The pandemic of the coronavirus known as ‘COVID-19’ has spread rapidly across the globe, resulting in a worldwide economic recession. Although global efforts are in place to combat the virus, it continues to spread on a massive scale. This is not just a medical crisis; rather, it is a business crisis as well. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop a research scale that could be used to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on business. We adopted a scale variables approach that is generated from topics covered in the papers of leading academic business journals to form the basis of our analysis. We exposed the scale to qualitative and quantitative testing and concluded that it is reliable for research on the negative effects of COVID-19 on enterprises. The scale was used to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 on businesses in two countries, namely Serbia and Kuwait, to represent two different continents. The results of this research indicate that the influence of this coronavirus is equally devastating in both countries, Kuwait with its otherwise good economic conditions and Serbia with relatively poor ones. The findings of the research are beneficial for both academics in producing quality output papers, as well as their support to managers in various business industries in their fight against coronavirus to keep their businesses sustainable.

Despite the rare use of the term ‘strategy’ in public and voluntary sector organizations, recent research has seen the use of both the strategy and strategy-as-practice concepts in regulating the innovation perspective within the public sector. The available literature on innovation, strategy, and service delivery within the public sector offers positive insights into forming a new concept of innovation within the public organization sphere. Using a systematic review, we aim to understand the integration of the strategy-as-practice perspective into the public service ethos to drive the innovation perspective forward. The review was performed in two stages, 855 documents were retrieved in the first stage that covered a five-year time span, while 8,620,000 documents were retrieved in the second stage that covered a twenty-three-year time span. We further supported our argument through a quantitative questionnaire with 93 respondents from Kuwait. The findings of the research indicate that public sector policymakers need to pay attention to the social complexity of their context in order to innovate delivered public services. Furthermore, policymakers need to adopt new innovative schemes including innovative strategy practices, digital governance, reform ethos, and mutual constitution in their strategies in order to ensure the innovative public services that are required by their communities.

Although e-learning management-related research has been pursued in many parts of the world, there is dearth of research that integrates this concept with the increasing trend of smartphone usage for educational purposes. Furthermore, research in the area shows a general lack of contextualizing the concept in the Middle Eastern context. Therefore, the aim of this study is twofold: (i) to explore the everyday use and role of smartphones among university students in Kuwait; and (ii) to identify if there are any socio-demographic differences in smartphone usage among university students. A questionnaire was completed by 376 students in order to achieve the study objectives. The results showed that students frequently used their smartphones at home and that they sometimes used these phones in recreation places and on transportation, at university, and when walking. Also, they always used their smartphones to complete fourteen non-learning activities, such as making phone calls, using it as a watch and as an alarm clock, and ten learning activities, such as checking their exam schedules, checking class timetables, and checking their grades. Moreover, social networking, learning, privacy, and safety were important reasons offered by students for owning/using smartphones. Furthermore, the study found that at least one of eight socio-demographic variables (i.e., gender, marital status, major/subject, nationality, smartphone brand, using it for the first time, age range, and level of study) has an effect on at least one pattern of smartphone usage. Several recommendations were made based on these findings that may improve the effectiveness of smartphone usage among university students in Kuwait.