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In the paradox of personalized services and privacy risks, what factors influence users’ decisions is considered an interesting issue worth exploring. The current study aims to empirically explore privacy behavior of social media users by developing a theoretical model based on privacy calculus theory.

Privacy risks, conceptualized as natural risks and integrated risks, were proposed to affect the intention of privacy disclosure and protection. The model was validated through a hybrid approach of structural equation modeling (SEM)-artificial neural network (ANN) to analyze the data collected from 527 effective responses.

The results from the SEM analysis indicated that social interaction and perceived enjoyment were strong determinants of perceived benefits, which in turn played a dominant role in the intention to disclose the privacy in social media. Similarly, trust and privacy invasion experience were significantly related to perceived risks that had the most considerable effect on users’ privacy protection intention. And the following ANN models revealed consistent relationships and rankings with the SEM results.

This study broadened the application perspective of privacy calculus theory to identify both linear and non-linear effects of privacy risks and privacy benefits on users’ intention to disclose or protect their privacy by using a state-of-the-art methodological approach combining SEM and ANN.

The outbreak of COVID-19 not only had serious negative impacts on the world economy but also on the global mental health because of the psychological disorders associated with the spread of the pandemic, the increased degree of uncertainty and the unprecedented measures taken by different countries to face the pandemic’s spread. This paper analyses the mental health well-being of individuals in selected MENA countries (Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt) during the pandemic.

The study employs a pooled OLS model using the Economic Research Forum (ERF) COVID-19 MENA Monitor Survey panel dataset collected during 2020 and 2021.

The findings show that there is no association between the mental health of individuals in the selected countries and their age, gender, family size, marital status, receipt of social support and participation in care work. Mental health improved at higher levels of education, being employed, being a rural area resident and living in Morocco or Tunisia compared to living in Jordan while it worsened as income declined, food insecurity and anxiety about being infected with Covid-19 increased, being a resident in camps, and during waves 4 and 5. Based on these results, it is recommended that suitable financial, physical and human resources should be directed towards the provision of mental health care services in the region. Also, mental health care services should be accessible to different population groups, with a special focus towards the most vulnerable since they are more prone to mental illnesses, especially during health crises and economic shocks. This should be accompanied by increasing awareness about the provided services and reducing stigma against mental illnesses. Furthermore, introduction of policies targeted towards reducing food insecurity and income instability can play a key role in enhancing mental well-being.

Although few papers have previously investigated the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in MENA countries, most of them have focused on a country-level analysis and adopted a gender perspective. Hence, this paper aims at exploring the association between mental health well-being and socio-economic factors in selected MENA countries during the pandemic.