Background With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic surging and new mutations evolving, trust in vaccines is essential. Methods We explored correlates of vaccine hesitancy, considering political believes and psychosocial concepts, conducting a non-probability quota-sampled online survey with 1007 Austrians. Results We identified several important correlates of vaccine hesitancy, ranging from demographics to complex factors such as voting behavior or trust in the government. Among those with hesitancy towards a COVID-19 vaccine, having voted for opposition parties (opp) or not voted (novote) were (95% Confidence Intervall (CI)opp, 1.44–2.95) to 2.25-times (95%CInovote, 1.53–3.30) that of having voted for governing parties. Only 46.2% trusted the Austrian government to provide safe vaccines, and 80.7% requested independent scientific evaluations regarding vaccine safety to increase willingness to vaccine. Conclusions Contrary to expected, psychosocial dimensions were only weakly correlated with vaccine hesitancy. However, the strong correlation between distrust in the vaccine and distrust in authorities suggests a common cause of disengagement from public discourse.

Objectives To explore changes in quality of life and perceived productivity, focusing on the effects of working from home during the first COVID-19 50-day mitigation period in Austria. Methods We conducted an Austrian-representative online survey (N = 1010) of self-reported life- and work-related changes during the first COVID-19 50-day mitigation period (March 16 through May 1 2020) compared to the situation before. We used multinominal logistic regression models to identify correlates of improved/decreased quality of life in the entire sample, and of improved/decreased productivity in a subsample of the working population (N = 686). We also calculated age- and multivariable-adjusted ORs and 95% CIs of an improved/decreased quality of life and an improved/decreased productivity by work from home status. Results During the COVID-19 mitigation period, quality of life improved in 17.5%, but decreased in 20.7% of the general Austrian population; perceived productivity at work increased in 12.7%, but decreased in 30.2% of the working population. Working from home during the mitigation period was associated with an increased quality of life (vs. none, partially: OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.09–3.91; all the time: 3.69, 1.86–7.29). In contrast, perceived productivity seemed to decrease when people worked from home (vs. none, partially: 1.42, 0.86–2.35; all the time: 1.48, 0.85–2.58). Working from home and related benefits were not equally distributed among gender, age, and educational attainment. Conclusions A transition to more flexibility of workplace and working hours for employees could have important positive consequences for family and professional life, for stakeholders, for public health, and ultimately for the environment.

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Recent research supports that a person’s self-reported explicit attitude is not necessarily consistent with their implicit attitude. However, in sustainability research, implicit cognitive measures are still at their early stages, and consider primarily singular aspects of sustainability. Here, we pose that the degree of congruence of individuals’ implicit and explicit attitudes represents the foundation of any organization’s sustainability culture. Although many organizations assert that sustainable development represents an important dimension of their vision and strategy, in reality, sustainable development often translates simply into explicit self-presentation and reputation. Traditional methods such as surveys lack information on implicit measures and—since they collect data based solely on the explicit knowledge of the respondents, which may be biased by social desirability and impression management—can therefore not determine the degree of congruence between explicit and implicit attitudes. We implemented a browser-based application of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) regarding sustainability as a reaction time-based cognitive measure supported by an interactive and activating process that was completed by 114 executives. Additionally, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted among them to investigate their explicit attitudes. We calculated Pearson correlation coefficients and conducted repeated measures MANOVA and principle component analysis. Our data analysis demonstrated low congruence between explicit and implicit sustainability orientations (Pearson’s r ranging from − 0.10 to 0.31). Potential explanations for our findings relate to the effects of impression management and individuals’ lack of cognitive processing of their own sustainability orientation. In sum, exploring the potential incongruence between explicit and implicit sustainability orientations helps narrow an important knowledge gap and provides a basis for rethinking the impact of internal and external learning processes within and between organizational systems, society, and science.

Although the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wave has peaked with the second wave underway, the world is still struggling to manage potential systemic risks and unpredictability of the pandemic. A particular challenge is the “superspreading” of the virus, which starts abruptly, is difficult to predict, and can quickly escalate into medical and socio-economic emergencies that contribute to long-lasting crises challenging our current ways of life. In these uncertain times, organizations and societies worldwide are faced with the need to develop appropriate strategies and intervention portfolios that require fast understanding of the complex interdependencies in our world and rapid, flexible action to contain the spread of the virus as quickly as possible, thus preventing further disastrous consequences of the pandemic. We integrate perspectives from systems sciences, epidemiology, biology, social networks, and organizational research in the context of the superspreading phenomenon to understand the complex system of COVID-19 pandemic and develop suggestions for interventions aimed at rapid responses.