News-based uncertainty measures and returns on prices of precious metals: evidence from regime switching and time-varying causality approach

PurposeThe study aims to examine the relationship among economic policy uncertainty (EPU), geopolitical-risks (GPR), the interaction (EPGR) of EPU and GPR and the returns of gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium using monthly data from January (1997) to May (2021).Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs the Markov-switching and the novel Shi et al. (2020) bootstrap time-varying Granger-causality approach.FindingsThough the Markov-switching shows variation in the responses of precious metals to EPU, GPR and EPGR across low and high states, the paper observes the safe-haven potential of the precious metals in the high regime while the hedging potency is also evident in the results. To further substantiate the safe-haven and hedging properties, the time-varying Granger-causality shows the causal effect of EPU on all the selected precious metal returns coinciding with global events. While the authors show that GPR Granger causes platinum, palladium and rhodium consistently under the rolling/recursive-evolving tests, the authors cannot find the causal effect of GPR on gold and silver returns across the algorithms. The paper also observes persistence in the causal effect of EPGR on palladium and platinum across all the algorithms, while gold and rhodium only show consistency in the responses under the rolling- and recursive-evolving algorithms given the conditions of homoscedasticity and heteroscedasticity.Practical implicationsThe authors' results are essential to investors and policymakers since both typically leverage the hedging and safe-haven characteristics of precious metals to obviate downside risks during highly uncertain periods.Originality/valueThe authors' techniques allow examining the hedging and safe-haven properties of precious metals across regimes and date-stamp critical periods of causation inherent in the relationship.

Managing organizational change in responding to global crises

To cope with global crises, organizations go through various internal changes and adopt different survival strategies. Several researchers and practitioners have highlighted that employees are the key factors in implementing such changes. However, organizations often face difficulties in managing manpower effectively due to the complexities and ambiguities related to the said changes. To address this challenge, the present study proposes a comprehensive model to manage organizational change to effectively respond to global crises. This study highlights that "employee change-championing behavior” (ECB) – also known as effective change-supportive behavior of employees – is the key to successfully implementing the necessary organizational changes to tackle global crises. Utilizing the 3-Stage Lewin's Model of Change as the foundation for analysis, this study proposes for "transformational leadership style” to substitute the "unfreezing stage,” "trust in leadership and work engagement” to substitute the "moving stage,” and "employee change championing behavior” to substitute the "refreezing stage.” Additionally, this study found that transformational leadership (TL) influences employee change-championing behavior, while employee trust in leadership (ETL) influences employee work engagement (EWE). Moreover, trust in leadership and work engagement individually and sequentially mediate the relationship between TL and employee change-championing behavior. This study offers a unique perspective for business leaders on how to manage organizational changes during global crises. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

A Framework for Authentic Ethical Decision Making in the Face of Grand Challenges: A Lonerganian Gradation.

This paper contributes to the contemporary business ethics narrative by proposing an approach to corporate ethical decision making (EDM) which serves as an alternative to the imposition of codes and standards to address the ethical consequences of grand challenges, like COVID-19, which are impacting today's society. Our alternative approach to EDM embraces the concept of reflexive thinking and ethical consciousness among the individual agents who collectively are the corporation and who make ethical decisions, often in isolation, removed from the collocated corporate setting. We draw on the teachings of the Canadian philosopher and theologian, Fr. Bernard Lonergan, to conceptualize an approach to EDM which focuses on the ethics of the corporate agent by nurturing the universal and invariant structure that is operational in all human beings. Embracing Lonergan's dynamic cognitive structure of human knowing, and the structure of the human good, we advance a paradigm of EDM in business which emboldens authentic ethical thought, decision making, and action commensurate with virtuous living and germane to human flourishing. Lonergan's philosophy guides us away from the imposition of over-arching corporate codes of ethics and inspires us, as individual agents, to attend to the data of our own consciousness in our ethical decision making. Such cognitional endowment leads us out of the ethics of the 'timeless present' (Islam and Greenwood in Journal of Business Ethics 170: 1-4, 2021) towards ethical authenticity in business, leaving us better placed to reflect upon and address the ethical issues emanating from grand challenges like COVID-19.

Child Maltreatment Prevention Service Cases are Significantly Reduced During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Investigation Into Unintended Consequences of Quarantine.

Unprecedented financial and emotional stress, paired with measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 (e.g., school closures), place youth at risk for experiencing increased rates of abuse. We analyzed data from New York City's Administration for Children's Services to investigate the frequency of child maltreatment prevention service case openings during this time. Longitudinal counts of case openings were compiled for January through June of the years 2014-2020. An independent samples Kruskal-Wallis H-test suggested that pre-quarantine case openings were significantly larger than case openings during quarantine. To account for the possible influence of other historical events impacting data, a secondary Kruskal-Wallis H-test was conducted comparing only the 4 months of quarantine data available to the 4 months immediately preceding quarantine orders. The second independent samples Kruskal-Wallis H-test again suggested that pre-quarantine case openings were significantly larger than case openings during quarantine. A Poisson regression model further supported these findings, estimating that the odds of opening a new child maltreatment prevention case during quarantine declined by 49.17%. These findings highlight the severity of COVID-19 impacts on child maltreatment services and the gap between demand for services and service accessibility. We conclude with recommendations for local governments, community members, and practitioners.

Looking Back to Look Forward: Learnings from the Past to Achieve Sustainable Recovery after Upcoming Global Crises

This study identifies measures to recover economic growth and build sustainable societies and markets in post-COVID-19 scenarios-with a perspective of resilience and adaptability to climate change and massive biodiversity loss. Additionally, this study uncovers the interventions implemented to address economic, environmental and social consequences of past crises based on a systematic literature review. Specifically, this chapter provides answers to the following six questions: (1) What has been done in the past to rebuild social, economic and environmental balance after global crises? (2) Where (geographical region) did the analysis on measures taken concentrate? (3) When have scholars analysed past measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis? (4) How did the past measures to rebuild business and society after the global crisis take place? (5) Who promotes the measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis takes place? (6) Why is it important to study the previous literature on past measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis takes place? Finally, this chapter identifies future research opportunities to rebuild business and society after the past global crises. © 2022 Emerald Publishing Limited.

From Pre-crises to Global Recoveries and Why We Can Build Sustainable Futures for the World

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) generated a crisis;however, it also gave us an opportunity to imagine the future and build a better world. Moreover, as we are convinced of the importance of understanding the lessons of history when facing both current and future challenges, this chapter seeks to present a concise overview of global crises since the end of the nineteenth century and to show crises for which we ignored the warning signs and wakeup calls, the consequences of said crises and how we managed to recover and thrive in several cases. Ultimately, we seek to justify the capacity of humanity to build a sustainable future-ideally, a regenerative future. © 2022 Emerald Publishing Limited.

Managing organizational change in responding to global crises

To cope with global crises, organizations go through various internal changes and adopt different survival strategies. Several researchers and practitioners have highlighted that employees are the key factors in implementing such changes. However, organizations often face difficulties in managing manpower effectively due to the complexities and ambiguities related to the said changes. To address this challenge, the present study proposes a comprehensive model to manage organizational change to effectively respond to global crises. This study highlights that "employee change-championing behavior” (ECB) – also known as effective change-supportive behavior of employees – is the key to successfully implementing the necessary organizational changes to tackle global crises. Utilizing the 3-Stage Lewin's Model of Change as the foundation for analysis, this study proposes for "transformational leadership style” to substitute the "unfreezing stage,” "trust in leadership and work engagement” to substitute the "moving stage,” and "employee change championing behavior” to substitute the "refreezing stage.” Additionally, this study found that transformational leadership (TL) influences employee change-championing behavior, while employee trust in leadership (ETL) influences employee work engagement (EWE). Moreover, trust in leadership and work engagement individually and sequentially mediate the relationship between TL and employee change-championing behavior. This study offers a unique perspective for business leaders on how to manage organizational changes during global crises. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Oil structural shocks, bank-level characteristics, and systemic risk: Evidence from dual banking systems

By performing a structural VAR analysis on oil price shocks, we provide an evidence on how the origins of oil price shocks impact the risk level of banks in oil-exporting countries and whether bank-level characteristics can influence the sensitivity of risk to oil shocks. When conducting panel regression analysis, we document the following findings. First, not all shocks have the same effect on bank risk. Due to oil supply shocks, the increase in oil price raises bank risk, whereas the similar increase in price due to economic expansion or oil-market specific demand reduces that risk. Second, the business model (whether the bank is Islamic or conventional), size, income diversification, profitability, and financial leverage influence the bank risk exposure to oil shocks differently. Third, the two major recent crises (global financial crises and COVID-19 pandemic) magnified bank risk exposure to oil supply shocks and speculative oil demand shocks. Overall, the structural oil shocks explain a large fraction of the variation in financial stability in GCC countries.

Supply chain risk management and flexibility to manage the disturbances of global crises

A global crisis successfully creates conflicts, which endanger the performance of the automotive supply chain with its total actors. Risk management throughout a worldwide crisis necessitates dissimilar techniques and procedures to the risk management perspective and approaches practiced for a steady market and stable situations, in order to overcome the supply chain vulnerabilities and disruptions towards the triggered issues of suppliers and demand. The main purpose of this paper, unlike the previous works, is to implement innovative tactics and means to make the supply chain of the automotive industry more resilient and flexible towards global crises to minimize the damages, taking the automotive industry's performance within the Coronavirus pandemic as a field of study and the juxtaposed complications presented in parallel from suppliers and customers to result in a robust technique to create strategic flexibility and balance for production units to manage the jeopardies within and post the global crises. This research, using the analytical hierarchical process for the assessment of the vertical collaboration alternatives, enables the supply chain actors to adopt the most adequate alternative for each category of risks and actors. However, the limitations presented for this study are to overcome the need for risk mitigation by preventing the appearance and bringing the probability to zero percent of the presence of the risks in the whole supply chain of the automotive industry. © 2022 The Authors.

Surviving a global crisis

PurposeThis paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. 10;10;FindingsOrganizations must quickly adapt to survive a global crisis and then prosper in the new norm which emerges. Prospects of success increase substantially when strategies created deploy marketing mix elements in ways to enhance the flexibility that is critical in such situations.Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Surviving a global crisis: Effective strategies based on marketing mix elements

PurposeThis paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. 10;10;FindingsOrganizations must quickly adapt to survive a global crisis and then prosper in the new norm which emerges. Prospects of success increase substantially when strategies created deploy marketing mix elements in ways to enhance the flexibility that is critical in such situations.Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Globalization and the World Order in the New Realities of the Post-COVID World.

The contours of the accelerated transformation of the architecture of the world order under the influence of numerous crisis shocks associated with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 are considered. The trends of globalization‒deglobalization and the growing bipolarity of the world order, which is viewed as a consequence of the exacerbation of the US‒China confrontation, are assessed. China's approaches to significant structural shifts in economic priorities are analyzed. In conclusion, proposals are formulated for changes in the Russian economic policy.

Exogenous shocks and citizens' satisfaction with governmental policies: can empirical evidence from the 2008 financial crisis help us understand better the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic?

I examine to what extend the financial crisis of 2008 affected levels of individual satisfaction with governments in general and three policy areas in particular; the economy, health services and education. I use data from the European Social Survey (9 rounds, 2002-2018, 14 countries, approx.195000 observations). Running Interrupted Time Series regressions I find that, on aggregate, there was a decrease of satisfaction with the government and the economy immediately after the crisis, but an increase for health and educational services. Longer term, satisfaction gradually increased for all the four indicators examined. In separate regressions for each country, a consistent pattern of behavior emerges. Where the short-term effect on satisfaction was negative, the long-term effect was positive, and vice versa. The switch, from short-term negative to long-term positive effect, could be attributed to the successful efforts of governments to correct the immediate adverse effects of the crisis. On the contrary, some individuals seeing the problems other countries faced, applauded their own government's short term performance in handling the crisis. With the passing of time however, they gradually became more critical. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to implement policies reviving the economy and improving services in health and the education sectors, amongst others. Results of this study may be used when measuring and evaluating the effects of the current pandemic.

Clinical nursing and midwifery education in the pandemic age.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted clinical nursing and midwifery education. This disruption has long-term implications for the nursing and midwifery workforce and for future healthcare responses to pandemics. Solutions may include enhanced partnerships between schools of nursing and midwifery and health service providers and including schools of nursing and midwifery in preparedness planning. These suggestions notwithstanding, we call upon national and international nursing and midwifery bodies to study how to further the clinical education of nurses and midwives during pandemics and other times of crisis.