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This paper examines the regulation of corporate governance on leverage structure decision-making in Bangladesh from 2003 to 2017. Appropriate panel methods are employed to control the problems of serial correlation, heteroskedasticity, and the cross-sectional nature of manufacturing companies. The study finds that corporate governance attributes such as board size, managerial ownership, and duality are the dominant factors for leverage decision-making. The results also indicate that control variables such as firm size and profitability have an influential role on leverage decision-making in Bangladesh. Our findings substantiate the idea that political and family connections to corporate governance structure greatly influence the leverage decision-making of corporate firms in Bangladesh. Int. J. Financial Stud. 2019, 7, 50 2 of 16 weak corporate governance, such as family issues, institutional issues, political affiliation, corruption, and the lack of a sense of responsibility and accountability. In this circumstance, financial managers cannot freely make optimal financial decisions in terms of firm value and sustainability. Weak financial decision-making incurs a great deal of loss, which threatens sustainability. The previous studies also consider only primary data, and, to the best of our knowledge, they did not consider the main corporate governance attributes of board size, board composition, board independence, managerial ownership, institutional shares, and CEO duality from secondary data. Hence, the relationship between corporate governance and leverage structure decision-making in Bangladesh has not been fully explored. In this respect, in Bangladesh, there is an urgent need to determine whether corporate governance has any impact on leverage structure decision-making or not.We have investigated the manufacturing sector for several reasons: First, past literature has been primarily dedicated to the analysis of developed countries and there are very few studies focused on developing countries such as Bangladesh. Second, Bangladesh has been experiencing embezzlement in capital markets resulting from political weaponry and government intervention. These consequences radically affect the financial decision-making of manufacturing companies in Bangladesh. Third, the manufacturing sector provides the basic needs of people and fuels economic growth in Bangladesh, and it is highly vulnerable due to a lack of high-quality corporate governance. Poor accounting and auditing standards, bad accountability, low transparency, managerial inefficiency, and political turmoil (Pontines and Siregar 2008) have led to the poor sustainable development of the sector.The major contributions of the paper are designed to add new insights to the current literature: (i) The previous literature on this subject in Bangladesh is few and partial. To the best of our knowledge, research in this area was initiated by Haque et al. 2011 on the qualitative factors of corporate governance in Bangladesh. The most influential variables for c...

The COVID-19 forced to transform face-to-face mode of teaching to virtual in educational institutions around the globe that not only impact institutional stakeholders, but also posed as a threat to entire humanity because, all parties related to education had to change their activities. The intentions of this study therefore firstly, to determine the content analysis by interviewing tertiary students and secondly, to determine the frequency distribution by questionnaire developed from results of the content analysis. To better understand the consequences of this outbreak, we took an interview from forty respondents, including undergraduate and postgraduate students across Bangladesh. Results of Content analysis revealed that stakeholders of tertiary education are encountering severe problems in mental health, financial, technical, and study. A questionnaire was designed based on results were obtained through content analysis and distributed using email, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Telegram, Facebook, and Instagram from May 20 to May 30, 2021. A total number of 505 valid questionnaires were received from respondents. Frequency distribution analysis disclosed that 60% respondents have no separate reading rooms. Laptops and desktops are commonly used for online classes, but unfortunately, 21% respondents have no personal electronic gadgets. Moreover, 55% reported spending less time to study during the coronavirus outbreak. Furthermore, 88% respondents reported experiencing mental health-related stress, anxiety, and depression problems. The proportion that suffered financial crisis, family disruptions, internet and technology related problems were 79%, 83% and 72% respectively. Since coronavirus pandemic is a totally new phenomenon in the world, not much empirical literature exist. So we fill the gap, investigating the issue empirically using content and frequency distribution analysis. Policy implications and recommendations are discussed accordingly.

Purpose Economic hardship and crime is always a debatable issue in the political economy literature. Some authors define poverty leads to crime some are completely opposite. The purpose of this paper is to find out the impact of poverty on crime in the USA. Design/methodology/approach Using time series data of USA over the period from 1965 to 2016, this study applies autoregressive distributed lag approach to identify the effect of poverty on crime. Findings The outcomes confirm a positive co-integrating relationship between poverty and property crime. It can be argued that poverty ultimately leads property crime in long run in the USA. However, unemployment and GDP exhibit neither long-run nor short-run relationship with property crime and they are not cointegrated for the calculated period. Research limitations/implications The subject of this paper helps to explain and analyze the nexus between poverty and crime in the USA. Practical implications Government and policymakers should focus more on poverty rather than unemployment alone to control property crime. Originality/value This study attempts to identify the consequences of economic hardship and poverty on the crime in the advanced economy like USA.

There is no denying that female entrepreneurship success has been making a significant impact on the world. Females now own businesses at a rate that surpasses males, and they are also leading the way in many industries. At the same time, extant literature indicates that female entrepreneurship success is low compared to male counterparts. Concerning enriching the literature, this study aimed to explore the missing catalysts of female entrepreneurship success in a developing country perspective, Bangladesh. Using a purposive sampling strategy, the researchers used semi‐structured interviews to collect data from 14 participants, including female entrepreneurs and professors of entrepreneurs. Collected data were thematically analyzed. The study's findings are concurrent with the previous literature, while it also provides some new insights relating to the catalysts for business success among female entrepreneurs. The study has found that networking, digital leadership, institutional supports, childcare centers, healthcare systems, and secure transportation are the missing catalysts for female entrepreneurship success in Bangladesh. The study concludes with implications for females’ entrepreneurial journey with regards to theory, practice, and future directions.

PurposeThis study examines the relationship between HR practices and millennial employee retention in the tourism industry in Bangladesh. It investigates the moderating role of the work environment in the relationship between HR practices and employee retention in the industry.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers used non-probability judgemental sampling to collect 384 questionnaires through a survey of millennial employees. Partial least square-based structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data.FindingsThe results reveal that HR practices included in this paper have significant relationships with millennial employee retention in the tourism industry in Bangladesh, except employee participation in decision-making. In addition, the results show that the work environment only moderates the relationship between two HR practices (compensation, training and development) and millennial employee retention.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that managers in tourism organisations must develop HR practices and foster a positive work environment to retain millennials.Originality/valueThis is the only study that examines the moderating role of the work environment on the relationship between five selected HR practices (training and development, job security, performance appraisal, employee participation, compensation) and millennial employee retention. Previous studies used fewer HR variables.

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Purpose Actions of incumbent politicians and firms’ managers during election years have been cited as sources of many problems that afflict economies and business entities. Given the controversies surrounding the impact of elections on firms’ soundness, this paper poses a question of whether banks should be averse to elections. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the impact of elections on the profitability and efficiency of banks. Design/methodology/approach Based on the authors’ knowledge, this is maiden analysis in this context for Ghana where relatively advanced appropriate GMM technique has been used on annual data from 2012 to 2016. Findings This study reveals that banks make higher returns in election years. Additionally, the authors report that government’s economic policies in election years are detrimental to management efficiency, though insignificant. Practical implications From an emerging economy perspective, this study would guide policymakers in designing policies that respond to, or minimize, the impact of elections on bank performance. The result of this analysis would also substantiate the market reaction to the changes in the economic, political and financial conditions. Originality/value This analysis suggests that firms’ performances in an election year depend on policies and political institutions in place. The authors argue that Ghana, with its exemplary democratic credentials and strong institutions, living alongside a high perception of corruption, is different. The contribution to literature is, first, by limiting this work to the banking sector of Ghana and, second, by incorporating the behaviors of incumbent governments and individuals in the regression specification model.