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This study aims to investigate the variation in overvaluation proxies and volatility across industry sectors and time.

Using industry sector data from the S&P Capital IQ database, this study applies traditional cross-sectional regressions to investigate the relationship between overvaluation and volatility over the 2001–2020 time period.

This study finds that the most volatile industry sectors generally do not coincide with overvalued industry sectors in the cross-section, implying that there are limitations to price-multiple methods for forecasting future volatility. Rather, this study finds that historical volatility significantly increases the goodness-of-fit when modeling volatility in the cross section of industry sectors. The findings of this study imply that firms should increase disclosures and transparency about corporate practices to decrease downside risk that stems from bad news. In addition, the findings underline the consistency between market efficiency and high levels of volatility in periods of significant uncertainty.

This study proposes a novel approach to examining the cross section of volatility across time for industry sectors.

The study examined the roles of fiscal and monetary policy in reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), while accounting for macroeconomic disruptions. In particular, the study examined the complementarity of fiscal and monetary policy to mitigate shocks and reduce poverty in SSA.

The study adopts the fixed effect (within regression) model to account for country-specific characteristics, and a cross-sectional dependence – consistent model to control for the potential cross-sectional in panel data modelling. The study used the dummy variable approach to account for the macroeconomic shocks. The authors assigned 1 to the following years – 2008, 2014 and 2020; and 0 otherwise to take care of the global financial crisis, commodity terms of trade shocks and the COVID-19 pandemic respectively.

The study found that fiscal policy (particularly, government spending on health and education) has the greater capacity to reduce the level of poverty in SSA. The results also indicate that fiscal policy and monetary policy can work in tandem to reduce the negative effects of a pandemic. However, the study found an optimal threshold level of monetary policy beyond which monetary policy reduces the effectiveness of fiscal policy to reduce poverty in SSA. The research and policy implications are discussed.

The study, unlike previous studies, accounts for the impact of macroeconomic shocks in the monetary/fiscal policy and poverty literature.

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between personal mastery orientation and employee creativity through internalized extrinsic motivation (identified regulation) and intrinsic motivation while testing job complexity as a boundary condition.

The authors tested this study model using a cross-sectional design with a sample of (N = 361). The study population was software developers from across different cities of Pakistan. Respondents were asked to rate themselves on creative behavior. Partial least square structural equation (PLS-SEM) and PROCESS macro were used for data analysis.

The results of the study confirm that personal mastery orientation positively affects employee creativity. Furthermore, both identified regulation and intrinsic motivation mediate the relationship between personal mastery and employee creativity. Job complexity was shown to moderate the direct relationship between personal mastery, identified regulation and intrinsic motivation such that for higher job complexity levels, the relationship between personal mastery and both types of motivation (identified and intrinsic) becomes stronger. The authors confirm that the indirect relationship between personal mastery and employee creativity through identified regulation was contingent upon job complexity level. In comparison, the indirect relationship between personal mastery and employee creativity through intrinsic motivation is not contingent upon the level of job complexity.

There are a few limitations to the authors' study. The current study is based on a cross-sectional design; therefore, this is of limited causal value. The authors suggest the studies examining similar relations to this study model use a longitudinal design. The incumbent of the job reports creative behavior; therefore, this is susceptible to common method bias (CMB). A peer-reported or supervisor-reported creative behavior should be used to eliminate the CMB in future studies.

The authors' study provides valuable input in identifying the complex mechanism through which creative behavior is induced involving individual personality disposition, job attributes and various types of motivations. In this study, the authors tried to reveal the mechanism through which personal mastery orientation predicts creative behavior. In the authors' endeavor of testing the motivational paths through which personal mastery orientation predicts creative behavior, the authors confirmed the efficacy of autonomous-complex motivation based on the self-determination framework. The authors' findings add to the evidence of the importance of intrinsic motivation in inducing creative behavior and recommend that the researcher should not ignore intrinsic motivation when exploring the effectiveness of extrinsic motivation.

The study's findings strengthen the argument of the continuum-like structure of the motivation types under self-determination theory(SDT). The authors argued that intrinsic motivation is a relatively stable type of motivation when creative behavior is involved and is not contingent upon the job attributes. These findings add to the evidence that intrinsic motivation is stable compared to extrinsic motivation. Another important contribution of this study is that the authors identified a boundary condition for the internalized extrinsic motivation when serving as creativity predicting mechanism and ruled the presence of a conditional effect when intrinsic motivation is involved.

This study aims to examine the subjective well-being of self-employed persons relative to wage employees in Ghana. Two measures of subjective well-being, comprising life satisfaction and happiness, are considered.

The current study focuses on Ghanaian working adults, uses pooled cross-sectional datasets from the 2005 to 2014 World Values Survey (WVS), applies survey weights, estimates ordered probit models and computes marginal effects.

The results show that being self-employed is associated with a lower probability of being satisfied with life than being wage employed. The result for happiness is negative but not statistically significant. The perceived low level of life satisfaction among the self-employed in Ghana could explain the rationale behind the desire of some Ghanaians to seek wage employment rather than pursuing self-employment. The results also could partly explain the non-survival of some entrepreneurial firms in Ghana over time.

Data relating to factors such as business size, location (urban or rural), degree of internationalization (domestic or foreign), number of years of being in self-employment, the number of employees, financial knowledge and behavior and personality traits are unavailable in the WVS for analyses. The present study also uses a pooled cross-sectional dataset for the analyses; thus, causal inferences are not possible.

The study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between self-employment and subjective well-being in the context of Ghana. The study provides insights into how self-employed Ghanaians perceive well-being relative to wage employees.

Open access (OA) has emerged as a modern academic publishing paradigm that strives to provide all members of society with free access to scholarly knowledge. This study aims to assess the behavior of faculty members to publish in OA journals from the perspective of the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB).

A quantitative survey research design based on a cross-sectional survey approach was applied to investigate the phenomenon. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 338 faculty members of two large universities in Pakistan.

The findings of the study indicate that behavioral intentions (β = 0.664, p < 0.01), subjective norms (β = 0.159, p < 0.01) and perceived behavioral control (β = 0.238, p < 0.01) positively while attitude toward behavior negatively affected the actual behavior of the university faculty members to publish in OA journals.

The study offers theoretical implications for researchers and practical implications for educational authorities, policymakers and funding agencies.

The study fills the literature gap and offers insight into the OA publishing behavior of academicians from the perspective of DTPB.

The study aims to examine the impact of six events related to the escalating Indo-China border conflicts in 2020 on the Indian stock market, including the role of firm-specific variables.

This study employs an event-study method on a sample of 481 firms from August 23, 2019 to March 3, 2022. A cross-sectional regression is employed to examine the association between event-led abnormal returns and firm characteristics.

The results show that, although the individual events reflect heterogeneous effects on stock market returns, the average impact of the event categories is negative. The study also found that net working capital, current ratio, financial leverage and operating cash flows are significant financial performance indicators and drive cumulative abnormal returns. Further, size anomaly is absent, indicating that more prominent firms are resilient to new information.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is an example of how these disagreements can devolve into a disaster for the parties to the war. Although wars have an impact on markets at the global level, the impacts of border disputes are local. Border disputes are ongoing, and the study's findings can be used to empower investors to make risk-averting decisions that make their portfolios resilient to such events.

This study provides firm-level insight into the impacts of border conflicts on stock markets. The authors compare the magnitude of such impacts on two types of events, namely injuries and casualties due to country-specific border tensions and a government ban on Chinese apps. Key implications for policymakers, stakeholders and academics are presented.

Growing food insecurity is a leading cause of fatalities, particularly in developing nations like Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. However, the rising energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are mostly associated with food production. Balancing the trade-offs between energy intensity and food security remains a top priority for environmentalists. Despite the critical role of the environment in food security, there is a scarcity of substantial studies that explore the statistical connections among food security, CO2 emissions, energy intensity, foreign direct investment (FDI) and per capita income. Therefore, this study aims to provide more precise and consistent estimates of per capita CO2 emissions by considering the interplay of food security and energy intensity within the context of emerging economies.

To examine the long-term relationships between CO2 emissions, food security, energy efficiency, FDI and economic development in emerging economies, this study employs correlated panel-corrected standard error, regression with Newey–West standard error and regression with Driscoll–Kraay standard error models (XTSCC). The analysis utilizes data spanning from 1980 to 2018 and encompasses 32 emerging economies.

The study reveals that increasing food security in a developing economy has a substantial positive impact on both CO2 emissions and energy intensity. Each model, on average, demonstrates that a 1 percent improvement in food security results in a 32% increase in CO2 levels. Moreover, the data align with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory, as it indicates a positive correlation between gross domestic product (GDP) in developing nations and CO2 emissions. Finally, all experiments consistently demonstrate a robust correlation between the Food Security Index (FSI), energy intensity level (EIL) and exchange rate (EXR) in developing markets and CO2 emissions. This suggests that these factors significantly contribute to environmental performance in these countries.

This study introduces novelty by employing diverse techniques to uncover the mixed findings regarding the relationship between CO2 emissions and economic expansion. Additionally, it integrates energy intensity and food security into a new model. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature by advocating for a sustainable development goal (SDG)-oriented policy framework that considers all variables influencing economic growth.

The inflammatory potential of diet may play a role in the regulation of low-grade chronic inflammation derived from obesity. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the dietary inflammatory index (DII) and anthropometric indicators of adiposity among Turkish adults.

The study sample consisted of 833 young adults (mean age = 23 ± 5.2 years). The inflammatory potential of the diet was evaluated with a DII. Data on dietary intake were collected by a single 24-h dietary recall, and DII was estimated from 25 dietary components. Also, the Mediterranean diet (Med-Diet) adherence screener was applied using the 14-item assessment tool.

The proinflammatory diet was statistically associated with young (p < 0.001), singles (p < 0.001), high school degree (p = 0.011), students (p < 0.001), not working or unemployed (p < 0.001), eating outside (p = 0.016) and lower adherence to a Med-Diet (p = 0.027). There was a statistically significant positive relationship between the DII score and body weight (BW), waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) (r = 0.107; p = 0.002, r = 0.092; p = 0.008, r = 0.115; p = 0.001, respectively). Besides, there was a statistically significant negative relationship between MED score and BW, WHtR and neck circumference (r = −0.101; p = 0.004, r = −0.084; p = 0.016, r = −0.175; p = 0.000, respectively).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this was the first Turkish study to assess the association between the anthropometric indicators of obesity and DII or adherence to Med-Diet in young adults. Lower DII scores and higher adherence to Med-Diet are related to the better status of anthropometric indicators of adiposity.

This study aims to examine the relationship between public knowledge, awareness and attitudes towards post-COVID-19 infection prevention in Sarawak. At present, Sarawak is in the post-pandemic stage, marked by a gradual return to normalcy, albeit with some persistent changes caused by the pandemic.

Data were collected from various geographic areas in Sarawak through a Google Form link and QR code during a cross-sectional study, resulting in the acquisition of 1,128 responses. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 28.0 and WarpPLS 8.0.

The result revealed that out of five hypotheses, four were found to be supported, indicating a positive relationship between public knowledge, awareness and attitudes towards COVID-19 infection prevention. However, an unsupported relationship was found between public awareness and infection prevention practices.

This study is limited to the Malaysian population and has a cross-sectional design, affecting generalizability. It is recommended that future research complete an in-depth study of the knowledge, awareness and practices of COVID-19 using other data collection techniques.

Public health and policymakers can use the study to implement effective communication strategies and prioritize digitalization for economic recovery. It highlights the importance of preventive measures and the public’s role in managing future pandemics.

The originality of this research can be drawn from key findings that indicate that people overall gained knowledge on the prevention measures during the post-COVID-19 pandemic, and the accuracy of the information significantly impacts public knowledge, awareness and practices of COVID-19 infection prevention.

To effectively combat the increasing rates of obesity, it is crucial to explore how environmental factors like sidewalk access impact weight-related outcomes. This study aimed to systematically examine the association between sidewalk accessibility and weight-related outcomes.

Databases were searched by keywords for relevant articles, which were published before March 3, 2024, to report the role of neighborhood sidewalk access on weight-related outcomes. The main findings of the selected articles were extracted from eligible studies by two independent reviewers.

A total of 20 out of 33 studies indicated a significant negative relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes. Three studies demonstrated an indirect relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes by greater access to physical environments. In addition, five studies reported no clear relationship, and three studies reported a significantly positive relationship between access to sidewalks and weight-related outcomes.

In general, people who live in urban areas with better sidewalk access benefit from better weight-related outcomes. Adults showed this correlation more prominently than adolescents and children. Therefore, sidewalks that have a positive effect on physical activity levels could be considered as a preventive measure against obesity.

One of the weight-related outcomes is obesity. Every community faces numerous challenges due to obesity, which adversely affects the quality of life and health. Environmental factors such as access to sidewalks could be associated with body weight due to lifestyle influences.