Factors affecting the choices of adoption/non-adoption of future technologies during coronavirus pandemic.

The literature describes the potential for using future services technologies in public health emergencies. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is resulting in unparalleled challenges to healthcare services in almost all countries, requiring innovative methods of practicing across health professions. Factors affecting pharmacists' choice of telemedicine adoption/non-adoption are yet to be examined, especially in Italy. Thus, we investigate the behavioral intentions of pharmacists related to telemedicine, as a future services technology, in the current pandemic context. Our model draws on the theory of planned behavior and extends it to investigate the mechanisms underlying attitude formation to telemedicine adoption through a cross-sectional approach, using a questionnaire-based survey. The model has medium-to-high power in predicting telemedicine adoption intention, and the two significant direct antecedents of the target construct (attitude to telemedicine, and perceived behavioral control) are almost equally important. The psychological mechanisms linked to the tendency to implement emerging technology are complex and have major management effects. Studies in this field are yet to focus on the issues that affect the pharmacists' decision regarding adopting or not adopting telemedicine, as a future services technology.

Effects of agritourism businesses' strategies to cope with the COVID-19 crisis: The key role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviours.

Evidence of the effects of tourism businesses' strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 crisis remains remarkably scarce. Drawing on the system resilience framework, this study suggests a model in which corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviours encompassing five dimensions - community, employees, environment, heritage and products - and co-creation experience mediate the relationships between strategies and performance. Applying partial least squares structural equation modeling to a sample of 199 agritourism businesses in Italy, this study finds that proactive strategies have a positive effect on performance and that this effect is fully mediated by CSR and co-creation experience. Reactive strategies have both a negative direct effect and a positive mediated effect on performance. Hence, the strategies positively affect performance only if they first contribute to the resilience of the local system through CSR behaviours, enhancing the resources needed for tourism experience co-creation. This analysis emphasises the impacts of the community, environmental and heritage dimensions of CSR behaviours.

Factors that influence intent to adopt a hearing aid among older people in Italy.

Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent health impairments associated with ageing in developed countries, and it can result in social, emotional and communication dysfunction. Hearing loss in Italy is increasing, yet, despite the availability of free hearing aids and access to qualified community-based health professionals specialising in audiology services, their uptake remains low (about 15%-20%). This paper presents an investigation of the possible reasons why older people in Italy resist adopting a hearing aid. We used the literature to identify factors influencing people with hearing loss's decision-making, and drew on the theory of reasoned action to create an explanatory model. To test our hypotheses, we applied a cross-sectional design. We developed a questionnaire including 13 items related to adopting a hearing aid. Health professionals identified 400 persons aged 60-90 who were candidates for a free hearing aid. Those willing to participate were sent a copy of the questionnaire and telephoned between August and September 2009; a total of 243 responded (response rate of 60.8%). Linear regression analysis highlighted that a person's intention to adopt a hearing aid was positively related to their attitude towards its adoption, but negatively linked to their perceived subjective norms. It was found that trust in the health professional does not moderate the relationship between a person's attitude and their intention to adopt a hearing aid, but trust mitigates the relationship between a person's perceived subjective norms and their intentions. These findings underline the importance of the potential role that the healthcare professional could play in reducing the uncertainty created by external social pressures. For this purpose, stronger collaboration between the various health professionals involved in hearing aid provision, from diagnosis to fitting, is recommended.