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Elections and Their Results Uncertainty: Did It Induce Herding Behaviour in Indian Stock Markets? A Quantile Regression Analysis for the 2024 Indian Parliamentary Elections
This empirical work investigates the Indian investors herding mentality in the stock markets throughout the 2024 general election period, that is, the pre-election period, during and post-election period, and the whole election period. In addition, the investigation extends to explore, in particular, if the election outcome uncertainty induced any herding in the Indian equity markets on the day of the counting and result announcements of the 2024 general elections. A series of cross-sectional absolute deviation (CSAD) models and the quantile regression framework are employed to determine the existence of investors herding throughout the study period. The findings of the CSAD models show no signs of investors herding in the Indian stock markets for the pre-election season, during and post-election period, and the whole election period. In addition, the quantile regression analysis results also corroborated with the CSAD results by exhibiting adverse herding behaviour throughout the 2024 general election period. Furthermore, the study identified key psychological, macroeconomic and global factors driving the herding behaviour. Among them, only the global factor, that is, the RCBOE:VIXm,t, reported a significant impact on the herding behaviour in the during and post-elections period and whole election periods at the quantile level of 95%. The studys findings offer significant implications for market participants and market regulators regarding investment decision-making and policy formulation during seasons of political uncertainty. 2025 MDI -
Assessing the Impact of Intellectual Capital on Firms Profitability: Evidence from the Indian Information Technology Sector Using Dynamic Panel System GMM Approach
The present study focuses on how intellectual investment influences the financial success of companies in Indias rapidly evolving information technology (IT) sector. Using data from 158 IT companies between 2016 and 2023, the study uses dynamic panel estimation techniques. The modified value-added intellectual coefficient model is used to analyse the key performance proxies such as return on assets, net profit margin and return on net worth. The random effect model and fixed effect model are used to analyse the effects of relational and structural capital results, which exhibit weaker and ineffective impact, while capital employed efficiency and human capital efficiency are significant factors that affect firms profitability by using System GMM, which encountered endogeneity issues. In todays highly competitive and knowledge-driven IT sector, the findings highlight how crucial it is to nurture human talent and use resources efficiently. These insights can guide managers, investors and policymakers in making smart investments in intellectual capital that drive lasting value. 2025 MDI -
Empowering Democracy: A Comprehensive Analysis and Predictive Modelling of Voter Turnout in Indian General Elections
This study aims to break down the complex dynamics driving voter turnout in Indian general elections, providing a detailed examination of the various elements that influence voters to engage in the democratic process. It investigates how voter engagement is changing over years, looking at socio-economic factors, regional differences and historical patterns that have an impact on civic engagement. The research utilizes a detailed exploratory data analysis to examine voter data from 1952 to 2019. Key factors influencing voting turnout are identified through statistical methods and visualizations. In order to predict and comprehend voter behaviour based on various socio-demographic parameters, the study uses advanced machine learning algorithms, such as Random Forest, XGBoost, LSTM and other important models. This project contributes to the understanding of voter behaviour, providing actionable insights for improving democratic participation in the Indian electoral landscape by utilizing hyper-localized constituency-wise data. Previous studies mostly looked into the political landscape of other countries and did not use any hyper-localized data. The study reveals regional differences, socio-economic linkages and important drivers of voter turnout. It highlights the value of focused campaigns, interventions tailored to a certain region and the use of technology to increase political engagements. 2025 MDI. -
Information Management Capacity and Supply Chain Performance: Mediating Effects of Supply Chain Practices, Competencies and Concerns
The present study aims to identify the impact of the information management capacity (IMC) of an organization on its supply chain performance (SCP). Also, this study attempts to understand the mediating role of the various components of supply chain management, namely, practices, competencies and concerns. A survey instrument was used to collect primary data from 250 SMEs which were selected randomly. Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique is used to test the hypotheses using SmartPLS. The final model indicated that information management capacity significantly influences the supply chain performance and supply chain management components, namely supply chain competence, practices and concerns mediate the relationship between information management capacity and supply chain performance. The results of this study provide a significant contribution to the theory of resource-based view. The number of managerial perspectives for improving operational capabilities was explained in this study. 2025 MDI. -
Market Reaction to Dividend Announcements During Pandemic: An Event Study
This study analyses the difference in stock market reactions to dividend announcement during the pandemic. The thirty constituent stocks of Sensex, the index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is used for analysis. This allows cross-industry comparison of the market reaction. The study examines stock market reactions covering 44 days around the dividend announcement dates. The primary objective of this study is to understand whether the price adjustment linked to the dividend announcement news during the pandemic was different from the earlier years. This empirical study employs the conventional event study methodology using abnormal returns (ARs) to examine the stock market reaction to dividend announcement. The market reaction to dividend announcement was increasingly positive during the pandemic, compared to previous years. The statistical pooled t-tests showed there was a significant relationship between the pandemic and ARs. The findings also indicate that the difference in the market reaction to dividend announcement was more prominent in services stocks than that in manufacturing. Further, the results also verify the weak-form of efficiency of Indian stock exchange. 2025 MDI. -
Factors Affecting Digital Visibility of Small and Medium Enterprises in India
This study sketches the importance of social media, integrated marketing communication, social customer relationship management and its transformation in the small and medium enterprises (SME). These factors can increase interaction and communication of SMEs with its customers. This study incorporates empirical method to elaborate how SMEs can increase visibility and reachability by gaining value through the usage of social media. Findings of the study highlight the challenges faced by SMEs with respect to visibility, examines the usage of different digital platforms by Indian SMEs which can resolve these difficulties and its impact on the business for improved visibility of SMEs when competition is hitting hard on all businesses. 2025 MDI. -
Modelling the Path from Servitization Enablers to Customer Centricity in the Automotive Industry: An fsQCA and ANN Analysis
The current study utilizes the major servitization enablers, including value co-creation, service customization, technology integration and network orchestration, as the core factors influencing customer centricity in the Indian automotive service industry. As the industry has shifted to service-oriented value creation, it is necessary to assess those relationships through the lens of the automotive service providers. This study is grounded in the service-dominant logic (SDL), dynamic capabilities (DC) theory and product-service systems (PSS) approach and investigates the data obtained from 179 Indian automotive service providers. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) reveals multiple equifinal configurations that lead to high customer centricity, demonstrating that no single enabler is appropriate. These findings are further substantiated by artificial neural network (ANN) analysis, which reveals that value co-creation plays a vital role in service performance and is the most important enabler of customer centricity (normalized importance = 100%). This dual methodological approach strengthens the results. The research presented feasible observations to automotive service providers, emphasizing the significance of value co-creation, enhancement of co-creation and the creation of flexible service systems that enable customer-oriented decision-making. 2026 IMI -
Nexus Between Interest Rate Risk and Economic Value of Equity of Banks
This analytical study looks to provide recommendations to the banking sector on different policies and regulations by examining certain aspects of the Basel III accord, which was designed to manage specific operational, capital and market risks of banks. A review of extant literature reveals that only a few papers have been written on simulation-based approaches, using basis and re-pricing risks. We look to connect this as a source while attempting to define and measure the impact of interest rate risk (IRR) on the economic value of equity (EVE) of banks. We propose to use the driverdriven method, wherein interest rate shocks are derived through prime lending rate (PLR) for the period of 20162019 in the context of India. Monte Carlo Simulation and OLS regression was performed to predict the IRR; Granger causality was used to examine the cause and effect relationship; the impulse response function (IRF) was used for sensitivity analysis; and the vector error correction model (VECM) technique was used for co-integrating relationships. Notably, the EVE movement caused due to shocks in interest rates had to be traced as it envisages probable EVE losses. Importantly, our study is among the first few to show the relationship between IRR and EVE of banks, especially after the deregulation of Indian banking sector. 2021 IMI -
Inter-state Disparities in Health Care Facilities During COVID-19: A Study of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) in India
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is one of the primary agendas of the World Health Organization (WHO) for achieving the goal of sustainable development. Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) is an important landmark in Indias road towards achieving this objective of universal health. The scheme aims to provide access to quality healthcare services through its empanelled public and private hospitals at the secondary and tertiary care levels. The current study attempts to understand the interstate disparities amongst the states using the scheme during COVID-19, and also analyses the interrelationship between the status of COVID-19 and PM-JAY-empanelled health infrastructure. The study has used secondary data from the COVID-19 India dashboard and the PM-JAY website for the analysis. The study found that, despite having an overall positive correlation between the number of COVID cases and the number of beneficiaries treated, there still exist wide disparities among the states in availing treatment. It was also evident that there is no significant relationship between the status of COVID-19 and the empanelled health infrastructure under PM-JAY. The states with a high number of health infrastructure, with high death and fewer recovery cases, had the worst COVID-19 situation. In order to have better utilisation of the scheme, the government can take necessary measures, such as broader coverage of the scheme, sufficient budgetary allocation to the states, and investment in additional private health infrastructure. 2026 Indian Institute of Health Management Research -
Factors Associated with Psychological Morbidity Among School Students During COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from the Peritraumatic Phase for Future Management
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has increased the prevalence and burden of psychological morbidity in school students. This study attempted to assess the factors associated with psychological morbidity in school students during the peritraumatic phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data from 16,738 school students in India using a cross-sectional online-based survey tool. We carried out a binomial logistic regression to estimate the odds of the relationship that psychological morbidity had with independent variables. Results indicated that 4 in 10 school students had psychological morbidity. Those students in grades 1112 (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.21.4), 1718 years of age (OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.31.6), from a lower socio-economic status (family income of ?20,00130,000 per month) (OR = 1.0, 95% CI = 0.81.0) and a student (OR = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.93.4) or a family member of a student (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.41.8) with COVID-19 infection were associated with higher odds of psychological morbidity. The relationship psychological morbidity had with gender, mental well-being and resilient coping was revelatory. Targeted psychosocial interventions are required for high-risk school students to reduce age, grade and socio-economic disparities in COVID-19-related psychological morbidity. These findings have implications for mental health professionals, counsellors, psychologists, social workers and academicians associated with school students. 2025 SAGE Publications. -
Effects of Mindfulness-based Intervention on Academic Anxiety: Enhancing Well-being of Rural Adolescents
Academic worry has been reported to be highly prevalent among adolescents, and it negatively affects their well-being. In comparison to urban adolescents, rural adolescents experience a lesser degree of academic anxiety. At the same time, very little attention is given to this problem of rural adolescents due to the lack of resources to provide such type of care. The poor resources-driven rural area requires a compact, more easily comprehensible and more inclusive intervention programme that can aid a group of students at a time and be more beneficial and effective. Therefore, in this study, mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) is used, which is indigenous, inclusive and compact, as an intervention to enable adolescents to deal with academic anxiety and improve their well-being. In this study, 47 rural school adolescents with academic anxiety underwent an 8-week MBI after the initial screening process and assessment with the Children and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure and WarwickEdinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Post and 2-month follow-up assessment after intervention showed a significant decline in academic anxiety and an increase in mindfulness and well-being. 2025 SAGE Publications. -
From Exclusion to Inclusion: Empowering LGBT Integration with Allies, Workplace Strategies and Family Role Models
The workplace encounters challenge due to the absence of inclusive environments, resulting in potential loss of top-tier talent, diminished productivity and diminished business performance. This research endeavours to construct a comprehensive framework for the integration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals, focusing on embedding gender and sexual minorities. This study examines the relationship between diversity-friendly workplace management and LGBT integration through advocacy by allies (ABA) and family role modelling. The research framework is constructed based on the principles of sociometric, signalling and family systems theory and is undertaken within the Indian IT/ITES sector, involving 546 employees across 9 technology parks through a survey methodology. The analysis was carried out utilizing Smart PLS software, employing structural equation modelling and making predictions using partial least squares. Mediation and moderation analyses were performed. Findings demonstrate that effective management of diversity-friendly workplaces has a favourable impact on the integration of LGBT individuals in work environments. Results also suggest that ABA plays a supporting role in this relationship through complementary mediation, while the influence of family role modelling is moderated. This study contributes substantially to both theoretical understanding and managerial practices. A cross-cultural, longitudinal and a qualitative perspective could have added more insights to the study. 2025 Management Centre for Human Values -
The Problem of Perception in Sandor Mais Embers: An Advaitic Study
This article attempts to study the problem of perception in Sandor Mais celebrated novel Embers from the standpoint of the pramana (a method of knowledge) of Advaita Vedanta. An epistemic problem, the problem of perception, concerns the overwhelming questions of life, culminating in an enigmatic amalgamation of dilemmas and paradoxes. Genuine dilemmas and paradoxes problematize human relationships, which is evident in the complex narrative of Embers. Our contention in this article is to show how, even though enacted within the periphery of the purely fictional, Embers bears testimony to the complexities of life that are quickened by the limits of human perception, which keeps one from seeing how things really are by creating a shadow or reflected consciousness. Set against the backdrop of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the novel opens up a dialogic space at the intersection of a triangular relationship enacted on the threshold of perception and its multidimensional problems. 2024 Management Centre for Human Values. -
Marital Arrangements and Womens Autonomy: The Narratives of Tibetan Women in Exile
There has been a shift from the previously dominant polyandrous marital arrangements to monogamous arrangements, upon exile, among the Tibetan refugees in India. This article attempts to examine the autonomy of Tibetan women in exile across polyandrous and monogamous marital arrangements through the lens of modernisation and feminist theoretical frameworks. A thematic narrative analysis of 30 Tibetan participants in both marital arrangements has helped in comparing womens autonomy in the domains of inheritance and division of property, household decision-making and with respect to childrens education and occupation. Even though modernising forces partially explain the shift from polyandry to monogamy, the narratives of women belonging to both the monogamous and polyandrous families lend support to the feminist framework suggesting the role of internalisation of social norms and self-abnegation as negatively affecting their autonomy. 2025 CWDS. -
Siri the Healing Mother: Relational Dynamics Between Mother and Child in a Matrilineal Society
The Siri cult revolves around an oral tradition from Tulunadu in Dakshina Kannada (South Canara), India, featuring a story that unfolds over 15,683 lines. It tells the myth of Siri, a remarkable woman, and her lineage. During the famous Siri Jatre (which means festival), women are possessed by the spirits of Siri and her descendants, such as Abbaga and Daraga. This article explores the ritual space of the Siri cult as a transformative arena for women, where the boundaries between myth and reality blur, allowing for collective healing and psychic reintegration. The ritual performances, particularly during the Siri festival, facilitate a trance-like state in which women embody Siri and her struggles, experiencing emotional release. Through communal participation and embodied identification with Siri, women reclaim their repressed emotions, anxieties, and desires, forging new alternative narratives of motherhood, femininity, and divine womanhood. Importantly, Siris divine presence offers women a symbolic anchora figure who legitimises their grief and challenges male-dominated ideals for women to be obedient, nurturing, and submissive. Taking a psychoanalytical lens, this article examines the ritual space of the Siri cult through the framework of object relations theory to explore the psychic processes. The rituals allow women to externalise their inner conflicts and repressed desires, processing their grief and trauma through symbolic enactment. By situating the Siri cult within a psychoanalytical framework, the study reveals how the myth of Siri functions as a transformative object, allowing women to bridge their individual suffering with communal strength, ultimately achieving a sense of psychic integration and empowerment. 2025 Department of Psychology, University of Allahabad -
Navigating Queer Subjectivities: Identity Negotiation and Spatial Constraints Among Sexual Minority Women in Kerala, India
Psychological theories often conceptualise identity as a coherent, interiorised essence, a framing that constrains the fluid and relational experiences of sexual minority individuals. In caste-structured contexts like India, identity emerges from continual negotiation across caste, class, gender and religion rather than interior coherence. Drawing on queer phenomenology and critical intersectionality within an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study examines the experiences of sexual minority women in Kerala as they negotiate their identities through sociospatial regulation. Semistructured interviews revealed identity negotiation as a constant interplay of disorientation, reorientation and subversion articulated through three major themes: (a) spatially induced dilemma, which includes dilemmas about self-expression, dissonance in corporeal schema and out-of-sync temporality; (b) navigating spatial constraints, marked by layered and anticipatory shame, religious and ideological tensions, disembodiment shaped by structurally embedded shame materialising as internalised homonegativity, contested queer authenticity and affective negotiations around normativity; (c) embodied everyday acts of subjective subversion, involving flexible reorientations, agentic reworkings of failure and reimagined futures beyond dominant hetero-coherent narratives. By foregrounding nonlinearity and situated subjective subversion, this study critiques essentialist psychological models and emphasises the precarious, situated practices of queer becoming. The Author(s) 2026 -
What We Think Others Think and Do About Climate Change: A Multicountry Test of Pluralistic Ignorance and Public-Consensus Messaging
Most people believe in human-caused climate change, yet this public consensus can be collectively underestimated (pluralistic ignorance). Across two studies using primary data (n = 3,653 adult participants; 11 countries) and secondary data (ns = 60,230 and 22,496 adult participants; 55 countries), we tested (a) the generalizability of pluralistic ignorance about climate-change beliefs, (b) the effects of a public-consensus intervention on climate action, and (c) the possibility that cultural tightness-looseness might serve as a country-level predictor of pluralistic ignorance. In Study 1, people across 11 countries underestimated the prevalence of proclimate views by at least 7.5% in Indonesia (90% credible interval, or CrI = [5.0, 10.1]), and up to 20.8% in Brazil (90% CrI = [18.2, 23.4]. Providing information about the actual public consensus on climate change was largely ineffective, except for a slight increase in willingness to express ones proclimate opinion, ? = 0.05 (90% CrI = [?0.02, 0.11]). In Study 2, pluralistic ignorance about willingness to contribute financially to fight climate change was slightly more pronounced in looser than tighter cultures, highlighting the particular need for pluralistic-ignorance research in these countries. The Author(s) 2025. -
Study of SH wave propagation in Piezo-material semiconductors with differential imperfect contact mechanism by approximating higher-order quasi-classical method
This study investigates the propagation of a Love-type wave in a multiferroic solid cylindrical shell structure with an imperfect magneto-electroelastic (MEE) interface. An analytical solution for the layer is derived using the spatially variable Quasi-Classical approach. A numerical example illustrates the significant impact of various parameters on the wave's phase velocities and attenuation coefficients. Additionally, graphical comparisons are presented to evaluate the effects of mechanical, electrical, magnetic, electro-mechanical, magneto-mechanical, and magneto-electrical imperfections under electrically and magnetically open and short boundary conditions. The results reveal that the electrically and magnetically open case exhibits significantly higher phase velocities compared to the short case. Key findings are the following: the bonding parameter is directly proportional to phase velocity but inversely proportional to the attenuation coefficient, and imperfection parameters profoundly influence both the phase velocity and attenuation coefficient profiles. This theoretical study provides valuable insights into piezoelectric and piezomagnetic coupling mechanisms, highlighting their potential applications in designing advanced devices such as sensors, actuators, energy harvesters, and nano-electronic systems. The novelty of this work lies in the application of the Quasi-Classical approach to solving differential equations for the first time in a polar coordinate system. IMechE 2025 -
Diabetic retinopathy detection via deep learning based dual features integrated classification model
Background: The primary recognition of diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a pivotal requirement to prevent blindness and vision impairment. This deadly condition is identified by highly qualified professionals by examining colored retinal images. Objective: The physical diagnostics for this condition was time-consuming and prone to fault. The development of computer-vision based intelligent systems has develop a main research area to effectually diagnosis the pathologies from an image. Methods: In this research, a novel Deep learning based Dual Features Integrated classification (DD-FIC) framework is designed to detect the DR from a color retinal image. Initially, the fundus images are denoised by Wavelet integrated Retinex (WIR) algorithm to remove the noise artifacts which provide high contrast image. This DD-FIC model contains two phases of feature extraction module to evaluation of several retinal areas. Initially, global features of the fundus image are retrieved by the assist of attention fused efficient model, whereas the attention module dynamically highlights the important features. Afterwards, the segmented retinal vessels data is converted into features for learning the local features. Results: Finally, the collective of features is processed into the Random Forest based feature selection model for the optimal prediction with five different classes using multi-class support vector machine (MCSVM). The efficacy of the proposed DD-FIC framework is estimated by Kaggle dataset with the detection accuracy of 98.6%. Conclusions: The proposed framework rises the accuracy of 1.54%, 3.65%, 13.79% and 6.28% for Multi-channel CNN, CNN, VGG NiN and Shallow CNN respectively. The Author(s) 2024. -
Hybrid response surface methodologyparticle swarm optimization framework for predictive modeling and tensile strength optimization of PLA bio-composites
Developing mechanically robust biodegradable composites is critical for next-generation orthopedic support devices. Although polylactic acid (PLA) is widely used in additive manufacturing, incorporating fillers can lead to reduced tensile performance when interfacial bonding with the matrix is inadequate. This study aims to enhance the mechanical performance of 3D-printed PLA reinforced with 2wt% rice husk-derived silica (SiO2) through optimized post-annealing. A hybrid statisticalcomputational framework combining Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) was implemented to identify optimal print speed, annealing temperature, and annealing time. PSO predicted the optimal conditions as 50mm/s, 90.90C, and 60min, respectively, corresponding to a projected ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 54.65MPa. Confirmation experiments validated the prediction, yielding a mean UTS of 54.49MPa with an error below 1%. Scanning electron microscopy revealed improved interlayer fusion and enhanced ductility in the optimized samples relative to unoptimized ones. Overall, the integration of RSM and PSO effectively refined post-annealing conditions without modifying material composition, demonstrating a viable strategy for strengthening PLA-based biocomposites. The proposed framework provides a practical route for tailoring mechanical properties in biomedical additive manufacturing, particularly for load-bearing orthopedic applications. The Author(s) 2026