Riffat Shahani

China used to be the world’s leading nation in terms of international (outward) tourism till the COVID-19 outbreak. However, due to the COVID-19 crisis, several new macro and micro-level factors might affect their international (outward) traveling behavior. The purpose of the current research was to examine the avoidance of international traveling for leisure in the Chinese population. The goal of the study was to highlight the importance of information self-efficacy and digital literacy as the key factors influencing tourists’ traveling readiness. To achieve the goal, the study adapted the quantitative instruments from existing sources to map media exhaustion, information overload, and perceived health concerns, i.e., perceived effectiveness of health-protective measures, fear of new possible outbreaks, and pandemic crisis at source and destination. Chinese citizens’ opinions were collected during the third quarter of the year 2022. Specifically, the quantitative survey from China collected a total number of 1308 respondents. This study used the statistical analysis software SPSS to analyze collected data. The findings conclude that the role of media is pivotal to shaping and predicting future trends in tourism preferences, perception of protective measures against COVID-19, and perceived seriousness of the pandemic crisis in the Chinese population. In addition, technology readiness (as hard self-efficacy) and health-related information literacy (soft self-efficacy) are critical to cope with the dark aspects of information exhaustion, overload, and pandemic seriousness in the post-truth era. The study is unique, as it examines the role of the seriousness of the pandemic at its source and destination and fear of new outbreaks simultaneously, underlining the potential future of immersive tourism (i.e., virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed reality-based tourism). This study has drawn interesting theoretical and practical implications for researchers, policymakers, and academicians.

Vaccination is a vital component in the battle against outbreaks of infectious diseases. Recognizing parents’ reluctance to vaccinate their children is even more critical now, given the ongoing threat of a COVID-19 pandemic. Conspiracy theories, vaccination safety concerns, parental efficacy and risk perception, and a lack of confidence in science all influence intention. To investigate how these variables interact with vaccination behavior against COVID-19, we developed a model with psychosocial factors serving as the predictor and mistrust in science and vaccine knowledge serving as the mediator. In order to validate the model, the parents’ intentions regarding their children’s vaccination with COVID-19 were used. The study included 454 Pakistani parents who completed an online questionnaire assessing their intention to vaccinate their children. We analyzed the data using structural equation modeling (SEM). A significant level of vaccine hesitation is due to belief in vaccine conspiracy theories, and vaccine safety concerns were investigated. A surprising correlation exists between risk perception and vaccination intentions, followed by parental self-efficacy. It is significant to note that vaccine knowledge mediated conspiracy beliefs, risk perceptions, and intentions fully but partially mediated parental self-efficacy. Conspiracy theories were mediated by a mistrust in science, while perceptions of risk and vaccine safety were partially mediated. The findings of this research were used to develop sensible policy reforms and public health campaigns to encourage vaccination against both common infections such as measles, human papillomaviruses, or pertussis, and novel diseases such as COVID-19.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of e-government usage on citizen engagement during the COVID-19 crisis in China, in relation to the mediating role of how citizens perceive the government. A model was also proposed to explain the relationship between e-government usage during the COVID-19 crisis and the mediating role that different perceptions of government play in influencing citizens level of engagement.Design/methodology/approach: The research model was tested empirically through a survey conducted online with 866 research participants, comprising of Chinese citizens from three large cities, which include Hefei, Shanghai and Nanjing.Findings: The results in structural equation modeling showed that e-government usage has a significant positive influence on citizens' perception about trust in government, government transparency and government reputation but not significant influence on citizens' engagements. However, an indirect relationship was found out in the mediation analysis. There was also a significant relationship between the different perceptions of government. Mediation analysis showed that all the different perceptions of government mediate the relationship between e-government usage and citizens' engagements during the COVID-19 crisis. The single mediation pathways were found to be most effective mediators, identifying citizens' perception about trust in government to be the most effective mediator.Originality/value: This study filled the gap in literature by examining how e-government usage by Chinese citizens during the COVID-19 crisis helped influence their attitude and behavior. Specifically, this study is one of the first to integrate citizens' usage of e-government and citizens' engagement through the different citizens' perceptions of government such as trust in government, transparency of government and government reputation in a non-liberal country.