Proceedings of the 1st AAGBS International Conference on Business Management 2014 (AiCoBM 2014)

This study used the partial least squares (PLS) and structural equation modeling (SEM) tool to explore the factors to determine the adoption of technological innovation (TI) in the manufacture sector in Malaysian SMEs’ businesses. Statistical results confirm that the adoption of technology is positively associated with its size. It also examines on the best predictor pertaining to the TI adoption. The results, besides indicating the suitability of the PLS in statically analysis, have also contributed to a better understanding of technological innovation adoption in Malaysian SMEs’ business perspectives, and the findings are useful for policy makers and practitioners to enhance their application given the diversified advance to the small business.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between market orientation and commercialization of university research products with the moderating effect of organizational culture. This is due to a report that indicates that Malaysian public universities score low in commercialization of their research products. Quantitative approach method will be applied in this study with 354 sets of questionnaires distributed to 5 research universities in Malaysia. Since this paper is intended to focus on its conceptual nature, it discusses only the synthesis of literature findings. Limitations are not going to be discussed in the empirical discussion. The conceptual contribution of this paper goes one step further by suggesting the factors that may influence the enhancement of commercialization of university research products in Malaysia.

Reputation is a key feature of a successful business. To be among the most precious intangible assets to a small business, the excellent reputation is taken into account. However, in order to assess the company reputation, the variety of dimensions of corporate reputation can be perceived in different ways by different customers. This study perceives that these differences are significant to find out customers’ perception toward the Secret Recipe’s reputation specifically by using seven key dimensions of the Reptrak™ model.

Thus, a survey research was applied in this study. The survey was carried out in three different outlets of Secret Recipe. The questionnaire was comprised of 23 attributes which are divided in 7 key dimensions of the Reptrak™ model while four questions have been asked in order to measure good feeling, trust, esteem, and admiration that customers feel toward a company. This study concluded that by analyzing corporate reputation dimensions, the company would have a better understanding and decide on which reputation dimensions to focus besides ensuring that they still have a place in the customer’s heart as well as enhancing their reputation.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate and provide practical implications on the applicability of open innovation in small B-to-B businesses (less than 100 employees) and to determine which open innovation approach is most appropriate for small businesses. A qualitative research design based on an interpretive epistemological methodology in the form of six semistructured interviews with senior managers of small B-to-B businesses was applied. It was found that the key competences of absorptive capacity and collaborative capability exist in small B-to-B businesses or was at least perceived to be sufficient to apply open innovation. Customer involvement was established to be the most promising open innovation approach, followed by R&D outsourcing. There was no agreement on whether collaborations with universities could and/or should be applied or not. As with any qualitative research design, generalizability is limited. This paper provides a conceptual framework for further research in the not yet explicitly researched field of applying open innovation in small B-to-B businesses.

Increasing the export has been an important agenda to many countries as it contributes to economic growth. Exporting is the most common way to expand business and penetrate international market. The role of SMEs in global market has increased which contribute to economic growth of a country. However, SMEs are facing challenges in entering export markets due to limited resources, competition with multinationals, and many other factors. Hence, SMEs must make sure that they are prepared to enter the export market as to minimize the risks of failure in international market. The objective of this paper is to examine export readiness among SMEs in Malaysia as studies have shown that export readiness influenced export performance. Interviews were conducted on eight manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia to examine their perception and level of export readiness. Among the important dimensions to export readiness are motivational factors, management commitment, product consideration, and financial resources. The findings showed that SMEs are motivated and have the intention to enter international market, but their motivations do not necessarily manifested into commitment to export. This study contributes significantly to the theory of export readiness and extends literature on export readiness among SMEs. Further researches are also suggested.

An exponential growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs) facilitated by a global convergence of computer networks and system revolution has resulted into an extensive use of Internet technologies. To be sure, the Government, through the Malaysian Parliament, has been aggressive in its initiative in providing the necessary environment to empower the MPs in ICT through various ICT platforms and technologies. This study discusses the impact of Internet technologies on MPs in Malaysia through official or nonofficial (personalize) means of communications. The findings showed that the Internet technologies are well accepted by the MPs and the continuance of use of ICT is positively correlated.

Neglecting to properly choose the right combination of entry mode and entry timing strategies can lead to poor performance in international business ventures. The paper focuses on the linking of entry timing (ET) and entry mode (EM) decisions and the factors influencing both decisions. By consolidating the findings for both entry decisions, an ETEM model to guide the construction firms to access the targeted markets will be developed. The questionnaire surveys were sent to 115 Malaysian construction firms listed under Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia with 39.1 % response rate. The logistic regression (LR) model revealed that the majority of construction firms have chosen to be the late movers (LMs). Factor analysis carried out shows that the factors significantly influenced the firms’ entry timing decision as LMs are the firm’s international experience, level of knowledge, research and development intensity, competencies in project management, specialist expertise and technology, and financing capacity. The multinomial logistic regression (MLR) model has shown that majority of the construction firms preferred both equity (EQ) and non-equity (NEQ) entry modes. The factor analysis revealed that the factors that significantly influenced the firms’ entry mode decisions to choose both types of entry mode are the firm’s management of quality and risk attitudes, strong resources, experience in similar works, ability to assess market signals and opportunities, superior management and organizational dynamic capabilities, availability of partner/alliance, and existence of strict time limitations. The consolidation of findings shows that the majority of the Malaysian construction firms were the late movers, and they preferred both EQ and NEQ entry modes. Hence, this study contributes to an improved understanding of particular relationships that exist between the entry timing and entry mode decisions made by firms into international market.

Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) construct is difficult to measure, it is quite impossible without moral values that can affect one’s attitude in the purchasing behavior process, so the paper is to report the results of a pilot study to confirm the analysis in SQ on consumer attitudes in purchasing Halal cosmetics and subsequently to confirm the intention to purchase by using the theory of planned behavior. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study among the Muslim women as the subjects, working and staying in the Klang Valley area in Malaysia. The purpose of the study is to develop a new measurement scale to unravel and decompose the underlying dimensions of SQ from the perspective of the Muslim-deemed imperative. About 200 respondents of user and nonuser of Halal cosmetics are selected. The structure equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to examine the relationships among God, society, and self, which are the dimensions of SQ to drive the Halal economy.

As Information and Technology (IT) industry is vital to the country’s economic growth, it is important to ensure the smoothness operations so that long-term growth and development can be achieved with fewer obstacles. Hence, a constant availability of a large pool of talented and experienced people is crucial to carry out functions. However, employee turnover issue is a critical phenomenon within IT industry globally and locally. To curb this issue, academic attentions have diverted the focus upon the implementation of talent management practices on both employee engagement and employee retention. This study seeks to determine the relationships between talent management practices (managerial support, employee career development, and rewards and recognitions), employee engagement, and employee retention within IT organizations in Selangor. This is a quantitative study. The research instrument comprises of a self-administered questionnaire. A convenience sampling technique was used for this research. A total of 581 respondents responded valid questionnaires and it gives an average response rate of 77 % for the study. Data gathered were initially analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. The findings of Pearson correlation analysis indicate talent management practices (managerial support, employee career development, and rewards and recognitions) have positive correlation with employee engagement. It was also found that employee engagement has positive correlation with employee retention. The results of hierarchical regression analysis on determining the mediating effect of a mediator (employee engagement) indicate employee engagement mediated the relationship between talent management practice (employee career development and rewards and recognition) and employee retention individually.

The study investigates the role of organizational image towards level of engagement. The study used primary data which was gathered through 450 survey questionnaires distributed to bankers who are employed in the commercial banks. Distribution of questionnaires was handled through “drop-off” and “pickup” approach. This approach was taken in view of the confidentiality of workplace, practiced by commercial banks. The response rate was 91.8 % whereby 413 responses were gathered from 450 surveys distributed. The data gathered were analyzed, and findings obtained show that organizational image has contributed large unique contribution towards the level of engagement among employees of commercial banks.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework in investigating the influence of human resource management (HRM) practices integration on the organizational performance of acquiring companies in Malaysia. A conceptual model was developed using resource-based view (RBV) to describe several concepts, namely, HRM practices which are used to support its relationship with organizational performance. Based on the variables engaged, it is argued that HRM practices are the most important element to be well integrated in the merger and acquisition process specifically in post phase in order to improve organizational performance. The paper is limited to a study that may have further implication for research by using a model to investigate the importance of HRM practices integration in merger and acquisition context. The findings will be useful to top management to design their HRM practices within a strategic condition in order to improve the performance of acquiring companies. This paper contributes to the existing literature of HRM specifically in merger and acquisition context.

Since 1996, Malaysia’s higher education industry has evolved and expanded rapidly. As a result, stiffer competition exists between public higher education institutions (HEIs) and private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in various aspects such as service quality provided to students in terms of facilities, knowledge, and learning experiences. This situation is further aggravated when the market and social environment put much pressure on both HEIs and PHEIs to provide relevant programs and satisfactory service which at least surpassed the standards set by the MOHE. Obviously, both HEIs and PHEIs need to leverage their efforts in ensuring improvement in the quality of their services. In doing so, the quality of the services provided should be measured beforehand to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, the most accurate method of measuring the quality of services is strongly debated. In such light, this study compares two methods which are widely used in measuring service quality, namely, importance-performance analysis (IPA) and service quality dimensions (SERVQUAL). Based on such comparisons, this study has found several elements in IPA and SERVQUAL that can complement each other: (1) specific dimensions of attribute, (2) graphic visualization of result, and (3) transformation of result into strategic action. Hence, combining both IPA and SERVQUAL may be beneficial in providing new avenue for service quality measurement in the higher education industry.

Product innovation refers to new products development and improvement of existing products. The importance of product innovation proliferated as the market grows and becomes more diversified. Among SMEs, product innovation is one of the most critical determinants for their survival, growth, and competitiveness. Nonetheless, product innovation among SMEs is still low, owning to various issues and challenges. This study attempts to focus the effect of transformational leadership and organizational culture on product innovation among 36 SMEs in Johor. A SEM-PLS was used to validate the measurement model and develop the path modeling among variables studied. It is found that both transformational leadership and organizational culture are significantly related to product innovation. This finding substantiates previous findings and lends supports to the important roles of both constructs in SME’s development.

This chapter discusses the duration to compute the 85th percentile. As the computation of 85th percentile involves huge data depending on the study, it is important to have efficient tools to speed up the process of 85th data calculation and for the researcher to develop an 85th Data Calculator named 85DC to perform more efficient data calculation. Comparison has been made using 15 sets of data, and as a result the duration to compute 85th percentile has reduced from 22 to 26 % by using 85DC.

The study develops and empirically tests a model of the effects of brand strategy and design innovation on brand performance in furniture manufacturing firms. Questionnaires were sent to 500 furniture SMEs operating in Malaysia, and 204 effective responses were returned. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to validate the constructs. Research hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling. The proposed model fits the data well. The results show that brand orientation, brand distinctiveness, and functional innovation have direct effects on brand performance. Finally, implication and recommendations of these findings are discussed. The paper encapsulates the role of each dimension of brand strategy and product design innovation to determine a stronger brand performance in the furniture manufacturing firms.

An increased uncertainty and potential losses caused by the natural disasters expose firms to a greater level of catastrophic risks. Manufacturing firms are at more vulnerable position due to global sourcing and supply activities. In this paper, we aimed to propose a conceptual framework capturing the importance of supply chain (SC) robustness and resilience in firm’s sustainability. A case study approach was adopted where four in-depth interviews were conducted with the SC professionals within the electronics industry in Malaysia. It is hoped that the research outputs contribute to deepen our understanding on the factors that constitute an effective SC risk management practice to allow firms to learn and become better prepared to overcome operational interruptions, minimizing losses and enhancing business sustainability.

For about one decade now, the Generation Y has been entering the workforce in large numbers, which has given them the power to reshape the rules of play at work. Gen Y employees share many of the values of hard work and social consequences and demand more individual treatment and flexibility in training, work assignments, and work schedules. As the major test that faces organizations today is how to enhance job satisfaction within this new generation, this conceptual study aims to explore the work styles, professional expectations, and career concerns of Gen Y employees as the factors that could enhance their job satisfaction and to develop a preliminary job satisfaction model applicable to the Malaysian workforce. In-depth review of past literature was also made to further understand the elements that would lead to Gen Y more fulfilled at the workplace.

The new paradigm shift in risk management is Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). This is considered as the best approach to risk management as it deals with issues on globalization, industry competition, and socialization. One of the fundamental components of ERM framework is risk culture. The implementation of ERM can fail when the organization has a weak risk culture. This study aims to develop a conceptual study and seeks to examine the antecedents that contribute in developing a risk culture such leadership, accountability, competencies and risk management (infrastructure) in Public Listed Companies (PLCs). The main instrument used is a structured questionnaire which will be distributed to Risk Managers of 262 Public listed companies. The data will analyse using Statistic Package Social System (SPSS).

Agriculture is an economic sector that is exposed to an array of risks such as climate change, pests attack, disease, and others. In its attempt to sustain and protect this sector, the Malaysian government in its 2013 budget has initiated a takaful plan to help farmers reduce losses resulting from natural disasters. Hence, this research aims to investigate the relationship between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived risk, and intention to participate in agriculture takaful. Apart from this, the research also aims to explore the risks faced by farmers as well as to analyze the farmers’ need to participate in this risk management plan. Three hundred thirty six respondents comprising paddy farmers in Kedah participated in this survey. Quota sampling technique is used to measure the attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived risk, and intention to participate in agriculture takaful. Pearson correlation was used to measure the relationship between the variables. The results indicate that risks most severe and most frequently experienced by farmers are those caused by pests attack. Furthermore, the findings also explained that perceived risk and attitude are the significant factors that influence paddy farmers’ intention to participate in agriculture takaful. Findings from the study would be beneficial to takaful operators, relevant ministries, and policy makers to materialize the implementation of an agriculture takaful plan for this sector.

While leaders encourage employees to engage in interpersonal citizenship behavior, motivated employees may perform the behavior due to the existence of leader-member exchange relationship. Performing interpersonal citizenship behavior for the benefit of others is critically needed, yet it is still inadequately studied. Thus, the objective of this paper is to examine the mediation effect of supervisor rating of leader-member exchange on the relationship between subordinates’ prosocial motivation and interpersonal citizenship behavior. Rasch model was used to investigate the measurement analysis, and Hayes’ mediation analysis of SPSS was administered for further analysis on 210 subordinate-supervisor dyads at local public universities. The findings reveal that prosocial motivation variable influences leader-member exchange quality and leader-member exchange quality is related to interpersonal citizenship behavior. Thus, it is proven that leader-member exchange relationship quality as a mediator. A discussion on estimation of indirect and direct effects in statistical mediation analysis is presented.

Product appearance has been recognized as one of the sources of competitive advantages of a company. This study was carried out to understand the roles of the product appearance in consumers’ buying decision of smartphone. Five different roles of product appearance, namely, aesthetic, symbolic, functional, ergonomic and attention drawing, were examined in this study. The smartphone brand tested in this study is the Samsung Galaxy series which is one of the most popular smartphone brands. One hundred fifty-seven responses of Samsung Galaxy users were gathered in this study, and the data were analysed using the analytic hierarchy process technique. The results showed that functionality of the smartphone acts as the most important criterion to the respondents in making their purchase. This was followed by product aesthetic and product ergonomics. Managerially, the findings of the study provide significant input to the smartphone producers in improving product design development. The study also offers the marketers useful information on the products’ selling points. Future research recommendations are highlighted.

Enterprise risk management (ERM) has received increase attention among business communities and researchers in Malaysia. Yet, ERM is still in the beginning phase among Malaysian companies. Despite this development, there is little research on factors associated with the adoption of ERM. Additionally, most of the previous studies only focus on large enterprises and financial institutions. Subsequently, there are still quite a few studies conducted in this area, and specifically in a developing country like Malaysia, this study will be a benefit in increasing the scope of literature and fulfill the research gap by providing study insight in the SMEs. By applying the Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT), the adoption process can be understood. The main objective of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework on the determinants of ERM adoption in SMEs. From the review of various literatures available in this particular area of interest, there are two factors or determinants of ERM adoption: technology attributes and organizational characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential criteria of halal compliance in halal food supply chain. The criteria explored in the study are the stakeholders in halal supply chain, namely, the authority body, manufacturer, logistics provider, operator, consumer, and the government. A pilot study of 30 questionnaires has been distributed to identify important criteria and sub-criteria. The survey addressed the perceptions of the consumers on halal supply chain of casual dining restaurants, using score method. The result shows that all the criteria are important with at least seven of mean score and can be considered to be subsequently analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model. This preliminary study provides inputs to the selection of important criteria for halal food supply chain in order to establish priority index using AHP.

Mindful consumption is considered to be a new wave of consumer behaviour. Moreover, as an increasingly educated and financially sophisticated society, Malaysia has the potential to further the trend of mindful consumption in everyday living while, at the same time, contributing towards sustainable future. This paper was designed to extend the line of discussion between the trends of mindful consumption in Malaysian society according to the mindful consumption model by Sheth et al. (J Acad Mark Sci 39:21–39, 2011). This model was adopted in this study as the guiding principle where mindful consumption is premised on a consumer mindset of caring for self, caring for community and lastly caring for nature that reflect behaviourally into temperance with acquisitive, repetitive and aspirational consumption. Correspondingly, this paper focuses on mindful consumption of investors towards investment decision making. In addition, this allows them to tell their own perspective on how mindful consumption impacted their investment decision-making. It is anticipated that by adopting mindful consumption in this study, the reasons towards investor’s investment decision can be identified through their consumption behaviour.

The automotive industry has become more dynamic as practitioners react promptly toward consumer’s preference in cars. In particular, car producers introduce an abundance of car models to avoid customer attrition. Numerous studies have shown that consumer emotion plays a vital role in purchasing, evaluation, and decision-making. Thus, this study helps to unravel the emotional experience of consumers that can influence purchasing and suggest the importance of empirical testing. Scholars and practitioners need to investigate reliable marketing tools suitable to evoke positive consumer effects. The pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) theory and intelligence were used in this study to examine the effects of stimulus complexity on consumers’ purchasing behavior. A total of 160 Malaysian urban young adults participated in the pilot test. The questionnaire included items measuring the PADI scale using a seven-point Likert scale. This study collates and identifies positive stimuli that include pleasure, arousal, dominance, intelligence, and negative stimuli. It is learned that respondents prefer talking about their negative emotional experience as compared to positive emotion. To further test the robustness of this study, future research might replicate this study and examine into customer’s emotional scale. The researcher is encouraged to overt future consumer’s negative emotion more specifically into account. Indeed, practitioners must overcome the consumer’s negative emotions in efforts to overcome the churn phenomenon.

The development of Islamic banks in Malaysia is increasingly challenging with more banks offering products and services based on Islamic principles. This study explores customers’ perception towards corporate image and its impact on self-expressive value, brand distinctiveness, brand attractiveness and brand identification towards their most preferred Islamic bank in Malaysia. Institutional theory and social identification theory were exploited as the underpinning theories for developing the conceptual model. Accordingly, data was collected through firstly interviews with customers, Shari’ah supervisors, practitioners and lecturers of Islamic banking. Next, self-administered questionnaires were distributed among 400 customers of Islamic banks through purposive sampling. Analysis of data was then conducted through descriptive, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequently, structural equation modelling with 308 respondents was then conducted to test the hypothesised relationships among the constructs, as postulated in the model. Nine hypothesis links are supported, while eight are rejected. Expectantly, this study facilitates the development of corporate image in Islamic banks, particularly with intense competition from many players of the industry.

The study on career commitment is important in employment retention issues. It was regarded that professional employees are committed to their profession more than the organization itself. This study evaluates the level of career commitment among 303 ICT professionals located in Peninsular Malaysia and investigates whether it has any influence on their level of intention to leave. The results found that career identity, career planning and career resilience have negative influence on both intention to leave the organization and intention to leave the career. All three constructs of career commitment were found to have significant impact on intention to leave the organization. However, only career identity and career resilience were found to have significant impact on intention to leave the career. It was also found that the level of intention to leave the organization is higher than the career. Implications of this study and recommendation for future studies were discussed.

The contribution of the food processing industry in Malaysia to the economic development of the country is significant. Presently, this industry is experiencing continuous and rapid growth as consumer demand for processed food increased in both local and global market. However, many food processing firms in Malaysia failed due to their inability to cope with micro and macro challenges. In addition, many are unable to maintain their position in the market and have difficulty to improve their business performances. This situation is also escalated by the high involvement of small- and medium-scale companies in this industry that have limited tangible and intangible advantages. It is postulated that effective involvement of the food processing manufacturers in supply chain integration is important as this strategy would enable them to become more competitive and be able to cope with rapid market demand. As such, the objective of this article is to gather evidences that indicate the impact of supply chain integration practice on firm’s operational performance in the context of the food processing industry in Malaysia. To do this, a conceptual model is proposed based on the literature review and the analysis of in-depth interview responses conducted with the food processing manufacturers. The accumulated literature and exploratory study find that the concept of supply chain integration that comprises internal, supplier and customer integration is an important relational factor to improve business performance. The study will provide important implications for the management in this industry to understand the best practices or strategies that contribute to the success of the firm.

The issues related to work-life balance have become a phenomenon and received substantial attention over recent years. Working individuals have to juggle work and home demands in their lives in order to balance them. It is possible for individuals to be out of balance, feel tired, and not be able to manage their lives efficiently. As a result, individuals who are practicing multiple roles inevitably experience conflicts which could further jeopardize their quality of lives. Hence, this paper aims to propose a conceptual framework by investigating the effect of work and home demands on work-family conflict in achieving work-life balance among academicians. The individual’s level of job involvement, work-role conflict, and work overload are identified as the sources of work demands, whereas the family involvement and family conflict are taken as home demands. Three forms of work-family conflict are also discussed in this paper due to combining work and home demands. Practically, there is an urgent call for an organization to find flexible and innovative solutions that would enable employees to achieve work/family balance. In short, helping employees to achieve a certain level of work-life balance could go far in increasing employee’s work and life satisfaction.

This paper outlines an exploratory analysis of a much larger study on the effect of servicescapes and experiential values on loyalty intention within the context of department stores. Shoppers to department stores are exposed to a variety of servicescape elements such as ambience, atmospherics and sight and smell. Such elements are likely to create distinct experiences, and these may have an impact on shoppers’ revisit intention to the department stores. This study operationalizes loyalty intention through revisit intention to the store, and based on the shoppers’ responses to Aeon outlet in Bukit Tinggi Klang, it is found that servicescape and experiential values do influence loyalty intention. Although there may be other variables affecting loyalty intention among shoppers, it can be established that servicescapes and experiential values do play a role in creating a positive outcome, and as such, the findings may be useful to both academics and practitioners.

The paper examines the role of human resource diversity management (HRDM) practices as predictors of organizational citizenship behavior (OCBI and OCBO). This study is quantitative and cross-sectional and the unit of analysis is individual. Survey questionnaires that contained measures of HRDM practices and OCB were distributed among full-time operational employees employed by identified star-rated hotel located in the north of Peninsular Malaysia. Multiple regression analyses were utilized to test the study hypotheses. The results of the study indicate that overall, HRDM practices were significant predictors of OCB. In this study, data collected was self-reported and cross-sectional in nature. Thus, same-source bias may be present. Next, the sample size was small and selected from a single organization. This affects the generalization of our findings. Future research project may be benefited from an exploration of a wider range of employees at different industries, national and cultural context. Significantly, these findings propose that policy makers and hotel practitioners should continue to place and develop greater emphasis on HRDM practices in order to enhance employees’ attitudes and citizenship behavior. The results benefited the organization to gain better understanding of the usefulness of HRDM programs in their organization.

The topic of shareholder activism has become an important issue for discussion in the corporate world, and debate continues to exist with regard to this matter. In the corporate world, the minority shareholders are the least protected corporate participants, due to their minimal voice in corporate decision-making. This paper is not empirically based but merely conceptual. Therefore, it is aimed at presenting the preliminary work for a study. The concepts of corporate governance, ownership structure and control, shareholder-companies relationship and majority-minority shareholders relationship are discussed, in order to gain an understanding of the concept and some practical perspectives of shareholder activism. From the discussion, several missing parameters of shareholder activism were derived. These missing parameters are considered red flags; there is a dire need to conduct further research for a better understanding of this important topic.

Ethical behavior among employees is a key component of long-term success for private as well as public enterprises. The rise in the number of unethical practices has necessitated the need for studies on ethical behavior. Local studies in this topic are limited. Many scholars have suggested that organizational and personal factors are important determinants of workers’ ethical behavior. Hence, an understanding of these factors is important in cultivating ethical behavior. This paper aims to review the literature and proposed a model linking organizationally related variables (superior influence and peer influence) and one personally related variable (locus of control) and ethical behavior. Both proposed methodology and expected outcome were discussed.

Almost every first mile journey starts with walking, and the last mile journey ends by the same form of transport. Various factors have been identified as having influence on the willingness of pedestrian rail commuters to walk from home to the nearby rail transit station. This pilot study was carried out in three rail commuter stations within the selected Transit Planning Zone of the Kuala Lumpur Conurbation. The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the pedestrian commuters’ perception of their environmental factors to and from the rail transit stations. The proposed framework was evaluated by using a structured questionnaire and survey done on 50 respondents. The findings indicate that physical environment, weather, safety, and rail level of service have positive correlation with walkability. The findings may enhance the actual survey to be carried out, while the final results may provide further insights into walkability and then on increasing the rail patronage.

The hospitality sector is a major contributor to the development of the tourism industry, and the hotel industry is one of the most extensive contributors to the hospitality sector. Today, there is a high level of competition in the hotel industry as service providers offer more and better services at various costs. The hotels are competing to offer somewhat similar services to satisfy their customers better than their rivals (Choi TY, Chu R, Int J Hosp Manag 20:277–297, 2001). It is because of this aggressive competition that they strived to excel, and for this to be realised effectively, the need to sustain customers become critical. The concept of customer lifetime value (CLV) (Bohari AM et al, Int J Bus Manag 6:161, 2011) has been introduced to emphasise the importance of sustaining customers. CLV has become a priority for many marketers competing in this hypercompetitive environment of business (Hosseini M, Albadvi A, Int J Electron Commer Stud 1:15–24, 2009).

In the hospitality industry, hotels observe CLV as a way to balance the challenge of managing incremental revenue in the short term with more long-term and strategic value generation initiatives (McGuire k, Customer lifetime value – the “Holy Grail” for hotels, 2012). In line with the creation of CLV in the hotel industry, there is a need to determine how to attract them continuously. This is where the idea of experiential marketing (EM) comes in which needs to be investigated from the tourists’ perspectives. The question of whether EM stimulates hotels’ occupancy rates and the linkage of EM with CLV as a strategic move by the hotels is the direction that this study is proposing. This is a conceptual paper that looks at the relevant literature leading to the linkage between EM and CLV.

Hospitality industry is one of the most substantial factors for the tourism industry in Iran. However, this sector has been neglected for various political and social reasons, especially during the post-Islamic revolution of 1979. The main objective of this paper is to investigate customers’ indirect experiences in the hospitality industry in Iran due to a significant advancement in the hotel establishments. Hotel guests, in turn, institute their brand knowledge partly through indirect experiences. A better understanding of how this experience contributes to brand image has important implications for brand managers. The data was obtained from 302 international and local customers in four- and five-star hotels in five major cities in Iran. The findings revealed that there are significant correlations among the factors. This paper contributed to the existing body of literature in the hospitality industry particularly in Iran’s context. This study will significantly contribute to the Iranian tourism market in seeking improvement toward the effectiveness of hotel customers on brand association and loyalty in Iran. Hotels of five major cities of Iran. The results of the survey indicated that the most important is the lack of brand awareness for Iranian hotel brands.

This study seeks to clarify the relationship between IT and competitive advantages in the tourism industry in Sabah. Several theories such as the resource-based view, market-based view and Porter’s model of competitiveness are discussed to further explain the association between these two variables. The element of strategic planning is added in the relationship as a moderator. This paper presents the theoretical framework for the IT utilization among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia by focusing on SMEs’ tour and travel agents in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

The objective of this study is to assess the level of perceived social support, academic self-concept, students’ perception on decision to attend university and educational goals of residential students in a public university in Malaysia. The findings indicate that family acts as the main social support for the respondents, the respondents have high self-concept with regard to their ability to excel in the studies, and residential college students were reported to aim for the highest degree, i.e. master’s degree, and also aspired to complete their current degree programme. This is an indication that the respondents aspire to pursue their education to a higher level than what they are at currently. The respondents understood what their educational goal was, and they perceived that their parents supported their career/academic programme, and they knew the importance of getting a tertiary education for their future career purposes.

This paper provides empirical evidence of the determinants that contribute to the factors affecting external debt in Malaysia, covering the period of 1972–2012. We use time series econometric tools to investigate the relationship among the variables. The augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test, Granger causality test, and multiple regression analysis are employed in examining the factors such as the dynamic effect of gross domestic product, export, and foreign direct investment toward the level of external debt in Malaysia. The findings indicate that gross domestic product, export, and foreign direct investment are important indicators of the level of external debts. Debt management strategy is crucial for a country because excessive foreign loans could be a detriment to the country’s economic situation.

Foreign direct investment exerts a positive effect on economic growth only if a country has a well-functioning financial system. Thus, the objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between foreign direct investment and financial development in five selected ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. The Pedroni panel cointegration test is conducted to ascertain the presence of long-run relationship between foreign direct investment and financial development. The results obtained demonstrate that there is indeed a long-run relationship between the variables. The causality tests employed by the study found several interesting outcomes. First, there is no causal relationship between foreign direct investment and domestic credit by banking sector, but there is a unidirectional causal relationship between foreign direct investment and domestic credit to private sector. Second, there exists a unidirectional causal relationship between market capitalization value and foreign direct investment, but a bidirectional causal relationship between foreign direct investment and stock value traded. Policy makers are recommended to improve the quality of financial system so that the ASEAN countries could enjoy the maximum benefits of foreign direct investment.

It is reported that Malaysian firms’ aggressive involvement in cross-border merger and acquisition (CBMA) deals started in the early 1990s. This research aims to examine the short-run performance of Malaysian acquiring firms listed on Bursa Malaysia by using abnormal return (AR) and cumulative abnormal return (CAR) for event window (−90,+90), (−60,+60) and (−30,+30). CAR is the proxy for shareholders value creation to measure the short-run performance. Event study method and regression analysis are applied for the study period 2000–2011. The result shows that both firm-specific determinants and macroeconomic variables contribute to the shareholder value creation and are statistically significant for the Malaysian acquiring firms in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. However, only six determinants are parallel with the hypothesized statements.

The study of household debt burden is important because households are an essential element of each social and economic system. This means that any debt-service problems that they encounter will portray a negative influence on the whole economy in the long run. Further, household debt is currently becoming a very crucial social and economic problem for both highly developed countries and emerging markets (including ASEAN). This paper attempts to conduct a preliminary investigation on the determinants of household debt burden by looking first at the trend of household debt in some advanced economies and emerging ASEAN countries. It will also review some macroeconomic factors inherent in household debt burden, namely, interest rate, inflation rate, housing price index, unemployment rate, and aggregate consumer consumption. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to produce a conceptual framework and discuss the methodology process involved. It is hoped that the evidences laid out from previous literatures on the importance of solving the household debt burden issue, in some way, have caused the curiosity for further investigation in determining, uncovering, and validating the determinant factors that may affect household debt burden in the selected countries under this study.

This study analyzes the influence of macroeconomic factors and country-specific factors on foreign direct investment of three countries: China, Singapore, and Malaysia. The macroeconomic factors included are the inflation rate, interest rate, gross domestic product, trade openness, debt, exchange rate, domestic money, and unemployment. The country-specific factors are labor quality, infrastructure, financial resources, stock market performance, environment, natural resources, and political risk. The study applies unit root tests and regression analysis to ascertain the significance of the macroeconomic and country-specific factors on foreign direct investment of each country. All the macroeconomic factors and country-specific factors are transformed to ensure that there will be no unit root problem. The period of study for each country is from 1980 to 2011. The regression analysis is employed based on the ordinary least square (OLS) method. The study found that unemployment, infrastructure, financial resources, and the stock market performance influence the inflow of FDI.

This research aims to examine the determinants of primary market spread and measure financial performance of Cagamas as its case study. Ordinary least square method and regression analysis are applied for the study period of 2004–2012. The result shows that three determinants influence or contribute to the primary market spread that are statistically significant for Cagamas, and its financial performance shows that it is resilient during 2007–2008 US subprime crisis. In fact, Cagamas shows rising profits and dividends in the period of study. As such, this study testifies the success of Cagamas as an intermediary between long-term investors and lenders in the Malaysian mortgage market.

It is crucial for any individual, families, and other aggregate well-being to have knowledge, information, and education on financial literacy to facilitate them to make a significant financial decision that may affect their lives as well as the financial health of the country. In July 2008, Bank Negara Malaysia has implemented a tiered pricing on credit card as a measure to promote and educate the card users to be financially disciplined. The research indicates that the implementation creates dissatisfaction among cardholders especially those who make partial or minimum repayment monthly where a tiered finance fee on the 13th month is charged depending on the tracking repayment record for the past 12 months and the 20-day interest-free period is no longer applicable to them.

The main objective of this study is to examine the nonlinear relationship between ownership concentration and firm value. The issue of dynamic endogeneity between the two variables is investigated in this study. Empirically, there is no evidence of nonlinearity between ownership concentration and firm value. The result also suggests that dynamic endogeneity is not serious in influencing the relationship between ownership concentration and value of Malaysian firms.

Even though Islamic insurance industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth, in terms of net contributions and profit, however, at the same time, the development of Islamic insurance is still faced with tough obstacle constraints due to

Shari

’

ah

issues in certain aspects. Islamic insurance operations need to be fine-tuned to meet the Islamic direction and the needs of the Muslims. Different operational models in various Islamic jurisdictions; at the same time, models meet the needs of Muslims in general of Islamic insurance in the global Islamic economy, and each of these models has its own advantages and disadvantages. Also, there is no agreement among scholars on which of these models can be considered the best among them. These models whether

Wakala

,

Mudharabah

,

Waqaf,

or Hybrid have several problems which need to be studied and addressed, in order to strengthen the Islamic insurance industry globally.

The two challenging issues studied are one on the ownership of the Islamic insurance risk fund or the contribution fund and the other is surplus distribution accumulated from the risk fund. There is diversity in opinion as to whether certain practices are

Shari

’

ah

compliant. Other than that, a few services offered are disputed

Shari

’

ah

of its compliance by some

Shari

’

ah

scholars in certain regions. This led to layers of regulatory differences as in countries like Bahrain, Malaysia, and Sudan, which have initiated separate regulatory frameworks for Islamic insurance as a medium to ensure the rapid growth of encouraging Islamic insurance.

When are banks considered fragile and what triggers them to be fragile? This paper attempts to answer those questions by measuring bank fragility and identifying probable factors determining bank fragility of Malaysian commercial banking sector during the period of 1996–2011. This paper constructs the banking sector fragility index (BSFI) to measure fragility of commercial bank during the period studied. The index is then used to identify the determinants of commercial bank fragility. Results of BSFI show that the commercial banking sectors are in fragile condition from 1996 until 2000 and in a highly fragile stage between 1996 and 1998 since the BSFI are less than −0.50. In addition, findings based on the logistic regression analysis infer that the likelihood of Malaysian commercial banks to be fragile is significantly determined by total loans to total assets and interbank rate.

The aim of this paper is to provide a quantitative estimate of the indirect financial distress costs. This paper focuses on the Malaysian trading and services sector and concentrates only on measuring the financial distress costs in terms of changes in operating performance and changes in capital values. This study will contribute to the existing literature by providing an alternative proxy for indirect financial distress costs and perhaps the first paper to provide the quantitative estimate of the costs for Malaysia’s financially distressed firms. Findings from our study suggest that indirect costs exist and are found to be between 3.1 and 21.39 %. In addition to that, this paper also provides an empirical support that the indirect financial distress costs increase and become apparent as the firms near financial distress.

This paper examines the impact of firm-specific factors on the size of indirect financial distress costs for Malaysia’s financially distressed firms. The results provide an insight into the magnitude of the indirect financial distress costs and its determinants and perhaps are one of the first to provide empirical evidence on the determinants of indirect financial distress costs for Malaysia’s financially distressed firms. The results show that the average indirect financial distress cost measured by capital discount is 0.56 % and varies considerably among firms. It also suggests that only two variables, assets intangibility and size, are statistically significant at the .01 significance level.

The study of mergers and acquisitions is commonly done by many academic researchers in the area of corporate finance and covers a wide range of issues. This paper focuses on assessing Malaysian firms’ cross-border merger and acquisition (CBMA) efficiency due to the fact that Malaysian firms have been reported to be aggressively involved in CBMA deals as early as the 1990s. This research aims to assess the true efficiency of Malaysian acquiring firms listed on Bursa Malaysia by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) for the study period 2000–2011. The annual financial data of the firms involved in CBMA and the employment of DEA coupled with the statistical tool will help to evaluate the effectiveness of the firms. It is expected that there is a significant correlation between the chosen input and output factors to the actual DEA score.

This paper examines the nonlinear relationship between debt and firm value in Malaysia. The issue of dynamic endogeneity in the determinant of the relationship between debt and firm value is also investigated in this paper. Based on the sample consisting of 367 Malaysian firms listed on Bursa Malaysia for the period of 2007–2012, the study fails to find evidence on the nonlinearity between debt and firm value. It concludes that dynamic endogeneity does not influence the relationship between debt and firm value in the Malaysian firms.

The purpose of this paper is to construct and validate the underlying factorial structure of salient belief factor measurement scale as the antecedent of attitude towards Islamic financing. The analysis was based on a sample of 125 microenterprises and SMEs in Halal production, collected at Halal exhibitions via interviewer-administered questionnaire. A simple random sampling approach was used in the data collection. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to determine the factorial structure for salient beliefs. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was executed to confirm and validate the factorial structure. The results confirmed a five-factor structure as conceptualised, i.e. knowledge and awareness, religion obligation, cost-benefits, business support and reputation.

The gold investment account is offered by conventional banks in Malaysia and is particularly popular among the small-time investors who are interested in gaining from the increase in gold price. It allows investors to buy as low as 1 g of gold. It also provides convenience for investors not to retain the physical gold themselves due to security issues as well as storage costs. Furthermore, dealing with banks in gold transactions might somewhat guarantee the authenticity of the gold, and it is unlikely for banks to go bankrupt as they are under the purview of the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), compared to dealing with other gold trading companies or jewellery stores. At the same time, gold investors in Malaysia also invested in private gold investment companies such as Genneva Malaysia Sd. Bhd. (Genneva). However, the Genneva gold trading scheme is deemed as a scam by the BNM and is currently pending court hearings. Nevertheless, this paper shows that there are similarities between the gold investment account system by conventional banks and the Genneva gold trading scheme. The similarities between the two are alarming and might suggest the vulnerability of the current gold investment system offered by Malaysian banks, especially during economic downturn. It will also open up discussions on the possibility for various improvements that could be implemented to reduce the risks in the gold investment account faced by both the investors and banks.

This paper highlights the socio-demographic factors influencing Malaysian households on their consumption of fresh fruits in general and tropical fresh fruits in particular. The data used is the national household expenditure survey data for the period of 2009/2010. Fresh fruit choices of households indicate high preference for temperate fruits and tropical fruits that are partially imported. An ordinary least squares regression estimate indicates that fresh fruit purchases are significantly and positively influenced by an elderly household head, number of members in a household, level of education of household head, an urban household and household located in the East Coast region of Peninsular Malaysia. Further estimation is carried out using the binary logistic regression model on those preferring tropical fresh fruits among fresh fruit buyers. Results indicate similar findings on regional factor. Tropical fresh fruit consumption is also affected by age of household head, number of people in a household and household head being a male and a blue-collar worker. White-collar workers and urban dwellers, particularly those in the Central and Southern regions, are less likely to purchase tropical fresh fruits. Policies should consider the above socio-demographic factors if the local fresh fruit industry is to be successfully promoted.

Decreasing fertility rates in Malaysia has been a worrying situation in the last four decades. If there is no action taken in the future, Malaysia will face the problem of labour shortage and ageing population. The main purpose of this study is to examine whether demographic and working environments have an influence on the fertility rate of women in Malaysia. This study uses primary data analysis from 200 respondents from two states in Malaysia, Kelantan representing a rural state and Penang representing an urban state. The method of analysis used was descriptive statistics, mean and cross tabulation. The findings indicate that most women who are in a younger age group, who have attained higher educational level, earn a high monthly household income and live in urban areas are more likely to have less number of children. In terms of working environment, women who work in the informal working sectors, because of their flexibility at the workplace, tend to have more children. Furthermore, spouse’s highest educational level and spouse’s type of employment do influence the decision-making on the number of children. For women who are involved in the informal sector, there is a significant impact on the number of working hours per week and the number of children, whereby lesser working hours per week influences the decision on the number of children to have. Findings show that Malay women tend to have more children as compared to Chinese and Indian women.

The study is a preliminary work in examining the characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of transformational leaders in changing the values of employees. Effective leaders consistently initiate others to achieve the organization’s visions and missions and improve the organization’s value. The behavior and attitudes of transformational leaders show the value of the organization. The research objective is to find the transformational characteristic components with regard to organizational performance. This study is to show the importance and intrinsic theoretical and empirical evidence of this matter to propose future research. This finding will be incorporated as one of the main variables in my current study on the influence of intellectual capital and organizational performance. Thus, this paper has limitations from the empirical approach perspectives. Finally, the outcome of this work promises to be of great interest to regulators and policy makers in providing an assessment of the success level of transformational leaders in Malaysian context.