Research in Administrative Sciences Under COVID-19

Competitiveness has become essential to business survival. Accordingly, the purpose of this chapter is to study the competitiveness of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Latin America under the systemic competitiveness model under COVID-19. Documentary research was conducted, based on reports from the Inter-American Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, among others. The main findings reveal an alarming deterioration at the macro, meso, and meta levels, which requires the design of public policies that consider the situation of MSMEs as essential for reducing poverty and unemployment affecting the region. Although MSMEs hold some advantages at the micro level, they need to receive direct support to enable them to stay afloat and make productive and technological investments.

The purpose of this study was to explore the innovative and proactive practices adopted by subsistence businesses under the COVID-19 health contingency. Evidence of the current situation and the contingency practices that businesses have implemented in dealing with the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was collected through a literature review of secondary information sources: bibliographic and hemerographic, as well as in-depth interviews with five owners of artisanal and agricultural subsistence businesses.

Faced with uncertainty, artisanal and agricultural subsistence businesses have adopted innovative and proactive survival practices. The closure of markets, the absence of tourism, the suspension of non-essential activities, the lack of mobility and transportation, and the closure of access in rural communities are some of the realities these businesses are experiencing. Subsistence businesses in marginalised areas are a long way from accessing information technologies for online sales and home deliveries, which are implemented by most businesses in urban areas. In contrast, they revert to ancestral marketing practices such as bartering and low prices to earn an income for family food. Despite the loss of over 50% of subsistence businesses in urban and semi-urban areas, online sales through social media and websites, socially responsible initiatives, along with government support programmes, have helped others stay in business.

The purpose of this research is to reveal the behaviour of the main Mexican exporting companies during the 2018-2020 period, which covers part of the COVID-19 pandemic phase. The results indicate that it is not viable to invest in this type of companies for the time being, and this is shown empirically through the traditional Markowitz investment portfolio selection methodology and its extension through the Sharpe model.

Universities play a key role in the production and transfer of knowledge. The purpose of this research is to describe practices of knowledge management at UNAM in response to COVID-19. A qualitative methodology is used. Through documentary research, information was collected to present four descriptive case studies to identify elements that characterise a knowledge-intensive organisation through the value chain model. This chapter begins with a review of the literature on the creation and transfer of knowledge from universities to society in the context of COVID-19. The knowledge value chain concept is integrated in order to model elements related to both infrastructure and processes that have allowed for continuity in the development of knowledge production and transfer activities. These results contribute to the modelling of management practices to create value in organisations.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of burnout on university workers’ intention to quit in Tamaulipas. The study is based on a quantitative methodological design with a causal correlational and cross-sectional scope. The data were collected through an online questionnaire, based on Maslach and Jackson (1986), whose sample is made up of 254 workers (teaching and administrative staff). The conclusions reveal that the situation experienced by the staff causes them to feel indifferent to their work (depersonalisation). This, in turn, affects their intention to look for another job, and therefore it is concluded that burnout does indeed induce an intention to quit.

Education systems are currently being affected by COVID-19, given the suspension of academic and administrative on-site activities. This has hampered people’s access to connectivity services to continue their class sessions, in turn affecting the mental health of many students. The purpose of this study is to validate the scale used to measure the relationship between the various stress factors and academic activities performed by students in a teleworking environment in situations of isolation or confinement. A 36-item online questionnaire was designed and applied during the month of May 2020, obtaining 320 responses. According to the results of the survey, it is important to highlight that the teleworking scale is statistically valid and reliable for use in other contexts, and it is hoped that the results obtained can be used to develop strategies to strengthen the teaching-learning process and the teleworking modality.

Technostress - the difficulty of adapting to technologies - is a psychosocial condition that can affect one’s emotional state and certainly seems to be affecting today’s society. This is no longer a concept that is exclusive to workers whose work activities are directly related to technology; it now also affects millions of students in education.

Digital migration forced by compulsory confinement has led to technostress in students all over the world, with consequences such as rejection, denial, fear, uncertainty and a series of other problems that affect students’ mental state and integrity. These conditions in turn lead to a decrease in the quality of education, as students become fatigued, tired, or bored by having to spend so much time in front of information and communication technologies.

The purpose of this chapter is to measure the level of technostress in higher education students who have been forced to change from on-site to the online educational models. It is also intended to compare the perception of the same students regarding these two educational models, in order to detect variants that affect their academic performance. The research uses a four-dimensional construct, in addition to analysing students’ perception of each educational model through a fifth dimension. The results show that for students, the forced change from on-site to online education has posed a great challenge, resulting in negation, rejection, and addiction, among other conditions, which together account for a high level of technostress.

The confinement resulting from the current COVID-19 pandemic is impacting all human activities. With technology, many of these activities such as business processes are being transformed. As such it is important to understand how these transformations are taking place and how to address the new challenges with equally innovative strategies.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse and explain the influence of e-commerce as an independent variable, in consumption habits, and as a dependent variable, in times of COVID-19, for consumers in Durango Mexico. To do so, a quantitative methodology was adopted, in which each of the variables is diagnosed, followed by ANOVA and regression tests to determine the proposed relationship.

The findings show that e-commerce does have an impact on consumer buying habits in the city of Durango, that the ‘surf the internet’ dimension is the one that occurs most frequently and that price is the factor most highly valued by consumers.

This chapter presents a methodological and strategic proposal for the application of the design thinking methodology to support the implementation of the work and action plan for the economic reactivation of start-ups in Mexico. The objective is to create a quick reference guide to accelerate start-up resilience. Documentary research is considered on the guidelines and implementation requirements, as well as the measures established by the Mexican Ministry of Health, to mitigate the epidemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease and to carry out an orderly, gradual, and cautious reopening in order to continue caring for people’s health in the working environment and at the same time reactivate the start-ups’ economy. This chapter provides an alternative guide to direct and propose a structured option for the labour and economic reactivation of start-ups that were considered non-core and that require the completion of regulatory procedures and processes required to obtain the necessary Quick Response code, granted by the entities that regulate the guidelines for the safe reopening of companies. Based on the size of these economic entities, it is considered that they can have between 1 and 10 employees, or no hired personnel at all, which is not considered a priority in the current economic reactivation programmes. A methodological strategy is proposed and implemented to support companies of this size in their immediate process of labour and economic reactivation for a case study of a service company that applied the proposed methodology.

COVID-19 has shaken every nation in the world, and its consequences have spread throughout society. The influence of the health pandemic has left a negative imprint on both the public and private sectors, affecting thousands of people. The objective of this literature review is to explore, summarise, and analyse the state of the art of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the context of COVID-19 by identifying those that have been implemented during the pandemic. This review was developed using the narrative method to gain a broader perspective of this phenomenon by analysing 30 Web of Science (WOS) articles from 1998 to 2020. The findings suggest that the implementation of CSR-focussed practices offers the possibility to change consumer behaviour towards a socially responsible approach, thus contributing to our country’s economic recovery. The inclusion of CSR within the COVID context allows for a better understanding of the socially responsible practices that have been implemented during the health restrictions.