The Relationship between Job Stressors and Organizational Change Among Academic Staff at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Cawangan Kelaantan.

Change usually occurs when an organization replaces its management, technological change or product diversification, et cetera. However, organizational change can increase work stress levels, and employees need to cope with new and old stressors. This research emphasizes the factors of job stressors, such as role overload, role ambiguity, unprofitability, poor peer-relation, and strenuous working conditions. The purpose of this research was to identify the relationship between job stressors and organizational change among academic staff at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Kelantan (Machang Campus) and to identify the most affected job stressor during the organizational change. The research was non-experimental which was categorized by correlation. Quantitative data was collected using a questionnaire contained three separate sections and was distributed to 155 academic staff at UiTM Cawangan Kelantan (Machang Campus). The reliability analysis was conducted and the Cronbach Alpha value ranged from 0.529 to 0.852. Pearson Correlation was used to examine the relationship between job stressors and organizational change, and it was found that all variables of job stressors had a significant relationship with organizational change except for unprofitability. It was also found that the most affected job stressor during organizational change was poor peer-relation. The researchers hope that this study would educate employees regarding factors affecting job stressors towards organizational change. Keywords: Organizational change, role overload, role ambiguity, unprofitability, poor peer-relation, strenuous working conditions.

The Correlation between Servqual Dimensions and Student Satisfaction

Service quality is a very crucial element in ensuring the competitiveness of various institutions. By having a good service quality, the reputation of the organization will enhance and thus become their added competitive advantage. In higher education institution, service quality is important to ensure the students whom are their primary stakeholders are able to have a good learning experience in which will then influence their satisfaction. The primary objective of this paper is to analyze the correlation between five elements in SERVQUAL dimensions (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy) and the student satisfaction. The questionnaires were distributed among the students in various faculties in UiTM Sabah by using convenience sampling technique and 250 questionnaires were managed to be collected for analysis. Overall, the result shows that the students are satisfied with service quality in UiTM Sabah. Specifically, all five SERVQUAL dimensions correlate with student satisfaction. Reliability, responsiveness and empathy dimensions have strong correlation with student satisfaction. Meanwhile, both tangibility and assurance have moderate correlation with student satisfaction. This study is hoped to contribute towards the new knowledge in the field of service quality especially in higher education institutions Future research is also proposed at the final section of this study to discover new findings from different perspectives of service quality. Keywords: servqual; students’ satisfaction; service quality; higher education institution; service delivery.

Turnover Intention Among the Navy People: The Role of Work Family Interference and Organizational Commitment

Human capital is a critical component of any organization's competitiveness. The absence of a high-capacity employee can have a negative impact on operational performance. The researcher examined the significance of organizational commitment as a mediator between work-family interference and turnover intention in the Royal Malaysian Navy. Data were collected from 400 navy personnel at the Lumut Naval Base in Perak, Malaysia, using structured questionnaires. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. Organizational commitment serves as a mediator between work-family interference and turnover intention in the Royal Malaysian Navy. According to the findings of this study, organizational commitment mediated the relationship between work-family interference and turnover intention. Additionally, work-family interference is a significant predictor of intention to leave the RMN.

Malaysia’s Healthcare Expenditure: ARDL Bound Test

This study aims to analyse the relationships between income level, education expenditure, inflation, and ageing population towards health expenditure in Malaysia over the period of 1997 until 2017. This study employs Autoregressive Distributed-Lag (ARDL) Bound test in determining the long-run empirical relationships between all independent variables and healthcare expenditures in Malaysia. The findings show the existence of long run cointegration between healthcare expenditure inflation, income level, and the government’s education expenditure. The results confirmed that all independent variables have positive long run relationships, except the ageing population that displays a negative relationship in influencing healthcare expenditure in Malaysia. The regression result of GDPP shows income elasticity value of 0.690, reflecting the necessity of healthcare expenditure. The outcome of the paper hopes to provide insights on the importance of healthcare expenditure for the development of this country, especially on its economic fronts.

The Mediating Effect of English Self-efficacy on the Relationships between Motivation to Learn, Intention to Share Knowledge, and Job Performance Among Military Personnel

Extensive research on the relationship between employees' use of English in the workplace and their job performance has revealed that the use of English at work leads to increased job performance and positive interactions among staff. In relation to this, a good command of English among military staff, especially officers, is of great importance to the Armed Forces, as military personnel often serve abroad and need to be proficient in communicating their instructions and orders to a foreign team. Previous research has also shown that self-efficacy is a significant predictor of job performance; however, the role of self-efficacy in learning English language skills has not been widely explored as mediator in the relationship between motivation to learn, intention to share knowledge, and job performance. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that can be used to improve the understanding of English self-efficacy and its relationship with employees’ motivation to learn, intention to share knowledge, and capability to complete a given task. This framework informs and guides future research that will test the hypothesized relationships. The findings would assist the English Department of the Education Directorate of the Malaysian Armed Forces to design or revise military training syllabi and approaches.

Determining Drivers of Financial Management Behavior Among Working Adults In Malaysia

Financial management behavior encompasses of four main fields such as saving, expenditure, borrowing and investment. The purpose of this paper is to determine the driver that influences financial management behavior among Malaysian working adults. A survey questionnaire was distributed to 300 Malaysian working adults in three sectors which are the government sector, private sector and self-employed using convenience sampling. A total of 273 responses were collected and deemed usable. The findings of the study found that financial knowledge and financial attitude have a significant and positive relationship to financial management behaviour among Malaysian working adults while the locus of control has a negative relationship with financial management behavior among Malaysian working adults. Recommendations are put forth at the end of the study.

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Potential Economic Impact of Halal Food Testing in Halal Supply Chain

A globalized food trade, extensive production and complex supply chains are contributing toward an increased number of non-Halal substance in food cases. Halal laboratory testing or Halal testing is an approach to identify contaminants and ensure the integrity of raw materials and food products. The adoption of an integrative approach of Halal management system and Halal testing was investigated to identify and discuss several related economic issues in this field. From an extensive analysis of academic literatures using ‘Halal Food Fraud’, ‘Halal Food Testing’ and ‘Halal Food’ specifically at food manufacturer, the issues involving economic impact of Halal testing was highlighted. Several Halal Testing Points were proposed for the evaluation of Halal ingredients and products, followed by a conceptual framework on the potential economic impact of Halal food testing. The high demand for transparency in the food industry among consumers has therefore may need food manufacturers to consider Halal food testing as part of their production process.

Effective Market Segmentation for Open Distance Learning Institutions’ Marketing Strategy

This study aims to examine prospective learners’ perceptions toward effective market segmentation strategies for Open Distance Learning (ODL) advertisements. A descriptive study was conducted to assess preferences based on the generational cohort. Self-administered questionnaires were used to obtain meaningful data from 282 potential learners in Malaysia. The potential learners were working adults based on generational cohorts, namely, Gen Z, Gen Y, Gen X and Baby Boomers. The study was conducted from October to December 2020. Based on the analysis, Substantiality and Accessibility between ODL institutions and the market were viewed by the majority of the respondents as more effective than Responsiveness and Identifiability. However, the standardised path coefficient shows that all variables are significant predictors of the effective market segmentation. Therefore, it is noteworthy to develop creative marketing strategies to attract the attention of a wider audience. The insights obtained can potentially assist ODL institutions to better understand the characteristics of effective market segmentation. The study adds to the existing marketing literature and has strong implications in both academic and ODL institutions, particularly regarding the aspect of prospective learners’ opinions pertaining to effective market segmentation.

A Social Innovation In Malaysia Vs Thailand: Strengths And Weaknesses

Innovation is important in enhancing the country's competitiveness and contributing to knowledge-based urban development. The development of innovation that focuses only on the economic perspective leads to the imbalance of development when there is a gap in economic growth and social development of society. The emergence of social innovation is a complement to corporate innovation that focuses only on profit. Thus, this article aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of social innovation in two countries which is Malaysia and Thailand. The findings show that both governments of Thailand and Malaysia have taken social innovations initiative as a serious matter by incorporating it as one important agenda in their economic planning and framework. However, besides of success stories discussed in this paper, there are also some weaknesses point out in this paper need to address seriously by the respected parties.

The Design and Development of the i-Jury Management System

Handling an event requires a repetitive and complex task; from initial preparation until its conclusion. One of the important elements in an innovation event is the jurying process. The jurying process usually involves tasks with higher priority and must be completed in limited duration, usually within 4 to 5 days. The inexistence of inexpensive jurying information systems leads to the development of the i-Jury management system (i-Jury). The i-jury management system was developed based on PHP programming language, MySQL database, and jQuery. The development of the information system follows the System Development Lifecycle methodology. The findings show that the development of the information system speeds up the process of managing jury, project management, as well as speeding up the disbursement of results, comparing to previous traditional evaluation methods