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This paper aims to examine the effects of oil price uncertainty on corporate investment of Islamic stocks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study uses a panel data set that covers 398 listed Islamic stocks from seven major Asia Pacific countries over the period of five years from 2017 to 2021, yielding 1,990 observations. Specifically, this paper investigates the said association by combining the real options theory regarding investment and the panel data-based econometric method that captures the dynamic relationship, the generalized method of moments estimators.

The findings show that the relationship between the oil price volatility and corporate investment of Islamic stocks is significant and nonlinear in nature, suggesting the presence of both the growth options and the waiting options. Overall, the results reveal that corporate investment of Islamic stocks is hindered during the unprecedented corona crash, when oil price increases at exponential rates.

The findings suggest that considering the information caused by unprecedented events like the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial for investment decisions of Islamic stocks. Therefore, policymakers and regulators should incorporate the impact of oil price uncertainties caused by unprecedented events like the COVID-19 pandemic on firm’s investment expansion and diversification strategies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to examine the relationship between the investment of Islamic stocks and the oil price uncertainty under compound options theory in top Asian oil-importing countries.

This study examines the value implications of oil price uncertainty for investors in diversified firms using a sample of 922 USA firms from 2001 to 2019.

Our study employs a panel dataset to examine the value implications of oil price uncertainty for diversified firm investors. We consider several alternative specifications to account for unobserved factors and measurement errors that could potentially bias our results. In particular, we use alternative measures of the excess value of diversified firms and oil price uncertainty, additional control variables, fixed-effects models, the Oster test, impact threshold for confounding variable (ITCV) analysis, two-stage least square instrumental variable (2SLS-IV) analysis and the system-GMM model.

We find that the excess value of diversified firms, relative to a benchmark portfolio of single-segment firms, increases with high oil price uncertainty. The impact of oil price uncertainty is asymmetric, as corporate diversification is value-increasing for diversified firm investors only when the volatility is due to positive oil price changes and amidst supply-driven oil price shocks. The excess value increases irrespective of diversified firms’ financial constraints and oil usage. Diversified firms become conservative in their internal capital allocations with high oil price uncertainty. Such conservatism is value-increasing for diversified firm investors, as it supports higher performance in response to oil price uncertainty.

Our study has three important implications: first, they are relevant to investors in understanding the portfolio value implications of oil price uncertainty. Second, they are helpful for firm managers while comprehending the value-relevant implications of internal capital allocations. Finally, our findings are policy relevant in the context of the future of diversified firms in developed markets.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between sustainable investments and a series of uncertainties from January 2014 to December 2021, including many economic and political turbulences and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors use Rényi’s transfer entropy method, a nonparametric flexible tool that considers both the center distribution and lower quantiles, capturing extreme rare events that give additional insights to analysis.

The authors’ results indicate significant bidirectional information transmissions between the crude oil volatility and sustainability indices. The authors report information flows between the cryptocurrency uncertainty and sustainability indices considering tail events. The results are essential for market participants making decisions during turbulent times.

This paper is carried out for a variety of uncertainty measures and environmental, social and governance (ESG) portfolios of both developed and developing markets. It adds to literature in terms of methodology used. Rényi’s transfer entropy methodology is first used to measure the relationship between uncertainties and ESG investments.

This study aims to revisit the empirical debate about the asymmetric relationship between oil prices, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions and economic growth in a panel of 184 countries from 1981 to 2020.

A relatively new research method, the PVAR system GMM, is applied.

The outcome of the PVAR system GMM model at the group level in the study suggests that oil prices exert a positive but statistically insignificant effect on economic growth. Energy consumption is inversely related to economic growth but statistically significant, and the correlation between CO₂ emissions and economic growth is negative but statistically insignificant. The Granger causality test indicates that oil prices, CO₂ emissions, oil rents, energy consumption and savings jointly Granger-cause economic growth. A unidirectional causality runs from energy consumption, savings and economic growth to oil prices. At countries’ income grouping levels, oil prices, oil rent, CO₂ emissions, energy consumption and savings jointly Granger-cause economic growth for the high-income and upper-middle-income countries groups only, while those variables did not jointly Granger-cause economic growth for the low-income and lower-middle-income countries groups. The modulus emanating from the eigenvalue stability condition with the roots of the companion matrix indicates that the model is stable. The results support the asymmetric impacts of oil prices on economic growth and aid policy formulation, particularly the cross-country disparities regarding the nexus between oil prices and growth.

From a methodological perspective, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the study is the first attempt to use the PVAR system GMM and such a large sample group of 184 economies in the post-COVID-19 era to examine the impacts of oil prices on countries’ growth while controlling for other crucial variables, which is noteworthy. Two, using the World Bank categorisation of countries according to income groups, the study adds another layer of contribution to the literature by decomposing the 184 sample economies into four income groups: high-income, low-income, upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income groups to investigate the potential for asymmetric effects of oil prices on growth, the first of its kind in the post-COVID-19 period.

This paper aims to empirically investigate the extent to which interdependence in markets may be driven by COVID-19 effects.

The current global COVID-19 pandemic is adversely affecting the oil market (West Texas Intermediate) and crypto-assets markets.

The authors find that the dependence structure changes significantly after the global pandemic, providing valuable information on how the COVID-19 crisis affects interdependencies. The results also prove that the performance of digital gold seems to be better compared to stablecoin.

The authors fit copulas to pairs of before and after returns, analyze the observed changes in the dependence structure and discuss asymmetries on propagation of crisis. The authors also use the findings to construct portfolios possessing desirable expected behavior.

This study examines the impact of oil price volatility on firm profitability. As Shariah-compliant firms operate under restrictions, the study also explores whether oil price volatility affects Shariah-compliant firms differently from their non-Shariah-compliant counterparts.

The study sample includes all non-financial firms listed on Gulf Cooperation Council stock exchanges from 2005 to 2019. In evaluating the oil price volatility–profitability relationship, static (panel fixed effects) and dynamic (system generalised method of moments) models were used.

Oil price volatility significantly depresses firm profitability. In addition, Shariah-compliant firms are more significantly affected by oil price volatility than their non-Shariah-compliant peers. The results suggest that high oil price volatility exposes Shariah-compliant firms to higher bankruptcy risk than non-Shariah-compliant firms and that positive and negative oil price shocks have asymmetric effects on firm performance.

The findings of the paper call for more economic diversification by supporting non-oil sectors in the region and raise the need for more development of Islam-compliant products that compete with traditional instruments to help Shariah-compliant firms cope with uncertainty. Moreover, managers need to prepare quick alert and response procedures to reduce the negative impacts of oil price volatility on profitability.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the relationship between oil price volatility and profitability of non-financial firms. Further, the study extends prior Islamic corporate finance literature by enhancing the understanding of how Islamic corporate decisions affect firm performance during instability.

This study examines the relationship between oil price uncertainty (OPU) and corporate inventory investments using a sample of 6,072 USA manufacturing firms from 1992 to 2019.

The author's study employs a panel dataset to examine the relationship between OPU and corporate inventory investments. The author uses several alternative specifications such as fixed effects models, an instrumental variable analysis, an impact threshold for confounding variable (ITCV) analysis, alternative measures, additional control variables and the percent bias analysis to account for endogeneity issues.

Corporate inventory investments decrease in response to high OPU. This decrease in inventory investments happens regardless of firms' expected stockout costs, information environment and reliance on external financing. As a potential mechanism, an uncertainty-induced increase in cash holdings contributes to this reduction in inventory investments. Also, the effect of OPU is non-linear and asymmetric. In response to the volatility of positive (negative) oil price changes, inventory investments decrease (increase) up to a certain point and increase (decrease) after that. Further, uncertainty-induced adjustments in inventory investments positively influence the operating performance of firms.

The author's study adds to the growing literature that examines the impact of OPU on corporate outcomes. Inventory investments directly affect business operations and could better reflect firms' responses to an uncertain environment.

Using a GED-GARCH model to estimate monthly data from January 1990 to February 2022, we test whether gold acts as a hedge or safe haven asset in 10 countries. With a downturn of the stock market, gold can be viewed as a hedge and safe haven asset in the G7 countries. In the case of inflation, gold acts as a hedge and safe haven asset in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, China, and Indonesia. For currency depreciation, oil price shock, economic policy uncertainty, and US volatility spillover, evidence finds that gold acts as a hedge and safe haven for all countries.

As the pandemic begins to ease, many companies are figuring out that working remotely is the future of work and “a new normal”. This research focuses on strategic planning and practices inherent in remote work, and aims to identify the optimal balance between virtual and on-site working. Specifically, the authors investigate the moderating effects of managerial ability and Hofstede's cultural factors.

The authors build a mathematical model to locate the optimal balance between virtual and on-site working. A numerical study is presented, and additional sensitivity analysis is conducted to validate the proposed model.

This model provides organizations with a general guideline with recommended optimal percentages of remote workforce based on specific Hofstede's national scores. The authors also find that organizations with varying levels of managerial ability exhibit different adoption rates of remote working.

Because of the chosen research approach, the proposed model may lack empirical verification and require further adjustment of parameters. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to empirically and statistically test the proposed model further.

This model equips organizations and practitioners with a general guideline to identify their desired portion of remote workforce. The incorporation of managerial ability and cultural factors makes our model applicable to various business structures across different sectors.

This proposed model addresses this optimization problem from a mathematical perspective with an interdisciplinary approach. The model also considers the moderating effects of managerial ability and Hofstede's cultural factors.

1. The main contribution of this study is the theoretical development of our mathematical model that identifies the optimal balance between remote and on-site workforce in the context of managerial ability and Hofstede's cultural factors.

2. A numerical study is presented, and additional sensitivity analysis is conducted to validate the proposed model and highlight the moderating effect of managerial ability and cultural influence on the adopted percentages of remote working.

3. Our study suggests that organizational capabilities, managerial skills, and culturally suitable work arrangement are vital in successful development and implementation of remote working policy.

4. Practical managerial implications and general guidelines are offered to organizations and practitioners.

The main contribution of this study is the theoretical development of our mathematical model that identifies the optimal balance between remote and on-site workforce in the context of managerial ability and Hofstede's cultural factors.

A numerical study is presented, and additional sensitivity analysis is conducted to validate the proposed model and highlight the moderating effect of managerial ability and cultural influence on the adopted percentages of remote working.

Our study suggests that organizational capabilities, managerial skills, and culturally suitable work arrangement are vital in successful development and implementation of remote working policy.

Practical managerial implications and general guidelines are offered to organizations and practitioners.

This research unfolds a holistic association between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and three important markets (oil, stock and gold) in the Indian context. To do same, the current study uses the monthly dataset of each variable spanning from November 2005 to March 2022.

The authors have portrayed the wavelet-based coherence, correlation and covariance plots to explore the interaction between EPU and markets' behavior. Then, a wavelet-based quantile on quantile regression model and wavelet-based Granger causality has been applied to examine the cause-and-effect relation and causality between the EPU and markets.

The authors’ findings report that the Indian crude oil buyers do not need to consider Indian EPU while negotiating the oil deals in the short term and medium term. However, in case of the long-term persistence of uncertainty, it becomes difficult for a buyer to negotiate oil deals at cheap rates. EPU causes unfavorable fluctuation in the stock market because macroeconomic decisions have a substantial impact on it. The authors have also found that gold is a gauge for economic imbalances and an accurate observer of inflation resulting from uncertainty, showing a safe haven attribute.

The authors’ work is original in two aspects. First, their study solely focused on the Indian economy to investigate the impact and causal power of Indian EPU on three major components of the Indian economy: oil, stock and gold. Second, they will provide their findings after analyzing data at a very microlevel using a wavelet-based quantile on quantile and wavelet-based Granger causality.