Interventions for the Current COVID-19 Pandemic: Frontline Workers' Intention to Use Personal Protective Equipment

Renewable energy, economic freedom and economic policy uncertainty: New evidence from a dynamic panel threshold analysis for the G-7 and BRIC countries

This study aims to demonstrate the impact of renewable energy consumption (REC) on environmental degradation using the EKC hypothesis testing for the BRIC and G-7 countries. Two EKC models were created and tested, with Model 2 including REC and other independent variables such as economic freedom (EF) and economic policy uncertainty (EPU), which affect the level of renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Empirical findings indicate that the EKC hypothesis is verified faster in the REC-EF-EPU-based EKC model (Model 2) than in the EF-EPU-based EKC model (Model 1) for G-7 countries since the turning point takes place earlier in Model 2 than in Model 1 with REC. This suggests that renewable energy consumption accelerates the reduction of CO2 emissions. Moreover, this earlier turning point results in lower environmental cleaning costs, less time vesting, and saving resources and money for G-7 countries. However, the study found no evidence supporting the EKC hypothesis for the BRIC countries.

Linking environmental corporate social responsibility to firm performance: The role of partnership restructure

In this study, we integrate the signal institutional theory and stakeholder theory to examine partnership restructure as a critical mechanism linking environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) to corporate financial performance. Keeping in line with most prior studies, we first argue that a positive relationship exists between ECSR and firm performance. Then we propose that partnership restructure mediates the nexus between ECSR and firm performance because ECSR may motivate firms to change their partners in the better interests of the firms. In addition, we propose that the firms' industry power will exaggerate while dysfunctional competition will weaken the positive nexus between ECSR and partnership restructure. Evidence based on a survey covering 206 manufacturing firms in China offers good support for our predictions. This last section offers research contributions and implications for the managers based on the findings.

Resources availability and COVID-19 mortality among US counties

The COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO on 03/2020 has claimed millions of lives worldwide. The US leads all countries in COVID-19-related deaths. Individual level (preexisting conditions and demographics) and county-level (availability of resources) factors have been attributed to increased risk of COVID-19-related deaths. This study builds on previous studies to assess the relationship between county-level resources and COVID-19 mortality among 2,438 US counties. We merged 2019 data from AHA, AHRF, and USA FACTS. The dependent variable was the total number of COVID-19-related deaths. Independent variables included county-level resources: (1) hospital staffing levels (FTE RNs, hospitalists, and intensivists) per 10,000 population; (2) hospital capacity (occupancy rate, proportion of teaching hospitals, and number of airborne infection control rooms per 10,000 population); and (3) macroeconomic resources [per capita income and location (urban/rural)]. We controlled for population 65+, racial/ethnic minority, and COVID-19 deaths per 1,000 population. A negative binomial regression was used. Hospital staffing per 10,000 population {FTE RN [IRR = 0.997; CI (0.995-0.999)], FTE hospitalists [IRR = 0.936; CI (0.897-0.978)], and FTE intensivists [IRR = 0.606; CI (0.516-0.712)]} was associated with lower COVID-19-related deaths. Hospital occupancy rate, proportion of teaching hospitals, and total number of airborne infection control rooms per 10,000 population were positively associated with COVID-19-related deaths. Per capita income and being in an urban county were positively associated with COVID-19-related deaths. Finally, the proportion of 65+, racial/ethnic minorities, and the number of cases were positively associated with COVID-19-related deaths. Our findings suggest that focusing on maintaining adequate hospital staffing could improve COVID-19 mortality.

Modeling the economic viability and performance of solar home systems: a roadmap towards clean energy for environmental sustainability

Energy is a necessary source of economic development and social prosperity, linked with primary production and consumption activities worldwide. In this regard, solar home systems (SHSs) are beneficial in two ways, i.e., saving vitality overheads and meeting the energy demand of small enterprises. The current study aims to evaluate the performance of adopting SHS to develop the small-scale industry in Pakistan. An inclusive questionnaire survey was conducted, and respondents were selected using the purposive sampling method. As a step further, we scrutinize the moderating role of awareness and understanding of technology between the node of adopting SHS and the monetary enactment of small-scale industry. We authenticate the model using a sample of 357 respondents by applying the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results indicate that low-cost energy through SHSs has a progressive and substantial linkage with the demonstration of small-scale industry and enhances the quality of energy supply in Pakistan. Similarly, awareness and understanding of SHS significantly moderate the relationships between enhanced energy supply through SHS, the quality of SHS, and the performance of the small-scale industry. These findings provide a valuable guideline to the regulation developing authorities that more attention is needed to focus on SHS to further improve the performance of small-scale industry.

The effect of mandatory environmental regulation on green development efficiency: evidence from China

The existing literature finds that mandatory environmental regulation (MER) can significantly reduce environmental pollution. However, much less is known about how the implementation of MER affects green development efficiency (GDE). Based on the Air Pollution Control Action Plan which was enforced in 2013 in China's most developed regions as an exogenous shock, we find that first, MER has a significant negative effect on the improvement of GDE by reducing regional scale efficiency. Second, MER mainly reduces the GDE of cities with stronger regulation intensities and with larger economic volumes. Third, MER also has a negative impact on regional green total factor productivity by changing technical progress. We suggest that when implementing MER, governments should enhance regional and global cooperation, promote green technology, and use comprehensive policy tools to stimulate firms' green innovation.

The impact of COVID-19 on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): empirical evidence for green economic implications

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China have been hit hard by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, which has jeopardized their going out of business altogether. As a result, this research will shed light on the long-term impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on small businesses worldwide. The information was gathered through a survey questionnaire that 313 people completed. Analyzing the model was accomplished through the use of SEM in this investigation. Management and staff at SMEs worldwide provided the study's data sources. Research shows that COVID-19 has a significantly bad influence on profitability, operational, economic, and access to finance. In the study's findings, outside funding aids have played an important role in SMEs' skill to persist and succeed through technological novelty than in their real output. SME businesses, administrations, and policymakers need to understand the implications of this study's results.

Sustainable impact of COVID-19 on education projects: aspects of naturalism

History records show that pandemics and threats have always given new directions to the thinking, working, and learning styles. This article attempts to thoroughly document the positive core of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) and its impact on global social psychology, ecological stability, and development. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test the hypotheses and comprehend the objectives of the study. The findings of the study reveals that the path coefficients for the variables health consciousness, naturalism, financial impact and self-development, sustainability, compassion, gregariousness, sympathy, and cooperation demonstrate that the factors have a positive and significant effect on COVID-19 prevention. Moreover, the content analysis was conducted on recently published reports, blog content, newspapers, and social media. The pieces of evidence from history have been cited to justify the perspective. Furthermore, to appraise the opinions of professionals of different walks of life, an online survey was conducted, and results were discussed with expert medical professionals. Outcomes establish that the pandemics give birth to creativity, instigate innovations, prompt inventions, establish human ties, and foster altruistic elements of compassion and emotionalism.

Determining the COVID-19 effects on spillover between oil market and stock exchange: a global perspective analysis

This paper investigates volatility spillovers between the global crude oil market and the stock markets of the global oil stock markets (Russian, Canada, China, Kuwait, and the USA) pre and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We use wavelet Granger causality methods to study the volatility spillovers between global oil stock markets, mainly from January 1, 2019, to March 31, 2021. Our Results (1) shows that WTI and Brent oil prices had a negative mean return before COVID-19 but a positive mean return during the pandemic spread. Other Results (2) find the positive, significantly lowest, and highest frequency during the COVID-19 outbreak for all selected countries. The results also show that the link between oil WTI & Brent prices and stock markets return in the lowest (33-66 days) and highest frequency range (4-16) before the Covid-19 epidemic, especially in the first quarter of 2020. Before the COVID-19 period, the Russian oil stock market is seriously prejudiced with oil prices on a modest scale, but not after the pandemic's start. This study also perceives direction opposite between the COVID-19 period. The Canadian and United States America oil and stock markets influence the lowest scale in the previous COVID-19 sample for the U.S. market. Moreover, this paper exposed that oil marketing highest oil futures in their portfolios than stock shares for all times. We found that oil price shocks had a more significant impact on the stock markets of the United States and Canada than on the stock markets of other countries.

Retesting the EKC hypothesis through transmission of the ARMEY curve model: an alternative composite model approach with theory and policy implications for NAFTA countries

We investigate the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the NAFTA countries. In this investigation, we approach this hypothesis from a different methodology and propose employing the ARMEY curve hypothesis since the mathematical-functional propositions of both hypotheses were constructed on the same inverted U-shaped relationships. Thus, for the first time, it can be interpreted that the EKC hypothesis is empirically tested through a transmission mechanism of the ARMEY curve hypothesis in a single composite model. Therefore, this approach makes our study different from all empirical studies in the relevant literature. We apply the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator to this aim. Empirical findings indicate that the ARMEY curve hypothesis was verified only for the USA. However, this new approach proposed in this study cannot test the EKC hypothesis through the ARMEY curve model for any NAFTA country since this approach requires verification of the ARMEY curve hypothesis and a significant composite model for the same NAFTA country. If our composite model was significant, it might make it possible to numerically determine a maximum real GDP per capita level that would minimize or maximize CO₂ emission levels for the USA. Therefore, this study introduces-proposes this new methodology as an alternative way of testing the EKC hypothesis in the relevant literature for future empirical studies.

Innovation Research in Tourism and Hospitality Field: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

New studies have constantly been emerging in the field of tourism. However, it is not clear to what extent which study contributes to the literature and tourism application areas. There are a few bibliometric studies that illustrate the intellectual structure of the tourism innovation field. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the performance and intellectual structure of research studies conducted on innovation in the field of tourism. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis of 387 research studies, which were published over the period 1975–2021 and cited in SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI indexes of WoS, is performed. Co-citation analysis indicates that innovation research studies in tourism can be categorized into three groups: (1) conceptualization and types of innovation in tourism, (2) review research on innovation in tourism, and (3) methodological studies. According to the co-word analysis, sharing economy, open innovation, sustainability, and technology are the most popular topics of recent times. A steady increase is observed in the number of citations to articles in the field of tourism innovation after 2008. The research study has crucial impacts in terms of guiding the researchers who would study in this field and providing the intellectual appearance of the field.

Modeling COVID-19 Impact on Consumption and Mobility in Europe: A Legacy Toward Sustainable Business Performance

This article has explored the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced decline in consumer durables and mobility on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emission in Europe by providing empirical and graphical justifications based on consumer price index (CPI) and gross domestic product (GDP) deflator indexes. The empirical estimations show that carbon dioxide (CO2) and NOx emission along with other greenhouse gases drastically decreased in the wake of COVID-19-induced lockdowns and decrease in the demand of consumer goods in Europe. This means that COVID-19 improved environment in the European region. However, high cost (e.g., unemployment, loss of life, and social segregation) makes COVID-19 an unstable solution to environmental woes where positive impact of COVID-19 on environment achieved in short run cannot be guaranteed in the long run. Besides environment, COVID-19 drastically curtailed economic activities and exposed them to the risk of economic crisis particularly in case of Europe.

Purchase Intention and Satisfaction of Online Shop Users in Developing Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of the research is to gain an understanding of consumer behavior in developing countries in the electronic environment. For this purpose, the four constructs of the PREVEINCOSA scale were analyzed: purchase intention as the dependent variable and trust, perceived value, and satisfaction as the determining variables of the former. For this purpose, by means of convenience sampling, an online questionnaire was shared with citizens in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. A total of 330 questionnaires were collected from people who knew or had bought clothes in an online shop of the small company. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to validate the model and test the hypotheses. The results indicate that trust and satisfaction directly and positively influence value perception and online purchase intention and that value perception directly and positively influences online purchase intention of the small business consumer in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. These results may be useful for the small fashion business sector in developing countries since it is observed that the online sales channel is not yet developed, which makes it necessary to develop strategies to reach customers in a more effective way. On the other hand, given the importance of this sector for the economy of developing countries, this study can be useful to governments who can establish public policies to provide training and technical assistance to benefit the development and competitiveness of this sector.