Title: An empirical investigation of herd behaviour in COVID-19 perspective: evidence from Dhaka stock exchange

Authors: Md. Miad Uddin Fahim; Shabnaz Amin

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, East West University, A/2, Jahurul Islam Avenue, Aftabnagar Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh ' Department of Finance, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Abstract: This paper aims to examine the presence of herding behaviour in the Dhaka stock exchange (DSE), in light of the COVID-19 perspective with a sample of 351 firms listed with DSE for the period from 2016 to 2021. The study applied cross-sectional standard deviation (CSSD) and cross-sectional absolute deviation (CSAD) models to observe the herding behaviour by using both daily and monthly data where the time-frequency of the analysis has been segmented into three phases: pre-COVID, post-COVID, and the full study period (2016-2021). Based on daily observations, the findings document the herding behaviour, under the CSAD model, during the bull market condition in the pre-COVID period and the bearish market condition in the post-COVID period. The monthly data showed the presence of herding during extreme market conditions at a 1% significant level in the pre-COVID period and during the bull market condition in the post-COVID period.

Keywords: herding behaviour; cross-sectional standard deviation; CSSD; cross-sectional absolute deviation; CSAD; COVID-19 pandemic; DSE; bull market; bearish market.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2026.151147

Global Business and Economics Review, 2026 Vol.34 No.2, pp.219 - 240

Received: 27 Feb 2024
Accepted: 22 Jun 2024
Published online: 15 Jan 2026 *

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