Selective Exposure to Berita Harian Online and Utusan Malaysia Online: The Roles of Surveillance Motivation, Website Usability and Website Attractiveness

News media allows audiences to be selective in determining both their news sources and type of news stories they read. This study examined factors influencing selective exposure to the online editions of two mainstream Malaysian newspapers, Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia. Using selective exposure theory as the theoretical lens, this study compared both newspapers in terms of their audiences’ level of surveillance motivation, and how audiences rate the newspapers’ websites with respect to usability and attractiveness. This study used a within-subject experimental research design that exposed 51 subjects to both Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia online newspapers. The results of the experiment indicate that Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia online were significantly different in terms of website usability; however, no significant differences were found in terms of surveillance motivation or website attractiveness between the two newspapers. Further analysis indicate that the only significant predictor of selective exposure was website usability. This study highlights the importance of website usability for online newspapers wanting to harness audience selectivity

The Social Time of Organizational Payment Systems

This article explores the relationships between time use and the social construction of meaning surrounding the operation of wage payment systems in three chemical industry organizations. It explores some of the ways that organizational time is subdivided and prioritized, and focuses on the way that patterns of payment for time contribute towards the formation of managerial and shop floor identities. These ideas are developed through the analysis of ethnographic research data, which supports the view that there are multiple kinds of social time in work organizations. It is suggested that much of the management literature concerned with the subject of payment systems treats time as finite, exhaustible and irreversible and this has implications for the way that payment systems are understood by practising managers. Managerial time codes reflect a closely scheduled time culture and reinforce a discourse of progress, whereas employees continue to see work time as something for which they should be compensated