No abstract

PurposeHerd behavior has been studied herein and tested based on primary respondents from Indian markets.Design/methodology/approachThe paper expounds the empirical evidence by applying the cross-sectional absolute deviation method and reporting on herd behavior among decision-makers who are engaged in trading in the Indian stock market. Further, the study attempts to analyze the market-wide herding in the Indian stock market using 2230 daily, 470 weekly and 108 monthly observations of Nifty 50 stock returns for a period of nine years from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2018 during the normal market conditions, extreme market conditions and in both increasing and decreasing market conditions.FindingsIn a span of a decade witnessing different market cycles, the authors’ results exhibit that there is no evidence of herding in any market condition in Indian stock market primarily due to the dominance of institutional investors and secondly because of low market participation by individual investors.Originality/valueThe results reveal that there is no impact of herd behavior on the stock returns in the Indian equity market during the normal market conditions. It highlights that the participation of individuals who are more prone to herding is more evident for short-run investments, contrary to long-term holdings.

Purpose This paper attempts to find the essence of whistleblowing in organizational structures, to reflect on whistleblowing mechanism and the perception of whistleblowing in the working class of a country. Whistleblowing is exhibited as one of the quintessential elements of corporate governance to prevent or detect inundating corporate frauds. This study examines the whistleblowing intentions and its precursors with the knowledge of repercussions, in context of Indian employees. Design/methodology/approach Primary data has been analysed herein using a structured questionnaire from 396 Indian employees of public and private sector companies of India using, multiple regression analysis. Findings It provides evidence that personal factors like organizational commitment, locus of control impact whistleblowing intentions vary by the type of fraud the employee encounters. The study presents a case for variation of considerable extent in non-financial fraud and financial fraud. Further, the kind of organization the employee is working in is an essential antecedent for whistleblowing behaviour of an employee. It highlights higher the perceived power or status held by the wrongdoer; higher would be an employee’s intentions to blow the whistle against him. Practical implications It would help managers in developing an environment which would encourage the employees by creating a self-check mechanism in the organization for improved conduct and better corporate governance. The shreds of evidence show that locus of control plays a vital role in moderating the impact of other antecedents on whistleblowing intentions of the employees. Originality/value Organization’s expectation from the employees to blow the whistle against wrong doing also makes the organization responsible for protecting the employee from the retaliation, which could follow after the act of whistleblowing. Also, prompts for imbibing ethical conduct throughout the organizational hierarchy.

No abstract

Whistle-blower protection mechanisms (WPMs) play a critically significant role in combating corruption through ethics, corporate governance and statutes. This article examines the essence of whistle-blower mechanism existing in the developed and developing countries in order to unearth the legislative structure of countries supporting the whistle blower mechanism and pursuit of ethical conduct for sound corporate governance. The article attempts to identify, evaluate and analyse the attributes of whistle-blower mechanism across nations and finds that despite offsymmetric attributes, the mechanisms are asymmetric specific to the countries' corporate culture. It has also been found that most significant attribute of a sound whistle-blower mechanism is the level of protection provided to the whistleblowers followed by coverage of sectors, anonymity and the regulator of whistleblowing complaints in the country. The attributes vary widely across nations on the basis of coverage of sectors, anonymity withheld and the level of protection, with United States of America delivering the best protection to whistle-blowers trailed by Australian whistle-blower protection laws and then South Africa; India, China and Indonesia lag considerably behind in having a sound whistle-blower mechanism.