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Despite the importance of digital technology in mitigating the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures, limited research attention has been devoted to the impact of movement restrictions on digital business transformation in North Africa. This paper investigates the impact of mobility restrictions on firms' decisions to adopt digital technologies across sectors, emphasizing the challenges associated with accessing both customers and suppliers.

The study uses the ERF COVID-19 MENA Monitor Enterprise survey (2021), covering 3,978 enterprises across three North African countries: Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. The analysis employed the linear probability model (LPM) to account for observable and unobservable heterogeneity across countries and over time.

The results indicated that mobility restrictions have a positive impact on firms' decisions to adopt digital solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic across most industry sectors. Notably, firms operating in manufacturing, trade, retail and services demonstrated a higher likelihood to adopt technologies. However, the analysis revealed some variations in the impact of mobility restrictions across sectors and countries.

This study has several contributions. First, this study is unique in utilizing firm-level data gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate the impact of mobility restrictions on firms' decisions to adopt digital solutions. Second, the study examines the influence of mobility restrictions on digitalization across industry sectors, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical study has specifically focused on the digital business transformation across sectors.

This paper aims to explore empirically the interactions between the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, economic mobility and containment policy to test the effectiveness of mobility restrictions in controlling the spread of the disease.

This study used weekly regional data for the 17 Philippine regions and estimated the effect of shocks using a panel vector autoregression (VAR) model.

The authors conclude that COVID-19 deaths and incidence primarily respond to shocks that affect the lethality and transmissibility of the disease, and mobility restrictions and strict quarantine levels do not seem to have any impact on these outcomes. The movement of people during this pandemic period, on the other hand, seems to respond more to economic factors and government restrictions and less to the presence of and the characteristics of the disease.

Since the pandemic is a public bad, community cooperation is a must to address it. Clear government messaging that dispels doubts on the safety of the newly developed vaccines and that encourages public acceptance and trust might be a better nudge compared to a heavy-handed and threatening approach.

This chapter focusses on the use of immobility policies and practices in the Asia-Pacific nations of East and South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand to respond to COVID-19 across 2020–2021. Concepts from the field of mobilities studies are adopted for analysis. Transport system managers in the region have increasingly played roles either limiting movement, adjusting transport supply, creating proscribed ‘mobilities passageways’ for travellers that present COVID-risk, and encouraging or mandating passenger compliance with other pandemic measures. The series of immobility policies and practices used at the international, intra-national and local scales are analysed. Transport agency responses differed greatly including whether to retain levels of public transport supply or reduce them in line with falling patronage. A summary of known travel behaviour impacts is then discussed, using available data from government travel portals, and, for Shanghai, Brisbane and Hong Kong, a range of road volumes, public transport boardings, micro-mobility, bicycle and pedestrian counts. There are indications that a series of socio-technical transitions have occurred, such as increased work-from-home, new social practices around walking, increased demands for roads to provide place functions (as opposed to movement functions) and the role of cycling and micro-mobility as liberating technologies in a world of increased control and fear of contagion. Transport agencies have harnessed some of these changes in attitudes and societal needs, using radical institutional responses such as pop-up bike lane trials and other ‘tactical urbanism’ approaches, to adapt their cities to life during and after the pandemic.

A consistent pattern that emerged out of the consequences of COVID-19 is that public transport was hit particularly hard compared to private cars and other modes. This raises concern regarding the future of public transport and the sustainability of urban transport. While the current clash of challenges, trends and disruptions makes the future more difficult to forecast than ever, this chapter highlights both long-term and emerging trends that are likely to influence public transport beyond the pandemic. As a foundation for the discussion, the chapter first briefly outlines the state and development of public transport before COVID-19, as well as the immediate effects of the pandemic. Before COVID-19, strong trends included initiatives towards sustainable urban transport, digitalisation and automation, and increasingly personalised services. The pandemic induced lockdowns, restrictions to use public transport and anxiety towards crowding, which influenced people to travel less and shift to other modes. There were clear socioeconomic inequalities in the ability to do so and a loss of accessibility. Many agencies and operators suffered financially as a result of lost fare revenues and limited governmental support. Emerging trends such as less commuting and financial struggles are likely to influence public transport for many years to come. However, the pandemic, and the induced behaviour and exposed problems that have followed, can serve as a call for substantial changes in urban transport planning. A continued development and integration of sustainable mobility services, with public transport as a central actor, is widely seen as key in this ambition.

Since early 2020, the world has faced a pandemic that has caused a disruption in our lives, the likes of which have never been seen before. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we live, work, communicate, socialize, travel and even plan our future life. The lockdowns and civilian and travel restrictions imposed by countries worldwide have drastically affected citizens' daily routines and mobility. In consequence, all sectors are currently struggling with an unprecedented crisis, as health-related concerns have substantial effects on travel industry at the local, national and global level. The current increase in mortality rate caused by the new coronavirus has affected individuals' risk and safety perceptions and consequently their travel behaviour.

A quantitative research methodology using an online questionnaire was implemented in Portugal, and a sample composed of 1900 answers collected during one year allowed to analyze the impact that the current pandemic has on people's safety and risk perceptions and how it is affecting their daily life and travel behaviours and their willingness to accept civilian and travel restrictions. The results confirmed that the pandemic had a strong impact on Portuguese residents' safety perceptions and their travel and tourism plans. Also, it was possible to conclude that those perceptions have changed over the course of three pandemic waves.

The discussion focuses on the kind of implications this situation may have for tourism destination management and marketing. Study limitations and guidelines for future research are also forwarded.

Purpose — In this chapter a case will be made for the importance of measuring well-being in transport mobility research. A number of well-being measures and determinants of well-being will be presented in reference to the current project. This chapter will then conclude with some practical recommendations for transport mobility researchers wishing to include well-being measures in their future studies.

Methodology — Measurement methods associated with previous transport mobility and well-being research will be critically examined so that strengths and limitations can be identified. The measurement approach to well-being adopted for the current project will be presented and associated challenges experienced by the research team will then be discussed.

Findings — A review of the extant transport mobility research which includes an assessment of well-being shows that it is not uncommon for unstandardised measures of well-being to be adopted. In addition, exploration of relationships between transport mobility and well-being are often undertaken without any consideration of potential moderating or mediating factors. More work is needed to advance our knowledge of the transport mobility and well-being relationship and the underlying mechanisms driving this relationship. Research also needs to focus on undertaking longitudinal studies which will enable causation to be established.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in countries reacting differently to an ongoing crisis. Latent to this reaction mechanism is the inherent cultural characteristics of each society resulting in differential responses to the epidemic spread. In this study, the moderated moderation role of culture, on information dissemination by media during epidemic recovery-phase has been investigated.

Hofstede’s cultural factors are hypothesized to moderate the moderating effect of free-liberal media on the relationship of COVID-19 recovery rate and human mobility. Panel regression model, using mobility data and recovery rate across 95 countries for a period of 170 days has been preferred to test the hypotheses. The results are further substantiated using factor wise interaction plots and slope difference analysis.

The findings suggest that societies with high power distance and masculinity scores strengthen the impact of media on the relationship between COVID-19 recovery rate and mobility whereas, high individualistic and long-term orientation societies weaken the same effect. However, similar conclusions were not confirmed for uncertainty avoidance. Cross-cultural impact, as elucidated by this study, forms a crucial element in policy formulation on epidemic control by indigenous Governing bodies.

While most of the studies emphasizing on cultural characteristics of a society in an epidemic situation covers the growth phase of infection, This research talks about the recovery-phase of the epidemic and the effect of culture.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2023-0314

At the end of 2019, the first case of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan city of China. The disease was declared a pandemic without imagining the magnitude of damage currently caused in all branches of the economy. One of the most affected sectors was food and mostly perishable food (PF), which are more susceptible to environmental conditions. Thus, the research examines the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on Ecuador's perishable food supply chains (PFSCs) during the pandemic. It contributes to new results on the special issue (SI) PFSC response to event risk and uncertainty, such as those that generated the pandemic.

The data used are from primary information sources, which were collected through a questionnaire. The questionnaire was applied to 298 companies belonging to the sector, and later the information was processed through partial least squares structural equation model. The convergent validity, discriminate and robustness tests provide arguments for the suitability of the model. Therefore, the findings are reliable and valid for the adequate measures to improve the PFSC due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

The results show that the perception of personal risk (PPR) produced by COVID-19 has caused the companies of the PFSC to adopt preventive policies (PO) to avoid contagion and guarantee the operation of the companies. In addition, the PPR has been responsible for the alterations in the demand and price (DP) of PF. Next, PO and DP have a significant effect on PFSC, which shows the evidence favouring the malfunction of PFSC operations due to anti-contagion PO, the mismatch of DP. On the contrary, circular economy practices contribute to the excellent performance of the PFSC. Finally, the research suggests some policy implications to consider in improving the PFSC.

This study is the first to be carried out in Ecuador's country on the PFSC; its contribution is unprecedented and makes it a road-map to be considered to guarantee the correct functioning of the PFSCs, and it will provide policymakers with valid elements to design efficient PFSCs that better respond to unforeseen events and uncertainties. Future research will focus on analysing the management of PF consumption in Ecuador during the pandemic.

The purpose of this study is to understand the factors that contribute to the number of reported coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths among low-income and high-income countries, and to understand the sources of differences between these two groups of countries.

Multiple linear regression models evaluate the socio-economic factors that determine COVID-19 deaths in the two groups of countries. The Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition is used to examine sources of differences between these two groups.

Low-income countries report a significantly lower average number of COVID-19 deaths compared to high-income countries. Community mobility and the easiness of carrying the virus from one place to another are significant factors affecting the number of deaths, while life expectancy is only significant in high-income countries. Higher health expenditure is associated with more reported deaths in both high- and low-income countries. Factors such as the transport infrastructure system, life expectancy and the percent of expenditure on health lead to the differences in the number of deaths between high- and low-income countries.

Our study shows that mobility measures taken by individuals to limit the spread of the virus are important to prevent deaths in both high- and low-income countries. Additionally, our results suggest that countries with weak health institutions underestimate the number of deaths from COVID-19, especially low-income countries. The underestimation of COVID-19 deaths could be affecting a great number of people in poverty in low-income economies.

This paper contributes to the emerging literature on COVID-19 and its relation to socio-economic factors by examining the differences in reported between deaths between rates in low-income and high-income countries.

The very essence of internationalisation, which depends heavily on academic mobility and cross-border interactions, has been adversely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has been associated with a significant decline in student and staff mobility in South Africa and around the world. Nonetheless, it has also catalysed innovation and inspired new approaches to teaching and learning that have the potential to transform the future of higher education. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions are grappling with a fundamental question that goes beyond the practicalities of internationalisation: How can we re-envision the concept of internationalisation to meet the challenges of the new normal? This question calls for a deeper reflection on the nature of internationalisation itself. How can we ensure that cross-border interactions and exchanges continue to foster a sense of global community and intercultural understanding, even in a world that is physically distanced? This chapter seeks to explore the profound implications of the pandemic on the internationalisation of higher education (IHE) in South Africa. It aims to critically examine the present challenges to internationalisation and the strategies that have been developed to address them in the context of the post-pandemic world. The chapter employs a critical reflection approach through the use of qualitative research, systematic literature review, and document analysis. By utilising these methodologies, it seeks to delve deeper into the implications of the pandemic on the IHE in South Africa.