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This introductory chapter provides the context for this edited collection: Care and Coronavirus: Perspectives on Children, Youth and Families which aims to understand care in the context of COVID-19, the practices, experiences and potential futures of it for children, young people and families. In this chapter, the authors begin by exploring COVID-19 and its implications for children, young people and families. This includes a consideration of how particular discourses of childhood and youth often led to the marginalisation of children in care policy and practice during the lockdown periods. The authors then discuss interdisciplinary literature on care to identify directions in policy, practice and research, drawing attention to the political nature of care and the need for scholars of childhood, youth and family to engage with these critical and political approaches to care. The authors argue that developments in the field of Childhood Studies can be brought into productive dialogue with care to forge new ways of thinking through care and childhood. The final part of the chapter provides an overview of the ensuing chapters and concludes with the implications of this work for future research, policy and practice. The authors argue that COVID-19 heightened the attention paid to care and the ways in which care is vital for the maintenance of ourselves and the world around us, while also cautioning about the inequalities and the commodification of care that was revealed in these times. The authors end with a call for reflection on the failures and successes of caring during the pandemic and in its aftermath so we might plan a more caring, hopeful future.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the way future workplaces may operate and how careers will be developed under possible extreme scenarios.

We propose a thought-provoking conceptual discussion of the challenges for people’s careers under such scenarios.

We identified four such possible extreme scenarios and elaborated on the theoretical knowledge regarding the essence of each scenario. We discussed their impact on future workplaces in general and on careers in particular. These are (1) highly developed artificial intelligence and other cyber entities; (2) massive immigration due to wars, refugees and other forces; (3) widescale de-globalization; and (4) major global recession.

Employing the career ecosystem and sustainability theories, we identify possible outcomes and implications for theory as well as practice of managing careers under these extreme scenarios. This offers a novel perspective for individuals, organizations and policymakers at national and global levels.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions created a range of potential additional stressors for families, particularly for parents living with children. This study aims to explore whether there were any differences in the mental health and emotional experiences of those living with children, and those who were not, during the pandemic and related lockdowns; and whether there were any specific risk factors associated with these mental health outcomes and emotional experiences.

Regression analyses of ten-wave repeated cross-sectional surveys between May 2020 and November 2021 on a total sample of 42,529 UK adults, which measured mental health with a range of pleasant and unpleasant emotional experiences. The interaction effects of living with children and age as well as marital status were tested.

During the pandemic, individuals who were living with children were more likely to feel hopeful (OR: 1.1) and grateful (OR: 1.163), less likely to feel hopeless (OR: 0.918) and lonely (OR: 0.799), while more likely to feel guilty (OR: 1.185), unprepared (OR: 1.195) and pressurised (OR: 1.14), than those not living with children. More nuanced findings and diverse emotional experiences were also found in people of different age groups and marital statuses.

This study has highlighted that being parents and living with children could be important factors of emotional distress, especially during the special circumstances of the pandemic and lockdowns, drawing on the large-scale national data.

While the expatriation literature has explored cultural adjustment in considerable depth, it has largely overlooked the influence of cultural diversity in an expatriate’s home country. This study aims to address this shortcoming by investigating how home-country cultural diversity affects expatriate adjustment.

This study adopts a qualitative, inductive approach based on semi-structured interviews with a small number of Malaysian managers on international assignment in the Greater Brisbane area of Queensland, Australia.

The two key and related observations from the interviews are that, firstly, the existence of sizeable and profoundly distinct ethnic groups in an expatriate’s home country serves as an aid to successful adjustment, as it enhances cross-cultural understanding and communicative skills. Secondly, the positive effects of home-country cultural diversity are particularly felt by expatriates from ethnic minority groups in the home country due to their in-group and out-group interactions at home as well as their additional linguistic arsenal.

Multiculturalism is a polarising and contentious topic in the public debate in many countries around the world, frequently used for differing political purposes. But in a globalising world, it is unlikely to disappear any time soon, making it imperative for academic research to develop a better understanding of the phenomenon, from as many angles as possible, including from an international business perspective.

This study addresses an under-researched topic, namely how cultural diversity within an expatriate’s home country impacts adjustment. From the findings, this study also introduces a theoretical model for use in future research.

In light of the world’s accelerating march towards a sustainable future, the education for sustainable healthcare must be sufficiently acknowledged in health professions curricula. Early integration of these competences into nursing degree programme emphasizes its importance and applicability. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of an educational sustainability intervention in higher education to change nursing students’ attitudes towards sustainability and climate change, and environmental awareness.

A quasi-experimental study was performed with repeated measures between September 2019 and May 2023. Undergraduate students were introduced to sustainability and climate change in the context of healthcare using scenario-based learning and augmented reality over the courses in nursing degree. Participants' attitudes and awareness were collected by online questionnaires.

The educational intervention showed effectiveness in significantly improving attitudes towards climate change and sustainability, and the environmental awareness for changing their clinical practice (p < 0.01). However, students struggled to apply sustainability and address unsustainable practices in healthcare settings.

This study shows an effective model of curricular sustainability that can be implemented in other universities and health disciplines. The findings highlighting the importance of sustainability education in nursing and its potential to drive positive change in healthcare practice and society at large. Embedding key topics aligned with sustainable development goals in the curriculum prepares nursing or health workforce to address planetary health and implement sustainable practices that provide climate-smart care.

Financial difficulties are associated with poor student mental health, although the 2012 tuition fees increase for British students had little impact on student mental health in the first two years at university. This study aims to examine the mental health of British graduates before and after this fees increase to determine the impact on mental health several years after graduation.

This study conducted an online cohort study with 327 British students who started university before and after the 2012 fees increase. Participants completed measures of current economic hardship and symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, general mental health and suicidality. Multiple regression was used to examine the impact of cohort (pre- and post-2012 fees increase), tuition fees amount and economic hardship on mental health.

Greater economic hardship was positively correlated with all mental health variables. Starting university after the fees increased and/or paying greater fees was associated with increased depression, anxiety, stress and suicidality, with little impact on general mental health. When economic hardship was covaried, the strength of cohort effects reduced but remained significant.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to show that the 2012 tuition fees increase for British students increased depression, anxiety, stress and suicidality in graduates many years after graduation, owing to additional financial strain.

China is playing an increasingly prominent role in global business. However, there has been relatively little research on Chinese inpatriates working in Western countries, particularly in non-Anglo cultural contexts. This study attempts to explore the process of cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) and integration into corporate headquarters of Chinese inpatriates working in France, including the favorable factors that accelerate this process.

Based on a qualitative, single-case study of Group X, a pseudonym for a French multinational enterprise, the authors drew on semi-structured interviews with 18 Chinese inpatriates and investigated their CCA and integration process at the French headquarters of their employer.

The CCA and integration process of Chinese inpatriates at the French headquarters includes three stages: honeymoon and/or crisis period, adjustment and/or integration period and mutual growth period. Chinese inpatriates mainly face language barriers and Sino-French cross-cultural challenges. They overcome these challenges by learning the language and culture of the host country and using co-cultural and cross-cultural Guanxi. Experiences vary, with some Chinese inpatriates bypassing the honeymoon and/or crisis stage and entering directly into the adjustment and/or integration stage and some even leapfrogging both initial phases to attain a stage of mutual growth. Favorable factors for this CCA and integration acceleration include experience of living abroad, the host country language proficiency, organizational service support and the English working environment.

The study enhances the theoretical framework of Chinese expatriates’ psychological adjustment process through two key contributions. First, it enriches the three stages by incorporating new aspects, namely the honeymoon facet at the crisis stage, the integration into the headquarters facet at the self-adjust stage and the promoting organizational growth facet at self-growth stage. Second, it adds precision to the horizontal timeline by incorporating two additional initial points for the adjustment and integration process. Until now, Chinese inpatriates and the French context have received little attention, and this research takes a step forward by illuminating the CCA and integration process of Chinese inpatriates in this non-Anglophone country.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of ESG performance and board diversity on tax avoidance practices of FTSE350 companies before and after the COVID-19 pandemic from the stakeholder theory perspective.

Using random-effect regression analysis on data from 2017 to 2023, the study analyzes ESG scores and various tax avoidance measures pre- and post-COVID-19. A two-stage least squares regression analysis using instrumental variables is used to address endogeneity.

Results show that gender, age and network diversity reduce tax avoidance, while skill diversity has no effect, and nationality diversity increases it. High ESG scores lower tax avoidance, but higher governance scores increase it. Findings hold across different tax avoidance measures, sectors and pre/post-COVID-19 periods.

Future research should explore the roles of board committees and external governance mechanisms and investigate tax avoidance in small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The findings highlight the need for policymakers to enforce board diversity and promote ESG practices to encourage ethical tax behavior. Companies can reduce tax avoidance and enhance moral standards by prioritizing stakeholder interests.

Promoting board diversity enhances social equity, supports ESG practices, aligns corporate actions with societal values and fosters a sustainable business environment.

The paper expands existing research by analyzing the combined effects of board diversity and ESG performance on tax avoidance. It offers recent UK evidence on tax avoidance determinants, emphasizing behavioral changes pre- and post-COVID-19.

This paper aims to synergize the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory with the Intelligent Career theory (ICT) to identify the potential influence of career competencies (CCs) on individual work performance.

We explore a motivational process within JD-R theory, where CCs such as knowing-why, knowing-how, and knowing-whom serve as personal resources to optimize contextual performance (CP), task performance (TP), and reduce counterproductive work behavior (CWB). The study comprises two phases with samples of human resource (HR) professionals in India. Phase-1 (N = 107) involves adapting measurement instruments through exploratory factor analysis, while phase-2 (N = 396) tests the model using structural equation modeling. We applied the confirmatory factor analysis marker technique, with “conflict avoidance” as the non-ideal marker variable.

Our research indicates that CCs positively influence TP based on statistical and substantive significance. However, their influence on CP and CWB lacks substantive significance.

This study enhances the JD-R theory by highlighting individual performance as a key outcome of personal resources, like CCs, within the theory’s motivational process.

Organizations can structure skill development programs to align with specific CCs and desired outcomes, using them as benchmarks to assess effectiveness.

To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to apply both JD-R theory and ICT in a work context, specifically among Indian HR professionals, which remains an unexplored area. Additionally, we assume that CCs may initiate motivation independently, even in the absence of job resources.