Digital insurance adoption and financial inclusion among urban consumers in Chennai: Mediating effects of awareness, digital literacy, and trust

This paper aims to examine the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Indian firms listed on the NSE and analyze its impact on various sectors. In addition, a sub-sample analysis based on market capitalization was performed to understand the effect of size during extreme events. The sample consisted of 1,335 firms listed on the NSE India. A standard event study outlined by Brown and Warner (1985) was employed to analyze the price impact on the COVID-19 outbreak. The event windows from -10 days to +10 days were selected. The estimation window is 250 days. The Nifty 50 has been chosen as a proxy for market return. The sample firms witnessed a negative impact of the COVID-19 outbreak with a negative CAAR in different event windows. In addition, various sectors are classified according their responsiveness towards the COVID-19 outbreak into three groups: highly negatively affected, moderately negatively affected, and slightly negatively affected. The paper also points out that the pandemic substantially affects the above-median market capitalized firms than the below-median market capitalized firms, which contradicts the size effect phenomenon. The results assist shareholders in managing their portfolios and mitigate the systematic risk of their investments during extreme events such as a pandemic, wars, and others. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on different sectors in India. It is also the first study to investigate the size effect anomalies during extreme events.

Social media has revolutionized how businesses connect with consumers, going beyond product promotion to understanding consumer preferences. It is undeniable that social media plays a pivotal role in shaping consumer purchase decisions, as more individuals turn to these platforms to seek advice and opinions from peers. The current study engaged 410 Indian consumers, employing a quantitative approach backed by rigorous statistical methods, including descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS software. The goal was to unravel the intricate dynamics between social media marketing, brand image, and purchase intentions. The findings highlight a significant and positive relationship between social media marketing efforts and brand image perception. Moreover, it was discovered that brand image significantly influences consumers’ purchase intentions. Surprisingly, it did not find a direct and significant impact of social media marketing on purchase intentions.
Notably, the study revealed a crucial insight: the influence of social media marketing on purchase intentions is fully mediated by the perception of brand image. In light of these results, businesses are encouraged to establish a strong presence on social media platforms to effectively promote their products and services. Organizations can effectively steer consumer purchase intentions by harnessing the synergy between social media marketing and brand image.

Acknowledgment
This study is supported via funding from Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University project number (PSAU/2023/R/1444).

The purpose of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of technical trading strategies in trading stocks of selected Indian companies represented in the Nifty 50 Index. The research was done using secondary data from January 2022 to August 2022. Hourly share prices of 14 largest companies as per market capitalization from 14 different sectors from the Nifty 50 Index were considered as a part of the study. Simple Moving Average, Exponential Moving Average – Relative Strength Index and Bollinger Bands – Relative Strength Index – strategies considered in the study. It was found that strategy based on Bollinger Bands and Relative Strength Index performed the best. Performance was considered with respect to both the number of stocks having a net profit and the number of stocks that were able to outperform the buy-and-hold strategy for the time period considered. The study considered several combined strategies and performance indicators, whereas previous studies used limited indicators. Out of the 14 stocks considered, the Simple Moving Average strategy was able to generate net profit for 8 stocks and it outperformed the buy-and-hold strategy for 6 stocks, Exponential Moving Average – Relative Strength Index strategy generated net profit for 6 stocks and it outperformed the buy-and-hold strategy for 5 stocks, and the Bollinger Bands – Relative Strength Index generated net profit for 11 stocks and it outperformed the buy-and-hold strategy for 10 stocks. The Bollinger Bands – Relative Strength Index strategy was able to outperform as it was more dynamic and entered and exited positions actively.