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The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly impacted supply chains and has caused several supply chain disruptions in almost all industries worldwide. Moreover, increased transportation costs, labor shortages, and insufficient storage facilities have all led to food loss during the pandemic, and this disruption has affected the logistics in the food value chain. As a result, we examine the food supply chain, which is one of the key industries COVID-19 has detrimentally affected, impacting, indeed, on the entire business process from the supplier all the way to the customer. Retail businesses are thus facing supply issues, which affect consumer behavior by creating stress regarding the availability of food. This has a negative impact on the amount of food that is available as well as its quality, freshness, safety, access to markets, and affordability. This study examines the impact of COVID-19 on the United Arab Emirates food distribution systems and how consumer behavior changed in reaction to interruptions in the food supply chain and the food security problem. Hypothesis testing was used in the study's quantitative methodology to assess consumer behavior, and participants who were consumers were given a descriptive questionnaire to ascertain whether the availability and security of food had been impacted. The study used JASP 0.17.2 software to develop a model of food consumption behavior and to reveal pertinent connections between each construct. Results show that consumer food stress and consumption behavior are directly impacted by food access, food quality and safety, and food pricing. Furthermore, food stress has an impact on how consumers behave when it comes to consumption. Food stress, however, is not significantly influenced by food supply.
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The large consumption of fast fashion brings many negative environmental impacts. Filipino consumers love and buy fast fashion because it is relatively cheap but trendy, and there are lots of fashionable designs to choose from. Despite the shortage in water supply and disposal issues of fast fashion, people still continue to purchase. The lack of awareness of consumers on sustainable fashion consumption led the researchers to conduct a study that aims to identify factors affecting Filipino consumers' buying decisions on fast fashion using the combined theory of planned behavior, elaboration likelihood model, and hedonic motivation. A total of 407 participants were gathered through a convenience sampling approach, and the data collected were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The result shows that attitude towards fast fashion is the highest contributing factor to purchase intention. While social media positively affects purchase intention, sustainability advocacy negatively impacts the consumers' intention to buy fast fashion. The awareness of sustainability leads to consumption reduction of fast fashion garments. Surprisingly, perceived product price and quality do not show a significant influence on purchase intention. Incorporating sustainability advocacy on social media may be a great strategy to encourage the sustainable consumption of fashion garments. The findings of this study could be a great tool to influence fashion companies and government institutions to promote sustainability awareness and transition marketing strategies to the sustainable consumption of fashion.
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Goal: COVID-19 has put the supply chain (SC) through exceptional shocks and disruptions that have never been seen before. It put existing SCs' capabilities to a severe test. Moreover, due to the pandemic, demand and supply have been imbalanced, which has led to questions about societal and SC survivability. This study examines the effects of firms' SC viability on SC and marketing performance.<br />Design/Methodology/Approach: An explanatory research design was employed to examine the relationship between the antecedents of SC viability, SC, and marketing performance using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM). Moreover, 5-point Likert scale questionnaires are used as a data collection instrument.<br />Results: The finding shows that both SC resilience, SC agility, and sustainable SC have a positive effect on SC performance. Further, SC viability [SC resilience + SC agility + sustainable SCJ has a positive effect on SC performance. SC performance also play partial mediation between SC viability and marketing performance.<br />Limitations of the investigation: The study focused only on a limited number of large manufacturing companies in Ethiopia, which excluded other medium- and small-sized firms due to the ongoing war in the northern part of the country. Moreover, the study focused only on one dimension of sustainability (social aspect).<br />Practical Implications: The study shows firms that the traditional risk assessment methods are insufficient and will no longer be enough to overcome severe disruption. Instead, the study recommends firms work using anticipatory failure determination (AFD) and a red teaming approach to prepare for 'unknown unknown' events. Besides, the study brings a practical and holistic model that shows the relationship between SC viability and SC and marketing performance.<br />Originality/Value: None of the studies so far in SC have tested the concepts of viability systems in SCM by adopting from disciplines such as ecological modeling, biological, and cybernetics using PLS-SEM. Consequently, it contributes to existing literature by showing new empirical evidence of a strong relationship between SC viability, SC performance, and marketing performance.
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The transition to distance learning during COVID-19 has completely overturned the teaching-learning way of the world's education system. Based on the technology acceptance model, this study was conducted to explore what factors might affect the teachers' attitudes toward the online teaching regime. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze data drawn from high school teachers in Vietnam. The findings presented that the perceived usefulness of digital teaching was the most fundamental determinant of teachers' attitudes and played a mediating role in linking the perceived ease of use to attitude. As an external factor, school assistance was significantly associated with both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, which provides facilitating conditions to ensure successful adoption of online teaching. Age and teaching experience also had a significant influence on external assistance and teachers' attitudes, respectively. This investigation sheds light on promoting digital transformation in the education sector in Vietnam and other countries.
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Levels of COVID-19 stress have soared worldwide as a result of the pandemic. Given the pernicious psychological and physiological effects of stress, there is an urgent need for us to protect populations against the pandemic's psychological impact. While there exists literature documenting the prevalence of COVID-19 stress among various populations, insufficient research has investigated psychological factors that might mitigate this worrying trend. To address this gap in the literature, the current study seeks to examine executive functions as a potential cognitive buffer against COVID-19 stress. To do so, the study adopted a latent variable approach to examine three latent factors of executive functions and their relation to COVID-19 stress among a sample of 243 young adults. Structural equation models showed differential associations between COVID-19 stress and the latent factors of executive functions. While the latent factor of updating working memory was associated with attenuated COVID-19 stress, task switching and inhibitory control were not significantly associated with COVID-19 stress. These results further our understanding of the critical processes of executive functions and highlight the nuanced link between executive functions and pandemic-related stress. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04652-8.
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PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant and worldwide influence on healthcare delivery, and it has significantly increased the pace at which digital technology is being used. Blockchain, one of these developing digital technologies, is distinguished by a number of properties. This study focuses on a blockchain-enabled healthcare supply chain. The purpose of this work is to investigate how blockchain technology (BCT) benefits the performance of healthcare supply chain management (HSCM).Design/methodology/approachThe present study is based on the empirical research. Blockchain Technology (BCT), Healthcare Sustainable Supply Chain Practices (HSSCP), Healthcare Supply Chain Performance (HSCP) and Stakeholders' Involvement (SI) practices are identified from the literature review and hypotheses are framed to check their interrelationship. For testing of hypothesis, a questionnaire was developed. Data collection was done by healthcare professionals via Google docs. The IBM SPSS version 22.0 was used to analyze the data and IBM SPSS AMOS 22.0 software was used for the development of structural modal. The data was collected through the Google form from the stakeholders of healthcare sector and analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling.FindingsThis research is focused on adoption of BCT enabled Healthcare Sustainable Supply Chain to improve HSCP. From the result, it had been found that BCT is positively effecting the stakeholder's involvement (SI) and HSSCP practices. Cumulatively, they positively impact the performance of HSCP. From this study, it is found that adoption of BCT enabled Healthcare Sustainable Supply Chain succours to combat COVID-19 situation.Originality/valueThis study attempts to show the potential benefits of the adoption of BCT enabled HSSCP to improve HSCP.
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COVID-19 pandemic brought along with it a widespread disruption of education system around the world. Schools, colleges and universities were shut all over the world. In order to maintain the continuity of education, educators and students alike adopted the online mode of teaching and learning. While mainstream education was mostly face-to-face;a sudden shift to the online mode of teaching and learning required teachers and students to get acquainted with the platform and tools. This study attempts to test a model to understand the impact of online education on students' engagement levels in the context of higher education and the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that access to digital resources and teacher effectiveness has positive impact on engagement and student engagement in turn has positive impact on learning outcomes. Stress has negative impact on student learning. The paper also discusses implications of the study and future direction for research. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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This research focuses on investigating the impact of industry 4.0 (I4.0) on green performance through manufacturing process factors under COVID-19 by drawing on resource dependency theory. The research uses a quantitative approach, and the data were collected from 614 manufacturing companies in Egypt and were analysed using CB-SEM. The results indicated that there is a direct significant relationship between I4.0 and green performance. In addition, results revealed that manufacturing process factor pull system can significantly mediate the relationship between industry 4.0 and green performance. However, setup time reduction and continuous flow did not have a significant mediating role. Finally, COVID-19 contingency policies had a negative significant moderating role in the impact of industry 4.0 and pull system on green performance. The findings of this research will help in extending RDT through conceptualising it in different settings and using its ideas to build a model that can support manufacturers in maintaining green practices through unitising lean manufacturing and I4.0, especially that focusing on green practices is challenging, and market disruptions, such as COVID-19, increase the difficulty of enhancing green performance. This will also fill the gap regarding the dynamic relationship between I4.0, lean manufacturing and green performance under COVID-19. © 2023 Journal of Applied Structural Equation Modeling.
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As agropreneurs of fresh fruits and vegetables are important contributors to the economy, supply chain risk management is vital for their survival and growth. Therefore, this study examined the mediating effect of supply chain risk management in reducing the impact of supply chain risks and increasing supply chain performance among small scale agropreneurs in Malaysia. It also evaluated the moderating role that knowledge management plays between supply chain risks and supply chain risk management. SmartPLS 3.0 (PLS-SEM), which uses partial least squares structural equation modelling, was utilised to test the framework. Data from 430 fresh fruit and vegetable agropreneurs in the five most productive Malaysian states were collected using a questionnaire. The results confirmed (1) a negative correlation between supply chain risks and supply chain performance (2) that supply chain risk management mediates the relationship between supply chain risks and supply chain performance, and (3) that knowledge management moderates the relationship between supply chain risks and supply chain performance. Therefore, these findings could help government institutes and agropreneurs associations better appreciate the value of supply chain risk management due to its positive effect on the overall performance of agropreneurships.
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COVID-19 pandemic brought along with it a widespread disruption of education system around the world. Schools, colleges and universities were shut all over the world. In order to maintain the continuity of education, educators and students alike adopted the online mode of teaching and learning. While mainstream education was mostly face-to-face;a sudden shift to the online mode of teaching and learning required teachers and students to get acquainted with the platform and tools. This study attempts to test a model to understand the impact of online education on students' engagement levels in the context of higher education and the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that access to digital resources and teacher effectiveness has positive impact on engagement and student engagement in turn has positive impact on learning outcomes. Stress has negative impact on student learning. The paper also discusses implications of the study and future direction for research.
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This article discusses findings from a recent survey (n = 297) of teachers' views of both their own and their students' experiences during the 2021 enforced emergency remote schooling period occurring in New South Wales Australia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The quantitative analysis reported here explores teachers' views regarding teaching and learning during this challenging period. It identifies three latent constructs, learning, assessment, and interaction, and then uses structural equation modelling to identify the perceived impact of these constructs on student and teacher wellbeing. The remote schooling period had a significant negative impact for teachers and their students across a range of elements of teaching and learning, as well as wellbeing. Student learning experiences and their peer interactions were found to be strong predictors of students' wellbeing outcomes. Assessment design and teachers' feedback to students were significant in predicting levels of teacher wellbeing. Future research directions are also provided. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Australian Journal of Education (Sage Publications Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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Learning was obliged to be transformed to distance learning due to the long-lasting COVID-19 lockdown period. This situation has brought to investigate the critical factors influencing students' intention and actual use of distance learning tools. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the effects of distance learning, deriving independent variables adopted from ETAM. Data was gathered from 92 undergraduate students enrolled in five and other courses in Turkiye. Data were investigated via SmartPLS 3.0 through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results indicate that Computer Anxiety had a negative impact on Self-efficacy. Self-efficacy had a positive influence on Experience. Experience and Enjoyment had positive effects on Perceived Ease of Use. Enjoyment had a positive influence on Perceived Usefulness. The proposed model explained 87.7% of the variance of the actual use of distance learning tools. Computer anxiety and selfefficacy, which were proposed to measure experience, made this study unique and valuable. This contributes to acknowledging higher education institutions and lecturers to understand the benefits and barriers of distance learning tools for students used during the unpredicted pandemics in the future © 2023, Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education.All Rights Reserved.
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The present study aims to identify the main determinants of mobile payment adoption in tier-II cities, specifically in the wake of COVID-19. We tried to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by proposing a model that combines two constructs, i.e., intrinsic motivation and perceived credibility in an extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2). The research model was empirically tested using 450 responses from a questionnaire-based survey conducted in India. Data was analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). We found intrinsic motivation and effort expectancy as the most significant determinants of the behavioural intentions to adopt mobile payment in tier-II cities of India. COVID-19 also emerged as a factor, but not the most important factor in the study. The study has relevance for practitioners also because understanding the key constructs is crucial to design, refine, and implement mobile payment services. Copyright © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has significantly affected daily lives since its declaration as a Pandemic in March 2020 by the WHO. Studies in Korea to interpret the relationship between COVID-19 and transportation show that there has been a decrease in public transportation use, and a significant decrease when a widespread infection occurs. In addition, COVID-19 has affected the commercial environment, particularly the number of people using commercial districts where the use of retail outlets decreased significantly. This study analyses the disease-vectors (spread factors) of COVID-19 in terms of transportation demand, the revitalisation of commercial districts, living populations, and socioeconomic indicators. It attempts to identify different infection factors for each district in Seoul using a causal analysis methodology PLS-SEM (Partial Least-Squares Structural Equation Modelling) such that COVID-19 can be managed continuously with the aim to provide a foundation for pre-emptive actions by adjusting or controlling specific influencing factors pertaining to infectious diseases. © 2023 ICE Publishing: All rights reserved.
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic baffled the traditional educational system and the face-to-face educational process, shifting to the online environment. Almost all university activities were carried out online for a period of time, which put pressure on university strategies, including sustainability. To maintain the international ranking of universities applying a sustainability strategy, the largest and most representative university in Romania continued to implement the principles of sustainability in its activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus fostering a positive, strong, and trustworthy image amongst its main group of stakeholders, namely students. Objective/Aim: The aim of this paper is to determine to what extent students related to the university's sustainable strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic and to assess whether students could rely on their university to integrate sustainability-related strategies into the overall university strategy. Methods/Instruments: The authors propose a conceptual model to generate trust in the sustainable practices, which is analyzed with the help of structural equations in SmartPLS. Results: The results highlight the fact that the students continued to adopt sustainability principles during the pandemic, expressing their preference that the university continue to implement its sustainability strategy, although the focus was on the safety measures generated by the new context. This strategy focusses on sustainable practises, green mobility, and consumption, and, of course, on the sustainable initiatives that address them. Conclusions/implications: The article presents research based on stakeholder theory, emphasizing the numerous implications for higher education institutions, which can adopt different good practices with a view to improving stakeholder trust and satisfaction.
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OBJECTIVES: To explore relationship among perceived stress regarding loneliness, interpersonal trust and institutional trust of expatriates during the early COVID-19 period (from 30th March to 30th May 2020). METHODS: Data from 21,439 expatriates were extracted from COVIDiSTRESS global survey. The outcome variable was perceived stress. The explanatory variables were age, perceived loneliness, trust (interpersonal and institutional). Pairwise correlation, and structural equation modelling were used to determine relationship among outcome and explanatory variables. RESULTS: The majority of the expatriates were female (73.85%), married (60.20%), had college degree (47.76%), and employed (48.72%). Over 63% of the total expatriates reported that the COVID-19 pandemic changed their lives. The average age of the respondents was 40.4 years (± 13.7), and the average score of perceived stress, loneliness, interpersonal and institutional trust were 25.5, 7.4, 14.2 and 40.4, respectively. We found a moderate correlation of perceived stress with age, perceived loneliness, interpersonal trust and institutional trust (p < 0.001). They were also found moderately related to each other. Structural equation modelling evaluated that a lack of trust can cause loneliness among expatriates, which later lead to perceived stress. Interpersonal trust was more likely to be associated with stress than institutional trust, whereas perceived loneliness mediated between both trusts and perceived stress. CONCLUSION: Perceived stress can be reduced through trusting others and alleviating the loneliness. Making strong linkage among migrants as well as between migrants and local community is important to ensure proper mental wellbeing of expatriates.
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COVID-19 , Loneliness , Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Pandemics , Latent Class Analysis , Stress, PsychologicalABSTRACT
Carpooling is emerging as a more appealing "sharing economy” form with promising benefits in reducing carbon emissions, traveling costs, and traffic congestion. However, a thorough understanding of carpooling adoption is lacking for policymakers and transport planners in developing countries due to limited scientific research, specifically in Southeast Asia. Therefore, the present study aimed to understand the behavioral influences of carpool adoption in Thailand by conducting a multivariate analysis on a dataset of 307 observations gathered at Thammasat University, Pathum Thani, Thailand. First, a conceptual model was developed to assess the influence of effort expectancy, perceived safety, hedonic motivation, and social influence on carpool behavior intention. Additionally, two constructs related to COVID-19 and time credits were added to assess their impacts. Then, the sample data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). It was found that hedonic motivation, social influence, and time credits as payment method factors play statistically significant direct roles in the carpool behavior intention, whereas effort expectancy, perceived safety, and perception towards compliance with COVID-19 guidelines for carpooling did not. However, significant indirect impacts of effort expectancy and social influence through hedonic motivation were discovered. Upon analysis of the findings, policy implications are presented. © 2023 World Conference on Transport Research Society
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Korean entertainment industries are dominating all over the world, including in the Philippines. These celebrated mediums included Korean movies, songs, and products, many of which are beloved by Filipinos. As such, this study aims to determine factors that affect the buying decisions of Filipinos with Korean products and services by an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) approach. A total of 306 Filipino survey participants were collected and analyzed in this study through a convenience sampling approach. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to analyze the data using SmartPLS, which determined the correlation of the latent constructs of the factors. Based on the results, attitude had the highest effect on behavioral intention, followed by K-drama influence, K-pop influence, and product quality. Interestingly, product price was found to have a low effect on behavioral intention. This study can serve as a basis for investors and business owners to align business strategies concerning consumer behavior in buying Korean products and services.
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Public healthcare institutions are the crucial component in the social and economic development of a nation, particularly India. However, public hospitals in India confront multiple operational risk factors that compromise patient satisfaction. Although all the risk factors are essentially critical, the impact potential of any risk factor is ultimately determined by its ability to induce other risk factors. The current research derives motivation from these scenarios and investigates the characteristics of crucial operational risk factors experienced in the public healthcare sector in a South Indian state. Extensive questionnaire-based surveys were conducted among civilians and healthcare professionals in two phases, i.e., prior to the COVID-19 crisis and during the COVID-19 crisis, for identifying significant risk factors. The collected data is analysed using statistical techniques like exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and partial least squares based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to characterise the inter-relationships between risk factors. The research discloses the translational effect of administrative/infrastructure constraints in public hospitals in compromising the operational performance indirectly through human-related issues rather than having a direct influence. More precisely, the presented model indicates that risk factors like the physical infrastructure limitations and shortage of staff will overburden the existing employees, resulting in human-related issues, including attitudinal issues of employees and community mistrusts and misbelieves. The results reveal seemingly resolvable budget allocation issues, but at the same time alarms the authorities to execute immediate countermeasures. Ultimately, this research seeks to empower public hospital administrators with interesting insights and managerial implications drawn from the statistical models. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Operational Research Society of India.
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Objectives: Over 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and intense societal and governmental response, a wealth of research has examined risk perceptions and public risk mitigation behaviours. The vast majority of this inquiry has focused on health risks. Nevertheless, as a "total social fact" influencing nearly every aspect of quotidian life, the pandemic engenders a wide range of risk perceptions. Methods: Via a survey (N = 4,206) of representative samples of the general public in five European countries (Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom), we explore perceptions of a range of personal/public health, economic, and societal risks. We also investigate the effects of perceptions of official governmental risk communication in one's country on risk perceptions and risk mitigation behaviours. Results: Structural equation modelling reveals that whilst perceptions of effective risk communication directly increase behaviours that mitigate COVID-19 health risks, these same perceptions indirectly decrease behaviour frequency via a mediated relationship with societal risk perceptions. Conclusion: The findings highlight the import of governmental authorities analysing and communicating about the range of risk perceptions citizens might have about a "total social fact" such as COVID-19.