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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.

The article addresses the tension between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the right to work in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, it explores the operation of corporations in adopting policies of mandatory vaccination and the role of the courts regarding these CSR patterns.

The article examines court case studies of CSR practices regarding unvaccinated employees during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and the United States.

The findings show that the Israeli system adopted the regulating for individual discretionary CSR approach, whereas the American system adopted the regulating for ethical-public CSR approach. Adopting the latter infringes upon the right to work of unvaccinated employees. While in Israel, the possibility of compelling employees to vaccinate is denied, in the American model, mandatory vaccination is possible. As opposed to the American model, in the Israeli model, there is an obligation to consider proportionate measures to isolate the employees while allowing them to continue working.

The article introduces two possible notions of regulating CSR in times of the pandemic – regulating for individual discretionary CSR which is labor-oriented and regulating for ethical-public CSR which is focused on public aspects. While the former posits that corporations should advance individual interests of employees and their right to work, the latter claims that corporations should advance the public interest in health. Following the problems resulting from the Israeli and American cases, the article draws on the lines for a suggested approach that courts should embrace.

The pandemic has reinforced the need for revamping the healthcare service delivery systems around the world to meet the increased challenges of modern-day illnesses. The use of medical cyber–physical system (MCPS) in the healthcare is one of the means of transforming the landscape of the traditional healthcare service delivery system. The purpose of this study is to critically examine the impact of MCPS on the quality of healthcare service delivery.

This paper uses an evidence-based approach, the authors have conducted a systematic literature review to study the impact of MCPS on healthcare service delivery. Fifty-four articles were thematically examined to study the impact of MCPS on eight characteristics of the healthcare service delivery proposed by the world health organisation.

The study proposes support that MCPS will positively impact (1) comprehensiveness, (2) accessibility, (3) coverage, (4) continuity, (5) quality, (6) person-centredness, (7) coordination, (8) accountability and (9) efficiency dimension of the healthcare service delivery. The study further draws nine propositions to support the impact of MCPS on the healthcare service delivery.

This study can be used by stakeholders as a guide point while using MCPS in healthcare service delivery systems. Besides, healthcare managers can use this study to understand the performance of their healthcare system. This study can further be used for designing effective strategies for deploying MCPS to be effective and efficient in each of the dimensions of healthcare service delivery.

The previous studies have focussed on technology aspects of MCPS and none of them critically analysed the impact on healthcare service delivery. This is the first literature review carried out to understand the impact of MCPS on the nine dimensions of healthcare service delivery proposed by WHO. This study provides improved thematic awareness of the resulting body of knowledge, allowing the field of MCPS and healthcare service delivery to progress in a more informed and multidisciplinary manner.

The paper aims to understand how the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) influenced public employees' perception of smart working and how this approach was used during the pandemic. The authors asked about smart working's positive and negative aspects and how these changed during the pandemic.

The authors explored the strengths and weaknesses of smart working before and after COVID-19. The authors interviewed 27 Italian public employees who had experienced smart working before the pandemic. The questions and discussion aimed to broadly explore the strengths and weaknesses of smart working and smart working's impact on working performance, work relationships and work–life balance (WLB).

Smart working had a widespread and positive impact on organizational flexibility. Smart working improved the response and resilience of Italian public organizations to the pandemic. However, some critical factors emerged, such as the right to disconnect and the impact on WLB.

The authors suggest that the pandemic exposed the need for public administrations to consolidate work flexibility practices, such as smart working, by paying more attention to the impact of these practices on the whole organization and human resources management (HRM) policies and practices.

This study makes an important contribution to the literature on the public sector by discussing the positive and negative aspects of smart working. The study also provides managerial and policy implications of the use of smart working in public administrations.

The construct of psychological capital or PsyCap (consisting of the positive psychological resources of hope, self-efficacy, optimism and resilience) has been demonstrated to relate to employees’ attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of positive psychological capital on mental health, readiness for organizational change, and job insecurity in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Data were collected from 567 hotel employees working in hotels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A quantitative approach was used and employees were requested to fill the questionnaires.

Results show that psychological capital enhances an employee’s mental health and readiness for the organizational change. Moreover, PsyCap is found to negatively impact the perceptions of job insecurity among hotel employees. The study has useful managerial implications for hoteliers, especially, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the first study of its kind to link hotel employees’ positive psychological capital with their perceptions about job insecurity and mental health. COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world fiercely and new normal expects employees to be ready to embrace changes in organizations. This study contributes to the literature on hospitality management by linking psychological capital with hotel employees’ readiness for organizational change in the context of Coronavirus.

The questions of when and what types of human resource (HR) support are needed tend to be unanswerable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This article addresses this gap in the strategic HR literature. Hiring, training, employee retention/satisfaction, wages and benefits programs, and worker's compensation insurance are important to SMEs seeking to build strong capabilities and resources and to increase their competitive advantage.This article presents an analysis of the existing HR literature for SMEs. It introduces a decision model to help SMEs choose a cost-effective HR strategy, listing a range of options from hiring the HR function to electronic HR (eHR) and outsourcing