“More Spices in My Thinking Skills” Exploring Confucius Heritage Culture (CHC) Learners’ Learning Behaviour in Marketing Units (A Case Study)

The study provided the foundation for the future overall curriculum design of marketing units in terms of the assessment and instructional approaches that best fit CHC learners’ learning environment. A new model of teaching and learning, termed a ‘learning-teaching-thinking’ model (L2T) was developed. It is envisioned that the information gathered in the study would provide assistance to the curriculum designers, policy makers and other stakeholders both national and international

Audit commitee establishment in Malaysia: some insight prior to the Asian 1997 financial crisis

Kajian ini melihat motif utama penubuhan jawatankuasa audit di kalangan syarikat tersenarai di Malaysia. Tujuan utama kajian ini ialah untuk membantu memberi penjelasan kepada penemuan yang tidak tekal bagi kajian yang melibatkan keberkesanan jawatankuasa audit di Malaysia sebelum ini. Sebuah soal selidik yang terdiri dari dua belas perkara yang bertujuan untuk melihat motif utama penubuhan jawatankuasa audit telah diedar kepada juruaudit dalaman syaraikat yang dikenalpasti secara rawak dari kalangan syarikat yang tersenarai di Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur. Analisis menunjukkan motif utama penubuhan jawatankuasa audit ialah untuk mematuhi keperluan penyenaraian di BSKL. Dengan motif yang sedemikian, keberkesanan jawatankuasa audit adalah diragui dan ini mungkin menjelaskan kepada penemuan yang tidak tekal untuk kajian melibatkan keberkesanan jawatankuasa audit di Malaysia sebelum ini. Bukti ini juga menyokong penemuan kajian oleh Al-Murisi et al. (1997) yang mendapati bahawa majoriti syarikat yang tersenarai menubuhkan jawatankuasa audit ketika tarikh akhir yang ditetapkan oleh BSKL sudah hampir

Do Women Directors Constraint Accrual Management? Malaysian Evidence

Women are found to be more risk averse than men (Fehr-Duda, 2006; Watson & McNaughton, 2007; Eckel & Grossman, 2008). Women are also different from men in their leadership styles and attitudes towards ethics and risks (Gul, Srinidhi & Tsui, 2007). These differences suggest that the presence of women is capable of reducing accrual management. Our empirical results show that the presence of women on the board and audit committee is not associated with accrual management. Hence, women do not appear to perform the accounting oversight role well

Earnings Management in Small Listed Firms in Malaysia

The objectives of this study are: 1. to determine the incidence of earnings management (i.e. the amount and direction of discretionary accruals) in small listed firms in Malaysia 2. to determine the influence of board independence and audit committee expertise in accounting on earnings management in small listed firms in Malaysi

Factors affecting gender diversity in Malaysia

The representation of women at the decision-making level in Malaysia has received special attention from the government since 2004, the year in which it adopted a policy requiring that 30 per cent of the posts at decision-making level in the public sector be filled by women. The objective of this paper is to examine the factors that determine the appointment of women to the boards of Malaysian large firms. Large firms were chosen in this study because they have the resources and the capacity to adopt the policy more readily compared to smaller firms. The results reveal that gender diversity is positively associated with board size and the presence of family on the board. That is, the larger the board is, the more likely it is that women sit on it. The fact that the presence of women on the board is associated with the presence of one or more family members on the board means that the appointment of women to the board is very much influenced by family ties rather than commercial reasons. The results show that firm performance is negatively associated with gender diversity. That is, firms with low financial performance are more likely to have women on their boards. Hence, taken altogether, the evidence suggests that the appointment of women to the board is very much driven by tokenism and family connection rather than by the business case

The independent directors of Malaysian listed firms and their busyness

The objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which the independent directors are independent of management and to what extent they are busy. From a sample of 200 non-finance Malaysian listed firms for the 2009 and 2010 financial years, it is observed that the almost 60% of the independent directors have professional backgrounds and another 20% are either serving or retired government servants. Hence, by virtue of their training, a majority of them are independent and objective. Findings also show that the largest shareholders of the sample firms are as follow: families (66%), government (4%); institutions (8%). On average, there are 1.5 family members or 21% of the board size. While the role of senior independent directors is very important in a concentrated ownership environment, only one quarter of the sample firms appoint senior independent directors. Out of 135 family owned firms, only one fifth appoint senior independent directors. As for board chairman, only 30% of sample firms and family owned firms appoint independent directors as the board chairman. In terms of independent directors’ busyness, on average, each independent director holds one directorship in other listed firms. All independent directors seem to attend all board meetings. Hence, the independent directors appear to be not so busy and are able to discharge their duties

Documenting its applications in quantity surveying research: a review

Literature review is an indispensable segment in scholarly undertaking. Although important, it appears that little has been documented about its process especially from the perspective of research in quantity surveying. This despite such effort could possibly benefit novices attempting to explore the vast territory of quantity surveying intellectual domain. Hence, drawing from the author’s recent research in identifying the issues that have impeded the use of the bills of quantities (BQ), this paper aims to document the steps involved in the process of reviewing literatures concerning the research. Accordingly, a nuts-and-bolts approach to literature review has been put forward in the background and it strives to describe the steps following the review processes carried out in the research underpinning this paper. This paper reflects that the process for reviewing the literature could be viewed as iterative-cyclical. In this regard, searching; mapping; analysing and synthesising have been recognised as the important steps in the process. The paper also demonstrates that the use of NVivo assisted greatly in the process and adds significant value through its pragmatic features and useful displays. The paper discussed these processes in relation to research in quantity surveying which is significant to the domain or a part thereof

Conceptualizing issues relating to the bills of quantities

Bills of Quantities (BQ) are an indispensable tool for the management of a construction project. In recent years, numerous studies have been conducted to assess its applicability and many without doubt have recognized its significance in the construction process. Despite this recognition, reviews of the literatures have suggested that the BQ is flagged with issues which rendered it to be less useful to certain parties in construction. Empirical evidence from past researches have justified the presence of the issues, however without any coordinated effort in drawing the desired solution, the issues remain daunting and continue to become an academic and industry-wide concern. In view of the above, this paper seeks to critically identify and classify all issues related to the BQ with an aim to propose a conceptual framework as a basis to understand BQ related issues in a holistic manner. The paper which employed an extensive, broad based literature review approach had established that issues related to the inadequacy of BQ information as significant across the literatures thus prompting for action to be carried out. As an approach to understand the significant issue further, the paper has proposed the conceptual framework which contains what supposed to be the ideal situation as opposed to the current situation and further called for the establishment of the line of information equilibrium as the basis for assessing the issue. With such a framework in place, it is envisaged that the issue concerning BQ information imbalance could be untangled to achieve the desired solution

Understanding the challenges in sustaining the bills of quantities in Malaysia

Reviews of the past and current literatures have indicated differing views and opinions on the future outlook of the Bills of Quantities (BQ). Numerous issues have been identified from the literatures and until a viable solution is identified, current issues will likely limit its potential as a source of information in construction project. Based on the identified issues, this paper aim to identify issues relating to the usage and application of BQ in the construction industry by critically reviewing and appraise the existing literatures. The study has employed an extensive literature reviews which extensively synthesized findings, suggestions and comment of previous research works in order to identify key points imperative to strategize future research work. As a result, 13 general issues and 17 specific issues pertaining to the application of the BQ in the construction industry have been outlined which are applicable in Malaysia and elsewhere. At the end of the paper, a list of challenges confronting the BQ is presented as a basis for further improvement and starting point for future research work to be carried out

Exploring issues on the usage of the Bills of Quantities (BQ) and identifying relevant research area

Based on past and current studies on BQ, there are concerns on issues relating to the sufficiency and adequacy of the BQ in the current construction environment. Following the preliminary review, detail study has been conducted with an aim to explore the issues further with an attempt to identify and propose relevant research focus in the area. Accordingly, the objectives of this paper are: (1) to critically review the literatures in order to identify the issues on the application of the BQ in the construction industry, and (2) to synthesize the outcome of the review process in order to identify relevant research focus. The study which had essentially employed an extensive literature review had subsequently synthesized and identified eight broad categories of issues concerning the BQ which warrant focus for detail investigation to be carried out. Following this requirement, the study had suggested that research should be focused at appraising the BQ overall adequacy which has been identified to underlie much of the issues as the key area for BQ improvement. Research into the area suggested in this paper would offer substantial improvement to the BQ and is of significant value to the academics and industry alike. The originality of the proposed research is found in addressing the main theme underlying much of the previous studies which, to a certain extent have never been attempted before