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Banks play a vital role in the economy. Investigating their competitive environment is crucial to ensuring economic stability and development. The FinTech disruption has risks and opportunities for incumbent banks, and it can be valuable to investigate its effects on banking performance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess whether investment in FinTech is associated with better performance of Indian banks during 2012–2018.

To do this, a sample of Indian banks was investigated between 2012 and 2018 using k-means and hierarchical cluster analysis, ANOVA, and pairwise comparison tests.

Results of the analysis strongly suggest that investment in FinTech is associated with better banking performance. Higher FinTech investments, represented by mobile transaction volume, are associated with higher efficiency scores and accounting-based performance. In particular, banks that invest in FinTech and have relatively low non-performing loans have a 7.7% higher Return on Employment (ROE) than banks with exceptionally low FinTech use and no significant investment in smart branches.

Therefore, it can be recommended that Indian banks adopt a forward-looking strategic approach when making investment decisions regarding new technologies. Failing to adapt to the FinTech disruption may result in poor value creation prospects in the long run.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that analyses. We are not aware of any similar study on whether investment in FinTech is associated with better performance of the Indian banks during 2012–2018.

As avatars are increasingly becoming popular, both scholars and businesses are acknowledging the vast potential that avatars hold for the future. Despite this growing interest in avatars, no review articles have attempted to provide a comprehensive overview of avatar literature and its implications for consumers. The present review addresses this gap using the combination of descriptive analysis (for corpus performance), bibliometric analysis (for corpus performance and emerging themes), and thematic analysis (for emerging themes and implications as well as future research opportunities). We conducted a review of 47 Scopus-indexed articles from 34 journals between year 2006 and 2023. By examining the corpus performance of avatar literature, the emerging themes, and future research opportunities, this review offers scholars a comprehensive overview of the subject matter.

By examining the impact of the day of the week during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic recession, it is possible to provide insights into market behaviour during volatile times that can be furnished to investors and policymakers for informed decisions.

This study investigates the day-of-the-week effect on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), with particular emphasis on the variations in this effect during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis.

The study applies the Exponential Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model, allowing for the evaluation of asymmetric responses to positive and negative shocks. The data span from January 2006 to December 2022 and are segmented into different periods: the entire sample, war and post-war periods, the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis period, each reflecting distinct market conditions.

The study uncovers a significant day-of-the-week effect on the CSE. Mondays and Tuesdays typically show a negative effect, while Thursdays and Fridays display a positive impact. However, this pattern shifts notably during the COVID-19 pandemic, with all weekdays exhibiting significant positive impact, and varies further across different waves of the pandemic. The economic crisis period also shows unique weekday effects, particularly before and after an important political event.

In today's advanced economy, there is a broader presence of information revolution, such as artificial intelligence (AI). AI primarily drives modern banking, leading to innovative banking channels, services and solutions disruptions. Thus, this chapter intends to determine AI's place in contemporary banking and stock market trading.

Stock market forecasting is hampered by the inherently noisy environments and significant volatility surrounding market trends. There needs to be more research on the mantle of AI in revolutionising banking and stock market trading. Attempting to bridge this gap, the present research study looks at the function of AI in banking and stock market trading.

The researchers have synthesised the literature pool. They undertook a systematic review and meta-synthesis method by identifying the major themes and a systematic literature review aided in the critical analysis, synthesis and mapping of the body of existing material.

The study's conclusions demonstrated the efficacy of AI, which has played a robust role in banking and finance by reducing risk and operational costs, enabling better customer experience, improving regulatory complaints and fraud detection and improving credit and loan decisions. AI has revolutionised stock market trading by forecasting future prices or trends in financial assets, optimising financial portfolios and analysing news or social media comments on the assets or firms.

AI's debut in banking and finance has brought sea changes in banking and stock market trading. AI in the banking industry and capital market can provide timely and apt information to its customers and customise the products as per their requirements.

The popularity of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has been increasing in recent years. Thus, the study uses bibliometric analysis to examine the development of research on cryptocurrency and blockchain trends.

The very few researchers analyse the bibliometric trends in blockchain and cryptocurrency research to classify the articles according to research methodology and journal quality. Further, a complete study of citations or co-citations based on co-occurrence analysis needs to be added to the bibliometric research. Therefore, it is required to study this topic in detail.

The VOSviewer software and Scopus analysis are used to conduct a bibliometric study on the biographies of articles published on cryptocurrency and blockchain trends. A total of 1,186 papers from the Scopus database are retrieved to analyse the trends in this field of research.

The study examines the total citations, papers with the most citations, authors and journals, prominent institutions and country contributions. In addition to listing the top 10 most significant articles with their years of publication and total citations, this study provides insight into the top 10 prominent journals of cryptocurrency and blockchain trends. Additionally, during the past 15 years, the United States and the United Kingdom have received the most citations and publications on cryptocurrencies and blockchain trends. This study also identifies and critically investigates the top 10 journals in the specialised field with the highest Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) and citation scores.

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) can be a valuable tourism asset for both government and local communities. Due to the fragmented nature of ICH data, it becomes difficult for the researchers to comprehend its impact on the psychology of the interacting tourists. Prior research has shown that traditional crafts and craftsmanship as ICH could be used to promote a place. However, ICH has scarcely been considered as a place branding element. The study apprehends that branding places with ICH will not only upscale the place in terms of ethno-cultural significance but also will integrate the visiting population with the ICH and thereby ensure knowledge propagation and preservation and reinforce the cultural roots. The study proposes a reflective brand model in the context of ICH of Natungram, a village known for its legacy of craftsmanship of wooden dolls. The study used crossover analysis framework (CAF), as a part of causal mixed-method research design, to inquire into the complex psyche of the tourists while interacting with the ICH and the artisans at Natungram. Three distinct brand elements were identified through a qualitative thematic content analysis, namely subjective vitality, authentic experience, and experiential quality. The brand model was tested for its impact on the behavioral pattern of the tourists by using appropriate quantitative method. The results confirmed both direct and partially mediated effects of the brand elements on the tourist behavior. In future, the model could be extrapolated spatiotemporally for places of ICH significance.

Limited research investigates the travel behavior of the retired adult population before retirement and how it changes after retirement. Currently, most of the travel research on the retired population explores their current travel patterns in retirement. Increased research on travel activity before retirement would allow managers in the tourism industry to better adapt and anticipate the changing needs and demographics of seniors, notably, the various ways this growing population manages travel and specific barriers or concerns they face. The authors examined the changes to the travel patterns – defined as travel frequency, mode of transportation, and geographic location/s (domestic or international) – of those retired traveling before and after retirement. Since retirement is a time of major life change, the authors analyzed how this event impacts travel behavior. This research identified barriers these Baby Boomers and those who are retired experience while traveling, including health, social activities, and financial status, which may impact their travel, the degree to which their travel behavior is affected, and specific environmental and personal factors impacting their travel patterns. This chapter will explore the barriers and motivations to travel for the retired population. Results show that before retirement seniors had less time to travel, obligations at home, and were not interested in as many destinations. After retirement, health barriers negatively impacted an individual’s travel frequency and they were also more concerned about safety while traveling and accessibility to the destinations. After retirement, financial barriers impacted an individual’s domestic travel frequency, with those having lower incomes traveling less. Accessibility to the destination facility and transportation options were major barriers to traveling internationally. Before and after retirement, there was a decrease of 10 percent in international travel.