COVID-19 Pandemic Implications for Corporate Sustainability and Society: A Literature Review

Circular economy strategies in supply chains, enhancing resource efficiency and sustainable development goals

Eco-industrial parks are the real-world implementation of green supply chain management. There is a growing need to include the circular economy concept into supply chain management as a means of striking a better economic, social, and environmental balance, as the importance of the external sustainability of the supply chain is challenging. Using 357 questionnaires filled out by enterprises in China's eco-industrial parks, we examine the connections and causal relationships between resource efficiency, environmental impact, green supply chain management, and circular economy. To learn how a green supply chain's circular economy affects resource efficiency and environmental performance in the China region, this study makes use of the instrumental variable approach (structure equation model (SEM)). The results of this study indicate that environmentally responsible supply chain management and circular economy have beneficial effects on environmental performance and resource efficiency. The management of the GSC has a negative and small impact on economic performance, although each of the components is a substantial contributor to better performance in the environment. Conclusions from this study will assist those responsible for making decisions within supply chains in developing a plan that is useful for increasing a company's performance along economic and environmental dimensions. This study not only broadens our understanding of the factors that influence green supply chain management but also offers theoretical direction for the implementation of successful green production practices by businesses located in eco-industrial parks.

The impact of environmental regulation, Environment, Social and Government Performance, and technological innovation on enterprise resilience under a green recovery

In recent years, the world has witnessed an alarming rise in extreme events, posing significant challenges to the survival and growth of enterprises. In response, adopting a green development strategy has emerged as an imperative for businesses to bolster their resilience. It is crucial to recognize that not all enterprises possess the same level of resilience, thereby highlighting the disparities in their ability to withstand adversity. Consequently, scholars have been fervently engaging in discussions and research to identify the most effective paths of green development, enabling enterprises to enhance their resilience and adeptly navigate through crises. This study employs questionnaires to scrutinize the influence of environmental regulation, environment social and government performance, and technological innovation on enterprise resilience by constructing structural equations that encompass both external constraints and internal corporate management. The findings demonstrate that environmental regulations can stimulate technological innovation for the purpose of promoting sustainable development, thereby bolstering enterprise resilience; By incorporating environment social and government principles into their operations, enterprises can instil a culture of environmental consciousness and proactively incentivize innovative solutions, ultimately enhancing their capacity to adapt swiftly and recover from crises; The practice of environmental regulation and the incorporation of environment social and government concepts serve as a catalyst for enterprises to engage in technological innovation, thereby promoting technological advancement and enhancing corporate resilience.

Identification of behavioural changes in reporting adverse events early during COVID-19: An ambulatory care perspective in Israel

This study examined adverse event reporting centred on three significant dates in the months before the pandemic arrived in Israel. On these dates, broad media coverage exposed citizens and health care providers with indications about the forthcoming pandemic. The current study tracked whether parameters related to reporting adverse medical events provided early indications that a large crisis was unfolding. The method for analysing the data was based on a statistical test called Regression Discontinuity Design, which helped identify parameters related to medical reporting patterns which significantly changed. The examination indicated nurses' reports were unique in relation to others and indicated three phases: (1) upon declaration of the upcoming pandemic, there was a rise in reporting; (2) when the disease was named, there was moderation and maintenance in a steady quantity of reports, and finally, (3) when the first case arrived in Israel, a slight decrease in reporting began. Nurses' behaviours manifested as changes in reporting patterns. In this process of increase, moderation and decrease, it can be concluded that these are three stages that may characterise the beginning of a large event. The research method presented reinforces the need for forming tools by which significant events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can be identified quickly, and aid in proper planning of resources, optimise staffing and maximise utilization of the health systems.

Macroeconomic determinants and their impact on environmental sustainability: the role of cultural and creative product prices

China has to deal with the twin challenges of economic structural reform and carbon emission reduction against global warming. While investing in and constructing new infrastructure is great for the economy, it has also added to the carbon emissions of major cities. The product design industry has recently become increasingly interested in creating and pricing cultural and creative goods in specific provinces. Thanks to the burgeoning global cultural and creative sector, a new platform has opened up for the evolution and modernization of China's ancient cultural practices. Cultural creativity has broken the rigid design and production pattern of traditional products from a business point of view, increasing their economic advantages and competition. Also, this study examines ICT's main and moderate effect on carbon emissions in the 27 provinces of China's economy from 2003 to 2019 using panel estimators. The estimated outcomes show the positive contribution to environmental damages by physical capital, tourism, cultural product prices, innovative, creative prices, and trade openness, while ICT significantly reduces emissions. Besides the moderate role of the digital economy on physical capital, tourism, CP, ICP, and tourism significantly reduce CO2 emissions. However, the granger causality outcomes also show a robust analysis. Furthermore, this study also proposes some interesting policies to obtain environmental sustainability.

Does Psychological crisis matter for college students: Role of digitalization and employment

This paper aims to describe the psychological crisis's impact on college students in China. The present study has investigated the impact of the usage of digitalization, psychological crisis, employment and age on the college student in China. The study used annual time series data from 2005 to 2020 from provinces in China. This study adopts the Cup-FM test to estimate the long-term association between the variables. The study applied Cup-BC and by-FM estimations to calculate robust and reliable outcomes. The findings show that usage of digitalization and psychological crisis negatively impact college students, whereas employment and age positively impact the college student. Moreover, the result of the interaction term psychological crisis on the usage of digitalization, employment and age has positively impacted college students. The estimated results also provide important policy implications for the China region in designing an appropriate way forward for college students.

Influencing factors of work stress of medical workers in clinical laboratory during COVID-19 pandemic: Working hours, compensatory leave, job satisfaction

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose unprecedented threats and challenges to global public health. Hospital Clinical Laboratory and public health institutions have been playing an important role in case detection, epidemic research and decision-making, and epidemic prevention and control.

Objective

To explore the current situation and influencing factors of work stress of medical workers in hospital clinical laboratory in fighting against COVID-19.

Methods

A cluster random sampling method was used to select seven hospitals from 14 tertiary hospitals in Xiamen, and medical workers in the selected hospitals were investigated by self-administered questionnaire. A total of 150 medical workers inclinical laboratory participated in this survey, 138 valid questionnaires were collected, with a response rate of 92%.

Results

The work stress scores of the medical workers in the clinical laboratory of hospital in the COVID-19 epidemic were collected (55.22 ± 11.48); The top three dimensions of work stress score were work stress (work load), external environment and doctor-patient relationship. The results of multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the working hours per day, whether overtime and night shift can get compensatory leave and Job satisfaction with the work of the clinical laboratory were the main factors affecting the work stress level of medical workers in the clinical laboratory of hospital during COVID-19 epidemic.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 has caused great harm to the physical and mental health of the public. Medical staff are in the front line of prevention and control of the epidemic, so medical workers in hospital clinical laboratory exposed to a high level of stress at work. Laboratory leaders and hospital managers should take active and effective measures to reduce the working hours of the medical staff in clinical laboratory, optimize the arrangement of night shift and overtime working, strengthen the training of group and individual pressure management, reduce the work stress of the medical staff, improve the overall happiness of the medical staff in clinical laboratory, and stabilize the clinical laboratory team, improve the physical and mental health of medical workers in clinical laboratory.

The Paradoxical Effects of COVID-19 Event Strength on Employee Turnover Intention

As a global pandemic, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought enormous challenges to employees and organizations. Although numerous existing studies have highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic is a stressful event and empirically proved its detrimental effect on employee turnover intention, few scholars have noted that this pandemic can deteriorate the external economic and employment environment simultaneously, which may further complicate employees' intentions to leave or stay in the current organization. Drawing on event system theory and social cognitive theory, this study aims to uncover two potential cognitive mechanisms of the complex impact of COVID-19 event strength on employee turnover intention. To examine the proposed model, this study employed a three-wave and time-lagged research design and collected data from a sample of 432 employees of four Chinese companies from different industries. The findings indicated that COVID-19 event strength was negatively related to perceived external employability, and ultimately curbed employee turnover intention. Yet, COVID-19 event strength also negatively predicted perceived organizational growth, thus influencing employees to exhibit intentions to quit. Moreover, organizational identification not only attenuated the positive effect of perceived external employability on turnover intention but also amplified the negative impact of perceived organizational growth on turnover intention. Further, organizational identification moderated the indirect effects of COVID-19 event strength on turnover intention through perceived external employability and perceived organizational growth. This study provided a comprehensive insight into scholars' understanding of the COVID-19 downstream outcomes.

Supporting Agri-Food SMEs in Italy in the Post-COVID-19 Context: From Horizon 2020 to Horizon Europe

In recent decades, European policy has targeted specific measures towards SMEs. The recently concluded Horizon 2020 Programme, under the Europe 2020 Strategy, has provided economic support to stimulate competitiveness and boost the economy of member states by focusing on innovation. The SME Instrument, through a structure of multiple calls, constituted the vehicle for SMEs to access the funds made available by the European Union with disruptive innovation proposals. The initial structure of the SME Instrument, developed in phases and along the lines of the US Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Programme, was afterwards simplified in the design of its successor, the EIC Accelerator Pilot. The success of the above mentioned economic instruments led the European institutions to develop a new instrument, the EIC Accelerator, supported by the current Horizon Europe programme. After outlining the main features of this transition and the novelties introduced, this paper aims to ascertain the extent to which SMEs in the agri-food sector in Italy have had the ability and opportunity to intercept funds by measuring participation in the SME Instrument. Furthermore, it intends to verify which type of firms in the agri-food sector, divided into agricultural and industrial enterprises, intercepted more of the examined funds, and which organisational phase, productive or commercial, the enterprises have been oriented towards, also giving relevancy to the specific objects of the winning projects.

Lockdown Due to COVID-19 and Its Consequences on Diet, Physical Activity, Lifestyle, and Other Aspects of Daily Life Worldwide: A Narrative Review

The novel coronavirus, termed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is responsible for the disease called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Besides the important rates of mortality and morbidity directly attributed to the infection itself, many studies detected an important shift towards mostly unhealthy lifestyle patterns in previously healthy non-infected populations all around the world. Although most of the changes in lifestyle had or will have a negative impact on general population health status, some findings are encouraging. Notwithstanding that there was an obvious necessity for governments to apply national lockdowns, it is also necessary to identify and comprehend the consequences they have caused. A narrative literature review was performed, based on scientific articles and previous reviews. An accurate description of changes in eating habits and alcohol consumption, physical activity, mental health, daily routines, economic impacts, and broader effects on society is provided for each continent and different age groups through this review. The volume of selected scientific surveys encompasses approximately 400,000 persons.

Assessing the Effects of Innovative Management Accounting Tools on Performance and Sustainability

To cope with an increasingly competitive and turbulent environment caused by economic, health, and political crises, companies need to adopt innovative management accounting tools to meet challenges, increase economic performance and ensure organizational sustainability. This paper aims to study the impact of using innovative management accounting tools on companies’ performance and sustainable approaches. We investigate the influences among the variables involved in quantitative research based on a survey of 567 senior accountants of Romanian companies. The hypotheses formulated based on the literature were tested using structural equation modeling and artificial neural network analysis. The research results show that those companies that used more intensively innovative management accounting tools performed better and had more tools at their disposal to measure and manage a sustainable approach. Innovative management accounting tools provide more and better information and ways to improve organizational performance and the vector of sustainability to cope with the uncertainty produced by the economic crisis.

Assessment of the Similarity of the Situation in the EU Labour Markets and Their Changes in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of the study is to assess the similarity of the situation in the EU labour markets and their evolution using selected indicators in the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The benchmark are the countries that most closely meet the Sustainable Development Goals related to the labour market. We use quarterly data from Eurostat presenting the basic indicators of the labour market: unemployment, employment, and activity rates. We analyse all indicators for the total population, young people, and people aged 55+. We assess the similarity of the situation using the TOPSIS method and similarity of changes by means of the Dynamic Time Warping. We obtain homogeneous groups of countries due to similarity of time series using hierarchical clustering. We conduct the analysis in two periods: the years 2018 and 2019 (pre-pandemic period) and from the beginning of 2020 to the present (pandemic period). The composition of the clusters in the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods is different. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the situation in the labour market can be noted. This is a result of different degree of development of labour markets, which had an impact on coping with the effects of the crisis caused by the pandemic.