Medical tourism in the COVID-19 era: opportunities, challenges and the way ahead

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arvind Chhabra ◽  
Mehak Munjal ◽  
Prabhu Chandra Mishra ◽  
Kritika Singh ◽  
Debjanee Das ◽  
...  

PurposeThe novel coronavirus has not only caused significant illness and loss of life, it has caused major disruption at local, national and global levels. While the healthcare industry is experiencing growth during the pandemic, disruption to travel has affected medical tourism. This article considers the short-term factors affecting medical tourism and how they could be mitigated by incorporating technological advances to secure long-term growth.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines data provided by the Indian government as well as from non-government sources available in the public domain to review the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on medical tourism. The authors also examine data on technological advances in the healthcare industry that could help to reduce the impact of the pandemic.FindingsThis study’s findings show that while in-person services have been seriously impacted in the short term, technological adaptation of medical services to facilitate remote medical consultation has significantly increased. This has enlarged the business opportunities available to hospitals and general practitioners, and it could be leveraged to enhance medical tourism.Originality/valueThe article provides an analysis of the impact of the pandemic on medical tourism and how technology could be used to overcome short-term negative impacts and support longer-term development.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7007
Author(s):  
Habtamu Nebere ◽  
Degefa Tolossa ◽  
Amare Bantider

In Ethiopia, the practice of land management started three decades ago in order to address the problem of land degradation and to further boost agricultural production. However, the impact of land management practices in curbing land degradation problems and improving the productivity of the agricultural sector is insignificant. Various empirical works have previously identified the determinants of the adoption rate of land management practices. However, the sustainability of land management practices after adoption, and the various factors that control the sustainability of implemented land management practices, are not well addressed. This study analyzed the factors affecting the sustainability of land management practices after implementation in Mecha Woreda, northwestern Ethiopia. The study used 378 sample respondents, selected by a systematic random sampling technique. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the quantitative data, while the qualitative data were qualitatively and concurrently analyzed with the quantitative data. The sustained supply of fodder from the implemented land management practices, as well as improved cattle breed, increases the sustainability of the implemented land management practices. While lack of agreement in the community, lack of enforcing community bylaws, open cattle grazing, lack of benefits of implemented land management practices, acting as barrier for farming practices, poor participation of household heads during planning and decision-making processes, as well as the lack of short-term benefits, reduce the sustainability of the implemented land management practices. Thus, it is better to allow for the full participation of household heads in planning and decision-making processes to bring practical and visible results in land management practices. In addition, recognizing short-term benefits to compensate the land lost in constructing land management structures must be the strategy in land management practices. Finally, reducing the number of cattle and practicing stall feeding is helpful both for the sustainability of land management practices and the productivity of cattle. In line with this, fast-growing fodder grass species have to be introduced for household heads to grow on land management structures and communal grazing fields for stall feeding.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariella Bastian ◽  
Mykola Makhortykh ◽  
Tom Dobber

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for assessing what are the possibilities and pitfalls of using algorithmic systems of news personalization – i.e. the tailoring of individualized news feeds based on users’ information preferences – for constructive conflict coverage in the context of peace journalism, a journalistic paradigm calling for more diversified and creative war reporting.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a critical review of existing research on peace journalism and algorithmic news personalization, and analyzes the intersections between the two concepts. Specifically, it identifies recurring pitfalls of peace journalism based on empirical research on constructive conflict coverage and then introduces a conceptual framework for analyzing to what degree these pitfalls can be mediated – or worsened – through algorithmic system design.FindingsThe findings suggest that AI-driven distribution technologies can facilitate constructive war reporting, in particular by countering the effects of journalists’ self-censorship and by diversifying conflict coverage. The implementation of these goals, however, depends on multiple system design solutions, thus resonating with current calls for more responsible and value-sensitive algorithmic design in the domain of news media. Additionally, our observations emphasize the importance of developing new algorithmic literacies among journalists both to realize the positive potential of AI for promoting peace and to increase the awareness of possible negative impacts of new systems of content distribution.Originality/valueThe article particle is the first to provide a comprehensive conceptualization of the impact of new content distribution techniques on constructive conflict coverage in the context of peace journalism. It also offers a novel conceptual framing for assessing the impact of algorithmic news personalization on reporting traumatic and polarizing events, such as wars and violence.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 522-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Schuster ◽  
Judy Proudfoot ◽  
Judy Drennan

Purpose – This paper aims to use the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior (MGB) to examine the factors affecting consumers’ continued use of emerging technology-based self-services (TBSSs) with credence qualities. Professional services, which traditionally require specialized knowledge and high levels of interpersonal interaction to produce owing to their credence qualities, are increasingly delivered via self-service technologies. Health services delivered via mobile devices, for example, facilitate self-care without direct involvement from health professionals. Design/methodology/approach – A mental health service delivered via the Internet and mobile phone, myCompass, was selected as the research context. Twenty interviews were conducted with users of myCompass and the data were thematically analyzed. Findings – The findings of the study showcase the unique determinants of consumers’ continued use of TBSSs with credence qualities relative to the more routine services which have been the focus of extant research. The findings further provide support for the utility of the MGB in explaining service continuance, although the importance of distinguishing between extrinsic and intrinsic motivational components of behavioral desire and capturing the impact of social influence beyond subjective norms is also highlighted. Originality/value – This study contributes to recent research examining differences in consumer responses across TBSSs and behavioral loyalty to these services. It also provides empirical evidence for broadening and deepening the MGB within this behavioral domain.


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 1071-1089
Author(s):  
Alan Chan ◽  
Bruce G. Fawcett ◽  
Shu-Kam Lee

Purpose – Church giving and attendance are two important indicators of church health and performance. In the literature, they are usually understood to be simultaneously determined. The purpose of this paper is to estimate if there a sustainable church congregation size using Wintrobe’s (1998) dictatorship model. The authors want to examine the impact of youth and adult ministry as well. Design/methodology/approach – Using the data collected from among Canadian Baptist churches in Eastern Canada, this study investigates the factors affecting the level of the two indicators by the panel-instrumental variable technique. Applying Wintrobe’s (1998) political economy model on dictatorship, the equilibrium level of worship attendance and giving is predicted. Findings – Through various simulation exercises, the actual church congregation sizes is approximately 50 percent of the predicted value, implying inefficiency and misallocation of church resources. The paper concludes with insights on effective ways church leaders can allocate scarce resources to promote growth within churches. Originality/value – The authors are the only researchers getting the permission from the Atlantic Canada Baptist Convention to use their mega data set on church giving and congregation sizes as per the authors’ knowledge. The authors are also applying a theoretical model on dictatorship to religious/not for profits organizations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Caiazza ◽  
David Audretsch ◽  
Tiziana Volpe ◽  
Julie Debra Singer

Purpose – Existing work documents the role that institutional setting plays in the process of spin-off creation. However, despite decades of studies, scholars have not clearly explained why some regions are more involved in spin-off activity than others. Drawing from institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to compare different institutional settings identifying factors affecting the general environment capability to support spin-off activity of a specific region. Design/methodology/approach – The authors utilize a cross-national analysis of American, Asian, and European areas identifying factors affecting their different rate of spin-off activity. This study contributes to the policy debate concerning entrepreneurship and how best to spur spin-off activities. Findings – In this paper, the authors identify the general and specific factors that explain the cross-national diversity in spin-off creation. The authors then perform an analysis of the impact of these factors in various regions of the USA, Asia, and Europe, providing evidence for the necessity of specific combinations of these factors. Originality/value – The paper offers a new perspective on the causes of spin-offs through a cross-national analysis of many areas around the world.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihee Choi ◽  
Soobin Seo

Purpose This paper aims to investigate consumer responses to brand rumors and corporate rumor response strategies in the restaurant industry. Design/methodology/approach A scenario-based experimental design was used to examine changes in consumers’ brand evaluation depending on level of brand equity and corporate choice of response strategy. Findings It was found that the impact of brand rumors on consumer responses is more negative when the restaurant’s brand equity is low compared to when it is high. It was also found that a company's use of active response strategies is more effective in combating brand rumor than a strategy of simple denial. Practical implications The findings have significant implications for both academics and practitioners in terms of developing effective response strategies for counteracting brand rumors. Originality/value Given the frequency of brand rumors in the restaurant industry and their serious negative impacts, this study extends the existing brand crisis communication literature by demonstrating how consumers respond to a rumor and the effectiveness of different corporate rumor response strategies.


Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1894-1912
Author(s):  
Samra Chaudary

Purpose The paper takes a behavioral approach by making use of the prospect theory to unveil the impact of salience on short-term and long-term investment decisions. This paper aims to investigate the group differences for two types of investors’ groups, i.e. individual investors and professional investors. Design/methodology/approach The study uses partial least square-based structural equation modeling technique, measurement invariance test and multigroup analysis test on a unique data set of 277 active equity traders which included professional money managers and individual investors. Findings Results showed that salience has a significant positive impact on both short-term and long-term investment decisions. The impact was almost 1.5 times higher for long-term investment decision as compared to short-term decision. Furthermore, multigroup analysis revealed that the two groups (individual investors and professional investors) were statistically significantly different from each other. Research limitations/implications The study has implications for financial regulators, money managers and individual investors as it was found that individual investors suffer more with salience heuristic and may end up with sub-optimal portfolios due to inefficient diversification. Thus, investors should be cautious in fully relying on salience and avoid such bias to improve investment returns. Practical implications The study concludes with a discussion of policy and regulatory implications on how to minimize salience bias to achieve optimum and diversified portfolios. Originality/value The study has significantly contributed to the growing body of applied behavioral research in the discipline of finance.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Yinghan Wang ◽  
Yichuan Peng ◽  
Jian John Lu

Purpose The operation safety of the high-speed railway has been widely concerned. Due to the joint influence of the environment, equipment, personnel and other factors, accidents are inevitable in the operation process. However, few studies focused on identifying contributing factors affecting the severity of high-speed railway accidents because of the difficulty in obtaining field data. This study aims to investigate the impact factors affecting the severity of the general high-speed railway. Design/methodology/approach A total of 14 potential factors were examined from 475 data. The severity level is categorized into four levels by delay time and the number of subsequent trains that are affected by the accident. The partial proportional odds model was constructed to relax the constraint of the parallel line assumption. Findings The results show that 10 factors are found to significantly affect accident severity. Moreover, the factors including automation train protection (ATP) system fault, platform screen door and train door fault, traction converter fault and railway clearance intrusion by objects have an effect on reducing the severity level. On the contrary, the accidents caused by objects hanging on the catenary, pantograph fault, passenger misconducting or sudden illness, personnel intrusion of railway clearance, driving on heavy rain or snow and train collision against objects tend to be more severe. Originality/value The research results are very useful for mitigating the consequences of high-speed rail accidents.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106
Author(s):  
Andri Arif Kustiawan ◽  
Shinta Aulia Enggarwati

Technology is developing very rapidly so that it can simplify human work, both science, information, games, buying and selling, and so on on the internet. Apart from having an impact on the fast and easy access to information, it also has an impact on health, social, intelligence, psychological, financial and other aspects. It is excessive if it is overused to make it addictive. Such as addiction to online games, TikTok, and youtube which results in dependence and underestimates health and time. This research uses literacy studies. The purpose of this study is to present findings of the impact of gadget use on children. The results show that technological advances have both positive and negative impacts. There are various kinds of game applications that are easily accessed by children, both game content and those that can stimulate children's development, such as creativity, memory, physical motor, cognitive and so on. So it is necessary to take preventive steps so that technological developments can also reduce the negative impact on children's development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 592-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Ali Chandio ◽  
Yuansheng Jiang ◽  
Feng Wei ◽  
Xu Guangshun

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of short-term loan (STL) vs long-term loan (LTL) on wheat productivity of small farms in Sindh, Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The econometric estimation is based on cross-sectional data collected in 2016 from 18 villages in three districts, i.e. Shikarpur, Sukkur and Shaheed Benazirabad, Sindh, Pakistan. The sample data set consist of 180 wheat farmers. The collected data were analyzed through different econometric techniques like Cobb–Douglas production function and Instrumental variables (two-stage least squares) approach. Findings This study reconfirmed that agricultural credit has a positive and highly significant effect on wheat productivity, while the short-term loan has a stronger effect on wheat productivity than the long-term loan. The reasons behind the phenomenon may be the significantly higher usage of agricultural inputs like seeds of improved variety and fertilizers which can be transformed into the wheat yield in the same year. However, the LTL users have significantly higher investments in land preparation, irrigation and plant protection, which may lead to higher wheat production in the coming years. Research limitations/implications In the present study, only those wheat farmers were considered who obtained agricultural loans from formal financial institutions like Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited and Khushhali Bank. However, in the rural areas of Sindh, Pakistan, a considerable proportion of small-scale farmers take credit from informal financial channels. Therefore future researchers should consider the informal credits as well. Originality/value This is the first paper to examine the effects of agricultural credit on wheat productivity of small farms in Sindh, Pakistan. This paper will be an important addition to the emerging literature regarding effects of credit studies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document