Comeback is Real

"I do not know how to deal with your case. If there is no solution, then you will have to face the termination process by your university". That was the words that came out of from the Vice Chancellor during his meeting with the staff who have not completed their PhD studies in 2013. I know that the university has helped me all this time, and I do not see how the university can help me in this situation. I know, the implications were huge, and I must face all the possibilities after this. Here is my story ..

Multi-Approach Formulation in Dynamic Personality-Situation Interaction for Personnel Selection

The purpose of personnel selection is to measure knowledge, skills, and abilities that are necessary to perform a job effectively. The process involves various assessments, including personality assessment. This conceptual paper discussed the potential of using a learning factory to develop multiple simulations for assessment center activities in assessing personality in different situations. Although traditional personality assessment contributes to the effectiveness of selection decisions and prediction, it tended to ignore that trait-related behaviors may differ across situations. Study on dynamic personality is essential as empirical studies showed that within-person fluctuations in personality states relate to a variety of work outcomes, including job performance. To further understand this fundamental issue, this paper discussed further how personality–situation interplay influences performance by using a learning factory assessment center method. This study also discussed how the adaptation of exploratory mixed methods approach could be used. The mixed exploratory methods are suitable as this topic is related to fundamental research and empirical study, besides the investigation on this area is still limited. This paper could benefit other researchers, industry players, and policymakers in understanding better how dynamic personality may influence performance, especially in the activities related to Industry 4.0

Factors Influencing the Intention of Recipient to Pay Back Education Loan in State Foundation

This paper explores the factors that influence the intention to pay back the education loan among students in a state foundation. Education loan is the primary source for the student in order to pursue their studies. The government has introduced many forms of financial assistance such as scholarship, grants and education loan. However, the loan recipients have faced difficulties in repaying the loan, which will affect the provider and future recipients. This is because, the loan provider will not be able to sponsor future students if they are not able to collect the loan from the loan recipients. This paper identifies attitude, parental influence, media awareness and perception of loan agreement towards the intention to pay back the education loan. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is suggested to be the underpinning theory of this study. Findings of the study can assist the state foundations on setting strategies to collect payment from the loan recipients

Does tourism destination competitiveness lead to performance? A case of ASEAN region

The main purpose of this paper is to identify the causes of ASEAN tourism performance. This paper empirically examines the role of tourism destination competitiveness on tourism performance among the ASEAN countries. This study employed the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) to assess tourism performance of the ASEAN countries. More specifically, this paper explores whether tourism\u27s core resources, complementary resources, destination management, tourism prices and globalisation promote tourism performance; determined by the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) rankings, the number of international arrivals and tourism\u27s contribution to gross domestic product. Data published in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (2015) report by the World Economic Forum was used to represent most of the TDC, TTCI ranking and tourism performance variables. The indicators were selected under the condition that they reasonably fit the suggested research framework. Results from the correlation analyses show that air transport infrastructure, health and hygiene, safety and security and human resource variables all have explanatory power of the variation in tourism performance. The testing process also confirms that economic disparities between countries caused biases in the tourism competitiveness indexing. Finally, limitations of present findings were discussed, and implications for future studies are suggested

Does Ranking Explain Actual Performance? A Case of WEF Tourism Competitiveness Report

A competitive tourism destination should generate tourism revenues. Defining and measuring competitiveness is crucial for a tourism destination, especially to appraise its performance compared to the competitors. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) was developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2007 as the only tourism competitiveness indicator. The TTCI has been subjected to methodological criticism, such as the arbitrary weighing of variables. Underdeveloped countries are rated lower while the first-world countries are the highest rated tourism destinations in TTCI. Their ranking has been buoyed by their quality infrastructures, but not on tourist motivation to visit their diverse core tourism products that create tourism demand and generate tourism revenues. An empirical study was conducted on data from 115 nations. Secondary data on the competitiveness attributes were extracted from international reports. The causal relationship between the competitiveness attributes and TTCI ranking, together with tourism performance was tested through the variance-based structural equation modelling. Seven variables were identified as predictors to TDC: tourism core resources, complimentary conditions, infrastructure quality, destination management, environmental management, tourism price, and globalisation. The TTCI should weight tourism-related components more than non-tourism components to ensure a balanced approach. Moreover, the TTCI should consider the unique features of a destination in the ranking calculations. Only then TTCI ranking will be able to convey a more comprehensible and factual assessment, to guide decision-making related to tourism developments, investments, and other types of business decisions

Exploring National Tourism Organizations’ (NTOs) Use of YouTube to Communicate Information on Destination Safety and Security

Prior studies on destination image and risk perceptions have pointed out that various information sources affect tourists’ risk perceptions and overall image of the destination. In the case of providing tourist safety and security videos, it can be a double-edged sword. Such videos may be useful for informing tourists about potential risks and reminding them to be more vigilant, but it may also trigger risk perceptions that could hinder potential visitors to travel to the destination. This study sought to understand the current use of tourist safety videos by National Tourism Organizations (NTOs). Guided by theories of risk perceptions and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), a content analysis approach was used to describe the design, contents, and message persuasion attributes of safety-related videos uploaded by NTOs in their official YouTube channels. Exhaustive search from 169 NTOs (countries) garnered 29 videos revealing that formal advertisement style accompanied by background music was the most popular video design. Conflict-based and natural disaster risks were frequently reported as situation updates at the affected destinations. In terms of the message strategies, neutral frame, positive valence and psychological appeals were mostly adopted. Implications for such strategies are discussed

Becoming Lean: The Way towards Sustainability of Higher Educations Institutions

Sustainability has become a significant issue in today’s business world, including in the education sector. The objective of this cross-sectional study is to examine the implications of lean higher education (LHE) implementation on HEIs sustainability performance. Data were collected from academicians at a technical university in Malaysia. The study found positive relationships between LHE and sustainability performance in terms of environmental, economic, institutional, and social. The finding implies that in order to be sustainable, a university could exert more efforts in implementing LHE practices. This study subsidized to the current literature through bridging the gap of the lacking investigations on the potentials of lean management in the context of HEIs. The Malaysian HEIs could gain benefits through providing alternative solutions and suggestions to improve their business process, moving towards achieving sustainability performance