Factors Associated with the COVID-19 Vaccination Status of Higher Education Students: Results of an Online Cross-Sectional Survey at Six Universities in Southwestern Germany.

This cross-sectional study explored factors associated with the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination acceptance among higher education students in southwestern Germany. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey at six state-approved higher education institutions (HEIs) between July and November 2021. In addition to descriptive analyses, univariate as well as multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. A total of 6556 higher education students aged 18 years and older participated in our survey; 91.4% of participating students had been vaccinated against COVID-19 at least once. The factors that significantly contributed to the explanation of higher education students' vaccination status in the multivariate analysis (area under curve-AUC = 0.94) were variables on the perception of the virus SARS-CoV-2 (affective risk perception: Adjusted odds ratio-aOR = 1.2; perception of the outbreak as a media-hype: aOR = 0.8), attitudes towards personal (aOR = 0.7) and study-related (aOR = 0.8) health and safety measures to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination (preservation of own health: aOR = 1.3; confidence in vaccine safety: aOR = 1.7; supporting higher education through vaccination: aOR = 1.2; own contribution to the containment of the pandemic: aOR = 1.7). The findings target assisting HEIs in returning to face-to-face teaching after previous semesters of online teaching.

Role of ICT for workers' safety at the workplace during pandemics: evidence from global data

Purpose This study contributes to the extant literature on ICT firms by investigating the interrelationship between the health and safety (H&S) measures, market performance, and the coronavirus (COVID-19). Design/methodology/approach To conduct the confirmatory analysis by testing our hypotheses, data have been collected from Bloomberg of all ICT firms from five countries. The authors gathered from 2010 until 2020 as the research sample to examine the pandemic impact on market performance and H&S measures. Findings First, our results reveal a significant and positive relationship between market performance (proxied by Tobin's Q) and the H&S measures of information technology (IT) firms. Second, the authors find that the IT firms have significantly increased the H&S measures during the COVID-19 period and were dynamic in linking employees' adaptive capabilities to positive attributes. This has contributed to business success, resiliency, and sustainability. Research limitations/implications The authors used a quantitative method of testing our hypotheses. Future studies may consider checking the robustness using qualitative methods such as structural or semi-structural interviews. Practical implications The study offers valuable insights to academics, practitioners, stakeholders, policymakers, and international entities by fostering knowledge about responses to crises, integrating digital solutions, and disseminating digital information. The study also has implications on the health, social, business, and economic levels. This study is a call for international and local humanitarian organisations such as United Nations High Commission, Care international and many more to understand the gravity of safety of the workers in the workplace during the pandemic period and introduce a firm-level policy accordingly. Originality/value This paper is novel considering that the paper is unique in evaluating ICT firms' market performance and H&S from a global perspective, considering the context of this historical pandemic.