Ramkrishna Chapagain

Despite the government’s financial support and promotion by the regulator, the agriculture insurance market is still in the nascent stage in Nepal. The paper aims to examine how awareness level and risk management perception affect the farmers’ satisfaction, taking non-financial satisfaction as a mediating factor. The study was conducted in two metropolitan cities, Pokhara and Bharatpur, in Nepal. Cluster and purposive sampling design was applied to select the respondents. Opinions were obtained through the structured questionnaire from 400 farmers with experience in agriculture insurance. The survey instrument had two parts. The first part was related to demographic information, while the second part measured attitude to risk management, clients’ awareness of insurance, financial satisfaction, and non-financial satisfaction. Almost three forth of the respondents (74.75%) were males and more than half (52%) possessed more than 8 ropani of land. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to arrive at conclusions. The results revealed that respondents’ awareness toward agriculture insurance is the most agreed construct (mean = 4.35), followed by financial satisfaction (mean = 3.88), non-financial satisfaction (mean = 3.70), and risk management attitude (mean = 3.5). Although the results did not confirm the mediating effect of non-financial satisfaction on financial contentment and awareness level, a partial mediation effect exists between risk management attitude and financial satisfaction. Financial serenity and non-financial gratification have the strongest association. This study suggests executives and regulators expand risk management capacity and awareness initiatives to increase client satisfaction and loyalty to crop insurance.

Acknowledgment
The University Grants Commission, Nepal, is acknowledged for the financial support to conduct the study under the FRG MGMT 4-2019/20. The support of MBA students Mr. Dhan Bahadur Jagari and Lalit Bahadur Shahi is highly appreciated for their fieldwork as enumerators.

The aim of this paper is to assess the views of market participants concerning the institutional investors’ role in implementing book-building pricing of IPOs as Nepal seeks to implement it. A total of 125 market participants were approached for data collection using a structured questionnaire that took a six-month period from January to June 2020. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the collected data. The study found that the role of institutional investors in the prevailing stock market is brutally meager because of the restrained regulatory provisions. Market participants opined that institutional investors play a vital role in developing the stock market and executing book building. Implementation of book building demands a rigorous amendment in the existing regulations that allow institutional investors to enter and play in the market. A precise classification and definition of the potential roles of institutional investors are essential so that the application of the building pricing mechanism could be expected to be more effective. Market participants believed that the active participation of institutional investors will help lure manufacturing and real sector companies, trading houses and hotels into the capital market for public offerings. Issue managers, portfolio managers, share registrars, and stockbrokers agree that the role of institutional investors is inevitable in implementing book-building pricing.