The effectiveness of the emergency eLearning during COVID-19 pandemic. The case of higher education in economics in Romania

In this paper, we aim to identify the determinants of online effective learning in the emergency situation created by COVID19 pandemic. Further, we test which of the learning methods (traditional, online, and hybrid) is preferred by Romanian students in economics in this unusual context. Using a sample of 1415 students from five major Romanian faculties of economics and applying ordinal and bivariate logit regressions models, we found that psychological distress and increased concerns about COVID-19 pandemic have a negative effect on learning effectiveness. Also, our results revealed that the students who face problems related to unsatisfactory internet access, insufficient time due to other familial issues, who have inadequate working space at home and also the male ones are more likely to be less effective in their online learning process. Finally, the university infrastructure for online activities decreases the likelihood that students will perceive online studies as less effective.