Xueyan Li

Trust plays a crucial role in effectively responding to public health emergencies. Drawing on COVID-19 survey data conducted in Hubei, China, during August 2020 with a sample size of 5494, this study investigated the influence of individuals’ socioeconomic status on trust in acquaintances, strangers and institutions, and how this relationship is moderated by epidemic prevention, policy perception and family structure. The findings showed that individuals with higher socioeconomic status tend to have higher levels of trust. Those with higher income but being married demonstrate higher trust. When perceiving epidemic prevention policies as stringent, those with higher income display increased trust in acquaintances and institutions; similarly, those with lower education levels exhibit heightened trust in acquaintances and strangers. Individuals working in social organizations express higher trust in strangers; however, their trust is compromised under stringent epidemic prevention policies due to potentially heavier work burdens.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, media exposure is crucial to motivate public action for the combat with COVID-19 pandemic. However, media effects on civic participation intention are understudied. This study applied the Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM) to explore the relations among Wuhan college students’ media use, their pandemic-relevant beliefs, and civic participation intention, with a focus on the possible mediation of pandemic-relevant beliefs. Data of 4355 students from a large-scale cross-sectional survey were analyzed. Results show that traditional media use and online media interaction both directly and indirectly affect civic participation intention via pandemic-relevant beliefs. Pandemic-relevant beliefs distort the relations that direct and indirect effects of new media use on civic participation intention are significant but in opposite directions. The influence of pandemic news on civic participation intention is entirely mediated by pandemic-relevant beliefs. To conclude, during pandemic, the role of traditional media use is unreplaceable in its direct and indirect impact on civic participation intention. Pandemic-relevant beliefs play as a distorter variable. The balance between overexposure and insufficiency of pandemic-relevant news is vital. Online media interaction, as a main trait of new media use, plays a crucial role in civic participation intention, directly and indirectly.

Purpose: Consumer adoption of shared products is a prerequisite for successful commercialization. The purpose of this paper is to explore what innovative characteristics of entity shared products can accommodate consumers' concerns and are likely to motivate adoption of consumers.Design/methodology/approach: This paper used a conceptual model that combined the innovation diffusion theory and technology acceptance model to explore shared products adoption. It identified the direct and indirect effects of perceived app ease of use/online, perceived convenience of access/offline, perceived utility advantages and personal innovativeness on shared products adoption intention. Structural equation modeling was used for analyzing the questionnaire data from a sample of 479 users who used entity shared products such as shared cars, shared bicycles and shared power banks for mobile phones.Findings: The empirical tests indicate that perceived utility advantages based on market innovation, perceived accessibility of usage rights based on technology innovation (including perceived app ease of use/online and perceived convenience of access/offline) and consumer personal innovativeness are the key factors affecting consumer adoption.Originality/value: This paper constructs an innovation-adoption coupling model of entity shared products to understand shared products usage. The findings provide useful practical guidance for the design and development of shared products and “usage rights economy” business applications.

College students represent a large group of people who frequently travel across regions, which increased their risk of infection and exacerbated the risk of COVID-19 spread throughout China. This study uses survey data from the end of April 2020 to analyze the status of COVID-19-infected cases, the group differences, and influencing factors in college students in Wuhan. The sample size was made up 4355 participants, including 70 COVID-19-infected students. We found that during the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, college students in Wuhan were primarily infected during off-campus events after winter break or infected in their hometowns after leaving Wuhan; the percentage of college students with severe cases was relatively low, and most had mild cases; however, a large proportion of asymptomatic cases may exist; there were significant group differences in gender, age and place of residence; and the risk of infection was closely related to the campus environment, in which the population density and number of faculty and students on campus had a significant impact. The results indicated that the infection of students did not occur at random, thus strengthening student health education and campus management can help curb the spread of COVID-19 among students.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of students in locked-down colleges remains obscure. This study aimed to explore influencing factors for the psychological impact of COVID-19 on Wuhan college students, post-traumatic stress symptoms in particular, so as to inform evidence-based strategy development to ameliorate such adverse impacts. An online survey was conducted from 26 to 29 April 2020, and 4355 students enrolled in Wuhan universities and colleges participated. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder via the Impact of Event-Scale-Revised was assessed. COVID-19 disproportionately affected older male Master’s and doctoral students living in Wuhan. The overall prevalence of PTSD was 16.3%. The three-level socio-interpersonal model of PTSD was empirically validated, and college students faced individual level risks such as infection with COVID-19, close relationship level risks such as family support (infection suspicion of family members, the loss of loved ones, and the family income decrease) and online course difficulties (little interaction, disturbing learning environment, and difficulty in adaption), and distant level risks such as excessive collection of personal information, estrangement of family relatives, and harassment and insult from strangers. The findings suggest the severity of the psychological impact of COVID-19. Mental health services reducing PTSD should be provided. Students who have lost loved ones and suffered family financial loss should be given particular care.

(2019). The Guangdong Emissions Trading Scheme. Strategic Planning for Energy and the Environment: Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 42-62.