The influence of religion on retail patronage behaviour in Malaysia

Although culture and subcultural norms have been subjected to increased scrutiny in recent years as explanatory constructs for various dimensions of consumer behaviours, religion as a subsystem of culture has received only slight attention in the marketing literature. The purpose of this study was to examine the religious influences on some selected aspects of consumer behaviour. Utilising consumer behaviour model of retail patronage as a framework, religious influences on the following aspects of consumer behaviour were examined: lifestyle, use of information source, shopping orientation, store attribute importance and store patronage. Consistent with previous research, religion was viewed from two different perspectives namely religious affiliation and religiosity. Religious affiliation is the adherence of individuals to a particular religious group while religiosity, or religious commitment, is the degree in which beliefs in specific religious values and ideals are espoused and practiced by an individual. Fieldwork for this study was carried out in Malaysia where the populace contains sizable percentages of adherents to four of the world’s leading religions, namely Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. The research data was collected by means of a survey through personal interviews with a structured questionnaire. Out of three hundred respondents targeted, two hundred and twenty-six questionnaires were deemed usable for statistical analysis. Statistical tests were calculated using statistical procedures of SPSS version 11.5. The main statistical techniques used include exploratory factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), multivariate ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis. Findings indicated significant differences between religious affiliation groups in the areas of lifestyle, store attributes and store patronage. Significant differences between religiosity groups were also revealed in the areas of lifestyle, information source, shopping orientation and importance of store attributes. The usefulness of religious variables was further tested using multiple linear regression analysis with demographics and lifestyles were entered as extraneous variables. Results indicated that when the effect of other predictor variables were explicitly controlled (i.e. held constant) during the regression analysis, religious affiliation appeared to influence the perceived importance of store attributes. Intrapersonal religiosity, when controlling for the effect of other predictor variables, appeared to influence the use of information source, shopping orientation and perceived importance of store attributes. Similarly, interpersonal religiosity, when controlling for the effect of other predictor variables, was found to influence the use of information source, shopping orientation and importance of store attributes. Overall, findings indicated that consumer religiosity, as compared to religious affiliation, was more useful in predicting aspects of retail patronage activities. Thus it is suggested that religiosity variable should be given consideration in future patronage behaviour model building and research efforts. The implications of these results for theories of consumer behaviour along with the practical implications of the findings were discussed and opportunities for future research were provided

Teachers’ autonomy and innovative work behavior: the mediating role of schools’ innovation climate

For schools to maintain their competitiveness and enhance the standards of their education, they need to implement innovative approaches that allow them to stay abreast of the constantly changing technological, economic, and social environment. The success of these innovative approaches in schools relies heavily on teachers’ innovative work behavior (IWB), and so the role of teachers in this regard is pivotal. It is therefore crucial to determine the factors that affect teachers’ IWB. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between teachers’ autonomy, schools’ innovation climate, and IWB. A sample of teachers (n=376) from 12 primary and secondary schools in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, were surveyed through a questionnaire that was self-administered. Utilizing structural equation modelling with IBM AMOS version 24, schools’ innovation climate was found to have a full mediating role in the relationship between teachers’ autonomy and IWB. The findings suggest the important role of innovation climate in linking teachers’ autonomy to IWB and therefore have significant implications for school leaders

Predicting Students’ Intent to Pursue Retailing as a Career: A Means-End Perspective

Career opportunities in retailing are rapidly expanding, and there is an increased demand for college graduates into the industry. However, retailing was not regarded by the students to be an attractive career option. The current study identified personal values as underlying motivations, which have received less attention but carry important meanings in explaining college students’ choice behavior regarding retailing careers. From the perspective of means-end chain theory, a hierarchical model consisting of personal values, job attributes, and choice behavior has been proposed. Participated in this study were 172 final year business students from two public universities in Malaysia. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The results show that the values-attributes-behavior hierarchy model can serve as a reliable tool in predicting college students’ expected choice behavior regarding retailing as a career. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p40

DOES LEGAL REPRESENTATION INFLUENCE AMOUNT OF AWARDS IN CHILD MAINTENANCE? A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF SELECTED CASES IN MALAYSIAN SYARIAH COURTS

Background and Purpose: Cases of child maintenance application in courts could have at least one party without counsel representation. Self-representation may lead to litigants’ inability to obtain fair outcomes in their cases. The impact of legal representation and self-representation on case outcomes has not been extensively studied. This study sought to examine whether self-represented mothers or mothers represented by lawyers were the ones who have obtained more promising outcomes in terms of the amounts of award.   Methodology: This quantitative study involved 82 first instance and appeal cases decided in Syariah courts from 1969 to 2020. From these case reports, relevant data on litigants and case decisions were extracted, then statistically analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. Case reports were retrieved from Current Law Journal, Lexis Nexis, and Jurnal Hukum databases by conducting case searches using a list of search terms including nafkah anak, nafqah, and child maintenance.   Findings: The finding indicated that representation for mothers did not significantly influence the total amounts of awards. Self-represented mothers were also shown to have won higher amounts in terms of their proportion to fathers’ incomes. The amounts of awards were shown to be significantly influenced by evidence relating to fathers’ incomes and child’s expenses. The amounts were higher when these details were presented, as proven by their inclusion in case reports. Self-represented mothers fared better than mothers with lawyers when these determinants were presented.   Contributions: Parties and counsels will be better informed of past trend involving full, semi, and non-representation in cases involving child maintenance orders.   Keywords: Child maintenance, Act 303, legal representation, self-representation, child support.   Cite as: Kadir, R., Mokhlis, S., & Abd Karim, J. (2023). Does legal representation influence amount of awards in child maintenance? A quantitative analysis of selected cases in Malaysian Syariah courts. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 8(1), 270-289. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss1pp270-28

Keep up the good work in research universities : an importance-performance analysis

The objective of this study was to measure academics’ perceptions towards three key dimensions of a higher education institution (HEI) – teaching quality, research quality and internationalisation – the latter two of which have received relatively scant attention in the context of service quality. Using five Malaysian universities as its context, and importance–performance analysis (IPA) as its method of analysis, the study found that the five universities performed well in relation to 14 of the 26 attributes. However, for each of the three dimensions there was a common theme in regards to the service attributes that fell short of expectations. In the case of teaching quality, this theme related to learning, for research quality it was research collaboration, and for internationalisation, it was international recognition. This study makes two key contributions to new knowledge. Firstly, it measures academic perceptions towards service quality as it relates to research and internationalisation, and secondly, it measures such perceptions using IPA. One of the key findings of the study is that the attitudes of those responsible for providing service quality (i.e. academics) may well differ from the HEI decision-makers that endeavour to manage it. © 2019 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academ

Understanding why mother can lose child custody in Malaysia

Custody decisions are tailored to the circumstances of each case based on related principles with the protection of child welfare as the courts’ paramount consideration. This paper sought to understand custody issues from the quantitative viewpoint through a conceptual model and examined how child custody principles have influenced loss decisions for mothers. The methodology used was content analysis and the Chi-Square correlation, with usable data provided by 47 cases decided in Malaysia between 1987 and 2017 based on Act 303. A coding instrument and a conceptual framework were developed with items covering the presumption of maternal custody, custodian qualification and loss of rights, and the child’s and the mother’s wishes. The findings revealed that mothers were less likely to lose custody cases, and when they did, their defeats were strongly influenced by factors related to children’s preferences and the status quo arrangement. The results contribute to an understanding of how mothers can lose custody of their children, and clarify whether some of the independent variables are used more regularly and are more predictive of the loss decisions than the others

Predicción De La Intención Des Los Estudiantes Universitarios Malasios De Seguir La Carrera De Comerciantes Minoristas: Aplicabilidad De La Teoría Del Comportamiento Planificado

Purpose: The retail industry offers diverse and unique career paths. However, despite the high demand for new graduates to fill managerial positions in the retail sector, their reluctance to pursue a retail career remain. This study aims to investigate the antecedents that predict retail career intention of Malaysian undergraduate business students. Theoretical framework: Using Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as the underpinning theoretical framework, this study hypothesized that students’ intent to pursue a career in retailing are influenced by the three independent variables in TPB (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) and the additional variable of knowledge. Methodology: Data were collected via an online survey among a sample of 316 undergraduate business students from three public universities in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling approach was used to assess the strength of the hypothesized relationships of the proposed model simultaneously via the two-stage model building process. Findings: Results indicate that students’ attitude, subjective norm, and knowledge significantly predicted students’ intent to pursue a career in retailing, but perceived behavioral control surprisingly did not. All the four explanatory variables in TPB explained about 76 percent of the variance in behavioral intention to pursue a retail career. Research, Practical & Social implications: Findings of this study clearly supports the applicability of the TPB in predicting students’ intent to pursue a career in retailing. Results obtained can serve as a basis for future works in this area. This study also offers implications for educators and industry practitioners to foster retail career intentions among students. Originality: This study is a pioneering attempt to test the applicability of the TPB as a theoretical framework to predict university students’ retail career intention.Objetivo: La industria del comercio minorista ofrece trayectorias profesionales diversas y únicas. Sin embargo, a pesar de la gran demanda de nuevos graduados para ocupar puestos gerenciales en el sector comercio minorista, prevalece una reticencia a seguir una carrera en el comercio minorista. Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar los antecedentes que predicen la intención de los estudiantes de licenciatura en negocios de Malasia de seguir la carrera de comercio minorista. Marco teórico: Utilizando la Teoría del Comportamiento Planificado (TCP) de Ajzen (1991) como marco teórico subyacente, este estudio plantea la hipótesis de que la intención de los estudiantes de seguir una carrera en el comercio minorista está influenciada por las tres variables independientes en TCP (actitud, norma subjetiva y control del comportamiento percibido) y la variable adicional de conocimiento. Metodología: Los datos se recopilaron mediante una encuesta en línea a una muestra de 316 estudiantes de negocios de licenciatura de tres universidades públicas de Malasia. Se utilizó el enfoque de modelado de ecuaciones estructurales para evaluar la fortaleza de las relaciones hipotéticas del modelo propuesto simultáneamente a través del proceso de construcción del modelo de dos etapas. Hallazgos: Los resultados indican que la actitud, la norma subjetiva y el conocimiento de los estudiantes, predijeron significativamente la intención de los estudiantes de seguir una carrera en el comercio minorista, pero el control de comportamiento percibido sorprendentemente no lo hizo. Las cuatro variables explicativas en la TCP explicaron alrededor del 76 por ciento de la variación en la intención de comportamiento para seguir una carrera en el comercio minorista. Contribuciones teóricas / metodológicas: Los hallazgos de este estudio respaldan claramente la aplicabilidad de la TCP para predecir la intención de los estudiantes de seguir una carrera en el comercio minorista. Los resultados obtenidos pueden servir de base para futuros trabajos en esta área. Este estudio también ofrece implicaciones para que los educadores y los profesionales de la industria fomenten las intenciones de una carrera en el comercio minorista entre los estudiantes. Originalidad: Este estudio es un intento pionero de probar la aplicabilidad de la TCP como marco teórico para predecir la intención de los estudiantes universitarios de seguir una carrera en el comercio minorista

An Investigation of Pro-Environmental Behaviour and Sustainable Development in Malaysia

This study aimed to examine the role of environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, green lifestyle, and green self-efficacy in influencing pro-environmental behaviour. Data were obtained through a survey of 72 students at one of the training centers in Malaysia. The hypothesized relationships were tested using partial least squares (PLS) methodology. Results showed that environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, green lifestyle, and green self-efficacy positively influenced pro-environmental behaviour, thereby providing new insights to existing literature on environmental sustainability. The results may be used by educational institutions, the government, and private agencies to strengthen students' knowledge, attitude, and behaviour that support environment-based education. The scope of the study was limited to students at a training center, so the results may not be generalizable to different settings. Another limitation was that the study used limited contextual elements. The novelty of this study is that it examined the role of environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, green lifestyle, and green self-efficacy as determinants of pro-environmental behaviour among students in an educational setting in Malaysia