Operating, financial and investment impacts of Covid-19 in SMEs: Public policy demands to sustainable recovery considering the economic sector moderating effect.

Currently, many institutions and academics are working to establish strategies of economic recovery with the aim of mitigating the short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. The main aim of this study is to analyze how this crisis has impacted Spanish SMEs, considering their operating, financial, and investment activities. We also analyze the initiatives or public policies that SME managers consider necessary in order to face the effects of COVID-19. To do this, an empirical study has been carried out based on information from 612 Spanish SMEs, estimating a PLS research model and multigroup analysis that considers the activity sector as a moderating variable. The results are useful to companies and different economic and social agents, providing information to facilitate decision-making to overcome pandemic crisis mainly in the economic and strategic spheres.

Comparative analysis of Student's live online learning readiness during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the higher education sector.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, many countries are facing a dramatic situation in terms of the global economy and human social activities, including education. The shutdown of schools is affecting many students around the world, with face-to-face classes suspended. Many countries facing the disastrous situation imposed class suspension at an early stage of the coronavirus outbreak, and Asia was one of the earliest regions to implement live online learning. Despite previous research on online teaching and learning, students' readiness to participate in the real-time online learning implemented during the coronavirus outbreak is not yet well understood. This study explored several key factors in the research framework related to learning motivation, learning readiness and student's self-efficacy in participating in live online learning during the coronavirus outbreak, taking into account gender differences and differences among sub-degree (SD), undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students. Technology readiness was used instead of conventional online/internet self-efficacy to determine students' live online learning readiness. The hypothetical model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results revealed no statistically significant differences between males and females. On the other hand, the mean scores for PG students were higher than for UG and SD students based on the post hoc test. We argue that during the coronavirus outbreak, gender differences were reduced because students are forced to learn more initiatively. We also suggest that students studying at a higher education degree level may have higher expectations of their academic achievement and were significantly different in their online learning readiness. This study has important implications for educators in implementing live online learning, particularly for the design of teaching contexts for students from different educational levels. More virtual activities should be considered to enhance the motivation for students undertaking lower-level degrees, and encouragement of student-to-student interactions can be considered.