The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on explicit and implicit attitudes towards black sanitary mask wearers

Pre-COVID-19 epidemic studies found that wearing a sanitary mask negatively impacted perceived facial attractiveness. In particular, people demonstrated more negative explicit or implicit attitudes toward wearers of sanitary masks when the masks were black rather than white. The present study examined whether changes in social behavior in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, including the prevalent use of sanitary masks, might alter explicit and/or implicit attitudes toward wearers of black sanitary masks. We measured explicit (Study 1) and implicit attitudes (Study 3) and fecial attractiveness (Study 2) of males wearing black or white sanitary masks. The results revealed that attitudes toward wearers of black sanitary masks were more positive than those measured pre-epidemic. Regardless of mask color, explicit attractiveness rating scores for low-attractiveness faces tended to increase after the epidemic. However, no such improvement was observed for high-and middle-attractiveness faces. There was also no change in implicit attitudes measured by the implicit association test. These results suggest that the COVID-19 epidemic has reduced explicit negative attitudes toward wearers of black sanitary masks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Enhancing museums' attractiveness through digitization: An investigation of Italian medium and large-sized museums and cultural institutions

The Covid-19 pandemic put the museums' viability under stress, with national and supranational policies imposing closures and restricting the number of admitted visitors. Digitization enables cultural institutions to overcome such constraints, prompting innovative service delivery models. However, evidence on digitization's implications on organizational attractiveness (OA) is scant. Taking a retrospective approach, the article proposes a parallel mediation analysis to shed some light on the effects of digitization on museums' attractiveness. Findings suggest that digitization enhances OA directly and indirectly, via the delivery of digital services to physical visitors. Furthermore, digitization allows museums to meet the virtual visitors' expectations, enriching the cultural service offering. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Perception of the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain in television conferences about Covid-19

The discourses of the political leaders about the Covid-19 pandemic have become central to many television networks. Many citizens follow these press conferences, as they can be affected by the government’s measures against the virus. Due to its importance, analyzing how these individuals perceive their political leaders in these television appearances is relevant to determining their influence. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the perception of the ex-President of the United States (Donald Trump), the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Boris Johnson), and the President of the Government of Spain (Pedro Sánchez) in television conferences devoted to battling against the Covid-19 pandemic. Af-ter watching two videos of each leader, a gender-balanced sample of 360 citizens of these three countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain) evaluated the politicians’ attractiveness, credibility, and persuasiveness as well as the influence of these factors on the public’s attitude toward them and voting intention using an online survey. The results showed that the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, was considered the most attractive, credible, and persuasive leader with the most favorable attitude toward him and the highest voting intention, followed by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the American politician, Donald Trump. Therefore, the most physically and vocally attractive leader with the highest credibility and persuasiveness achieved the most favorable attitude and the highest voting intention. The most influential variables of the structural model analyzed in this study were persuasiveness and credibility, which mainly affected the attitude toward the politician and, to a lesser extent, voting intention. © 2022, El Profesional de la Informacion. All rights reserved.

Effects of the new COVID-19 normal on customer satisfaction: Can facemasks level off the playing field between average-looking and attractive-looking employees?

The attractiveness of service employees can have a significant impact on customer attitudes and behaviors. While frontline employees can reduce the risk of the COVID-19 transmission and infection by wearing facemasks, doing so can also influence customers' perceptions of employees' attractiveness and thus affect customer satisfaction. Based on the Gestalt theory, this study explores the impact of hotel employees' facemask-wearing on customer satisfaction through two experimental studies. The results indicate that average-looking frontline employees who wear facemasks induce high levels of customer satisfaction. However, while the impact of wearing facemasks on customer satisfaction is not significant for attractive-looking male frontline employees, attractive-looking female frontline employees who wear facemasks induce lower customer satisfaction. Customers' perception of employees' physical attractiveness fully mediates the effects of wearing facemasks on customer satisfaction in the case of average-looking employees. Customers' self-perceived physical attractiveness moderates the mediated effects. Implications that can help hotel managers improve customers' service evaluations during the COVID-19 pandemic are provided.