Water Management Priorities in a Post-COVID World

This paper maintains that the growing crisis of water scarcity cannot be addressed from within the paradigm that created the problem. The extractive paradigm which prevails views high economic growth as the main goal of development to be achieved through the increasing extraction of natural resources. Approaches to water management that are based on this paradigm view water as a resource primarily meant for human consumption. In contrast, the paper proposes an ecosystem paradigm in which water is viewed as being embedded within the ecosystem as an essential part of it to be conserved and preserved for future generations. The author identifies five areas of action for water management in the post-COVID context: move away from water-intensive agriculture through crop diversification;sustainable and community-based groundwater management;protection of river systems and wetlands;ensuring water quality and drinking water security and the creation of strong legal frameworks for water governance. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.

How Frauds in Times of Crisis Target People

While there are no new frauds, internet technology provides new opportunities for fraudsters by facilitating volumes of attacks that law enforcement then struggles to address. Moreover, since context can affect how potential victims respond to frauds, crisis context influences how fraudsters design frauds. This article assesses fraudsters' fraud design strategies during two external crisis events that impacted Australia: The Black Summer Bushfires that occurred from September 2019 to March 2020 and the onset and first year of the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred from January 2020 through January 2021. Targets, during these crises, were more likely to be vulnerable according to Steinmetz's model victim for social engineering framework. This study shows that, in both crises, fraudsters deployed the social engineering techniques of "authority” and "scarcity,” techniques that are more likely to be successful based solely on initial contact. Fraudsters designed their requests to be easily actioned and crafted their scams to reference very recent events as the external crisis events evolved. Thus, they targeted broad audiences with minimal personal involvement. Furthermore, this study shows that fraudsters, when disseminating their scams via social media outlets, attempted to build "social proof” to expand their potential victim pool to include the marks' social circles.

Purchase intention of organic foods: are lifestyles of health and sustainability the reason for my purchase decision?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of scarcity and the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) consumption tendency on the purchase intention of organic foods. The study used the protection motivation theory and the stimulus-organism-response theory to understand the impact of comparatively new variables like "perceived scarcity” and "perceived consumer effectiveness” (PCE) on the consumer's organic food purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approachThe study is using structural equation modeling with 402 organic food consumers. The participants are regular consumers who bought organic food from specialized shops and supermarkets in the previous few months. The data has been collected at organic food specialized shops and supermarkets that sell organic foods.FindingsThe results showed that LOHAS consumption tendency (LCT), scarcity and PCE positively affect attitude. Similarly, LCT and PCE direct affect trust. Scarcity and PCE directly positive impact on purchase intention of organic food products. Interestingly, LCT had no direct impact on the purchase intention of the product. Trust and attitude were found to be significant mediators impacting purchase intention.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the past theoretical literature on LOHAS consumption by analyzing new constructs like scarcity and PCE in the context of organic food consumption. These findings will be crucial for marketers planning to launch organic products in new markets.

Deciphering Predictors of Tourists' Value and Intention amid COVID-19: The Interplay of Scarcity, Enjoyment, Visual Presentations, and Pandemic Threat

The study investigates the factors influencing tourists' online booking intentions. This study employed structural equation modeling to evaluate the online booking intentions of tourists after the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in India, extending the application of reactance theory in tourism and hospitality services. Mediation and moderation analysis facilitated the unfurling of direct and indirect linkages among the constructs. The findings suggest that online hotel reviews, perceived scarcity, and perceived enjoyment aggrandize tourists' perceived value quotients, escalating their online booking intentions. Besides, visual presentations improve the strength of the linkage, while perceived pandemic threat weakens the linkage between tourists' perceived value and online booking intentions. The research demystifies critical facilitators of tourists' perceived value and online booking intentions that may assist hotel owners in engaging potential tourists and maximizing their hotels' bottom line. The hotel industry lacks research on perceived scarcity, visual presentations, and perceived pandemic threat. This research adds to the body of knowledge by combining the abovementioned factors through a coherent theoretical framework. It makes prospective tourists cautious about COVID-19's virulence and the devastating consequences. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

A meta-analysis on the effects of product scarcity

Product scarcity can influence purchase decisions, but this relationship is multifaceted due to the influence of various cues. This study aims to integrate knowledge of this subject through a meta-analysis. The findings suggest that the likelihood of purchasing a scarce product is greater under (i) scarcity conditions of excessive demand (rather than restricted supply) and variety (rather than a category), but not urgency (limited quantity and limited time) scarcity, and (ii) product conditions of enduring luxuries (as opposed to transitory luxuries) and the presence (rather than absence) of social signaling and seasonality. From a theoretical standpoint, this study offers a typology of product and scarcity cues and employs a meta-analysis to enhance our understanding of the relationships between product scarcity, product and scarcity cues, and purchase decisions, resulting in the establishment of a heterogeneous theory of product scarcity. From a managerial standpoint, the study suggests that product scarcity can affect purchase decisions and can be ethically utilized as a marketing strategy.

Panic buying in the second wave of COVID-19: the moderating effect of past buying experience

PurposeWith the advent of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to analyse the scenario of panic buying (PB) behaviour of the customers which was evident in the first wave. This paper aims to examine the PB scenario as well as the moderating effect of past buying experience (PBE) on PB in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on the theories of stimulus-organism-response model and the competitive arousal model. Based on these theories, this paper investigates how panic situation created by external stimuli such as perceived scarcity (PS), perceived risk (PR), news in media (NM) and social learning affect the perceived arousal (PA) among people which in turn influence the PB behaviour of customers. Data were collected from 253 customers from different parts of India. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse the moderating effect of PBE on the PB in the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. FindingsThe results indicate that the PS, PR and NM continue to be strong predictors of a buyer for PA. However, the PB is not reinforced by the moderation effect of PBE. Research limitations/implicationsThis paper investigates the consumers' PB behaviours in the wake of third wave of COVID-19 pandemic which add to the existing literature of COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, this study also examines how previous buying experience can moderate the PB behaviour of the customers in subsequent phases of COVID-19 pandemic. This supports the potential effectiveness of self-regulation as an intervention strategy for reducing PB behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical implicationsThis study emphasises the impact of external stimuli like PS, PR and media coverage on PB behaviour, marketers and policymakers should manage to avoid triggers. Although PBE may not moderate PB during a pandemic, it can play a significant role in future buying behaviour. Anticipating potential triggers and designing effective marketing strategies that cater to customers' needs can help manage PB behaviour during disasters or pandemics. In addition, promoting conscious consumption awareness and self-regulation practices among customers can help manage PB behaviour, benefit the environment and society and make customers more responsible buyers. Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this study examines the PB behaviour of customers during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic for the first time. This study also investigates the moderating effect of PBE on the PB behaviour of customers during a pandemic which is new and significant that extends the literature on PB behaviour during a pandemic.

"We are out of toilet paper”: Testing the mediating effect of product scarcity on consumers' competitive arousal in family firms

Drawing on Lemon and Verhoef's customer journey, this study examines the context of local family businesses to investigate product scarcity's role as a mediator between information overload and competitive arousal in affecting consumers' behavioural intentions during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected regarding purchases in three famous local family businesses operating in the Food and Beverage sector in the North of Italy. Results reveal that during a sanitary emergency, the consumer in family firms are less inclined to react impulsively than those in large distribution, except when they perceive product scarcity, which increases their level of competitiveness towards the market and other consumers. This behaviour towards other businesses is due to the family business efficacy, which pushes family firms in reinventing themselves and takes care of their trusted consumers. The paper ends by highlighting the main theoretical and managerial contributions, delineating new paths of analysis.

The pain lottery.

Moral challenges with addiction and overdosing have resulted from the abundance of opioids, but the coronavirus disease of 2019 has prompted reflection on ethical issues that could arise from a shortage. Driven by a duty to plan, some jurisdictions have formed committees to see if standard allocation considerations extend to cover a shortage of opioid pain medication. The problem, we argue, is that the standard allocation protocols do not apply to a shortage of opioids because prognosis only has limited relevance and the moral disvalue of pain is not dependent upon a patient's status as a frontline worker, age, or residence in a disadvantaged community. While the use of lotteries in allocation schemes has been deemphasized in standard allocation schema, we argue for and outline the details of a tiered lottery that first prioritizes opioids needed for emergent procedures and then moves on to allocate opioids based on the severity of a patient's pain. Additionally, we argue that some deception, in the form of withholding information from patients about the implementation and details of a pain lottery, is ethically permissible to address the unique moral tension between transparency and beneficence that arises for the treatment of pain in conditions of opioid scarcity.

What makes a health system good? From cost-effectiveness analysis to ethical improvement in health systems.

Fair allocation of scarce healthcare resources has been much studied within philosophy and bioethics, but analysis has focused on a narrow range of cases. The Covid-19 pandemic provided significant new challenges, making powerfully visible the extent to which health systems can be fragile, and how scarcities within crucial elements of interlinked care pathways can lead to cascading failures. Health system resilience, while previously a key topic in global health, can now be seen to be a vital concern in high-income countries too. Unfortunately, mainstream philosophical approaches to the ethics of rationing and prioritisation provide little guidance for these new problems of scarcity. Indeed, the cascading failures were arguably exacerbated by earlier attempts to make health systems leaner and more efficient. This paper argues that health systems should move from simple and atomistic approaches to measuring effectiveness to approaches that are holistic both in focusing on performance at the level of the health system as a whole, and also in incorporating a wider range of ethical concerns in thinking about what makes a health system good.

Fiscal Space Policies for Sustainable Development and Debt Relief: Empirical Analysis in West African Countries

The uncertainty that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought demonstrates that income redistribution and traditional debt relief mechanisms are insufficient to meet public spending needs, mitigate external debt, and comply with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to reduce multilateral debt to sustainable levels. Also, West African countries have focused their attention on the long-term fight against poverty and inequality and strengthening their social programs, especially in primary health care and macroeconomic stability. However, for more than a decade, the developing and least developed countries of West Africa have faced rapidly weakening macroeconomic conditions, combining several interrelated crises such as the sharp decline in oil prices, volatile financial markets and tourism disruptions, a global recession, the crisis of climate change, and shortages of food and energy, along with the economic contraction of COVID-19. Data from these countries show that health spending increases economic growth, minimizes infant mortality rates, and reduces debt. Furthermore, increasing government spending efficiency reduces the total debt and improves the health sector, in particular.

Performance Analysis of GAN Approaches in the Portable Chest X-Ray Synthetic Image Generation for COVID-19 Screening

COVID-19 mainly affects lung tissues, aspect that makes chest X-ray imaging useful to visualize this damage. In the context of the global pandemic, portable devices are advantageous for the daily practice. Furthermore, Computer-aided Diagnosis systems developed with Deep Learning algorithms can support the clinicians while making decisions. However, data scarcity is an issue that hinders this process. Thus, in this work, we propose the performance analysis of 3 different state-of-the-art Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) approaches that are used for synthetic image generation to improve the task of automatic COVID-19 screening using chest X-ray images provided by portable devices. Particularly, the results demonstrate a significant improvement in terms of accuracy, that raises 5.28% using the images generated by the best image translation model. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Impulse Buying in Live Stream Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response Framework

Live stream commerce is the most effective method for online marketing and sales. The Malaysian government implementation of movement control order (MCO) and social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on consumer purchasing behaviour and ways of conducting business. Hence, this research aims to examine the factors which influence Malaysian consumers' impulse buying in live stream commerce. The Stimulus Organism Response Framework (SOR) is used to assess stimuli (live streamer attractiveness, expertise, scarcity, and promotion) that impact reactions (perceived enjoyment, urge to buy, and arousal) and subsequently influence response behaviour (live stream impulse buying). The total of 385 questionnaires were disseminated during the implementation of MCO 2.0 in 2021. The findings demonstrated that all hypotheses were significant. Perceived enjoyment, arousal, and urge to buy are associated with impulse buying in live stream. This study provides a deeper insight and identifies the key variables that influence live stream impulse buying in Malaysia. The findings would help businesses and marketers to formulate effective marketing strategies and to fill research gaps relating to live stream commerce. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.

Fighting the Pandemic with "Shields”: Successful COVID-19 Securitization and Mask Policy in Taiwan

Facemasks have been proven an effective non-pharmaceutical measure against coronavirus disease-19. Against the backdrop of global mask shortages, Taiwan distinguished herself from other countries in that Taiwan took a whole-of-nation approach to masks and mobilized the society quickly to become self-sufficient in masks. This paper argues that successful virus securitization as a threat to national security was what enabled Taiwan to effectively mobilize the private sector to carry out the state's will in ensuring adequate mask supply. Moreover, Taiwan securitized the virus more successfully than many other countries because the virus was connected to China, the nation's existing security threat.

Scarcity improves economic valuations when cognitively salient

In an influential article, Shah et al. (2015) hypothesized that resource scarcity weakens the effect of irrelevant contextual factors on economic valuations. The hypothesis that "scarcity frames value” qualifies the applicability of standard theories of rational choice and suggests a revised psychological foundation. In support, Shah et al. showed that differences in the willingness to pay for a commodity depending on where it was purchased (a fancy hotel vs. a run-down store) and in the willingness to travel to receive a fixed discount depending on the size of the purchase (a cheap vs. an expensive computer) were smaller among those with low personal incomes. In a large-scale preregistered experiment (N = 3,442), we tested whether scarcity framed value during the COVID-19 pandemic as well. The sample exhibited the canonical context effects overall. Consistent with the hypothesis, these effects tended to be smaller among those facing higher scarcity of personal income. Extending the original findings, economic valuations of low-income earners improved, particularly when scarcity was on the minds of the participants, as those with high financial and other resource scarcity concerns were less susceptible to the context effects. Our findings indicate that scarcity frames value, especially when it is cognitively salient, and emphasize the importance of considering contextual factors when attempting replications. © 2023 The Author(s)

Brand loyalty in the face of stockouts.

An important managerial challenge is understanding consumers' reactions to stockouts of a desired product-will they stay brand loyal or switch to competing brands? We posit that consumers are more likely to prefer substitutes from the same brand when a stockout is unexpected (vs. expected). This tendency arises as consumers feel greater negative affect upon encountering an unexpected stockout, which leads them to choose alternatives that provide greater affective value to ameliorate their negative feelings. Since the brand is a relatively affect-rich attribute compared to common non-brand attributes (e.g., price and quantity), consumers facing an unexpected stockout are more likely to choose a same-brand substitute. Five studies illustrate the effect and support the process by demonstrating that unexpected stockouts do not result in brand loyalty when non-brand attributes offer greater affective value than the brand. We further show that managers systematically mispredict how consumers' expectations of stockouts relate to brand loyalty. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11747-023-00924-8.

Rationing of a scarce life-saving resource: Public preferences for prioritizing COVID-19 vaccination.

In the face of limited COVID-19 vaccine supply, governments have had to identify priority groups for vaccination. In October 2020, when it was still uncertain whether COVID-19 vaccines would be shown to work in trials, we conducted a discrete choice experiment and a best-worst ranking exercise on a representative sample of 2060 Belgians in order to elicit their views on how to set fair vaccination priorities. When asked directly, our respondents prioritized the groups that would later receive priority: essential workers, the elderly or those with pre-existing conditions. When priorities were elicited indirectly, through observing choices between individuals competing for a vaccine, different preferences emerged. The elderly were given lower priority and respondents divided within two clusters. While both clusters wanted to vaccinate the essential workers in the second place, one cluster (N = 1058) primarily wanted to target virus spreaders in order to control transmission whereas the other cluster (N = 886) wanted to prioritize those who were most at risk because of a pre-existing health condition. Other strategies to allocate a scarce resource such as using a "lottery", "first-come, first-served" approach or highest willingness-to-pay received little support.

Water Poverty Index: a Tool for Water Resources Management in Jordan.

In terms of water resources, Jordan is considered one of the poorest countries in the world. Water resources management is one of the available options to decrease the gap between demand and resources. Water resources management requires optimum use of the available water resources taking into consideration resources availability, resources reliability, water use pattern, in addition to the socioeconomic issues. One of the most important aspects is human behaviour which has a strong impact on water management and on the ecosystem. Therefore, there is a need to follow a sustainable approach to improve the management and the understanding of the difficulties of water issues by integrating the physical, social, economic, and environmental aspects, as well as linking water issues to poverty indicator. In this paper, Water Poverty Index (WPI) will be used as a tool for water resources management. WPI was calculated based on five parameters: resources, access to water, capacity, use, and the environment. The Jordanian water strategy targets will be used to forecast the water situation in 2025 and calculate WPI. In 2002, the WPI was calculated and found at 46.3%, in comparison with higher figures for other countries. WPI was calculated for the year 2018, and the results showed a value of 50.7%. If the national water strategy targets and improvements will be successfully implemented, by 2025, the value is expected to be increased to 56.38%. Water resources are the most sensitive component of WPI. COVID-19 increased the rate of unemployment and poverty ratio which will affect WPI negatively. It's concluded that WPI could be used as a valuable indicator to help evaluate the running plans and monitor the management performance.

Covid19 pandemic as a further driver of water scarcity in Africa.

Population growth, even if coupled to economic growth, and resources, were already on a collision course, especially in Africa. The 2019 United Nations World Water Development Report provided a dramatic status of world water, however without questioning the main drivers of an imminent water crisis, that were unbounded, unequal, economic, and population growth, within the context of reducing resources in a finite world. Despite the report was a small step forward in awareness, still, it was not proposing satisfactory remedies. With business-as-usual, without acting on the drivers of water scarcity, regional water crises were inevitable in the next 3 decades, starting from Africa. Constrained by political, financial, and energy burdens, the technological improvements that have helped humanity to deal with the increased demand for water, food, and energy over the last 70 years, were likely not enough to avoid the water crisis. On top of forecast is the Covid19 pandemic. Coronavirus cases are (August 4, 2020) 18,446,065 and fatalities are 697,202 worldwide, and still growing. The containment measures enforced for Covid19 infection following the examples in the United Kingdom have already produced significant damage to the world economy. This will limit social expenditures in general, and the expenditures for the water issue in particular. The water crisis will consequently become worse in the next months, with consequences still difficult to predict. This will be true especially for Africa, where the main problem has always been poverty. There is the opportunity of significant health, food, and water crisis, especially in Africa. While the concepts of washing hands and social distancing that are difficult to apply haven't produce so far major issues with the Covid19 outbreak in Africa, borders closure, restrictions on movement, and more poverty will translate in a lack of food and water potentially much more worrying than the virus spreading.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motives: panic buying and impulsive buying during a pandemic

Purpose: The present study operationalizes and tests the impact of extrinsic (store environment, promotional activities) and intrinsic (hedonism, materialism) variables on impulsive buying during the COVID-19 period. It also considers the dual-factor approach (panic and impulsive buying tendency) using the "Stimulus-Organism-Response” approach and "Dual-Factor Theory”. Design/methodology/approach: Purposive sampling was used to obtain data from 362 responses from retail shoppers and analyzed by path analysis. The moderation of novel constructs (scarcity and COVID-19 pandemic) examines the backdrop of retail impulse shopping. Findings: The store environment has a detrimental effect on panic and impulsive buying. Promotional activities have a beneficial effect on impulsive buying tendency. Similarly, hedonism and materialism have a substantial positive effect on panic and impulsive buying tendencies. Between stimulus (intrinsic and extrinsic) and response variables, organism factors (panic and impulsive buying inclinations) influenced positively (impulsive buying);in terms of moderation, scarcity and the COVID-19 pandemic exhibit substantial moderation between organism and response. Originality/value: The results contribute substantially to the existing domain of customers' panic and impulsive purchasing behavior for the scarcity of essential items during the COVID-19 epidemic. Research in this field is limited, varied and inconclusive. New insights were obtained as this research blends the "Stimulus-Organism-Response” and Dual factor theories. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Resource Scarcity and Humanitarian Social Innovation: Observations from Hunger Relief in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Humanitarian social enterprises (HSEs) are facing mounting pressure to incorporate social innovation into their practice. This study thus identifies how HSEs leverage organizational capabilities toward developing social innovation. Specifically, it considers how resource scarcity and operating circumstances affect the capabilities used by HSEs for developing social innovation, using a longitudinal case study approach with qualitative data from 12 hunger-relief HSEs operating in the United States. Based on 59 interviews with 31 managers and directors and related documents, several propositions are posited. The findings suggest that resource availability (i.e., scarcity vs. abundance) leads some HSEs to focus on developing social innovation using their collaborative capabilities, while others leverage their absorptive capacity. Further, HSEs adjust their approach to developing social innovation based on whether they are operating in ordinary circumstances (i.e., before the COVID pandemic) or extraordinary ones (i.e., during the COVID pandemic). Interestingly, the findings suggest that the organizational capabilities used by HSEs are adjusted as these enterprises become more familiar with extraordinary operating circumstances. For example, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, resource-scarce HSEs focused on parallel bricolage to develop social innovation. Subsequently, they focused on selective bricolage. The findings offer novel insights by relating the social innovation of social enterprises to crisis management. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10551-021-05014-9.