Entrepreneurial competency, competitive advantage and performance of informal women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of entrepreneurial competencies on competitive advantage and to investigate the effect of competitive advantage on the performance of informal microenterprises owned and managed by women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a cross-sectional design and collected quantitative data from 384 informal women micro-entrepreneurs operating in “night markets” in Kelantan, Malaysia. Findings – The finding of the analysis using variance-based structural equation modeling indicated that commitment competency, conceptual competency, organizing competency and opportunity recognition competency have a significant positive effect on competitive advantages, and competitive advantages have a significant positive effect on the performance of microenterprises owned and managed by women microentrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia. Research limitations/implications – The development programs and policies should focus on improving the competencies, i.e. commitment competency, conceptual competency, organizing competency and opportunity recognition competency to improve the socioeconomic condition of low-income households in Malaysia. Informal women micro-entrepreneurs should, therefore, focus on value creating strategies to avoid potential competitors from duplicating the benefits of their strategy. This will result in a sustainable competitive advantage of microenterprises in Malaysia. Originality/value – This study puts forward and tests the effect of entrepreneurial competencies on competitive advantages and performance of informal women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia, which provides a foundation for the design and implementation of development programs and policies that promote entrepreneurial activities in Malaysia

Scaling up social innovation for sustainability: The roles of social enterprise capabilities

The scaling of social innovation is an important issue in social enterprises for sustainability. The scenario is due to the social enterprise capabilities to ensure the social program’s impact on society to become wider and deeper. Thus, social innovation helps to identify the social problems and target actions to address the social complex problems by social enterprise capabilities. This study investigates the factors of social enterprise capabilities in enhancing social innovation for sustainabil-ity and for eliminating the social barriers. In addition, the study discusses the relationship between social enterprise capabilities to scale social innovation. The study uses cross-sectional design and collects the necessary data from 136 social enterprises in Malaysia for the survey. The findings show that social enterprise capabilities for earning generation, replicating, and stimulating had a positive relationship with scaling social innovation when the level of significance was 0.05. Accordingly, the social enterprise owners are required to improve their capabilities to reach a higher scale of social innovation for growth and sustainability

Organizational Climate on Employees’ Work Passion: A Review

This paper presented in-depth review of recent literature focused on organizational climate and employee’s work passion and organizational commitment within academician of public and private Universities in Malaysia. An argument is put forward that there is a causal link between good organizational climate and the employees work passion and commitment in an organization. A conceptual model of organizational climate and employee’s work passion and organizational commitment is presented that provides an explanation of the linkage between these variables. This paper addressed the employee’s needs and expectation from the employer in the aspect of organizational climate and commitment. Thus, by exploring the recent literature, this paper provides a critical review about the role of organizational climate, and therefore, enhances further knowledge and understanding of employee’s work passion as well as organizational commitment

Customer Satisfaction Towards KR1M Products

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between product flexibility, product quality and advertising on consumer satisfaction among the consumers of Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M), which was established by the government of Malaysia in order to provide common households products at a affordable price to the poor and low income households in Malaysia. This study employed a cross-sectional design and used a self-administered questionnaire and collected data from 150 KR1M consumers in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. Findings of this study noted that product flexibility, product quality and advertising has a significant positive association with consumer satisfaction. In order to reach its full potential and achieve the overall goal of this development initiative, KR1M initiative should be more focus on providing more shopping options through increasing product flexibility, improve product quality and increase advertising

Entrepreneur’s Personality Traits and Firm Performance of Malaysian Smes: Mediated by Market Orientation

Purpose: This study aims to recognize crucial factors related with entrepreneurs, based on the Malaysian SMEs. The study also explores the factors affecting entrepreneurs and their success. Understanding their crucial success factors and challenges can help us better understand entrepreneurs' personality traits and strategic orientation needed by them.   Theoretical framework:  This study indicates the remaining ideas, particularly those related to resource acquisition, entrepreneurship strategy, and organization, may be helpful in analyzing how, why, and when opportunities are taken advantage of. This study demonstrates that strategic decisions act as a mediator in the relationships between resource endowments and company performance.   Design/methodology/approach: Data from SME’s owners and senior managers Malaysian businesses were gathered through a countrywide survey. The Malaysian Statistical Department's database provided the sample frame from which SMEs' population was counted. These SMEs were chosen at random; they worked in the manufacturing sector. The final group of SMEs to which the surveys were sent out consisted of 800 people, and 412 of them responded, or 64% of the total number. A 7-point Likert scale was used to create the questionnaire.   Finding: The study has discovered that relationship of need for cognition (NFC) and firm performance (FP) are partially mediated by market orientation (MO). Meaning, MO is partially mediated in the decision of NFC towards FP. It is strongly suggested that business owners who have NFC may have carefully considered the advantages of MO before deciding to implement MO as their strategic orientations. In actuality, the organization favors and emphasizes tasks that require developing original solutions to challenges. Additionally, they excel at solving complicated issues.   Research,  Practical  &  Social  Implication: The  study  contributes  to  a  better understanding entrepreneurs crucial success factors and challenges can help us better understand entrepreneurs' personality traits and strategic orientation needed by them.   Originality/value: This finding might serve as a guide for how strategic orientations should be implemented in any organization. The choice of a suitable orientation within the business is essential in a collectivist society like Malaysia since the employer-employee connection is viewed as a "family link" where it is crucial that there be confidence between the two parties and encourages both sides to take initiative at work

Critically Evaluating the Role of Branding, Services and Strategy on Customer Loyalty

Nowadays, customers becoming fastidious while choosing hotel as their lodging during vacation or trip. This study examined the relative importance of hotel factors in relation to customers’ overall satisfaction levels with their experience in the hotel and the likelihood of returning to the same hotel. Using a cross-sectional design, this study examined how Branding, Services, and Strategy influence customers’ loyalty. Data was collected from 187 tourists. Findings of this study indicated that branding and services provided by hotels has a significant positive effect on consumer loyalty. Managers should therefore emphasize on service and branding in order to build long term relationship need to maintaining customer’s loyalty, which is crucial for the survival in today’s competitive business environment. Key words: Branding; Services; Strategy; Customer Loyalty; Hotels; Malaysi

Hawkers’ Attitude on Environmentally Friendly Food Packaging Practices in Night Market

The issue of food packaging waste has become an environmental concern in the society, particularly among food hawkers. Since food packaging waste ranks the highest contributor to waste; thus, environmentally friendly food packaging (EFFP) has been introduced in the market to ensure good management practices among food hawkers and subsequently reduce environmental pollution. This study aimed to examine the effect of attitude (perceived benefits confidence, perceived risks, and environmental knowledge) on the intention to use environmental-friendly food packaging among food hawkers in Malaysia. This study adopted crosssectional studies and collected quantitative data from 320 food hawkers. The Structural Equation Modeling was further applied to test the related hypotheses using IBM-AMOS (Analysis of a Moment Structure). The findings reveal that attitude (perceived benefits confidence, perceived risks, and environmental knowledge) had significant effect on the intention to use environmentally friendly food packaging

Turnover intention and its antecedents: The mediating role of work–life balance and the moderating role of job opportunity

Due to the higher attrition rate in higher education institutions (HEIs), the attraction and retention of top talents in higher education have become a challenge for human resource (HR) professionals. The primary area of discussion among business executives and HR professionals is how top talent can be retained and maintained. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of human resource management practises (HRMPs), oraganisational reputation (OGR), occupational prestige (OPP) and work–life balance (WLB) on turnover intention (TOI) of the academics working in HEIs. The study also aims to examine WLB as a mediator and job opportunity (JBO) as a moderator of the relationships mentioned above. Data collected through an online survey from 466 respondents were analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling. The findings of the study showed that OGR, OPP and WLB were negatively related to TOI. However, the impact of HRMPs on TOI was not direct; instead, it was mediated by WLB. The findings also demonstrated that WLB significantly mediated the relationship between OGR and OPP. Furthermore, the results also confirmed that JBO significantly moderated the relationship between WLB and TOI. The findings of the study provide guidelines for a comprehensive retention strategy and a holistic model of academics TOI that can assist HR professionals, policymakers and management in developing an effective strategic recruitment and retention plan