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Passive investing has established itself as the dominant force in the world of professionally managed assets, surpassing the concept of index funds. Its meteoric rise is fueled by investors’ preference for its dual benefits of strong diversification and low cost. A comprehensive study of the economic model, addressed areas and market structure has not yet been conducted, despite the existence of numerous studies on more specific topics. To address this gap, this paper examines 943 articles on passive investing published between 1998 and 2022 in SCOPUS and Web of Science.

The study utilizes the most pertinent tools for conducting a systematic review by the PRISMA framework. This article is the result of SLR and extensive bibliometric analysis. Contextualized systematic literature review is used to screen and select bibliographic data, which is then subjected to a variety of bibliometric analyses. The study provides a bibliometric overview of works on passive investment research that are indexed in Scopus and Web of Science. Bibliometrix, VoS Viewer and Cite Space are the tools used to conduct content and network analysis, to ascertain the present state of research, as well as its focus and direction.

Our exhaustive analysis yields important findings. One, the previous decade has witnessed a substantial increase in the number of publications and citations; in particular, the inter-disciplinary and international scope of related research has expanded; Second, the top three clusters on “active versus passive funds,” “price discovery and market structures” and “exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as an alternative” account for more than fifty percent of the domain’s knowledge; Third, “Leveraged ETFs (LETFs)” and “environmental, social and governance (ESG)” are the two emerging themes in the passive investing research. Fourth, despite its many benefits, passive investing is not suitable for everyone. To get the most out of what passive investing has to offer, investors, intermediaries and regulators must all exercise sufficient caution. Our study makes a substantial contribution to the field by conducting a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the existing literature, highlighting key findings and implications, as well as future research directions.

While the study contributes significantly to the field of knowledge, it has several limitations that must be considered when interpreting its findings and implications. With our emphasis on academic journals, the study analyzed only peer-reviewed journal articles, excluding conference papers, reports and technical articles. While we are confident that our approach resulted in a comprehensive and representative database, our reliance on Elsevier Scopus and Web of Science may have resulted in us overlooking relevant work accessible only through other databases. Additionally, specific bibliometric properties may not be time-stable, and certain common distribution patterns of the passive investing literature may still be developing.

With this study, it has been possible to observe and chart the high growth trajectory of passive investing research globally, especially post-US subprime crisis. Despite the widespread adoption of passive investing as an investment strategy, it is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Market conditions change constantly, and it frequently requires an informed eye to determine when and how much to shift away from active investments and toward passive ones. Currency ETFs enable investors to implement a carry trade strategy in their portfolios; however, as a word of caution, currency stability and liquidity can play a significant role in international ETFs. Similarly, LETFs may be better suited for dynamic strategies and offer less value to a long-term investor. Lastly, the importance of investor education cannot be underestimated in the name of the highly diversified portfolio when using passive alternatives, for which necessary efforts are required by regulators and investors alike.

The inexorable trend to passive investing creates numerous issues for fund management, including fee and revenue pressure, which forces traditional managers to seek new revenue streams, such as illiquid and private assets, which also implies increased portfolio risk. Additionally, the increased transparency and efficiency associated with the ETF market indicates that managers must rethink the entire value chain, beginning with technology and the way investments interact. Passive investments have triggered changes in market structure that are still not fully understood or factored in. Active management and a range of valuation opinions on whether a price is “too low” or “too high” provide much-needed depth to a market as it attempts to strike a delicate balance between demand and supply forces, ensuring liquidity at all price points.

I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this paper and that no part of this manuscript has been published or submitted for publication.

This paper examines the hypothesis of local herding (i.e. own-area effects) by individual investors on a particular stock-month. Using a unique dataset on online and offline individual investors’ trading records in Korea, we analyze buying and selling transactions involving 10,000 accounts from February 1999 to December 2005. We find that both online and offline investors in the same area tend to exhibit stronger local herding compared to investors’ trades who are geographically remote. Interestingly, online investors not only present stronger own-area effects but also exhibit more pronounced other-area effects compared with offline investors. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that gender and religious affiliation are important in investment behavior, with male and non-religious investors displaying a greater stock market participation in contrast to investors who are female and Protestant.

This study aims to examine whether there are differences between financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and financial statements prepared in accordance with local accounting standards in terms of its ability to present the financial conditions of companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange as one of the emerging markets.

Data on study variables were obtained from the published financial statements of 67 of listed companies in the Saudi Stock Exchange during the period 2014–2019. The study addressed the research hypotheses by using Altman Z-score model. Both the T-test and Wilcoxon rank test were used to investigate the significance of differences between the values of Z-score and the individual variables included in the model in the pre- and post-IFRS mandatory adoption periods.

The results revealed a decrease in the values of Z-score as well as the values of the individual variables included in the model in the period following the adoption of IFRS than it was before the adoption of IFRS, which indicates the ability of IFRS to show the financial conditions of companies more transparently than local accounting standards. However, the results of the T-test and Wilcoxon test showed that these decreases were not statistically significant.

This study has some limitations, including the small sample size as a result of the small size of the Saudi Stock Exchange, As well as the reliance of this study only on the Altman model with its five variables in assessing financial conditions without examining the impact of other factors that may affect the financial conditions of companies.

Financial conditions of the companies have important implications for multiple parties such as management, government, investors and others as an early warning sign that enables them to take the necessary measures early before the actual bankruptcy occurs and what results in costs.

Although assessing financial conditions of the companies is one of the basic uses of accounting information, this topic has not received sufficient attention as a means to test the benefits of adopting IFRS, especially in emerging markets such as Saudi Stock Exchange. This is the first study to examine the impact of adopting IFRS on the transparency of financial reporting in assessing financial conditions in Saudi Arabia.

The present study reviews the literature on the history and evolution of investment strategies in the stock market for the period from 1900 to 2022. Conflicts and relationships arising from such diverse seminal studies have been identified to address the research gaps.

The studies for this review were identified and screened from electronic databases to compile a comprehensive list of 200 relevant studies for inclusion in this review and summarized for the cognizance of researchers.

The study finds a coherence to complex theoretical documentation of more than a century of evolution on investment strategy in stock markets, capturing the characteristics of time with a chronological study of events.

There were complications in locating unpublished studies leading to biases like publication bias, the reluctance of editors to publish studies, which do not reveal statistically significant differences, and English language bias.

Practitioners can refine investment strategies by incorporating behavioral finance insights and recognizing the influence of psychological biases. Strategies span value, growth, contrarian, or momentum indicators. Mitigating overconfidence bias supports effective risk management. Social media sentiment analysis facilitates real-time decision-making. Adapting to evolving market liquidity curbs volatility risks. Identifying biases guides investor education initiatives.

This paper is an original attempt to pictorially depict the seminal works in stock market investment strategies of more than a hundred years.

Drawing upon a political economy approach, this article aims to analyze the transformations in the labor market within the context of contemporary capitalism, focusing on the phenomenon of financialization.

Financialization is defined as a distinct wealth pattern marked by a growing proportion of financial assets in capitalist wealth. Within financial markets, corporate performance is continuously assessed, in a process that disciplines management to achieve expected financial results, with consequences throughout corporate management.

We find that this phenomenon has implications for labor management, resulting in the intensification of labor processes and the adoption of insecure forms of employment, leading to the fractalization of work. These two mechanisms, added to the indebtedness of workers, constitute three elements for disciplining labor in contemporary capitalism.

We argue that these forms of discipline constitute a subsumption of labor to finance, resulting in an increase in labor exploitation. This formulation of the relationship between financialization and changes in the realm of labor also contributes to understanding the unrealizing potential of social free time in contemporary capitalism.

From 1979 to 2023, the takaful structure has been adopted in many jurisdictions, making the documenting of its early days of establishment relatively difficult and somewhat unreliable. This is unlike conventional insurance, where the history and legislation are well documented and archived in various research (Hellwege, 2016; Marano and Siri, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to provide a chronology for the establishment and development of takaful via the takaful establishment in each jurisdiction, documenting its first takaful operator and first takaful regulation.

This paper has used a qualitative method in the form of reviewing literature and available data such as journals, books and official resources. The data is thoroughly analysed in order to build the chronology for takaful. It adopted an exploratory research design, which is deemed suitable in situations where few works of literature have examined the subject (Neuman, 2014). The paper explores the establishment and non-establishment of takaful in 57 countries. The paper categorises the countries into seven regions starting with the GCC, Levant, Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Europe and Others.

The takaful chronology presented in this paper shows that takaful operations exist in 47 jurisdictions, starting from Sudan and the UAE in 1979, with the most recent adopters being Morocco and Iran in December 2021. It is found that 22 jurisdictions do not have takaful regulations, and the Takaful Act 1984, issued in Malaysia, is considered the first takaful regulation that sets the basis for other regulations that follow.

The paper contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive chronology of takaful, especially as the few existing timelines have been found to be incomplete and consist of contradictory information.

The description of “blockchain banking”, the determination of “the sub-processes” of “blockchain banking” as a “business process”, and the assessment of “maturity level” in Parsian Bank.

Theoretical sources on “blockchain banking” were initially investigated. Then the “sub-processes” of “blockchain banking” as a “business process” were extracted by Parsian Bank's experts through the “Delphi method”. Next, the “sequence” of the “sub-processes” was determined by means of the “AHP”. Eventually, Parsian Bank's maturity levels for all the sub-processes as well as the overall maturity level were specified on the basis of the “CMMI” V1.3 in order for Business Process Management (BPM).

Blockchain banking’ combines traditional banking with cryptocurrencies, which can be provided by merging “hybrid e-wallet” with “bank account” and “bank card” – all together as “crypto bank account”. Plus, “hybrid e-wallet” is a form of mobile e-wallet on blockchain that supports both cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies in the same platform by which the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies are possible. Besides, “Blockchain banking service” can also be offered within the framework of “open banking” aligned with “open innovation” through a FinTech (or a beta bank) in collaboration with a licensed bank via “open API”, which is called “blockchain banking based on FinTech”. At last, the eight sub-processes of “blockchain banking” were determined and Parsian Bank's “maturity level” was specified.

This is the very first practical guide to “blockchain banking service”.

Research has examined how new ventures strengthen local economic outcomes; however, limited research examines health-oriented ventures and their impact on social outcomes, including health outcomes. Increased VC investment in healthcare service start-ups signals more activity toward this end, and the need for further academic inquiry. We examine the relationship between these start-ups and county-level health outcomes, health factors, and hospital utilization.

Data on start-ups funded via institutional venture capital from PitchBook were merged with US county-level outcomes from the County Health Rankings and Area Health Resources Files for 2010 to 2019. We investigated how the number of VC-funded healthcare service start-ups, as well as a subset defined as innovative, were associated with county-level health measures. We used panel models with two-way fixed effects and Propensity Score Matched (PSM), controlling for demographics and socioeconomic factors.

Each additional VC-funded healthcare service start-up was related to a significant 0.01 percentage point decrease in diabetes prevalence (p < 0.01), a decrease of 1.54 HIV cases per 100,000 population (p < 0.1), a 0.02 percentage point decrease in obesity rates (p < 0.01), and a 0.03 percentage point decrease in binge drinking (p < 0.01). VC-funded healthcare service start-ups were not related to hospital utilization.

This work expands our understanding of how industry-specific start-ups, in this case healthcare start-ups, relate to positive social outcomes. The results underscore the importance of evidence-based evaluation, the need for expanded outcome measures for VC investment, and the possibilities for integration of healthcare services and entrepreneurship ecosystems.

This study aims to investigate the impact of supply chain concentration (SCC) on corporate research and development (R&D) investment and determine the moderating roles of industry concentration and financing constraints on the relationship between SCC and R&D investment.

The study collected data from Chinese listed companies, used the fixed effects model to test the research hypotheses and further used the two-stage Heckman test and propensity score matching (PSM) to address potential endogeneity issues.

The result reveals a negative impact of SCC on corporate R&D investment. In addition, industry concentration mitigates the negative impact of SCC on corporate R&D investment, but financing constraints strengthen the negative impact.

This study introduces the concept of SCC and empirically tests its effect on R&D investment, further explaining the lack of corporate innovation. This study inspires companies to strengthen SC management and weigh the level of SCC with environmental factors.

Investing in prevention could be of great benefit to public health. Especially for people with health risks, such as overweight, depressive symptoms, low social-economic status or people who experience loneliness or a sedentary lifestyle. In the Netherlands, different parties are responsible for financing and organising selective and indicated preventive interventions: the government, municipalities and health insurance companies. The aim of this study was two-fold: First, to describe the transition towards a sustainable prevention infrastructure. And second, to gain insight into barriers and facilitators associated with intersectoral collaboration regarding organising prevention for high-risk groups.

A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted among collaborative networks working together to build a prevention infrastructure. During a five-year study period, 86 semi-structured interviews were held. The COM-B model was used for data analysis.

Barriers to intersectoral collaboration are: unknown (cost-)effectiveness, limited incentives to invest in collaboration, lack of clarity about responsibilities, differences in priorities and organisational culture between municipalities and health insurers. Facilitators are commitment, trust, sharing knowledge between parties, meeting regularly within the network and acknowledgement of mutual responsibilities. Also, national policy interventions targeted at the development of regional prevention infrastructures facilitated collaboration.

This study shows that collaboration regarding prevention is becoming increasingly common. It can be concluded that the transition towards a sustainable prevention infrastructure has started. The relationship between key stakeholders, like municipalities and health insurers, is generally stronger than it was five years ago. They have a better understanding of each other’s interests and expectations.