Understanding social distancing intention among university students during Covid-19 outbreak: an application of protection motivation theory

The Covid-19 outbreak has clearly pierced the life of humankinds in almost all countries and all members of the society. Understanding and practicing measures for self-protection and maintaining social distance for prevention of transmission of infection are the new guidelines. This study examined decision factors such as perceived severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, self-efficacy and social distancing intention for students in Malaysia in response to the pandemic. The study was conducted following a quantitative research approach. Primary data were collected through Google form and online social media from 256 students studying in International Islamic University Malaysia. For the purpose of the study, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling techniques were performed. The analyses revealed that two variables (response efficacy and selfefficacy) of the protection motivation theory were significant predictors of social distancing intention during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic crisis. However, perceived severity and perceived susceptibility were not significant predictors of intention to engage in social distancing behaviour. The findings demonstrated that PMT was a constructive framework for understanding intention to engage in social distancing behaviour during a pandemic. The findings may help in filling the intention-behavioral gap in relation to social distancing

Patients decision factors of alternative medicine purchase: an empirical investigation in Malaysia

Alternative Medicine is a mode of therapies and therapeutics used in place of conventional medicines. For the past decades, alternative medicine has made significant contributions to harmonize the human body’s natural healing process. This study examined decision factors such as patient’s attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, knowledge, and purchase intention to buy alternative medicine in Malaysia. The study was conducted following a quantitative research approach. Primary data were collected through the deployment of self-administered questionnaires from 350 patients in Klang Valley, Malaysia. For the purpose of the study, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques were performed. Patient’s perceived behavioral control and product knowledge are significantly related to purchase intention to buy alternative medicine; whereas attitude and subjective norm did not have significant relationship with intention to purchase alternative medicine. Perceived behavioral control and knowledge should be taken into consideration for developing marketing strategies in order to enhance patient’s intention to purchase alternative medicine

Islamic values on buying intention towards suspecting haram-content beverage productsin muslim majority countries: developing a conceptual framework

In this study, a conceptual framework is developed to provide an insightful linkage between Islamic beliefs(personal, family, social,and institutional beliefs)and purchase intention towards haram-content suspected beverage products.Islam can aid in avoiding suspected haram-content beverage products for its power of haram-halal codes since alcoholism is prohibited in Quran. According to Usul-Al-Fiq, pork and other animal fat used in various food and beverage products are harams since eating pork is listed in haram codes in Quran.A comprehensive content analysis was accomplished to develop the hypotheses on the basis of reading materials and discussionswith several business professors and other academic sources.The study explored a significant role in the body of Islamic consumerism and in the realm of Islamic marketing practices.Muslim leaders could formulate and implement strategies to change the conventional organizationalimage into an Islamic organization image. This research is a prime effort to show how good Islamic values should be added to Muslim and non-Muslim organizations

Determinants of customer loyalty for roadside restaurants in Malaysia: a structural equation modeling approach

Customer loyalty has become a fundamental and crucial focus for any business in the retail food industry. Therefore, every organization concentrating on gaining customer loyalty to extend profits and maintain sustainability within the business arena. This study aims to identify the determinants and their effects on customer loyalty for roadside restaurants in Malaysia. Survey data has been administered using a convenience sample of 248 customers from roadside restaurants located at metropolitan area of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor states in Malaysia. SPSS and AMOS statistical packages were used to validate and test the hypotheses. The study found that customer loyalty is mostly related to the environment of the restaurant and quality of food towards roadside restaurant businesses. Moreover, customer satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between the determinants and customer loyalty. This study contributes to stream an enhanced understanding of the problems and benefits for the roadside restaurant owners to formulate good marketing practices and better customer relationship strategies. Future study can be directed by using other independent variables with a more comprehensive solution

The impact of strategic human resource management to optimize organizational performance: application of competencies analysis

Human resource management as a strategic function looks for different management skills in the job seekers during recruitment process. Management skills in the form of competencies are crucial to optimize organizational performance. Therefore, analysis of competencies is essential for job seekers to understand strategic directions of an organization. The objective of this study is to identify the competencies which are required in an interviewee by the human resource management to increase performance of an organization. This research will be accomplished by analyzing the application of competencies in business graduates who are seeking jobs in Malaysia. A qualitative research approach will be taken by having in-depth interviews of six business graduates from Kuala Lumpur and data will be analyzed systematically using Nvivo computer program. The study can be beneficial to the job seekers for preparing themselves more effectively according to the desired competencies to sustain in the ever-challenging job market in 21st century. The investigation can be carried out with more specific job industry with larger sample size for better understanding as a scope in future

The impact of negative e-WOM on consumers’ purchase intention: The Malaysian context

The impact of negative eWOM about certain products on consumers is remarkable. This research is aiming to answer the impact of negative eWOM whether negative eWOM has any specific motives and how it effects over consumers’ purchase intention. A quantitative approach will be employed while questionnaire data will be collected from more than 250 Malaysian consumers and test empirically a model that incorporates both motives of negative eWOM towards impact on purchase intention. Structural equation modelling will be used to test the research hypotheses. The findings will also show the different forms of negative word-of-mouth behaviors which will be labelled advice seeking, dissonance reduction and altruism while venting negative feelings proved to be ineffective motive. However, it will show how each of these behaviors varies in terms of the target consumers towards the motivational analysis. The result will be able to confirm that negative eWOM motives the consumers and have a significant impact on purchase intention. This will contribute insights into the neglected area of consumers negative word-of mouth and argues for identification in the forms of consumers which is an important step towards consumers purchase intention. While in the article, a series of propositions will develop which future researchers may find useful in advancing research in this area

Exploring students’ perception edu-tourism in Malaysia: an empirical study

Edu-tourism and education encompass with globalization involving same history over the years. It has been identified that Malaysia has become prominent destination among students for affordable living cost and quality education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of Edu-tourism business in Malaysia and students’ perception towards selection of a destination for education which fundamentally changes tourism dynamics and faces the challenges of redressing Edu-tourism. In this research, data were analyzed based on factor analysis and to test the suggested research hypotheses structural equation modeling using AMOS is applied. Data were collected through survey questionnaires from a total number of 228 students which were undergraduate and postgraduate students. However, this primary study was directed to realize the factors which create impact on students to select IIUM (International Islamic University Malaysia) as their foreign learning institute. Moreover, it has been found that “perceived value” mediate the relationship between students’ perception and students’ need towards selection of educational institute. Meanwhile, it ascertains guidelines for potential research in international educational tourism will influence students’ perception towards Edu-tourism and promote a general process of combination through comprehensive learning into touristic way

Competencies analysis for future employees to optimize organizational performance

Human resource management as a strategic function looks for different management skills in the candidates during recruitment process. Having management skills in the form of competencies are crucial to optimize organizational performance. Therefore, analysis of competencies is essential for the candidates who will be the future employees to understand the strategic directions of an organization. The objective of this study was to identify the competencies which were required in the future employees by the human resource management to increase performance of an organization. This research has been accomplished by analyzing the application of competencies in candidates who were seeking jobs in Malaysia. A qualitative research method has been chosen by having in-depth interviews of six graduates of business and management studies from Kuala Lumpur. Data has been analyzed systematically using NVivo computer program. The findings of this study revealed that the job seekers are not well aware of the required competencies by the prospective employers. Comfortable job and good working environment were the most desirable preferences of job seekers to ensure their carrier path and overall performance. Professional knowledge and communication skills were the most significant competencies stated by 66% of job seekers. This study can be beneficial to the candidates for preparing themselves more effectively according to the desired competencies by the employers to sustain in the ever-challenging job market in 21st century. The investigation can be carried out with more specific job industry with larger sample size for better results as a scope in future

What impact consumers’ negative eWOM purchase intention? Evidence from Malaysia

The judgment of consumers conveyed over the internet plays a vital role in the consumer decisionmaking process. Hence, the appearance of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has become one of the most effective marketing techniques in the 21st century. This research was aiming to determine the predictors of negative eWOM while investigating whether negative eWOM has any specific effect on consumers’ purchase intention. A quantitative research approach was employed while questionnaire data has been collected from more than 250 Malaysian consumers and tested empirically a model that incorporates motives of negative eWOM. Structural equation modelling technique has been used to test the research hypotheses. The findings have shown the different predictors of negative eWOM, which were labelled advice seeking, dissonance reduction and altruism while venting negative feelings proved to be an ineffective motive. The result was able to confirm that negative eWOM has a significant mediating effect on purchase intention. This has contributed insights into the lacking area of consumers’ negative eWOM and argues for identification from marketer’s view, which is an essential step towards consumer’s purchase intention. While in the article, a series of relationships has developed which future researchers may find useful in advancing research in this area

Factors influencing job satisfaction of private commercial bank- employees in Bangladesh

This paper seeks to determine, explore and examine the factors affecting the job satisfaction of private commercial bank-employees in Bangladesh. A qualitative research design was employed to collect data from bank employees (n = 5) through in-depth semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion (n=5). For the validity and reliability of the tool, the interview protocol was checked, discussed, refined and finalized. A thematic analysis was used to extract themes and subthemes that identifies the influ- encing factors for job satisfaction of private commercial bank employees and their attitudes towards satisfaction. Overall, the findings show that, employees have positive attitudes about their job because of enjoying some determinants of job satisfaction such as working environment, interpersonal relation- ship, financial remuneration, promotion and training and development facilities. The study discusses practical implications as well as future research direction. Therefore, it can be concluded that the re- spective bank authorities should be of highly concerned as to increase the values/standards of the job satisfaction determinants which have positive impact on the overall job satisfaction