What protects us against the COVID-19 threat? Cultural tightness matters

Background The only previous studies that formulated a theoretical model of epidemics for psychological response relative to cultural perspectives have focused on the role of individualism–collectivism and have omitted analysis of tightness–looseness. This study explored the role of cultural tightness in relation to psychological disorders during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We recruited 1827 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 18.16 ± 2.23 years, 53.3% female) to participate a cross-sectional survey. Participants completed a series of questionnaires, including the scales of cultural tightness, risk perception of COVID-19 pandemic, perceived protection efficacy, anxiety and depression. A latent moderated structural equations model was used to analyse the mediating and moderating effects of risk perception regarding COVID-19, cultural tightness and perceived protection efficacy on psychological disorders. Results The results showed that greater risk perception of COVID-19 predicted greater psychological disorders, however cultural tightness moderated this positive relationship. The increase in psychological disorders with risk perception regarding COVID-19 was less pronounced among people who lived in tighter cultural areas. In addition, this moderating effect of cultural tightness was further mediated by perceived protection efficacy; that is, tight culture protects against psychological disorders by enhancing perceived protection efficacy. Conclusion This study enriched the theoretical framework of cultural tightness and indicated its importance in the field of mental health and health policies. It also emphasized the importance of tight culture as a protective factor against psychological disorders in case of COVID-19 outbreaks, providing valuable practical insight into psychological prevention for COVID-19 outbreaks.

Prosocialness and Happiness in Chilean Student Teachers

The aim of the study was to evaluate the relation between prosocialness and happiness in a sample of student teachers (N=224, age=21.42). Adapted versions of a prosocialness scale and another on happiness were used. A structural equations model was estimated that presented a suitable fit (CFI=0.951; TLI=0.944 and RMSEA=0.065). The results yielded a positive relation between prosocialness and happiness. Its implications for initial teacher training are discussed.

Non-Face-to-Face Public Services and Perceptions of Public Organizations

Public services are the primary channels and government activities in which citizens contact public organizations. In turn, public services provided by the government are critical for citizens to recognize public organizations and governments according to their content and procedure. With the onset of COVID-19, the existing face-to-face public service delivery system has shown limitations in meeting citizens’ needs for public services (fastness, transparency, and safety); as a result, a shift to non-face-to-face public services is required. The study proposes the question: “How does citizens’ satisfaction with non-face-to-face public services affect public organizations (response and transparency) and government satisfaction?”. The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of satisfaction (content and procedural) with non-face-to-face public services on the perception (responsiveness and transparency) of public organizations and governments’ satisfaction. Specifically, non-face-to-face public services are divided into content and procedural aspects to analyze the responsiveness and transparency of public organizations and their impact on government satisfaction. This study used a structural equations model for analysis and used data collected in 2019 by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, a representative public research institute in Korea. The main analysis results are as follows: the responsiveness and transparency of public organizations increased alongside satisfaction with content and procedural satisfaction with non-face-to-face public services, and government satisfaction increased with responsiveness to and transparency toward public organizations.

Motivational Context and Perfectionism Traits in Pediatric Sports

In sports, one of the social agents who can pressure an athlete for perfection in their performance is their coach. However, perfectionism has many potential negative consequences such as excessive concerns over even minor mistakes. The purpose of this study is to test a sequential model: the motivational context (i.e., task- and ego-involving climates generated by the coach and a coach’s support for autonomy) and the facets that determine the level of perfectionism exhibited as a trait (i.e., perceived coach pressure—a facet of socially prescribed perfectionism—and concerns over mistakes—a facet of self-oriented perfectionism). The sample included 317 athletes (133 boys and 184 girls) aged between 10 and 14 years, who answered a battery of questionnaires that evaluated an athlete’s perception of their motivational climate, their perception of support for autonomy, their perceived coach pressure and their concerns over mistakes. Using the structural equations model, the results showed that the task-involving climate was negatively correlated with perceived coach pressure, whereas the ego-involving climate and support for autonomy were positively correlated with perceived coach pressure and were positively correlated with concerns over mistakes. Finally, perceived coach pressure did not influence concerns over mistakes from the motivational context. This study highlights the importance of considering motivational contexts as important motivational elements of perfectionism in youth sports.

Luxury Brands: awareness and image and its influence on loyalty and engagement

This work is based on the concept of Brand Equity in the luxury sector. It analyzes the relationships between Awareness, Image and Loyaty, including Engagement in its relationship with commented variables. A theoretical model was specified and tested by Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Hypothesis have been tested running a structural equations model. Each hypothesis has resulted to be significant. The model had a good fit to the data. The conclusions obtained from the analysis of the data allow us to describe the effects that occur between the variables, being important for their management so that managers of the luxury companies can increase the value of their brands.

Dissatisfaction Responses of Tourists in the Havana World Heritage Site

This paper aims to assess the relationships between tourists’ negative evaluation of key management areas in the cultural city, their overall satisfaction and future intentions. More specifically, this paper proposes a covariance-based structural equations model (CB-SEM) to assess the influence of tourists’ dissatisfaction caused by failures in tourist and cultural services, hygiene and infrastructure on their overall satisfaction with the cultural trip and their intentions to repeat it. Using data collected from 1500 tourists visiting Old Havana on a cultural trip, this paper confirms that a negative opinion on the management of hygiene, cleanliness and crowding is dominant in explaining cultural tourists’ lower levels of satisfaction. In addition, this was found to be the only factor with a negative impact on tourists’ intentions to revisit the city in the future. The results are useful for helping managers of cultural destinations to distinguish the areas that are most relevant in their attempt to promote satisfaction and loyalty in the context of cultural tourism.

Dairy Products with Certification Marks: The Role of Territoriality and Safety Perception on Intention to Buy

Over the years, the territorial origins of agri-food products have become a consolidated marketing model which stand as an alternative to mass production. References to territory, whether on packaging or in advertising, have become an increasingly popular way for marketers to differentiate products, by attributing specific characteristics to them, derived from specific cultural identities and traditions. The aim of this study is to capture the possible differences between two groups, Italian and French, in the perception and intention to buy products with certification marks. We tested a multi-group structural equations model, assessing the mediation of the Perceived Product Safety (PPS) between Packaging with reference to Territoriality (PT) and Intention to Buy (IB). Our findings show that in both groups PT has a positive association with IB and PPS and that PPS has a positive association with IB. The difference is the mediation of PPS, present only in the Italian group. This opens important considerations on the role of the perception of safety, particularly in the pandemic period, in the presentation of products, particularly in products with certification marks linked to sustainability and territoriality.

Residential location choice and its effects on travel satisfaction in a context of short-term transnational relocation

Temporary opportunities for studying and working abroad have been growing globally and intensifying the movement of highly skilled temporary populations. To attract this group, cities need to address their residential and mobility needs. This study focuses on factors influencing residential and travel satisfaction of transnational temporary residents, highlighting the occurrence of residential self-selection, its impacts on residential and travel choices and on derived levels of satisfaction. We have estimated a Bayesian Structural Equations Model and found that lower levels of residential satisfaction (residential dissonance) are associated with lower rents, living farther away from the place of study or work, and having higher transport expenditures. In contrast, higher levels of residential satisfaction (residential consonance) are related to individuals’ stronger preferences for active modes, lower levels of public transport use, and reduced transport monthly expenditures, which suggest shorter commuting distances. These findings reveal the tradeoffs involving residential location, monthly rent, and transport expenditures, highlighting that providing good public transport connections can reduce the burden of commuting distances. Our results indicate that better transport supply and land-use balance near the residence can improve both residential and travel satisfaction.

Effect of Financial Literacy on Individual Savings Behavior; the Mediation Role of Intention to Saving

This study investigated the effect of financial literacy on savings behavior, considering the mediation effect of intention to savings. A structured questionnaire was distributed among 206 employed individuals in the Colombo district, Sri Lanka. Three Stage Least Squares technique was initially used to analyze the structural equations model fitted to measure the hypothesized mediation effect. Then the result was rousted using path analysis. The findings indicated that financial literacy has a direct and positively significant influence on savings behavior. Moreover, the mediation effect of intention was also found as positively significant in the above relationship. This indicates that the knowledge of the financial system leads to good savings behavior, and especially it creates an intention to save more. Therefore, policymakers and financial institutions can consider enhancing financial literature among individuals as a worthy strategy when encouraging savings as it both encourages savings behavior and the intention to do so.

Structural model of university social responsability

The study aims to analyze the University Social Responsibility (USR) policy implemented at the Michoacan State University (Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo - UMSNH) from the perspective of the university community. For that purpose, a Structural Equations Model in its variant of Partial Least Squares (PLS) was used from a theoretical/empirical construct on the USR. Five variables integrated into 17 indicators were used, obtained by a representative sample. The results are presented in two sections; a) USR performance at the UMSNH and; b) the role of each variable in the PLS model. It is concluded that the performance was regular and the Internal Management (IM) had a key impact on the model operation. In the management practice, this might help identify areas to improve the performance of this policy by sector and variables.