Suchergebnisse

The World Health Organization declares coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic, and The World Economic Forum argues that the COVID-19-induced global lockdown is the biggest psychological experiment. This study is an attempt to empirically evaluate the possible adverse psychosocial effects caused by COVID-19-related lockdown, if any. To do so, a cross-sectional study is conducted based on a comprehensive online survey using snowball sampling to analyze the level of social and psychological impacts (i.e., stress, belief in stakeholders, fear of losing job, and life satisfaction) during the early stage of the outbreak in Pakistan. The questionnaire is filled out by the residents in Pakistan including working professionals and students (sample size is 428). We find that the development of stress due to COVID-19-induced lockdown is particularly because of mood swings. Additionally, a higher prevalence of stress in the children of highly educated mothers is evident (95% confidence). To assess the belief in stakeholders, we focus gender, demographics, and education. It is observed that parental education and age significantly affect the belief in several stakeholders (i.e., government, media, religious clerics, and family). The lockdown-induced fear of losing job is lower in female and male children whose fathers are graduates. Lastly, we observe that food storage and "no fear of losing job" significantly increases the odds of life satisfaction. These findings have important implications in the context of social insurance, parental education, and policy related to COVID-19 at various levels. This study further facilitates to understand the factors that might affect the mental health and life satisfaction of people during such pandemics.

Recently, the Ministry of Health Pakistan decreed that disclosures of anti- smoking messages placement in the movies should be used whereby fear based cognitive anti-smoking message is shown. Consistent with the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) assumption that persuasion messages likely influence the attitude of the relatively unmotivated individuals. This study is the first which tests and compare the ability of anti-smoking persuasion messages presented in the Direct Anti-smoking public service Advertisements (DAA) and Anti-smoking messages Placement Disclosures in movies (APD) in determining viewer's Attitude to Quit Smoking (AQS). Hence, this attempt overcomes deficient understanding about the effects of disclosing anti-smoking advertisement placement. In a between-subject experiment (N = 120), we measure the smokers' attitudes in the result of the direct anti-smoking advertisements along with the APDs in movies. Results of the experiment show that attitude to quit smoking becomes stronger when a direct anti-smoking advertisement and anti-smoking disclosure is shown. However, analyses based on Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM) on Advanced Analysis for Composites (ADANCO) 2.0.1 (a new software for variance-based SEM) attitude to quit smoking is significantly higher when the anti-smoking message disclosure is shown during the movie scenes. These results have significant implications for persuasion theories and public policy about anti-smoking campaigns.

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic has redefined the corporate sector's communication requirements to maintain organizational reputation among employees. This situation has led to lacklustre organizational performance and a decline in employee well‐being. However, little is known about how the sophisticated execution of internal crisis communication can foster productive employee responses. This study examines how internal communication during times of crisis strengthens employee task performance and well‐being, both of which are crucial for organizational success following the COVID‐19 pandemic. Drawing inspiration from situational crisis communication theory, the study primarily investigates the outcomes of internal crisis communication that generate favourable employee perceptions of their organization. A quantitative survey of 384 employees from various organizations was conducted, and the results indicated that efficient internal crisis communication enhances employee task performance, boosts employee well‐being and reduces crisis attribution, thus promoting employee behaviour that improves reputation. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature in public relations focused on understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying positive employee behavioural intentions during times of crisis. More importantly, strategic internal communication and maintaining a human element in employee interactions will benefit organizations in the long run. Practical implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

This paper empirically inquire the relation of social capital dimensions (relational social capital, structural social capital, and cognitive social capital), organization innovation capabilities, and the performance of information technology (IT) as a mediator in the said relationships. A total of 263 workers of different management cadres from software SMEs (Zhongguancun Software Park, Beijing, China) were randomly selected. However, 143 respondents submitted the complete response. Thus, the response rate was 54%. For the empirical investigation, the present paper uses Partial Least Squares, Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Importance-Performance Matrix Analysis (IPMA) techniques to analyze the survey data. The direct and indirect relationship between dimensions of social capital and organizational innovation capabilities is significant. However, IT generates a partial mediation effect. IPMA highlights the importance of relational and structural social capital to innovation capabilities, however, IT is indicated as the key driver that trigger the effect of social capital on organization innovation capabilities. Future studies guidelines and limitations are explained at the end of this paper.

Abstract
The ongoing development of the strategic communication research in the area of the advertising calls for the development and validation of the measurement instruments that can address the indulgence of the advertising appeals in a specific cultural context. Therefore, the present study examines and validate advertising appeals by considering the norms based on the GLOBE nine cultural dimensions in Malaysian context. The analysis involved data from 10 advertising expert for content validation, followed by 10 advertising expert rating and ranking of the scale of its relevance and clarity to assess the item-level content validation. The results provided to support the impact of cultural norms are substantial for Malaysian advertising, which are identified from content validation procedure.

This study seeks to explain how political participation is influenced by cultural values manifested in political advertising. In this regard, this study proposes a model that encompasses the concepts of Schwartz' basic human values in which self-transcendence and conservation interact with three political values manifested in advertisements, namely law and order, civil liberties and patriotism, to determine political participation. Analyses were performed on a random sample of 834 Pakistanis collected through a survey. Structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques were employed, and analysis of moment structures (AMOS) was used to determine political participation. The findings of this study revealed that self-transcendence and conservation, albeit varied intensity, interact with political values manifested in advertisements. The findings also provide theoretical and managerial implications, which are discussed in greater detail in this article.

The study examines the role of a health-related promotional campaign launched in Pakistan in the context of advertising campaign to improve precautionary behavior toward dengue virus (PBDV). The focus of this study is to investigate the mediation of individual's attention, information surveillance, elaboration, and also the moderation of demographic features (e.g., gender, educational level, and dengue affected survival) in the relationship between the exposure of dengue-related public service announcements (DPSA) and PBDV. Telephonic interview technique was used to establish a representative sample ( N = 1,251) from Punjab (dengue-affected province of Pakistan) using a computer-assisted telephone survey software. The outcomes clarify the application of cognitive mediation model in the context of health communication. The findings revealed that individual's attention and information surveillance have considerable mediating effects on PBDV and DPSA relationship. Surprisingly, however, there is no indirect effect of elaboration on PBDV. The findings provide practical recommendations to public organizations while designing health communication strategies.

The nexus of global tourism, disasters and sustainability have always been triggered by numerous crises, e.g., political unrest, wars, and pandemics. However, there is still fragmented research on destination crisis marketing, and its impact on willingness to travel remains largely unknown. To address this critical research gap, the present study used an experimental research design by framing destination crisis marketing campaigns (2 × 2 frames including DCM implemented versus DCM not implemented) and electronic word of mouth (2 × 2 frames including positive e-Wom versus negative e-Wom) to examine their impact on destination trust and global expat's willingness to travel. Based on the experimental settings of global expats (N = 232; representing over 10 nationalities) with four framing groups (Group 1 to Group 4, configured in frames as ± DCM and ± e-Wom), the new evidence suggests that global expats who are provoked by positive crisis marketing campaigns and positive e-Wom (Group 4) have higher levels of destination trust than those who are exposed to either negative crisis marketing scenario and/or negative e-Wom (i.e., Group 1 to Group 3). The findings also revealed that global expat's willingness to travel is significantly influenced by destination crisis marketing campaigns and e-Wom. Interestingly, for all framing groups (Group 1 to Group 4), the effects of destination crisis marketing and e-WOM on expat's willingness to travel, was significantly mediated by destination trust. Utilizing prominent theories (i.e., signal theory, image repair theory and trust transfer theory), the study implications highlighted that crisis marketing and positive e-Wom could serve as the cornerstones for destinations to stay relevant, regenerate sustainable practices, as well as create new opportunities out of a crisis

Innovation generates significant benefits for business, the economy, and society as a whole. An innovative product brings significant benefits and improved features to the market. This study aims to explore the effect of innovation characteristics on consumer resistance to innovation in the Smartphone industry. The data have been collected from 310 university students in Pakistan. The findings revealed that factors of innovation characteristics (relative advantage, perceived risk, and e‐word of mouth) have significant relationships with consumer resistance to innovation. Consumer innovativeness has shown the moderating effect on the relationships between innovation characteristics and consumer resistance to innovation. Limitations of the study, implications for theory and practice, and future research directions have been discussed.