The Influence of Promotional Mix on Female Consumers’ Buying Behaviour

The skin care industry has become very competitive today. The demand for skin care products has grown rapidly due to the growth in the population of working females and the penetration of Korean culture among Malaysians. Hence, this study aims to investigate the influence of promotional mix on buying behaviour of female consumers towards skin care products. This study has recruited 200 female respondents from Melaka using convenience sampling. The data was collected using a set of self-administered questionnaires. Advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling and public relations were included in the research model to predict buying behaviour of female consumers towards skin care products. Data analysis which involves measurement model and structural model were performed using PLS-SEM. Sales promotion and public relation both influence buying behaviour significantly. Advertising, direct selling and personal selling, however, were found to be non-significant. The findings have thus implied that sales promotion and public relation are important factors of buying behaviour of female consumers towards skin care products. This study has provided valuable information and insightful input to the marketers of skin care products.

The Impact of Movement Control Order on Rural Livelihood in Malaysia

In 2020, the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) had a global impact on normal daily life. The Government of Malaysia officially declared the Movement Control Order (MCO), an official national lockdown, to reduce the virus’s spread. In the face of the unprecedented global health pandemic, Malaysia had struggled to protect its citizens’ welfare and livelihoods, particularly in the hardest-hit rural areas. Therefore, this study uses the sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) focusing on the aspect of financial assets and government intervention to enhance understanding on the vulnerability in rural area’s livelihood. Pasir Puteh, Kelantan was identified as the rural area for this study. The analysis was performed on a questionnaire survey based on convenience sampling of 62 respondents. Cross table analysis and a correlation test were used to examine the livelihood of the rural area concerning the financial assets, government intervention and vulnerability. The findings indicated that the MCO had a substantial impact on the rural area regarding the vulnerability toward the financial assets, such as employment status, job loss, increasing living costs, and an insufficient response to rural economic challenges. At the same time, there is no substantial government intervention in the welfare of rural areas. According to the results, the study concluded that the government should set up training courses to assist in the long-term recovery of rural areas due to the enforced lockdown, which has adversely affected rural livelihoods.

Why do Malaysian Young Adults Buy Health Insurance?

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the importance of health insurance. Although most of the companies in Malaysia usually provide employee benefit plans such as medical coverage to their employees, the COVID-19 pandemic that severely impacted the economy and employment has also abruptly exposed the unemployed and retrenched workers to the risk of high medical costs. Thus, this study aims to identify the factors that affect the purchase intention of health insurance among Malaysian young adults in the transitional period of life and could be vulnerable to potentially catastrophic expenses in severe injury or illness. Using a convenience sampling method, a set of self-administered questionnaires was distributed to 200 young adults in Malaysia who are aged between 18 to 25 years old. The results show that attitude, perceived behavioural control, and perceived financial benefits significantly influence health insurance's purchase intention. This study offers an insight into the rationale of buying health insurance among Malaysian young adults, mainly from the behavioural perspective. The finding also suggests important managerial implications to the associated parties, particularly in reinforcing a positive attitude towards health insurance's purchase intention among Malaysian young adults.

Exploring Purchase Intention using Delivery Services Apps during Covid-19 Pandemic among Malaysian Households

Online services of product delivery apps are more critical than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has irrevocably altered internet purchasing habits. Customers are getting comfortable using the apps for services to order and do the shopping via their smartphone using the apps. The pandemic has quickened the transition to a more digital world. However, the debate remains as to what elements influence customers' purchase intentions toward using Delivery Services Apps (DSA). This research is therefore carried out to examine the key factors affecting the intention of customers to use delivery services apps among household customers in Malaysia during Covid-19 in 2020 to 2021. The research explored the most significant factors that influence the customer purchase intention on using DSA. There are 4 independent variables which we are focusing on: time factor (TF), price factor (PF), and convenience motivation factor (CMF) and product illustration factor (PIF). From the research, we have found out that convenience motivation factor is the most important exogenous variable that can influence purchase intention directly, sequentially through shopping motivations. The other factors that have a significant impact on a customer's purchase intentions are price factor and time factors. The least important factor that influences a customer’s purchase intention is the product illustrations. The study is carried out by gathering responses from over 167 participants in Malaysia. The objective of the study is to examine the use of online delivery services apps (DSA) to run the businesses efficiently and more effectively in order to attract household customer’s purchase intention. The novelty of this study is by giving the strategies and opportunities to the online business entrepreneurs to enhance and boost their sales by using social media as a platform of online delivery services apps to the community.

Collaborative Learning and Social Media Acceptance for Student Engagement

This study examines the influence of collaborative learning dimensions and social media usage on tertiary students’ engagement via e-learning mode in the time of COVID-19 pandemic situations. The dimensions of collaborative learning are interaction with peers, interaction with lecturers, and knowledge sharing; the social media or technology acceptance dimensions are mainly on the ease of use and the perceived usefulness of this new media platform. Collaborative learning and social media usage are predicted to have influenced students' learning engagement in the online and e-learning mode. 201 Malaysian tertiary students from public and private universities have completed the survey forms via purposive and snowball sampling methods. Descriptive analysis was executed in SPSS, whereas model validation and structural model were analyzed using Smart-PLS 3.3. The results revealed that collaborative learning positively influences the interaction with peers and lecturers and knowledge-sharing behavior. Technology acceptance elements positively affect social media usage. Interaction with peers, social media usage, and knowledge sharing increases tertiary student engagement in e-learning. The only insignificant predictor is interaction with lecturers. This study revealed positive findings that social media usage is the most dominant and high-performance factor impacting tertiary student engagement in e-learning.

Adoption of Mobile Wallet During Covid-19 Outbreak: The Consumer Perspective

Government authorities have encouraged the public to use the contactless payment method in accordance with the new norm practised during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Malaysians will receive RM50 in mobile wallet credit as part of a Penjana Economic Recovery Plan initiative in July 2020 to encourage safe and contact-free payment. Hence, this paper aimed to study the factors influencing consumer adoption of mobile wallets during the COVID-19 outbreak. The independent variables included in this study are perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived social influence and perceived security. A total of 250 Malaysians from three states of Malaysia are given a set of self-administered questionnaires to be answered. The response rate is 94%, with 235 sets of completed questionnaires used for analysis. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM 3.3.3) is used to analyse the model. The hypothesis testing results concluded that perceived usefulness, social influence and perceived security have a significant relationship with mobile wallet adoption during the COVID-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, this research is useful for mobile wallet developers and other researchers. Lastly, the findings of this study provide some managerial implications for mobile wallet developers, which can help developers produce a better mobile wallet in the marketplace.

The Implications of Covid-19 Pandemic on Consumer Burden in Malaysia: An Analysis

The effects of Covid-19 are continuing to increase around the world as the pandemic claims millions of lives. Malaysia is no exception and has been remarkably affected by the pandemic. Apart from the number of people who are or have been infected with this virus, millions of people are directly or indirectly facing many challenges to their living. The challenges include increased cost of living, income reduction or losses, decreased purchasing power, and unemployment, along with other societal issues created by the pandemic. This study contextualised the implications of the pandemic on consumers’ burden in Malaysia, focusing on the cost of living and unemployment. Observations on prices, inflation, and unemployment rates were conducted to provide meaningful evidence. Major findings revealed that the cost of living has risen, contributed by the increase in prices, especially for food items, healthcare, and education. The unemployment rate also expanded due to the lockdown measures, which led to income losses and reduction. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought challenges to the consumers as measures taken to curb the pandemic have altered many aspects of life and increased the consumers’ burden. Although the inflation rate remains manageable, a major concern lies in many people’s income reduction or income losses. This study implies that the government, together with private institutions and NGOs, needs to work hand in hand to minimise the consumers’ financial burden, especially during this pandemic. It is hoped that the discussion presented in this paper would shed light on the impact of the pandemic on consumers’ burden in Malaysia.

Determinants of Fintech Products and Services Adoption in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

This research focuses on the factors that influence Fintech products and services adoption among bank customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The extended technology acceptance model (TAM) was employed to determine attributes affecting the adoption of Fintech in Saudi Arabia perspective. The online survey was conducted to collect information on demographic factors and their intentions to adopt FinTech products and services. 300 responses were gathered and their intention to adopt FinTech products are measured by using five Likert Scale to which respondents were required to indicate their agreement or disagreement on perceived ease of use (PEoU), perceived usefulness (PU), social influence (SI), and security concern (SC). The result shows that PU and SI significantly influenced the adoption of FinTech. The findings of this research would be valuable to policy-makers in Saudi Arabia by helping them to determine the variables that have a significant effect on the process of adoption and establish some future potential guidelines for FinTech firms to boost their intention to embrace FinTech in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

An Overview on COVID-19 and its Impact on Migration in Malaysia

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries all over the world. Many countries have imposed restrictive measures, such as lockdowns, shelter-in-place, and stay-at-home orders, as an attempt to control the pandemic at a local level. However, these measures also hit the economy hard. This paper predicts the impact of COVID-19 on migration in Malaysia based on the experience during the Asian Financial Crisis. Migrant workers contribute a large portion of the labour market in Malaysia. Thousands of migrant workers are affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, the implementation and re-imposition of multiple phases of Movement Control Order (MCO) which worsened the economy. Therefore, there is a need to review the possible effect of COVID-19 on migration as it would greatly affect the labour market and the economy as a whole.

Bridging Household Income Gap: Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to examine the long run and the short run relationship between household income gap, physical capital, human capital, and technological progress in Malaysia. Based on the Solow's growth model, this study applied the panel cointegration estimation of the full modified ordinary least square (FMOLS), as well as the Granger causality analysis. The result showed that there is a short run and long run relationship running from physical capital, human capital, technological progress towards the income gap of M40 and B40 groups of households. This study is unique because it addresses the income gap between a group of households of the bottom 40% and middle 40% across all states in Malaysia.