It is my greatest pleasure to bring before you all the first issue of the year 2023. This issue (14.1) has seven research articles across different disciplines.

In “Study of Early Risks of Depression by Analyzing Social Media Posts,” the author aims to build an analytical model using predictive analytical methods that would help practitioners identify more indicators that can precisely identify symptoms of users exhibiting signs of depression.

In “Validating a Work-Related Wellbeing Model in Handloom Weavers,” the authors investigated the work-related well-being among handloom weavers of Varanasi. The study finds that work engagement, occupational stress, and job satisfaction explains work-related well-being.

In “Does the Base Metal Futures Market of India Support the Mixture Distribution Hypothesis (MDH)? An Empirical Evidence,” the author makes an attempt to examine the mixture of distribution hypothesis (MDH) and the sequential information arrival hypotheses (SIH) in the base metal futures market of India. The results support the MDH as it confirms the existence of a contemporaneous correlation between the return and change in volume of all base metal futures traded at MCX, India, which will help the policymakers in framing future policies for developing the market further.

In “Financial Accessibility and Economic growth: An Assessment of Indian Economy,” the authors attempt to examine financial inclusion dimensions of the Indian banking sector in terms of penetration, accessibility, and usage and their impact on economic growth. The study suggests the policy reformer to bring more active schemes associated to the opening of saving accounts, which may be the only tool to reduce informal credit, with additional benefit to escalating awareness on new banking products and its uses.

In “Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Retention During COVID-19: An Empirical Study on Private Academic Institutions,” the authors aim to identify the impact of employer branding on employee retention during this pandemic and find that there exists a positive relationship between various dimensions of employer branding and employee retention.

In “Testing the Effect of Psychological Ownership and Organizational Justice on Employees’ Readiness to Change: Empirical Evidence from Indian IT Industry,” the authors aim to study and assess the impact of organizational justice and psychological ownership on employee readiness to change in the Indian IT industry. The findings highlight the importance of promoting both psychological ownership and organizational justice, for bolstering employee readiness to change in the organization.

In “Impact of Financial Literacy and Peer Influence on Financial Behavior of the Members of the Self-help Groups: A PLS SEM-Based Study,” the authors demonstrate the mediating role of financial attitude and financial efficacy in explaining the relationship between financial knowledge and financial behavior. The findings reveal that an individual’s emotional disposition should be considered while designing social intermediation initiatives. Also, social learning through peer influence can be extremely helpful in promoting sound financial habits.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the advisory and editorial board for their support and encouragements. I express my gratitude to all the anonymous reviewers who devoted much of their precious time reviewing all the papers submitted to this issue. I also thank all authors who contributed to this special issue. I hope you will enjoy reading the issue and find it informative and helpful.