• COVID-19
• 2019-2023close
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• Forschungsindex und Repositorium der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg close
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The COVID-19 pandemic and the concomitant infodemic have emphasized the importance of digital health literacy (DHL) to global public health research and practice. The aim of this study was to examine information-seeking behavior, the ability to find, understand and deal with health information among university college students in Denmark and/in addition we wanted to examine the impact of their close social network on students’ ability to find and understand health information. This research was carried out as part of the COVID-HL university student survey by using a uniform questionnaire consisting of elaborated scales. Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey conducted at University College South during 4 weeks in April and May 2020. To capture DHL, four subscales of the DHL instrument were adapted to the pandemic context. A total of 59.9% of the students have sufficient DHL—most students find it rather easy to find information and are satisfied with the information they find on the internet. However, some (28.1%) students find it difficult to judge the quality and reliability of the information. Students with a sufficient level of DHL are more likely to seek information through search engines and websites of official institutions, while students with a limited level of DHL more often use social media for health information. Students with sufficient DHL more often share health information and less often ask for support in their network

This article offers a collectively developed analysis of the Covid-19 crisis as it relates to contemporary cultures of rejection, i.e. the socio-cultural conditions in which authoritarian and right-wing populist politics thrive, in Europe. We explore how the pandemic and its management reinforces, transforms and/or overrides existing antagonisms and institutes new ones in Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Germany and Sweden. We discuss how the Covid-19 crisis affects the rise of new statisms; gendered patterns of social reproduction; mobility and migration; digital infrastructures; and new political mobilizations.

With regards to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the domain of entrepreneurship, we offer research-based evidence and associated insights focused on three perspectives (i.e., business planning, frugality, and emotional support) regarding entrepreneurial action under an exogenous shock. Beyond the initial emergency response that countries around the world have taken, we argue that it is time to revise entrepreneurial action guidance in such a context. Our aim is to highlight ways that entrepreneurs can take action in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. We position our insights to be relevant to both researchers and practitioners coping with an unprecedented situation that has catastrophic consequences both economically and socially. Highlights • A shock like COVID-19 requires to rebalance entrepreneurial action looking inside (frugality) and outside (support). • We share insights on why business planning frequency, intensity, and formality need to be adjusted to the new normal. • We explain how frugality (individual and organizational level) contributes to resilience and increases preparedness. • We highlight the contribution of emotional support to entrepreneurs, during the crisis and in the recovery phase.

What measures are SMEs most likely to take in order to make ends meet in the face of a “black swan” external shock? That is the question we explore in this study, drawing upon unique data from 456 SMEs in the midst of an unfolding crisis. Our findings demonstrate how SMEs acted immediately by deferring investments, reducing labor costs, reducing expenses, and negotiating contracts and terms. Moreover, the data highlight how SMEs in an unfolding crisis are reluctant to commit to any action that will increase their debt-to-equity ratio. The findings suggest new questions to be explored in relation to actions during an unfolding crisis, post-crisis businesses, entrepreneurial failure, and entrepreneur/entrepreneurial team characteristics. Implications for policy and practice are provided. Highlights • SMEs focused upon reducing negative cash flow and tied-up capital. • SMEs refrained from increasing their debt-to-equity ratio. • SMEs rarely responded to the crisis by innovation and revenue focused actions. • Surprisingly many SMEs did not take any immediate actions.

How do international organisations (IOs) legitimise their right to rule in times of a Pandemic? Where are their previously made environmental commitments on their agenda during a crisis? What are the differences in self-legitimation, if any, across different types of IOs? These questions have gathered renewed urgency during the ongoing COVID-19 and climate change crises posing a threat to the legitimacy not only of national governments but also of IOs. The paper aims to address these questions through the analysis of environmental commitments made in legal documents of three IOs (the EU, the EAEU, and the AIIB) and through the analysis of their respective social media between 2017 and 2021. Among other issues, we find significant differences in self-legitimation strategies of these three IOs as reflected by their social media and some evidence of mimicry across these IOs that should remain on the agenda for further studies. Stephen G. F. Hall thanks the Economic and Social Research Council for providing funding for this research. Tobias thanks the Leibniz Association for financial support and Lynda Irolou, Niklas Krösche, Swantje Schirmer and Henning Schmidtke for extensive discussions on the theme of this article. Anastassia Obydenkova acknowledges the support of the Basic Research Program of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University). Co-authors are listed alphabetically and they contributed equally to this project.

AbstractHow does psychology vary across human societies? The fundamental social motives framework adopts an evolutionary approach to capture the broad range of human social goals within a taxonomy of ancestrally recurring threats and opportunities. These motives—self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, status, mate acquisition, mate retention, and kin care—are high in fitness relevance and everyday salience, yet understudied cross-culturally. Here, we gathered data on these motives in 42 countries (N = 15,915) in two cross-sectional waves, including 19 countries (N = 10,907) for which data were gathered in both waves. Wave 1 was collected from mid-2016 through late 2019 (32 countries, N = 8,998; 3,302 male, 5,585 female; Mage = 24.43, SD = 7.91). Wave 2 was collected from April through November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic (29 countries, N = 6,917; 2,249 male, 4,218 female; Mage = 28.59, SD = 11.31). These data can be used to assess differences and similarities in people’s fundamental social motives both across and within cultures, at different time points, and in relation to other commonly studied cultural indicators and outcomes.

Abstract We investigate COVID-19 as a disabling and an enabling mechanism for small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs), particularly how SMEs’ crisis strategies might help them through the crisis. SMEs can follow a retrenchment strategy, a persevering strategy, or an innovation strategy, and they can do so narrowly or broadly. Using a representative sample of Danish SMEs, we test how crisis strategies are associated with turnover expectations. We find distinct differences in how effective crisis strategies are linked to turnover expectations, depending on how the crisis affected the SMEs in the first place (i.e., the SMEs were crisis victims, crisis immunes, or crisis exploiters).

Abstract As physical distancing is a core measure of containing the spread of COVID-19, this pandemic is a crisis that has uprooted social interaction. While current research mainly focuses on crises as a challenge for entrepreneurial ventures and potential regulatory response mechanisms, we complement this research by addressing the question of how crises in general—and COVID-19’s physical distancing measures in particular—shape entrepreneurial opportunities for social innovation. Based on two rounds of data collection—desktop research mapping out 95 entrepreneurial activities in Germany and four focus groups—we find first that entrepreneurs are proactive agents in alleviating the negative consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. They do so by creating two types of digital social innovation: digital brokering and digitized services. Second, we note that negative societal consequences of crises can be buffered by shifts in entrepreneurs’ strategic orientation through improvised venturing, rapid pivoting and pro-social product extension. Third, we note variance in the persistence of changes with consequences for entrepreneurial opportunities and social innovation: Whereas some social innovation are rather ephemeral, others might endure and promise long-term impacts. We offer key insights for the literature on crisis, social innovation and hybrid organizing as well as on the implications for entrepreneurship practice and policy.