Impact of Malaysian export to RCEP countries : A Quantile Regression Study

International trade plays a vital role in enhancing the economic growth and development of a country which acts as a mechanism to bound different countries together in a trade bloc. It is thus important to understand the performance of the countries while acknowledging the determinants for the trade flow of the pact. This paper employs a quantile regression approach to test the effects of export led growth on economic growth at the different conditional economic growth distribution from 2000 to 2020 in Malaysia. The key finding of this study is that Openness of Malaysia is found to be insignificant throughout the quantiles which signifies that through this sample period, Trade Share of Malaysia has no effect on the country’s distribution of export towards the RCEP countries. On the other hand, GDP of Malaysia, GDP of other RCEP countries and Trade Share of RCEP members tend to affect export of Malaysia which is understandable. Empirically, an additional 1 percent of country j’s (RCEP) GDP will significantly increase export distribution of Malaysia in the range of 1.12 percent to 0.60 percent. However, the significance declines throughout the quantiles from 0.59percent at quantile 0.30 to 0.60 percent at .90 quantile and at .70 (higher quantiles) it increases from 0.78. The significance of country i’s GDP (Malaysia) grow stronger throughout the quantiles. The effect of GDP of country i to Malaysia’s export distribution are between the ranges of 1.84 percent to 1.22 percent. Despite being positively related to the export distribution, the significance is getting greater from median to higher quantiles. This means that an increase in GDP of country i(Malaysia) for 1 percent will cause an increase in export of about 1.22 percent at quantile 0.90. As for Trade Share of country j (RCEP Countries), it aligns with the traditional trade theory, which is statistically significant with positive coefficient. An increase of 1 percent openness of country j`s there is a 0.28 percent increase of export of country I (Malaysia). Trade Share of country j (RCEP countries) is found to be less significant at higher distribution of export of 1.27 percent at quantile 0.10 in relation to 0.0021 percent at quantile 0.90. For robustness, this study further provides comprehensive analysis on the degree of income and trade convergence and factors affecting trade flow of Malaysia developed by Phillip and Sul (2007). The empirical findings discover the absence of a homogeneous convergence clubs. Three converging group, one outlier and three diverging group are detected in terms of Export while GDP Per Capita conveyed similar pattern which are four converging groups with an addition of diverging group. Which implies that the RCEP members experience weak convergence between them which illustrate relatively substantial dissimilarity in its structure of the economy as a whole. Despite the dissimilarity, the speed of convergence indicates that possible catching up within the members countries, in converging towards a similar transition path of economics growth. Thus, indicating further realization of economic corporation and stronger integration among the RCEP members now and in the future. On the other hand, Trade Share convergence displays slight difference from export convergence, two converging group and one diverging group pattern. Interestingly from Quantile Regression analysis, Openness of Malaysia is found to be insignificant throughout the quantiles which signifies that through this sample period, Trade Share of Malaysia has no effect on the country’s distribution of export towards the RCEP countries. On the other hand, GDP of Malaysia, GDP of other RCEP countries and Trade Share of RCEP members tend to affect export of Malaysia

Impact of Consumer Inertia on Mobile Commerce Adoption under the Influence of Market Isomorphism Effects

This study examines consumer mobile commerce adoption through consumer adoption behaviour from intention to use into adoption under the influence of consumer inertia and market isomorphism. The presence of inertia elements could naturally act as an inhibiting agent in adopting consumer technological systems. With increasing social networking media, which resulted in increasing social interactions, these surrounding social forces could spur change behaviour that could subsequently influence consumers’ adoption decisions, for example, market isomorphic forces. This study uses partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse 403 collected questionnaires from individuals above 20 years old and who own at least one smartphone. The derived results show behavioural intention to use positively influenced consumer inertia. The natural inhibiting role of consumer inertia is weakened by two market isomorphism forces (i.e., coercive pressures and normative pressures), thus leading to positivity toward mobile commerce channel adoption. However, mimetic pressures were statistically insignificant. Empirical findings confirm the intercorrelation of consumer inertia 1st order dimensions, and market isomorphism discriminant validity. This study also highlights the importance of inertial factors and market isomorphic forces that retailers or service providers need to consider before implementing mobile commerce app systems

Market Isomorphism and Mobile Commerce Adoption in The Omnichannel: A Systematic Literature Review

Intense competition in the online retailing arena is transforming retailing systems to include mobile commerce resulting in increasing challenges to retailers since adoption is voluntary and changing consumer expectations shaped by circumstances, norms, and the need for new technology adaptations. As consumer behaviour is easily affected by the increasing social interactions through social networking media, the human and social factors that technology adoption theories lacks were commonly added into the studies to improve predictive capabilities. Therefore, this study investigates the social dimension’s effects on technology adoption by adopting the institutional theory concept i.e., isomorphism, and conducting a systematic literature review exercise basing on the PRISMA framework. Articles review found organisation adoption studies commonly adapted institutional theory, but scarcity on consumer technology adoption. Isomorphic forces (i.e., coercive pressures, mimetic pressures, normative pressures) would significantly affect technological adoption and apply to both organisational and consumer adoption because individual behaviour detects successful adoption. By understanding market isomorphic forces, retailers could use the facts to formulate marketing strategies. The systematic literature review also showed variation in technology adoption because of cultural differences, norms, demographics, etc. Market isomorphism inclusion in consumer adoption studies is scarce. Recommendation for inclusion is encouraged for further investigation into its discriminant validity and definitions

Impact of Consumer Inertia on Mobile Commerce Adoption Under the Influence of Market Isomorphism Effects

This study examines consumer mobile commerce adoption through consumer adoption behaviour from intention to use into adoption under the influence of consumer inertia and market isomorphism. The presence of inertia elements could naturally act as an inhibiting agent in adopting consumer technological systems. With increasing social networking media, which resulted in increasing social interactions, these surrounding social forces could spur change behaviour that could subsequently influence consumers’ adoption decisions, for example, market isomorphic forces. This study uses partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse 403 collected questionnaires from individuals above 20 years old and who own at least one smartphone. The derived results show behavioural intention to use positively influenced consumer inertia. The natural inhibiting role of consumer inertia is weakened by two market isomorphism forces (i.e., coercive pressures and normative pressures), thus leading to positivity toward mobile commerce channel adoption. However, mimetic pressures were statistically insignificant. Empirical findings confirm the intercorrelation of consumer inertia 1st order dimensions, and market isomorphism discriminant validity. This study also highlights the importance of inertial factors and market isomorphic forces that retailers or service providers need to consider before implementing mobile commerce app systems

Convergence of Female Entrepreneurship in Selected Asian Countries

The aggregate convergence analysis of female entrepreneurship in selected Asian countries resulted in divergence. The club convergence analysis, however, identified China, Indonesia, and India as outliers. The result is in line with what the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) has found, which is that women are more likely to start their own businesses in developing countries. The remaining countries are categorized into three distinct clubs. The finding shows that the countries with different levels of income and different indices of gender gaps are clustered together. This suggests that female entrepreneurship is not necessarily affected by the level of income and gender gaps. Apart from that, the formation of the convergence clubs may suggest female entrepreneurship as one of the key drivers of globalization

Exploring Non-Visitors’ Attitude Towards Kubah National Park’s Attributes, Roles and Functions

National parks are highly valuable and vital to the ecosystems for countries around the world. In Malaysia, it forms one of the ecotourism products or sites in Malaysia. The swift development and growth of ecotourism particularly in the national parks are inspired by the increased promotion from both tourism operators and the government. Managing national parks require both visitors and non-visitors’ information and their attitudes towards the importance of the park’s attributes, roles and functions. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the importance of attributes, roles and functions of national parks in Sarawak, from the perspective of residents and non-residents in Kuching areas (non-visitors). Non-residents include of domestic and foreign tourists, who are found in Kuching at the time of data collection. For these purposes, Kubah National Park (KNP), one of the most visited national parks in Sarawak, has been selected as a case study. Non-visitors’ were surveyed as they might be potential visitors in the future. Even if they will not visit the area in the future, the existence of the park would also benefit them indirectly as well as their future generations. Such indirect benefits or values are normally referred as non-use values. The non-use values refer to the values that human derived from the goods and services independent of any present or future use that people might make of those goods (Beukering et al., 2007). It usually divided between the bequest values and existence values. Face-to-face interviews involving selected respondents in Kuching areas were conducted in September to December 2018. A structured questionnaire was developed as the primary research instrument. Only respondents over 18 years of age who were willing to participate, were being interviewed. Results indicate that non-visitors have positive attitudes towards the attributes, roles and functions of KNP. The majority of participating respondents placed higher priority on the protection of the natural environment and wildlife as well as preservation of the biological diversity of the environment. The examination of how visitors and public perceive the roles and roles and functions of KNP would assist in delivering appropriate management and sustainable conservation of the area. This information is essential in understanding of the public or non-visitors’ attitude and perception of KNP’s attributes, roles and functions

The dynamic of macroeconomics elements in Malaysia: further insight into causality analysis / Dayang Hummida Abang Abdul Rahman … [et al.]

This paper intends to explore the causality effect between Growth Domestic Product (GDP), population and unemployment in Malaysia. Based on the observation of Malaysia’s historical data, there is a distinct movement in each of these individual macroeconomics components over the years. Past literature within the same area has illustrated various patterns on the possibility of a causal relationship that each variable has on one another. Several stages of analysis are conducted to verify the presence of causality effect from Malaysian economic perspective, which includes unit root test that employs the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF), Phillips-Perron (PP) and Kwiatkowski-Phillips-Schmidt-Shin (KPSS) procedures, followed by Johansen and Juselius test of cointegration and Granger-causality test based on Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) using E-views software. Each procedure is conducted using Malaysia’s time series data for each of the three elements from 1980 to 2013 obtained from Malaysia’s Department of Statistics. Our findings revealed that there is one cointegration detected for the tested variables; whereas the results indicate that population can Granger cause unemployment in the short run. Furthermore, it is found that unemployment solely bears the effect from short run adjustment to bring about the long run equilibrium within the tested framework. This study is important for the policy maker to understand the reason behind the causality effect that could jeopardize the rate of unemployment in Malaysia. As the attention is given specifically to three variables particularly GDP, population and unemployment, this study is aimed at broadening the prospect for further investigation within the same area of macroeconomics

The Stumbling and Building of Noodle Bowl Effect of Convergence of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

The study focus on convergence in 12 countries TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and 16 countries RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) member countries, particularly in respect to total trade for the period 2000-2017. This study uses the non-linear approach model, transition Path, and log t-test by Philip and Sul. The Trans-Pacific Partnership’s overall convergence among member countries shows it is diverging, and clustered themselves into four convergence clubs. As for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership’s overall convergence reflects it is converging though could be interpreted as a weak convergence, and clustered themselves into four convergence clubs. The study concludes that it is keen towards RCEP, as it shows more similarities and unity among participating member as to compare with TPP