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Machine learning (ML), and deep learning in particular, is gaining traction across a myriad of real-life applications. Portfolio management is no exception. This paper provides a systematic literature review of deep learning applications for portfolio management. The findings are likely to be valuable for industry practitioners and researchers alike, experimenting with novel portfolio management approaches and furthering investment management practice.

This review follows the guidance and methodology of Linnenluecke et al. (2020), Massaro et al. (2016) and Fisch and Block (2018) to first identify relevant literature based on an appropriately developed search phrase, filter the resultant set of publications and present descriptive and analytical findings of the research itself and its metadata.

The authors find a strong dominance of reinforcement learning algorithms applied to the field, given their through-time portfolio management capabilities. Other well-known deep learning models, such as convolutional neural network (CNN) and recurrent neural network (RNN) and its derivatives, have shown to be well-suited for time-series forecasting. Most recently, the number of papers published in the field has been increasing, potentially driven by computational advances, hardware accessibility and data availability. The review shows several promising applications and identifies future research opportunities, including better balance on the risk-reward spectrum, novel ways to reduce data dimensionality and pre-process the inputs, stronger focus on direct weights generation, novel deep learning architectures and consistent data choices.

Several systematic reviews have been conducted with a broader focus of ML applications in finance. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first review to focus on deep learning architectures and their applications in the investment portfolio management problem. The review also presents a novel universal taxonomy of models used.

This paper aims to provide a living tribute to the leading autoethnographer, Alec Grant.

Alec provided Jerome with a list of names of people he might approach to write a tribute on his behalf.

The accounts describe the influence that Alec has had both as an educator and as a trusted colleague for the people approached.

While this is a living tribute, it is about one man and could, therefore, be described as a case study. Some people wonder what can be learned from a single case study. Read on and find out.

Alec has carved out a path for himself. In many senses, he chose “The Road Less Travelled”. He has never shied away from challenging “The System” and defending the rights of the marginalized and socially excluded. It is not a road for the faint-hearted.

For systems to change, radical thinkers need to show the way. “Change keeps us safe” (Stuart Bell).

Alec was a well-known and highly respected cognitive behavioural academic practitioner and the author of key textbooks in the field. He then decided to reinvent himself as an autoethnographer. This has brought him into contact with a much more diverse group of people. It has also brought him home to himself.

The paper aims to explore the model of circular economy for promotion of principles of social inclusion, empathetic governance, and economic sustainability environmental resilience by examining the research gap on how to employ Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) framework, principles of biomimicry and reimagining an economic model of resourcefulness.

The paper is a descriptive study based on review of literature. To analyse the research gaps, paper employs bibliometric research technique, well-accepted meta-analytical research of literature to find overlapping factors of relevance by examining most-cited authors, papers, as well as co-citation patterns (Kim, 2008). The method analyses the published data texts, information like authorship, citations, keywords, and illustrating linkages between and among articles about certain research topic (Fetscherin, 2012).

Data were sourced from collection archival database of JSTOR, Web of Science and J-Gate till December 2022, by searching with following string – “Circular Economy,” “ESG (Environment, Social and Governance),” “Biomimicry,” “Circular Economy and ESG,” “Circular Economy and Biomimicry,” “Circular Economy and Resourcefulness.” The selection of said string of words was based on the literature review, overlaps and the research questions formulated. The findings reflect common factors of overlaps and its coherence in domain of policy formulation for the circular economy.

The research approach needs to be tested for practical application with stakeholders which includes individual-community for necessary behavioural change/acceptance, policy measures, innovations for scalability and the new business models so that the changes become an integral part of DNA of new economic model.

Emphasis on reimagined alliance between the environment, economy, and society to achieve the triple bottom line for a sustainable future. In doing so mitigate the impact on nature, generate livelihood opportunities and institute a green industry with an emphasis on circularity by incorporating the principles of ESG, biomimicry and resourcefulness.

The paper addresses the developing frontier of circular economy by identifying and mapping the factors of overlap with principles of ESG and biomimicry with circular economy for a future which is sustainable and resourceful. It attempts to advance the domain of knowledge with suggestion for implementable policy initiative arising from the study.

Housing is one of the basic necessities of humankind for survival and purchasing a home is often a substantial milestone. Individuals exhibit complex behaviour influenced by various factors while making decisions related to the purchase of residential properties. While most of the earlier studies have focused on understanding the purchasing behaviour of home buyers’ in developed countries, the research is limited on this topic in developing countries such as India. The booming information technology industry has rapidly increased the demand for residential properties among the migrant population in Bengaluru, India’s largest technology hub. Real estate developers strive to meet the requirements of prospective customers through innovative ways but face challenges in a competitive market.

It is essential to understand the factors influencing home buyers’ purchase attitudes for increasing property sales. However, a lack of research on this subject is identified in the emerging city of Bengaluru. This study aims to analyse the determinants of home buying decisions for potential investors in Bengaluru through structural equation modelling to provide insights for the real estate industry to construct houses as per their customers’ needs.

It was found that housing amenities, financial aspects, location conveniences and marketing services significantly influenced home buyers’ purchase decisions, whereas housing features do not.

The findings of this study offer valuable insights for governmental bodies to implement appropriate policies and for builders to design properties with features that cater to the target population, thereby promoting sustainable growth in the real estate industry.

The study aimed to assess whether transgender women, who were students at a university in London, England, faced hiring discrimination when seeking employment.

Three comparable university classmates—a cisgender woman, a cisgender man and a transgender woman—studying Engineering applied to the same job openings. Similarly, another set of three university classmates—a cisgender woman, a cisgender man and a transgender woman—studying Social Work applied to the same job openings. The degree of discrimination was quantified by calculating the difference in the number of interview invitations received by each group.

When three comparable university classmates apply for the same job openings, the rate of interview invitations differs based on gender identity. For cisgender women, the invitation rate is 31.3%, while for cisgender men, it stands at 35.1%. However, for transgender women, the rate drops significantly to 10.4%. Additionally, transgender women face further challenges in male-dominated sectors (STEM), where their chance of being invited for a job interview is even lower compared to those in female-dominated sectors, with a reduction of 8.7 percentage points. The study also reveals that firms with written equality policies on gender identity diversity show a 25.7 percentage point increase in invitation rates for transgender women compared to firms without such policies. Furthermore, the research highlights that negative beliefs among job recruiters regarding various aspects of transgender women, including their gender identity status, disclosure, job performance, vocational relationships and turnover, contribute to their exclusion from job interviews. Moreover, for transgender women who do receive interview invitations, these tend to be for lower-paid jobs compared to those received by cisgender women (by 20%) and cisgender men (by 21.3%). This wage sorting into lower-paid vacancies suggests a penalty in terms of lower returns on education, which could drive wage and income differences.

Transgender women received a higher number of job interview invitations when firms had written equality policies on gender identity diversity. This outcome can help policymakers identify actions to reduce the exclusion of transgender people from the labour market.

The study gathers information from job recruiters to quantify the roots of hiring discrimination against transgender women. It also enables an examination of whether workplaces' written equality policies on gender identity diversity are related to transgender women’s invitations to job interviews.

This study aims to examine the relationship between climate change disclosure performance (CCDP) and audit pricing. The moderating effect of corporate governance characteristics on that relationship is also investigated.

Using a sample of top 300 Australian Securities Exchange listed non-financial firms over the period 2008–2019, this study investigates the association between CCDP and audit fees. The findings are robust to a difference-in-difference test thereby alleviating potential endogeneity concerns.

CCDP is found to be significantly positively related to external auditor fees.

The findings show some important implications for firm management, regulators, investors and auditors. This study presents empirical evidence that climate change, as a factor of external risk, influences audit fees.

Firms with governance structures characterized by larger more independent boards, larger audit committees and audit committees with a higher level of independence significantly moderate the relationship between CCDP and audit fees.

Investors’ demand for firm transparency and disclosure of information regarding the risks of climate change, effects and opportunities has increased significantly over the past decade, as these factors could have a significant effect on valuation and investment decisions.

Importantly, stakeholders need to be aware of the costs of climate change, the quantification of climate change impacts and how firms address climate change in their business risk management processes. This study quantifies the impact of CCDP on auditor risk assessments via audit fees.

The study assessed the role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) in the performance of graduate-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, the paper focused on how graduate owners’ confidence in identifying and commercializing new business opportunities and create new commodities according to the market demand influences both, the financial and non-financial performance of graduate-owned SMEs.

The study employed a cross-sectional survey design, in which 228 SME graduate owners majored in entrepreneurship were involved through online structured questionnaires. The relationship between the variables was determined by using partial least squares structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results indicate that entrepreneurial self-efficacy of graduate SME owners influence the financial and non-financial performance of their SMEs. Specifically, financial performance values have a ß-value of 0.576 and a p-value of <0.0001, non-financial performance values have a ß-value of 0.275 and a p-value of <0.0001.

In order to improve the performance of graduate-owned SMEs, universities should strive to equip graduates with self-confidence, which will enable them to utilize their entrepreneurial competences acquired through the entrepreneurship course programs. This will enable them to tackle business environmental challenges and be able to run successful businesses.

The results of this study extend the use of the self-efficacy theory in explaining the performance of graduate-owned SMEs in Tanzanian. Further, the study focused on ESE as a specific domain developed from entrepreneurship learning for entrepreneurial outcomes. Therefore, the study engaged graduate entrepreneurs who majored in entrepreneurship, which has not been the focus in most studies.