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The main aim of this paper is to report on a comprehensive survey of corporate financing decision‐making process in Sri Lankan listed companies and to compare these results with those of similar studies conducted in developed markets.

The study was based on a survey questionnaire distributed among the chief executive officers (CEOs) of companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, with the content of the questionnaire being based upon a review of theoretical and empirical literature in the field of finance.

The results demonstrate an adherence to a financial hierarchy, which appears to be the dominant financial policy among listed Sri Lankan companies. Corporate financing decisions seem to be influenced mostly by interest and tax considerations, while lesser weight is accorded to financial flexibility in determining the amount of funds to be raised externally through debt contracts. The evidence largely supports the propositions of the pecking order model, but also confirms some predictions found in static trade‐off theory.

Some of the most striking implications of the analysis relate to the under‐development of the local capital market, and the apparent need for an efficient financial system that spurs economic growth. An efficient capital market will in turn ensure that capital will be more easily channeled into financing investments.

This paper highlights how and why the determinants of capital structure decisions reported for developed capital markets may differ from those existing in transitional or emerging economies.

This study aims to assess and evaluate the disaster management system in Sri Lanka and the capacity of a local community to respond to natural disasters, and to propose a strategy for the dissemination of tsunami knowledge while raising public awareness of tsunami disasters.

The survey focused on three clusters of respondents and different methodologies were adopted to collect data from each group, as follows: residents: questionnaires followed by a structured interview; school children: questionnaires completed under the guidance of a teacher; government officials: questionnaires completed independently by respondents, and followed up with unstructured interviews with officials in charge of disaster related activities.

The results of the survey of residents indicate that; more than 90 percent of residents lacked tsunami knowledge prior to the 2004 tsunami; the main source of information during the disaster was direct information from family and neighbors; school education is important for raising awareness of disaster reduction; and an early warning system is a key requirement for reducing damage in the future. The school surveys reveal that; about 30 percent of school children do not yet understand what causes a tsunami; 90 percent of school children have a keen interest in studying natural disasters; comprehensive disaster education has not been provided; and audio‐visual means are thought to be the most effective tool for disaster education. The survey of officials shows that; seminars and drills on natural disaster have not thus far been conducted among general officials other than the military and police; measures need to be developed to safeguard the interests of tourists; and sirens, TV, and radio broadcasts are effective tools for disseminating disaster warnings to residents.

Based on the findings of the questionnaire and interview surveys, the following recommendations are proposed for disseminating knowledge and raising public awareness of tsunami disasters: promote disaster education at the school level; implement community‐level public awareness programs; enhance information management systems; and improve coordination mechanisms within the disaster management system.

At present, this is the only study being conducted whose goal is to quantitatively evaluate public awareness of natural disasters and disaster management in Sri Lanka.

The purpose of this study is to quantitatively aggregate the findings of prior literature on the effect of working capital management (WCM) on corporate profitability using the meta-analysis technique developed by Hunter et al. (1982).

A set of 46 research articles that directly studied the relationship between WCM, and profitability was analyzed for the purpose. In addition to overall meta-analysis, a detailed subgroup study was also conducted to test whether the differences in results are due to moderating effects related to different profitability proxies, economic development of a specific country and size of the firms under study.

The findings of this meta-analysis confirm that WCM is negatively associated with profitability, which means an aggressive WCM policy leads to higher profitability. Overall, and in all the subgroup studies, the cash conversion cycle was found to be negatively associated with profitability.

Unlike narrative literature review papers, this meta-analysis provides quantitatively aggregate evidence on the relationship of WCM and firms’ profitability. To the best of authors’ knowledge, no previous meta-analysis paper is published on the topic.

The intent of this study is to aggregate, in a measurable form, the results of previous studies on the association between personal financial management behavior (PFMB) and six psychological factors, which are financial attitude, financial self-efficacy, self-control, materialism, internal locus of control (LOC), and external LOC.

A stack of 32 research documents that investigated 52 relationships between various psychological variables and PFMB was analyzed using the meta-analysis technique. Along with the overall meta-analysis, a comprehensive subgroup analysis was also undertaken counseled to determine whether the results contrast on account of the age group of the sample and the economy of the country to which the sample belongs.

The overall meta-analysis findings do not support the association between PFMB and the various explanatory variables except for the significant positive association with self-control. In contrast, a subgroup study revealed that self-control (positively) and materialism (negatively) were found to be significantly associated with PFMB among adults. The association between internal LOC and PFMB is significant and positive among the young. Interestingly, self-control appeared to be significantly and positively associated with PFMB in developed countries. In developing countries, financial attitude, financial self-efficacy and internal LOC are significantly and positively associated with PFMB.

Distinct from other review papers, this meta-analysis quantitatively cumulates and reconciles the conflicting findings on the linkage between psychological predictors and PFMB. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis on the topic.

This study aims to explore the impact of the containment measures during COVID-19 on individuals’ finances, financial resilience during such distress and identifying the most financially vulnerable among them. Tracing such impact during the pandemic has been challenging due to a lack of representative data. This paper addresses this gap in the present study.

A survey has been conducted using a structured questionnaire containing various items that portray the impact on income, spending, saving, investment, borrowing, insurance and retirement. The sample consists of 699 respondents and purposive and snowball sampling has been used for data collection. The results are presented and analyzed using infographics and frequency distributions. This study conducts an analysis of variance and Chi-square tests for significance.

This paper finds a fall in income and limited ability to cope with the current economic conditions. The survey highlights inadequate savings and insurance, weak retirement planning, outstanding loans and under-diversified investments inhibiting financial resilience even among the higher-income group. Particularly, lower-income strata, women and not much educated are most financially vulnerable. Further, no substantial financial benefits have been received from the government and people rely on their usual income sources.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that measures the pandemic’s impact on personal finances, especially in connection with a developing economy like India. Policy interventions are critical to the millions for whom financial literacy is required now more than ever.

Bank branching plays a significant role in a wide range of economic activities. Existing studies on determinants of bank branching activities largely focus on developed countries; studies devoted to developing countries are scant. The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of bank branching activities in one of the largest developing country India.

The authors employ a unique longitudinal data to study the determinants of bank branch location in India. These data are collected at the state level covering 25 Indian states for the period 2006–2017. The authors employ Poisson regression that are better suited for modeling counted dependent variable.

First, region and bank specific factors such as size of population and bank deposits influence location of bank branches. Second, the relationship between these factors and branch locations is heterogeneous across different types of banks and across states with different business environments.

First, from the view of banks, considering the factors of branch location are crucial in order to set out branching strategy. Irrespective of policy measures aimed at promoting financial inclusion in India, the authors show that banks consider economic activities in the region in locating their branches. Second, from the view of policy makers and regulators, such branching strategy could potentially contribute to financial exclusion. As a result, population in the less developed regions may be excluded from accessing financial services. Hence, policy makers and regulators should take into this account when formulating policies aimed at promoting financial inclusion.

First, while existing studies largely focus on developed countries, studies devoted to developing countries are scant. To the best of our knowledge, the authors have not come across any study that investigates the determinants of bank branch location in India, so the authors reasonably believe that this study is a first-of-its-kind. Second, the study provides a new perspective concerning how regional and bank specific factors influence banks of different ownership in locating branches. Third, while traditional regression used to be a method of choice among early studies, the authors employ Poisson regression that is better suited for modeling counted dependent variable.

The purpose of this paper is to study the status of studies on capital structure determinants in the past 40 years. This paper highlights the major gaps in the literature on determinants of capital structure and also aims to raise specific questions for future research.

The prominence of research is assessed by studying the year of publication and region, level of economic development, firm size, data collection methods, data analysis techniques and theoretical models of capital structure from the selected papers. The review is based on 167 papers published from 1972 to 2013 in various peer-reviewed journals. The relationship of determinants of capital structure is analyzed with the help of meta-analysis.

Major findings show an increase of interest in research on determinants of capital structure of the firms located in emerging markets. However, it is observed that these regions are still under-examined which provides more scope for research both empirical and survey-based studies. Majority of research studies are conducted on large-sized firms by using secondary data and regression-based models for the analysis, whereas studies on small-sized firms are very meager. As majority of the research papers are written only at the organizational level, the impact of leverage on various industries is yet to be examined. The review highlights the major determinants of capital structure and their relationship with leverage. It also reveals the dominance of pecking order theory in explaining capital structure of firms theoretically as well as statistically.

The paper covers a considerable period of time (1972-2013). Among very few review papers on capital structure research, to the best of authors’ knowledge; this is the first review to identify what is missing in the literature on the determinants of capital structure while offering recommendations for future studies. It also synthesize the findings of empirical studies on determinants of capital structure statistically.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of two monitoring mechanisms: family ownership (FO) and financial reporting quality (FRQ) on investment efficiency (IE) over the period of 2007–2014 for listed firms on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

The authors employ two-dimensional pooled OLS cluster at the firm and year level, two-stage least square regression and feasible generalized lease square regression regression methods.

The findings suggest that higher FRQ and FO are associated with higher IE. Further, the authors report that higher FRQ and FO mitigate over- and under-investment. The impact of FRQ on IE is stronger (weaker) for family-controlled businesses. The results for these particular estimates are robust for alternative estimation techniques and measures of FRQ and FO.

The study draws on both agency and behavioral agency theories and therefore contributes to the literature in the following ways. First, the authors examine a relationship between FRQ and IE. Second, the authors test the impact of FO on IE. Third, the authors test the moderating impact of FO on the relationship between FRQ and the IE of family and non-family firms in relatively less regulated emerging market.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the working capital management (WCM) practices adopted by Indian firms listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Using a questionnaire, the authors gather data from 110 financial managers and use various statistical techniques to test for statistical significance.

The evidence shows that the majority (54.5 percent) of sample firms follow a moderate approach in financing their activities, which involves a trade-off between liquidity and profitability. Respondents tend to use an informal approach for WCM and consider receivables management as the most important component of WCM. In terms of WCM monitoring and financial measures, respondents mainly consider the cash conversion cycle and net working capital. Indian firms tend to use centralized cash management and rely heavily on material requirement planning (MRP) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) for proper inventory management.

Tests involving firm size, foreign sales, and average age do not differ significantly between the NSE-listed firms and the sample firms. This evidence lessens concerns of non-response bias and the ability to generalize the findings to Indian firms.

By updating and extending previous research on WCM, this study fills a gap in the literature by providing insights into practices adopted by Indian firms in managing WCM and its components.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the influence of block ownership on firm performance depends on the identity of the largest investor.

The authors analyse the data for New Zealand companies for the period from 2002 to 2007 and develop multiple regression models which test the influence of block ownership on firm performance subject to the identity of the investor. A two‐stage least square approach is employed to test the effect of possible reverse causality between block ownership and firm performance on the relationship found in multiple regression models.

The authors find that the concentrated ownership has a positive, albeit decreasing, association with firm performance. This relationship is conditioned on the identity of the largest investor. Those companies whose block investors were financial institutions performed better than their peers. The superior influence of financial investors on corporate performance did not disappear even when the endogeneity of this relationship was accounted for.

The main contribution of this paper is the finding of a differential influence of various identities of block investors on firm performance. It questions the role that some domestic block investors play in the governance of New Zealand companies and the reason why the financial system has allowed corporate entities to be the main shareholders of the majority of firms when they underperform relative to their peers.