Purpose Human beings spend about a third of their day working, so it is very important that they are integrated into a good community work environment. When the setting is teleworking in a family and housing context, it is important to keep a good environment and also a good physical, psychological and ergonomic aspects to attain job performance. The purpose of this paper is to characterize teleworking carried out in Portuguese communities in the context of the state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach A survey questionnaire was used, which analyzed general information about teleworking and the individual’s adaptation process and the difficulties they faced during the teleworking period. The sample consists of 359 individuals aged 18 years or over, who were teleworking in their homes and in a family environment. Findings The results show that adapting to teleworking was easy or very easy and that it happened very quickly. The main difficulties encountered by the individuals were the lack of professional interaction/communication with coworkers, the lack of resources related to support infrastructures, such as the internet or a printer, and the reconciliation of teleworking with family life/household chores/dedication to children and time/schedule management. Originality/value This study hopes to contribute to the increase of the scientific knowledge in the teleworking field and to allow companies to rethink the teleworking strategies to optimize resources and costs and to improve the organization’s productivity without harming the quality of life and well-being of their workers.

PurposeRisk is part of corporate activity and a consequence of the businesses' demands, the market and the changes in companies and their surroundings. The way that risk is managed is different between family and non-family businesses. The paper aims to compare the different risk types experienced in the context of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic among family and non-family businesses and to analyze whether operational, legal, strategic and image risks influence financial risks.Design/methodology/approachThe nature of the study is quantitative and based on a questionnaire survey that analyses the perception of risks by 1,090 family businesses and 557 non-family businesses.FindingsThe results show the existence of statistically significant differences in the perception of financial and legal risks between family and non-family businesses, where the former being the businesses that give more importance to these risks. The perception of operational, legal, strategic and image risks have a positive influence on the perception of financial risk in family and non-family businesses.Originality/valueThe results obtained in the study are important because they allow an understanding about the differences in risk management between family and non-family businesses, which can lead to greater corporate sustainability and increased financial performance.

The COVID‐19 pandemic is the biggest problem facing the world nowadays. Each country in the world has its own characteristics, which means that its governments, at different rhythms, adopt identical measures to combat this new virus. This article aims to perform a comparative study between countries with a population similar to the Portuguese in number of inhabitants and to find out which factors may explain the numbers registered with the COVID‐19 pandemic. The results show that the countries that carried out more population tests have higher values in tourism, security, innovation, competitiveness, and GDP per capita indicators. There is a significant and positive relationship between temperature and the daily cases of COVID‐19 infections. The results found contribute to a greater knowledge of the behavior of this disease according to the characteristics of each country, making it useful for international business managers to compare and contrast different country environmental conditions in order to define alternative strategies to overcome this great period of disturbance more quickly.

PurposeThis work aims to characterize the risks companies deal with in the context of a pandemic, and to ascertain which risk type is most present in Portuguese organizations. It is also intended to verify whether there are differences in the various risk types between companies that had or did not have a plan or strategy to act in a pandemic, such as the one caused by COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative methodology was used, based on the application of a questionnaire survey targeting the Portuguese companies. The sample is composed of 1,647 Portuguese companies, which were queried through a questionnaire survey that analyses different risk types. Then, the software R was used to treat the results.FindingsThe results show that companies are exposed and vulnerable to uncertain events, and five risk types were formed: legal, image, financial, strategic and operational. There is a bigger concern about the management of financial risks.Practical implicationsAcademics and companies can become more aware and master the concept of risk and its different branches, which consequently favours the adoption of strategies to better manage and plan risk.Originality/valueThe literature on international businesses and their risks assumes that all crises are the same. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, besides causing a recession, obliges people and companies to adapt to a new scenario. Risks become more important to companies, in a way that had not been academically studied.

A research about factors that lead students to choose online courses, as well as the acceptance of these courses, can provide very relevant information for higher education institutions’ decision makers to amend these offers to students’ interests and needs. An investigation through questionnaire was developed involving students who attended online post-graduate courses. It was intended to know which factors affect students' decision to opt for postgraduate online courses. A model, based on the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model), was tested to find out what factors determine the intention to use online learning. The results shows that most respondents favour online courses and that their decision, when choosing this type of course, is mainly influenced by time management flexibility, avoiding going to school and the course curriculum interest. The test of the model, with structural equations, shows that attitude regarding online courses and perceived usefulness are factors that predict the intention to use. It was also concluded that the perceived ease of use induces a direct and indirect effect on the intention to use. The most significant results are consistent with published studies and can help the higher education institutions to define offer and communication strategies to reach a greater number of candidates for online learning.