Mental well-being and government support in Europe. The mediating role of trust in people and institutions

Purpose: This paper investigates the determinants of subjective well-being in Europe using the European Living, Working and COVID-19 (ELWC) Survey carried out by Eurofound (2021). Socio-demographics characteristics, employment status, measures of economic distress, inequality and work life balance are considered. Particular attention is paid to how quality of government support (QGS), that considers the dimensions of good governance such as integrity, fairness, reliability, responsiveness and influences subjective mental well-being (WHO-5) through the mediation of trust in other people and in institutions. Design/methodology/approach: To this end, the authors estimate a moderated mediation model for analysing the indirect role of QGS on WHO-5 through institutional trust and trust in people. Findings: The results support the hypothesis that the reduction in WHO-5 in the European population during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID--19), particularly marked in the 18–34 age group, is related to the perceived inadequacy of government interventions in managing economic and social uncertainty through supportive measures. This outcome is also due to reduced trust in institutions and other people, as both are significant mediators that reinforce the impact of public support on WHO-5. Practical implications: Government should pay greater attention to this relationship amongst good governance, trust and mental health of citizens because a healthy human capital is a significant factor for the long-run economic growth, in a special way when the authors refer to the young workforce with a greater life expectancy. Originality/value: In the literature, the role of trust as a mediator has been analysed in the relationship between individual economic situations and subjective well-being before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no studies have examined the role of perceived QGS on subjective mental well-being using the mediating and backing effects of trust in people and institutions. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-08-2022-0549. © 2023, Erica Poma, Barbara Pistoresi and Chiara Giovinazzo.

Reaction of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises to the Corona Crisis: the Impact of Regional Authorities

The decline in Russian business activity due to the Covid restrictions was much lower than forecasted by international financial institutions. Even the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector, which experienced a significant downturn, in 2021 demonstrated a recovery and intentions to conduct business. The present study aims to reveal the impact of regional authorities on the activity of small and medium-sized enterprises during the crisis, coupled with the entrepreneurs' own efforts and economic freedom in the region. To this end, a case study of Sverdlovsk oblast, a large Russian region with a diversified industrial structure and a developed SME sector, was analysed. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilised in the case study. Qualitative methods include semi-structured interviews with CEOs aimed at identifying deep motives of activity and diversity of business responses to external challenges. As for quantitative methods, the economic freedom index of the region for 2002-2020 was calculated using the Coates method, the relationship between entrepreneurial activity in Sverdlovsk oblast and government intervention in the regional economy was assessed based on the ordinary least squares regression. The study demonstrated that the number of individual entrepreneurs depends on the government participation in the regional economy, while the activity of legal entities is more related to economic freedom. During the crisis, demand reduction and change, real income decline, restrictions on cross-border transactions and a growing concentration of market power accelerated changes in companies' business models in terms of interaction with consumers, value proposition, networking and digitalisation of business. Additionally, business associations involved in the interaction between companies and public authorities gained importance in this period. The research results can be applied in the design of public policy measures for the small and medium-sized enterprises and regional development.

The Role of Political Connections in COVID Policy Response: Effectiveness of Firm-Level Government Support in Egypt

The COVID-19 pandemic saw two sets of policy responses: lockdown to limit spread of the virus, which was a huge demand and supply shock, and government support to firms and individuals to offset the effects of this policy-induced shock. This paper explores the allocation and effectiveness of government support to firms in Egypt. We consider both financial support measures which were by and large already being implemented pre-COVID, as well as tax- and loan-related exemptions and deferments. After controlling for the endogeneity of government support, our main findings show that the latter has helped mitigate the effects of COVID-19, with a significantly larger, favorable impact on smaller, younger and private firms. There is no equity-effectiveness trade-off. However, although these firms apparently make better use of government support, they receive a disproportionately smaller share of it. In line with the emerging ‘unsocial' social contract, government support has been chiefly determined by political connections and a captured industrial policy. This ‘misallocation' reinforces the ‘missing middle' phenomenon which acts as a constraint as SMEs are unable to grow. Nevertheless, the crisis has presented a chance for the pattern of support to slowly shift towards the more vulnerable through the more frequent use of ‘exemptions and deferments'. © 2023 German Institute of Development and Sustainability.

Adoption of FinTech services amidst COVID-19 pandemic: empirical evidence from Assam

PurposeThe paper intends to comprehend the pattern of usage of FinTech services among bank customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper also examines the factors influencing the adoption of FinTech services by using the constructs from the technology acceptance model (TAM) together with highlighting the issues faced in using FinTech services in Assam.Design/methodology/approachThe research is empirical in nature. Data have been collected from 1,066 prime earners of the households having a bank account.FindingsThere has been an upsurge in the use of FinTech services in the area of study. Apart from government and private service employees, businessmen, self-employed professionals, many daily-wage earners and agriculturists have also experienced an increase in their frequency of usage of FinTech services thereby making technology-based financial services an indispensable tool in enhancing access, improving inclusivity in the times of crisis and aftermath. Government support, trust, perceived usefulness (PU), attitude and social influence have a positive influence on FinTech adoption;however, perceived risks impact respondents' trust towards FinTech services thereby requiring necessary measures to evaluate organizations' preparedness to deal with cyber threats.Originality/valueThe paper provides insight into the factors impacting the adoption of FinTech services to stimulate superior connectivity infrastructure, robust security measures and maintaining financial stability with adequate supervisory and monitoring regulations to enhance trust towards FinTech services during the crisis and aftermath.

The role of government support on E-commerce and firm innovation during pandemic crisis

The aim of this study is three-fold: first, to examine the relationship between government support and E-commerce adoption. Second, to investigate the nexus between government support and firm innovation. Third, to explore the relation of firm performance with E-commerce adoption and innovation. Using firm-level data from 31 countries during the time of COVID-19 pandemic, we find both E-commerce adoption and innovation are positively associated with government support. Further, we also find that such firms register significantly higher sales growth. The result remains consistent even after addressing the endogeneity issue. These results hold for the subsample of SMEs as well. © 2023 Economic Society of Australia, Queensland

Competition and firm recovery post-COVID-19

Plain English SummaryThe COVID-19 crisis had a profound impact on firms. Firms which were more productive pre-crisis fared relatively better, particularly in countries with a more competitive business environment. Using survey data for about 8000 firms, including both small and large firms, in 23 emerging and developing countries in Europe and Central Asia, the paper finds that during the COVID-19 crisis, smaller firms were hit harder, and economic activity was reallocated toward firms with higher pre-crisis labor productivity. Countries with a strong competition environment experienced more reallocation from less productive to more productive firms than countries with a weak competition environment. The evidence also suggests that reallocation from low- to high-productivity firms during the COVID-19 crisis was stronger compared with pre-crisis times. Finally, the analysis shows that government support measures implemented in response to the crisis went to less productive and larger firms, regardless of their pre-crisis innovation. Thus, government support measures during the COVID-19 crisis may have had adverse effects on competition and productivity growth. As economies enter the economic recovery phase, it will be important for policymakers to phase out support measures as soon as appropriate and focus on fostering a competitive business environment. This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the reallocation of economic activity across firms and whether this reallocation depends on the competition environment. The paper uses the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys COVID-19 Follow-up Surveys for about 8000 firms, including both small and large firms, in 23 emerging and developing countries in Europe and Central Asia, matched with 2019 Enterprise Surveys data. It finds that during the COVID-19 crisis, smaller firms were hit harder, and economic activity was reallocated toward firms with higher pre-crisis labor productivity. Countries with a strong competition environment experienced more reallocation from less productive to more productive firms than countries with a weak competition environment. The evidence also suggests that reallocation from low- to high-productivity firms during the COVID-19 crisis was stronger compared with pre-crisis times. Finally, the analysis shows that government support measures implemented in response to the crisis may have adverse effects on competition and productivity growth since support went to less productive and larger firms, regardless of their pre-crisis innovation.

Determinants of individuals' objective and subjective financial fragility during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We examine determinants of the objective and subjective financial fragility of 2100 individuals across Australia, France, Germany, and South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective financial fragility reflects individuals' (in)ability to deal with unexpected expenses, while subjective financial fragility reflects their emotional response to financial demands. Controlling for an extensive set of socio-demographics, we find that negative personal experiences during the pandemic (i.e., reduced or lost employment; COVID-19 infection) are associated with higher objective and subjective financial fragility. However, individuals' cognitive (i.e., financial literacy) as well as non-cognitive abilities (i.e., internal locus of control; psychological resilience) help to counteract this higher financial fragility. Finally, we examine the role of government financial support (i.e., income support; debt relief) and find that it is negatively related to financial fragility only for the economically weakest households. Our results have implications for public policymakers, providing levers for reducing individuals' objective and subjective financial fragility.

Investigating the relationship between government support and SMEs' sustainability through financial and green lenses

PurposeTo be successful on a global scale, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need government support (GS) for innovation, sustainability and creativity. GS has always been a constructive influence on enterprises. This paper aims to examine the role of GS in assessing financial literacy (FL), access to finance (AF) and green value co-creation (GVC) for the sustainability of SMEs. Design/methodology/approachThis study's sample comprises SMEs in Lahore, Pakistan. Data collection started in December 2021 and ended in February 2022. Using convenient sampling, 320 responses were collected from SMEs and included in data analysis. Hypotheses were tested, and model fit was checked through the software AMOS 22. FindingsIt has been examined that GS plays a pivotal role in acquiring FL, AF and GVC for the sustainability of SMEs. Research limitations/implicationsIncreasing the sample size will give a more demonstrative picture as the population size is quite large. Future researchers should design causal relationships, linking these variables through longitudinal research. Originality/valueNo study has been conducted on SMEs of developing economies using these variables. This study contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive model and identifying GSs importance in achieving SMEs' sustainability through financial and green lenses. This research significantly impacts government policymakers and SMEs by giving them insight into the importance of green practices, financial capabilities and SMEs' sustainability.

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.

Surviving the COVID‐19 pandemic: The antecedents of success among European SMEs

We research the antecedents of relative success among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in avoiding temporary or permanent closure during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We investigate the roles of firm‐specific resources and state support policies in influencing SME fortunes, in a sizeable group of European countries covered in the World Bank Enterprise Survey. Using resource dependency, Varieties of Capitalism and Systems theories, we find that innovative capacities, institutional connectedness, governance, and management experience were major antecedents of success across all SMEs. Significant differences in outcomes were found between SMEs operating in old and new EU member states, and non‐EU countries.

State Support for the Agrarian Sector in Russia: Problems and Solutions

The article analyzes the measures of state support for agriculture in the Russian Federation. State support of agrarian sector is a basic component of state-legal regulation of the sphere of agriculture and represents a totality of various forms and instruments of influence on social and economic life of society for the purpose of dynamic development of agrarian sphere. State support measures for agriculture are important in the in the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the goals and objectives formulated in the adopted and adopted by the supreme body of the executive power state programs for agricultural development often have problems with their financial support. Analysis of existing state support measures for agriculture has shown that some of them need improvement. Most of them are aimed mainly at large agricultural producers, leaving out small forms of farming. In the article, emphasis is placed on the need to improve the mechanism providing state support to the subjects of the agricultural industry through digital services throughout Russia. Subsidies, grants, soft loans and other support measures can be obtained electronically, which will make the process more transparent. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Contingent impacts of COVID relief policies under global value chain shortage

This paper empirically investigates how governments' COVID-19 relief policies have affected firms in 14 post-communist economies under the global value chain shortage between May 2020 and January 2022. We construct a panel dataset with firms that were continuously observed in three rounds of the World Bank's COVID-19 survey to comprehensively evaluate the dynamic changes in the firms' value chains, production, and finances. We further estimate the determinants of these changes, especially the roles played by the government. We find that under the impact of COVID-19, (1) reduced production capacity or reduced supply significantly increased the likelihood of reduced production and finances, whereas reduced demand had the opposite impact;(2) receiving support from the government augmented the impacts of affected production capacities and value chains;(3) among firms with restricted capacity or supplies, receiving government support increased the likelihood of reduced production and finances;and (4) among firms with abundant capacity and supplies, receiving government support lowered the likelihood of reduced production and finances. Other variables, such as firms' size, remote workforce, online businesses, and exports, also exhibit significant influences. © 2023 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Impact of the Pandemic on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Entrepreneurship is crucial for the global economy, as it helps ideas develop from the drawing board to an executable stage. An excellent economic state of a country is the outcome of a well-designed system where the stakeholders interact with each other towards innovation and social development. This study is an empirical investigation into the COVID pandemic and its effects on the Indian entrepreneurial eco-system. Primary data was collected from 155 entrepreneurs of India, who were independent and first movers of entrepreneurs in their family during COVID times. Poor planning, exhausting resources, a slowdown in productivity, lower employment, and employee retention were the after-effects of the pandemic. It was found that the pandemic negatively affected the entrepreneurial ecosystem and its stakeholders. However, constant support by the government and well-designed policy measures would help assist existing businesses affected due to COVID-19 and encourage the entrepreneurial future in India. Copyright © 2022, IGI Global.

Role of formal and informal networks in the relationship between government support and Ghanaian indigenous firms' degree of internationalisation

PurposeThis study aims to assess the potential mediating effects of formal and informal networks in the relationship between government support and Ghanaian indigenous firms' degree of internationalisation.Design/methodology/approachThis study was a cross-sectional design, where the structured questionnaire was used in gathering data from 301 indigenous Ghanaian firms. The path estimation was conducted by running structural equation modelling in AMOS v.23.FindingsIt was concluded that government support had a significant positive effect on Ghanaian indigenous firms' degree of internationalisation. Formal network was found to partially mediate the relationship between government support and indigenous firms' degree of internationalisation. Finally, it was concluded that informal networks had no mediating effect.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation is that the effect of the government support and network strategy was only explored on indigenous exporters, meaning that exporters which did not fall within the definition of indigenous firms were excluded from the study. Future studies could conduct a comparative study on the same variables, using indigenous and non-indigenous firms.Practical implicationsIt is recommended that Ghanaian exporters should participate in government training and workshop programmes focussing on building export business strategies and networking to improve export activities.Originality/valueThis study's unique contribution is its investigation of how networking portfolio, including formal and informal ties, helps explain the nexus between government support and the internationalisation of local firms in the developing market, such as Ghanaians.

The COVID-19 impact on MSME earnings: evidences from Saudi Arabia

Small businesses are more prone to market a movement which gets aggravated in an uncontrollable scenario such as COVID-19. The objective of the study is to understand the impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent government's policy support, on the earnings of MSME firms in Saudi Arabia. Based on a selected study period (March–May 2021), a survey of MSME owners and managers was conducted (41% response rate) using a 33-item questionnaire. Linear regression analysis and moderation analysis was used for data interpretation. One of the key findings of the study is that firm's size and the government's economic support moderates the relationship of MSME operations with MSME earnings. Copyright © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Determinants of Business Resilience Framework for Small Businesses: Moderating Effects of Financial Literacy

Covid-19 has significantly disrupted and devastated the world's economy. Data from Malaysia shows that more than 30,000 companies have closed their operations since the movement control order (MCO) implementation due to Covid-19 that began in March 2020. However, the effects on small businesses are especially severe, mainly due to the higher vulnerability levels and lower resilience related to their size. This study provides an empirical analysis of the key drivers leading to the business resilience of small businesses in Malaysia that have survived the Covid-19 pandemic. Data from 215 small businesses were collected physically and online across Malaysia from May 2021 to December 2021. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Smart PLS 3.2.4 was used to analyse the data, whereby nine hypotheses were tested in the current study. The results showed that technology acceptance, government support, and financial literacy significantly influence business resilience among small businesses in Malaysia. The results also indicated that financial literacy moderates the relationship between compliance cost and government support with business resilience. Thus, the findings revealed three important determinants of small businesses' resilience framework, namely technology acceptance, government support, and financial literacy. The study recommends a dynamic, resilient framework to adopt in the "new normal" situation for the successful navigation of small businesses in the future. Moreover, the study provides insight into the key drivers for business resilience factors that small businesses must be concerned with, as the framework can be used to deal with not only the global pandemic but also uncertain conditions. Copyright © 2023– All Rights Reserved.

Do entrepreneurship ecosystem and managerial skills contribute to startup development?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting startup development and the entrepreneurship ecosystem's contribution to it.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative methodology is used for data collection from different startup owners working across Pakistan. It is a cross-sectional descriptive study, which investigates the causal effect of variables at a definite point in time. Non-probability convenient sampling was used for selecting available startups from the incubation centers. The sampling framework consists of the founders of the startups that have been previously incubated at any of the selected incubation centers.FindingsRegression analysis results from 165 responses of entrepreneurs and incubation centers demonstrate that the most important factors affecting startup development were financial access, government support, marketing challenges, education, technology and managerial skills in order of occurrence. Entrepreneurship ecosystem also proved to have a very positive impact on the relationship of these factors with startup development.Practical implicationsIn this paper, the factors that affect the development of startup are analyzed and recommendations are provided.Originality/valueThis research is comprehensive, as we have collected data from actual entrepreneurs and incubation centers to explain how entrepreneurs initiate their startup business by considering their managerial skills. As such, this study is unique in that the data comes from newly developed incubations centers in one of South Asia's fastest-growing economies.

Community pantries: a health service of great quality for the most affected ones.

The COVID-19 pandemic has continuously caused many people to suffer worldwide. The Philippine government had imposed a series of lockdowns that caused many citizens to be unemployed and hungry. As the crisis continues, ordinary citizens from different religious communities and non-governmental organizations willed to establish community pantries to aid their hungry and helpless neighbors. The spirit of volunteerism was also awakened for those who desired to serve and shared their time and effort.

Covid-19, Credit Risk Management Modeling, and Government Support.

We investigate rating and default risk dynamics over the covid-19 crisis from a credit risk modeling perspective. We find that growth dynamics remain a stable and sufficient predictor of credit risk incidence over the pandemic period, despite its large, short-lived swings due to government intervention and lockdown. Unobserved component models as used in the recent credit risk literature appear mainly helpful for explaining the high-default wave in the early 2000s, but less so for default prediction above and beyond growth dynamics during the 2008 financial crisis or the early 2020 covid default peak. Government support variables do not reduce the impact of either growth proxies or unobserved components. Correlations between government support and credit risk are different, however, during the financial and the covid crisis. Using the empirical models in this paper as credit risk management tools, we show that growth factors also suffice to predict credit risk quantiles out-of-sample during covid times.

Cross-country evidence on the allocation of COVID-19 government subsidies and consequences for productivity.

We study the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and related policy support on productivity. We employ an extensive micro-distributed exercise to access otherwise unavailable individual data on firm performance and government subsidies. Our cross-country evidence for five EU countries shows that the pandemic led to a significant short-term decline in aggregate productivity and the direct support to firms had only a limited positive effect on productivity developments. A thorough comparative analysis of the distribution of employment and overall direct subsidies, considering separately also relative firm-level size of support and the probability of being supported, reveals ambiguous cross-country results related to the firm-level productivity and points to the decisive role of other firm characteristics.