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This study examines the effects of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) on the growth and composition of bank deposits in Bangladesh over the period 2015-2024 based on bank-level panel data for 26 commercial banks. Using Fixed Effects (FE), Random Effects (RE), and Generalized Least Squares (GLS) estimation and controlling for COVID-19 dummy, the study finds that MFS transaction volume has a negative and statistically significant effect on deposit growth. This indicates that rising mobile financial activity slows the pace at which banks accumulate deposits. However, MFS positively and significantly affects both current and savings deposit levels, consistent with the financial inclusion channel through which mobile platforms channel funds into the formal banking system. The effect on total deposits and fixed deposits is statistically insignificant, indicating no direct substitution at the aggregate or long-term deposit level. Bank size and loan-to-deposit ratio are the most consistent determinants across all models. Non-performing loans negatively affect depositor confidence. The COVID-19 pandemic dampened deposit growth and total deposit accumulation but exerted limited influence on current and savings deposit levels. These findings suggest that MFS and traditional banking are complementary rather than substitutive, and that well-designed policy interventions can harness MFS-driven financial inclusion to strengthen rather than undermine the deposit base of commercial banks in Bangladesh.

Government-led housing initiatives are essential in disrupting cycles of poverty, as access to adequate shelter serves as a foundation for wider social and economic progress. This article includes 280 landless families from the Asharayan of Gopalganj district. The primary data for this study were collected with a predetermined questionnaire from June to August 2024. A stratified sampling technique was used to ensure a representative sample of landless households across the five upazilas of Gopalganj District. The sample is almost evenly split between males (47.9%) and females (52.1%), showing a slightly higher proportion of women. The largest age group is 25–40 years (44.6%), followed by 40–55 years (34.6%). Most respondents belong to nuclear families (80.4%), while only 19.6% live in joint families. The majority of households consist of 4–6 members (59.6%). Most households have at least one earning member (76.1%). A large proportion of respondents are illiterate (48.9%), while about one-third (33.2%) have completed primary education. Most earn between BDT 10,000–15,000 (28.2%). A majority (74.6%) reported an improvement in their condition, while 25.4% stated no improvement from staying in the Ashrayan project. Bivariate analyses showed a significant association between the improvement of overall conditions-such as housing, health, child education facilities, economic situation, satisfaction level, employment status, average monthly income, access to loans, and electricity-and the living conditions of the Ashrayan project’s residents. Binary logistic regression model detect that electricity facilities, housing condition and employment have significant impact on socio-economic condition of the landless people of that Ashrayan Project.

This study investigates the relationship between exposure to online promotional content and changes in business image evaluations and purchase intention toward informal clothing enterprises in Bangladesh. Based on the O-S-O-R framework, the study conceptualizes online promotional content as the stimulus, post-exposure business image as the post-orientation construct, and purchase intention as the response, considering age group and frequency of social media usage as pre-orientation factors. Using a nonprobability purposive sampling approach with self-selected participation, the study implemented a one-group pretest-posttest design through an online questionnaire administered to 391 respondents in Bangladesh. Analyses included descriptive statistics, reliability tests, exploratory factor analysis, paired-samples t tests, Spearman correlations, and linear regression. Results indicated statistically significant increases between pre-exposure and post-exposure for business image (mean difference = −1.297, t = −50.945, p < .001) and purchase intention (mean difference = −1.254, t = −39.308, p < .001). Age group was negatively associated with post-exposure business image, whereas frequency of social media use was positively associated with it. Post-exposure business image was also a strong predictor of purchase intention (β = .486, p < .001, R² = .236). This study contributes to the literature by extending extant research on digital consumer response in informal small-business clothing retail in Bangladesh and suggests that well-designed promotional content is positively associated with business evaluations and purchase-related intentions. Since this study used a one-group pretest-posttest design, the results should be interpreted as evidence of association rather than causation.

University students commonly undergo activities in their educational and social environments that may affect their psychological adjustment. Emotional Intelligence (EI) acts as a protective component in preventing psychological adjustment difficulties. Hopelessness acts as a risk factor in the dimension of psychological adjustment. Little research exists in the context of Bangladesh in the intersection of EI and hopelessness. The present research aimed to explore the effects of EI and hopelessness in predicting psychological adjustment of the students at Chittagong University. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. A total of 100 students aged 18-25 years old, comprising 50 men and 50 women selected randomly from different departments/institutes of Chittagong University. Data was gathered utilizing a Personal Information Form (PIF), Bangla version of the EI Scale (EIS), Hopelessness Scale (BHS), & Bangla Adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ). SPSS 16.0 was used to perform the analysis of the information gathered. The inferential statistics revealed moderate to high levels of EI (M = 129.07, SD = 12.84) but low levels of hopelessness (M = 4.55, SD = 3.51) and moderate levels of psychological adjustment (M = 137.28, SD = 25.00). There was a negative correlation between EI measures of hopelessness (r = -.54, p < 0.01) and psychological adjustment (r = -.67, p < 0.01) but a positive association between hopelessness and psychological adjustment (r = 0.50, p < 0.01). Using the regression analysis, psychological adjustment was significantly predicted by the measures of EI (β = -.56, p < 0.01) but hopelessness (β = 0.19, p < 0.05) when taken together explaining 47% of the total variability of psychological adjustment (R² = 0.47, p < 0 EI serves as a protective factor for psychological adjustment in university students, while hopelessness serves as a risk factor for the psychological adjustment of university students. These factors may influence the enhancement of psychological adjustment.

In Bangladesh, women’s participation in small businesses is rapidly increasing. Although the lack of capital appears to be a significant barrier, banks play an important role in assisting women in obtaining small business loans. This study examines whether foreign banks operating in Bangladesh facilitate access to financing for women entrepreneurs. Using primary data collected from 100 women-owned small businesses in Dhaka, this study employs probit regression models to estimate the likelihood of obtaining small business loans from foreign banks. The results indicate that the accessibility of credit by women entrepreneurs is much less when they apply to foreign banks. The estimated marginal effects convey that the likelihood of securing financing on application to a foreign bank is expected to be lower by about 52 percentage points than domestic banks. The findings also reveal the significance of firm performance, managerial traits, and bank-firm relationships in determining access to credit. Overall, the findings suggest that foreign banks contribute only marginally to small business financing for women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, implying the need for more targeted policy interventions.

The financial reporting environment is experiencing a profound transformation driven by digitalization, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technologies, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integration, and growing cybersecurity threats. The objective of this study is to review and synthesize recent academic literature to identify emergent issues and challenges influencing contemporary financial reporting practices. This study adopts a thematic literature review approach, drawing on peer-reviewed research from accounting, finance, governance, and information systems disciplines. The scope of the review focuses on digital reporting infrastructures, AI-enabled analytics, sustainability disclosures, and technology-related governance risks. The findings indicate that digital and cloud-based reporting systems improve efficiency, accessibility, and data integration, but simultaneously increase dependence on third-party providers and algorithmic processes, raising concerns related to cybersecurity, concentration risk, and regulatory compliance. AI adoption enhances predictive accuracy and reporting quality but introduces ethical, disclosure, and accountability challenges. ESG reporting strengthens corporate accountability; however, inconsistent standards and measurement frameworks continue to limit comparability. Blockchain and FinTech innovations offer transparency and inclusion benefits but face scalability and governance constraints. Overall, the review demonstrates that financial reporting is at a critical juncture where technological innovation must be balanced with ethical governance, regulatory coordination, and professional judgment to sustain transparency, comparability, and stakeholder trust.

This qualitative study explores the complex factors that affect the acceptance of digital technologies (ADT) in the setting of a least developed country (LDC). In-depth interviews using purposive and convenience sampling techniques were conducted with business professionals (n=40) in Bangladesh, acknowledging the distinct challenges and opportunities that these settings present. Qualitative research offers the chance to delve into professional experiences and obtain comprehensive insights into how they view digital technologies in the real world. In order to provide a theoretical framework for future research, this study employed grounded theory and thematic analysis to explain the factors of the acceptance of digital technologies (ADT). This study proposed five factors to re-conceptualize ADT based on three theories. The study offered a novel insight into factors for ADT from the viewpoints of varied professions, which provided a framework that may serve as the basis for explaining ADT.

Our way of life has evolved due to the advent of AI. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already having an impact on many parts of the industry and will likely find additional uses in the future. This research study investigates the students' readiness to adopt AI. An exploratory research design undergirds this investigation. A questionnaire (based on a prior study) survey was used to gather data. The SPSS and AMOS Graphics are used to conduct EFA and CFA. 387 respondents were taken into consideration for the study. In this investigation, the KMO value is 0.839. Factor loading is larger than 0.45, with 22 items. This study extracts five components: educational content (EC), institutional facilities (IF), artificial intelligence awareness (AW), acceptance barriers (AB), and usage/application (AP). The Eigen values of those components are 5.056, 2.420, 1.640, 1.411, and 1.000, explaining 52.4% of the total variation. The CFA model fit findings show that CMIN/DF=2.360, GFI= 0.0.913, AGFI= 0.884, CFI= 0.880, RMSEA=0.05, SRMR=0.05, Hoelter's N returns value at 5% significant level = 195 and at 1% significant level = 210, Chi square= 372.870, df=158, p=0.000. Today, AI may boost tertiary students' productivity. Engaging pupils with technology in our country helps determine their AI interests. The study shows how educational content, institutional facilities, artificial intelligence knowledge, acceptance hurdles, and usage/application affect students' preparedness to adopt AI. This research will help higher education authorities to introduce IT infrastructure, teach students to understand AI technology, and inspire future academics to contribute to this era of intelligent robots.

The growing prevalence of mental health issues, particularly depression and suicidal thoughts, points to the need to develop automated tools capable of detecting such sentiments from online communication. This study addresses some critical challenges by introducing a novel sentiment analysis framework for Bangla text, aimed at classifying content into non-depressive, depressive, and suicidal categories. We propose a hybrid deep learning model leveraging the strengths of transformer-based architectures, designed to manage long textual sequences effectively, a critical aspect in the context of natural language processing. Our model integrates RoBERTa (Robustly Optimised BERT Pre-Training Approach) with a Self-Attention Network (SAN), creating a synergistic framework for nuanced sentiment detection in Bangla social media posts, comments, and articles. This method addresses the scarcity of Bangla specific datasets by utilising a dataset curated for the study. The results demonstrate the superiority of our model, achieving an accuracy of 82.58%, alongside precision, recall, and F1-scores of 82%. Subsequently, it emphasises the potential for the proposed model to support early identification of mental health concerns, thereby enabling timely interventions and contributing to mental health awareness and prevention efforts. In the future, deploying the model as a real-time chatbot or browser extension could scan Bangla social media for depressive, non-depressive, and suicidal content and alert professionals to the risk factors.

Recent evidence indicates that citizens exhibit low involvement in financial activities within formal financial institutions. Therefore, this study explores how Digital Financial Literacy (DFL) influences savings in formal financial institutions. Using data from the Global Findex Database 2021 and the Standard & Poor’s Global FinLit Survey 2014, covering 135 countries, the study applies multiple regression analysis to assess how DFL predicts savings in formal financial institutions, while controlling for various country-level factors. The results show that among the three dimensions of digital financial literacy, financial skills and behaviors positively affect savings. In contrast, financial attitudes like trust in financial institutions and confidence in managing financial matters negatively affect savings behavior. Overall, financial literacy explains 78.8% of the variation in savings at the formal financial institutions across countries, with cross-validation supporting the robustness of the findings. This study contributes to existing literature by integrating several digital and segmented dimensions of financial literacy and enhancing external validity by including a broad range of countries for cross-country generalization in financial inclusion research.  

  This study aims to explore the effect of foreign direct investment on the educational attainment.  This paper employed the POLS and 2SLS models. In Pooled Ordinary Least Square Model, educational attainment in primary, lower secondary, upper secondary and masters’ level have the significant positive relationship with foreign direct investment. In Two stage Least Square Model, educational attainment in primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, tertiary and masters’ level have the significant positive relationship with foreign direct investment. This study contributes to look at the impact foreign direct investment on educational attainment. Panel data from 38 Asian countries was gathered for this study, which spanned the years 2011 to 2022. The study results have important policy implications as they are directly linked to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Target 4.1, which aims to guarantee that all girls and boys get free, equitable, and high-quality primary and secondary education by 2030, resulting in relevant and effective learning outcomes.

This study investigates the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance in the Bangladeshi insurance sector, focusing on variables like board independence, female directors, audit committee size, leverage, and firm age. Using a sample of 42 insurance firms from 2017 to 2021, regression analysis is employed to assess these relationships. The findings show that board independence positively impacts performance, while audit committee size, leverage, and firm age have negative effects. Female directors exhibit a marginal but weak positive influence. This research contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence from a developing economy, where limited studies exist. It also offers insights into governance practices in emerging markets. The implications suggest that policymakers and corporate leaders in Bangladesh should prioritize enhancing board independence, managing leverage, and promoting gender diversity to improve performance. Future research could explore causal relationships and extend the analysis to other sectors or emerging markets, considering cultural and regulatory factors.

This study investigates the relationship between banks' corporate governance practice and its impact on financial sustainability. In this study, twenty-four private commercial banks' data have been analyzed from 2014 to 2023. Our investigations included a variety of econometric models, including cross-sectional GLS, fixed effect, random effect, and pooled OLS. In our study, we found that including women on the Board of directors plays a positive role in ensuring the financial sustainability of banking sectors in Bangladesh. Apart from that, increasing the participation of independent directors on the board of directors, expenditures in research and development in the best banking practices, and inflation positively increase banks' profitability, which translates into financial sustainability. This finding is consistent with the findings of the random effect model. On the other hand, whenever we used ROE as an explained variable, we found that both in pooled OLS  and random effect methods, board diversity, CEO tenure, firms audited by the big four firms, and inflation have a positive association with ROE. In the fixed effect method, we observed that audit committee size and ownership concentration play a vital role in explaining the financial sustainability of private commercial banks in Bangladesh. In the FGLS method, We found that CEO tenure, age of the firm, firms audited by the big four firms, presence of the independent director on the board, and inflations significantly impact the financial sustainability of commercial banks of Bangladesh.

Financial inclusion aims to include the unbanked population in the official financial system. To quickly serve the unbanked population, this study aims to investigate the concept of agent banking as a means of financial inclusion and to assess the elements that influence the acceptance of agent banking in Bangladesh. The study also covered the main advantages of agent banking and pertinent barriers to its adoption. Using a basic judgmental sampling technique, 195 respondents from the Chittagong region made up the study's sample. Face-to-face interviews and a structured questionnaire were used to collect the data. The impact was investigated using statistical measures such as mean, standard deviation, correlation, and regression. Kendall's W test, also known as Kendall's coefficient of concordance, was utilized to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of accepting agent banking in this study. According to the result, there is a significant positive correlation between acceptance of agent banking and independent variables - perceived trust, convenience, perceived risk, awareness, and service quality. The study also found that easy banking is the key reason for agent banking, marked by the respondents, followed by the nearest location and adding new customers. Lack of training is the major challenge, followed by a lack of logistic support and cyber security risk in implementing agent banking in Bangladesh.

This paper explores the relationship between environmental, social, and governance performance (ESGP) and firm value in both emerging and developed economies, with the moderating impact of environmental uncertainty and competitive advantage. Using secondary unbalanced data spanning from 2011 to 2022, we examine both the direct and non-linear effects of ESG performance on firm value, employing advanced econometric estimation techniques such as two-step system GMM (2sGMM) and two-stage least square (2SLS). The analysis finds that: (1) ESG performance positively influences firm value in both Chinese and US banks, and the results remain valid after robustness test; (2) The results also confirm that ESG performance non-linearly influence firm value across the samples, with an inverted U-shape relationship; (3) Additionally, we further investigate the moderating effects of environmental uncertainty and competitive advantage, uncovering that environmental uncertainty dampens the ESGP-firm value relationship, while competitive advantage further amplifies it. This study contributes to the understanding of how ESG performance can act as strategic assets that align managerial and stakeholder interests, and improve firm performance, by underpinning agency, stakeholder, and the resource-based view theory. Practical insights are also provided for policymakers, regulators, and financial institutions regarding the use of ESGP as a competitive tool in uncertain and dynamic market environments.

This study examines the Job facilities and the factors affecting employee satisfaction levels and how significantly they are correlated to each other. In the world of business research, one of the vital challenges is employee commitment toward the company. According to research, employee dedication and performance are strongly correlated with employee contentment. That is why employers and researchers are constantly looking for explanations for employee happiness. Several aspects affect employee satisfaction, some of which are obvious while others are not. This study explores how certain financial and non-financial variables relate to employee contentment. The survey has been done by a Likert scale questionnaire on a total of 200 employees from 10 Insurance companies in Bangladesh. According to this empirical study, a few non-financial variables, except salary, have a substantial relationship with employee satisfaction.

This study aims to examine online shopping behaviour on social media platforms. This study formulates a research model integrating trust with the flow theory and some basic constructs of the UTAUT. To analyze the data from an online survey involving 305 participants actively making online purchases through social media platforms. This study applied the Structural Equation Modeling-Artificial Neural Networks (SEM-ANN) technique. Incorporating statistically significant SEM findings, the ANN model was used to analyze linear and nonlinear interactions among proposed variables. The research findings demonstrate that flow emerges as the most significant determinant, succeeded by effort expectancy, social influence, and performance expectancy, in defining the concept of trust. However, the sensitivity analysis using ANN indicates that effort expectancy is the most important factor in establishing trust, followed by flow, social influence, and performance expectancy. The predictive power of intention to use is noteworthy in determining actual use behaviour, with trust and flow emerging as influential factors favourably impacting this intention.

The novelty and advancement of technology have explored new avenues in the education sectors. Now e-learning has blended with face-to-face learning to increase its effectiveness. An integrated model is being proposed in this study to measure the continuance usage intention of students adopting e-learning services. With the constructs of ECM (confirmation, perceived usefulness), perceived ease of use and perceived self-efficacy proposed to measure their effect on satisfaction. Besides, to explore the impact of quality features on satisfaction and continuance intention, three major determinants of D&M’s ISS model such as system quality, service quality and information quality included in this study. 410 responses collected to do quantitative analysis. The PLS-SEM analysis showed that perceived ease of use has the strongest effect on perceived usefulness, followed by perceived self-efficacy on perceived ease of use and satisfaction with continuance intention.The study reveals that challenges in developing countries are unique and drives the learners differently than developed countries. The growing e-learning industry requires widespread research from national and institutional perspectives for holistic development in the Bangladesh education market.

This paper examines the consequences of banks’ performance on bank risk. The paper forms a theoretical model and delivers empirical evidence to identify that banks suffer in performance as the loans become bad. Using panel data from a sample of five (05) South-Asian emerging economies from 2011 to 2019, we have found that the banks are highly influenced by the development of non-performing loans (NPLs). We have primarily used Return on Asset (ROA) followed by Return on Equity (ROE) as a substitution to the performance of the banks and NPL as the proxy of bank risk. Simultaneous regression applying 3sls finds that Non-Performing Loan (NPL) hinders banks' growth, negatively affecting their profitability.

The paper intended to evaluate the extent of corporate disclosure compliance and its effect on the financial performance of Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies listed on the DSE during a twelve-year period, from 2007 to 2020. The study explored the affinity between the Corporate Governance Disclosure Index (CGDI) and firm financial performance employing econometric techniques, such as fixed effect and random effect models. The study calculated the disclosure scores as a percentage of a given firm's overall score to the probable score it could achieve. The CGDI of the sample companies showed a positive and substantial effect on company performance as an accounting measure ROA and an insignificant effect as a market measure Tobin’s Q. The study also revealed that sample firms followed the BSEC guidelines partially. These findings have implications for companies that fail to comply with the full disclosure principle, which holds that a company must disclose all material information in its financial statements in order to touch the reader's comprehension of those statements. In addition, these results imply that the code of CG requires a thorough examination to make essential modifications.