Psychological Traits and Business Performance of Entrepreneurs in Small Construction Industry in Malaysia

The research investigates the relationship between entrepreneur’s psychological traits and their business performance among Class F entrepreneurs in civil construction industry in Malaysia. The result concluded that all three selected psychological traits are significant to the business performance of the class F entrepreneurs in Malaysia where the most successful class F entrepreneurs have the highest level of need for achievement, risk taking propensity and internal locus of control while the lower performers have lower scores in all three psychological traits. It is suggested that every class F contractors should possess confidence which able them to maintain their business performance. Due to the fact that psychological trait is vulnerable to several factors such as experience and knowledge, it is important to maintain the entrepreneur’s level of motivation and self confidence at high level. The Government and other related agencies should play their roles to organize courses and trainings which will increase the level of motivation, self confidence and risk assessment knowledge of the class F contractors throughout Malaysia. Key words: Psychological traits; Business performances; Class F entrepreneur

Indigenous (“Bumiputera”) Malay Entrepreneurs in Malaysia: Government Supports, Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firms Performances

The research examines entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in Indigenous or Bumiputera entrepreneurs (Malay firms) by taking government supports as the antecedent. This construct is used to explain the influence of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and its consequence towards firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Multiples Linear Regressions (MLR) analysis was conducted to test the hypothesis on surveyed firms selected from the current available list given by MARA (the government agency for Indigenous or Bumiputera SMEs). The specific research question is: Does the relationship between government supports received by entrepreneur and firm performance is mediated by entrepreneurial orientation (EO)? Findings In Malay firms, the relationship between government supports with firm performance was not mediates by entrepreneurial orientation (EO). However, the construct is significant as predictor towards firm performance. Practical implications This research provides a better understanding of the indigenous entrepreneurs for policy makers, NGOs, business support organizations and the indigenous entrepreneurs themselves particularly in planning or utilizing government supports programmes. Originality/value The impact of government supports towards firm performance observed in Malay firms is unique to the paper. Our studies provided the empirical test in understanding indigenous entrepreneurship in Malay firms in Malaysia towards developing a more holistic entrepreneurship theory. Key words: Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO); Government Supports; Indigenous Entrepreneurshi

DOES SCHOOL COOPERATIVE PROGRAM INCREASE ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION? A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING APPROACH

Purpose of the study: The primary purpose of this empirical research is to investigate the impact of school cooperative involvement on entrepreneurial intention among Malaysian secondary school students. The school cooperative program was introduced in Malaysia in 1968, and presently, 2421 school cooperatives are operating nationwide. Despite so, the impact of school cooperative towards students’ entrepreneurial intention remains unclear. Methodology: This research employed the quantitative method, using a cross-sectional survey. The data collected from secondary school students in the East Coast Peninsular of Malaysia involve three states, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang. The study employed the Covariance Based Structural Equation Modelling (CB SEM) to analyze the data using the Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) graphic. Principal finding: The result shows that the students’ involvement in the school cooperative increases their entrepreneurial intention. Applications of this study: The Malaysian government should focus on nurturing entrepreneurship in schools. The Ministry of Education (MOE) and Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia (ANGKASA) need to enforce assessments on participating students to ensure the effectiveness of this entrepreneurship education program. Moreover, school administrators should support the school cooperative owing to its positive impact on students. Novelty/Originality of this study: This research delivers the best way to increase entrepreneurial intention by measuring the impact of students’ involvement in school cooperatives. Also, the paper proposes a framework for enhancing entrepreneurial intention by clarifying the Theory of Students’ Involvement. Consequently, this research fills the previous research gap on entrepreneurial intention and lack of information on Malaysian school cooperatives

Scaling up social innovation for sustainability: The roles of social enterprise capabilities

The scaling of social innovation is an important issue in social enterprises for sustainability. The scenario is due to the social enterprise capabilities to ensure the social program’s impact on society to become wider and deeper. Thus, social innovation helps to identify the social problems and target actions to address the social complex problems by social enterprise capabilities. This study investigates the factors of social enterprise capabilities in enhancing social innovation for sustainabil-ity and for eliminating the social barriers. In addition, the study discusses the relationship between social enterprise capabilities to scale social innovation. The study uses cross-sectional design and collects the necessary data from 136 social enterprises in Malaysia for the survey. The findings show that social enterprise capabilities for earning generation, replicating, and stimulating had a positive relationship with scaling social innovation when the level of significance was 0.05. Accordingly, the social enterprise owners are required to improve their capabilities to reach a higher scale of social innovation for growth and sustainability

Exploring Business Sustainability Factors of Malaysian Agribusiness Small Medium Enterprises (ASMEs)

Business sustainability is a new field of interest among business scholars. Its conceptual ambiguity and lack of sector specific study had motivated this research. The aim of this study is to explore the factors associated with business sustainability of Malaysian Agribusiness Small Medium Enterprises (ASMEs). A total of 100 respondents from six states throughout Malaysia participated in this study by answering Likert scale questions. A theoretical framework consisting of one dependent and seven independent variables were rectified using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) method. As a result, the instrument was identified adequate and reliable to explore seven (7) factors that influence business sustainability among Malaysian ASMEs, including (i) business passion and motivations, (ii) owner and business traits, (iii) business planning, (iv) organisational management, (v) resource management, (vi) production and marketing management and (vii) business relationships

Managing food security in Malaysia: a resource-based view (RBV) analysis

This study was carried out in a case study approach with intended research focus of examining the impact of the intangible resources and tangible resources on the growth of the seed industry in Malaysia. The strategic management of food security in Malaysia became the main concern in this study. It is clear that food security has become an important focus and widely debated issue built on four dimensions; food availability, food stability, food accessibility and food utilization. In the Resource-Based view (RBV) perspective, the focus has been directed towards business start-up as a resource acquisition process, where the availability of unique resources is presumed to promote industry development.The findings revealed that a focus on both tangible and intangible resource development that includes, funds, land, technology, a skilled workforce, policy and brands reputation is likely to generate the most growth within the seed industry. In addition,firms with valuable resources stand a better chance of growth but due to some limitations, government supports are needed, particularly on intangible resources. The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm suggests that positive competitive outcomes are largely attributable to an organizations’ idiosyncratic resources. Hence, this study will help to link and identify the capabilities of both tangible and intangible resouces to fullfill RBV requirements in order to develop more effective support system for seed industry in Malaysia

The role of cybersecurity on the performance of Malaysian higher education institutions

Cybersecurity, as a security management requirement, is essential to understanding data security in higher institutions. This study aims to explore the role of cybersecurity in the performance of Malaysian higher education institutions through semi-structured qualitative interviews with 10 cybersecurity risk management officers from 10 public universities. The data were analysed using thematic analysis to identify the themes and sub-themes that revealed the strengths and deficiencies of the current cybersecurity frameworks. Results showed that cybersecurity implementation is considered a successful innovation in Malaysian universities and has contributed to protecting the data of students and staff, which in turn allowed the universities to improve their reputation. This study contributed significantly to the understanding of the performance and applicability of cybersecurity in universities. It showed the efficient use of resources, identification and detection of risk exposures, and improved cybersecurity communication between the technical team and top management are essential for a good decision making process

Enhancing the Entrepreneurial Intention on the Regulatory Impact Assessment: Evidence from Wholesalers Experiences

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current status of RIA within the agriculture industry in Malaysia. This paper also identifies the mechanism used such as structure remedies in assisting economy to enhance agriculture industry in Malaysia. The study employs questionnaireâ€survey approach to obtain the perceptions of wholesalers from the central, south, and east coast of Malaysia. The instruments developed have been validated using tests for reliability and validity. Specifically, a cost benefit analysis has been applied based on the eight options of regulatory impact assessment. This finding found that majority of the respondents are inheriting the business from their family and being monopolized by Chinese wholesalers. Most of them do not have any contract with agriculture producers and the price of agriculture products was decided by producers or farmers itself. Most of them seem not be well known about grading, packaging and labeling (GPL) rules and they do not need this rule due to proliferation of cost production. Undeniably, the implementation of regulatory analysis can maximize the satisfaction for both; wholesalers and producers. Therefore, the government should provide more incentives in order to encourage an attitude to implement this new regulation. The study adds solid empirical evidence to the evolving agri-entrepreneurship literature on the impacts of agriculture regulations. Specifically, this study also contributes the dearth of evidence on the efficacy of the introduction of regulatory impact analysis in a developing country