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The determinants of investors’ sentiment based on secondary stock market proxies in many empirical studies are reported. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study undertakes investor sentiment drivers developed from primary survey measures by constructing an investor sentiment index (ISI) in relation to market drivers to date. This study aims to fill this research gap by first developing the ISI for the Indian retail investors and then examining which of the stock market drivers impacts such sentiment.

The ISI is constructed using the mean scores of eight statements as formulated based on popular direct investor sentiment surveys undertaken across the world. Then, we use the multiple regression approach overall and for top 33.33% (high-sentiment) and bottom 33.33% (low-sentiment) investors based on the responses of 576 respondents on 18 statements (proxying eight study hypotheses) collected in 2016. Moreover, the demography-based classification based investors’ sentiment is examined to make our results more robust and in-depth.

On an overall basis, the IPO activities/issues and information certainty, trading volume and momentum and institutional investors’ investment activities market drivers significantly and positively impact retail investors is examined. However, only IPO activities/issues and information certainty influences both high- and low-sentiment investors. It is intriguing to report that nature of the stock markets show conflicting results for high- (negative significant) and low- (positive significant) sentiment investors.

The construction of the ISI from primary survey measure is for the first time in Indian context in relation to investigating the stock market drivers influential to retail investors’ sentiment. In addition, hypothesized market drivers are also unique, each representing different fundamental and technical characteristics associated with the Indian market.

The authors examine if CEO education level and quality impacts firm's corporate social performance (CSP). Additionally, the authors investigate whether other CEO characteristics such as age, busyness, compensation and firm's governance quality moderate the relationship between CEO education and CSP.

The authors use panel regression framework amid set of controls for their analysis. The authors additionally use two-stage least squares regression (2SLS) for robustness tests.

The authors show that CEOs with a post-graduate business degree (PGBUS) impact firm's CSP positively, whereas other educational degree directly do not influence CSP. However, CEO's age, busyness, compensation and firm's governance quality are found negatively moderating such relationship. The results survive set of robustness tests, and results are consistent the roles of upper echelons in Indian firms' strategic behaviors.

The results seek for an integration of more ethics and social responsibility discussions in the different education levels including undergraduate degree in India to help engender a stronger sense of moral consciousness toward firms' stakeholders as the Indian economy continues to develop.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cross-impact of leverage and performance for firms operating in the developed and frontier bank-based economies.

This study uses annual panel data for a sample of 400 firms over a period of 27 years from 1990 to 2016. The sample sample firms consist of developed, Germany, France and Japan, and frontier including Argentina and Sri Lanka bank-based economies firms. The authors employ a simultaneous equation modeling consisting of two equations estimated using the two-stage least squares procedure to examine the cross-relationships between leverage and performance after controlling for other firm-level variables like size, growth and liquidity.

The empirical results are presented in two sets. First, in the case of firms in the developed bank-based sample, the authors find a negative debt-to-performance relationship and a negative performance-to-debt relationship. This inconsistent negative debt–performance relationship implies that firms operating in these economies use debt beyond a threshold limit, which, in turn, increases agency issues between the managers and debt-holders, thereby influencing firm performance adversely. Second, for frontier economies firms, the authors find a positive debt-to-performance relationship in line with the “trade-off theory.” Furthermore, the authors find a negative performance-to-debt relationship for both sub-samples in line with the “pecking-order theory.”

The study is distinct from earlier empirical studies and contributes largely to the existing literature. First, it emphasizes whether financial leverage influences firm performance in bank-based economies as firms operating in such systems are exposed directly to the strict regulatory environment. Second, it investigates whether any reverse relationship emanating from firm performance to capital structure holds for firms of these countries. This issue, to the best of author knowledge, is unanswered in previous research, more specifically for developed and frontier bank-based economies. Moreover, the results are relevant, as firm managers, analysts and policymakers must consider the importance of such cross-debt-performance relationships, while determining the optimal capital structure, in the bank-based economies.

The authors investigate whether community-based CEO's attributes, particularly educational attainment, regional and religious affiliation, are direct antecedents of performance in family-controlled Indian firms. The authors further examine whether CEO's education moderates the linkage of firm performance with regional and religious affiliation.

The authors employ pooled Ordinary Least Square with fixed effects and Fama-Macbeth regression techniques to test their hypotheses.

The results reveal that firms with post-graduate CEOs in business and firms with doctorate CEOs, significantly outperform peer firms. The authors also find that CEOs from northern India outperform peer CEOs consistently which emanates from the risk-taking differentials of CEO's across regions. Hindu CEOs also deliver superior return on assets. However, CEO's educational attainment moderates the influence of regional and religious affiliations.

This study is unique as it contributes on the role of regional affiliation of top executives in determining performance which almost remains unexplored in existing literature.

The determinants of investor sentiment based on stock market proxies are found in numbers in empirical studies. However, investor sentiment antecedents developed from primary survey measures by constructing an investor sentiment index (ISI) are not done till date. The purpose of this paper is to fill this research gap by first developing an ISI for the Indian retail investors and then examining the investor-specific, stock market-specific, macroeconomic and policy-specific factors’ individual impact on the investor sentiment.

First, the authors develop the ISI by using the mean scores of six statements as formulated based on popular direct investor sentiment surveys undertaken throughout the world. Then, the authors employ the structural equation modeling approach on the responses of 576 respondents on 40 statements (representing the index and four study hypotheses) collected in 2016 across the country.

The results show that investor- and stock market-specific factors are the major antecedents of investor sentiment for these investors. However, interestingly macroeconomic fundamentals and policy-specific factors have no role to play in driving their sentiment to invest in the stock market.

The major implication of the results is that the Indian retail investors are showing a mixed approach of Bayesian and behavioral finance decision making. So, these implications can guide the investment consultants, regulators, other stakeholders in markets and overwhelmingly the retail investors to introspect their investment decision making across time horizons.

The formulation of ISI in an emerging market context and thereafter examining possible antecedents to influence retail investors in their investment decision making are not done till date. So, the study is unique in its research issue and findings and will have significant implication for the retail investors at least in emerging market contexts.

Using a sample of 1,517 multinational enterprises (MNEs) from 25 countries, this study aims to examine whether firm’s level of internationalization has a deterministic role for their engagement with sustainable development goals (SDGs). Additionally, this study aims to investigate the country- and industry-specific moderation effects on the relationship.

This study employs negative binomial regression model along with the fixed effects for industry and time in the empirical estimation.

This study shows that MNEs’ internationalization is associated with their higher engagement in SDGs. This is owing to the pressures MNEs face from diverse stakeholders coupled with the need to build local legitimacy to overcome the liability of foreignness. The country-level results of this study suggest that this positive relation is stronger in countries with weak legal environment, countries with weak investor protection and in countries with higher SDG index scores. However, the industry-level results of this study indicate that the positive relation between MNEs internationalization and their SDG engagement are weaker in industries facing more competition and industries exposed to negative externalities. The results survive to controls for factors specific to firm and industry.

This study is one of the early studies which empirically examine the role of MNE internationalization and SDG engagement. Also, the findings of this study improve the understanding on country-specific and industry-specific challenges in implementing SDGs.

Nanotechnology as an emerging area if adequately harnessed could revolutionise food packaging and food processing industry worldwide. Although several benefits of nano-materials or particles in food packaging have been suggested, potential risks and health hazards of nano-materials or particles are possible as a result of migration of their particles into food materials. The purpose of this review therefore assessed nanotechnology and its applications in food packaging, consumer acceptability of nano-packaged foods and potential hazards and safety issues in nano-packaged foods.

This review takes a critical assessment of previous literature on nanotechnology and its impact on food packaging, consumer health and safety.

Applications of nanotechnology in food packaging could be divided into three main divisions: improved packaging, which involves mixing nano-materials into polymers matrix to improve temperature, humidity and gas barrier resistance of the packaging materials. Active packaging deals with direct interaction between nano-materials used for packaging and the food to protect it as anti-microbial or oxygen or ultra violet scavengers. Smart packaging could be used to sense biochemical or microbial changes in foods, as well as a tracker for food safety, to prevent food counterfeit and adulteration. The review also discussed bio-based food packaging which is biodegradable. Bio-based packaging could serve as veritable alternative to conventional packaging which is non-degradable plastic polymers which are not environmental friendly and could pose a threat to the environment. However, bio-based packaging could reduce material waste, elongate shelf life and enhance food quality. However, several challenges are envisaged in the use of nano-materials in food packaging due to knowledge gaps, possible interaction with food products and possible health risks that could result from the nano-materials used for food packaging.

The increase in growth and utilisation of nanotechnology signifies wide use of nano-materials especially in the food sector with arrays of potential benefits in the areas of food safety and quality, micronutrients and bioactive ingredients delivery, food processing and in packaging Active studies are being carried out to develop innovative packages such as smart, intelligent and active food packaging to enhance effective and efficient packaging, as well as balanced environmental issues. This review looks at the future of nano-packaged foods vis-à-vis the roles played by stakeholders such as governments, regulatory agencies and manufacturers in looking into consumer health and safety issues related to the application of nano-materials in food packaging.

Health fitness has become a major issue in Malaysia since the population of overweight and obesity is becoming critical. One of the ways to achieve optimum health fitness is by consistently consuming balanced diet meals. Hence, this paper aims to focus on the willingness of society to purchase functional foods as an alternative for their daily meals to stay fit.

The research framework was developed based on a combination of findings by other research scholars within a similar field. The willingness to purchase functional foods to stay fit is positioned as the dependent variable, while lifestyle adaptation, social media influence and food consumption awareness are placed as the independent variables. Quantitative research was conducted by collecting primary data from respondents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and regression analyses.

The willingness to purchase functional foods to stay fit is dependent on the lifestyle adaptation, social media influence and food consumption awareness.

Although the current market for functional foods in Malaysia is still at a small scale, the market for this industry seems very promising. Nevertheless, greater awareness on functional food is still needed.

Functional food producers should make an effort to gain the untapped market by focussing on the lifestyle adaptation, social media influence and food consumption awareness.

This research is a breakthrough to discover the willingness of Malaysians to purchase functional food to stay fit, which is influenced by lifestyle adaptation, social media and food consumption awareness.

This study aims to investigate the efficacy of Ag@GO/Na₂SiO₃ nanocomposite in eliminating As from aqueous solutions. Employing response surface methodology, the research systematically examines the adsorption process.

Various experimental parameters including sample pH, contact time, As concentration and adsorbent dosage are optimized to enhance the As removal process.

Under optimized conditions, the initial As concentration, contact time, pH and adsorbent dosage are determined to be 32 ppm, 50 mins, 6.5 and 0.4 grams, respectively. While the projected removal of As stands at 97.6% under these conditions, practical application achieves a 93% removal rate. Pareto analysis identifies the order of significance among factors as follows: adsorbent dosage > contact time > pH > As concentration.

This study highlights the potential Ag@GO/Na₂SiO₃ as a promising adsorbent for efficiently removing industrial As from aqueous solutions, and it is likely to have a good sufficiency in the filtration of water and wastewater treatment plans to remove some chemical pollution, including paints and heavy metals.

The simplicity of the nanocomposite preparation method without the need for advanced equipment and the cheapness of the raw materials and its potential ability to remove As are the prominent advantages of this research.

This study aims to examine the effects of various physical and chemical pre-treatments on antioxidant properties of tree bean (Parkia roxburghii G. Don) in combination with storage conditions.

The whole pods and seeds of tree bean were treated with gamma rays (γ-rays), sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and stored at room temperature (RT, 25°C) for 30 days. The physical and chemical pre-treated seeds and pods were compared with the same stored at RT and refrigerated storage at 4°C and −20°C. During storage, physical (moisture content) and antioxidants like total phenolics, ascorbate content, reduced glutathione, total flavonoids, along with free radical scavenging activities (FRSA) were measured.

Chemical pre-treatments with NaOCl, ClO₂ and H₂O₂ significantly accelerated (p = 0.05) the total phenolics (1.9 mg/g FW in seeds and 2.4 mg/g FW in pods), flavonoids content (0.3 mg/g FW each in seeds and pods) and ABTS activities (73.3 per cent in seeds and 92.3 per cent in pods) at 30 days of storage. A significant decrease (p = 0.05) in ascorbate content (6.1 mg/g FW in seeds and 3.5 mg/g FW in pods), reduced glutathione (5.1 mg/g FW in seeds and 3.7 mg/g FW in pods), FRAP (0.3 mg equi Fe/g FW in seeds and 0.4 mg equi Fe/g FW in pods) and reducing power (1.8 mg/g FW in seeds and 3.7 mg/g FW in pods) was observed under all the treatments at 30 days of storage. However, DPPH increased under γ-irradiation and decreased under chemical pre-treatments, storage at RT and refrigerated storage. The overall result showed that pre-treatment of H₂O₂ at 10-20 mM maintains antioxidants and radical scavenging activities in tree bean during storage.

The application of H₂O₂ at 10-20 mM prior to storage of tree bean maintains the physical, antioxidant properties and FRSA in tree bean seeds and pods as compared to natural ambient conditions. Hence, this technique will help in improving the keeping quality of this legume and avoid spoilage after harvest for an extended period.