UNIMAS Journal (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak)
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Strategic Direction of Information Technology on Sustainable Supply Chain Practices: Exploratory Case Study on Fashion Industry in Malaysia
Get PDFA growing body of research emphasises sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in contrary with limited studies exploring role of information technology (IT) in sustainable supply chain activities. Moreover, little is known on SSCM implementation in niche industries like fashion/textile-apparel industry. As most studies concentrated on investigating IT impact on business performance and profitability in supply chain, integrating sustainable practice with IT is still scarce. The aim of this study is to identify current SSCM practices with the focus on IT role in supporting SSCM in fashion industry. For that purpose, this study applies the sustainable key practices framework discussed in the literature of SSCM and adopted previous study framework that differentiates four IT roles for sustainability. Using the proposed frameworks, interviews were conducted with five fashion practitioners that are currently engaged with SSCM practices. The findings from this study highlight the existence of SSCM practices in fashion industry. Finally, this finding enhances the current understanding of how IT can support SSCM practices and helps future research in exploring the IT implementation, challenges and benefit towards SSCM
Tourism and Economic Growth Nexus in Maldives: Asymmetric Analysis and Role of ICT
Get PDFThe relentless spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, which began in the first quarter of 2020, aided by the periodical emergence of new variants, is continuing to inflict unprecedented damages on the global economy. Interruptions in international travel have led to the collapse of the tourism-related service industry, which is the backbone of the economies of many small islands and developing states. This paper focuses on the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, which is one of the top ten most tourism-dependent economies. Adopting the Solow production function, the paper examines the tourism and economic growth relationship using nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) methodology. The analysis shows that tourism earnings and economic growth have a significant asymmetric relationship. The result further reveals that the magnitude of the negative impact of the decline of a given size in tourism earnings on growth is of much larger magnitude than that of the positive impact of the same size rise in tourism earnings. The negative impact of tourism is found to be more pronounced in the long run. ICT spread, measured by the rise in mobile subscriptions, is positively associated with growth and has emerged as a significant contingent factor. We suggest policy measures to step up the recovery progress and growth
Analyzing Good Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility of Church of Batak Karo Protestant Using Financial and Ethnographic Approaches
Get PDFThis study was conducted with the assumption that good corporate governance and corporate social responsibility in organizations will help organizations achieve long-term sustainability. Previously, good corporate governance and corporate social responsibility were primarily applied to corporations with the goal of remaining profitable, whereas non-profit organizations must remain financially viable in order to serve their members and communities. The focus of this study is on the church as a religious institution that also serves as a non-profit corporation. Data was gathered using a quantitative and qualitative mixed method approach. The quantitative data analysis method employs Ritchie and Kolodinsky's Financial Performance Ratios, which include Fiscal Performance, Public Support, and Investment Performance Ratios, as well as an interpretative paradigm with ethnographic methods for qualitative research. The study's findings demonstrate that financial performance, as evaluated by Ritchie and Kolodinsky financial ratios, has been erratic, with a propensity to decline in 2017 due to a change in church management. The interviews revealed that the Church of Batak Karo Protestant practices good corporate governance and corporate social responsibility, which have a favourable impact on financial performance. To gain public trust, the Church of Batak Karo Protestant must continually enhance its Good Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility. This study also found that the Karo tribe's culture has a significant impact on the Church of Batak Karo Protestant's application of Good Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility. The policy recommendations in this study for the Church of Batak Karo Protestant are to establish a standardized and integrated management system that incorporates Good Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility, as well as the assimilation of Karo culture, based on the findings
The Effect of Working Capital Management on Profitability: Evidence from Malaysian Construction Firms
Get PDFWorking capital management is an essential part of a sound business. The main objective of this research is to investigate the effect of working capital management on profitability. The regression analysis was carried out on a panel sample of 30 construction firms listed on Bursa Malaysia over a five-year period from 2015 to 2019. The findings suggest that there is a significant positive relationship between Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO) and Gross Operating Profit (GOP) as well as a significant negative relationship between Days Payables Outstanding (DPO) and GOP. Thus, firms can maximise their profitability by maintaining higher inventory level and paying off creditors in a shorter time frame
The Determinants of Waqf Sustainability in Malaysia: A PLS-SEM Analysis
Get PDFOver the years, Waqf institutions has played an important role in addressing range of socio-economic development of ummah in the world. Waqf has been growing with time and there are increasing expectation surroundings the role of Waqf institutions. Nevertheless, lately the performance of Waqf institutions in Malaysia have cope with issues of inefficiency. According to the literature, inefficiency of Waqf performance is associated with internal factor which is Waqf management. Due to the matter, researchers agreed that Waqf institutions is in need of a holistic Waqf management reform to solve the arise issues. Following the issue, this study investigates the effect of efficient Waqf management determinants on the sustainability of Waqf institutions for long term growth in Malaysia. This study used a quantitative research methodology and a selected sample of 99 respondents in Waqf institutions were analyzed. The results were examined using partial least squares-structured equation modelling (PLS-SEM). This study empirically reveals that the determinants of efficient Waqf management positively influence the sustainability of Waqf institutions for long term growth. The result of this study will enhance the understanding of existing conceptual literature on the important of comprehensive Waqf management determinants in influencing the sustainability of Waqf institutions in Malaysia
What Do Consumers Like to See in a Cause-Related Marketing Campaign Board?
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to discover elements or contents of a Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) campaign’s communication board that may attract consumers to participate in the CRM program. This study focuses on the design of a CRM campaign communication board exclusively based on the perceptions of Malaysian consumers in the hypermarket context. Besides that, this study also identifies social causes applicable for hypermarkets in Malaysia. Employing a qualitative approach, the data in this study were obtained through focus group interviews and were analysed using a content analysis method. The study has identified seven themes that Malaysian consumers would like to see in a communication board, which were hypermarket initiative, communication, tagline and logos, timeframe, types of support (funds handled by NGOs), company-cause fit, and CRM products that are not limited to local products. These elements, if incorporated into a CRM communication board, will appeal to Malaysian consumers. The findings provide insights into the study of CRM communication board content that appeals to hypermarket consumers in Malaysia. This study also contributed to the CRM literature by exploring the applicability of a fairly new social cause (e.g. supporting underprivileged individuals) that can be championed and supported by the hypermarket. This research also offers practical implications for hypermarket managers. Hypermarkets can incorporate the seven elements (hypermarket initiative, communication, tagline and logos, timeframe, types of support, company-cause fit, and CRM products that are not limited to local products) while designing a CRM communication board
Sculpting a Community for Tourism Enterprise: A Case Study in Lenggong Valley, Malaysia
Get PDFEntrepreneurship training is an integral element that promotes entrepreneurship across a wide range of industries. In rural areas, the success of tourism destination heavily and solely depends on community involvement. Hence, community-based tourism enterprise (CBTE) appears to be a practical approach in encouraging the community to be involved in entrepreneurial activities. Nevertheless, efforts are scarce to document the training modules of CBTE program established in rural tourism. This study, hence, explored the training modules for CBTE development in the Lenggong Valley and measured the effectiveness of the training. The program has been initiated by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) with cooperation from Northern Corridor Economic Implementation (NCIA). The CBTE training was successfully conducted, wherein the community had placed high ranking for most of the items. The identified main challenge refers to sustenance of the business entity. This article contributes to CBTE literature by sharing a new perspective pertaining to training modules within the context of rural tourism. The study outcomes may be utilised by other CBTE programs with some modification to suit their specific needs and requirements
Event Tourism Demand and Selected Macroeconomic Variables: An Econometrics View of the Long-Run and Short-Run Relationships
Get PDFAssessing the substantial economic benefits of event tourism will provide insight into the effectiveness of tourism event in Malaysia.The significance of the tourism event sector has the potential to boost Malaysia’s economic growth, increase the arrivalof international tourists, increase tourist expenditure and further job creations.This study empirically investigates determinantsof event tourism demand in Malaysia during the period of 1991Q1to 2016Q4. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) techniqueis used to find the long-run cointegration relationshipsof the model. The model is further tested by employing diagnostic tests(Normality test, Serial Autocorrelation, Heteroscedasticity and Ramsey’s RESET test) and stability tests(CUSUM and CUSUMSQ). The empirical analysis of the boundstest indicatesthat there is a long-run cointegration among the variables under study. Besides that, the ARDL model produces reliable results,as all of the computed coefficientsof the independent variables are statistically significant with the expected signs. The findings are consistent witheconomic theory and the model passed all of the diagnostic tests.The findings of this study imply that event demand can be improved significantly when government spending,theexchange rate and tourist receipts increaseand the crude oil price decreases. Hence, government authorities and the private sector should createan integrated plan to enhancethe profit gained through the Malaysian economyfrom event tourism
The Influence of Female Leadership Towards Performance: Evidence from Western European Financial Firms
Get PDFDoes the appearance of women at the executive position in the boardroom make any differences in firm performance, especially in the financial sector which is well-known to be a male dominated sector? Inspired by that question, our study aims to explore the influence of female leadership in firm performance. We investigate this relationship from a comprehensive dataset comprising of 310 listed financial institutions from 21 Western European countries. The endogeneity concerns were removed using a Two stage approach least square (2SLS) and Generalized method of moments (GMM). Critically, we demonstrated that women's appearance at alternative managerial levels, including the chairperson, executive, and total female directors in the boardroom, negatively influences both firm accounting and market-based performance. We further explore that the percentage of women in the boardroom (excepting non-executive female directors) has a negative impact on performance only in low-performing firms. Our findings argue with previous studies which encouraged more involvement of women at higher managerial levels. We believe that women's unique characteristics are addressed to alleviate interest behavior, but they tend to reduce the performance of financial firms
Female Transformational Leadership and Teachers’ Commitment: Mediating Effect of Perceived Organisational Politics
Get PDFGender has been identified as one of the key factors that influences the degree of transformational leadership practiced by the leaders and has an effect on job outcome. This study investigates the characteristics and level of female principals’ transformational leadership and interrelationship between the leadership with Perceived Organizational Politics (POPs) and teachers’ commitment in Malaysian secondary schools. Further, the mediating effect of POPs on the relationship between transformational leadership and teachers’ organizational commitment are also investigated. In total, 208 teachers from secondary schools in Penang led by female principals were selected as respondents. The results found that the level of transformational leadership practiced by female principals was moderately high. The female principals tended to inspire and motivate teachers but displayed their idealized influence characteristics in leadership less. The results also revealed that the level of POPs and organizational commitment of teachers led by female principals were moderate. In addition, the hierarchical linear regression results indicated that POPs partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and teachers’ organizational commitment. This study indicates that teachers’ organizational commitment can be improved by transformational leadership that is practiced by their leaders as well as the POPs at their schools