Business-community relations under COVID-19: A study of micro and small firms.

In considering the premises of social capital and stakeholder theory, this study examines the extent to which firm-community relationships were affected during the COVID-19 crisis, and the significance of firms for their community during this unprecedented event. Responses from 107 Italian micro and small firms were gathered through an online questionnaire. The findings first reveal a strengthening of relations, particularly between firms and other businesses in their community; however, participants' comments also recognise no changes or even weakening relations. Second, three dimensions highlighting the significance of firms' survival during the crisis emerged: the community context, underlining firms' socioeconomic and symbolic contributions, the immediate stakeholders, emphasising contributions towards employment and support of local businesses, and the broader community-society context, underscoring firms' contribution towards consumer and societal needs. The study proposes a conceptual framework illustrating various relationships between the findings and the considered conceptual underpinnings and suggests various implications.

School Counselor and Administrator Perceptions of Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Collaborative efforts by school counselors and school administrators that are grounded in social capital principles have the potential to better support students' educational success, health, and well-being in the wake of challenging and adverse events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to assess perceptions of school counselors and administrators to determine the extent to which they had a shared vision of the challenges and strengths in their school's initial response to the pandemic. We also explored their sense of the anticipated future needs within the context of social capital theory and trauma-informed practices. Participants included 381 current pre-K-12 school administrators and school counselors throughout the United States who completed a mixed-methods survey in spring 2020. Use of these findings can help school stakeholders continue to foster students' social/emotional, academic, and career and college readiness development during continued and future mass trauma events.

Cooperative Resilience during the Pandemic: Indonesia and Malaysia Evidence

Two issues occur related to cooperatives’ entity resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first comes from external stakeholders increasing the role of government in empowering cooperatives. Second is the strengthening of solidarity cooperatives members demonstrate in helping each other. To address these issues, the purpose of this study will be to explore the role of government in supporting cooperative resilience and to observe the internal values of cooperatives. Examining these two concerns will reveal how cooperatives engage external and internal stakeholders to handle unforeseen circumstances. Data were collected from two cognate countries, Indonesia and Malaysia. To gather data, 9 informants were interviewed, and 14 YouTube channels and 6 government websites were observed. The data were transcribed and analyzed. These data lead to the following two themes: the significant government support and the tight connected feeling of members to help each other, called gotong royong. These themes will be useful for understanding the optimal way to increase the engagement of external and internal cooperative stakeholders, as the key to cooperative resilience. It was found that government has a major role in the development of cooperatives, in both countries, Indonesia and Malaysia. Gotong royong, as the spirit of the cooperative movement, especially in Indonesia, saved the cooperative industry during the pandemic. This study supports the stakeholder theory and social capital theory and contributes to the literature on the practices of cooperatives in two countries.