance and, consequently, provide input into public policy. Originality/value: This is the most recent survey of the Australian public concerning this issue. The analysis of the effect of the pandemic on attitudes provides further value. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Surviving and thriving through a crisis: a resiliency branding approach to transform airline industry

Purpose: There has been substantial research on branding globally. However, there is a dearth of studies empirically investigating branding strategies during the pandemic to mitigate COVID-19 effects on the airline industry. The paper considers three factors which are brand familiarity, brand communication and brand reputation to develop the brand trust of customers and that ultimately influence their brand preferences. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on self-administrative surveys as 450 questionnaires were spread, received 339 responses and a total of 301 questionnaires were selected for data analysis by structural-based modeling after the deletion of outliers and partially filled questionnaires. The data was collected through purposive sampling from Malaysian airports. Findings: The findings confirm the relationship of brand communication, brand familiarity and brand reputation to brand trust and brand preference through mediation and directly except direct relationship of brand familiarity to brand preference. The study is limited to the provided dataset of surveys. The present study couldn't interview respondents which can be done by future studies and also effects of COVID-19 can be examined on related industries or through comparative studies among countries. Originality/value: The present study is the first to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on airline brands and explored the strategies to respond to crises. The study is one of the rare studies that consider branding strategies to the uplift airline industry and mitigate post-pandemic effects from the airline sector. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

A study on the changes in the ICT industry after the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore the changes in the ICT and global value chains (GVCs) after the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This study compared the difference between Korea' domestic ICT industries, ICT imports and ICT exports before and after the COVID-19 outbreak by using trade data of ICT products and national economic indicators, and presents growth strategy for the ICT industry in the post-COVID 19 era. For this purpose, this study determined the causalities between Korea's imports/exports of ICT products and composite Indexes before and after COVID-19, and derived implications in the ICT industry environment after the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Analysis results showed the following changes in Korea's ICT industry in the post-COVID-19 world. (1) Non-face-to-face and contact-free technologies related sectors in the ICT industry, such as the semiconductor sector, have grown exponentially;(2) as the USA has grown as the new key player, the causal relationship with China, a key player of the GVC in the pre-COVID-19 era, disappeared;and (3) the GVC of the ICT industry is not a rigid one-way vertical structure, but is changing to a flexible structure influenced by cooperation and competition between countries. Originality/value: The results indicate that it is essential to constantly develop new ICT sectors that make use of non-face-to-face and contact-free technologies in the post-COVID-19 era, and the main strategies in response to the changed GVC would be taking the initiative by securing source technologies and expanding through cooperation with other GVCs and resource sharing. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The application of emotions, sharing motivations, and psychological distance in examining the intention to share COVID-19-related fake news

Purpose: Coronavirus disease 2019-related fake news consistently appears on social media. This study uses appraisal theory to analyze the impact of such rumors on individuals' emotions, motivations, and intentions to share fake news. Furthermore, the concept of psychological distance and construal level theory are used in combination with appraisal theory to compare toilet paper shortages and celebrity scandal rumors. Design/methodology/approach: Data collected from 299 Taiwanese respondents to 150 toilet paper shortage-related and 149 celebrity gossip-related questionnaires were processed using partial least squares regression and multigroup analysis. Findings: In both cases, surprise is felt most intensely. However, unlike in the celebrity fake news scenario, worry plays a prominent role in driving the altruistic sharing motivation related to the toilet paper shortage rumor. Furthermore, while emotional attributes (basic or self-conscious, concrete, or ) serve as a guide for how emotions change with psychological distance, the degree to which an emotion is relevant to the fake news context is key to its manifestation. Originality/value: This study examines the impact of individuals' emotions on their motivations and intention to share fake news, applying the appraisal theory and the psychological distance concept in a single study to fake news sharing intention. It evaluates the relationship between psychological distance and emotions, revealing that it is not absolute and need not necessarily shift according to psychological distance change;rather, the relationship is context-sensitive. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

COVID-19 and a trade-off between health and economics: an extended inoperability model for Italy

Purpose: The recent COVID-19 has obliged governments to enact large-scale policies to contain it. A topic of economic debate is the quantification of the impact that these policies can create in the economy, with the aim of activating regulatory mechanisms to minimize this impact. In this vein, this study aims to propose a quantification of the effects of the Italian government policy that blocks nonessential production activities. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a multisectoral extended inoperability model on the social accounting matrix of Italy. The analysis identifies the pandemic's impact on outputs, endogenous demands, value-added and disposable incomes of institutional sectors. Findings: The construction and real estate sectors revealed a significant contraction followed by the retail trade and hotel and catering services sectors. The output contraction further impacts the value-added generation, disposable income and final demand components. Originality/value: The current pandemic is alleged to have a greater impact than the epidemics of the past century, considering the present dimension of the world economy and the increasing interconnections between industries and institutions. In this scenario, it is challenging to safeguard not only human health and life but also the economy. Hence, there is a need to establish a trade-off between health and economics;and in this regard, the current study empirically quantifies the impact of health measures on the economy. The findings of this study help identify the sectors that are more prone to disaster effects and also present the structure of income circular flow in the Italian economy. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Student innovation capability in virtual team projects: lessons learnt from COVID-19 pandemic era

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine students' innovation capability in virtual team projects from the COVID-19 pandemic era. Design/methodology/approach: The researchers conducted an empirical study and the data were collected from a total of 308 participants engaging in virtual team projects. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the relationship of the conceptual framework. Findings: The findings showed that virtual team culture positively influenced propensity to innovate. Also, knowledge management and communication influenced propensity to innovate through the mediation of support for innovation. Practical implications: Developing a strategy for propensity to innovate in any organization demands that project team members should be able to seamlessly communicate. Developing knowledge management, communication and support for innovation strategy in a virtual team may prepare an organization for permanently different post-pandemic events and the future turbulent business environment. Originality/value: This study highlights innovation capability for the propensity to innovate, a topic that is not widely researched, especially in the context of virtual teams. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Twitter use by the dementia community during COVID-19: a user classification and social network analysis

Purpose: The study aimed to examine how different communities concerned with dementia engage and interact on Twitter. Design/methodology/approach: A dataset was sampled from 8,400 user profile descriptions, which was labelled into five categories and subjected to multiple machine learning (ML) classification experiments based on text features to classify user categories. Social network analysis (SNA) was used to identify influential communities via graph-based metrics on user categories. The relationship between bot score and network metrics in these groups was also explored. Findings: Classification accuracy values were achieved at 82% using support vector machine (SVM). The SNA revealed influential behaviour on both the category and node levels. About 2.19% suspected social bots contributed to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) dementia discussions in different communities. Originality/value: The study is a unique attempt to apply SNA to examine the most influential groups of Twitter users in the dementia community. The findings also highlight the capability of ML methods for efficient multi-category classification in a crisis, considering the fast-paced generation of data. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0208. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

From #iononriapro to #ioapro: analysing hashtag activism in the Italian restaurant Twittersphere during the 2020 lockdown

Purpose: In this article, the authors analyse the impact of the 2020 lockdown and the subsequent measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Italy in the hospitality industry by looking at the social demands brought forward by the restaurant sector. Design/methodology/approach: To analyse social demands, the authors choose Twitter as an observation point using two hashtags as keywords to scratch the data: #iononriapro and #ioapro, which correspond to two different instances conveyed by the same subject: the restaurant sector. The instances linked to the hashtags produced different levels of engagement and penetration within the social structure and digital platform. To analyse the first block of data linked to the first hashtag-flag #iononriapro, the authors used content analysis. To analyse the second and third block of data linked to the hashtag-flag #ioapro, the authors used an automatic procedure, emotional text mining. Findings: The analysis procedures allow us to reconstruct the positioning of the topics of closures and reopenings due to lockdown in this sector and to identify two explanatory dimensions: structural and affective, which explain the tension that has emerged between the State and the restaurant sector around COVID-related closures. Originality/value: The study's findings not only contribute to the current understandings of the birth, transformation and penetration of social issues by the restaurant sector over the specific period linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures imposed for its containment but are also valuable to analyse the dynamics through which Twitter hashtags and the social issues they represent find strength or lose interest in the public. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.