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1 – 10 of over 1000Stefano Landi, Antonio Costantini, Marco Fasan and Michele Bonazzi
The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate why and how public health agencies employed social media during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to foster…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate why and how public health agencies employed social media during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to foster public engagement and dialogic accounting.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analysed the official Facebook pages of the leading public agencies for health crisis in Italy, United Kingdom and New Zealand and they collected data on the number of posts, popularity, commitment and followers before and during the outbreak. The authors also performed a content analysis to identify the topics covered by the posts.
Findings
Empirical results suggest that social media has been extensively used as a public engagement tool in all three countries under analysis but – because of legitimacy threats and resource scarcity – it has also been used as a dialogic accounting tool only in New Zealand. Findings suggest that fake news developed more extensively in contexts where the public body did not foster dialogic accounting.
Practical implications
Public agencies may be interested in knowing the pros and cons of using social media as a public engagement and dialogic accounting tool. They may also leverage on dialogic accounting to limit fake news.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to look at the nature and role of social media as an accountability tool during public health crises. In many contexts, COVID-19 forced for the first time public health agencies to heavily engage with the public and to develop new skills, so this study paves the way for numerous future research ideas.
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This paper aims to present a grounded and strategic discussion regarding Supply Chain 4.0 as a management system orientation for the post-COVID-19 period as well as propose some…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a grounded and strategic discussion regarding Supply Chain 4.0 as a management system orientation for the post-COVID-19 period as well as propose some research directions thereof.
Design/methodology/approach
For the development of this paper, some theoretical insights were provided based on the literature related to Supply Chain and Industry 4.0. A discussion regarding the constructs of Supply Chain 4.0 on the context of the post-COVID-19 outbreak is developed as well.
Findings
The discussion, herein, shows that the disruptive technologies might play a crucial role to become supply chains more responsive and resilient to sudden events such as COVID-19. Then a Supply Chain 4.0 is a transformational strategic orientation to be considered on the aspect of supply chain management for the post-pandemic period. Some research questions are proposed at the end of this paper with the aim to further address this subject.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides timely insights for researchers and practitioners which might imply on the further research deployments and practical applications although it demands future empirical studies to validate the propositions herein presented.
Practical implications
Practitioners can be benefited from this paper on having new insights and a strategic direction on regards supply chain management for the post-pandemic period with focus on a technology-driven strategy for supply chains.
Originality/value
This paper is unique because it brings an unexplored relationship between Supply Chain 4.0 and COVID-19 pandemic. It also significantly contributes to new directions and views for the supply chain management field from these challenging and difficult times of coronavirus global outbreak.
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Kabir Ibrahim, Fredrick Simpeh and Oluseyi Julius Adebowale
Construction organizations must maintain a productive workforce without sacrificing their health and safety. The global construction sector loses billions of dollars yearly to…
Abstract
Purpose
Construction organizations must maintain a productive workforce without sacrificing their health and safety. The global construction sector loses billions of dollars yearly to poor health and safety practices. This study aims to investigate benefits derivable from using wearable technologies to improve construction health and safety. The study also reports the challenges associated with adopting wearable technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a quantitative design, administering close-ended questions to professionals in the Nigerian construction industry. The research data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Findings
The study found that the critical areas construction organizations can benefit from using WSDs include slips and trips, sensing environmental concerns, collision avoidance, falling from a high level and electrocution. However, key barriers preventing the organizations from adopting wearable technologies are related to cost, technology and human factors.
Practical implications
The time and cost lost to H&S incidents in the Nigerian construction sector can be reduced by implementing the report of this study.
Originality/value
Studies on WSDs have continued to increase in developed countries, but Nigeria is yet to experience a leap in the research area. This study provides insights into the Nigerian reality to provide directions for practice and theory.
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Gulcin Ozbay, Mehmet Sariisik, Veli Ceylan and Muzaffer Çakmak
The main purpose of this study is to make a comparative evaluation of the impacts of previous outbreaks and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the tourism industry. COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this study is to make a comparative evaluation of the impacts of previous outbreaks and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the tourism industry. COVID-19 appears to have disrupted all memorizations about epidemics ever seen. Nobody has anticipated that the outbreak in late December will spread rapidly across the world, be fatal and turn the world economy upside down. Severe acute respiratory syndrome, Ebola, Middle East respiratory syndrome and others caused limited losses in a limited geography, thus similar behaviors were expected at first in COVID-19. But it was not so. Today, people continue to lose their lives and experience economic difficulties. One of the most important distressed industries is undoubtedly tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is a literature review. In this review, a comparative evaluation between the impact of previous outbreaks and COVID-19 on the tourism industry has been made based on statistics and previous research studies.
Findings
The information and figures obtained show that COVID-19 and previous outbreaks have such significant differences that cannot be compared. COVID-19 has been one of the worst to live in terms of spreading speed, the geography where it spreads, loss of lives and negative effects in the whole area.
Originality/value
It is noteworthy that COVID-19 is very severe in terms of death cases and also its impacts on the economy compared to other pandemics. It remains to be argued that COVID-19 can also be a reference in terms of possible new outbreaks in the future, and is an effective actor in determining future strategies.
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Tobias Winkler, Manuel Ostermeier and Alexander Hübner
Regarding the retail internal supply chain (SC), both retailers and research are currently focused on reactive food waste reduction options in stores (e.g. discounting or…
Abstract
Purpose
Regarding the retail internal supply chain (SC), both retailers and research are currently focused on reactive food waste reduction options in stores (e.g. discounting or donations). These options reduce waste after a surplus has emerged but do not prevent an emerging surplus in the first place. This paper aims to reveal how retailers can proactively prevent waste along the SC and why the options identified are impactful but, at the same time, often complex to implement.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors follow an exploratory approach for a nascent topic to obtain insights into measures taken in practice. Interviews with experts from retail build the main data source.
Findings
The authors identify and analyze 21 inbound, warehousing, distribution and store-related options applied in grocery retail. Despite the expected high overall impact on waste, prevention measures in inbound logistics and distribution and warehousing have not been intensively applied to date.
Practical implications
The authors provide a structured approach to mitigate waste within retailers' operations and categorize the types of barriers that need to be addressed.
Originality/value
This research provides a better understanding of prevention options in retail operations, which has not yet been empirically explored. Furthermore, this study conceptualizes prevention and reduction options and reveals implementation patterns.
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Antonio Iazzi, Lorenzo Ligorio and Lea Iaia
A model on the cognitive elements of engagement is adopted and content analysis, along with sentiment analysis, has been used to explore the post characteristics and the levels of…
Abstract
Purpose
A model on the cognitive elements of engagement is adopted and content analysis, along with sentiment analysis, has been used to explore the post characteristics and the levels of stakeholders' interactions in controversial and non-controversial European industries through three Poisson regressions. At last, an ANOVA test has been used to check the level of interaction regarding the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related aspects.
Design/methodology/approach
The intrinsic characteristics of controversial industries cause the stakeholders’ skepticism about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. This results in the need to elaborate proper involvement strategies to approach industries' stakeholders. Such need has assumed relevance during the COVID-19 crisis and has traced a certain border between the companies that are more sensitive to the social side of the surrounding environment and the ones that are less involved in risky sectors. The present paper aims to understand the role of social media in stakeholder engagement, and social media's characteristics, and tries to elaborate on companies' CSR communication readiness to the challenges shown by the pandemic.
Findings
The study reveals how the success of stakeholder engagement in CSR communication is affected by both controversial sector membership and the characteristics of the posts such as the inclusion of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). In addition, the study emerges how the European companies have focused on social aspects in companies' communication, revealing a certain readiness for the COVID-19 challenges.
Practical implications
Building on a model of cognitive elements of engagement, the present study provides useful insights for companies' next engagement strategies on social media. Moreover, the thematic analysis provides a benchmark for the improvement of current corporations' communication strategies in light of the pandemic effects.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the role of Twitter as a stakeholder engagement tool and identifies the drivers for an effective Twitter content strategy. Moreover, the paper provides a useful proxy for current and future research on the COVID-19-related CSR communication.
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What is the relation between the land system with Chinese characteristics and the country's high-speed economic growth in the past decades? There is a lack of rigorous academic…
Abstract
Purpose
What is the relation between the land system with Chinese characteristics and the country's high-speed economic growth in the past decades? There is a lack of rigorous academic research based on the general equilibrium theory of macroeconomics on this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
By building a multisector dynamic general equilibrium framework with land system, this paper explores how the land supply mode with Chinese characteristics affects China's economic growth as well as its transmission mechanism.
Findings
This paper confirms the importance of land system with Chinese characteristics in explaining the mystery of China's high-speed economic growth. Counterfactual analysis shows that if China adopts a land system similar to that of other developing countries, GDP will drop 36% from the current level under the baseline model.
Originality/value
As the industrial sector shrinks relatively and the output elasticity of infrastructure decreases, this inhibitory effect will become more apparent. China should improve its land supply mode, especially expand the supply of commercial and residential land and reduce the cost of land in the service sector. This can promote better economic development in the future and thus improve household welfare and the structure of aggregate demand, replace “land-based public finance” and thus inhibit the “high leverage” risks of local governments.
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Ismail Celik, Muhterem Dindar and Hanni Muukkonen
This study aims to explore Twitter posts of Turkish government agencies and the public under a specific hashtag, #NotHolidayButDistanceEducation, specifically related to online…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore Twitter posts of Turkish government agencies and the public under a specific hashtag, #NotHolidayButDistanceEducation, specifically related to online distance education during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a thematic analysis on 22,547 original tweets posted by 6,970 users during the first month of online distance education in Turkish K-12 schools. Based on like and retweet counts, the study further explored the extent of stakeholders’ engagement with the observed themes.
Findings
The findings showed that government agencies and citizens used Twitter to provide technical and psychological support, appreciate and motivate stakeholders, demonstrate sample distance education activities, share information and offer suggestions about the ongoing online distance education. It was also observed that the hashtag has been used for expressing negative views about online distance education and for political purposes. A positive relationship was found between social media engagement and providing technical support or sharing information for online distance education.
Practical implications
This study highlights the role of social media in providing practical and emotional support to education stakeholders in times of crisis. Thus, governments can use social media to provide evidence-based psychological and physical health support to their citizens during a pandemic. Social media can serve to improve education practices in schools through the interactions between the public and policymakers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study can be considered unique because it demonstrates the civic use of social media for educational crisis management. This study highlights the influence of social media in educational policy and practice development in the contemporary era.
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Matias G. Enz, Salomée Ruel, George A. Zsidisin, Paula Penagos, Jill Bernard Bracy and Sebastian Jarzębowski
This research aims to analyse the perceptions of practitioners in three regions regarding the challenges faced by their firms during the pandemic, considered a black-swan event…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to analyse the perceptions of practitioners in three regions regarding the challenges faced by their firms during the pandemic, considered a black-swan event. It examines the strategies implemented to mitigate and recover from risks, evaluates the effectiveness of these strategies and assesses the difficulties encountered in their implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
In the summer of 2022, an online survey was conducted among supply chain (SC) practitioners in France, Poland and the St. Louis, Missouri region of the USA. The survey aimed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their firms and the SC strategies employed to sustain operations. These regions were selected due to their varying levels of SC development, including infrastructure, economic resources and expertise. Moreover, they exhibited different responses in safeguarding the well-being of their citizens during the pandemic.
Findings
The study reveals consistent perceptions among practitioners from the three regions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on SCs. Their actions to enhance SC resilience primarily relied on strengthening collaborative efforts within their firms and SCs, thus validating the tenets of the relational view.
Originality/value
COVID-19 is (hopefully) our black-swan pandemic occurrence during our lifetime. Nevertheless, the lessons learned from it can inform future SC risk management practices, particularly in dealing with rare crises. During times of crisis, leveraging existing SC structures may prove more effective and efficient than developing new ones. These findings underscore the significance of relationships in ensuring SC resilience.
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