The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, to explore the macroeconomic and institutional factors influencing stock market development (SMD) in Fiji during the period 1996–2018 and second, to explore the causes of the prolonged sluggish nature of the South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPX) in Fiji. A mixed‐method approach was employed: autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) testing framework was used to estimate the influence of the structural determinants in Fiji while descriptive and narrative analysis was used to explain the status of the SPX. The study findings partially confirmed the findings of previous studies. The findings that economic growth promotes SMD while inflation is negatively correlated to SMD were consistent with previous findings. However, the finding that regulatory quality and banking sector development have negative impacts on SMD was contrary to the findings of previous studies. Many determinants, which have been shown to have significant impact on SMD in other studies, did not show any significant impact on the SPX in the Fijian context, particularly the stock market liquidity showed no correlation to SMD and not distributed normally. Exploration of the nexus of the market liquidity reveals that present regulatory conditions are not conducive for the stock market to be vibrant and suggests eliminating excessive paperwork and entry restrictions are critical, not only to attract new players to the market but also to increase trading volumes. We argue that the concentration of ownership and market disintegration resulted in the current sluggish status of the SPX.

This paper examines the controversial role played by accounting within the discriminatory bank-lending practices of a privately owned bank in Sri Lanka. It reports on an analytical auto-ethnography (during the period 1994-2004) coupled with follow-up interviews and reiterated analyses. Data were analysed using Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital, habitus and symbolic violence. The empirical findings of the paper illustrate how key capitals at macro levels (social, cultural and symbolic) are mobilised in the dominance structures within the banking lending field and how individuals with given habitus behave and follow given strategies to deploy rational accounting systems at a micro level to translate discriminatory bank lending policies into practice and, as a result, create and reinforce discrimination.

The purpose of this study is to estimate the impact of sociocultural factors on investors' behavior in the South Pacific Stock Market (SPX) participation in Fiji using a novel methodological framework. We constructed a higher order factor: individual investors' willingness to participate in the SPX by confirming second-order Factor Structure and Overall Model Fit of the underpinning socioeconomic, cultural and psychic motivating factors thereof. The theoretical framework is primarily based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Four dimensions were hypothesized: Attitudes, Perceived Power, Social Norms, and Financial Knowledge, and showed significant and substantial loadings towards the investment willingness, with an acceptable model fit. The results confirm that four hypothesized dimensions are identifiable and distinct aspects; Social Norms dimension showed significant positive association (β =.159, p <.05) while, more importantly, the Perceived Power dimension showed a highly significant negative association (β = -0.246, p <.01) with investment activities of the participants. These findings may be useful in designing policies and strategies for stimulating the financial market in Fiji, especially, the SPX.

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