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Lockdowns are generally characterised by financial depletion, loneliness, stress, depression, loss of jobs and businesses, among others. The effect of the recent lockdown in Ghana as a result of COVID-19 pandemic has not been different. The primary question this study seeks to answer is: are lockdowns only characterised by negativity, or could there be a positive side that has not yet been harnessed?

To answer this question, the authors rely on a dataset of 879 observations obtained through an online survey administered from 25 April to 3 May 2020. Using a regression approach, the authors applied an ordered probit econometric technique with its associated predicted margins.

The authors show evidence that in the midst of the negativity surrounding the lockdown, social connectedness is evident, especially in relatively less busy cities. The authors recommend that instead of losing oneself through social isolation and loneliness during lockdowns, people should use lockdowns as an opportunity to build and exhibit social capital and harness the opportunities associated with it. The authors also recommend that during lockdowns, channels of social connectedness should be made easily accessible and cheaper through a well-targeted government subsidy programme for the poor.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is a novel study that provides the first empirical evidence on the relationship between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown and social connectedness.

This study aims to explain how program liking, program connectedness, and product category involvement influence brand attitudes as a result of advertiser funded programming.

We conduct a field study on a panel of real television viewers that were surveyed one week after the final episode of an advertiser funded fashion program was broadcasted. A moderated mediation model is constructed and tested that captures the interplay of three determinants of brand attitudes: program liking, product category involvement, and program connectedness.

Liking of the program is transferred to brand attitudes. This effect is complementarily mediated by connectedness with the program, and this mediation is moderated by product category involvement. Program liking only spills over to brand attitude through connectedness for viewers with moderate to high levels of involvement with the sponsor product category.

The findings add to the understanding of the role of program liking and program connectedness in the formation of brand attitudes. Although prior research has established that liking and connectedness are indeed an important determinant of brand attitudes, this research unveils product category involvement as an important boundary condition for this effect.

Consumers can develop liking for even an advanced form of brand placement, an Advertiser Funded Program (AFP). When consumers’ evaluations of the program are positive, they connect to the program on a personal basis, also leading to positive brand effects. Advertising practitioners should focus on the meaningful integration of their brand in a context that is involving for their target audience.

Recent trends and developments in Bitcoin have led to a proliferation of studies that analyzed the Bitcoin returns and volatility; however, the volatility connectedness between Bitcoin and equity market information in emerging countries quietly remains scarce. Regarding this deficiency, the purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamic connectedness between Bitcoin and equity market information.

Daily data from January 1, 2012 to May 31, 2018 are used. The paper applies a novel time-varying parameter vector autoregression (TVP-VAR) model extended by Antonakakis and Gabauer (2017). This model addresses the biases in coefficient estimates, considering innovations from sources of time variation.

The findings reveal that the volatility transmission of Bitcoin return is not an important source of shocks of market returns in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), suggesting that Bitcoin return contributes less volatility to equity market information. The results further show that Bitcoin is the main receiver of volatility while market price risk is the dominant transmission catalysts for innovations in the rest of the stock market returns.

Important implications can be derived from these findings, signaling of the demand to develop and implement volatility connectedness policy measures in order to guarantee the stability of financial assets. However, the most significant limitation lies in the fact that the analysis of this paper is restricted to the volatility connectedness between Bitcoin and equity market information in BRICS countries.

By acknowledging the wide range of econometric models, the paper uses TVP-VAR model because this methodology is a useful and relevant tool in modeling the volatility connectedness of financial variables, thus providing meaningful information to policy makers and international investors.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to demonstrate the contribution of whole school approaches embodied by the health‐promoting school approach, to the promotion of school connectedness, defined as the cohesiveness between diverse groups in the school community, including students, families, school staff and the wider community.

A cross‐disciplinary review of literature was conducted to identify strategies consistent with the health‐promoting school approach and the values and principles that promote school connectedness. The review included peer‐reviewed articles and published books and reports identified from the databases spanning the education, health, social science and science disciplines and used search terms encompassing health and mental health promotion, schools, social connectedness, belonging and attachment. The paper is also a framework of the contribution of the health‐promoting school approach to promoting school connectedness and was developed drawing on health promotion strategies at the broader community level known to foster connectedness.

The paper found that the framework developed illustrates how the health‐promoting school approach has the potential to build school connectedness through two major mechanisms: inclusive processes that involve the diversity of members that make up a community; the active participation of community members and equal “power” relationships, or equal partnerships among community members; and supportive structures such as school policies, the way the school is organised and its physical environment, that reflect the values of participation, democracy and inclusiveness and/or that promote processes based on these values.

In this paper the detailed mechanisms outlined in the framework provide practical strategies for health promotion practitioners and educators to use in the everyday school setting to promote school connectedness.

This paper draws together substantial bodies of evidence and makes a persuasive case for the contribution of the health‐promoting school approach to building school connectedness.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and test a model of group processes (e.g. conflict), emergent states (e.g. trust), and group context (e.g. connectedness) to better understand the mechanisms that underlie the traditionally negative effects of conflict.

A total of 27 workgroups of a Dutch telecommunications company participated in a survey. To assess trust as a mediator between conflict and performance bootstrapping analysis was used. In addition, the moderating role of the three connectedness types was investigated with hierarchical regressions.

The results suggest that trust partially mediates the effect of task conflict and fully mediates the effect of relationship conflict on performance. Furthermore, trust is less affected by task conflict when group members are highly cognitively connected and less affected by relationship conflict when group members are highly task connected.

This research implies that task and cognitive connectedness decrease the negative effect of conflict on trust, and hence, performance. Shortcomings include discussing the causality between conflict and trust, and the possibility of different perceptions among group members regarding group phenomena.

The findings suggest that managers can help to provide circumstances in which conflict is not necessarily destructive for intragroup trust and performance.

Provides one of the first empirical examinations of the mediating role of trust in the relationship between task and relationship conflict and perceived group performance. Additionally, examines if connectedness (the level of active involvement of group members with each other) buffers the negative effects of conflict on trust.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether distinctive modes (observation vs control) of presenting diverse content differentially influence users. To achieve this goal, The authors first conceptualize empathy as social cognition and discuss the possible psychological mechanisms for divergent associations between observation-based media (i.e. video media) and control-based media (i.e. game media).

In total, 300 adults (150 females) participated in this study through an online survey.

Time spent with video media (television and film) was positively associated with empathy, which in turn was associated with enhanced social connectedness. However, time spent on game media (video games, computer games, and smartphone games) was negatively associated with empathy, which in turn was associated with inferior social connectedness.

While previous studies on the effects of media have focussed mainly on content, the present study focusses on the effects of mode. The mode-focussed approach presents evidence contradictory to the content-focussed approach.

The health-promoting schools (HPSs) framework has emerged as a promising model for promoting school connectedness in the school setting. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for food practices to promote school connectedness within a HPSs framework.

This study explores food practices within a New Zealand secondary school by using an ethnographic methodology, with interviews and observations, to explore in-depth the range of food practices that occurred within the school across a whole school year. Thematically the data were ready for school connectedness indicators across the recorded events, and categorically the practices were coded according to their level of occurrence within the HPS framework.

The findings showed that food practices occurred across class- and school-level organisation, ethos, environment, and community partnerships, and indicated that they may be valuable assets for a HPS approach to school connectedness. By integrating the findings of the present study with previous literature the authors suggest a HPS framework for promoting school connectedness through food practices.

This paper contributes to the emerging research on whole-school approaches to building school connectedness, and provides a first contribution on the value of food practices for school connectedness.

School connectedness is a well-established protective factor for young people’s physical, mental, and social health. The purpose of this paper is to explore the promotion of school connectedness through the practice of shared lunches within a secondary school context in New Zealand.

An ethnographic methodology was used to explore in-depth the mechanisms by which food practices included indicators of school connectedness, and used interviews and observations with teachers and 16-18-year-old students in a New Zealand secondary school.

The results describe six key mechanisms by which shared lunches fostered school connectedness: showing common humanity, creating an informal setting, encouraging sharing, enabling inclusive participation, demonstrating sacrifice for the communal good, and facilitating experiences of diversity. These mechanisms contributed to increased social interactions in which people got to know each other better and were able to gain insight into others’ personalities. This allowed for opportunities to establish and strengthen social relationships, and contributed to indicators of connectedness.

The study is exploratory with findings reported from one school. Further research in other contexts on the value of shared lunches for building school connectedness is required.

Shared lunches, as part of an overall strategy to develop a well-connected school community, are adaptable and can fit into a multitude of situations to meet different needs. The findings of this study contribute to understanding the mechanisms by which shared lunches can affect indicators of school connectedness.

A comprehensive whole‐school approach has emerged as a promising model for building connectedness in the school setting. The health‐promoting school model, through its whole‐school orientation and attention to the school organizational environment, identifies structures and processes that influence school connectedness. This paper aims to investigate this model.

This study examines the key mechanisms of health‐promoting school structures and processes, as well as the pathways of their influence on school connectedness, by using a qualitative case study methodology in three school communities in southeast Queensland, Australia. In‐depth interviews, focus groups, observations and documentary evidence provided the data.

Key elements of the health‐promoting school model that facilitated interactions between school community members were events that were characterised as positive, social, celebratory, and with no financial cost, as well as informal gatherings that involved food or events with communal eating. Through these interactions, mutual reciprocal relationships were developed. School community members began to learn about and understand one another's positive qualities, which in turn promoted additional aspects of school connectedness. The key elements and pathways of the health‐promoting school approach were supported by factors such as informal teaching, reinforcement, adequate time for relationships to develop, and being embedded within the whole‐school orientation. The results of this study are used to formulate a theoretical model of how the health‐promoting school approach builds school connectedness.

These findings are important because they provide insight into the central role of food in the school culture and how it links other key elements and factors that can be implemented in the school setting to build connectedness.

This study aims to understand the meaning of web site connectedness from the consumer's point of view, and uncover the underlying meaning of emotional ties between visitors and web sites.

The study, conducted a netnography which uses three qualitative research methods: online interviews; diary analysis; and observation of web site usage and behaviour. Seven respondents were obtained for the depth interviews, and 12 respondents participated in the diary study. The length of interviews was approximately 1.5 hours/respondent; whereas the three‐consecutive days of diary entries consist of three‐four pages per day/respondent. Observation was undertaken by the lead researcher as an active member of several user groups.

The emic perspective illuminated here shows that web site connectedness consists of three major themes: relatability; dependency; and sense of community. The paper defines these constructs, and suggests that to transform the relationship from “just friends” to “soul mates” web site owners should focus on improving one or all of the connectedness components. Surprisingly, frequency of visit did not determine the depth of the relationship between web sites and their visitors, as is the common assumption in the literature.

This research study illuminates a new way to understand the emotional connection between consumers and web sites, and uncovers the three most important factors that lead toward three varying levels of emotional connectedness (just friends, good acquaintances and soul mates). The paper also suggests ways in which emotional connectedness can be enhanced.