Journal of Innovation in Business Studies
Understanding Digital Customer Satisfaction in the Era of 4th Industrial Revolution
Industrial revolution 4.0 has inevitable impact on production and Business. In business, customer satisfaction is pivotal and significant. In this technological advancement and revolution, digital customer satisfaction trend can be definitely transformed over the time. This study would like to find out the several factors which have diversified impact on digital customer satisfaction in the era of 4th industrial revolution in developing country like Bangladesh. The major 8 divisions have been targeted as population for covering the context of this study. Traditional buyer and digitalized customer are identically differing in this digitalized world. Digital customers know better their need and usage of technology. Though digitalization is a fact now, customer satisfaction can be diversified by several factors. There have been several impactful variables whose have significantly influenced customer satisfaction. This study has found five major latent constructs- Digital literacy, perceived benefits, perceived risk, quality factors and customer attitude for understanding. This factor contains several variables which also play very pivotal role for customer satisfaction. Therefore, these variables have been examined by exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Using Likert method, a questionnaire was prepared for survey along with some demographic information. The survey has been executed on small size of sample. Responses from survey were used to analyze the factors using SPSS and smart PLS. As for analysis, factors have been loaded using Oblique method of rotation. In such way, underlying latent factors for consumer satisfaction have been explored and explained. The selected variables have been positively correlated and the entire developed hypotheses are being accepted by the alternative. In CFA model the variables direct relation has been examined and projected. Finally, several practical and theoretical implications have been drawn along with direction for future researcher in the later part of this paper.
Copyright (c) 2022 Journal of Innovation in Business Studies
The Effect of Working Capital and Cash Holding Level on Firm Performance: Evidence from the Covid-19 Pandemic
Short-term financing decisions on liquidity management have significant implication on firm’s financial profitability. The importance of having proper liquidity is proven to be even more prevalent in the times of the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to examine how liquidity can influence the financial performance of a company before and after the pandemic. This study used 29 listed Bangladeshi banks and financial institutions. 5 years from 2016 to 2020 are taken as samples. Correlation matrix, multivariate OLS regression analysis, panel data random-effect regression statistical measures are used to evaluate the data. Additionally, the interaction effect of explanatory variables and lagged variables of dependent variables has been used to increase the reliability of the findings. Our results portray that both current ratio and cash holding level have positive relationship with firms’ profitability. However, as dictated by trade-off theory, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship as the values of current ratio and cash holding levels increase. Another major finding of the study is the negative impact of the covid-19 pandemic on both ROA and ROE. Among the control variables, growth of operating profit shows positive relationship and the other variables – firm size, debt to equity ratio and loan to deposit ratio show negative relationships.
Ashraful Islam Faysal Ashraful Islam Faysal
Impact of SERVQUAL Dimensions on the Service Quality and Continuance Usage of mHealth Services: A Study on End-users of mHealth Services in Bangladesh
The usage of mHealth services is rising in Bangladesh, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dimensions of SERVQUAL Model regarsding mHealth and their associations with service quality and continuance usage were thoroughly assessed in this study. The objective of the study was to observe the impact of the SERVQUAL dimensions on the service quality and continuance usage of mHealth. Primary data were collected from 191 end-users of various mHealth services available in Bangladesh. The data were analyzed using SEM modeling technique through the usage of the credible software Smart PLS 3.0. This study contributes to the emerging mHealth scenario in Bangladesh by unveiling that the dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and advocacy have positive influence on service quality, and only the dimensions- assurance and advocacy- have positive association with continuance usage of mHealth services. It was also found that, the constructs empathy and tangibles do not have any positive association with service quality of mHealth. On the other hand, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, tangibles, and service quality itself do not have positive relationship with usage continuity. Additionally, this study creates opportunities for further research in the flourishing mHealth literature in the context of developing countries like Bangladesh.
Mohammad Zahedul Alam, PhD Mohammad Zahedul Alam, PhD
Perceptive Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Customer Loyalty through Satisfaction in the Evolving Supermarkets of Bangladesh
The limited research conducted on the emerging supermarkets of Bangladesh motivates this study to make supermarkets more profitable, attractive and dynamic. This paper aims to investigate the influence of perceptive factors to attract and create loyal customers for the emerging supermarkets of Bangladesh. Data has been collected from 360 valid supermarket consumers by self-administered and random sampling questionnaires using 5 points Likert scale surveying three selected emerging and major supermarkets of Bangladesh. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Statistical Equation Modeling (SEM) has been utilised as statistical tools to analyse the data and to confirm the Hypothesised Model using AMOS. The research finds that Hedonic and Utilitarian Gratification has a significant role in influencing the effectiveness of Customer Loyalty through Satisfaction in the supermarkets of Bangladesh. This research will provide supermarket entrepreneurs with a solid understanding of formulating potent plans to attract and retain more customers, keep them loyal, and increase profit.
Loyalty Programs in Supermarket of Bangladesh
Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan
Export-led Growth (ELG) Hypothesis in BCIM Countries: A Panel Econometric Analysis
This study explores the stability and causality of the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis for Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar, commonly known as BCIM countries. ADF and KPSS unit root tests are employed to check the stationarity of time series data and ARDL approach for long-run co-integration among the variables. MWALD Granger causality test is also used to determine the direction of causality among the variables. It is found that both export-led growth (ELG) and growth-led export (GLE) hypotheses are stable in Bangladesh and India; only ELG theorem is relevant to China; and GLE hypothesis is valid in case of Myanmar. In this study, unidirectional and bidirectional causal associations between the variables determine the relevance of ELG and GLE hypotheses in the context of BCIM countries. It is mentionable that any joint step of BCIM countries is critical to promote exports by penetrating new destinations with diversification of exports of goods and services. The study findings also suggest the potential for utilizing unused resources of these countries to promote exports in order to reach a spectacular growth path.
Dr. Md. Moniruzzaman Dr. Md. Moniruzzaman
Capacity Utilization and Production Efficiency of Sugar Industry of Bangladesh: An Application of DEA
The current production of Sugar in Bangladesh is about 60 metric tons, which is only about 5% of the total demand for sugar in the country. One of the causes of lower sugar production in the industry is the insufficient supply of sugarcane in the factories and the sugar recovery rate is very low. Again, the industry is running only at 33% of its sugar production capacity and is a losing concern for the government of Bangladesh. The study aims to investigate the capacity utilization and production efficiency of sugar mills and identify the relationship between these two. It uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the production efficiency of 15 sugar mills under BSFIC for a period covering from the fiscal year 2015-16 to 2019-20. DEA is a linear programming-based technique that mirrors the capability of a decision-making unit to attain the highest level of output from a given set of inputs. To measure the efficiency, the study considers the consumption of sugarcane, crushing days, the number of employees as input variables, and the amount of sugar and jaggery production as output variables. The result shows that the overall efficiency under CRS is 0.868, which indicates that the industry is running with a 13.2% efficiency loss. The lowest efficiency score in the industry is for Rangpur Sugar Mill (0.664) represents that the mill can reduce its consumption of inputs by 33.6% without affecting the number of outputs. The findings can help policymakers formulate policies to enhance the operating efficiency of the sugar mills running in the economy. It can also provide guidelines to the development partners in identifying the priority of their development initiatives.
Impact of Influencer Marketing on Brand Awareness in the COVID-19 Hit Market: The Moderating Effect of Price Sensitivity
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced our life to stay-at-home orders and disrupted all aspects of our life, which made our relationships stay connected with social media. Marketers of the different products and services have adopted the new shift of life; as a result, they have embraced influencers to establish communication as a digital approach. The research would like to investigate the problem related to the determining factors of brand awareness in the COVID-19 situation, which has not been clarified in previous studies. This study aims to investigate the factors affecting purchasing intention through the influencer marketing approach in the COVID-19 hit market of Bangladesh. The study also analyzes the moderating role of price sensitivity between brand awareness and purchase intention. Data were collected through an online survey utilizing the sample random sampling technique from the Y generation users. A total of 258 data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The study shows that e-WOM (electronic-Word of mouth), content quality, and influencer attractiveness significantly impact building brand awareness through influencer marketing. Moreover, it was found that price sensitivity has no impact between brand awareness and purchase intention. The study contributes by attributing to the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), arguing from the perspective of rational and systematic evaluation in purchasing behavior. This empirical study can suggest to brand or campaign managers that influencers' information matters in converting audiences to customers. This research is the first study that empirically analyzes the reasons behind purchasing through influencer marketing.
Board Gender Diversity and Financial Distress Risk: Evidence from Bangladesh
The study aims to find out whether board gender diversity matters in the corporate board and whether it can be valuable for predicting financial distress risk. The data set consists of 370 firm-year observations gathered from DSE-listed manufacturing firms during 2012-2019. The mean value shows the ratio of female directors in Bangladeshi firms is greater than in India but lower compared to other developed countries. Besides, the presence of female directors is greater in FD (financially distressed) firms than in non-FDs during the study period. Logistic regression finds a positive but statistically insignificant influence of BGD on the likelihood of FD. This finding proves the argument placed by other authors about female directors being the victims of tokenism specifically in family firms. Practically, the study will provide exclusive inputs for ensuring gender equality in corporate top management positions and facilitate reforming governance guidelines specific to country and culture relevant
History and Institutional Setting of Corporate Social Reporting (CSR): The Japanese Context
The purpose of this study is to sketch the history of the Japanese CSR and put up the determinants of its unique institutional settings by following a semi-systematic literature review. Findings suggest that Japan has a rich history of environmental reporting. It is a code-low-based country where CSR-context is voluntary and is featured with flexible guidelines, social responsibility-based corporate philosophy and internally collaborative corporate culture; these attributes are positive for the growth of CSR in Japan. However, this growth could be halted due to excessive dependency on local guidelines; additional challenges for the Japanese CSRs are environmental-heavy disclosures, dwarfed social disclosures, information overload, overlooking ESG-based targets and less integration between the financial and non-financial parts of the CSR. This paper contributes by formulating an institutional framework dedicated to the understanding of Japanese CSRs’ unique attributes;CSR-focused researchers and non-financial framework/standard setters are likely to draw value from this endeavor.
SERVQUAL Model Dimensions and Customer Satisfaction towards Ride-Sharing Services in Dhaka City
Ride-sharing services have become an integral part of the sharing economy, especially in the transport sector. Previous study findings suggest that there is a lack of literatures on SERVQUAL model dimensions and customer satisfaction of ride-sharing services in Dhaka city. Therefore, this study attempts to explore this issue. The researchers used convenience-sampling method; data were collected from the ride-sharing services users in Dhaka city through an online closed-ended self-administered structured questionnaire survey. 500 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents through online platforms whereas 300 questionnaires were received, and 238 valid responses were considered for data analysis. The survey data were analyzed based on construct validity, convergent validity, and structural modeling using SmartPLS3.0. The researchers found that reliability, assurance, and empathy are significant constructs where tangibility and responsiveness are found to be statistically insignificant. This study has presented one of the first attempts in Bangladesh context where the relationship among the services quality dimensions and customer satisfaction in ride-sharing services was explored from the customer perspectives. In a developing country like Bangladesh, at the execution level, the service providers should resolve the dissatisfactory factors of the users to make the ride-sharing services more acceptable and friendlier.
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Innovation in Business Studies
Nexus Between Psychological Empowerment and Creative Process Engagement in A Moderated Mediation Mechanism
Using the lens of multi-theory and multi-level perspective based in an Asian emerging economy, the present study investigates the influence of psychological empowerment (PE) on creative process engagement (CPE) in a moderated mediation mechanism. The study collected cross-sectional data using the convenience sampling method from small and medium enterprises and used partial-least square based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) for engendering the statistical estimates. The deductive reasoning approach was followed to frame the research design. The results revealed that psychological empowerment influences creative self-efficacy (CSE), and CSE affects CPE. However, the moderated mediation effect on CPE was not found supported. The study attests to roadmaps how the results contribute theoretically, academically, and empirically. Finally, the current research concludes by noting a few shortcomings to contribute and advance the knowledge in the future.
Md. Aftab Uddin, PhD Md. Aftab Uddin, PhD
Creative Accounting Practices: Perception Gap Analysis among Users and Preparer of Financial Information
This research explores the views of creative accounting practices and perception gap between the present and potential users and preparers of financial report accentuating on developing country perspective. Creative accounting is the misstatement of financial information being within the periphery of edict. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey to analyze the views of respondents. Optimization of benefit of the manipulators is the main reason of practicing this negative creativity for preparing company report. Respondents have significant perception gap about the overall view of this financial reporting and creativity of information. Lack of regulation, flexibility in regulation, discretionary position of management team and transaction timing will act as vital components of negative creativity. However, independence of external auditors and number of outside directors may lessen the use of creative accounting. As creative accounting is legal; strong, virtuous and ethical values are essential to reduce the implication of it.
Perception Gap and Financial Information
Mohammed Moin Uddin Reza Mohammed Moin Uddin Reza
Corporate Risk Reporting and its Determinants: A Systematic Review
This review aims to summarize the risk, management of risk and risk reporting related researches around the world. Through the systematic review, the research papers written from 2004 to 2021 have been reviewed. In this review, it has appeared that the degree of revealing risk contents is still poor. The quantity of risk reporting varies among the nations. In some countries, risk reporting is satisfactory but in others it is very poor. The types of disclosures whether it is voluntary, or mandatory depend on the country’s perspective. Mainly, the elements of governance of company (size of board, independent directors, pattern of ownership, role duality and audit quality), size of company, the degree of risk and the profitability are the key determinants. Moreover, industry type, competition and environmental sensitivity are found as the determinants of risk reporting in some previous research works. This paper is useful to identify the gap for new research in this area.
Determinants of Corporate Risk Reporting
Efficiency and Productivity Measurement for Sustainability of Selected Textile Companies in Bangladesh: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis
Inefficiency and less productivity can create unsustainability. This study aims to analyze the productivity and efficiency for the economic sustainability of selected textile companies in Bangladesh. The study selects Nineteen (19) companies conveniently based on data availability of annual reports and only secondary data of six years has been collected and analyzed. Cost of materials, wages and salaries, energy and fuel costs, and total assets are input variables while sales, gross profit and net profit are used as output variables for this study. The researcher uses the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) and also examines the profit trend over the mentioned period. The study results reveal that Rahimtex is efficient whereas Argondenims & Apexspin are relatively efficient; all other companies are inefficient in terms of total factor productivity. However, Maksonspin, MHSML and Zaheenspin are highly deteriorated from the benchmark. Technological change is responsible mainly for such inefficiencies. The study also finds the profit trend of the sample companies is in mixed position and not increasing accordingly as sales and costs. Thus, advanced technology and efficient management are required to increase the productivity & profitability for sustainable textile companies in Bangladesh. Government may provide conditional cash and tax incentives to get advanced technologies and managers can hire the applied knowledge to grow the success seeds in own.
Md. Saheb Ali Mondal Md. Saheb Ali Mondal
Impact of Knowledge Management System Acceptance Behaviour on Value Creation in the Banking Sector
Nowadays,Knowledge Management System (KMS) in the modern bank management system enhances value creation bank performance and fostering their competitive advantage. Despite many benefits of KMS, low acceptance of KMS has been a common problem for successfully implementing KMS in the Bangladeshi banking sector. Therefore, this paper tried to identify the factors that led to the acceptance of Knowledge Management System by extending the UTAUT model to promote value creation. Data were collected from 240 respondents from 15 different branch employees who had used KMS in their daily banking activities in Bangladesh. In the current study, survey data were analysed using Partial Least Square (PLS) method. Our research findings showed that performance expectancy and effort expectancy significantly influenced behaviour intention; on the other hand, social impact has no considerable effect on behaviour intention. The empirical study also revealed that employee facilitating conditions and behaviour intention play a significant role in employees' acceptance behaviour of KMS. Therefore, the current findings of this paper will enrich KMS adoption and value creation literature. This study has confirmed the applicability of the extended UTAUT model in the context of KMS acceptance behaviour among employees for value creation performance. It will also help Bangladeshi bank owners take proper initiative to emphasize this specific area. As a result, the employee can use KMS frequently for improving the organizational outcome.
Mohammad Abdullah Mahfuz, PhD Mohammad Abdullah Mahfuz, PhD
Assessing the Mediating Role of Talent Engagement between Talent Development and Retention
This study attempts to examine the impact of talent development on retention and the mediating effect of talent engagement between talent development and retention. The study analysed 450 samples of top, mid, and lower-level officers working in pharmaceutical companies of Bangladesh. Data were collected using google form. Structural Equation modelling (SEM) was employed using AMOS to test the research framework. Talent development was connected positively with both retention and engagement. The positive relationship between talent engagement and retention was also accepted. Furthermore, the mediating impact of talent engagement between talent development and retention was found significant. The findings may be helpful for practitioners to comprehend the importance of taking care of talents that foster high engagement and would ultimately contribute to retaining talents to gain sustainable competitive advantages. If managers can develop talents properly, they may tend to attach to the company for a longer period of time.
Indoor Localization Techniques in Location-Based Business Applications and Services
Indoor localization in multi-floor buildings is an important research problem in recent years. The development of location-aware applications can be promoted by the increasing popularity of smartphones and huge demand in different business sectors based on the localization services. In this paper, we are going to use location fingerprinting based algorithms instead of modelling the propagation of the WiFi signal. The fingerprinting-based localization using Received Signal Strength (RSS) measurements coming from indoor networks, such as WiFi and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is one of the most widely spread techniques for indoor localisation in multi-floor buildings. But it needs to store and transmit a huge amount of fingerprinting data which is a great drawback for mobile devices like smart phones, tablets, etc. which have limited memory, power and computational resources. Alternative methods, which have lower complexity and is faster than the fingerprinting is the Weighted Centroid Localization (WCL) and Log-Gaussian algorithms. All the simulations have been conducted by MATLAB software to test the performances of the methods. All the experiments have been carried with the given dataset of RSS and coordinate values that has been stored from smartphones in typical building environment. The errors have been obtained by computing the similarity between current estimated and the stored true fingerprints for every new location. The size of the dataset can be decreased by storing only the values of the coordinates and their corresponding floor labels.
Article-2 The Innovative and Creative Businesses –Need for Legal and Ethical Practices
Innovative businesses make Bangladesh known to the World as a creative nation. She possesses the 8th largest population in the 92nd largest area among the ranking of 195 countries in the World. Initiative with innovation and creativity is important human quality for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship. Innovative and creative people do new business and also keep ongoing business alive in competitions. Perfect competitions contribute to national development that demands legal and ethical innovation and creativity. Business by definition means remaining busy with legal works where tangible goods and intangible services are produced and exchanged. Cumulative counts of all goods and services of a country in a year make the gross national product (GNP). Adult literacy, GNP per capita, and life expectancy at birth are interdependent indicators of national development in perfect business competitions. These products and processes of businesses must be legal but may not be always ethical. Business of tobacco is legal but marketing a carcinogenic product is definitely not ethical. The study followed the legal and ethical research framework and norms in order to encourage benevolent innovation and creativity in businesses.
Mohammad Quamruzzaman Mohammad Quamruzzaman
Article-1 Banking Goes Digital: Unearthing the Adoption of Fintech by Bangladeshi Households
The underdeveloped financial system, large unbanked population, and rising mobile penetration rate in Bangladesh have ignited the development of innovative digital finance solutions. The increasing demand for Mobile Financial Services and other digital banking services has amplified Fintech adoption in Bangladesh. Thus, this paper aimed to assess the significant determinants of Fintech adoption by Bangladeshi households using a modified UTAUT2 model. Drawing on data collected from 481 Fintech users, CFA, and CV-SEM approaches were employed to classify the significant determinants concerning Fintech adoption in Bangladesh and a Multi-group analysis was performed to explore the moderating role of categorical variables. Although our findings reported insignificance of most of the UTAUT2 model’s constructs, it revealed a significant impact of price value and moderating impact of gender, age, and education on Fintech adoption in Bangladeshi context. The findings reported significant insights on the pertinent theory which added new knowledge to the existent Fintech adoption literature. Since this is the first research on Fintech adoption in Bangladeshi context, it would have important theoretical, managerial, and policy implications.
Dr. Jannatul Ferdaous Dr. Jannatul Ferdaous
Article-5 Role of International Buyers in the Compliance Management Process of the RMG Industry and Mitigation of Human Factors Thereby: A Bangladeshi Case
International buyers are acknowledged as the primary catalysts of compliance management in the Bangladeshi RMG industry, mitigating potential human factors. Nonetheless, various researchers cast doubt on their motivations to push compliance and question their role in sharing the related financial burden. Following this gap, this study investigates the role of international buyers in the Bangladeshi RMG industry in pushing compliance endeavors and whether they financially support these efforts. By pursuing a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts and related documents, it is concluded that international buyers are incredibly tight in ensuring their compliance checklists through various auditing platforms, creating an ‘audit fatigue’ for the suppliers; however, they indirectly share the financial burden in an insignificant manner and are most eager to reimburse for the safety-related compliance issues owing to media pressure. This finding will benefit academics, government agencies and HR/compliance managers revolving around the RMG industries.
Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Innovation in Business Studies
Article-4 Does Shari’ah Index Offer an Edge over Traditional Index during COVID-19? Empirical Evidence from the Capital Market of Bangladesh
Although the concept of the Shari'ah (Islamic law) compliant index came into light in the 1960s in Asia, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) became the first bourse to introduce a similar index in 2014 for the listed companies, including Islamic banks and financial institutions. The global stock markets observed a colossal fall in index value during the initial stage of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and Bangladesh was no exception. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on Bangladesh's capital market by adopting the event study method. The DSE Broad Index (DSEX) is taken as the population, whereas the DSE 30 Index (DS30) and the DSEX Shari'ah Index (DSES) are used as samples from February 2, 2019, to August 5, 2021. The study reveals that although there was a fall in indexes, COVID-19 has failed to generate significant abnormal returns (AR) for investors. However, unlike the DS30, the DSES enjoyed positive AR and cumulative abnormal return (CAR) after the hit of the second wave despite having mixed experiences during the first wave. In addition, it is evident that the weak form of efficiency persists in Bangladesh under the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) theory.
Mohammad Robaitur Rahat Mohammad Robaitur Rahat
Article-2 Impact of Talent Management Practices on Sustainable Organizational Performance: A Study on the Telecommunication Industry of Bangladesh
Talent management is gradually taking the place of traditional human resource management and establishing human resource functions in a more strategic standpoint rather than just administrative duty. The purpose of the study is to analyze the talent management practices of telecommunication companies in Bangladesh and identify the impact of talent management practices on sustainable organizational performance. The study also suggests which talent management functions need to be prioritized for continuing preferred performance. The paper is quantitative and primary data is used. Survey questions are given to the respondents of different levels of employees working in the telecommunication industry. Regression analysis has been done to find the impact of talent management practices on sustainable organizational performance. Results show that talent attraction, talent retention, compensation & reward, and learning and development have a significant positive relationship with organizational performance. Employee engagement, Performance management and career management, although not directly linked to desired outcomes, are integral in building a vibrant and positive workplace culture. The R square value is .719, which means 71.9% of the total variation in organizational performance can be explained by the regression model used in this study. The value of the Cronbach’s Alpha is .765 which is higher than .6 and in an acceptable position closer to 1 to ensure the confidence of the data. The study presents valuable insights into talent management practices within Bangladesh's telecommunications industry. Its findings are particularly useful for managers in this sector, offering guidance on prioritizing talent management strategies to boost performance. Despite its focus on a specific industry and reliance on self-reported data, the research makes a significant contribution by shedding light on talent management in a developing country context, thereby enriching the existing literature and offering practical applications.
Article-2 Challenges and Recommendation for the Adaptation of Mobile Financial Service: A Study on Small Businesses of Service Industry
In today's global economy, Mobile Financial Services (MFS) have emerged as a game-changer, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh. MFS is the perfect solution for small businesses seeking secure, reliable, and affordable financial services. However, despite its undeniable advantages, the adoption of MFS by small businesses in Bangladesh's service industry remains limited. This research paper aims to explore the challenges of MFS adoption by small businesses in Bangladesh and propose strategies to overcome the barriers hindering its growth. The paper employed case study methodology, and 16 businesses were interviewed to acquire the necessary data. We found, low frequency of use, lack of skilled employees to manage mobile transactions, fear of large ticket transactions, attempting to reduce taxes through evading MFS payments and slow internet connectivity are prevalent challenges. The MFS providers (MFSP) may address these problems by encouraging MFS use for large transactions, providing incentives for stakeholders, improving education for MFSP, addressing tax concerns and making the dial up method of using MFS more intuitive. Finally, the paper hopes to contribute to the growth and expansion of Bangladesh's MFS industry by addressing the challenges faced by the businesses, as the country moves toward a cashless economy.
Muhammad Nafis Anwar Muhammad Nafis Anwar
Article-1 Influence of Funding Mix on the Profitability of Pharmaceutical Companies Listed in the Dhaka Stock Exchange
The ultimate resolution of this study is to scrutinize the influence of the funding mix on firm profitability while attempting to discover an optimum capital structure for the corporations listed in the pharmaceutical segment of the Dhaka Stock Exchange. For this reason, the investigation has been performed on 19 registered companies in the pharmaceuticals and chemicals industry of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). Only pharmaceutical firms from the pharmaceuticals and chemical sector have been filtered for the time period of 2012 to 2021 in order to make the research more pertinent to the industry and timeframe. The research has espoused Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) as indicants of profitability. The independent variables of the study are Debt to Equity Ratio (DER), Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR), Short Term Debt to Asset ratio (STDAR), Long Term Debt to Asset ratio (LTDAR) and Total Debt to Total Asset Ratio (TDTAs). As for the control variable, Firm Size (LnTA) and Age have been used. This paper has employed the pooled ordinary least square regression technique in the breakdown of the firm performance owing to changes in the funding mix. The outcomes demonstrate that the Debt-to-Equity Ratio (DER) has a noteworthy negative relation with ROA and ROE. Short-term debt to Asset (STDAR) and Long-term debt to the asset (LTDAR) have a significant positive bearing on ROA. Log of Total Assets (LnTA) which is an index of firm size has a significant positive impact on ROA and ROE. The study recommends that firms should incorporate debt in their capital formation when the anticipated return is more than the cost of debt while not only considering the tax benefits.
Novera Nahar Bhuiyan Novera Nahar Bhuiyan
Article-10 Job Preference of University Student: A Discrete Choice Experiment
Today employees compete for qualified individuals and try to reduce employee turnover as a profit maximizing condition. That is why a proper understanding of employees' demands, including and beyond wage, is critical. The paper examines how various job attributes affect university students’ utility and their tendencies to choose different types of jobs. This study adopted the Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to find the Willingness to accept (WTA) among 213 students of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP). This study identified four essential job attributes such as monthly wage, job security, working hours and the opportunity of using the knowledge or skills they gained during their bachelor’s or masters and quantify the tradeoff preference among these four attributes. The paper finds that students prefer the public job sector more than the private job, entrepreneurship, and higher study. Having job security increases their utility by 35.8 percent and they require an amount of 16 thousand taka in the absence of job security. Working for long hours such as 46-60 hours and 61-75 hours decreases their utility by 39 percent and 25.2 percent respectively. Moreover, Female students are required more compensation than males for longer working hours whereas male students put more value on high wages.
Article-9 The Effect of Consumers’ Intrinsic Triggering Factors on Impulse Buying Behavior: A Study on Super Stores
The Bangladeshi retail industry is heavily reliant on superstores. Superstores are getting more and more well-liked in our nation, and customers are developing stronger shopping behavior there. Among the various consumer behaviors, impulsive buying is one of them. It is vital to comprehend the concept of impulse buying and how customer’s intrinsic factors affect it, considering Bangladesh's growing acceptance of superstores. The main purpose of this study is to determine the effects of internal factors on consumer impulse buying behavior. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the researched constructs were modified and validated. The proposed study paradigm was applied to the opinions of 205 Dhaka city residents, and the results were analyzed and measured using Smart PLS 3.0 statistical software. The study results indicate a substantial positive association between impulse buying intention, materialism behavior, shopping satisfaction tendency, and urge to buy with impulsive buying behavior, whereas the concept of emotion has demonstrated negative impacts. By verifying the findings, the study's results also provide support for earlier research projects in this area. Finally, the study offers insightful information to academics and marketers on Bangladeshi consumers' impulsive purchasing patterns in the still-evolving retail superstore sectors.
Article-8 Innovations in Higher Education by Defence Services of Bangladesh: Challenges and Consequences
Defence services of Bangladesh run three public and four private universities including good number of affiliated colleges, academies, institutes, centres and schools. They show lot of innovations and edupreneurship in expanding scopes of higher and tertiary education in Bangladesh quantitatively and qualitatively. These are among 3 international universities, 52 public universities, and 108 private universities in Bangladesh. Defence services provide general, technical, engineering, medical, business, and social education to civilians and military professionals in their universities and higher education institutes. Grammar, logic, and rhetoric: trivium of 7 liberal arts help subsequent learning of quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics is given due importance in making curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular contents of military universities effective. Above are being reflected in individual legislative acts including the collective Private Universities Act 2010. Innovations take into considerations the western education systems, valuing real life performances over certifications, discouraging inflated gradings, shunning profit-orientation, tough actions against cronyism and nepotism etc. Military edupreneurships exhibited how COVID 19 and other devil causes are to be faced and dealt with to ensure quality university and higher education in Bangladesh. Our patriotic people, government authorities, and Bangladeshi diaspora abroad have been always optimistic and positive with defence services universities and higher education institutes. Serving and retired armed forces officers and personnel are solely and wholly involved in fulfilling the high hope and expectations for qualitative and quantitative higher education in Bangladesh through innovations and serendipity.
Article-7 Investigating the Relationship Between Work-Related Environment and Employee’s Work Contentment in the Midst of Pandemic: A Study on Bangladeshi E-Commerce Companies
Work contentment of employees in the midst of pandemic got different urge due to the changing demand of the work environment and preferences of employees to adopt with the changes. To comprehend the current changing demands of the workforce caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper attempts to investigate how workplace hygiene, opportunities for employee training, employment security, and flexibility in the workplace have an impact on employee work contentment during and after the pandemic. Global trends underwent a substantial change after the Covid-19 outbreak emerged. Acclimatization to the new environment has led to an increase in job insecurity, a decline in task completion productivity, a rise in stress levels, and a rise in counterproductive workplace conduct. In pandemic situations, job contentment became even more crucial. A pre-structured questionnaire has been designed and used to collect data from a sample of 167 employees serving various e-commerce firms in Bangladesh. For analyzing data and testing hypotheses, a partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was applied. Quantitative and descriptive analysis methods have been used also. The findings of the study showed workplace hygiene, job security, and flexibility in work have a significant impact but prospects for employee training have no significant impact on employee job contentment during the pandemic. The study can be used for academic purposes and can be used by owners/managers/ business development departments of different E-commerce and F-commerce companies to aid in identifying the elements that staff members value in a dynamic working environment.
Article-6 Challenges of Marketing of Handloom Products: A Cross-Sectional Study in Kushtia District
As a traditional product, most of the handloom products in Bangladesh are primarily made for domestic market although there is much potential for them in international market. This industry is beset with lots of marketing problems. Still, this industry follows traditional distribution system that keeps away the industry from the potential of fast thriving. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the weavers experience various marketing challenges to promote handloom products in home and abroad along with providing some recommendations for improvement in respective domain. To attain goal of the study, both primary and secondary data have been used. As the primary data, 50 interviews have been conducted through purposive sampling technique and as the secondary data, various books, journals, reports, handloom census of Bangladesh have been reviewed. The study found that the weavers are very much disappointed for the lack of proper marketing promotion that causes financial damage and frustrated for not getting proper support from the concerned authority to flourish this sector with large scale. This study also found that the weavers also spend days starving or committing suicide for various challenges. The study has recommended a set of marketing strategies along with a close monitoring and surveillance system from the concerned authority to create a business-friendly environment.
Article-5 Adoption of Islamic Banking in a Mediated Mechanism: Bangladesh Perspective
Although Islamic banking is widely adopted in Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi banking sector is still dominated by conventional banks. While religious sentiment helped Islamic banks grow in Bangladesh, lack of awareness and negative perceptions about Islamic banking may diminish that growth. This study aims to investigate how the willingness to adopt Islamic banking in Bangladesh is affected by the awareness of Islamic Banking and religiosity and how these relationships are mediated by the perception of Islamic Banking. Data from 302 respondents were collected using convenience sampling with a closed-ended self-administered questionnaire, while PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data. The study contributes to the existing literature by confirming the relationship between the aforementioned variables in the context of Bangladesh. As the study provides practical insights into the impact of perception, we recommend awareness and marketing campaigns to deal with potential negative perceptions from diminishing the willingness to adopt Islamic banking.
Saiful Anis Muhammad Sagir Saiful Anis Muhammad Sagir