This work was supported by the Korea Research Foundation grant (KRF 2004‐002‐B00066).

This paper describes the evolving role of robotics in healthcare and allied areas with special concerns relating to the management and control of the spread of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The prime utilization of such robots is to minimize person-to-person contact and to ensure cleaning, sterilization and support in hospitals and similar facilities such as quarantine. This will result in minimizing the life threat to medical staff and doctors taking an active role in the management of theCOVID-19 pandemic. The intention of the present research is to highlight the importance of medical robotics in general and then to connect its utilization with the perspective of COVID-19 management so that the hospital management can direct themselves to maximize the use of medical robots for various medical procedures. This is despite the popularity of telemedicine, which is also effective in similar situations. In essence, the recent achievement of the Korean and Chinese health sectors in obtaining active control of the COVID-19 pandemic was not possible without the use of state of the art medical technology.

This study is to explore a state of the art in metaverse service that is an emerging issue in applying it to the healthcare industry. The purpose of this study is to provide applicable strategic scenarios for effective metaverse service planning and implementation in healthcare settings. This study is focused on metaverse service as a business model. Thus, related literatures of metaverse service are reviewed in various aspects in healthcare industry. An exploratory approach is used to analyze current qualitative data characterizing healthcare metaverse service business positions and derive applicable strategies from business trends of current metaverse services. Several cases are examined based on the data obtained from various sources of healthcare and other related industries. This study synthesizes finding results and suggests applicable strategies of metaverse service in the healthcare industry. This study will facilitate strategic decision-making and policy-making processes to pursue a business opportunity development through an application of a metaverse service in healthcare and similar settings.

Organizational reliance on information and communication technology (ICT) is more likely to induce techno-stress as a detrimental effect, which has a negative impact on productivity. Businesses should make organizational efforts to decrease counter-productivity, a negative effect of techno-stress, to create sustainable productivity by taking advantage of information and communication technology. The purpose of this study was to explore the roles of self-efficacy and technical support as moderating variables in the relationship between techno-stress and counter-productivity. This study selected techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty as the techno-stress measurement variables, as well as counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and innovation resistance as counter-productive measurement variables. In this study, we surveyed 700 people in the IT sector, manufacturing, services, public agencies, and other industries and used regression analysis to analyze the effects of self-efficacy and technical support. As a result of the analysis, techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty have positive effects on CWB and innovation resistance whereas self-efficacy and technical support have moderating effects on techno-stress and counter-productivity by interacting with techno-overload, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty. We suggest measures to strengthen self-efficacy and technical support for mitigating counterproductive work behavior and innovation resistance.

Due to the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have attracted renewed interest in multiple industrial fields. Global manufacturing bases were affected strongly by workforce shortages associated with the spread of COVID-19, and are working to increase productivity by embracing digital manufacturing technologies that take advantage of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) that offer the promise of improved connectivity among supply chains. This trend can increase and smooth the flow of social capital, which is a potential resource in supply chains and can affect supply chain performance in healthcare industry. However, such an issue has not been properly recognized as the best practice in healthcare industry. Thus, this study investigates empirically the relationship between digitalization and supply chain performance in healthcare manufacturing companies based on previous research that proposed a role for social capital. We surveyed the staff of domestic small and medium-sized healthcare manufacturing companies in South Korea currently operating or planning to deploy digital manufacturing technologies. Online and email surveys were utilized to collect the data. Invalid responses were excluded and the remaining 130 responses were analyzed using a structural equation model in SPSS with the AMOS module. We found that digitalization has a positive effect on the formation of social capital, which in turn has a positive effect on supply chain performance. The direct effect of digitalization on supply chain performance is small, and relatively large portions are mediated and influenced by social capital. The establishment of strategic relationships in the healthcare manufacturing industry is significant, as supply chain networks and production processes can influence the intended use of factory output. Companies should, therefore, secure timely and accurate information to manage the flow of products and services. The formation of social capital in the supply chain can help visualize entire supply chains and has a positive effect on real-time information-sharing among key elements of those chains.