ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to investigate how COVID-19 pandemic including some coping strategies such as hand wash with soap and food consumption influences work operation or performance of nonfarm household enterprises (NHEs) in Nigeria using 2020 Living Standard Measurement Survey data of 1728 sample size. This study departs from existing study in two ways: first, the study employs multinomial logistic regression technique to ascertain the determinants of work performance of nonfarm household enterprises in Nigeria. Second, the study focuses on nonfarm enterprises such as petty trade, road side automobile and cab drivers. The results show that COVID-19 pandemic is significant with negative influence on the work operation of NHEs in Nigeria. The result of the study also reveals that coping strategy such as hand wash with soap during the pandemic is an important driver of work performance or operation of NHEs in Nigeria. Another coping strategy like food consumption by nonfarm household enterprises shows insignificant influence on work operation which implies that there is no relationship between food consumption and work operation by NHEs in Nigeria. The policy recommendation of this study, among others, is that policies should focus on procurement of sanitary material for public use. This can be achieved through public sensitisation in terms of organising workshops and conferences.
ABSTRACT
This study examines the formats offered for academic conferences in the mature stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two out of three organisers discontinue their usage of online video tools and focus on in-person conferences. Only one out of five conferences offers hybrid solutions and even fewer a virtual alternative (13%). Data for the analysis originate from 547 calls for proposals announced in Spring 2022 for conferences to be held during the period August 2022 to July 2023. Estimates using a multinomial logit model show that the planning time is significantly related to the choice of format offered. The longer the lead time, the more likely it is to offer an in-person conference. International travel restrictions and bans on gatherings for the location of the venue at the time of planning are significantly related to the choice of virtual, but not hybrid formats. There are also large differences in the choice across disciplines, with conferences in arts and humanities as well as natural sciences showing the lowest preference for the virtual format.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the transportation sector, leading to a change in travel behavior. One of the most important responses of countries worldwide to slow the spread of the pandemic has been to restrict the movement of people, which has had a considerable effect on transport systems and is likely to affect the modal choices of commuters. The social and economic effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on public transportation encompass beyond service performance and health risks to social equity, financial viability, and sustainable mobility. To assess the likely nature of such a shift, this study attempts to understand mode choice based on the perception of commuters for their work and non-work trips after the lockdown phase due to COVID-19. The Multinomial Logit Model was used in this study to find the association of mode choice with health-related safety perceptions of commuters for private and public transport, and their socio-economic and travel characteristics. Mode choice for private transport was found for work trips, whereas non-motorized transport for non-work (shopping, leisure, etc.) trips up to a distance of 10 km. The model results showed that significant factors for the increase in the usage of private transport and non-motorized transport relative to public transport were physical distancing and hygiene. This study provides results for future transportation policies in the post-COVID period. The results, like emerging positive perceptions of non-motorized modes, are very useful for making better investments in the country to promote sustainable transportation and articulating solutions to address high-risk perceptions associated with public transport modes.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this article is to examine how tourism conference organizers react to the restricted mobility incurred by the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Do they cancel, change format, or change date for the event? This study contributes to an initial analysis of how organizers of international academic conferences in the tourism and hospitality industry deal with whole groups of participants who are no longer mobile and therefore cannot actively network personally. This uniquely compiled data covers a large representative number of conferences in this field. A Multinomial Logit model is used to estimate the options available. Data are based on unique information on almost 100 conferences, meetings, and congresses in the tourism and hospitality sector, including related fields such as leisure and recreation, planned to be held during the period of March to November 2020. Descriptive evidence shows that approximately one out of five conferences changes to a virtual format, somewhat more than half moves the date (mainly to the year 2021), and the remaining 25% cancel the event without alternative offers. Estimation results reveal that the decision to change to an online format increases nonlinearly over time in the form of an inverse U-shaped curve. This indicates a certain resistance to virtual conferences, although with more time for planning, a gradual adaptation to the actual situation appears to be possible. Longer conferences are less likely to change format. The probability of cancellations is lower for association conferences, which are held regularly.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to examine and compare different psychological and sociodemographic factors for contracting sweet potato production for farmers with different statuses based upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Sustainable production provides contract owners with a sufficient amount of both food crops and a source of bioethanol clean energy. The impact of such factors on potential farmers based on the TPB for a particular contract type is estimated with the data collected in three major sweet potato production cities/counties in Taiwan through the probit model and multinomial logit model. The average size of the surveyed farms is 1.64 ha. The results consistently show that the factors of attitude toward the advantages of contract farming, subjective norms regarding contract farming, perceived contract farming control, and behavior intention have very significant impacts on the selection of contract farming types for professional farmers and brokers. These results indicate that the contract owners will gain the greatest advantage through commanding any factor in TBP for these two groups of farmers, as they have an incentive to manage the sources of sweet potatoes at the best conditions before they have the agreement with the contract owners, either as the supply of bioethanol energy raw materials, supply of food crops, or supply of food processing materials.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: According to Mexican growers of 'Jalapeño' peppers, its commercialization is the primary limitation. Thus, consumer knowledge is critical to develop added-value strategies. The objective of this study was to identify 'Jalapeño' quality attributes to determine consumer preferences and willingness to pay, based on socioeconomic characteristics. METHODS: A nationwide face-to-face survey was carried out using the discrete choice experiment method. The survey included 1200 consumers stratified by gender, age and region. RESULTS: Heterogeneity analysis using the probabilistic segmentation model revealed three types of consumers: A price-sensitive segment, non-demanding consumers without specific preferences and selective consumers with a preference shifted toward specific 'Jalapeño' characteristics. Thus, detail-oriented producers must compete through price strategies, based on the marketplace (markets on wheels, grocery stores, or supermarkets) and through some quality attributes preferred by selective consumers. Therefore, results suggest that farmers should grow the correct varieties with appropriate agronomic management to cope consumer preferences. CONCLUSIONS: This paper contributes to the growing body of the 'Jalapeño' literature by explicitly investigating consumer preferences and willingness to pay for them.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Demand-side barriers to health care are as important as supply-side factors in deterring patients from obtaining effective treatment during COVID-19. Developing countries, including Togo, have focused on reducing the risk of health care utilization during this period by ensuring basic health care services as an important policy to improve health outcomes and meet international obligations to make health services accessible. METHODS: The data used to cover all 44 districts in the six (6) health regions of Togo, are from a national home survey. They are collected from July 8th to 17th, 2020. In each district chief town, a minimum of thirty (30) households were included by a systematic two-stage random draw (neighborhood and then home). Based on these data, the multinomial regression model was used to identify risk factors for the request for health care services during COVID-19. RESULTS: A total of 1946 (with a response rate of 98.3%) participants were addressed in the study. The finding on households with age above 60 years indicated that the relative risk ratio (RRR = 23.97; 95% CI = 0.93; 615.38) allowed them to practice self-medication in lieu of modern healthcare facilities. The multinomial model revealed that the relative risk ratio of pre-COVID-19 activities (RRR = 4.87; 95% CI = 1.018; 23.38) permits households to rely on their self-medication choice and (RRR = 3.14; 95% CI = 0.91; 0.83) prefer public health facilities. Given that the head of the households (RRR = 0.19; 95% CI = 0.017, 2.11) is educated, he prefers the choice of private health centers during COVID-19 pandemic to public health facilities. CONCLUSION: This study has demonstrated that the majority (30.49%) of patients sought health care. The analysis shows that the loss of employment, activities before COVID-19 in households and areas not infected by the pandemics allow them to ask for health care (self-medication and public hospitals) despite the COVID-19 impacts. However, higher education and age determine a different choice of health care delivery by households. Thus, policy makers need to cast special emphasis on social policies to address home health shocks.