Corona pandemic has affected the whole world, and it is a highly researched area in biological sciences. As the current pandemic has affected countries socially and economically, the purpose of this bibliometric analysis is to provide a holistic review of the corona pandemic in the field of social sciences. This study aims to highlight significant, influential aspects, research streams, and themes. We have reviewed 395 journal articles related to coronavirus in the field of social sciences from 2003 to 2020. We have deployed ‘biblioshiny’ a web-interface of the ‘bibliometrix 3.0’ package of R-studio to conduct bibliometric analysis and visualization. In the field of social sciences, we have reported influential aspects of coronavirus literature. We have found that the ‘Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report’ is the top journal. The core article of coronavirus literature is ‘Guidelines for preventing health-care-associated pneumonia’. The most commonly used word, in titles, abstracts, author’s keywords, and keywords plus, is ‘SARS’. Top affiliation is ‘The University of Hong Kong’. Hong Kong is a leading country based on citations, and the USA is on top based on total publications. We have used a conceptual framework to identify potential research streams and themes in coronavirus literature. Four research streams are found by deploying a co-occurrence network. These research streams are ‘Social and economic effects of epidemic disease’, ‘Infectious disease calamities and control’, ‘Outbreak of COVID 19,’ and ‘Infectious diseases and the role of international organizations’. Finally, a thematic map is used to provide a holistic understanding by dividing significant themes into basic or transversal, emerging or declining, motor, highly developed, but isolated themes. These themes and subthemes have proposed future directions and critical areas of research.

The current coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has led the world toward severe socio-economic crisis and psychological distress. It has severely hit the economy; but the service sector, particularly the hospitality industry, is hard hit by it. It increases the sense of insecurity among the employees and their perception of being unemployed, adversely affecting their mental health. This research aims to contribute to the emerging debate by investigating the effect of economic crisis and non-employability on employees’ mental health through perceived job insecurity under the pandemic situation. It empirically examines the underlying framework by surveying 372 employees of the hospitality industry during COVID-19. Results indicate that perceived job insecurity mediates the relationship of fear of economic crisis, non-employability, and mental health. Furthermore, the contingency of fear of COVID-19 strengthens the indirect relationship of fear of economic crisis on mental health through perceived job insecurity. The findings will provide a new dimension to the managers to deal with the psychological factors associated with the employees’ mental health and add to the emerging literature of behavioral sciences. The study also highlights the increasing need for investment in the digital infrastructure and smart technologies for the hospitality industry.

A new era awaits the development of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. This study highlights the influential and conceptual aspects of blockchain and cryptocurrency literature with bibliometric analysis. There are 1965 related documents from 2015 and 2020, represent various structures and technologies, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain applications. We have deployed “bibliometrix 3.0”, the r-package, and VOS viewer to analyze key literature aspects. IEEE Access is the core journal for cryptocurrency and blockchain publications. The University of Cagliari, Notreported, and Peking University are key affiliations, and the USA, China, and India are core countries for literary research. H. Wang is the core author with the central theme of security of blockchain technologies. It is a set basis for conceptual aspects, core, and future research streams and themes. The study proposes three research streams: the structure of cryptocurrencies and implications of blockchain technologies, privacy, security management of data and information, and development of optimal information systems. The study further segregates themes into highly centralized and motor themes that are also core themes. Topics related to Consensus protocols, proof of work, distribution ledger technology, blockchain, and cryptocurrency procedures and structure comes under core themes. Highly developed and emerging themes are considered as a stepping stone for future directions. Underlying topics are related to fintech, Islamic finance, valuations, and dynamics of cryptocurrencies.

The contemporary innovations in financial technology (fintech) serve society with an environmentally friendly atmosphere. Fintech covers an enormous range of activities from data security to financial service deliverables that enable the companies to automate their existing business structure and introduce innovative products and services. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for scholars and professionals to identify the future trends and directions of the topic. This is why the present study conducted a bibliometric analysis in social, environmental, and computer sciences fields to analyse the implementation of environment-friendly computer applications to benefit societal growth and well-being. We have used the ‘bibliometrix 3.0’ package of the r-program to analyse the core aspects of fintech systematically. The study suggests that ‘ACM International Conference Proceedings’ is the core source of published fintech literature. China leads in both multiple and single country production of fintech publications. Bina Nusantara University is the most relevant affiliation. Arner and Buckley provide impactful fintech literature. In the conceptual framework, we analyse relationships between different topics of fintech and address dynamic research streams and themes. These research streams and themes highlight the future directions and core topics of fintech. The study deploys a co-occurrence network to differentiate the entire fintech literature into three research streams. These research streams are related to ‘cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, financial technology’, ‘financial industry stability, service, innovation, regulatory technology (regtech)’, and ‘machine learning and deep learning innovations’. The study deploys a thematic map to identify basic, emerging, dropping, isolated, and motor themes based on centrality and density. These various themes and streams are designed to lead the researchers, academicians, policymakers, and practitioners to narrow, distinctive, and significant topics.

Environmental deregulation has become a severe concern for public health around the world. Increased pollution and ecological degradation have diverted attention towards adopting green practices, which can be possible if the sustainable green finance system is implemented in its true spirit. But previous studies reported certain factors affecting its implementation process, particularly in developing countries. This study aims to identify and quantify the barriers to adopting a green finance system. First, it identified twenty barriers through an extensive literature review and semi-structured interviews with experts in the fields of financial management, economics, and environmental sciences. Later, eighteen factors were finalized by the consensus of panel experts, which was further used to analyze their interrelationship through Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM). Using MICMAC analysis, these barriers were categorized based on their diving-dependence powers. Finally, the conceptual ISM model is developed that provides a clear picture of the impediments to the green finance adoption system and their flow relationship among the identified barriers at different levels. The findings suggest that global level factors: lack of pressure from international organizations and unavailability of globally acceptable green criteria are critical to the prevalence of other factors that indicate its centrality to effectively implementing the green finance system. The developed model helps in designing, implementing, and promoting eco-friendly projects. It is also recommended that an appropriate framework is required to be developed at global, country, organizational, and individual levels to deal with the barriers of the green finance adoption system. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2022-06-02-02 Full Text: PDF

This research investigates the abnormal returns of 958 insurance companies from Australia, Canada, Germany, USA, UK, Brazil, India, and Indonesia under the COVID-19 scenario. This study deploys the event study methodology to analyse the effects of COVID-19 on stock returns both in the short and long terms. Results reveal that, overall, COVID-19 negatively affected the stock returns, particularly in the case of insurance firms operating in developing countries. This research also explores firm-specific determinants distinguishing the most affected insurance firms. It is found that firm size, systematic risk, price-earnings ratio, profitability, and dividend yield affect the intensity of abnormal returns in response to COVID-19 but in different event windows. The investors and policymakers should consider these factors in connection with the risk mitigating strategies.