Yes / A global response to Covid‐19 pandemic has triggered issues related to stress and social restrictions; thus, mental health is seen as a particular area of concern for social well‐being for both policymakers and corporate regulators/companies. Given that mental health intersects with most, if not all, of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), this research brought to light issues surrounding employment of people with mental disabilities (PWMDs) and the financial merits of employing them. An online survey was administered to PWMDs to elicit what possible flexible opportunities could enable them to gain or stay at work. Interviews were also conducted with human resource managers and financial managers. Our results show that there are currently no flexible working opportunities available for PWMDs, which could enable them work effectively to improve both self and general economic growth.

Yes / Purpose - The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to global supply chains (SCs), affecting the production, distribution, and transportation of goods and ser- vices. To mitigate these disruptions, it is essential to identify the barriers that have im- peded the seamless operation of SCs. This study identifies these barriers and assesses their impact on supply chain network (SCN). Design/methodology/approach - To determine the relative importance of different bar- riers and rank the affected industries, a hybrid approach was employed, combining the best-worst method (BWM) and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). To accommodate the inherent uncertainties associated with the pan- demic, a triangular fuzzy TOPSIS was used to represent the linguistic variable ratings provided by decision-makers. Findings - The study found that the airlines and hospitality industry was the most affected by the barriers, accounting for 46% of the total, followed by the healthcare industry (23%), the manufacturing industry (19%), and finally the consumer and retail industry (17%). Research limitation/implications - This study is limited to the four critical industries and nine identified barriers. Other industries and barriers may have different weights and rankings. Nevertheless, the findings offer valuable insights for decision-makers in SC management, aiding them in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on their operations and enhancing their resilience against future disruptions. Originality/value - This study enhances our understanding of COVID-19’s impact on SCN and provides a framework for assessing disruptions using multi-criteria decision-making processes. The hybrid approach of BWM and TOPSIS in a fuzzy environment is unique and offers potential applicability in various evaluation contexts.

Yes / The purpose of this study is to determine whether Indian banks were able to weather the COVID-19 storm. We estimate banks’ deposits-generating and operating efficiencies using a two-stage directional distance function-based network data envelopment analysis (DDF- NDEA) approach and seek to capture the immediate impact of COVID-19 on these efficiency measures by comparing their magnitudes in the pre-pandemic (2014/15-2019/20), just 1-year prior to the pandemic (2019/20), and during the pandemic year (2020/21) periods. The study looks at whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was uniform across ownership types and size classes. The empirical findings suggest that the Indian banking system was resilient and withstood the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the study period, however, the large and medium-sized banks experienced some effi ciency losses. By and large, regardless of bank group, banks have shown resilience to the shock of the global health pandemic and improvements in efficiency. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 28 Dec 2024.

Bakgrund: Den 11 mars 2020 tillkännagav världshälsoorganisationen covid-19 som en pandemi. Röntgenavdelningen är en central del i patientflödet på ett sjukhus inte minst under pandemin. Till röntgenavdelningen kommer misstänkta eller bekräftade covid-19 patienter. Detta gör att röntgensjuksköterskor utsätts för en stor risk att bli smittade på sitt arbete. Syfte: Syftet med enkätstudien var att undersöka röntgensjuksköterskors upplevelser av sin arbetsmiljö under covid-19 pandemin. Metod: Kvantitativ enkätstudie med 197 deltagande röntgensjuksköterskor från Sverige. Resultat: Över hälften av de svarande kände oro för att smittas av covid-19 på arbetsplatsen. Majoriteten ansåg att deras kollegor tog covid-19 på allvar samtidigt som över hälften svarade att deras kollegor inte tog emot covid-19 patienter, den vanligaste orsaken var att de tillhörde en riskgrupp. Mer än tre fjärdedelar uppgav att patienter med misstänkt covid-19 hade anlänt till röntgenavdelningen utan förvarning. Gällande skyddsutrustning ansåg nästan alla att det fanns helt eller delvis tillgång till på arbetsplatsen och endast en bråkdel valde att själva införskaffa egen. Mer än hälften upplevde att det fanns klara rutiner för omhändertagande av covid-19 patienter och en tiondel upplevde att det inte fanns några klara hygienrutiner för covid-19 patienter. Slutsats: Enkätstudien visar på betydelsen av tydliga riktlinjer för hur arbetet ska bedrivas under en pandemi. Det visar även på betydelsen av att det finns adekvat skyddsutrustning vilket de allra flesta uppgav att det fanns. Vanligt förekommande var att patienter med misstänkt covid-19 anlände till röntgenavdelningen utan förvarning. Bristfälliga remisser var också förekommande, detta är något som måste förbättras. För att få mer kunskap om röntgensjuksköterskors upplevelse av att arbeta under covid-19 pandemin ser vi ett framtida behov av forskning i form av kvalitativa intervjustudier. / Background: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced covid-19 as a pandemic. The radiology department is a central part of the patient flow in a hospital, not least during the pandemic. Suspected or confirmed covid-19 patients arrive daily to the radiology department. This exposes radiographers for a great risk of becoming infected at work.Aim: The aim of the survey study was to investigate radiographers' experiences of their work environment during the covid-19 pandemic.Method: Quantitative survey study with 197 participating radiographers from Sweden.Results: More than half of the respondents felt anxious about being infected with covid-19 in their work. The majority considered that their colleagues took covid-19 seriously, while more than half answered that their colleagues did not receive covid-19 patients, mainly because they belonged to a risk group. More than three quarters stated that patients with suspected covid-19 had arrived in the radiology department without warning. Regarding personal protective equipment (PPE), almost everyone considered that there was full or partial access to PPE and only a fraction chose to acquire their own PPE. More than half felt that there were clear routines for the care of covid-19 patients and a tenth felt that there were no clear hygiene routines for covid-19 patients.Conclusion: The survey study shows the importance of clear guidelines for how the work should be conducted during a pandemic. It also shows the importance of having adequate PPE, which the vast majority stated was sufficient. It was common that patients with suspected covid-19 arrived in the radiology department without warning. Inadequate referrals were also common, which is something that needs to be improved. To gain more knowledge about radiographers' experience of working during the covid-19 pandemic, we see a future need to investigate this with qualitative interview studies.

Determining whether great crises in donor countries, such as the contemporary COVID-19 pandemic, alter foreign aid allotment represents an urgent research problem. This thesis aims to disentangle if and how aid is increased, reduced or remained the same during crises. The work conducted is a case study of three donor countries: Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom. Their aid is scrutinized in relation to three crises, the Nordic crisis, the global crisis of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. An identified disagreement in the previous research helps create the theoretical framework guiding this study. A hypothesis is drawn from said framework, that aid allotment is to decrease during crises in donor countries. The findings of this thesis can neither confirm nor reject the hypothesis. Case-specific patterns emerge, implying a relationship between crises and alterations of aid. Seemingly, crises affect foreign aid allotment both positively and negatively, opening up for further research to verify the relationship.

Under år 2020 drabbades världen av en pandemi, ett omfattande virus vid namn Covid-19 som har påverkat både organisationer och individer runt om i världen negativt, vilket har krävt att värdet av en lyckad kriskommunikation varit stor för organisationer. På grund av detta är det viktigt att organisationen har kunskap i hur de ska anpassa sin kriskommunikation i sociala medier efter den typen av kris som Covid-19-pandemin är. Därför fokuserar denna uppsats på kriskommunikation i sociala medier för yrkesgruppen kommunikatörer under en pandemi som Covid-19. Syftet är att undersöka och identifiera faktorer som är viktiga för yrkesgruppen kommunikatörer när de ska kriskommunicera på sociala medier, samt undersöka och identifiera sociala mediers viktigaste egenskaper att använda som verktyg under en pandemi som Covid-19.  Uppsatsen grundas av empiriskt material i form av intervjuer och metoden som används är en kvalitativ metodansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer, med avsikt att studera den kunskap och de erfarenheter som respondenterna besitter. Uppsatsen underbyggs även av forskning inom användandet av sociala medier under en pandemi och kommunikatörens roll under en pandemi som tillsammans bygger en förförståelse för ämnet. Uppsatsen resulterar i sex viktiga egenskaper hos sociala medier som kan nyttjas i en kris som Covid-19-pandemin och fem teoretiska och praktiska faktorer som är viktiga för kommunikatören att utgå från i kriskommunikationen under en pandemi. De sex viktiga egenskaperna hos sociala medier är spridning, mätbarhet, ägandeskap, omvärldsbevakning, källa till information och dialog. De fem faktorer som uppsatsen resulterat i är situationen, resurser, saklig och faktabaserad information, snabb kommunikationsprocess och interaktion. Faktorerna kan generera i en lyckad kriskommunikation under Covid-19 och liknande kriser. / In 2020, the world was hit by a pandemic, a widespread virus called Covid-19 that has negatively affected both organizations and individuals around the world, which has shown that successful crisis communication is important for organizations. Because of this, it is important that the organization has knowledge of how to adapt its crisis communication in social media to the type of crisis that Covid-19 is. Therefore, this essay focuses on crisis communication in social media for the professional group of communicators during a pandemic like Covid-19. The purpose is to investigate and identify factors that are important for the professional group of communicators when they are to communicate in crisis on social media, as well as to investigate and identify the most important characteristics of social media to use during a pandemic such as Covid-19.  The essay is based on empirical material in the form of interviews and the method used is a qualitative methodological approach with semi-structured interviews, with the intention of studying the knowledge and experiences that the respondents possess. The thesis is also supported by research in the use of social media during a pandemic and the role of the communicator during a pandemic that together builds a pre-understanding of the subject.  The essay results in six important features of social media that can be used in a crisis such as Covid-19 and five theoretical and practical factors that are important for the communicator to start from in crisis communication during a pandemic. The six important characteristics of social media are dissemination, measurability, ownership, external monitoring, source of information and dialogue. The five factors that the essay resulted in are the situation, resources, factual and fact-based information, fast communication process and interaction. The factors can generate a successful crisis communication during Covid-19 and similar crises.

Flertalet studier har visat att grönområden främjar människors fysiska och psykiska hälsa. I takt med en ökad urbanisering och stadsutbyggnad ersätts naturliga miljöer med bebyggelse vilket påverkar befolkningen i urbana miljöer negativt, eftersom urbana grönområden genererar viktiga ekosystemtjänster. En urban livsstil kan dessutom medföra hälsorisker som psykisk ohälsa, hjärt-kärlsjukdomar och fysisk inaktivitet. Syftet med uppsatsen var att genom en kvalitativ ansats undersöka vilken betydelse urbana grönområden har haft för enskilda invånare i Helsingborg under covid-19-pandemin. Tio kvalitativa e-postintervjuer genomfördes och empirin analyserades med en induktiv ansats. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk bestod av Attention restoration theory samt Stress recovery theory och den insamlade empirin gav upphov till följande teman: lugn och ro, hämta energi, samt miljöombyte. Resultatet visar att urbana grönområden har betydelse för informanternas hälsa, eftersom urbana grönområden bidrar till återhämtning och stressminskning, vilket är betydande faktorer för en god fysisk och psykisk hälsa. Utifrån studiens resultat kan slutsatsen dras att genom att bevara urbana grönområden kanmänniskors livskvalitet öka eftersom urbana grönområden bidrar till bättre fysisk och psykisk hälsa i samhället. / Former studies have shown that urban green spaces improve physical and mental health.Urbanisation and urban development result in green environments being replaced by buildings. This has a negative effect on urban residents as urban green spaces provide important ecosystem services. An urban lifestyle can involve health risks such as mental illness, cardiovascular disease, and physical inactivity. This study aimed to investigate through a qualitative approach, the importance of urban green spaces for individual residents of Helsingborg during the covid-19 pandemic. Ten qualitative e-mail interviews were conducted, and the empirical findings were analyzed with an inductive approach. The collected empirics resulted in the following themes: peace and quiet, gain energy, and change of scenery. The results were analyzed through the theoretical framework Attention restoration theory and Stress recovery theory. The results showed that urban green spacesare essential for the informant’s health, as they contribute to recovery and stress reduction, which are significant factors for good physical and mental health. The main conclusion of this study shows that by preserving urban green spaces, people’s quality of life can increase as urban green spaces contribute to better physical and mental health in society.

Distansarbete har till följd av den pågående Covid-19-pandemin blivit ett vanligt förekommande arbetssätt som anammats över hela världen. I Arbetsgivarverkets ramavtal framgår det att distansarbete alltid skall ske på frivilliga grunder. Pandemin har dock inneburit en snabb och radikal förändring i människors sätt att arbeta och många har tvingats in i ett ofrivilligt distansarbete. Syftet med denna studie är således att undersöka vilken påverkan ofrivilligt distansarbete har på medarbetares välmående och på balansen mellan arbetsliv och privatliv. Studien ämnar ge förslag på hur ledare kan säkerställa ett hållbart digitalt arbetssätt, även efter pandemin, och samtidigt tillgodose medarbetarnas välmående. Utifrån ovan syfte har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod varit mest lämplig eftersom författarna ämnade få en bild av respondenternas upplevda verklighet. Därför bestod datamaterialet av 19 semistrukturerade intervjuer med chefer och medarbetare i sju olika företag. För att kunna undersöka medarbetarnas behov och påverkan vid distansarbete, har samtliga medarbetare jobbat åtminstone 80% på distans under en sammanhängande period sedan pandemins start vid intervjutillfället. Således hade de intervjuade cheferna nyligen bedrivit distansledarskap vid undersökningstillfället. Studiens resultat har sammantaget visat att en övervägande del av respondenterna var positivt inställda till distansarbete. Däremot berättade de intervjuade medarbetarna att de saknade det sociala utbytet som de annars fick på kontoret. Vidare ansågs gränssättning som den största utmaningen vid distansarbete, samtidigt som medarbetarna tyckte att gränser och fasta rutiner möjliggör en bra balans mellan arbete och privatliv. De intervjuade cheferna lyfte kontakten med sina medarbetare som den viktigaste delen i distansledarskapet och förespråkade avstämningsmöten som ett sätt att tillgodose medarbetarnas behov. En slutsats från studien är att det finns en problematik i att cheferna upplevde sig ha god kommunikation med sina anställda, medan flera av medarbetarna kände en avsaknad av kontakt med sin chef. Ytterligare en slutsats är att de medarbetare som ansåg att balansen mellan privatliv och arbetsliv underlättades vid distansarbete var de som hade hemmavarande barn. Detta tror vi på längre sikt kan innebära en större risk till försämrat välmående för de som till exempel bor själva. Slutligen kan vi konstatera att det som varit mest betungande för medarbetarnas välmående har varit avsaknaden av de sociala kontakterna. / Due to the ongoing Covid-19-pandemic, telework has become a common way of working that has been adopted around the world. The Swedish Employers’ Agency’s framework agreement states that teleworking should always take place on a voluntary basis. However, the pandemic has meant a rapid and radical change in the way people work. Therefore many people have been forced into mandatory teleworking. The purpose of this study is thus to examine how the well-being of employees and their work-life balance have been affected by the mandatory telework. The study also intends to provide suggestions on how leaders can ensure a sustainable digital way of working, even after the pandemic, and at the same time ensure the well-being of their employees. Based on the above, a qualitative research study has been chosen since the authors of this thesis intended to get the respondents' perceived reality of teleworking and distance leadership. Therefore the data material consisted of 19 semi-structured interviews with managers and employees in seven different companies. All of the employees have worked at least 80% remotely for a continuous period at the time of the interview, in order for the authors to be able to examine their needs when working remotely. The interviewed leaders had recently operated distance leadership at the time of the study. Overall, the results of the study showed that a majority of the respondents had a positive attitude towards teleworking. However, the interviewed employees said that they lacked the social exchange that they otherwise received at the office. Even though boundaries were considered the biggest challenge of telework, the employees thought that boundaries and routines are what enables a good work/life balance. The interviewed managers emphasized the importance of good communication with their co-workers. They advocated that everyday meetings are a way to assure the needs of the employees. From this study we can distinguish one problem regarding the communication between managers and their employees. The interviewed managers felt they had functioning communication with their co-workers, while several of the employees felt a lack of contact with their manager. Another conclusion from this study is that the employees who considered that their work/life balance had improved as a result of working remotely, were those who had children at home. We believe that in the longer term this may mean a greater risk of deteriorating well-being for those who, for example, live alone. Finally, we can conclude that the most negative impact on the well-being of the employees was the lack of social contacts. This paper is written in Swedish.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore if consumers evaluate CSR more into their purchase criterion compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic. CSR activities, consumer buying behavior, and CSR as a purchase criterion were combined in a conceptual framework. The consumer decision-making model was used as a framework in consumer buying behavior. In CSR as a purchase criterion, three factors were used to conclude if consumers started to evaluate CSR more as a purchase criterion. The empirical data was collected through two semi-structured focus groups. Group A was ensembled through a convenience sampling method but evolved to a snowball effect. Group B was ensembled through a purposive sampling method. The findings indicated that consumers did not start to evaluate CSR more as a purchase criterion. The main reason was the financial situation. However, consumers have started to buy more sustainable food, especially locally produced during the pandemic which indicated an increased awareness towards CSR as a purchase criterion. The findings also showed that the Covid-19 pandemic influenced consumers' awareness of CSR but the implemented safety precautions in grocery stores had a limited effect on consumers. The research field of consumer buying behavior in the context of CSR can be complemented with the findings in this study. This study contributed to a deeper understanding of consumer buying behavior and if they value CSR in their purchases during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bakgrund: Covid-19-pandemin har ställt stora krav på arbetsplatserna. Tidigare forskning visar att organisationer påverkas på många olika sätt i krissituationer. Hur dessa kriser bemöts och hanteras av ledare kan vara avgörande för organisationens framtid. I och med att både ledarskap och kriser är svåra att definiera är ledarskapsrollen i kriser intressant samt aktuellt eftersom vii skrivande stund befinner oss mitt i covid-19-pandemin.   Problem: Den snabba smittspridningen har ställt krav på arbetsplatser som i sin tur påverkatsmycket av detta. Tidigare rutiner och vanor kan inte följas på samma sätt som tidigare vilket kan skapa oro och problem inom företag. Det krävs hantering av situationen med covid-19-pandemin samtidigt som företag måste lyckas utföra sina vardagliga arbetsuppgifter föröverlevnad på lång sikt. Oavsett om den nya vardagen gynnar eller hämmar företag måsteåtgärder vidtas. Ledarna måste använda sina egenskaper för att hantera situationen på bästa möjliga sätt samtidigt som deras egna tankar och åsikter spelar mindre roll när det ställs krav på att saker och ting måste utföras på ett specifikt sätt. Det finns inte mycket erfarenheter som kan användas kring varje specifik kris eftersom en del är helt nya och unika krävs det att ledare är medvetna om vad som skulle kunna uppkomma och hur de ska agera. Ledare behöver besitta olika typer av kompetenser beroende på kris för att lyckas hantera den komplexa situationen som organisationen står inför.   Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur ledarskapets utförande har påverkats undercovid-19-pandemin. Tanken med denna undersökning är att både involvera ledare och medarbetare. Utifrån ledare och medarbetare är målet att skapa en förståelse utifrån deras uppfattningar för att erhålla en tydligare bild på hur ledarskap faktiskt har påverkats av covid-19-pandemin.   Metod: Vår forskningsstrategi var att genomföra en fallstudie för att skapa en större förståelse hur ledarskap påverkas vid krissituationer. I undersökningen används två kvalitativa metoderför att både få en bred och djup förståelse utifrån respondenterna. En avgränsning har gjorts i undersökningen till att undersöka en liten del av Volvo Lastvagnar AB och specifikt hur ledarskapet har påverkats inom denna del.   Studiens resultat: Det är näst intill ingenting som är sig likt jämfört med ledarskapet innancovid-19-pandemin. Det som visat sig vara den största påverkande faktorn på ledarskapet harvarit distansarbete. Trots att ledarna inte upplever att ledarskapet fungerat bra upplevermedarbetarna det vilket visar att de finns olika uppfattningar kring detta område. Undersökningen visar även att det finns olika uppfattningar kring arbetsutförandet. Dessa olika uppfattningar har påverkat avdelningen positivt då det genererat flera nya lösningar på problem som uppstått. Medarbetarna har fått större ansvar för arbetsutförandet vilket har lett till merkreativa lösningar jämfört med tidigare. Genom att ledarna har givit mer ansvar tillmedarbetarna har det visat sig att deras livssituation påverkats positivt genom mer egenplanering av arbetet. / The written language of this paper is Swedish.   Background: The Covid-19 virus has come to demand huge requirements for all businesses. Research shows that different organizations has been affected in different ways during critical situations, how these situations is being answered and handled by the leaders can be crucial for the organizations future. However good leadership and critical situations is hard to define, the role of a leader during crisis is a very interesting subject in this moment when we are actually living during a pandemic right now.     Problem: The quick development around the spread of infection has demanded a lot for companies. Old routines and habits can’t be followed in the same way as before which causes worries inside the company by the employees. Management around the pandemic situation are important and at the same time the company has to proceed and manage to keep their regular work going on and manage to survive at longer terms. Even though this new way of work gains or inhibits the company some measures have to take action. The leaders must use their knowledge to handle certain situations in the best possible way. At the same time their own thoughts and opinions does not play a role in this when the work must be dealt with in a specific way. There is not a lot of experience when it comes to handle a specific crisis because the crises are brand new and unique which means that the leaders have to be beware of what can show up and how to take action for it. A leader needs to have a lot of knowledge around different areas depending on the situation to actually manage the complex situation the organization is facing.   Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to investigate the outcome of how leadership has been affected during the pandemic. The thought of this investigation is to involve leaders for the companies and also the employees. Our target is to create an understanding based on their thoughts on how to keep up a clear view on how good leadership actually has been affected during the pandemic.   Method: Our research strategy was to implement a study that creates a bigger understanding on how leadership affects during a critical crisis. In this investigation we’ve used two qualitative methods to get a wider and deeper knowledge based on the respondents. During this investigation a boundary has been made during the research for a small part of the company Volvo Lastvagnar AB on how specific the leadership has been affected.   The result: It’s basically nothing that is what it used to be when it comes to leadership compared to what it was before the pandemic. The study shows that the biggest element on leadership has been the distance work. The leaders do not believe that their style of leadership is doing great for the company, although if we ask the employees, they think it works which shows that there are a lot of different opinions in this area. The study shows that around during different working situations, there are a lot of opinions that actually affected the company positively because it has generated new and improved solutions on upcoming problems. The employees have been titled with more responsibility during work which has led to more creative solutions compared to earlier. By the bigger responsibility handed out by the leaders, the employees have a more positive feeling when it comes to life in general just because they have their own structure and planning of their work.