Pilot study on participation in outdoor recreation program determine perceived service quality in ecotourism services among tourists

Background: Service quality has been an important topic in any business particularly in recreation experience within ecotourism services due to its intangible products. Outdoor recreation operators should look after their service quality because this will contribute to the future growth and development of tourism industry in Malaysia.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of ECOSERV model to determine perceived service quality among tourist while participated in outdoor recreation program. Results: Findings for overall alpha values were satisfactory as the alpha value is closer to the high reliability value. The six dimensions identified in the questionnaire showed medium to high reliability result, ranging from α=0.79 to α=0.94, which were consistent with the range of reliability in the original ECOSERV reliability test by Khan (2003). Conclusion: This ECOSERV instrument could be used and applicable as an assessment tool to evaluate the level of service quality in outdoor recreation programs toward outdoor recreation operators. This assessment would provide valuable information for service providers to upgrade the service quality based on the six dimensions in ECOSERV that most concerned by customer, participant or tourist

Motivation on Environment Factors among Football Spectators Attendance at Shah Alam Stadium

This study aimed to determine the relationship between motivation and environmental factors among football spectators' attendance at Shah Alam Stadium. A total of 113 respondents were involved in this study. The result showed that the highest mean in the motivation factor is 'identification with subculture', which is 3.98 (SD=0.805). Meanwhile, the highest mean in the stadium environment factor is 'desire to stay with 3.91 (SD=0.777). The result showed a significant relationship between motivation and stadium environment factor with a p-value of 0.00, p<0.01. This empirical data will make a better understanding of the motivation of spectator attendance in stadiums Keywords: Spectators; Motivation; Stadium Environment factor eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. 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 the 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.v7iSI7.382

Preliminary re-adjusting local ecotourists’ perception on outdoor recreation service quality instrumentation / Mohd Noorazlan Ab Aziz … [et al.]

This study aimed was to re - adjusting the validity and reliability dimensions of ECOSERV towards outdoor recreation service quality especially at Sungai Itek, Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia. ECOSERV instrument was developed by Khan in 2003 and it was used to measure ecotourists’ expectation and perceptions on service quality of localization. This instrument consists of 30 items and grouped into six (6) service dimensions. All the six (6) dimensions are Ecotangible, Assurance, Reliability, Responsiveness, Empathy, and Tangible. Each dimension had a different aspect of criteria that has been measured. Ecotangibles referring to physical facilities and equipment that were safe and appropriate to the environment. Hundred (n = 100) of respondents were involved in this study. Content validity and face validity were employed to measure the appropriateness and meaningfulness of each item in every dimension regarding the contents and constructs. Hence, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient values used to determine the internal consistency. Based on findings, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient values was questionable where there are three items out of 30 items in the 3 dimensions were obtained an alpha value < .7. The items and dimensions as followed; “materials reflect local influence” which in the dimension of Tangible, “provide local entertainment” which in the Assurance, and “facilities reflect local influence” in the dimension of Empathy were α =.66, α =.57 and α = .67. Therefore, the study advised to delete one or two items in each of these 3 dimensions to ensure the higher reliability of each dimension concerned in actual measuring construct. Hence, as these 3 items from suggested in each dimension were deleted, the alpha values showed higher internal consistency for Tangible, Assurance and Empathy dimension. Results of alpha values for the both perception of expectation scores α=.89, α=.80, α=.83 and perception of performance, α=.93, α=.94, α=.93. These indicated that each item that was fit by this re-justifying ECOSERV of this study and available to be used locally or abroad

Ecotourists' perception of outdoor recreation service quality at Sungai Itek, Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia

Tourism has been identified by the Malaysian government as one of the 12 potential areas to generate income in the National Key Economic Areas through the Economic Transformation Program.About RM 103.6 billion has been targeted by the government to be contributed by this industry toward the Gross National Income (GNI) by year 2020.Realizing the essential of tourism sector to the Malaysian economy and local community development ecotourism has been acknowledged as an important niche area for tourism industry in Malaysia.Ecotourism products in Malaysia are normally associated with outdoor recreation activities which are based on the existing cultural, historical and natural resources.However, there are concerns raised by the outdoor recreation industry itself on the sustainability of the natural resources. Similarly,there are also concerns on how excellent of service quality has been practiced in outdoor recreation activity to satisfy the clients (tourist or ecotourist).Moreover, it was undeniable that doing this commercialized outdoor recreation activities would lead to the issues of service quality since the nature of business are servicing. A poor quality of service would lead to the dissatisfaction of clients (tourist or ecotourist).Therefore, this study has been conducted to identify the service quality level of outdoor recreation activities at Sungai Itek, Gopeng, Perak as evaluated by ecotourists. This study has employed the Ecotourists Service Quality (ECOSERV) model to assess the perceived service quality level of both tangible and intangible aspects such as service quality and conservation of natural resources. This study was based on the Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory which is the result of satisfaction of a person (tourist or ecotourist)towards service quality was determined from the perception of expectation and perception of performance gaps analysis (Q=P-E). A total numbers of 376 ecotourists had completed the questionnaire distributed. The main analysis used in this study is descriptive analysis and paired sample T-test.The study showed that ecotourists who participated in three types of outdoor recreation activities such as land based, water based, cultural and historical based were satisfied with the perceived service quality. The overall findings had revealed positive gaps pattern in all 30 attributes in 6 dimensions of ECOSERV. This indicated that the levels of perceived service quality of ecotourists in outdoor recreation experience toward recreational sites at Sungai Itek, Gopeng, Perak had managed to meet their perception of expectation.Findings from this study are of practical use to the Government of Malaysia and several related tourism agency which are seeking empirical evidence regarding ecotourism and service quality issues. In addition, instead of focusing just on business and profit making, those parties could use this study as a reference towards the current issues, challenge and problems that literally occurred day by day regarding service quality and conservation issues. True to the philosophy of ecotourism, results from this study can give awareness to particular tourism agencies, local community, tourists and ecotourists toward fulfilling their moral obligation to help in preserving the quantity and quality of natural and historical resources

Optical basicity and electronic polarizability of zinc borotellurite glass doped La3+ ions

Zinc borotellurite glasses doped with lanthanum oxide were successfully prepared through melt-quenching technique. The amorphous nature of the glass system was validated by the presence of a broad hump in the XRD result. The refractive index of the prepared glass samples was calculated by using the equation proposed by Dimitrov and Sakka. The theoretical value of molar refraction, electronic polarizability, oxide ion polarizability and metallization criterion were calculated by using Lorentz-Lorenz equation. Meanwhile, expression proposed by Duffy and Ingram for the theoretical value of optical basicity of multi-component glasses were applied to obtain energy band gap based optical basicity and refractive index based optical basicity. The optical basicity of prepared glasses decreased with the increasing concentration of lanthanum oxide. Metallization criterion on the basis of refractive index showed an increasing trend while energy band gap based metallization criterion showed a decreasing trend. The small metallization criterion values of the glass samples represent that the width of the conduction band becomes larger which increase the tendency for metallization of the glasses. The results obtained indicates that the fabricated glasses have high potential to be applied on optical limiting devices in photonic field

Sport Sponsorship and Purchase Intention Among Football League Fans: A Literature Review

The practice of sponsorship back to ancient Greece and Roman eras, and the word "sponsorship" is derived from the Greek word "horigia" which means guarantor. The involvement of companies in sponsorship has attract many audiences and achieve their objectives. This paper conceptualizes sport sponsorship and some factors such as attitude toward sponsor, sponsor-event fit, favourability and perceived ubiquity. Sponsors point of perspective have stated that the most useful signal in sports sponsorship is purchase intention. Purchase intention also seeing as the gesture of goodwill or element that will return the sponsor for supporting them. There are four factors used in measuring the purchase intention. It is including trust, reputation, familiarity, and intention. Hence, it is extremely important to explore sports sponsorship impact, its influencing aspects, and how to build a sports sponsorship with other measurement approach

Tinjauan Faktor Kritikal Kejayaan Penglibatan Syarikat Perniagaan dalam Industri Sukan di Malaysia

Industri sukan merupakan satu industri komersial yang mempunyai nilai pasaran yang tinggi dan mula berkembang di Malaysia. Penglibatan syarikat-syarikat perniagaan dalam industri sukan akan menjadi pemangkin transformasi ekonomi negara berpendapatan tinggi di masa hadapan. Justeru kajian ini bertujuan mengenal pasti faktor kritikal kejayaan penglibatan syarikat perniagaan dalam industri sukan di Malaysia. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah tinjauan yang melibatkan 32 buah syarikat perniagaan yang dipilih secara persampelan rawak. Instrumen faktor kritikal kejayaan (critical success factor) digunakan dalam kajian ini dan data dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif. Hasil dapatan menunjukkan faktor kritikal kejayaan dari aspek Organisasi adalah di tahap tinggi dan positif dengan skor M=4.03. Diikuti faktor Perundangan M=3.94, faktor Sikap M=3.88, faktor Komunikasi M=3.75 dan faktor Politik M=3.69. Manakala faktor kritikal kejayaan dari aspek Situasi dan Ekonomi di tahap sederhana dan juga positif dengan skor M=3.66 dan M=3.31. Hasil kajian ini dijangka mampu membantu pihak kerajaan dalam mengatur perancangan dan strategi bagi memastikan industri sukan menjadi antara penyumbang utama ekonomi negara

Pengukuran Kualiti Perkhidmatan: Penilaian Penyedia Kemudahan Sukan Bagi Pembangunan Atlet Majlis Sukan Negeri

Kualiti perkhidmatan dan kemudahan sukan dalam sesebuah organisasi sering dikaitkan dengan kesempurnaan dan kepuasan. Kemudahan sukan yang lengkap untuk kegunaan atlet dalam persediaan menghadapi kejohanan akan meningkatkan kepuasan dan prestasi ke tahap yang lebih baik. Justeru, kajian ini bertujuan mengenalpasti kualiti perkhidmatan dan kemudahan sukan yang sediakan oleh Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT) bagi program pembangunan sukan prestasi tinggi Majlis Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan (MSWP). Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah tinjauan yang melibatkan 147 responden atlet yang dipilih secara persampelan rawak. Data dari instrumen SERVQUAL (service quality) dan tahap kepuasan dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif. Hasil dapatan menunjukkan kualiti responsif adalah paling tinggi dengan skor min M=3.82, SD=0.833. Manakala kualiti empati menunjukkan skor min paling rendah iaitu M=3.36, SD=0.819. Hasil dapatan kepuasan atlet terhadap kualiti kemudahan sukan yang disediakan oleh pihak PBT pula menunjukkan tahap sederhana dengan skor min M=3.66, SD=0.924. Hasil kajian ini diharapkan dapat membantu pihak pengurusan MSWP membantu PBT menambahbaik kualiti perkhidmatan dan kemudahan sukan bagi memastikan atlet mencapai prestasi cemerlang pada masa hadapan

Kualiti Perkhidmatan dan Kemudahan Sukan bagi Program Pembangunan Atlet Berprestasi Tinggi di Majlis Sukan Negeri

Perkhidmatan dan kemudahan sukan memainkan peranan penting dalam menggalakkan aktiviti fizikal dan penyertaan sukan pada masa lapang. Kemudahan sukan yang lengkap untuk kegunaan atlet dalam persediaan menghadapi kejohanan akan meningkatkan prestasi ke tahap yang lebih baik. Justeru, kajian ini bertujuan mengenal pasti kualiti perkhidmatan dan kemudahan sukan yang sediakan oleh Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT) bagi program pembangunan sukan prestasi tinggi Majlis Sukan Wilayah Persekutuan (MSWP). Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah tinjauan yang melibatkan 211 responden yang terdiri dari atlet, jurulatih dan pentadbir sukan yang dipilih secara persampelan rawak. Data dari instrumen SERVQUAL (service quality) dan tahap kepuasan dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif dan inferensi. Hasil dapatan menunjukkan skor min kualiti respon adalah tinggi bagi ketiga-tiga kategori responden iaitu atlet (M=3.82), jurulatih (M=3.45) dan pentadbir sukan (M=3.43). Keputusan analisis ANOVA pula menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan antara tahap kepuasan terhadap kualiti perkhidmatan kemudahan sukan berdasarkan tiga kategori responden tersebut F (2, 208) = 7.438; p&lt;.05. Hasil kajian ini diharapkan dapat membantu jurulatih dan pentadbir sukan membangunkan program pembangunan atlet yang lebih berkesan dengan menyediakan kemudahan dan teknologi sukan moden bawah pentadbiran sendiri bagi memastikan atlet mencapai prestasi cemerlang pada masa hadapan

Advancing Outdoor Education: the Validation of Adventure-based Mental Toughness Model (AbMTM)

In Malaysia, the implementation of physical education includes an outdoor education syllabus. Outdoor education is found to be a medium for individual development at various levels of educational institutions, including schools. Mental toughness is one of the major aspects of the psychological development of an individual. There are now numerous studies linking mental toughness with academic performance. One of the mediums for this development is the implementation of outdoor education. The nature of outdoor education is found to have a very high potential to support the development of mental toughness among students. However, a lack of specific adventure-based mental toughness models has been developed. This study attempted to develop the Adventure-based Mental Toughness Model (AbMTM) and was guided based on the modified Design and Development Research (Saedah, Muhammad, &amp; Rozaine, 2020). A total of 507 (N=507) respondents from several educational institutions in Malaysia were involved as respondents for the validity examination through the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach. As a result, AbMTM recorded significant Goodness of Fit (GoF) (X2= 1.904; p =.000; GFI=.839; AGFI=.792; NFI=.815; TLI=.924; CFI=.931; RMSEA= .050). This study's findings are considered a new horizon of outdoor education implementation and advancing the current practice in Malaysia. Keywords: Outdoor education, mental toughness, structural equation modelin