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There has been a burgeoning interest in exploring the impact of uncertainty factors on share returns. However, studies on the influence of global financial uncertainties on emerging market sectoral indices are scarce. Thus, there is a need to have a thorough investigation of the connection between global financial uncertainties and emerging market sectoral indices. To fill this gap, using the theoretical framework of international portfolio diversification (IPD) and utilizing data from 2008 to 2021, this study examines the spillover connection between global uncertainty indices (GUIs) and leading sectoral indices of 28 emerging markets.

The authors employ the quantile spillover-based connectedness approach and minimum connectedness portfolio approach to explore the dynamic connectedness among sectoral indices and global uncertainty indices (GUIs) as well as portfolio implication.

The study found high connectedness among all indices, especially at higher and lower quantiles. Among GUIs, the authors find that stock market volatility (VIX) and oil volatility index (OVX) are strongly interconnected with all leading emerging markets' sectoral indices. Among sectoral indices, the linkage between the financial (F-Index), information technology (IT-Index), and consumer discretionary (CD-Index) sectors shows moderate interconnectedness. In contrast, the communication services (CS-Index) sector has low interconnectedness with the system. In terms of spillover effects, the authors find EVZ, OVX, and the IT sectors to be net recipients for the entire period. The authors also explored portfolio diversification benefits by employing a minimum connectedness portfolio approach. The cumulative returns' findings show a slight decline in the portfolio's value after 2010; during 2012, the pattern remained stable; from 2014 to 2020, the portfolio performed negatively, that is, underperformance due to different events in that period, including COVID-19. The Consumer Discretionary sector is found to be significant because of having the largest weight, 51%, in the portfolio during the study period.

The study suggests that investors should invest in the communication services sector as it is the least connected. However, the connectedness increases during COVID-19, which implies that it may be difficult for investors to benefit from IPD in a crisis period. Hence, to obtain the benefits from IPD, the evidence suggests that investors need to consider Consumer Discretionary sector while considering assets for investment.

The study's uniqueness is that the authors have investigated spillover between GUIs and 28 emerging markets sectoral indices by employing a quantile spillover-based connectedness approach and minimum connectedness portfolio approach with a special focus on portfolio implication.

Cryptocurrencies, which have been popular since 2009, raise concerns among investors, researchers and professionals. Amid global economic, financial and health crises, uncertainty has surged, leading investors to seek risk reduction and portfolio diversification. While some critique conventional fiat-based cryptocurrencies, others propose asset-backed alternatives. However, the impact of Shari’ah law-based cryptocurrencies on equity market returns remains largely unexplored in existing literature. This study aims to investigate the lead/lag relationship of selected Islamic and conventional cryptocurrencies from ASEAN and global perspectives.

The authors collected daily data of Bitcoin, Ethereum, X8X (Islamic cryptocurrency), Cardano (Islamic cryptocurrency), S&P500, Volatility Index, Economic Policy uncertainty and FTSE Asean Index (from the 4th of November 2019 to the 1st of July 2022) to reveal empirical results through Continuous Wavelet Transform and Correlation Heatmap with Dendrogram.

The findings indicate that Bitcoin offers a diversification opportunity for FTSE ASEAN investors for the long-term horizon while S&P500 investors will benefit from short-term investment. On the other hand, Ethereum provides better investment opportunities for both indices in the short run compared to long run. Cardano and X8X offer better investment opportunities in the long run for S&P500 and FTSE ASEAN investors. Interestingly, to check the robustness, the authors used correlation Heatmap based on Dendrogram which provided almost similar results.

This study contributes fresh insights to the existing literature concerning cryptocurrency due to the inconclusive findings of past studies, investors are curious to know the impact of cryptocurrency on stock market return from a global perspective which is extensively overlooked, and whether there is any difference between Islamic and conventional cryptocurrency. Therefore, by investigating the abovementioned timely demand issue, this study substantially contributes to the body of cryptocurrency literature.

This paper aims to explore sociocultural factors as determinants of entrepreneurial emergence and to examine their relative influence (i.e. the influence of each factor) on entrepreneurial emergence.

A survey design with a questionnaire instrument administered to 250 business owners selected randomly from a cross section of businesses was used. The data were analyzed using the descriptive method, pairwise comparison, Kendall’s W test and Mean Rank Statistics.

This study showed that the level of influence of sociocultural factors on the decision to own a business by an individual in Africa varies by factor. Family background is the factor that has the highest influence, whereas religious values has the least influence. Altogether, nine most significant factors influence the choice of business ownership in Nigeria and in Africa generally. These include family background, unemployment, family values, inadequate income, job displacement, stock of social capital, role models, social networks and lack of social security, in that order.

Although some scholars may have explored sociocultural factors as determinants of entrepreneurial emergence, there is no study on their relative influence on entrepreneurial emergence, at least not in the context of Africa or Nigeria in particular. This study extends previous studies by examining the relative influence of the factors, using Nigeria as a reference for Africa. A focus on their relative influence is a new perspective on the study of sociocultural factors as determinants of entrepreneurial emergence.