Financial literacy is an ability of individual to take considerable decisions in respect of the effective and efficient utilization of money. In present study, authors have presented an association of financial knowledge, financial behaviour and financial attitude towards the financial literacy level among working women in Delhi, India. The sample size of 394 working women from various public and private organizations of Delhi has been incorporated for the research. A structured questionnaire designed on a 5-point Likert scale has been used based on purposive sampling, and the goodness of fit is determined by analysis of moments structures (AMOS) by applying structural equation modeling approach (SEM). The association between three independent variables is investigated applying path analysis for hypothesis testing. The findings revealed that financial attitude and financial behaviour have strong association with financial literacy of working women than financial knowledge.

COVID-19 quickly spread all over the world and dramatically affected the financial markets in almost everycountry. Its spread created havoc in the market, and investors fearing risk suffereda significant amount of financialloss in a very short time. This article aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on stock markets in the top six affected countries based on the total number of cases confirmed. In addition, it also analyzes the stock market volatility caused by the virus and the abnormal returns generated by the markets during the pandemic. We employevent study methodology in different sub-periods to examine the most volatile event periods with the daily rise in the Covid cases and subsequent returns generated by the markets during these sub-periodsin relation to the daily rise in the case. The increase in volatility and the presence of significant abnormal returns among the sample indices show the impact of COVID-19 on stock markets. The result reveals that Brazilian stock indices show the highest decline among the selected countries, with a fall of more than 50% during the pandemic, while Mexican indices show the lowest fall of around 30% during the same period.

Researchers have given considerable attention to investigate anti-consumption behavior. However, empirical research tends to report somewhat erratic and inconsistent findings. Accordingly, the relationships between the antecedents, and the outcome variables of anti-consumption behavior, such as consumer well-being, remain unclear. Thus, to fill this void in the literature, this study integrates Attitude Behavior Context (ABC) theory and Well-being theory into a meta-analytic framework and synthesizes the extant literature on anti-consumption to examine concrete relationships between the contextual and attitudinal variables, anti-consumption behavior and consumer well-being.The findings show that ecological concern, religiosity, mortality salience, and perceived behavioral control influence anti-consumption attitudes and intention, whereas consumer well-being is the outcome variable of anti-consumption behavior. To investigate the possible reasons for the inconsistent findings, we performed a moderation analysis which suggests that country of study, product type, data collection period, research methods and sample type may cause inconsistencies in the findings. This meta-analytic study contributes to the anti-consumption literature. Practically, the findings provide guidelines to policymakers and societal organizations interested in promoting anticonsumption.

PurposeSeveral empirical studies have proven that emerging countries are attractive destinations for Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) because of high expected returns, weak market efficiency and high growth that make them attractive destination for diversification of funds. But higher expected returns come coupled with high risk arising from political and economic instability. This study aims to compare the linear (symmetric) and non-linear (asymmetric) Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) models in forecasting the volatility of top five major emerging countries among E7, that is, China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico.Design/methodology/approachThe volatility of financial markets of five major emerging countries has been empirically investigated for a period of two decades from January 2000 to December 2019 using univariate volatility models including GARCH 1, 1, Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (E-GARCH 1, 1) and Threshold Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (T-GARCH-1, 1) models. Further, to examine time-varying volatility, the distinctions of structural break have been captured in view of the global financial crisis of 2008. Thus, the period under the study has been segregated into pre- and post-crisis, that is, January 2001–December 2008 and January 2009–December 2019, respectively.FindingsThe findings indicate that GARCH (1, 1) model is superior to non-linear GARCH models for forecasting volatility because the effect of leverage is insignificant. China has been considered as most volatile, whereas India is volatile but positively skewed and Indonesia is the least volatile country. The results can help investors in better international diversification of their portfolio and identifying best suitable hedging opportunities.Practical implicationsThis study can help investors to construct a more risk-adjusted returns international portfolio. Further, it adds to the scant literature available on the inconclusive debate on the choice of linear versus non-linear models to forecast market volatility.Originality/valueEarlier studies related to univariate volatility models are mostly applications of the models. Only few studies have considered the robustness while applying the models. However, none of the studies to the best of the authors’ searches have considered these models for identifying the diversification opportunity among the emerging countries. Hence, this study is able to derive diversification and hedging opportunities by applying wide ranges of the statistical applications and models, that is, descriptive, correlations and univariate volatility models. It makes the study more rigorous and unique compared to the previous literature.

The objective of present study is to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance (FP) with the help of a stakeholder approach in the context of small and medium enterprises (SME) industry in Delhi NCR. A sample of 382 SMEs was analysed through a structured questionnaire having 22 statements out of which two statements were removed due to low factor loading. The goodness of fit was measured by AMOS–SEM and relationship between variables was examined by path analysis. The overall model was fit and finding indicated a weak positive relationship between CSR and FP. The results were in conformance with previous research works by Jain, Vyas and Durga (2016) and Weber (2008). It was also observed that SMEs are socially responsible towards their stakeholders, but it is more in informal nature rather than adopting it as a strategy. Further, the results revealed that CSR of SMEs is associated with religious spirit.