The impacts of motives, barriers, and behaviour on the travel package attractiveness from Muslim travelers perspectives

Travel agencies have modernized the way they communicate their package tours to travelers through digital technology. It is however imperative to also understand travelers' needs in order to remain competitive in the market. In particular, it is crucial to clearly recognize the diversity in travel needs particularly the travel desires of Muslims travelers since they hold a different set of values and beliefs that guide their travel needs. Hence, this research attempts to understand Islamic travel needs among Muslim travelers and how such needs can impact the attractiveness of package tours in Malaysia. The travel needs of Muslim travelers i.e. travel motives, travel behavior and perceived travel barriers will be determined against the attractiveness of packaged tours. This paper proposes a conceptual model so that further analyses can be conducted and marketing strategies can be recommended to enhance the attractiveness of package tours developed by Travel agencies for Muslim travelers. By gaining a better understanding of Muslim traveler needs, tour operators in Klang Valley, Malaysia will be able to enhance their marketing strategies, increase the attractiveness and demand for their package tours and attract more Muslim travelers to travel with them

Do higher CGPAs translate into higher salaries? Recent findings from two Malaysian universities

This paper explores a key issue, i.e. whether academic high-achieving graduates really do earn higher salaries compared to their less academically inclined counterparts. There are two recent developments that motivate this paper – university students‟ laments on getting paid mere pittances on their first jobs upon graduating and the impending introduction of a new computation of academic performance scores (the iCGPA) by the Ministry of Higher Education.These two developments point to the important relationship between university academic performance (proxied by CGPA scores) and the salaries of the new graduates‟ first proper job.Using a recent unique dataset collected from the 2016 and 2017 graduating batch of university students, this paper looks specifically at this relationship.The main objective of this paper is to determine if better academic performances in university (i.e. higher CGPA scores) really do translate into higher salaries of the graduates‟ first job

Factors that influence the effectiveness of online advertising in enhancing consumer's purchase intention among young adults in Malaysia

The advertising industry is seeing growth for online advertising, where it has now exceeded the performance of TV advertising. However, the advertising industry in Malaysia still relies heavily on traditional forms of advertising. This paper therefore aims to determine the factors that might affect the effectiveness of online advertising in enhancing consumers' purchase intention. As young adults are more exposed to online advertising as compared to other age groups, convenience sampling is applied to approach Millennials around the city areas of Malaysia. A sample size of 300 respondents is selected for this study to ensure that the data accuracy is acceptable. Furthermore, the hierarchy of effects model and the source credibility theory are applied to study the effects of online advertising towards young adults in Malaysia. The results show that there are significant relationships between the advertising appeal (emotional), credibility of endorser, and the exposure rate of online advertisements with consumers' purchase intention. However, it was found that the creativity of online advertisements does not have a relationship with consumers' purchase intention. This study helps local marketers and advertisers to strategize more effective online advertising campaigns that better attract the attention of young adults and influence their purchase intention

The impacts of social media advertisements on millennial's consumption

Social media is increasingly being used as a platform to conduct marketing and advertising activities. Organizations spent a lot of money on social media ads to turn prospects into actual consumers. However, some might face the challenge of designing effective social media advertising in order to motivate consumers to purchase the advertised product. Hence, this study aims to examine the factors that might affect the effectiveness of social media advertising in order to enhance Malaysian Millennials‟ purchase intention. Quantitative research method is adopted to enable larger sample size of Millennials in Malaysia through convenience sampling. Data from a total of 200 respondents were collected to ensure that the results are accurate and minimize the non-response rate. The proposed conceptual model is based on findings of previous studies and the hierarchy of effects model theory. Findings in this study indicated there are 4 factors (advertising appeal, informativeness, perceived relevance and emotional-based evaluation) that have positive influence on Malaysian Millennial‟s intention to purchase the advertised product. This study will hopefully provide some insights for the advertising industry and marketers in Malaysia to effectively plan and implement their ads over the social media platform

Cubicles or corner offices? Effects of academic performance on university graduates’ employment likelihood and salary

This paper uses a 2016/2017 sample of 1107 freshly minted university graduates from a public and a private university in Malaysia. Against a backdrop of an institutional setting very much different from that of western countries’ and issues of high living costs and graduate unemployment, we analyse how academic performance affects graduates’ employment likelihood, salaries, and salary distribution. Using quantile estimations, we find that academic performance is not a key determinant in whether or not a graduate secures a job upon graduation, and that having better academic performance would only be beneficial if the graduates are working in jobs at the lower half of the salary distribution. We fill the literature gap by analysing how academic performance affects new graduates in terms of where they are on the salary distribution continuum; such analyses are neglected in the literature

Cubicles or corner offices? Effects of academic performance on university graduates’ employment likelihood and salary

This paper uses a 2016/2017 sample of 1107 freshly minted university graduates from a public and a private university in Malaysia. Against a backdrop of an institutional setting very much different from that of western countries’ and issues of high living costs and graduate unemployment, we analyse how academic performance affects graduates’ employment likelihood, salaries, and salary distribution. Using quantile estimations, we find that academic performance is not a key determinant in whether or not a graduate secures a job upon graduation, and that having better academic performance would only be beneficial if the graduates are working in jobs at the lower half of the salary distribution. We fill the literature gap by analysing how academic performance affects new graduates in terms of where they are on the salary distribution continuum; such analyses are neglected in the literature

‘Unpacking’ young travellers’ needs to enhance the attractiveness of package tours

This paper presents the findings of a study which adapts the Travel Need Model established from past literature to gain insights on the three different travel needs which predicted to influence the needs of young travellers towards a package tour namely, travel motives, travel behaviour and travel barriers. Data were collected from 200 respondents (young travellers) and was quantitatively analyzed using SPSS to see the relationship between the three independent variables against the dependent variable. Surprisingly, the results show that all three different travel needs influenced the attractiveness of package tours. It is concluded that having a better understanding of the travel needs of young travellers will enable tour operators in Malaysia to improve and update their package tours to be more attractive simultaneously attract more young travellers to travel with them. This study could enhance the existing literature and give insights to academician, researchers and tour operators

Psychological factors in advertising - Does it affect the choice of advertising medium?

Advertising is a two way communication process. Advertising must communicate appeals that are relevant and effective in the target market environment.The primary purpose of marketing communications is to tell customers about the benefits and values that a product or service offers. Advertising media are the channels of communication through which advertising messages are conveyed.Choosing the best media for an advertising campaign is a critical task, requiring a sound knowledge of the benefits each channel provides for the audiences being targeted and the products being advertised (Arens, 2006).Psychological factors such as status, ability and knowledge, personality may create different perception towards different media.This study attempts to identify the power of traditional advertising and online advertising and the effect of these mediums on Malaysian consumers to determine the consumers' preferences

Assessing the significance of first place and online third places in supporting Malaysian seniors’ well-being during the pandemic

Abstract The enforced lockdowns and social distancing measures associated with COVID-19 may have influenced older adults’ preferences towards their homes and neighborhoods as well as social spaces. One objective of this research is to determine whether home and neighborhood environments (“first place”) affect how satisfied older adults are with their lives during the epidemic. This study also examined the extent to which social spaces that exist in the virtual world (“online third places”) affect older adults’ life satisfaction when they would have to practice risk-averse behaviors in times of pandemic. To collect data, this study analyzed the responses of 500 active older adults and conducted in-depth interviews with seven older adults who served as neighborhood leaders in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The study found that there is a direct relationship between older adults’ satisfaction with their current housing and their overall life satisfaction during the pandemic. Similarly, having a quality neighborhood nearby increases the likelihood of living a satisfied life during the pandemic. Most online third places, with the exception of instant messaging apps, do not appear to provide older adults with an adequate platform to interact with their friends, participate in social networking, and join communities for emotional support during the pandemic. The findings and recommendations of this study would be very useful in developing effective interventions to promote aging in place during the coronavirus outbreak