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For the last two decades economics literature and debates have increasingly referred to institutions as the answers to the long-lasting queries regarding how stock market performance rises and what policies can be implement to encourage best outcomes in terms of stock market performances in Malaysia so that the analysis of the institutional basis under which any stock market functions has now converted an essential issue of investigation. This study attempts to capture the relationship between stock market movements and institutional quality (IQ) using autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach, over 33 years during the period of 1984–2016. The finding suggests that IQ positively and significantly affects stock market performance. Moreover, it is also showing that there is, in fact, a causal relationship between institutions and stock market performance. The findings are robust to changes in specification and a host of transparency measures.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of firm environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating scores on market perception and stock behavior from 2017 to 2021 while controlling for COVID-19 severity score.

The authors used panel regression models with robust standard errors based on cross-country and cross-industry sample of 1,324 ESG firms from 25 emerging countries across four regions. Four separate regression analyses are used. Hausman test is used to determine whether fixed-effect (FE) or random-effect approaches should be used in regression models. Lagrange multiplier test is used to test for time FEs, and F-test for individual effects to choose between pooled ordinary least squares model and FE. Two-unit root tests are conducted to check stationarity. Heteroskedasticity and serial correlation were controlled through a robust covariance matrix estimation.

The authors provide evidence that the stakeholder theory persists in emerging countries. Overall, the results suggest that firms’ stock behavior is positively associated with the level of environmental and social performance in the region. However, the results do not provide empirical evidence to support the link between ESG performance and stock market perception proxied by the price-to-sales ratio. The results suggest that Refinitiv and Bloomberg ESG rating scores have a positive impact on stock performance in emerging markets, albeit the Bloomberg rating score is insignificant.

Favorable impact of environmental and social performance on stock performance suggests that policymakers should take initiatives to raise awareness toward investments in ESG projects. Evidence shows that ESG stock performance in emerging markets does not insulate firms from the COVID-19 severity. Furthermore, this study highlights the inconsistency in calculating the ESG ratings, therefore, a more standardized approach is recommended to support investors seeking sustainable investments.

The findings have social implications for investors with proenvironmental preferences and nonpecuniary motives for ethical investments. Asset fund managers should develop ESG investment strategies to promote investor preferences that are linked to the proenvironmental and prosocial attitudes by increasing their investments in stocks of firms that behave ethically and support the environment. Furthermore, the findings show that investors pay a price for ethical and socially responsible investments as they are evaluating the environmental and social activities, hence, the firm ESG profile influences equity valuation and risk assessment.

The study extends the literature and provides evidence from the unique setting of emerging markets by analyzing the relationship between ESG rating scores and the COVID-19 severity scores on one hand, and stock behavior and market perception on the other.

The aim of this paper is to study whether adoption of sustainability policies by firms makes their stock market performance resilient to the downside risk during the crisis period.

The paper empirically examines the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) and stock market performance for Indian companies that have consistently been a part of Refinitiv Eikon ESG database. Further, the study examines whether there exist significant differences in stock market performance of high ESG and low ESG-compliant firms during crisis period. The sample was made up of 70 Indian firms studied over the period 2016–2019 defined as “normal period” as well as for the declared COVID-19 crisis period, i.e. January–March 2020, and full year 2020. The authors used multivariate panel data regression, robust least square multivariate regression, pooled OLS model and two-stage least square regression method.

The study extends the existing literature by investigating the impact of ESG performance on market value of firms during the crisis period. Based on the stakeholder and “flight to safety” theory, the authors hypothesized that ESG would have significant positive effect on the stock market performance during crisis period; however, the results provide robust evidence that in a well-specified model capturing the effect of accounting-based measures of performance, Size, Growth, Risk and Dividend yield, ESG had no explanatory power over the stock market performance of ESG-compliant firms during crisis period. Furthermore, no significant difference in stock market performance indicators between high and low ESG-compliant firms was observed during the crisis period of 1Q2020 as well as for full year 2020. On contrary, the study finds dividend yield to be statistically significant in determining stock market performance of Indian firms during crisis period. The study extends the existing literature by coining the term, “ESG irrelevance” during crisis period.

The main limitation of this study is its limited sample size because there are very few Indian firms that have secured consistent ESG rating. The study focuses on consistently rated firms to avoid the impact of “greenwashing”. Further, the study is focused on India, which limits the generalizability of our findings to other emerging countries.

To the best of our knowledge, this is among the first few studies that examines sustainability and stock market performance of Indian firms during COVID-19-led crisis period. Our findings highlight no significant difference between stock market performance of high ESG firms and low ESG firms indicating that investors who wish to create wealth by investing in ESG-compliant stocks in India can do so without worrying about the companies’ ESG rating scores.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of brand equity (BE) on stock performance (i.e. stock return, volatility and beta), and compare the performance of a high brand equity stocks (HBES) portfolio with that of the overall market during market downturn, market upturn and total disturbance periods of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Stock performance data and brand valuation estimates are obtained from various sources to assemble a portfolio of HBES and conduct the analyses. Econometric models are estimated to examine the impact of BE on stock performance and compare the HBES portfolio performance versus the overall market.

BE was positively associated with stock return and negatively associated with both types of risk (volatility and beta) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, during the market downturn period, BE was positively related to stock return and negatively related to stock volatility; during the market upturn period, BE was negatively associated with both types of risk; and during the total disturbance period, BE was positively associated with stock return and negatively associated with both types of risk. Finally, the HBES portfolio outperformed the market (S&P 500 index).

The findings advance the extant research by providing evidence pertaining to brands' role in mitigating the impact of unpredictable market shocks and crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on stock performance. While brands are mostly viewed as drivers of sustained competitive advantage and profitability, their protective role in crisis times is noteworthy.

The research findings potentially help marketing and brand managers to justify marketing spending and craft their strategies to enhance firm performance during crises similar to COVID-19.

The marketing–finance interface can benefit from insights offered by the COVID-19 pandemic, as such crises are becoming prevalent and are capable of damaging various stakeholders' outcomes (firms, investors and customers). The empirical examination is separately conducted on the market downturn, market upturn and total disturbance period attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Literature indicates that global geographic diversification (GD) has mixed effects on a multinational corporation’s (MNC) performances. The purpose of this paper is to examine how an MNC’s GD influences its stock market and financial performances directly and indirectly via operational performance (i.e. changes in inventory levels).

Using firm-level data collected from Compustat database for the period 2000-2011 and estimating a mediating regression model, the authors examine the direct and indirect effects of GD on an MNC’s stock market (Tobin’s q) and financial performances (ROA), with inventory level being a mediator. Additionally, the examination is implemented separately under two economic situations: financial crisis vs without financial crisis.

The results show that GD enhances an MNC’s stock market performance, while deteriorating its financial performance in the presence of a financial crisis. In contrast, GD has little direct impact on an MNC’s stock market and financial performances during periods without financial crisis. The indirect effects of GD are mediated by changes in inventory levels.

This study suggests that MNCs need to carefully weigh the benefits and costs of global strategy obtained through GD. The results also indicate that GD is highly appreciated by the stock market investors during economic downturns and tighter inventory management may further enhance firm values.

This paper is the first empirical research to estimate both direct and indirect effects of GD via inventory in the operations management literature, highlighting the value of GD depending on the different economic situations and echoing the role of operations in implementing GD.

The purpose of this study is to determine and compare the performance of small and medium enterprises (SME) and manufacturing company stock portfolios in the Indonesian, Chinese and Indian capital markets by the Sharpe Index and the significance of differences in average performance in the capital market.

This is comparative research that compared the performances of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios in Indonesian, Chinese and Indian capital markets. The hypothesis examination of comparative test used one-way ANOVA technique on the performance of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios in Indonesian, Chinese and Indian capital markets. One-way ANOVA test was used in the analysis to test the average difference of performance indices of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios is in Indonesian, Chinese and Indian capital markets.

The performance of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios in Indonesian capital market was not better than the performances of IHSG and LQ45 Index, the performance of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios in Chinese capital market (SZSE) was better than the performance of Shenzhen Composite Index and the performance of Shenzhen A-Share Stock Price Index. The comparison of the performances of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios in Indonesian, Chinese and Indian capital markets showed that the performance of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios in Chinese capital market was the best and the performance of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios in Indonesian capital market was the lowest.

The implication of this study was that SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios had relatively better performances in China and India, so investors should consider investing in SME and manufacturing company stocks. The performance of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolios in Indonesia was not able to exceed market and LQ45 portfolios, so the authority in Indonesia financial market should consider developing a special market for SME and manufacturing company to support the development of SME and manufacturing company in Indonesia and solve the problem of lack of funding source for SME and manufacturing company.

The originality of the present study is in the measurement of the performance of SME and manufacturing company stock portfolio by risk-adjusted return which returns per risk unit measured by Sharpe Index as a more beneficial measurement in measuring stock portfolio performance than average return. Comparative study of the stock portfolio performances of small medium enterprises and manufacturing company In Indonesian, Chinese and Indian stock markets, and object studies conducted in Indonesia, China and India.

The purpose of the paper is to identify the key determinants of stock market performance in Nigeria. More specifically, it is an attempt to determine the effect of gender diversity in leadership roles on the performance of the stock market in Nigeria.

The paper uses annual data from 1980 through 2011 to model the development and performance of the Nigerian stock market through a modified Calderon-Rossell approach. Specifically, the leadership role of women in the governance of the stock market is investigated. Robust regression approach is used to avoid complications associated with the violations of the assumptions underlying the application of ordinary least squares regression.

The empirical analysis shows that level of income, real exchange rate, liquidity, banking sector development, institutional quality, macroeconomic stability and gender are important determinants of stock market performance in the Nigerian stock market. Further, the results indicate that at worst, gender diversity does not play into stock market performance in Nigeria, and at its best, the appointment of women in the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange is associated with better performance.

The paper contributes to the empirical literature on the role of gender diversity and financial performance. The contribution of this paper is the inclusion of gender as an institutional factor among the determinants of stock market performance in Nigeria.

Motivated by the findings of Bhabra and Hossain (2017) that highlight an improvement in US market performance in the post-Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) period, this paper aims to investigate how this change varies with the methods of payment used for the deals.

Deductive in nature and using an event study approach, this paper uses a sample of 675 deals between 1999 and 2006 to test three research hypotheses in a pre-post setting.

Results show that at the aggregate level, there is a significant improvement in the market performance of US acquirers around the announcement day in the aftermath of the passage of SOX 2002. Considered separately, both US stock acquirers and cash acquirers did not experience any significant improvement in market performance in the post-Sarbanes–Oxley period. These results are robust to controlling for governance, firm and deal variables, as well as industry and year fixed effects.

Exploratory in nature, the results are to be interpreted in light of the sample size and the period under investigation.

The results provide evidence for regulators and legislators on the contribution of SOX 2002 to curbing managerial misconduct. Significant improvement in the market performance also signals more confidence in managerial decisions and a reduction in agency problems. The insignificant change in stock acquirers’ market performance can be an indication that policymakers should exert more efforts to improve shareholders' confidence in the quality of disclosure.

This investigation provides unique insights on whether SOX has been effective in mitigating mispricing concerns associated with stock-financed acquisitions and whether it was effective in moderating the governance mechanism associated with cash-financed acquisitions.

The COVID-19 outbreak and its confinement resulted in an unexpected stock market crash, hence the interest in environmental, social and governance (hereafter, ESG) policies. This paper aims to examine the association between ESG performance and stock market volatility before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper examined 500 US companies listed in the S&P 500. The window period volatility refers to March 18, 2020, when the US President signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Here, the Thomson Reuters database was used to collect ESG data and daily market information.

The findings suggest that companies with high ESG performance have lower stock price volatility than companies with poor ESG performance. In other words, strong ESG performance reduces stock price volatility resulting from the COVID-19 shock and promotes resilience and stock price stability.

This research contributes to current debates on emerging pandemics and unexpected risks and highlights the need to invest more in improving corporate sustainability.

The results have substantial implications for managers and investors, as it highlights the relevance of customer and investor loyalty to the durability of ESG stocks.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the first quarter of 2020 has caused a severe decline in stock markets worldwide. While prior studies in developed markets found that workplace closure can negatively impact the capital market (e.g. Ozili and Arun, 2020), lesser is known about how it impacts emerging capital markets, which may have different characteristics and behaviour (Harjoto et al., 2021). Hence, this study seeks to uncover stock performance around workplace closure dates of firms incorporated in ASEAN countries and investigates the role of accounting fundamentals in mitigating workplace closure policy's effects on stock performances.

Using an event study methodology, the authors measure the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around workplace closure dates. The authors then use cross-sectional analysis to analyse whether the accounting fundamentals, specifically profitability, cash flow, and leverage, are associated with the CAR. This cross-sectional study involves 1,720 firms that are incorporated in the ASEAN countries.

This analysis indicates that, on average, ASEAN capital markets react negatively to workplace closure policies. The authors then find that the CARs around workplace closure dates are positively associated with the current ratios and are negatively associated with long-term debt ratios. This study’s results thus indicate that firms with a higher liquidity and a higher solvency experience a less adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic than other firms. The authors also find that the associations are more robust for (1) firms in industries more affected by COVID-19 and (2) firms located in countries with more severe cases. Additionally, contrary to this study’s expectation, the authors do not find meaningful associations between CARs around workplace closure dates and firms' cash flow from operation and profit respectively. This study’s results suggest that investors view prior performances related to firms' ability to generate operating cash flow and profit as less relevant to measure firm performance around the workplace closure event.

This study’s results contribute to studies examining fundamental accounting roles during the COVID-19 era, specifically in emerging economies. The findings are critical for investors in understanding the company fundamentals associated with stock price performance in emerging markets during the recent health-related crisis.

Most studies analysing cross-sectional differences in stock returns during the COVID-19 era focus on industry-level differences and use observations from developed markets (Sinagl, 2020; Ramelli and Wagner, 2020). Studies using firm-level analysis in emerging markets are still limited. The authors expand prior studies by using firm-level analysis that spans six countries in ASEAN.