Cross-country Survey Research Articles

#34;You have been in Close Contact with a Person Infected with COVID-19 and you may have been Infected#34;

Through the past two and a half years, COVID-19 has swept through the world and new technologies for mitigating spread, such as exposure notification applications and contact tracing, have been implemented in many countries. However, the uptake has differed from country to country and it has not been clear if culture, death rates or information dissemination have been a factor in their adoption rate. However, these apps introduce issues of trust and privacy protection, which can create challenges in terms of adoptions and daily use. In this paper we present the results from a cross-country survey study of potential barriers to adoption of in particular COVID-19 contact tracing apps. We found that people's existing privacy concerns are an have a reverse correlation with adoption behavior but that the geographical location, as well as other demographics, such as age and gender, do not have significant effect on either adoption of the app or privacy concerns. Instead, a better understanding of what data is collected through the apps lead to a higher level of adoption. We provide suggestions for how to approach the development and deployment of contact tracing apps and more broadly health tracking apps.

Loneliness in Europe before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectiveThe purpose of the study is to examine the prevalence of loneliness in Europe in 2016 and during the first months – April-July 2020 – of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to assess whether the risk factors associated with loneliness have changed after the outbreak of the pandemic. MethodThe analysis is based on two cross-country surveys, namely the 2016 European Quality of Life Survey and the 2020 Living, Working and COVID-19 Online Survey. ResultsThe COVID-19 pandemic has magnified already worrying levels of loneliness in Europe. Young adults have been the most severely hit by social distancing measures. Living alone has made social distancing measures more painful. Health and financial status are strong associates of loneliness, irrespective of the time period. ConclusionThis analysis will help anticipate the potential consequences that forced social isolation might have triggered in the population and identify populations more vulnerable to loneliness. Further monitoring is important to assess whether the registered increase in loneliness is transient or chronic and to design targeted loneliness interventions.

Measuring Support for Women's Political Leadership: Gender of Interviewer Effects Among African Survey Respondents.

Public opinion surveys are a fundamental tool to measure support for women’s political rights. This article focuses on perceptions of women’s suitability for leadership. To what extent do influential cross-country surveys that include such items suffer from measurement errors stemming from gender of interviewer effects? Building on the literature on social desirability, we expect that respondents are more likely to express preference for men’s suitability as political leaders with male interviewers and more likely to state support for women’s leadership when interviewed by a woman. We hypothesize that these processes are conditioned by having one’s spouse present, by age differences between respondents and interviewers, as well as by respondents’ levels of education. Analyzing Afrobarometer data, we generally find support for our claims. In addition, it seems that men are slightly more affected by such effects than women are. These gender of interviewer effects persist when analyzing alternative survey rounds and are insensitive to various fixed effects specifications and robustness tests. For the analysis of survey data, we suggest that researchers using gender-related items should control for gender of interviewer effects. We propose that comparative survey programs pay even more attention to interviewer characteristics and the interview situation in their protocols.

EP10.01-009 The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Palliative Care for Cancer: A Preliminary Cross-Country Survey of Clinical Oncologists

IntroductionPalliative care is a crucial intervention to improve the quality of life for patients with cancer, although the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on palliative care remain unclear. This preliminary survey across China aims to investigate the influence of COVID-19 on palliative care, from the perspective of oncologists.MethodsElectronic questionnaire surveys were distributed to clinicians in China. Participants working in cancer-related departments are eligible. Data was collected including demographic characteristics, subjective perception, and personal suggestions.ResultsA total of 37 oncologists participated in the survey, 78% of whom were male. The median age was 40 (22-56). A large proportion of them have doctor degrees (68%) currently working in urban areas (81%). One-third participants are from the department of radiation oncology (33%) and 24% from medical oncology. They usually practice palliative care in professional medical centres or hospitals (70%), yet 57% had only non-accredited training experience. Most agree that COVID-19 has a significant negative impact on their clinical work (76%) and palliative care practice (65%). 73% of them believe the current palliative care system is underdeveloped in China, and 78% think other factors besides COVID-19 relate to this inadequacy. Participants further tabled suggestions (Figure 1), such as more online guidance on palliative care for patients (35%), strengthening remote multidisciplinary cooperation (29%), promoting home-based palliative care (18%), and involving more information on COVID-19 in palliative care guidelines (6%).ConclusionsKeywordsPalliative care, COVID-19, Cancer IntroductionPalliative care is a crucial intervention to improve the quality of life for patients with cancer, although the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on palliative care remain unclear. This preliminary survey across China aims to investigate the influence of COVID-19 on palliative care, from the perspective of oncologists. Palliative care is a crucial intervention to improve the quality of life for patients with cancer, although the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on palliative care remain unclear. This preliminary survey across China aims to investigate the influence of COVID-19 on palliative care, from the perspective of oncologists. MethodsElectronic questionnaire surveys were distributed to clinicians in China. Participants working in cancer-related departments are eligible. Data was collected including demographic characteristics, subjective perception, and personal suggestions. Electronic questionnaire surveys were distributed to clinicians in China. Participants working in cancer-related departments are eligible. Data was collected including demographic characteristics, subjective perception, and personal suggestions. ResultsA total of 37 oncologists participated in the survey, 78% of whom were male. The median age was 40 (22-56). A large proportion of them have doctor degrees (68%) currently working in urban areas (81%). One-third participants are from the department of radiation oncology (33%) and 24% from medical oncology. They usually practice palliative care in professional medical centres or hospitals (70%), yet 57% had only non-accredited training experience. Most agree that COVID-19 has a significant negative impact on their clinical work (76%) and palliative care practice (65%). 73% of them believe the current palliative care system is underdeveloped in China, and 78% think other factors besides COVID-19 relate to this inadequacy. Participants further tabled suggestions (Figure 1), such as more online guidance on palliative care for patients (35%), strengthening remote multidisciplinary cooperation (29%), promoting home-based palliative care (18%), and involving more information on COVID-19 in palliative care guidelines (6%). A total of 37 oncologists participated in the survey, 78% of whom were male. The median age was 40 (22-56). A large proportion of them have doctor degrees (68%) currently working in urban areas (81%). One-third participants are from the department of radiation oncology (33%) and 24% from medical oncology. They usually practice palliative care in professional medical centres or hospitals (70%), yet 57% had only non-accredited training experience. Most agree that COVID-19 has a significant negative impact on their clinical work (76%) and palliative care practice (65%). 73% of them believe the current palliative care system is underdeveloped in China, and 78% think other factors besides COVID-19 relate to this inadequacy. Participants further tabled suggestions (Figure 1), such as more online guidance on palliative care for patients (35%), strengthening remote multidisciplinary cooperation (29%), promoting home-based palliative care (18%), and involving more information on COVID-19 in palliative care guidelines (6%). Conclusions KeywordsPalliative care, COVID-19, Cancer Palliative care, COVID-19, Cancer

Will COVID-19 accelerate telecommuting? A cross-country evaluation for Israel and Czechia.

The COVID-19 crisis has forced many people to work from home, rather than at their regular workplace. This paper aims to assess the impact of the pandemic on telecommuting and commuting behavior after the end of the crisis: Will people embrace teleworking and reduce commuting, even to some extent, or will they resume their pre-pandemic work patterns?This study, implementing a cross-country survey from Israel and Czechia, combines data regarding revealed preferences about work habits before and during the pandemic and stated intentions data regarding anticipated work patterns when life returns to “normal” after the pandemic. Two models were used for the data analysis, one addressing factors that affect the increased/decreased teleworking trend and the other addressing factors that affect the frequency of actual commutes.The results reveal that most respondents (62% in Israel and 68% in Czechia) will maintain the same telecommuting/working from home balance. About 19% of respondents in both countries expressed their intention to reduce the number of commuting days, while 6% stated they would increase out-of-home days. However, these estimates rely only on workers’ expectations not accounting for employers’ point of view and other constraints they may have. Not accounting for potential bias, a moderate reduction of 6.5% and 8.7% (in Israel and in Czechia, respectively) in the number of commuting trips is expected in the post-pandemic era.The anticipated decrease in commuting days is accompanied by an increase in teleworking: from 10% to 14% among those who work more than 20 h a week (in both countries) and a drop in the rate of those who telework five hours or less a week (down from 73% to 63% in Israel and from 76% to 70% in Czechia).Self-employment, travel time to work, working solely on premise during the lockdown, and personal preferences regarding telework versus working away from home were found to significantly contribute to a decrease in the number of commuting days and to an increase in teleworking. An interesting finding is the high probability of increased teleworking among people who teleworked for the first time during the lockdown or who increased their teleworking time during the lockdown. This indicates that the teleworking experience due to the pandemic has enabled some people to view working from home as viable.Although, overall, the change in working habits does not seem dramatic, our results suggest that hybrid schemes for combining on premise and telework are expected to be adopted by some sectors.

Determinant factors on ethical behavior of firms: evidence from a cross-country survey

Determinant factors on ethical behavior of firms: evidence from a cross-country survey

Acceptability of the COVID-19 contact-tracing app – Does culture matter?

During the pandemic, several countries deployed contact-tracing apps in order to contain or reduce the community spread of COVID-19. However, the success rate in terms of acceptance and use of these apps was reportedly low. Using information gathered from citizens across four European countries and the United States of America, this study explores the role of national culture in relation to the acceptance of these apps.Using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), an analysis was undertaken of 3595 records from a cross-country survey dataset that is in the public domain and can be obtained from the Centre for Open Science (Study 1). This analysis was followed by another survey comprising 910 respondents (Study 2). The research model was then validated by using a qualitative approach and undertaking interviews with 51 participants from four countries (Study 3). The results confirmed the moderating role of national culture on the acceptability of the contact-tracing apps in relation to power-distance, masculinity, individualism, long-term orientation and indulgence in the pre-deployment phase (Study 1). There were, however, no significant differences in acceptability of the apps between countries in relation to uncertainty avoidance; and none of the hypotheses in Study 2 was supported.The study concludes that national culture is significant in terms of the acceptance of COVID-19 apps only during the pre-deployment phase; therefore attention is required with pertinence to pre-deployment strategies. Recommendations regarding how governments and public health institutions can increase the acceptability of contact-tracing apps have been highlighted.

The impact of corporate social responsibility on advancing the enterprise risk management performance relationship in small and medium-sized enterprises

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of enterprise risk management on the financial performance of small-to-medium enterprises and to empirically validate the intervening role of corporate social responsibility. Based on a cross-country survey among 536 SMEs, we apply an SEM model. Our results show that ERM is an important driver of corporate social responsibility. The proposed Enterprise Risk Management and CSR framework can also be used by consultants and supporting agencies to evaluate the risk management activities in SMEs and to help them better to tailor their training to the needs of SMEs. For other researchers, this research model might be a good starting point for developing more comprehensive frameworks for the evaluation of ERM and CSR systems in SMEs.

Using an extended technology acceptance model to predict enterprise architecture adoption in making cities smarter

Presently cities are undergoing changes and transformations due to the adoption of information and communications technology. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is one of the approaches adopted by practitioners and researchers to facilitate smart city development as it can enhance the effectiveness of cities’ digital resources and sustainability capabilities. But, despite several literature on EA, studies on the adoption of EA to improve the sustainability of cities are still at the early stage. Besides, there are fewer studies that provided evidence on the adoption of EA to make cities sustainable grounded on established theoretical models and quantitative data. Therefore, this study aims to provide an understanding on the adoption of EA by different practitioners involved in a smart city project. Knowledge transfer and support services are integrated as new external variables needed to improve practitioners’ behavior intention and actual adoption of EA in making cities smarter. A model is developed grounded on an extension of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and data were collected via a cross-country survey. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data. Findings from this study offer implications for research and practice and provide opportunities for future research.

Varieties of Ambiguity: How do Voters Evaluate Ambiguous Policy Statements?

Scholars voice increasing interest in strategic ambiguity—a strategy whereby parties intentionally conceal their positions on divisive issues. Scholars contend that strategic ambiguity can help European parties broaden their electoral appeals. Although they identify several tactics and styles of position-blurring, the observational literature has yet failed to capture different variants of ambiguous rhetoric, let alone evaluate their effect on the vote. In this article, I rely on cross-country survey experiments that utilize representative samples of around 22,000 respondents from 14 European countries to evaluate the effect of four varieties of ambiguity: vagueness, ambivalence, flip-flopping, and negative messaging. I investigate the impact of ambiguous rhetoric vis-a-vis the context of competition facing the party. The findings reveal that the consequences of ambiguity vary by the actual form it takes and the context of competition facing the party. First, among the varieties, vague and ambivalent variants were superior to negative messaging or flip-flopping. Second, ambiguity helped the party in the absence of popular policy offers in the party system, while it backfired when competitors explicitly agreed with the voter. The findings imply that ambiguity is generally a useful strategy, but its benefits do not extend to rhetorical tactics that harm the party’s valence image.

Globalisation, media trust, and populism: A comparative study of the US and Germany

Globalisation is an area where supporters and non-supporters of left- and right-wing parties disagree, both for domestic and international policies. Populists see metropolitan elites as ‘corrupt’ and oppose policies that encourage globalisation in trade, immigration, and multi-culturalism. Media play important roles in providing pro- and anti-globalisation content, both in traditional and digital media. We use a unique combination of large-scale web-tracking and cross-country survey data to study the interactions between populism, media trust, consumption, and globalisation attitudes in the US and Germany. We find country variances for different aspects of globalisation, particularly among the supporters of right-wing populist parties or leaders. Populist anti-elitism and a feeling of powerlessness in relation to influencing the country's politics are two important factors behind the backlash against globalisation. We also find that a higher level of trust in public service media is associated with more supportive attitudes toward globalisation.

Does firm size really affect the outcome of loan applications?

Based on cross-country survey data comprising more than 100,000 firm-year observations across 139 countries, we use a multinomial logit model to investigate the determinants of firms’ access to finance and why “needy” firms are discouraged from applying for bank loans. We find that the relationship between applying for a loan and firm size is non-linear. Further, we document evidence that growing firms need and apply for funds up to a certain threshold and are less likely to be discouraged.

Increasing the Acceptance of Energy Subsidy Reforms: A Cross-Country Survey Experiment in Latin America and the Caribbean

Increasing the Acceptance of Energy Subsidy Reforms: A Cross-Country Survey Experiment in Latin America and the Caribbean

1.G. Workshop: COVID-HL: A global survey on digital health literacy in university students during the pandemic

Digital health literacy in university students and the capacity of academic and public institutions to maintain and promote health are timely, critical, and applicable to the whole world, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has impacted society at whole. It changed the ways students access public health information and communicate about health. Reliable and trustworthy information is needed for all students to tackle present and future disease outbreaks, societal crisis, and strengthen health resources. For example, people with higher health literacy are more likely to follow the behavioural recommendations and receive vaccination. In addition, they are more likely to be competent to deal with the overabundance of information and protect themselves from false information about COVID-19, supporting their national emergencies strategies by adhering to protective behaviour recommendations. However, not much is known about student`s digital health literacy and their information needs. The COVID Health Literacy Network (COVID-HL) is an international research community of partners from more than 60 different countries from academia and NGOs, and was formed in March 2020 during the onset of the pandemic. COVID-HL seeks to understand digital health literacy concerning COVID-19 and its impact on health outcomes and inequalities, at a global level and in different population groups. Using shared data collection instruments based on a web-based survey, in the initial study COVID-HL members together have collected data from over 70,000 university students globally. This was the first global population-based survey on digital health literacy. The purpose of this workshop is to present and compare some of the country results of the COVID-HL survey. The workshop will comprise five presentation from Germany, Greece, Portugal, Finland, and Lebanon. The findings vary across countries, but generally students have sufficient levels of digital health literacy. In contrast, they have problems evaluating the reliability of online health information about COVID-19 and lack the ability to determine whether commercial interest is attached to messages. The findings will be used for knowledge transfer in order to bridge the know-do gap, deliver tailored, easy-to-understand and practical information and inform interventions. Insights will inspire both national needs and international challenges, providing strategies to combat the pandemic and inform future digital health research and policy. Each project will be given ample time to present their findings, which will be followed by Q&A and an open discussion with the audiences. This workshop offers a forum for researchers, practitioners and policymakers interested in digital health literacy, digital public health, and global cross-country surveys and methods. By dialogue and two-way communication, vivid interaction will be ensured, allow building synergies, and facilitate networking and capacity building.Key messages Digital health literacy is an important tool for students to navigate online health information, especially during a crisis like the COVID19 pandemic.Digital health literacy must be included to educational and education-related policy programs, also considering university policies and programs.

Access to stroke care in Europe: results of a vignette approach

Abstract Background Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in Europe. European guidelines for patients with ischemic stroke (about 85% of all strokes) recommend rapid access to hospital care and rehabilitation after discharge from hospital. Information on access to stroke care in Europe is limited. Methods A stroke vignette was developed reflecting typical patient characteristics and a recommended patient pathway: ambulance transfer to hospital, fast-track diagnostic work-up, thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy, stroke unit treatment, and inpatient rehabilitation. Experts in 12 countries were asked to complete a survey on service coverage, cost sharing, physical access (availability) and other barriers to access. Survey results were analysed and access to services was categorized into good, medium, bad before summarizing results across countries. Results Completed surveys were received from ten countries, including Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and the UK (England). Stroke patients in France, Germany, and the Netherlands have relatively good access, while substantial barriers exist in Bulgaria, Estonia, Poland, and Slovakia. In Bulgaria, rehabilitation is not covered by the National Health Fund; and rehabilitation capacity is very limited in Estonia, Poland, and Slovakia, leading to limited access. Almost all recommended services are formally covered by public financing schemes, but insufficient availability or organisational problems limit access to thrombolysis in Bulgaria, France, Lithuania, Poland, and Portugal or thrombectomy in Bulgaria and the UK (England). Conclusions While stroke related services are formally covered in almost all countries, considerable access problems exist in several countries. Future cross-country surveys of access to stroke care should collect quantitative data related to proportions of patients receiving particular services as well as qualitative data on access barriers.

Pension Policy Literacy and Retirement Expectations: A Cross-Country Survey Experiment.

This study reports the findings of the first cross-national survey experiment on the effects of information on the expected retirement age. Given the drawbacks of unrealistic retirement expectations, the study examines the impacts of nonpartisan information about future demographic aging and forecasted pension benefit levels. An online survey experiment was conducted in the United States, Germany, and Spain in 2018 using an internet access panel. We assigned respondents to 2 random treatments: one citing the change in the projected share of the population older than 65 years (demographic treatment) and another citing the projected change in pension replacement rates (benefits treatment), both for 2015-2040. Treatment effects on the expected retirement age are reported. The benefits treatment has a strong influence on retirement expectations. In the United States, respondents informed of the expected decline in pension replacement rates expect to retire 2 years later than respondents not informed of the decline. In Spain, this treatment leads to an approximately 9-month postponement of expected retirement, while no significant effect is found in Germany. In addition, the demographic treatment does not affect retirement expectations in the countries studied. Respondents in all countries informed of future population aging do not show different expected retirement ages than respondents not given this information. People's retirement expectations are sensitive to information on future changes in pension generosity but not to information on population aging. The results suggest information campaigns focused on declining pension replacement rates may help extend working lives.

A machine learning model of cultural change: Role of prosociality, political attitudes, and Protestant work ethic.

What attitudes, values, and beliefs serve as key markers of cultural change? To answer this question, we examined 221,485 respondents from the World Values Survey, a multiwave cross-country survey of people's attitudes, values, and beliefs. We trained a machine learning model to classify respondents into seven waves (i.e., periods). Once trained, the machine learning model identified a separate group of 24,611 respondents' wave with a balanced accuracy of 77%. We then queried the model to identify the attitudes, values, and beliefs that contributed the most to its classification decisions, and therefore, served as markers of cultural change. These included religiosity, social attitudes, political attitudes, independence, life satisfaction, Protestant work ethic, and prosociality. Although past research in cultural change has discussed decreasing religiosity and increasing liberalism and independence, it has not yet identified Protestant work ethic, political orientation, and prosociality as values relevant to cultural change. Thus, the current research points to new directions for future research on cultural change that might not be evident from either a deductive or an inductive approach. This research illustrates that the abductive approach of machine learning, which focuses on the most likely explanations for an outcome, can help generate novel insights. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

WHAT DRIVES PUBLIC DEBT GROWTH? A FOCUS ON NATURAL RESOURCES, SUSTAINABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT

Public debt is a notable measure of economic and financial sustainability which encountered policy and scholarly interest in the international development ambients. This paper investigates the major drivers of public debt growth in 184 countries. The underlying cross-country survey is conducted on the basis of the improved compilation of datasets on the central government debt for 2013. The study finds that oil abundance, economic growth rate, the share of mineral rent in the total revenue, interest rate payments for foreign borrowings, and being a developing country have a statistically significant impact on the growth of the public debt. In contrast, defence spending, unemployment rate, and inflation rate do not have a statistically significant positive impact on the public debt rate.Keywords: Public Debt, Natural Resources, Sustainability, Oil Rent, Mineral Rent, Defence Spending, Developing CountriesJEL Classifications: F21, F34, F36, G15, H6, N1, F3DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.10901

What if your boss is a woman? Evidence on gender discrimination at the workplace

In this paper, we exploit rich cross-country survey data covering 15 European countries over the period 2000–2015 to investigate the relationship between the gender of the immediate supervisor (i.e. having a male or a female “boss”) and perceived gender discrimination at the workplace. We show that a female boss is associated with reduced gender discrimination, with positive spillovers mainly on female subordinates, in jobs where female presence is also higher and where work organization is more complex. The presence of more flexible work schedules and a better balance between work and life, further contributes to reinforce the mitigating effect of female leadership on discrimination. Results are shown to be consistent with available evidence on gender differentials in pay and career advancement, as well as being robust to a number of sensitivity checks.

Public Confidence in the Judiciary and the Police – Does Respondents Internalize Montesquieu’s Ideas?

Abstract Due to its unique role in the separation of powers framework, judiciary is typically among the first targets of illiberal take-overs. The popular perception of the judicial system – translating into its legitimacy – might prove to be its ultimate safeguard or primary source of vulnerability. This paper employs cross-country survey data to uncover to what extent the idea of separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive is embedded in public perception. It analyses the data on trust in the judiciary (or the legal system) the Police and the national government. Assuming that separation of powers is well embedded in the public opinion, one could expect that courts and the police would be assessed separately (i.e., not highly correlated confidence levels). Moreover, it is reasonable to expect that confidence in the police and in the government – Montesquieu executive branch – would be higher than between the police and the judiciary. On the contrary, if respondents assessed institutional performance within functional clusters, courts and the police would be assessed jointly (i.e., highly correlated confidence levels). Evidence form WVS and European Social Survey suggests, that the latter is the case. Interestingly, the finding holds in both democratic and non-democratic systems, indicating serious vulnerability for liberal (constitutional democracy) design.