Invited discussant comments during the UCL-Penn Global COVID Study webinar 'How Do We Trust (Again): Paranoia and Mental Health': part 2 of 2.

Loneliness has been reported by the UCL-Penn Global COVID Study participants throughout the pandemic year, not surprisingly, although this has been an issue that has been manifesting itself even before the pandemic. In identifying loneliness in communities, the built environment industry and professionals have been looking at how good and targeted design in the public realm and master planning can help to firstly design interventions and secondly orchestrate or manage these spaces in a way that helps create opportunities to address loneliness. Furthermore, how these spaces create opportunities for people to both interact with each other but also interact with the space can help connect people together and with nature/biodiversity. In doing so this also helps to create better health outcomes for mental health and wellbeing, as well as physical health and wellbeing. Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the associated lockdown periods have caused people to reconnect with local green spaces and has focused the attention to what these spaces provide in terms of opportunities and benefits for people. As a result, the value placed on these and the expectation of how they will provide value to communities is increasing and will continue to increase in the post-Covid-19 world. Better connected, activated and well-structured public realm and green spaces will be central to the development of projects and schemes for housing, and mixed used schemes in the forthcoming years.

Invited discussant comments during the UCL-Penn Global COVID Study webinar 'How Do We Trust (Again): Paranoia and Mental Health': part 1 of 2.

The article provides commentary on Wong et al.'s investigation of the relationship between schizotypal traits, social mistrust and aggression, mental and physical health outcomes across three waves of data collection commencing in April 2020. The researchers aimed to consider the nature of the relationship between these variables and the stability of these relationships as coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions fluctuated over time. Their results suggested that loneliness reflects a hub which links the trait variables of schizotypal and social mistrust to aggression and mental and physical health symptoms. Their network did not vary by demographic factors nor wave of data collection, suggesting that stable individual differences were driving results. Their results propose that interventions which increase social connection could provide positive health benefits as well as decreasing aggression (via reductions in social mistrust). Their data contributes to understanding about how schizotypal traits link to outcomes under conditions of social stress.

The social value of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: Willingness to pay estimates from four western countries.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines give rise to positive externalities on population health, society and the economy in addition to protecting the health of vaccinated individuals. Hence, the social value of such a vaccine exceeds its market value. This paper estimates the willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (or shadow prices), in four countries, namely the United States (US), the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy during the first wave of the pandemic when COVID-19 vaccines were in development but not yet approved. WTP estimates are elicited using a payment card method to avoid "yea saying" biases, and we study the effect of protest responses, sample selection bias, as well as the influence of trust in government and risk exposure when estimating the WTP. Our estimates suggest evidence of an average value of a hypothetical vaccine of 100-200 US dollars once adjusted for purchasing power parity. Estimates are robust to a number of checks.

Attention to the Fads and Fashions in the Indian Stock Markets During COVID-19

Do people show fads and fashions in their attention searches? With the Google online search data during COVID-19, particularly from January to May 2020 for the socio-economic keywords, this study examines if online searches show short-run and long-run attention dynamics leading to fads and fashions in attention to the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex indices. This study employs the methodology of cointegrating relationship with autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and explains investors' attention search dynamics at the 'NSE Nifty Index' and 'BSE Sensex Index' caused by socio-economic attention searches. It also examines if the dynamics of attention coordination are parsimonious in nature and it explores the same with the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic (GARCH-X) model. With the ARDL models, this study finds robust and unbiased cointegrating impacts of socio-economic attention searches on the attention search for the NSE Nifty index but these are not the best linear unbiased and efficient (BLUE) ones, while the same on the BSE Sensex Index are BLUE. For the NSE Nifty index, the attention dynamics at the GARCH-X specification are BLUE while for the BSE Sensex index, the GARCH-X specification also has some additional information in terms of the ARCH effect only.

Actualization and Adoption of Renewable Energy Usage in Remote Communities in Canada by 2050: A Review

Remote community initiatives for renewable energy are rapidly emerging across Canada but with varying numbers, success rates, and strategies. To meet low-carbon transition goals, the need to coordinate technology deployment and long-term policy to guide the adoption is critical. Renewable resources such as wind, solar, hydro, and biomass can provide energy at a subsidized cost, create sustainable infrastructure, and provide new economic viability in social value integration. The renewable energy transition is crucial to Canada in sustaining remote and indigenous communities by providing local, clean, and low-carbon-emission energy for heat, power, and possibly transportation. This paper identified 635 renewable resources projects deployed to improve and increase electricity supply. To an extent, balancing demand within the remote and indigenous communities of Canada and highlighting sustainable renewable energy development through ownership participation within the communities is achievable before 2050 and beyond through energy efficiency and the social value of energy. The article identifies clean energy targets as mandated by the different provinces in Canada to reach net-zero GHG emissions.

The effect of consumption value on consumer changes behavior in usage of food delivery applications in the era of society 5.0

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the introduction of Society 5.0 by the Japanese gov-ernment in 2019 have resulted in significant changes to consumer behavior. The aim of this research is to examine the impacts of consumption value on customers' behavioral shifts. Further-more, quantitative methods were used with a sample of 344 respondents, and data analysis using the structural equation model with the Lisrel 8.72 application. The stages in the structural equation analysis of this model are: development of theoretical models, development of path diagrams, conversion of path diagrams to structural equations, selecting input matrices and types of esti-mates, identifying models, assessing goodness of fit criteria, and interpreting results. The results obtained showed that consumers' attitudes and habits toward utilizing meal delivery applications can be influenced by factors such as their social, conditional, emotional, epistemic, and functional values. In the use of food delivery applications, consumers are not only interested in tangible benefits, but also in less tangible benefits, such as information provided by businesses. © 2023 by the authors;licensee Growing Science, Canada.

Role of Social Entrepreneurs for Economic Growth: A study of selected entrepreneurs from Delhi/NCR during the Covid-19 crisis

The Covid-19 crisis has impacted the world economy in an unprecedented way. The spread and consequences of the deadly virus have disrupted business and human lives globally. The purpose of the paper is to study the role and contributions of social entrepreneurs in the management of Covid-19 crisis to provide innovative solutions and contribute to economic growth for the betterment of society. For this purpose, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with social entrepreneurs actively working during the Covid-19 crisis in Delhi/NCR. Thematic analysis was used to report the findings of the study. The study reveals the motivation factors that influence and push social entrepreneurs to work for people, especially in times of crisis. It also demonstrates the challenges and opportunities faced by social entrepreneurs to manage the crisis and create better social well-being. The paper reflects the understanding of social entrepreneurs' role during pandemic times and thereby provides ways for managing the crisis to accelerate economic growth. © 2023 Thailand and The World Economy. All rights reserved.

Organic food consumption in emerging markets after COVID-19: value-attitude-behaviour model

This study aims to analyse the factors responsible to change the attitudes, intentions, and actual purchasing behaviour of customers toward organic food products in Indian and Nepalese consumers. In the current situation of COVID-19, we are more conscious about our food consumption. Organic food has become very famous at this time because of its use of natural and non-harmful factors of production. This study focuses on changing food habits and consumption patterns of consumers toward more healthy organic food. The sample size of this study is 600. Smart PLS and Mann-Whitney test are used to analyse the data. Safety, awareness and attributes have a positive impact on trust formation towards green organic food. Results of the study shows that perceived health, hedonic and social value positively influence consumers' attitudes, which leads to positive intention, which finally leads to green purchase behaviour of consumers.

Identifying and Examining Ethical Considerations Facing Data Monitoring Committees

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed numerous unresolved research ethics challenges particularly for Data Monitoring Committees (DMCs). DMCs have worked to ensure the ongoing social value of research as rapid changes occur in health policy and epidemiology and there is substantial pressure to release early findings to the public. Unlike Institutional Review Boards, DMCs are charged with carefully monitoring ongoing research, but with limited ethical guidance and often without representation from all host countries. This article highlights ethical challenges for DMCs and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. DMCs have long faced high-stakes decisions in clinical trials including whether to continue, modify, or terminate a trial based on emerging trial data. Trial protocols, statistical analysis plans, and data monitoring charters establish principles for DMC decisionmaking;however, there has not been a great deal of systematic examination of the ethical issues faced by DMCs. For example, which ethical considerations should be addressed by DMCs as opposed to Institutional Review Boards or researchers is often unclear. Formal guidance rarely addresses whether DMCs should monitor the representativeness of trial participants as compared with the target population for the intervention. Furthermore, post-trial issues have received limited attention. Should DMCs ensure the accuracy of press releases and manuscripts detailing study findings? How should DMCs determine when to unblind participants after a study is over if it is relevant for their medical decision-making? In this presentation, we will report preliminary results of a qualitative study of DMC members (i.e. statisticians, clinicians, and ethicists). We will highlight persistent controversies, the range of roles DMCs are expected to play in monitoring clinical trials, and variation in formal guidance about the ethical obligations of DMCs. We will also examine the question of whether and when ethicists should serve on DMCs. We will conclude by identifying critical ethical issues facing DMCs that warrant further attention.

Investigating the influences of employer branding attributes on turnover intentions of hospitality workforce in the COVID-19 in Vietnam

PurposeThis study aims to develop a comprehensive understanding about employer branding dimensions as well as the dimension's possible links with turnover intentions through the lens of existing hospitality employees.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted based on a sample of 200 hospitality employees in order to examine relationships between employer branding dimensions and turnover intentions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis and hypothesis testing.FindingsThe findings found that economic, social, development and security values had negative impacts on turnover intentions;however, the impact of application and interest values on turnover intentions were not confirmed.Practical implicationsHospitality managers can prioritize actions and strategies that influence their staff's intentions to quit, subsequently reducing employee turnover.Originality/valueGiven the lack of studies on employer branding dimensions from the perspective of current employees, especially the employees' relationships with employee turnover intentions, this study points out employer branding factors that impact employee turnover intentions in the settings of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The findings add to the literature on employer branding and employee turnover management and provide insights for hospitality managers in the context of the New Normal.

The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on tourism and religious destinations: A case of Catholic pilgrimages in KZN, South Africa

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on religious destinations ever since its outbreak was reported from Wuhan, China in 2019. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the negative impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on tourism and religious destinations. Empirical evidence elucidates that the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on tourism and religious destinations and it disrupted Christianity for some believers. Religious tourism concentrates on visiting significant religious sites. The main motivation for this travel is to meet the spiritual, and religious needs of people. However, another motivation for travel may be to simply explore the culture of other nations and their religions and sacred objects. In Christianity, social beliefs and values of individuals, and pilgrims were threatened, and their faith was sorely tested during the pandemic. The focus will be on Catholic religious destinations in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. This is notwithstanding that some religious destinations have not fully recovered even though they are now operating. A qualitative approach was employed, and indirect unstructured interviews were conducted. Systematic sampling was randomly done at the pilgrimage destination sites visited. The paper reflects on the sufferings endured by pilgrims who annually visit the religious destinations and the impact the pandemic has had on these sites. Significance of these religious destinations are also reflected on, the rituals such as that of the Catholic Church venerating the Virgin Mother Mary every month of October was sadly halted. Religion and social value theory is thus reflected upon in this discussion. The findings adopt a descriptive analysis of how Covid-19 impacted on the religious destinations within the study areas. Lastly, strategies for tourism and religious pilgrimage destinations post Covid-19 pandemic to survive are suggested and briefly discussed. © 2022 Open Access/Author/s - Online @ http//:www.pharosjot.com

Operative public values as a tool for healthcare decisions: the social value and clinical criteria of triage.

With the current pandemic, many scholars have contended that clinical criteria offer the best way to implement triage. Further, they dismiss the criteria of social value as a good one for triage. In this paper, I respond to refute this perspective. In particular, I present two sets of arguments. Firstly, I argue that the objections to the social value criteria they present apply to the clinical criteria they favor. Secondly, they exaggerate the negative aspects of the social value criteria, while I suggest it is reasonable to use this. I end the article by recommending how operative public values can be a good way to make triaging decisions.

Exploring the social value of Public Health Institutes: An international scoping survey and expert interviews.

Introduction: Making the case for investing in preventative public health by illustrating not only the health impact but the social, economic and environmental value of Public Health Institutes is imperative. This is captured by the concept of Social Value, which when measured, demonstrates the combined intersectoral value of public health. There is currently insufficient research and evidence to show the social value of Public Health Institutes and their work across the life course, population groups and settings, in order to make the case for more investment. Methods: During July 2021, a quantitative online self-administered questionnaire was conducted across international networks. Semi-structured interviews were also carried out with nine representatives to gain a deeper understanding. A thematic analysis was undertaken on the data collected. Results: In total, 82.3% (n = 14) were aware of the terminology of social value and 58.8% (n = 10) were aware of the economic method of Social Return on Investment. However, only two Institutes reported capturing social and community impacts within their economic analysis and only 41.2% (n = 7) currently capture or measure the social value of their actions. Interviews and survey responses indicate a lack of resources, skills and buy-in from political powers. Finally, 76.5% (n = 12) wanted to do more to understand and measure wider outcomes and impact of their actions. It was noted this can be achieved through enhancing political will, developing a community of best practice and tools. Conclusion: This research can inform future work to understand how to measure the holistic social value of Public Health Institutes, in order to strengthen institutional capacity and impact, as well as to achieve a more equitable society, and a more sustainable health system and economy, making the case for investing in public health, as we recover from COVID-19.

Mineral revolution for the wellbeing economy

Non-technical summary. As we consider a transition to a low-carbon future, there is a need to examine the mineral needs for this transformation at a scale reminiscent of the Green Revolution. The efficiency gains of the agrarian transition came at ecological and social costs that should provide important lessons about future metal sourcing. We present three options for a Mineral Revolution: status quo, incremental adaption and revolutionary change. We argue that a sustainable Mineral Revolution requires a paradigm shift that considers wellbeing as a purpose and focuses on preserving natural capital.Technical summary. As we consider a transition to a low-carbon future, there is a need to examine the mineral needs for this transformation at a scale reminiscent of the Green Revolution. The efficiency gains of the agrarian transition came at ecological and social costs that can also provide important lessons about the Mineral Revolution. We lay out some of the key ways in which such a mineral revolution can be delineated over temporal scales in a paradigm shift that considers wellbeing as a purpose and focuses on preserving natural capital. These prospects are conceptually presented as three pathways that consider the status quo, incremental adaption and revolutionary change as a means of planning more effectively for a low-carbon transition.Social media summary. Sourcing metals sustainably will require to consider wellbeing as a purpose and to preserve natural capital.

An Empirical Investigation into the Perceived Value and Customer Adoption of Online Shopping: Palestine as a Case Study

Increased online shopping worldwide, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, has increased the need for more research to understand factors influencing its adoption and use by customers. The current research aims to investigate the influence of perceived value on customer intention to use online shopping in Palestine. A 200-Palestinian online shopper survey has been implemented. A theoretical framework has also been developed where perceived value is measured using four dimensions: social, functional, emotional, and epistemic. To analyze the collated data, the structural equation modeling is suitably conducted. The results show that all perceived value dimensions have positively influenced customer’s intention to use online shopping. Largely, the current work shows that emotional value is the most significant dimension. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Nursing in epidemiological surveillance systems and a perspective from university teaching

This descriptive essay highlights the roles and competencies of the nursing professional in the surveillance, prevention, and infection control systems in a Covid-19 pandemic situation;and a perspective from university teaching is proposed for the training of professionals committed to public health. Infectious contagious events with pandemic potential alter the life dynamics of the groups, generating problems of the following type: social, political, economic, cultural and health;Consequently, the nursing professional has a responsibility of great social value, which implies a praxis based on scientific evidence, leadership, commitment, creativity, proactivity, and assertive and empathetic communication with the needs of the groups. in a pandemic situation.

The risks and opportunities of social procurement in construction projects: a cross-sector collaboration perspective

Purpose>This research addresses the lack of project management research into social procurement by exploring the risks and opportunities of social procurement from a cross-sector collaboration perspective.Design/methodology/approach>A content analysis of five focus groups conducted with thirty-five stakeholders involved in the implementation of a unique social procurement initiative on a major Australian construction project is reported.Findings>Results show little collective understanding among project stakeholders for what social procurement policies can achieve, a focus on downside risk rather than upside opportunity and perceptions of distributive injustice about the way new social procurement risks are being managed. Also highlighted is the tension between the collaborative intent of social procurement requirements and the dynamic, fragmented and temporary project-based construction industry into which they are being introduced. Ironically, this can lead to opportunistic behaviours to the detriment of the vulnerable people these policies are meant to help.Practical implications>The paper concludes by presenting a new conceptual framework of project risk and opportunity management from a social procurement perspective. Deficiencies in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) are also highlighted around an expanded project management role in meeting these new project management requirements.Originality/value>Social procurement is becoming increasingly popular in many countries as a collaborative mechanism to ensure construction and infrastructure projects contribute positively to the communities in which they are built. This research addresses the lack of project management research into social procurement by exploring the risks and opportunities of social procurement from a cross-sector collaboration perspective.

Listed public–private enterprises: stock market information, agency costs and productive efficiency outcomes

Purpose>This paper addresses the social value of commercial enterprises that are jointly owned by a government and private sector investors and where the shares are listed on a stock exchange: thus, “listed public–private enterprises” (LPPEs). The theoretical part of the paper addresses how differences in ownership patterns influence the behavior and performance of LPPEs.Design/methodology/approach>We develop a conceptual taxonomy, drawing on the empirical evidence on the behavior and performance of public–private hybrid enterprises and on the application of agency theory to that evidence. The taxonomy discussion predicts how different ownership patterns affect enterprise productive efficiency and the ability of governments to achieve social goals through LPPEs. We review the empirical literature on government enterprise ownership and on the concentration of private share ownership to deduce how these matter for owner and managerial behavior and productive efficiency. We review the literature that considers the informational content that listing of an enterprise's shares on a stock exchange can provide to enterprise owners, managers and other domestic audiences with a policy interest. We employ a social welfare perspective to derive policy implications as to when the LPPE governance structure is most appropriate.Findings>We show how the monitoring and performance weaknesses of state ownership are offset by some private ownership, particularly when combined with listing on a stock exchange. We demonstrate the effects of different governance structures on enterprise productive efficiency. We find that the LPPE structure is particularly appropriate as an alternative to nationalization or to full privatization and regulation of natural monopoly public utilities, and as an alternative to full private ownership and taxation of non-renewable natural resource extractive enterprises.Originality/value>This paper explicitly addresses the question of why and how the combination of government ownership, private investor ownership and listing on an exchange is socially valuable in providing information on productive efficiency to governments.

Risk, benefit, and social value in Covid-19 human challenge studies: pandemic decision making in historical context.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, ethicists and researchers proposed human challenge studies as a way to speed development of a vaccine that could prevent disease and end the global public health crisis. The risks to healthy volunteers of being deliberately infected with a deadly and novel pathogen were not low, but the benefits could have been immense. This essay is a history of the three major efforts to set up a challenge model and run challenge studies in 2020 and 2021. The pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson, the National Institutes of Health in the United States, and a private-public partnership of industry, university, and government partners in Britain all undertook preparations. The United Kingdom's consortium began their Human Challenge Programme in March of 2021.Beyond documenting each effort, the essay puts these scientific and ethical debates in dialogue with the social, epidemiological, and institutional conditions of the pandemic as well as the commercial, intellectual, and political systems in which medical research and Covid-19 challenge studies operated. It shows how different institutions understood risk, benefit, and social value depending on their specific contexts. Ultimately the example of Covid-19 challenge studies highlights the constructedness of such assessments and reveals the utility of deconstructing them retrospectively so as to better understand the interplay of medical research and research ethics with larger social systems and historical contexts.

POST-COVID ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN INDIA: AN MSME PERSPECTIVE

The global economic fallout following the unexpected onset and rapid spread of COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, in early 2020, has necessitated international and national action plans towards new normal models of realignment in enterprise bottom-line and management. In 2020, ‘Supporting Small Business through the COVID-19 Crisis’ was declared the lead theme of the MSME Day – June 27 – by the UN. A ‘COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs’ was launched by an affiliate of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Drawing inspiration from the ‘small business’ focus of the UN MSME Day declaration and the ‘social entrepreneurship’ perspective of the WEF, the study seeks to draw few perceptions and conclusions in the post-COVID economic recovery context of India, where Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are observed to be a key driver of development, thanks to an add-on supportive package in the wake of the COVID-19 economic crisis. It is found that the package fails to provide a direct push for promotion of social enterprises/entrepreneurship in the Indian MSME sector, as there is no focused policy approach on leveraging ‘entrepreneurship resources’. Hence, the general trend of the sector continues to be dominated by the ‘for-profit first’ concern rather than a fair blend of ‘social value creation first’, with ‘profit’. Discourse on social entrepreneurship and action-oriented rehabilitation tools proposed in the Covid context globally have failed to reorient the dominant outlook of social enterprises in India – business as a tool for achieving social impact – to social impact as a spontaneous/positive outcome from business. The study highlights the lapses on the ground, of theoretical formulations, despite their couching in Covid contexts, and the need for a more institutionalised enabling environment for social value creation, impact investment and social stock exchange in the social enterprise ecosystem. © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited.