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The purpose of this paper was to analyse the research trends on the Indian Open and Distance Education (ODE) system as reflected in the articles published in the prominent journals of distance education across the world.

A study was undertaken to review the research articles on ODE in India published in 11 prominent peer-reviewed journals of distance education during the period 2010–2019. Content analysis was done to find out areas of research undertaken in the ODE of India based on a validated classification of research areas; types of research studies conducted; and authorship and publication patterns.

Out of a total of 2,571 articles published in 11 selected journals, only 191 (7.42%) pertained to ODE in India. The majority of these 191 articles (68.42%) were published in Indian journals. The Indian and Asian journals together accounted for 93.55% of total articles. Globally, the share of articles on the Indian ODE system was significantly low ranging between 4.27 and a maximum of 10.77%, which was much below expectations from a country having the maximum number of ODE learners in the world. Results further revealed that 63% of the contributors to research on ODE in India were affiliated to Indira Gandhi National Open University.

The limitation of this study was only analysing the research articles published in journals of distance education and other types of articles, namely, book reviews, editorials, field notes and workshop reports were excluded from the analysis.

The study is intended to help researchers, policymakers, and open and distance education institutions to draw a roadmap for the promotion and conduct of system-based research, which would be vital for strengthening the system.

The quantum of research is not proportionate to the number of faculty members working in the ODE system of India and the large number of learners that it serves, which is a matter of concern. For any system to grow its periodic systemic review is essential. The research outcomes need to be ploughed back into the system for its betterment.

The study is original. There is no such study undertaken till date. This study will be extremely useful to researchers, as the gaps in distance education research which are yet to be addressed, have been identified by the authors.

The occupational stress is a disadvantage resulting in mental health illnesses that have been found when looking at those migrants who were young adults and migrated to work in the urban areas, leaving behind their aging parents to live alone at home. The purpose of this paper is to compare the causal relationships of job stress between Thai immigrant employees with and without rearing aging parents.

The research was a cross-sectional survey. The sample for this study included 600 Thai immigrant employees (300 cases per group) in 2016. Measures included individual characteristics, working conditions, and a Thai Job Content Questionnaire (Thai-JCQ) on related job stress. The model was verified using a path model by Mplus software.

The distance traveled between the house and the workplace, wages, working conditions had a direct effect on job stress. Working conditions among Thai immigrants employees with rearing aging parents had the most direct effect on job stress with a standardized regression weight of 0.552 (p-value <0.05) as well as working conditions among their without rearing aging parents had the most direct effect on job stress with a standardized regression weight of −0.292.

This research demonstrated that working conditions were an important factor.

This study draws on the affective events theory (AET) to understand how telework may influence workers' well-being. Hence this study aimed to (1) analyze the indirect relationship between telework and well-being via daily micro-events (DME), and (2) test whether procrastination would moderate this indirect effect.

To test the goals, data were gathered from a sample of teleworkers in the IT sector (N = 232). To analyze the data, a moderated mediation analysis was performed in SPSS with PROCESS macro.

The results showed that micro-daily events mediated the positive relationship between telework and well-being; however, this relation was conditional upon the levels of workers' levels of procrastination, that is, this link became weaker for those who were procrastinators.

By highlighting the importance of telework, DME and procrastination, this study offers managers distinct strategies for enhancing their employees' well-being.

Despite the existing research investigating the effect of telework on well-being, studies investigating the intervening mechanisms between these two constructs are scarce. Moreover, there is a lack of research investigating the moderating effect of procrastination in these relations. Hence, this study fills these gaps and advances knowledge on the process that explains how (via DME) and when (when procrastination is low) teleworking influences workers' well-being.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate managers' experiences of managing work environment and risks during the Covid-19 pandemic and to explore how managers might use these experiences to develop future risk management.

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 18 Swedish managers at different hierarchical levels working in 11 different organizations. A directed content analysis was carried out, informed by theory on risk management.

The results point to the pandemic as a societal crisis which workplaces needed to manage through large means of improvisation. Regular work environment routines were put to the test, and several deficiencies in the work environment and risk management were identified. Organizations that handle occupational safety and risks on a daily basis through established routines were less affected and could easier adjust work environment and risk management, compared to organizations prioritizing the social and organizational work environment, which had to re-prioritize and start paying more attention to the physical work environment and to bring risk management into their daily routines.

The study offers an account of how managers in different labor market sectors in Sweden have acted in the midst of the pandemic by handling real-time crises, how these experiences can be used for engaging in retrospective learning and how this may imply changes to their prospective risk management.

Recent changes in the UK to the regulation and modes of work in the formal and informal economies are considered. Research in this field has tended to remain in silos (treating formal economy working conditions separately from research on the informal economy). The question is whether the means of work and benefits to the worker for formal and informal work are now as different as the former images of formal and informal economy work imply under a “jobs-for-life” economy. The purpose of this paper is to consider whether the current aim of government regulation of the informal economy – to formalise it – is actually of benefit to workers, as might be supposed.

This paper considers recent research findings on the formal and informal economy, using official government statistics for the UK and more detailed European studies on the informal economy.

This paper argues that formal employment in the UK is becoming more casualised, with less associated benefits to employees. Though it is still of benefit to the state to formalise informal work (to increase tax take), some of the links between formalisation and a good working environment for workers are being broken, which may lead to the informal economy becoming more popular and requiring different priorities in its regulation.

This paper argues that we need to change our assumptions and image of work in the formal economy, compared to that in the informal economy.

This study aims to identify knowledge-related tensions in remote work in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic and increase understanding of how such tensions can be managed.

The research was conducted as an inductive, qualitative study in the field of higher education in Finland. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews of 34 managers in two higher education institutions and analyzed using an inductive and interpretive analysis method.

The findings demonstrate that the knowledge-related challenges and opportunities during the remote work period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finnish higher education institutions can be conceptualized as tensions involved in knowledge codification, knowledge silos and creating new knowledge. The study contributes to research by presenting a framework for managing knowledge-related tensions in remote work arrangements to benefit remote and hybrid work in knowledge-intensive organizations.

This paper increases the understanding of the tensions in remote work arrangements; the results can help managers understand the challenges and opportunities of remote knowledge work concerning their organization and thereby assist them in management and decision-making in complex operational environments.

This study adopted the little-used perspective of tensions to examine knowledge management issues. By examining the various affordances that remote work may allow for knowledge-intensive work and higher education institutions, the study contributes to a deepened understanding of knowledge work in remote contexts, the related tensions and their management.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how healthcare and public organizations can control and monitor digital health test certificates with citizens or other stakeholders using Blockchain platforms. The paper reviews and analyses the literature by focusing on keywords like “Blockchain AND COVID-19”. In response to the 2019 pandemic, most local governments closed their borders and imposed movement restrictions, impacting the global economy, peoples' mobility and everyday life. This study aims to provide a solution to how Blockchain technology can improve the socioeconomic impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by enhancing people's mobility and achieving a balance between protecting individuals' rights and public health safety.

This research utilized machine learning bibliometric tools for investigating the normative literature in the area of blockchain and COVID-19. The article conducts a systematic literature review and develops a bibliometric map based on Plevris et al.’s (2017) method.

This study indicates that there is limited literature on the use of blockchain technology in issuing and validating COVID-19 tests. The development of such solutions can be done through the utilization of smart contracts, and it is expected to increase mobility in a secure and trusted environment that will help in monitoring and slow down the spread of the pandemic.

This analysis is done during the first ten months of the pandemic outbreak, and there is still limited scientific literature investigating blockchain and COVID-19 concepts.

Organizations are rethinking their information management due to the COVID-19 pandemic for creating better value for the enterprise and all associate stakeholders. Blockchain technology helps organizations to move from a centralized to a decentralized way of information managing. The decentralization of information in the health-care sector will create a better value for all involved stakeholders and radical change in how health-care data are managed and controlled. The implementation of blockchain applications in the health-care industry will result in a more secure, visible, auditable environment accessible by all the parties involved.

It was identified that there is currently limited research done on aligning smart contracts structure within the health-care sector. Therefore, while the current literature demonstrates the importance of aligning the key concepts, little research is done on considering people’s mobility and cross-country communication.