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We propose an alternative rationale for why some firms employ veterans, driven not solely by benevolence but also by the prospect of enhanced outcomes. Financially, hiring veterans could correlate with improved stock market performance for the hiring company while aligning with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Our study centers on the stock market performance of companies hiring veterans. It aims to underscore a lesser-known facet of the veteran employment discourse and its connection to the hiring firm's financial performance.

This paper evaluates the stock market performance of three VETS portfolios (made of companies that hire veterans) compared to the benchmark SPDR S&P 500 ETF. Using a modular approach, we create three VETS passive indices: VETSEW (equal-weighted index), VETSPW (price-weighted index) and VETSVW (value-weighted index). The study analyzes the annual returns, portfolio allocations, risk-adjusted performance metrics and style analysis of the portfolios from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2022.

The findings indicate that all three VETS portfolios outperformed the benchmark, with higher ending balances and superior risk-adjusted ratios such as the Sharpe and Sortino ratios. Notably, the portfolios demonstrated resilience during challenging periods, including the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent recovery and an inflationary period.

Limitations include the paper's focus solely on stock returns, suggesting a need for broader financial and management ratios. Moreover, a deeper exploration into how veterans contribute during turbulent times is suggested for further investigation. Although the study touches upon the financial performance of veteran-focused companies during challenging economic times, it does not extensively delve into the specific ways in which veterans add value under such circumstances, presenting an opportunity for further exploration.

Firms that employ veterans amid the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate favorable risk-adjusted returns, underscoring the potential of veterans as valuable crisis-time assets. Our research further underscores the correlation between veteran hiring and enhanced financial prowess. These insights carry significant policy implications, including CSR initiatives for hiring veterans, skill translation and training and collaboration with veteran organizations.

The paper's findings suggest significant implications: (1) Policymakers could incentivize firms to hire veterans through tax benefits or grants, leveraging their skills for organizational resilience. (2) Collaborative efforts between policymakers and firms can promote responsible hiring, boosting a company's reputation through diversity and inclusion, positively impacting society. (3) Support for skill translation from military to civilian jobs is crucial. Programs certifying skills and tailored education aid veterans' successful transition into the workforce. (4) Collaborations between policymakers, veteran organizations and private sector entities can create networks, job placements and support systems for veterans' employment.

Numerous prior studies within the domain of corporate social responsibility have predominantly neglected the contributions veterans offer to businesses and the underlying reasons behind firms' decisions to employ them. Our research uniquely concentrates on the stock market performance of companies that choose to hire veterans.

This chapter discusses how the real options theory can be useful for understanding the adoption of human resources management (HRM) practices. The authors review how the real options theory has provided insights into the processes through which firms manage uncertainties involved in the adoption of HRM practices. The authors offer propositions for future HRM research from the real options perspective. The authors contend that analyzing HRM practice adoptions through the lens of real options theory can enhance our understanding of the mechanisms through which firms choose which HRM practices to adopt and how they adjust the timing, scale, and methods of investment in these practices. Specifically, the authors suggest that differences in information relevant to valuation of HRM options are the source of distinct choices of HRM options across firms. Finally, the authors propose advancing knowledge on HRM practice adoptions by using a portfolio of options approach, as well as considering factors like competitors, path dependence, and switching options.

This paper investigates potential safe haven assets for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) stock markets during the uncertainty period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study applies the dynamic conditional correlation–generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic (DCC-GARCH) model and the Diebold–Yilmaz spillover index for ten MENA stock markets, three precious metals and Bitcoin for the period 2013–2021.

Empirical results show, on the one hand, that the COVID-19 crisis risk has been transmitted to MENA stock markets through volatility spillover across markets. This has increased the conditional volatility for all markets. On the other hand, findings point out that the dynamic correlation between the precious metals/Bitcoin and stock markets is not stable and switches between low positive and negative values during the period under studies. Extending analysis to portfolio management, results reveal that investors should include precious metals/Bitcoin in their portfolio of stocks in order to reduce the risk of the portfolio. Finally, for the period of COVID-19, the analysis concludes that gold preserves its traditional role as a safe haven for MENA stock markets during the pandemic, while Bitcoin fails to provide this property.

These results have several implications for international investors, risk managers and financial analysts in terms of portfolio diversifications and hedging strategies. Indeed, the exploration of the volatility connectedness between financial, commodity and cryptocurrency markets becomes an essential task for all market participants during the COVID-19 outbreak. Such analysis can help investors and portfolio managers to evaluate the risk of investments in the MENA stock markets during the crisis period and to achieve the optimal diversification strategy and hedging instruments.

The paper interests MENA stock markets that experienced the last decade a substantial development in terms of market capitalization and number of listed firms. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the dynamic correlation between MENA stock markets and four potential safe haven assets, including three precious metals and Bitcoin. In addition, the paper employs two types of models, namely the DCC-GARCH model and the Diebold-Yilmaz spillover index.

Clause 4 [The Contractor] outlines the main provisions applying to the Contractor and their obligations in the execution of the Works. Clause 4 is one of the most important Clauses in the GC as it outlines the majority of the Contractor's core obligations.

This study aims to identify the financial attributes of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as safe havens, hedges or diversifiers against traditional (stock indices, foreign exchange, gold and government bonds) and digital (Bitcoin and Ethereum) assets.

The quantile via moments was utilized, and the data spanned from 20 September 2021 to 31 January 2022. The authors incorporated feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) and difference-generalized method of moments (diff-GMM) as the robustness check.

Overall, NFTs offer strongly safe havens, hedging and diversifier attributes against cryptocurrencies, while weak properties for traditional assets. The specific findings are: (1) Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) serves as a strong hedge for Bitcoin during market rise; (2) Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) serves as a strong safe haven against Bitcoin during market bull; (3) Crypto punk (CP) provides strong safe havens properties for gold during market turmoil while serving as a strong hedge against gold and Bitcoin on average and (4) the three blue-chip NFTs are powered by Ethereum blockchain, thus serving as a diversifier against Ethereum.

Bitcoin investors are suggested to include NFTs in their investment portfolio to mitigate the losses when Bitcoin falls. Meanwhile, the inclusion of crypto punk is advised for risk-averse investors who invest in gold. NFTs are powered by the Ethereum blockchain, indicating co-movement among them and thus, serve as diversifiers. Policymakers and regulators are suggested to watch closely over NFTs' great development and restructure the existing policies and thus, stabilization of asset markets can be achieved.

The originality aspects are: (1) focusing on the three blue-chip NFTs (i.e. BAYC, MAYC and CP) that are categorized as the largest NFTs by floor market capitalization; (2) testing the NFT attributes (safe havens, hedges or diversifiers) against traditional and digital assets, a.k.a., cryptocurrencies and (3) panel setting on 14 countries with the highest NFT users.

In this study, we aim to investigate the connectedness spillovers among major cryptocurrency markets. Moreover, we also explore to identify factors driving this connectedness, particularly focusing on the sentimentality of total, short-term, and long-term return connectedness spillovers among cryptocurrencies under Twitter-based economic uncertainties and US economic policy uncertainty. Finally, we investigate the extent to which cryptocurrency markets serve as a safe haven, hedge, and diversifier from news-based uncertainties.

This study employs the connectedness approach following the combination of Ando et al. (2022) QVAR and Baruník and Krehlík's (2018) frequency connectedness methodologies into the framework proposed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2012, 2014). The data covered from November 10, 2017, to April 21, 2023, and the factors driving cryptocurrency connectedness spillovers are identified and examined. The sentimentality of total, short-term, and long-term return connectedness spillovers among cryptocurrencies, concerning Twitter-based economic uncertainties and US economic policy uncertainty, are analyzed. We apply the Wavelet quantile correlation (WQC) method developed by Kumar and Padakandla (2022) to explore the effects of Twitter-based economic uncertainties and US economic policy uncertainty on Cryptocurrency market connectedness risk spillovers. Besides, we check and present the robustness of WQC findings with the multivariate stochastic volatility method.

Our findings indicate that Ethereum and Bitcoin are net shock transmitters at the center of the connectedness return network. Ethereum and Bitcoin hold the highest market capitalization and value in the cryptocurrency market, respectively. This suggests that return shocks originating from these two cryptocurrencies have the most significant impact on other cryptocurrencies. Tether and Monero are the net receivers of return shocks, while Cardano and XRP exhibit weak shock-transmitting characteristics through returns. In terms of return spillovers, Ethereum is the most effective, followed by Bitcoin and Stellar. Further analysis reveals that Twitter economic policy uncertainty and US economic policy uncertainty are effective drivers of short-term and total directional spillovers. These uncertainty indices exhibit positive coefficient signs in short-term and total directional spillovers, which turn predominantly negative in different magnitudes and frequency ranges in the long term. In addition, we also document that as the Total Connectedness Index (TCI) value increases, market risk also rises. Also, our empirical findings provide significant evidence of Twitter-based economic uncertainties and US economic policy uncertainty that affect short-term market risks. Hence, we state that risk-connectedness spillovers in cryptocurrency markets enclose permanent or temporary shock variations. Besides, findings of the low value of long-term spillovers suggest that risk shocks in cryptocurrency markets are not permanent, indicating long-term changes require careful monitoring and control over market dynamics.

In this study, we find evidence that Twitter's news-based uncertainty and US economic policy uncertainty have a significant effect on short-term market risk spillovers. Furthermore, we observe that high cryptocurrency market risk spillovers coincide with periods of events such as the US-China trade tensions in January 2018, the Brexit process in February 2019, and the COVID-19 outbreak in November 2019. Next, we observe a decline in cryptocurrency market risk spillovers after March 2020. The reason for this mitigation of market risk spillover may be that the Fed's quantitative easing signals have initiated a relaxation process in the markets. Because the Fed's signal to fight inflation in March 2022 also coincides with the period when risk spillover increased in crypto markets. Based on this, we present evidence that the FED's communication mechanism with the markets can potentially affect both short- and long-term expectations. In this context, we can say that our hypothesis that uncertainty about the news causes short-term risks to increase has been confirmed. Our findings may have investment policy implications for portfolio managers and investors generally in terms of reducing financial risks.

Our paper contributes to the literature by examining the interconnectedness among major cryptocurrencies and the drivers behind them, particularly focusing on the role of news-based economic uncertainties. More broadly, we calculate the utilization of advanced methodologies and the incorporation of real-time economic uncertainty data to enhance the originality and value of the research, which provides insights into the dynamics of cryptocurrency markets.

Despite the proliferation of cyberthreats upon the supply chain (SC) at large, knowledge on SC cybersecurity is scarce and predominantly conceptual or descriptive. Addressing this gap, this research examines the effect of SC cyber risk management strategies on integration decisions for cybersecurity (with suppliers, customers, and internally) to enhance the SC’s cyber resilience and robustness.

A research model grounded in the supply chain risk management (SCRM) literature, with roots in the Dynamic Capabilities View and the Relational View, was developed. Survey responses of 388 SC managers at US manufacturers were obtained to test the model.

An impact of SC cyber risk management strategies on internal cyber integration was detected, which in turn impacted external cyber integration with both suppliers and customers. Further, a positive effect of internal and customer cyber integration on both cyber resilience and robustness was found, while cyber integration with suppliers impacted neither.

Industry practitioners may adapt certain risk management and integration strategies to enhance the cybersecurity posture of their SCs.

This research bridges between the established domain of SCRM and the emergent field of SC cybersecurity by forming and testing novel relationships between SCRM-rooted constructs tailored to an SC cyber risks context.

This chapter examines the patterns influencing the trajectory of fintech enterprises. With the looming challenge of climate change, the financial realm's responsibility in mitigating climate risks has surged into focus. This chapter investigates fintech enterprises' response to climate-related corporate social responsibility in six main domains: (1) climate risk assessment tools, (2) green bonds and sustainable investment tools, (3) ESG integration, (4) carbon trading and carbon credits, (5) sustainable banking, and (6) DeFi and climate initiatives. It also investigates how fintech firms recognize the impact of climate change within their official declarations and efforts to amplify consciousness about climate-related concerns. This chapter assesses climate-linked terminology and expressions using quantitative and qualitative approaches, illuminating these firms' dedication to assimilating climate risk within their operational blueprints.

This study aims to develop and test a framework of the antecedents to and performance outcomes of exporters’ use of different services offered by Internet-based Business-to-Business (I-B2B) platforms.

We test the model based on a unique survey dataset of 350 Chinese exporters who subscribed to Alibaba.com, a major I-B2B platform.

Drawing on the signaling theory, export and I-B2B platform literature, we develop a typology of exporters’ use of services offered by I-B2B platforms. We find that the extent to which firms have cost efficiency advantages, adopt an export diversity strategy, operate under high levels of psychic distance and experience high levels of domestic regulatory uncertainty are all positively related to exporters’ use of I-B2B platform services. The use of those services is either positively or negatively related to export success depending on the services in question. The magnitudes of these performance relationships are contingent on the exporters’ transparency strategies.

This is the first study to examine the antecedents to and consequences of exporters’ use of the services offered by I-B2B platforms.