Human capital efficiency, performance, market, and volatility timing of asian equity funds during COVID-19 outbreak

Jamila Abaidi Hasnaoui (), Syed Kumail Abbas Rizvi (), Krishna Reddy (), Nawazish Mirza and Bushra Naqvi ()
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Jamila Abaidi Hasnaoui: Excelia Business School
Syed Kumail Abbas Rizvi: Lahore University of Management Sciences
Krishna Reddy: Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology
Bushra Naqvi: Lahore University of Management Sciences

Journal of Asset Management, 2021, vol. 22, issue 5, No 5, 360-375

Abstract: Abstract Despite its relevance for financial services, the impact of human capital efficiency on mutual fund performance has remained unexplored. In this paper, we attempt to explore this gap in the context of the outbreak of COVID-19 that provides us a unique opportunity to assess human capital's importance during economic pressures. We employ data on 2044 equity funds across sixteen COVID-19 affected Asian countries to analyze the performance, market, and volatility timing after sorting these funds as per their human capital efficiency. Our results show that funds with better human capital efficiency outperform their counterparts that rank lower on human capital efficiency. The outperformance as measured by adjusted Sharpe and Sortino’s ratios, Jensen’s alpha, stochastic dominance, market, and volatility timing remained consistent for the pre-COVID period as well as through the outbreak during which the impact of human capital efficiency became even more significant. These findings have important strategic implications for mutual funds.

Keywords: COVID-19; Equity funds; Human capital efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G01 G10 G11 G20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41260-021-00228-y

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