Given the strong religious background of India, it is quite surprising that the country is ranked as the most corrupt nation in the Asia Pacific region in 2017. This prompts the…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the strong religious background of India, it is quite surprising that the country is ranked as the most corrupt nation in the Asia Pacific region in 2017. This prompts the authors to investigate the role of religiosity in shaping an individual’s preference for ethical behavior. The purpose of this paper is to explore the conceptual linkage between religiosity and attitude towards business ethics (ATBE) and also assess the role of gender and profession in shaping it.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a cross-sectional survey on two divergent professional groups, management students and working professionals, this study explores the causal role of religiosity on ATBE using pre-validated religious commitment inventory (RCI-10) and ATBE through multiple regression. The difference between ATBE owing to the difference in gender and profession is investigated using independent sample t-test and Levene’s F-test. Multiple analysis of variance and multiple analysis of covariance are used to test the difference in ethical business philosophies.
Findings
The findings of the study indicate that gender and profession do not influence ATBE, though religious individuals have an ethical approach towards business issues. The significant causal relationship between composite religiosity and ATBE is documented. Further, assessing the predictor role of intra- and inter-personal religiosity on ATBE, the authors see that only intra-personal religiosity, which measures individual’s meta-physical belief is found as a significant predictor of ATBE.
Practical implications
Individuals with higher intrapersonal religiosity would exhibit superior ethical conduct. For a developing country like India, such conduct at both private and public organizations would lead to reduced scams or frauds, stimulating economic growth.
Originality/value
Religion plays a significant role in the life of Indian people but its meaning and understanding differ from person to person. Evidence supports that people with strong religious beliefs whether management students or working professionals, tend to have a strong ethical attitude towards different situations in decision-making.
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Rupali Misra Nigam, Sumita Srivastava and Devinder Kumar Banwet
The purpose of this paper is to review the insights provided by behavioral finance studies conducted in the last decade (2006-2015) examining behavioral variables in financial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the insights provided by behavioral finance studies conducted in the last decade (2006-2015) examining behavioral variables in financial decision making.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature review assesses 623 qualitative and quantitative studies published in various international refereed journals and identifies possible scope of future work.
Findings
The paper identifies stock market anomalies which contradict rational agents of modern portfolio theory at an aggregate level and behavioral mediators, influencing the financial decision making at an investor level. The paper also attempts to classify different dimensions of risk as professed by the investor.
Originality/value
The authors synthesize the contribution made by behavioral finance studies in extending the knowledge of financial market and investor behavior.
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Rupali Misra, Sumita Srivastava and Devinder Kumar Banwet
In spite of an intuitive appeal regarding association between personality and investment efficacy, there is a dearth of empirical support for the effects of theoretically…
Abstract
Purpose
In spite of an intuitive appeal regarding association between personality and investment efficacy, there is a dearth of empirical support for the effects of theoretically meaningful personality difference on intuitive and analytical ability, which further explains investment efficacy. The current study aims to explore this link using multi-method analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1, the experimental protocol captures intuitive responses of naïve investors in four different investment horizons and maps the findings with personality constituents of the Big Five (Costa and McCrae, 1992), while in Study 2, survey of active investors seeks their preference for intuition or deliberation (PID, Betsch, 2004) in decision-making, along with measuring their investment efficacy and analysing the results on the basis their personality Type A vs Type B.
Findings
Subjects with lower extraversion tend to have superior forecasting accuracy for gold and dollar, while those with lower neuroticism have tendency of superior forecasting for dollar and Nifty index in mid-term investment. Further, in Study 2, the results indicate superior intuitive ability, analytical ability and investment efficacy of Type B investors.
Originality/value
The study is unique in two ways. One, it explores the role of personality in ambidextrous decision-making framework, where rationality and intuition iteratively operate in a parallel, yet synchronous, fashion. Two, the study attempts to examine the role of personality in the unique socio-cultural context of an emerging economy such as India with Eastern religious traditions, having strong implications on the personal characteristics of the decision agents.
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Rupali Misra, Jaya Mamta Prosad, Shruti Ashok and Puneeta Goel
This paper aims to identify changes in individual investors’ preferences, prominent sentiments in the market, behavioural tendencies and biases demonstrated as a result of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify changes in individual investors’ preferences, prominent sentiments in the market, behavioural tendencies and biases demonstrated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
As the study is exploratory social research, the design is also structured as such. In total, 69 Securities and Exchange Board of India-registered investment advisors catering to investors of diverse profiles, experiences and locales are engaged through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The responses are categorised thematically using a data structure model.
Findings
Investors are guided by an inclination for safer and liquid asset classes and prefer fixed income securities. The authors observe various emotional reactions – inexperienced investors panic, experienced investors act maturely, while a few of both naïve and sophisticated investors are opportunistic contrarians. Lower valuations, ease of access to digital infrastructure for trading and social norms attract many first-time individual investors, causing a phenomenon identified as the “new investor boom”. Apart from the biases identified during the financial crisis, the authors also detect evidence of cognitive dissonance, bandwagon effect, fear-of-missing-out syndrome, disposition effect and others.
Practical implications
The paper also discusses some noticeable behavioural tendencies displayed by the individual investors and compiles helpful strategies to successfully navigate any such financial crisis.
Social implications
An individual investor is a least aware and most affected stakeholder in any crisis, so this study contributes newer insights to ensure their financial well-being.
Originality/value
The study’s originality lies in adopting a qualitative methodology that uses investment advisors’ professional experience to unveil the sub-structures of investor psychology and decision-making behaviour during COVID-19.
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Rupali Misra, Puneeta Goel and Sumita Srivastava
Even after appreciating multi-faceted merits of retail participation in stock markets and extensive efforts by policymakers and financial service industry to increase it, the…
Abstract
Purpose
Even after appreciating multi-faceted merits of retail participation in stock markets and extensive efforts by policymakers and financial service industry to increase it, the present low retail participation in Indian stock markets is cause of grave concern. The purpose of this paper is to identify plausible drivers and deterrents of prospective and current household individuals through a multi-stage qualitative enquiry.
Design/methodology/approach
Two qualitative studies are conducted. In Study 1, scholarship of stakeholders is engaged through participative diamond model to propose behavioural classification of retail investors based on two-parameter framework. In Study 2, behavioural substructures of retail investors that drive or deter investment intentions and actions are identified through in-depth interviews.
Findings
Financial self-efficacy, past experience (own or peer group), financial eco-system, operational literacy, higher charges by financial experts and low liquidity in the hands of the investors are some key factors that influence investment intension and action of individual investors. Though digital platforms have helped to overcome hurdles faced by an investor but its availability, awareness and ease of use still remain a concern.
Practical implications
The inductive findings of this study uncover some important take-aways for the financial service industry – improve operational literacy, digital awareness, ease of use and incorporate risk assessments in client portfolios – and for the policymakers – improve investment eco-system through digital availability, financial literacy workshops focussed on operations.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the initial attempts to adopt a multi-stage qualitative enquiry to propose behavioural classification of retail investors and uncover reasons that drive or deter individual investors’ intentions and actions in the context of Indian stock market. Moreover, this study provides necessary impetus to analyse and improve operational literacy (instead of financial literacy) and financial eco-system for higher retail participation.
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Sumita Srivastava and Rupali Misra
The purpose of this study is to identify the antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions of young women in India because currently Indian Government is emphasizing heavily on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions of young women in India because currently Indian Government is emphasizing heavily on women’s participation in the mainstream of economic activities in the country. This study focuses on entrepreneurial intentions as the most important stage of entrepreneurship process. Based on the theory of planned behavior, propounded by Ajzen (1991), it points out intentions as the most significant predictor of human behavior.¤
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses multi-method analysis for validation of the model proposed by Linan. In Study 1, an adapted version of Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ) (Linan and Chen, 2009) was administered to a group of 248 female students studying in under-graduate science, commerce, arts or management courses, who voluntarily participated in the survey. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using partial least square (PLS) path-modeling algorithm. In Study 2, qualitative study was conducted on 110 young female students using focus group interview technique. Framework analysis was used for the data analysis of the qualitative study.
Findings
This study confirms the role of social valuation as an important antecedent of entrepreneurial intentions among women. However, it also identifies that entrepreneurship education is also an important element that affects the entrepreneurial intentions of young women in India.
Originality/value
The study uses multi-method analysis for identifying entrepreneurial intentions among young women in India.
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Rupali Pardasani, Radha R. Sharma and Puneet Bindlish
The purpose of this paper is to seek to propose that spiritual traditions of India have enormous wisdom to provide a wholesome spiritual foundation to the modern day management…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to seek to propose that spiritual traditions of India have enormous wisdom to provide a wholesome spiritual foundation to the modern day management. It can also play a significant role in facilitating the dimensions of workplace spirituality as conceptualized by the western counterparts. The paper does not intend to reinvent the wheel but to present an integrated framework for facilitating workplace spirituality that incorporates the western and the Indian views.
Design/methodology/approach
For this study, the authors maintained an open approach. The authors first reviewed the extant literature on workplace spirituality to explore its dimensions. Thereafter, the authors searched for Indian spiritual traditions that can be suggested to have some similarity with the dimensions of workplace spirituality and can further help in facilitating those dimensions at the workplace.
Findings
The paper presents an integrated framework that suggests that doctrine of Karma Yoga, tradition of Loksangrah, Guna theory, daivi sampat and Pancha Kosha model can help in facilitating the five dimensions of workplace spirituality specified in the study.
Research limitations/implications
The study proposes five dimensions of workplace spirituality which is not an exhaustive list. These dimensions may be facilitated by a variety of Indian spiritual traditions but this study includes only five specific Indian traditions.
Originality/value
The authors have creatively integrated the eastern and the western knowledge to come up with a framework that enriches the concept of workplace spirituality facilitation.
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Ginni Chawla, Tripti Singh, Rupali Singh and Sonal Agarwal
Viewed in the context of liberalization, privatization and globalization, the socio-economic and legal environment facing the unions have changed, throwing them into clutches of…
Abstract
Purpose
Viewed in the context of liberalization, privatization and globalization, the socio-economic and legal environment facing the unions have changed, throwing them into clutches of adversity and destitution. The purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons (i.e. antecedents) behind workers’ participation in union activities (such as strikes, rallies, demonstrations) in today’s scenario, and to understand how these participation tactics influence workers’ performance (i.e. worker behavior effectiveness) at work.
Design/methodology/approach
A range of published sources is drawn on, including quantitative, survey based and qualitative, case-study and other evidence for building the conceptual review.
Findings
The investigation clearly indicates that contemporary challenges facing unions in the present scenario prompt industrial actions. Only specific and genuine grievances and justifiable demands motivate workers to form a strong emotional attachment to their unions and engage in union participation activities such as strike activity (Darlington, 2006; Bean and Stoney, 1986).
Originality/value
Contrary to the traditional view, which sights unions as detrimental to worker productivity, turnover, and attendance at work (via restrictive work rules, featherbedding and disruptive strikes or other adversarial tactics), the investigation, through extensive review of literature proposes that unions positively influence worker behavior at work. The model, however, requires empirical testing to validate the proposed relationships.
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Poonam Barhoi and Surbhi Dayal
The tea plantation industry is characterized by the large-scale deployment of cheap women laborers and gender-blind practices that make the social positions of women workers…
Abstract
Purpose
The tea plantation industry is characterized by the large-scale deployment of cheap women laborers and gender-blind practices that make the social positions of women workers vulnerable. This paper considers women temporary workers in tea gardens to study the exacerbated impact of Covid-19 on their lives. The impact of the pandemic on marginal tea garden women laborers has not received enough attention from researchers; hence, the authors have studied the gendered implications of the pandemic on Adivasi temporary women workers in tea gardens in India. “Adivasi” is an umbrella term to refer to all indigenous tribes in India.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative study with 26 in-depth interviews with women temporary workers who identify themselves as Adivasis. For the discussion, the authors have mainly borrowed from intersectionality and subalternity literature.
Findings
The analysis explored the intersectional experiences of the women temporary workers (1) as members of Tea Tribes who are compelled to continue working at tea gardens as wage laborers, (2) job insecurities at work due to their temporary worker status, (3) disadvantages faced by women workers for their gender identity and (4) the gendered impact of the pandemic on their lives.
Originality/value
This study has explored the gendered impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the lives of temporary women workers who belong to ethnic minority groups in the global south. The exploitation of labor rights in the tea industry during the pandemic has not been discussed enough by researchers earlier.
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Gaurav Deep Rai and Saurabh Verma
Principally, this study aims to test a conceptual framework of the moderating influence of fear of COVID-19 on the following hypothesized relationships (1) quality of work life…
Abstract
Purpose
Principally, this study aims to test a conceptual framework of the moderating influence of fear of COVID-19 on the following hypothesized relationships (1) quality of work life and bankers' commitment, (2) the mediating spillover effect of job satisfaction in the quality of work life (QWL) and affective commitment relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative cross-sectional research design is adopted on 318 bankers chosen from four prominent Indian cities. The mediation model is tested through SPSS, PROCESS macro, and AMOS. Conditional process modeling is also administered to test the moderating effect of fear of COVID-19.
Findings
The results suggest that the positive effect of QWL on commitment is completely mediated through job satisfaction. Further, the fear induced by COVID-19 negatively moderated the positive direct relation of QWL with commitment and the positive mediating spillover effect of job satisfaction.
Originality/value
The present research is virtually the first to introduce fear of COVID-19 as a psychological construct, to test a moderated mediation model for implications to organizational behavior and human psychology theory and practice. In coalescence of the need satisfaction, spillover, and COR theories, the authors postulate that as spillover between the domains of an individual's life (work, social, financial, personal, and overall life satisfaction) occurs, such effect is calibrated (augmented or attenuated) by the degree of risk/threat/depletion of their resources in the quest for attaining higher valued resources (overall life satisfaction). The moderated mediation mechanism is suggested for replication in other avenues for greater generalizability.