scholarly journals The Effect of Job Insecurity and Life Uncertainty on Everyday Consumptions and Broader Life Projects during COVID-19 Pandemic

Author(s):  
Antonio Chirumbolo ◽  
Antonino Callea ◽  
Flavio Urbini

Contemporary society is characterized by a high level of uncertainty in many domains of everyday life. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a deep economic crisis, exacerbating worldwide feelings of uncertainty and precarity. Individuals with insecure jobs have (and will) probably suffered the most from this situation. Workers with higher job insecurity have poorer psychological and physical health, display more negative work attitudes and are less satisfied about their life. However, much less is known about the impact of job insecurity and life uncertainty on consumer behavior. Using the Conservation of Resources theory as a framework, the present study examines a model in which job insecurity and life uncertainty would have a negative effect on everyday consumptions and broader life projects of individuals. Data collection was conducted in Italy in June and July 2020 during COVID-19 pandemic, in the immediate aftermath of the national lockdown. In a sample of 830 workers, the results of a mediation analysis showed that job insecurity and life uncertainty had a detrimental impact of consumer behaviors, since they were significantly associated with higher propensity to sacrifice and reduce everyday short-term consumptions (e.g., buying food) and greater perceived unaffordability of broader long-term life projects (e.g., buying a house).

Author(s):  
Eva Martinez ◽  
Teresa Montaner ◽  
Jose M. Pina

Companies are increasingly designing more promotional actions to obtain better sales rates in the short term. However, the indiscriminate use of this tool has a negative effect for the organisations in the middle and long term. The purpose of this paper is to analyse if the frequent use of promotions has a negative effect on the promoted brand image. More exactly we have studied how different promotional tools may affect the image that consumers have on two brands and also if the category of the promoted product has any influence on that effect. Considering the data obtained in an experiment we have demonstrated that the effect of promotions on brand image depends on the type of promotional tool and the product category.


Psibernetika ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Devina Calista ◽  
Garvin Garvin

<p><em>Child abuse by parents is common in households. The impact of violence on children will bring short-term effects and long-term effects that can be attributed to their various emotional, behavioral and social problems in the future; especially in late adolescence that will enter adulthood. Resilience factors increase the likelihood that adolescents who are victims of childhood violence recover from their past experiences</em><em>,</em><em> become more powerful individuals and have a better life. The purpose of this study was to determine the source of resilience in late adolescents who experienced violence from parents in their childhood. This research uses qualitative research methods with in-depth interviews as a method of data collection. The result shows that the three research participants have the aspects of "I Have", "I Am", and "I Can"; a participant has "I Can" aspects as a source of resilience, and one other subject has no source of resilience. The study concluded that parental affection and acceptance of the past experience have role to the three sources of resilience (I Have, I Am, and I Can)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><strong><em>Keyword : </em></strong><em>Resilience, adolescence, violence, parents</em></p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 920.1-921
Author(s):  
N. Stepanenko ◽  
E. Fedorov ◽  
S. Salugina ◽  
S. Feoktistova

Background:Monogenic auto-inflammatory diseases (mAID) are a group of severe chronic multisystemic diseases with recurring episodes of fever and other manifestations that significantly affect the patients’ life quality. Moreover, the hyper expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL1β, etc.) observed in these patients may have a negative effect on the central nervous system.Objectives:to study the state of the cognitive and emotional spheres in children suffering from monogenic auto-inflammatory diseases.Methods:there were examined 22 children at the age of 7 to 17 years old diagnosed with CAPS-9, TRAPS-8, FMF-5. Among them there were 12 boys and 10 girls. The diagnosis in all the patients was confirmed through detection of pathogenic mutations in the NLRP3, TNFRSF1A and MEFV genes. The following methods were used: a clinical conversation; memory diagnostics (learning by heart of 10 words, a pictogram using cues taking into account the patients’ age); attention diagnostics (Schulte tables); thinking diagnostics (establishing a sequence of events, “four is a crwod”, simple analogies, interpretation of proverbs); emotional and communicative fields (the Eight-Color Luscher Test; CMAS (adaptation by A. Prikhozhan); STAI test, a drawing called “an animal that does not exist” and “a house-a tree-a man”).Results:The memory study revealed in all patients with TRAPS and FMF high and medium values of short-term and long-term memory, in patients with CAPS - a low level of short-term auditory-speech memory, information storage and indirect memorization in 1/3 of patients. In 100% of the examined patients with TRAPS, a significant decrease in all processes of attention and distribution of attention. In 1/3 of patients with CAPS, an increased exhaustion of attention was registered and in 11% - a decrease in its stability. In patients with FMF, attention disorders were not detected. In 44% of patients with CAPS, a decrease in the level of generalization and difficulties in establishing causal relationships were registered. In 25% of patients with TRAPS a decrease in the level of generalization, in 12.5%- difficulties in establishing cause-effect relationships, inertia of thinking in 37.5%. In 60% of patients with FMF: a decrease in the level of generalization, in 80%: difficulties in establishing cause-effect relationships, inertia of thinking in 20%. In the emotional sphere, patients with CAPS, TRAPS, and FMF demonstrated signs of aggression (11.1%, 20% and 20% of patients, respectively), communicative disorders (77.8% -80% - 80%), and reduced social adaptation (55.5% - 80% - 80%), a tendency to form neurotic fears (22% - 40% - 40%). A high level of personal anxiety was noted in 1/3 of patients with CAPS and 40% of patients with FMF.Conclusion:various psychological disorders in the cognitive and emotional fields were noted in the majority of the examined patients with monogenic auto-inflammatory diseases. In patients with TRAPS, attention processes are most significantly affected; in patients with CAPS, memory is more often affected. In patients with FMF, disorders in thinking processes are revealed more often. In the emotional sphere, most patients with all the three forms of AID note communicative disorders and social adaptation.Disclosure of Interests:None declared


2021 ◽  
pp. 0160323X2110120
Author(s):  
Hai (David) Guo ◽  
Can Chen

Early in the pandemic, Florida municipal managers indicated that forecasting the impact on local revenues was one of their top priorities in responding to the pandemic, yet such a tool has not been widely available. This study offers simple and straightforward fiscal planning guides for assessing the short-term and long-term impacts of the COVID 19 recession on local government revenues by estimating the revenue declines among 411 Florida municipalities from FY 2021 to FY 2023. The forecast results predict revenues will be reduced by $5.11 billion from 2019 pre-pandemic levels for Florida cities in fiscal years 2021 through 2023. The decline is forecast to be 3.54 percent in FY 2021, 4.02 percent in FY 2022, and 3.29 percent in FY 2023. The revenue structure matters for estimating the revenue decline.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1019
Author(s):  
Barbara Frączek ◽  
Aleksandra Pięta ◽  
Adrian Burda ◽  
Paulina Mazur-Kurach ◽  
Florentyna Tyrała

The aim of this meta-analysis was to review the impact of a Paleolithic diet (PD) on selected health indicators (body composition, lipid profile, blood pressure, and carbohydrate metabolism) in the short and long term of nutrition intervention in healthy and unhealthy adults. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of 21 full-text original human studies was conducted. Both the PD and a variety of healthy diets (control diets (CDs)) caused reduction in anthropometric parameters, both in the short and long term. For many indicators, such as weight (body mass (BM)), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC), impact was stronger and especially found in the short term. All diets caused a decrease in total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG), albeit the impact of PD was stronger. Among long-term studies, only PD cased a decline in TC and LDL-C. Impact on blood pressure was observed mainly in the short term. PD caused a decrease in fasting plasma (fP) glucose, fP insulin, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in the short run, contrary to CD. In the long term, only PD caused a decrease in fP glucose and fP insulin. Lower positive impact of PD on performance was observed in the group without exercise. Positive effects of the PD on health and the lack of experiments among professional athletes require longer-term interventions to determine the effect of the Paleo diet on athletic performance.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109634802110191
Author(s):  
Jungtae Soh ◽  
Kwanglim Seo

Much scholarly attention has been paid to Airbnb’s influence on the hotel industry. However, extant studies have limitations because they consider only Airbnb while overlooking various other short-term vacation rental players that can also affect performance of hotels. To address this research gap, this study aims to provide a broader understanding of the impacts of short-term vacation rentals by analyzing data obtained from various vacation rental platforms. This study shows that while increase in short-term vacation rentals has an overall negative effect on hotel performance, the economic effect is more significant in the low-end market than in the high-end market. Our findings further reveal that the negative effect is reduced when there is a large price difference between short-term vacation rentals and hotels. By comprehensively examining multiple sources of data on hotels and vacation rentals, this study brings alternative perspectives to the attention of researchers for further investigation of vacation rentals.


Author(s):  
Ali Kamyab ◽  
Steve Andrle ◽  
Dennis Kroeger ◽  
David S. Heyer

Many Minnesota counties are faced with the problem of high vehicle speeds through towns or resort areas that have significant pedestrian traffic. The impact of speed reduction strategies in high-pedestrian areas in rural counties of Minnesota was investigated. Speed data were collected at two selected study sites under their existing conditions ("no-treatment" or "before" condition) and after the proposed speed reduction strategies were installed. Second "after" data conditions were collected to study the short-term and long-term impact of the implemented strategies. The traffic-calming techniques employed at the Twin Lakes site consisted of removable pedestrian islands and pedestrian crossing signs. A dynamic variable message sign that sent a single-word message ("Slow") to motorists traveling over the speed limit was installed at the Bemidji site. The research study shows that the traffic-calming strategy deployed in Twin Lakes was effective in significantly reducing the mean speed and improving speed limit compliance in both the short term and long term. Despite proven effectiveness, the deployed speed reduction treatment in Bemidji Lake failed to lower the speed at the study site. The single-word message on the sign and the location of the sign, as well as a lack of initial enforcement, were the primary reasons for such failure.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Machteld van den Heuvel ◽  
Evangelia Demerouti ◽  
Arnold B. Bakker ◽  
Jørn Hetland ◽  
Wilmar B. Schaufeli

Abstract This multi-wave, multi-source study focuses on the benefits of work engagement for employee adaptation to organizational change. The change entailed the implementation of a flexible office design in an engineering firm, which caused radical change for employees. Building on conservation of resources (COR) theory and change transition models, we predict that work engagement trajectories during change are crucial for successful adaptation. The hypothesized process was that initial employee meaning-making will facilitate work engagement, which, in turn, predicts supervisor-rated adaptive performance (i.e. adaptive work-role performance and extra-role performance) via attitude-to-change. Attitude-to-change was modeled as reciprocally related to work engagement at different points in time. Weekly questionnaires were completed by 71 employees during the first five weeks of the change (296 observations). Latent growth trajectories using weekly engagement measures showed no overall growth, but did show significant variance around the slope of work engagement. Meaning-making and attitude-to-change at the onset were positively related to initial levels, but not to growth of work engagement. Meaning-making was indirectly related to short-term attitude-to-change via work engagement. Short-term attitude-to-change was predictive of supervisor-rated adaptive performance and long-term attitude-to-change. Finally, work engagement (slope) predicted long-term attitude-to-change and supervisor-rated extra-role performance via short-term attitude-to-change. Taken together, the study contributes to knowledge about micro-level transition processes of employee adaptation and the benefits of work engagement during change.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Li ◽  
Anrunze Li ◽  
Xue Song ◽  
Xinran Li ◽  
Kun Huang ◽  
...  

PurposeAs academic social Q&A networking websites become more popular, scholars are increasingly using them to meet their information needs by asking academic questions. However, compared with other types of social media, scholars are less active on these sites, resulting in a lower response quantity for some questions. This paper explores the factors that help explain how to ask questions that generate more responses and examines the impact of different disciplines on response quantity.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines 1,968 questions in five disciplines on the academic social Q&A platform ResearchGate Q&A and explores how the linguistic characteristics of these questions affect the number of responses. It uses a range of methods to statistically analyze the relationship between these linguistic characteristics and the number of responses, and conducts comparisons between disciplines.FindingsThe findings indicate that some linguistic characteristics, such as sadness, positive emotion and second-person pronouns, have a positive effect on response quantity; conversely, a high level of function words and first-person pronouns has a negative effect. However, the impacts of these linguistic characteristics vary across disciplines.Originality/valueThis study provides support for academic social Q&A platforms to assist scholars in asking richer questions that are likely to generate more answers across disciplines, thereby promoting improved academic communication among scholars.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Fulvio Corno ◽  
Luigi De Russis ◽  
Alberto Monge Roffarello

In the Internet of Things era, users are willing to personalize the joint behavior of their connected entities, i.e., smart devices and online service, by means of trigger-action rules such as “IF the entrance Nest security camera detects a movement, THEN blink the Philips Hue lamp in the kitchen.” Unfortunately, the spread of new supported technologies makes the number of possible combinations between triggers and actions continuously growing, thus motivating the need of assisting users in discovering new rules and functionality, e.g., through recommendation techniques. To this end, we present , a semantic Conversational Search and Recommendation (CSR) system able to suggest pertinent IF-THEN rules that can be easily deployed in different contexts starting from an abstract user’s need. By exploiting a conversational agent, the user can communicate her current personalization intention by specifying a set of functionality at a high level, e.g., to decrease the temperature of a room when she left it. Stemming from this input, implements a semantic recommendation process that takes into account ( a ) the current user’s intention , ( b ) the connected entities owned by the user, and ( c ) the user’s long-term preferences revealed by her profile. If not satisfied with the suggestions, then the user can converse with the system to provide further feedback, i.e., a short-term preference , thus allowing to provide refined recommendations that better align with the original intention. We evaluate by running different offline experiments with simulated users and real-world data. First, we test the recommendation process in different configurations, and we show that recommendation accuracy and similarity with target items increase as the interaction between the algorithm and the user proceeds. Then, we compare with other similar baseline recommender systems. Results are promising and demonstrate the effectiveness of in recommending IF-THEN rules that satisfy the current personalization intention of the user.


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