COVID-19 spread rapidly and jeopardised the physicians with not only treatment but also with limited resources and new working style. This study aimed to investigate the experience of physicians in Pakistan as frontline workers for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The study employed a qualitative design and used Haas's adaptation of Colaizzi method for analysis. The respondents for the interview were selected based on purposive sampling and only those physicians were contacted who were treating COVID-19 patients in Lahore, Pakistan. The results of the study revealed many challenges faced by Pakistani physicians which included physical and psychological stress due to the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Moreover, infrastructural flaws have added in the vulnerabilities of the physicians. In developing countries, the fight is much harder for physicians as evidenced by their first-hand experience. The policymakers in developing countries especially in Pakistan can direct policies facilitating physicians to reduce their physical and psychological stress as well as increasing resources for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to unprecedented transformations in consumer behaviour. Less is known about how consumers react to privacy stress while being compelled to continuously purchase online during the pandemic. Therefore, underpinned by the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, this paper aims to examine the impacts of perceived Internet risk, self-efficacy, privacy stress, and trust on consumers’ continuous purchasing intention in China. Few studies have examined the mediating roles of privacy stress and brand trust in continuous purchasing intention. This research thus adds value by exploring the underlying mechanisms that explain how these factors affect purchasing intention where consumers have little choice but to make purchase online continuously. It employs a quantitative research design and uses a survey questionnaire to collect data. A total of 535 consumers responded and the data were analysed via PLS-SEM. We found mixed results for the direct and indirect paths. Perceived Internet risk, platform trust, and self-efficacy showed significant impacts on privacy stress and brand trust. While brand trust had a significant impact on continuous online purchase intention, contrary to previous literature, privacy stress did not. Moreover, while brand trust was found to be a significant mediator, privacy stress exerted no mediating effect. The results assist marketing practitioners, organizations, and policymakers in improving consumers’ online shopping experience in uncertain times by addressing the issues of trust and privacy. Specifically, we provide the foundation for future policies and strategies that build consumers’ trust and secure consumers’ privacy, especially in highly uncertain contexts.

During prolonged social isolation, media exposure is often intensified increases as individuals turn to the Internet, social media, television, and newspapers for information, communication, entertainment, and more. This exploratory study explores the correlations among media use, anxiety, and wellbeing in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey questionnaire was designed to measure the following five constructs: media dependency, media attention, anxiety, wellbeing, and collectivism. A total of 722 respondents in China participated in the survey from November 2020 to December 2020. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. Our findings indicate that respondents who report collectivist norms tend to experience higher levels of wellbeing (and lower levels of anxiety), regardless of their scores for media use, media attention, or media dependency. Conversely, those respondents who record low collectivism tend to have higher levels of anxiety (and lower wellbeing), even if they report lower media use, attention and dependency during the pandemic. Study results also found that anxiety mediates the relationship between media use and wellbeing. Our introduction of collectivism as a possible moderating variable represents a significant contribution to current academic debates and suggests the inclusion of cultural factors for future studies on media use and anxiety/wellbeing during public health crises.

Purpose- This study aimed to analyse the challenges faced by the university teachers during the transition towards purely online-based classes due to Covid-19 outbreak in Pakistan. Design/ methodology- A qualitative research design was used by employing an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach to capture the experience of university teachers. Interviews were conducted with the participants selected through snowball sampling technique. Findings- The findings showed that the university teachers in Pakistan had to cope up with many challenges. The specific factors such as infrastructural problems, student’s behavioural issues and difficulties in the assessment of student’s performance indicate that physical classrooms are a more effective mode of learning than the online mode of learning. Originality/ value- This is among the first studies in addressing the online learning challenges faced by university teachers in Pakistan during Covid-19 outbreak.

A company’s CSR attitude depends on the ethical values embraced and formally espoused by its Board and/or senior management. The response of corporates to natural disasters has proved to be beneficial for both for-profit organizations as well as society. There are several instances in the developed world where businesses played a leading role in both attempts to curb natural disasters as well as in helping people who suffered due to such disasters. However, in the developing world, the need for corporate participation in natural disaster mitigation is enhanced by the scarce resources of the relevant governmental agencies. Corporates can offer a helping hand in several ways, but perhaps one of the more effective steps is to spread awareness and knowledge about handling the various aspects of the disaster. Drawing from the available literature and underpinning the business ethics theories, this study aimed to explore business responses in Pakistan to constraint the Covid-19 pandemic. The study employs a two-step quantitative content analysis on Facebook as a research method. The findings are that the three selected industries (finance, telecommunication, and petroleum) remain more committed to their marketing efforts than paying due regard to the genuine need of spreading awareness and educating masses on protection against and/or handling Covid-19 pandemic. The public reaction to such less than adequate steps taken by the corporates provides a potent reminder of what people truly expect from corporates and how firms need to be more proactive toward response to a natural disaster.