PROSPECTS, PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE OPPORTUNITIES OF DIGITAL CURRENCY IN BANGLADESH

This study attempts to present the prospects and problems of the digital currency in Bangladesh as well around the world. To demonstrate the prospect, price and trading volume of selected ten digital currencies being presented for observing the emerging the demand. From our country's perspective, the opinions of the respondents collected through questionnaires shed light on the prospect of digital currency in Bangladesh. Additionally, the study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of research on digital currency. The review incorporated 11 articles presenting several issues related to digital currency. This study uses data from 2013 to 2020 for respective currencies related to price and trading volume. As well respondent’s opinions collected through “questionnaires” are presented as per percentage. This study also makes theoretical contributions to the extant literature. The findings demonstrate that digital currency is now successfully traded in the most countries around the world except a few. Descriptive statistics of price and trading volume indicate that most of the variables are highly skewed with large outliers and kurtosis column shows that all the variables are near to normal distribution and investment regarding these values indicates a safe trading. The consents of 175 respondents present a positive attitude of the general public towards digital currency. The SLR methods suggest that a secure system and advanced technology should be attached to the block chain system to ensure better performance. The SLR findings also point out that digital currency is obviously a better alternative to cash, although it has some risks.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB STRESS AND WORKPLACE DEVIANT BEHAVIORS: A STUDY ON BANK EMPLOYEES IN BANGLADESH

Despite the increasing number of studies on the relationship between job satisfaction and deviant behaviors in the workplace, still there is a lack of studies where job satisfaction has been measured considering stress and job engagement and also whether all of these three variables are directly correlated with workplace deviant behaviors or not. This study aims to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and workplace deviant behaviors and other important objectives is the relationship between job satisfaction, stress, and job engagement with workplace deviant behaviors and the relationship between stress and job engagement with job satisfaction. Our study found that stress is liable for less satisfied employees which produces a high level of involvement in workplace deviant behaviors. On the other hand, job engagement creates job satisfaction which reduces workplace deviant behaviors. The quantitative approach is employed on 82 employees of private and public commercial banks. Based on PLS-SEM method conceptual frameworks were constructed, descriptive analysis and regression analysis were used. Our study concluded that there is a strong causal relationship between job stress, job engagement with job satisfaction which results in workplace deviant behavior. Therefore, workplace deviant behavior can be reduced if organizations take some recreational activities that will increase job engagement.

A STUDY ON FUNDING AND FINANCIAL STRATEGY FOLLOWED BY WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: A NEW WAY TO ENTREPRENEURIAL GROWTH OF BANGLADESH

Managing funds for venturing into a new business is a very challenging task for women. The goal of the study is to recognize congenial sources from where they can easily get funds to start their business and after starting a business which financial strategy they follow to expand their enterprise. To perform this task, primary data collection was carried out through a well-designed questionnaire and a total of 180 women entrepreneurs from different parts of the country took part in this program spontaneously. It is observed that usually women do not get bank loans easily, but they discovered that semiformal and informal sources of funds are available for their business and these loans help them to achieve the entrepreneurial goal. Although the interest rate is much higher, to be self-employed women must collect funds from these sources. 77 percent of women withdraw profit and their business follows the start small and stay small characteristics, but others save and re-invest their profit to expand the business operation. Despite the great loss caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a light of hope that some women are doing very well by using the digital platform and providing home delivery services. From this paper, the new women entrepreneur can perceive what should be done and they will go through the right way. By following former entrepreneurs, they should take the right decision and bring success assuredly.

ANALYZING THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN E-GOVERNANCE ERA OF BANGLADESH: CHALLENGES AND POTENTIALS

This study examines the present status of women in the context of Electronic governance initiatives in Bangladesh. As a developing country, Bangladesh is stepping toward achieving E-governance where there is always a debate of the digital divide. Hence, this study tries to explore the challenges faced by women for access to and control over resources specifically the Information and Communication Technology tools or devices. It also aims to unveil the potentials of women's access and usage of such resources. This study employs survey data collected from study areas. Both urban and rural areas are chosen to get an overall scenario of women's status. This study is conducted in an inductive approach and findings are analyzed in a qualitative approach. The result shows that the status of women in access and usage of ICT varies in urban and rural areas due to some common constraints. The major findings of the study suggest that Information and Communication Technology has some potential for women empowerment which is explained as a case study. In this era of E-governance, most women are still facing gendered challenges such as lack of control over resources, awareness, education, and cybersecurity. JEL Classification Codes: H41, J70, O33, O38.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN DURING COVID-19 IN BANGLADESH

COVID-19 has become one of the biggest humanitarian crises affecting millions of lives around the world. Bangladesh is also affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Society, health, and economic sectors of Bangladesh are affected by this pandemic. Violence against Women is also common in Bangladesh. This study discusses the trends of violence against women in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevailing gender norms, patriarchy, and socio-economic factors made women of Bangladesh vulnerable to different forms of gender-based violence. Women face different types of gender-based violence such as rape, domestic violence, dowry-related violence, sexual harassment, and stalking. The objective of the study is to find out the trends of violence against women during COVID-19, underlying factors behind such acts, and the consequences of such violence on women’s lives. The study is done using qualitative research techniques. In-depth interview, Key Informant Interview (KII), document analysis techniques were used to collect data. This study found that socio-cultural factors and prevailing gender norms played a significant role in the spike of violence against women during the pandemic causing extreme social, psychological, economic, and health harm to women. JEL Classification Codes: K42, K38, N35.

URBANIZATION IN BANGLADESH: EMERGING CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD

Urbanization is a natural process of the population shift from rural to urban territories. More specifically, urbanization is a process of migration of population from rural to urban areas as well as the transformation of society where the rural agricultural economy is being transformed to advance the industrial economy. A major change to be witnessed in Bangladesh over the last few decades is the rapid spread of urbanization. Multiple driving factors paved the way for spreading the rapid growth of urbanization in Bangladesh. If this spread is not effectively managed, emerging challenges like spatial imbalance, environmental challenges, weak policy framework, challenges of sustainable cities, urban poverty, urban health issues, etc are likely to grow. This study aims at exploring the emerging challenges of urbanization in Bangladesh. It also explores the way forward to face the emerging challenges. This study has been conducted depending on qualitative and descriptive analysis. It is mainly based on secondary data. Available books, journals, documents, newspapers, data, reports, and magazine articles are reviewed in detail as a secondary source. In the findings of the study, the rapid growth trend has been critically examined. Besides emerging challenges of urbanization in Bangladesh have been identified. Finally, some recommendations have been put forward to overcome the emerging challenges of urbanization in Bangladesh. JEL Classification Codes: D8, O15, O18.