Trust in mono-ethnic and mixed-ethnic associations in Penang

Investigation into trust has become a topical issue in current social science research. This is, in large part, a result of a perception that trust in institutions has declined markedly in the past two decades. This paper investigates trust in some of Penang&rsquo;s civil associations as a way of measuring the health of social capital in Penang. It focuses on issues of trust and diversity since both are critical issues in Malaysian society in general and civil associations in particular. We began our analysis expecting higher forms of trust among members in the mono-ethnic associations, based on the power of bonding. However, findings from this study tend to suggest that rather than leading to lesser trust and infectiveness, involvement in mixed-ethnic associations have in fact generated higher trust among their members. These findings reveal an interesting corrective to more pessimistic view on the relationship between trust and diversity. Data from this study also provide important insight into how bridging between different people in associations marked by diversity can accentuate trust over and above the levels found in associations were bonding between like types is the dominant characteristic. The data also indicate that for both, mono-ethnic and mixed-ethnic associations, it is the extent of members&rsquo; involvements in their associations that form trust and not vice versa.<br /

Performance indicators and the deeper foundations of performance

Critics of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) argue that KPIs culture rewards the immediate&nbsp;production of tangible outcomes sometimes at the expense of social&nbsp;engagement and cooperative behaviour. The need to gain immediate outcomes in the current KPIs performance culture focuses many individuals onto forms of productivity that gain high&nbsp;KPIs but at what cost? What effect does this single minded focus have on developing organisational loyalties and commitments? Some scholars have suggested that a singular focus on performance indicator success may crowd out other positive social capital in institutions

Social Capital and Subjective Well-Being in Malaysia

The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between different forms of social capital and subjective well-being in Malaysia. Subjective well-being is observed based on two aspects: happiness and life satisfaction. The analysis using data from the World Value Survey with 1300 respondents. Based on the ordered probit regression analysis, it is found that bonding and linking social capital contribute to happiness. Happiness also increases for those who are more active in associations. However, bridging social capital based on trust of people from other religion and ethnic group as well as people whom an individual does not know have adverse contribution to happiness. Only linking social capital has a positive relationship with life satisfaction. In terms of religiosity, importance of God seems to have positive relationship with both happiness and life satisfaction. Other factors such as health status, income, marital status and education also have the influence on Malaysians’ happiness and life satisfaction levels

A note on happiness and life satisfaction in Malaysia

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has long been an indicator of economic growth.There is an on-going debate on whether high growth increases well-being.The terms ‘happiness’ and ‘life satisfaction’ are often used interchangeably to explain the subjective well-being levels of individuals.This study examines if both happiness and life satisfaction of Malaysian citizens are explained by the same factors based on a sample size of 1289 adopted from the 6th waves of World Values Survey (2010-2014).Outcomes from the ordered logit regression analysis indicate that income has strong positive relationship with happiness and life satisfaction.This study supports Easterlin paradox partially, which indicates a positive association between happiness and income in the short-term.Other common income related factors that have positive and strong significant impact on both happiness and life satisfaction are health status, employment and satisfaction on financial situation of household

Social Capital And Organisational Commitment At Higher Education Institutions

This study compares the extent of the influence of non-tangible forms of social capital on organisational commitment at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), in Penang, Malaysia and two universities in Sumatra, Indonesia, which are, Universitas Andalas and Padang State University (APU). Amongst the academic staff at USM, three social capital factors—collective action and shared values, relational trust and cooperation, and cohesive bonds and connectivity through participation—have a strong positive impact on affective and normative commitments. At APU, only the factor of cohesive bonds and connectivity contributes to affective commitment. Collective action and shared values as well as cohesive bonds and connectivity were shown to have contributed to higher normative commitment. Relational trust and cooperation, which are important indicators of social capital, did not seem to have any impact on the three organisational commitments. At USM, continuance commitment was negatively related to cohesive bonds and was not related to any other predictive variables. At APU, higher collective action and shared values reduced continuance commitment

Social Capital And Organisational Commitment At Higher Education Institutions

This study compares the extent of the influence of non-tangible forms of social capital on organisational commitment at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), in Penang, Malaysia and two universities in Sumatra, Indonesia, which are, Universitas Andalas and Padang State University (APU). Amongst the academic staff at USM, three social capital factors—collective action and shared values, relational trust and cooperation, and cohesive bonds and connectivity through participation—have a strong positive impact on affective and normative commitments. At APU, only the factor of cohesive bonds and connectivity contributes to affective commitment. Collective action and shared values as well as cohesive bonds and connectivity were shown to have contributed to higher normative commitment. Relational trust and cooperation, which are important indicators of social capital, did not seem to have any impact on the three organisational commitments. At USM, continuance commitment was negatively related to cohesive bonds and was not related to any other predictive variables. At APU, higher collective action and shared values reduced continuance commitment

How Efficient Are Malaysian Public Universities? A Comparative Analysis Using Data Envelopment Analysis

This paper aims to examine the efciency of Malaysian public universities in comparison with the private and foreign universities using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The study involves 22 universities (17 public, 1 private and 4 foreign) and based on data between year 2008 and 2011. Results reveal that the most efcient Malaysian public universities are: University Malaya (among research universities); Universiti Teknologi Mara (among comprehensive universities) and Universiti Utara Malaysia (among focused universities). When these three most efcient Malaysian public universities are compared with the private university in Malaysia and another 4 foreign universities, they are found to be inefcient in income generation and in managing inputs which include the government operating grant. The plausible explanation could be associated with a long history of over-dependence on government grants that may have resulted in the public universities becoming too complacent. The study calls for mechanisms to re-strategise and to get these public universities to be more fnancially independent

Using conjoint analysis to study consumers choice of supermarkets.

This paper applied conjoint analysis to investigate the relative importance of supermarket attributes and part-worth utilities of attribute levels that affect consumer choice of supermakets. A study was carried out on consumers working at the Penang free industrial zone factories. The attributes identified to describe a supermarket are: distance of the supermarket from the respondents house or office,availability of other nearby stores,product price, availability of parking space and service level provided by the supermarket. The outcomes show that,in general most shoppers are attracted to low prices and availability of parking space. Several segmented models indicate that respondents with different sicio-economic background tend to have slight different preferences on the attributes of the supermarkets.This study hopes to provide valuable inputs to the present and future supermarket retailers on the factors that influence consumer choice of supermarket