Managing corporate reputation, stakeholder relations, and corporate social responsibility: a Southeast Asian perspective

The purpose of this paper is to identify the importance of and relationships between the three key concepts of corporate reputation, stakeholder relations, and corporate social responsibility from a managerial perspective of corporate communication and corporate marketing. This study employed in-depth interviews with selected companies from GLCs, MNCs, and LPCs. The study found that, despite the significant alignment and integration between corporate reputation, stakeholder relations, and corporate social responsibility in their practice, all these have been managed as business duties (regulated), not genuinely for the substantial contribution to a larger social community and environment (self-regulated). It was also found that, there is discrepancy in practicing CSR between MNCs, GLCs, and LPCs in Malaysia. Although practicing excellent CSR is desirable, in practice, they all are struggling to gain public legitimacy and reputation globally. Findings offer important implication for manager in relation to corporate reputation management

The impact of empowerment on emotional labour: a conceptual framework

This conceptual paper investigated the importance of employee empowerment and its impact on emotional labour in securing success of service delivery. This study advocates that empowerment is essential and also a key factor in the development of service quality and customer satisfaction. It is predicted that employees who are empowered and display suitable positive emotions at work may be able to manage their emotional labour efficiently. Therefore, the major goal of this paper was to develop and propose a conceptual framework on the impact of empowerment and positive emotions on emotional labour. It aimed to help marketers and managements to have a better understanding of empowering front-line employees in the organisation. Accordingly, this study conceptualised the relationships between empowerment, positive emotions, and negative emotions with deep acting, surface acting and expressions of naturally felt emotions. The model was developed based on the extent literature in services marketing, organisational behaviour and services management literature. Meanwhile, structural equation modelling was proposed to analyse the relationships among the predicted antecedents with their outcomes. The paper foresees contribution in services marketing literature as well as hotel management literature on the importance of empowering employee and its impact on emotional labou

Assessing the effects of empowerment and emotions on job satisfaction in hotel service environments

While empowerment has been encouraged in the hotel industry, a basic understanding on the possible relationship between empowerment and positive and negative emotions has yet to emerge. Evidence on the effects of empowerment and positive and negative emotions on job satisfaction is also limited. Therefore, the objectives of the study are threefold: to empirically investigate the relationship of empowerment on both positive and negative emotions and job satisfaction, to test whether the positive and negative emotions impose effect on employee’s job satisfaction and to examine the effect of individual empowerment components (task meaningfulness and freedom to perform) on job satisfaction. The approach of the study is based on questionnaires distributed to the frontline hotel employees in Malaysia. It was found that empowerment has a significant positive relationship with positive emotions and a negative relationship with negative emotions. The results also indicate that both empowerment and positive emotions have a significant influence on employee’s job satisfaction. Moreover, as hypothesized, the results support the negative relationship between negative emotions and job satisfaction. Another noteworthy finding was that, the effect of task meaningfulness on job satisfaction was significantly higher than freedom to perform. It is significant that managers should consider employing different forms of empowerment in order to maximize employee’s potential. The management must play an important role in monitoring employee’s emotions at work

Institutionalizing corporate social responsibility: effects on corporate reputation, culture, and legitimacy in Malaysia

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop measures of Asian corporate social responsibility (CSR) based on David's dual process model for Malaysian government linked corporations (GLC) and publicly listed companies (PLC). Design/methodology/approach: A survey consisting was conducted and a structural equation model was used to test the relationships among constructs. An instrument to measure CSR practices focusing on CSR relational, CSR ethical/moral, and CSR discretionary is developed to evaluate impacts on corporate reputation, culture, and legitimacy. Findings: Findings suggest CSR antecedents emerge through formalization of corporate communication management in Malaysian organizations. The structural model provides evidence that CSR initiatives impact corporate reputation directly. The study acknowledges the increase in CSR initiatives in corporate communication practices in GLCs and PLCs in the quest to gain public legitimacy and corporate governance. Originality/value: The study contributes to the corporate communication literature by linking CSR to corporate reputation and culture, and developing a CSR model that explores a critical dimension in management of corporate identity in an Asian country

Tourism policy development: a Malaysian experience

This paper has the objective of tracing the historical development of tourism policies in Malaysia, an underpinning factor towards understanding the full potential of tourism as an industry in the country. It begins with the justification of using tourism as the agent of change, in the drive towards multiplying the economic base of the country. It ends with the highlighting of contemporary practice of tourism, with a notion to further strengthen established industry foothold. Secondary data, together with complementary data from in-depth interviews with policy makers formed the basis of the arguments. Findings suggest that tourism is viewed as a very important industry as emphasized by respective policies. Findings suggest too that although there are bounds of success, with regard to tourism development in Malaysia, the political-administration system, which is based on the federal constitution also, has some drawbacks. For one, a bottom-up planning in-put would be ideal. In parallel, planning and developing of tourism has to be dynamic due to the ever changing surroundings

The role of halal awareness, halal certification, and marketing components in determining halal purchase intention among non-Muslims in Malaysia: a structural equation modeling approach

Although the important role of halal awareness, halal certification, and marketing-related components in determining purchase intention has been recognized in the marketing literature, empirical examination of this issue is limited. In order to fill this knowledge gap, this study aimed to determine the relationships between halal awareness, halal certification, food quality, marketing promotion, and brand with the intention to purchase halal product among the non-Muslim community in Malaysia. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey consisting of 226 non-Muslim consumers. Structural equation analyses indicated that the halal awareness, halal certification, marketing promotion, and brand were positively related to purchase intention, whereas food quality was negatively associated with it. Theoretically, this study is one of the first attempts to develop and to empirically test a conceptual model on halal purchase intention by integrating halal components with marketing-related components

CONCEPTUALISING THE SERVICE EXCELLENCE AND ITS ANTECEDENTS: THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL

Increasing and maintaining service excellence in the tourism and hospitality industry are known to enhance the customers’ satisfaction which could bring more profits to the organizations. This paper focuses on the antecedents of service excellence, in particular the relationship with service characteristics, empowerment of employees, service excellence, and its impact on the selected outcomes. Using the existing literature, a proposed structural equation model with its associated hypotheses is developed to explain the relationship between service experience antecedents and its associated outcomes. Hence, the proposed model provides understanding on the inter-linkages among service excellence, its antecedents and the outcomes. It provides some clearer insights into the importance of managing customer service experience which can contribute to customer satisfaction as well as enhancing organization competitive advantage. Thus the empirical work is required to test various research propositions empirically. The Implications for the practitioners are also discussed

CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SERVICE GUARANTEES IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY

Purpose – This study examines the relationship between service guarantee and service quality in four and five star hotels in Malaysia. It also examines the role of empowerment as a mediating variable between service quality and service guarantee, and between service guarantee and service recovery. Finally, this study examines the effectiveness of service recovery on customer satisfaction after unpleasant service experiences with the hotel. Design – The paper presents an exploratory analysis to examine the implementation of service guarantees in Malaysian hotels and the effect of empowerment on service guarantees and service quality from the customers\u27 perspective. Methodology – This study focuses on the four and five star hotels in Malaysia. A survey through questionnaires distributed to the respondents who stayed at the hotel. To examine the relationship, the analysis is done using SPSS and AMOS for empirical analysis. Findings – The study found a significant relationship between service guarantee and service quality; service guarantee and empowerment and confirmed that empowerment mediates the relationship between service guarantee and service recovery. Originality of the research – The study is novel in its application of signalling theory to the study of service guarantee and service quality from the customer\u27s perspective and with employee empowerment in the Malaysian hotel scenario

Challenges faced by micro, small, and medium lodgings in Kelantan, Malaysia

The primary objective of this study is to identify the unique business characteristics of micro, small and medium (MSM) enterprises as well as to address issues and challenges faced by these enterprises in the hospitality and tourism business. This exploratory study employed semistructure face-to-face indepth interview methods for data collection. A total of 11 enterprises in Kelantan, Malaysia participated in the study. Nvivo was employed as a tool to analyse the data. The findings imply that MSM enterprises suffer from several obstacles such as financial constraint, high taxes, lack of state government support, the successor replacement and others. The study provides discussions on how hospitality and tourism enterprises can address the challenges faced by their business

Ecotourism in Taman Negara National Park: issues and challenges

Ecotourism is one type of tourism that promotes conservation and minimises visitor impacts. This exploratory study employed a semi-structured face-to-face in-depth interview. This study involved 9 visitors in Taman Negara National Park (TNNP). It was designed to identify recent issues and problems faced by the management of TNNP. Current issues and problems faced at the park, including pricing policy dilemmas and the current funding situation, were identified and also discussed. It was found that the main problem at TNNP rooted from inefficiency in pricing policy. Other problems included natural resource conflicts, visitor management and environmental degradation. It is therefore debatable that the main ingredient for the survival of TNNP is the commitment and participation of the stakeholders involved, which comprised of the government, the park authority, private sector, local community, etc