PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN THE MALAYSIAN PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: A REVIEW AND RESEARCH AGENDA

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between psychological empowerment and organizational commitment of academics in Malaysian Private Universities. The research is aim to appraise the existing literatures and eventually set the research agenda. Past studies revealed that there are relationships between the four cognitions of psychological empowerment: meaning, self-determination, competence and impact cognitions with organizational commitment. Furthermore, the extant literature also encapsulates the relationships between psychological empowerment and the three dimensions of organizational commitment: affective, normative and continuance commitment. However, results from the existing literatures are shown to be inconsistent. The paper concludes with suggestions for educational leaders to focus on enhancing psychological empowerment of impact, meaning and competence cognitions in order to increase academic staff commitment within an organization. Successfully shaping the attitude of academics in private universities will lead to improvement of overall organizational performancePsychological Empowerment, Organizational Commitment

Attitude towards the Environment and Green Products:Consumers’ Perspective

The current rapid growth in the economy and the patterns of consumers’ consumption and behavior worldwide are the main cause of environmental deterioration. As the environment continues to worsen, it has become a persistent public concern in the developed countries and has recently awakens developing countries to the green movement. This paper is essentially exploratory in nature and has two objectives. The first objective is to compare gender with attitudes towards the environment and green products. The second objective is to investigate the relationship between attitude towards the environment and green products. Result from the independent sample t-test shows that there were no significant differences between gender in their environmental attitudes and attitudes on green products. The rotated factor matrix validated the underlying dimensions of environmental attitudes into three major dimensions (environmental protection, government’s role, and personal norm). Results from the multiple linear regression analysis revealed that consumer attitudes on the government’s role and their personal norm towards the environment contributed significantly to their attitude on green product. Further investigation revealed that personal norm was the most important contributor to the attitude towards green product. However, environmental protection did not contribute significantly to consumers’ attitudes on green product.Keywords: Environmental attitude; green products; consumer behaviour; Malaysi

The Impact of Resource Input Model of Education Quality on the Overall Students’ Perceived Service Quality

Students’ retention and their academic performance are influenced by the service quality provided by higher education institutions (Sander, Stevenson, King and Coates, 2000). As such, it is vital to identify the determinants of the overall students’ perceived service quality. The aim of this research is to evaluate and validate the determinants of the overall students’ perceived service quality in a private higher education institution in Malaysia, based on the combination of both the ‘inside-out’ and ‘outside-in’ approaches as well as the resource input model of education quality. A total of 458 undergraduate business students from a private university in Malaysia participated in this research. The findings revealed that contact personnel, access to facilities, cost of courses offered, physical facilities of the tertiary institution and resource input model of education quality were positively related to the overall students’ perceived service quality. Keywords:  service quality; education quality; perceived service quality Résumé:  La mémoire et la performance scolaire des étudiants sont influencées par la qualité des services fournis par les établissements d'enseignement supérieur (Sander, Stevenson, King and Coates, 2000). Il est donc important d'identifier les déterminants de la qualité de l'ensemble des services perçue par les étudiants. Le objectif de cette recherche est d'évaluer et de valider les déterminants de la qualité de l'ensemble des services perçue par les étudiants dans un établissement d'enseignement supérieur privé en Malaisie. Cette recherche est basée sur la combinaison de deux approches  "inside-out" et "outside-in", ainsi que le modèle d'entrée de ressources de la qualité de l'éducation. Un total de 458 étudiants de premier cycle d'une université privée en Malaisie ont participé à cette recherche. Les résultats ont révélé que le personnel de contact, l'accès aux installations, le coût des cours offerts, les installations physiques de l'établissement d'enseignement supérieur et le modèle d’entrées de ressources de la qualité de l'éducation sont positivement liés à la qualité de l’ensemble des services perçue par les étudiants.Mots-clés:  qualité de service; qualité de l'éducation; qualié de service perçu

The ‘Inside-out’ and ‘Outside-in’ Approaches on Students’ Perceived Service Quality: An Empirical Evaluation

Competition for student enrollment has intensified with the liberalization of the private higher education industry in Malaysia. This has prompted the higher private education institutions to pay more attention in assessing the overall students’ perceived service quality of the respective institution. The aim of this research is to evaluate and validate the determinants of the overall students’ perceived service quality for a private higher education institution in Malaysia, based on the combination of both the ‘inside-out’ and ‘outside-in’ approaches. A total of 458 undergraduate business students from a private university in Malaysia participated in this research. The research found that contact personnel, quality of librarians, access to facilities, curriculum, staff responsiveness from the Division of Examinations and Awards, reputation of the tertiary institution and academic program, amount of recreational activities, and cost of courses offered were positively related to the overall students’ perceived service quality. Keywords: inside-out approach; outside-in approach; perceived service quality; Malaysi

E-Tourism: Malaysian travellers intention in online accommodation booking

A great number of tourists has embraced online travel booking. This paper examines the influence of four factors, namely credibility, trustworthiness, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use on booking intention and explores whether the attitude mediates the relationship between trustworthiness and booking intention. A total of 191 completed and usable questionnaires from holidaymakers in Malaysia were collected. The results showed that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have a significant positive relationship with the booking intention. The result also highlighted that attitude partially mediates the relationship between trustworthiness and booking intention. The paper concludes with a discussion on managerial implications and suggestions to address this issue.    Keywords: holiday accommodations, holidaymakers, online booking, online information search.    eISSN: 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 BYNC-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.v5iSI1.232

The Impact of Board Characteristics on Firm Performance: A Post-MCCG2012 investigation

Good corporate governance is linked to the corporate performance of corporations. This study seeks to determine if corporate governance characteristics implemented improved company performance and to determine if a positive or negative relationship exists. Multiple Regression Analysis was applied to determine whether certain corporate governance characteristics relate to company performance in Malaysia. Company performance is measured using Return on Assets (ROA) and Total Shareholder Return (TSR). Data was collected from Bursa Malaysia from 2012 to 2015. In conclusion, there is no evidence of any significant relationship between corporate governance characteristics and company performance measures. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Board Characteristics, Total Shareholder Return, Return on Assets.    eISSN: 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 BYNC-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.v5iSI1.229

Business ethics, 2nd edition

This comprehensive second edition caters for undergraduate students pursuing business and accountancy courses at local institutions of higher learning. It is a timely book which offers in-depth discussions on business ethics fundamentals from a local perspective. Spanning 12 chapters, the book starts off with the key concepts and theories of business ethics, followed by important topics such as ethical leadership and corporate culture, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), business ethics and information technology (IT), ethics and the environment, as well as ethics in the global environment. What sets this book apart in the market is the inclusion of uncommonly discussed topics, namely consumer ethics and ethics from Islamic perspectives. Students will be able to relate what they have learned to the real world with ease through the various, authentic ‘Cases for Review’ that punctuate the topics covered in the chapters. Each chapter also ends with a glossary of the key concepts and terms covered, along with exercises for further discussions and practice. Besides, this edition includes additional end-of-chapter case studies to create awareness on ethics and its significance in business within a glocal context