Effect of COVID-19 Fear on Worker’s Well-being: A Hope Intervention Approach for Services Sector

The current study has investigated the mechanism of COVID-19 deteriorating workplace well-being. The study detemines that people confronting a surge in fear of COVID-19 start losing hope resulting in damaged well-being. The workplace well-being scale as developed by Bartels et al., (2019) was amended to meet the requirements of the current context. Hence, the authors added a phrase before items (during current COVID-19, and remote working need) to relate the scale with the current study. The study found a significant relationship between fear of coronavirus and the workplace well-being of remote workers. A significant mediation was observed through the hope construct. Hence, established that COVID-19 is damaging workplace well-being. The study also has certain limitations, as COVID-19 is a recent pandemic not much literature is present to support the phenomenon. Future researchers might go for a greater data set for generalizing the phenomenon. A cross-country analysis could present great insights into the model. It is a timely decision for policymakers, politicians, managers, academicians, and practitioners to devise strategies to control the phenomenon

DYNAMICS OF NOMINAL EXCHANGE RATE WITH PRICE LEVELS: WHAT HAPPENS IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS?

Since inception exchange rate determination in Pakistan has been studied extensively but under various approaches. Current study explores empirically the relationship of the domestic price level & foreign price level with nominal exchange rate in Pakistan, using a daily data set for 13 years (July 2000- June 2013) as provided by State Bank of Pakistan. Variables are analyzed for stochastic properties and existence of unit root, for this purpose ADF is used. Along with regression analysis the co-integration is tested to detect long term co-movement between variables. It has been found that domestic price level has positive relationship with nominal exchange rate, whereas, foreign price level has a negative relationship with nominal exchange rate in the long run

VOLATILITY OF EXCHANGE RATE EFECTING TRADE GROWTH- A CASE OF PAKISTAN WITH US, UK AND UAE

Primary objective of this paper is to investigate fluctuations in trade of Pakistan resulting from volatility in exchange rate of three of the major trading partners including United States of America, United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. This paper covers a longer period of time from 1988:8 to 2011:6 using monthly data. ADF is used to check stationarity of the variables, Garch estimates volatility of exchange rate, co-integration measures long run relationship, VECM estimates adjustment in trade growth in short run due to change in exchange rate. Empirical results show a negative effect between trade growth and exchange rate

Prediction of Future Returns through Earning Management: A Case of Pakistan

Companies world over are often found indulge in activity of hiding their real financial positions by decorating their financial statements with false digits. This concept referred to as earning management, which plays a significantly critical role in investor performance in stock market. In this paper analysis of probability of earnings manipulation using Beneish Model is performed. Sample comprised of two sectors; Sugar and Cement as listed at Karachi stock exchange. Various firms in Cement and Sugar Sector were distinguished as manipulators and non-manipulators as per the data analysis. Results predicted that 54.65% of the companies were manipulating their performance through window dressing and remaining 45% were non manipulators. Methodology to apply Beneish Model as opted from Beneish basic paper (1997) was used which marked manipulator companies with value as “1” and non-manipulator companies by “0” with the objective to benefit investor of the stock market and save them from getting misguided by false financial statements. The variable of the study as calculated by the help of those 8 variables included in Beniesh model is called PROBM (Probability of Manipulation). The study also explores ability of PROBM to predict the future returns. Results revealed that PROBM and other variables remained insignificant in predicting future period returns in the context of Pakistani stock marke

How Does Managerial Ability cherish Dividend Payout decision during Economic Policy Uncertainty?

Dividend decisions are the road map of investment and hence, carry huge weightage for investors. During periods of economic policy uncertainty dividend cut is devastating and brutal. As previously suggested that EPU leads to decreased or no dividends offered by the firms. Current study established the argument that relationship between EPU and dividend payout changes through moderating role of managerial ability. It was hypothesized that a capable and challenging manager fights EPU disasters through his skills, ability to forecast and efficiency and builds a sustained relationship between EPU and dividend payout. An extensive data set from 2006-2015 was taken from 1,153 non-financial listed firms of China. Results supported the hypothesis robustly. &nbsp

Board Financial Expertise and Debt Policy

This study examines whether board financial expertise affect firm leverage for the sample of Pakistan non-financial listed firms. Using panel data for the year 2010-2015, we examine the relationship between financial expertise on board and firm leverage. We find a significant positive relationship between presence of financial expertise on board and firm leverage. To control possible endogeneity, this study employs propensity score matching and found similar results. This study is important as it exhibits that the presence of financial expertise on board affects firm economic decision beyond reporting quality accuracy