Total quality management in higher education : Modelling critical success factors.

The research is aimed at determining the extent of TQM implementations in higher education institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, and Malaysia, uncovering common TQM critical success factors among the institutions, developing a generic and holistic TQM model for higher education institutions that incorporates the factors, measuring the performance of those factors and their contribution towards organisational excellence, and developing a mechanism for improving them.The research was conducted in three stages: exploratory study, descriptive, and empirical research. The exploratory study involves a literature review for searching structural TQM models that measure TQM essential elements. A criteria of modelling has been proposed for model selection. Based on this criteria, the Pyramid Model (Kanji, 1996) has been selected as a tentative model for further analysis. Further justification for selecting this model was provide by comparing it with the philosophical and system dimensions of TQM (Kanji, Morris & Haigh, 1993), ideas about TQM provided by major TQM contributors, and Hackman and Wageman's perspective of TQM philosophy (Hackman & Wageman, 1995).The descriptive study involved a questionnaire survey of higher education institutions in the U.S., U.K., and Malaysia. The survey result provided information on the extent of TQM implementations in those countries and indicated that the performance of TQM institutions are better then non-TQM institutions. It has also indicated that many higher education institutions in the three countries practiced the elements of the Pyramid Model. In the present research, the model's elements are regarded as critical success factors --- those few things that must go well to ensure the success of a manager or an organisation (Boynton & Zmud, 1984). The empirical research involved subjecting the Business Excellence Model to a structural analysis based on Partial Least Squares method by Wold (1980). Here, an iniital measurement instrument was developed to measure the model's constructs using multi-item rating scales. An iterative procedure retained only those items that were common and relevant to the higher education institutions in each sample. The final measurement scales had high values of Cronbach reliability coefficient. The model was found to be valid based on the result of %2 goodness-of-fit test and values of indices proposed by Bentler (1995).A mathematical equation that takes into account the mean scores and values of "outer coefficients" (strength of causal connections between items and constructs) was used to compute performance indices for the critical success factors and business excellence.The structural analysis produced "inner coefficients" that represent the strength of causal connections between the model's independent and dependent variables (constructs). These coefficients were used to determine the unit contributions of each construct toward business excellence. An improvement method that made use of the unit contributions had been developed to improve the values of critical success factor and business excellence. The method applied an algorithm that determined an optimal mix of critical success factors requiring improvements and made the improvements to the factors to achieve a desired business excellence target level. The Business Excellence Model has several notable strengths: simple; systematic; generic; robust; analytical; objective; critical and logical; and predictive

Expatriates’ Psychological Distress Components of Malaysian Construction Company in Host Country

Psychological distress is pertaining to anything leads to human well-being and satisfaction of the individual. Individual adjustment is a degree of psychological distress that an expatriate faces during an assignment in the host country. Unhappiness with the organisation will contribute to leaving for a prospective employer. Psychological influences such as interaction, reward and, social life contribute to the success of the expatriate. Content analysis was used in the study. The study aimed to determine the factors which led to expatriate's physiological distress. The study had found that there was a need for psychological adjustment while working in the host country.   Keywords: Psychological distress; Expatriate; ConstructioneISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.   DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i14.223

HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT (HCI) DETERMINANTS AFFECTING THE INSTITUTION’S PERFORMANCE: THE PRACTICALITY OF PARTIAL LEAST SQUARES STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING (PLS-SEM) APPROACH

Purpose of the study: This paper aimed to assess the analysis of the role of human capital investment (HCI) determinants and its remarkable contribution towards the education institution's performance by adapting the Malcolm Baldridge Criteria for Performance Excellence. Methodology: This research adopted a quantitative study and a survey tool comprises of sixty items with seven Likert scale was utilized as an instrument to assemble data from 309 lecturers in UiTM Kelantan. Next to test the research hypothesis data were then analyzed using the Structural Equation Modelling approach on the SmartPLS3 platform. Main Findings: The analysis demonstrated the influences of HCI determinants towards the UiTM performance. The coefficient of determination (R2) value of 66.9% suggested that the variance of institution performance could moderately be explained by the observed variables, namely knowledge, skill, and training. The result also indicates the highest positive significant value for skill towards performance with β=0.283, t-value= 1.981 and p<0.005. It is proven that a persistent skill development significantly contributes to the performance. Applications of this study: The research finding is useful to help the Ministry of Higher Education (MOE) in Malaysia to identify the relevant determinants in improving human capital quality. Novelty/Originality of this study: There were a lot of studies that were conducted involving higher education in Malaysia. But the only limited number of studies was conducted by scholars in assessing the main contribution of human capital investment factors towards the institution's success

Islamic bank stability - initial evidence / Mohd Afandi Abu Bakar, AP Dr. Mohd Fauzi Mohd Harun and AP Dr. Abdul Malek A Tambi

Stability of the banking sector is one of the most important features that support and contribute to continuous economic expansion and development. It will facilitate and smooth the flow of funds across the economic units more efficiently and effectively. This study examines the stability of Islamic banks. The study employs an unbalanced panel data analysis on the annual growths of 67 Islamic banks from various countries for the period spanning from 1998 to 2009. The finding provides some evidence on the stability of Islamic bank operations. The growth of Islamic bank financing is independent of the growth of business cycle indicators, thus, free from any speculative activities. Hence, the behaviour of the Islamic bank was not that enthusiastic to the movement in economic environment ffuctuaticns. Although the contingency reserve and provision for loan losses are able to control the financing activities from behaving pro-cyclically, the finding also shows that Islamic banks need to observe its management of contingency reserves and provision for loan losses. The amount is still not large enough to manage the earning assets that have a direct influence on the financing volume. This is evidence from the insignificant relationship of financing growth of Islamic bank to the real GDP growth, money supply M2 growth and the CPI growth. Therefore, the policy on contingency reserves and provision for loan losses needs some serious consideration from the Islamic bank management so that it will also be able to confirm the capability of Islamic bank to work as the transmitter mechanism of monetary policy

The Mediating Role of Organizational Culture on the Relationship between Employee Performance and Antecedents in the Hotel Sector

Abstract: Hotel managers face more risks and complexity in their work environment compared to their manufacturing firms' counterparts owing the unique service characteristic offered by hotels. The hotel managements' budgetary participation and their leadership styles, commitment quality management practices (QMPs) in terms of communications can all assist them in tackling the uncertain and risky environment for better performance of jobs. This article defined and measured leadership style, organizational commitment, quality management practices (QMPs) and their impact on organizational performance, and examined the moderating role of organizational culture on the above relationship. The article conducted an analysis of the empirical studies and models that related leadership style, organizational commitment, quality management practices (QMPs), organizational culture and performance. It primarily aimed to illustrate the conceptualization, measurement and examination of the different concepts. Following the analysis of literature, the findings showed that leadership style, organizational commitment, quality management practices (QMPs) and organizational culture significantly effects various hotel processes, employees and performance. The article also provided a description of the various dimensions of the leadership style and it found that with committed employees with norms and values consistent to those of the organization, the performance of the hotels can increase towards achieving it goals. This article suggests that the balanced scorecard (BSC) be used as a tool to measure performance in the performance management system. It also suggests that future studies focus in this area to shed light on the nature and the ability of variables to influence hotel performance. Hotel management and leaders are suggested to form robust quality management practices within the hotels to enhance its overall performance.Â

The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices, Organizational Culture, Motivation and Knowledge Management on Job Performance with Leadership Style as Moderating Variable in the Jordanian Commercial Banks Sector

Abstract: In this paper, the effect of three human resource management practices namely, compensation and benefits, training and development, and performance appraisal and achievement was examined along with organizational culture, motivation and knowledge management on job performance among Jordanian banks. The construct of job performance was measured by the combination of task performance and organizational citizenship behavior. The study employed convenience sampling to which 30 questionnaires were distributed. The finding showed a significant impact of human resource management practices (compensation and benefits, training and development, and appraisal and achievement), organizational culture, motivation and knowledge management on job performance in the Jordanian banks. On the basis of the findings, the researcher provided recommendations for the banks in terms of strengthening the relationship between their knowledge management job performance. The study also provided implications to theory and practice based on the findings.Â

Sustainable human resource management practices in organizational performance: The mediating impacts of knowledge management and work engagement

PURPOSE: Modern business and global organizations are regularly presented with challenges caused by unpredictable competitive environments. Human resource management (HRM) practices give sustainable opportunities for employees to use their abilities and express their enthusiasm to obtain skills and knowledge and to apply them at the workplace with a view to achieving engaged individuals and increasing organizational performance. This article presents a recent study outcome to examine (i) the mediating role of knowledge management and work engagement and (ii) the effect of sustainable HRM practices on organizational performance. METHODOLOGY: 500 self-reported questionnaires were distributed to Jordanian university lecturers (research population) for data collection. The study data were assessed with structural equation modeling (SEM) using IBM-SPSS-AMOS 25.0. FINDINGS: Two pivotal outcomes were identified: (i) sustainable HRM practices, knowledge management, and work engagement were positively associated with organizational performance; (ii) knowledge management and work engagement played a mediating role in the sustainable HRM practice-organizational performance correlation. IMPLICATIONS: Overall, employee cooperation proved essential to optimize organizational performance, specifically during their engagement in sustainable HRM practices and knowledge management. Finally, the research proposed several practical recommendations and interventions on sustainable HRM for future research. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The research has provided proof of five variable relationships contained in the model. Firstly, organizational performance increased with sustainable HRM practices through knowledge management. Secondly, organizational performance increased with sustainable HRM practices through work engagement. Thirdly, work engagement increased with sustainable HRM through knowledge management. Fourthly, organizational performance increased with knowledge management through work engagement. Fifthly, organizational performance increased with sustainable HRM through knowledge management and work engagement

Approach of self-compassion, religiosity and theory of planned behaviour in COVID 19 pandemic

This paper aims to determine the relationship between self-compassion and religiosity in COVID 19 pandemic. Appreciation of religion (at-tadayyun) or religiosity is an important aspect in a person’s life as it has a major influence on behaviour, practices and personality. Self-compassion is an individual’s self-perception that can help understand and persuade oneself with positive words when facing difficult times in life or when committing a transgression by not trying extreme self-criticism and admitting that all that happens is part of a good experience in life.  The hypothesis in this study states that there is a positive relationship between self-compassion, Theory of Planned Behaviour and religiosity. This shows that there is a positive and significant relationship between self-compassion, Theory of Planned Behaviour and religiosity when facing the COVID 19 pandemic. This indicates that the higher the self-compassion, the higher the religiosity when facing the COVID 19 pandemic