Development of the research instrument for evaluating the desire to live in an industrial city

This study aims to develop a valid instrument to measure the two mediating variables namely place brand image and engagement with the place in the relationship between place brand benefits and employees’ desire to stay in Bintulu, a newly established industrial city in the east part of Malaysia. To fulfil the objective, this study assesses the validity and reliability of instruments before carrying out the primary data collection. This instrument has been devised based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model and takes the form of a questionnaire for employed individuals who were born outside of Bintulu. The development of the valid instrument in this study involves four stages of validity test: panel experts examine the content validity; targeted respondents determine the face validity; exploratory factor analysis assesses the construct validity; and internal consistency measures the instrument’s reliability. This study successfully gathered thirty-five usable questionnaires from working adults in Bintulu. The finding of this preliminary study demonstrates that the instrument is valid and reliable. All thirty-seven original items are thus retained. Performing step-by-step validity checks is essential in designing an instrument to assure its reliability. Using validated questionnaires in future studies can provide reliable empirical results, making them a practical solution

Continued Use of Food Delivery Applications (FDAs) Post COVID-19 in Malaysia: Barriers and Growth

COVID-19 has opened many prospects for the retail sector, especially the food industry. Due to the pandemic retrenchment, the online channel has played a crucial role in ensuring the business's survival. Nevertheless, companies face several issues concerning Food Delivery Applications (FDAs), primarily related to user intent and barriers to non-adoption. The study aims to analyze the factors that influence user intent to use FDAs continuously, discover the barriers that influence consumers' intention to use FDAs, and explore the potential growth of FDAs

Service Quality of Private Nurseris in Kuching City : Perception of Parents

The spring-up of private nurseries in this era has triggered the trend for working parents to send their kids to private nurseries. This phenomenon has led to an increasing interest in assessing the service quality provided by nurseries. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between service quality and parents’ satisfaction towards the private nursery. A total of 399 samples were obtained in this study through the distribution of questionnaires in Kuching city, Sarawak. Pearson’s correlation is used to examine the direction of the relationship between independent variables (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) and dependent variable (parent satisfaction); while multiple regression analysis had also been used to determine the most dominant dimension that contributes to parents’ satisfaction. The findings of this study revealed that the majority of the respondents have a high level of satisfaction towards the service offered by the private nursery in Kuching. Meanwhile, there is a significant relationship between SERVQUAL dimensions and parents’ satisfaction except for the reliability dimension. In addition, findings also found out that the tangibility of the service is the most dominant dimension in enhancing parent satisfaction. The results suggest the service providers in nursery place should emphasize more on physical facilities of the nursery as well as maintaining hygiene to leverage parents’ satisfaction

The Scratching Problem

This case illustrates several dilemmas faced by a founder of a new clothing start-up, Joan. The idea of starting a clothing venture specializing in comfort apparel was born due to a frequent problem encountered by her when buying clothes for her skin sensitive son. Despite having some working experience as marketing manager and research analyst, Joan found herself grappling with a number of key decision-making problems in her business venture – ranging from financing, vendor and material selection as well as human resources. This case describes challenges and problems of a business start-up at the inception or infancy stage of the business. Therefore, it is designed to provide understanding of the process of starting a business start-up and stimulate critical thinking and problem-solving skills related to entrepreneurial activities

Service Quality of Private Nurseris in Kuching City: Perception of Parents

The spring-up of private nurseries in this era has triggered the trend for working parents to send their kids to private nurseries. This phenomenon has led to an increasing interest in assessing the service quality provided by nurseries. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between service quality and parents’ satisfaction towards the private nursery. A total of 399 samples were obtained in this study through the distribution of questionnaires in Kuching city, Sarawak. Pearson’s correlation is used to examine the direction of the relationship between independent variables (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) and dependent variable (parent satisfaction); while multiple regression analysis had also been used to determine the most dominant dimension that contributes to parents’ satisfaction. The findings of this study revealed that the majority of the respondents have a high level of satisfaction towards the service offered by the private nursery in Kuching. Meanwhile, there is a significant relationship between SERVQUAL dimensions and parents’ satisfaction except for the reliability dimension. In addition, findings also found out that the tangibility of the service is the most dominant dimension in enhancing parent satisfaction. The results suggest the service providers in nursery place should emphasize more on physical facilities of the nursery as well as maintaining hygiene to leverage parents’ satisfaction

Evaluating Visitor’s Preferences of Ecotourism and Management Attributes in Kubah National Park: A Choice Experiment Approach

The growing numbers of national parks worldwide have somehow attracted the interests of nations around the world as it is now one of the important income generator for the tourism industry of a particular country. Since its inauguration, the concept of national parks has developed and expanded based on the important attributes of its environmental resources, albeit it is frequently affliated to the possibilities of conservation and preservation of the biodiversity and its environment. The central motivation for this study is to estimate visitor’s preferences for improvement in ecotourism and management in Kubah National Park (KNP) by utilizing the economic valuation tools, specifcally the choice experiment (CE) model. Accordingly, the focus of this study is limited to the valuation of ecotourism and management attributes of KNP, Sarawak, Malaysia. Choice experiment of the stated preference approach was utilized and fve attributes of ecotourism and management attributes were identifed, namely; (i) amenities (AMT), (ii) information availability (INFO), (iii) interpretive trails availability (ITA), (iv) park guide availability (PG) and (v) entrance fee charges (MPRICE). Information and statistics were gathered using questionnaires from face-to face interviews. Conditional logit (CLGT) model analyses involving a sample of 303 respondents was carried out

Assessment of Predictors that Influence Parents’ Satisfaction towards Private Kindergartens : A SERVQUAL Analysis

This study examines parents’ satisfaction towards the service quality of private kindergarten in Kuching. Five dimensions in SERVQUAL are applied as the indicators that influence parents’ satisfaction. In total 400 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents. Data collected is analyzed by employing descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation and multiple linear regressions. In this research, the Pearson Correlation shows the five SERVQUAL dimensions have a positive and relationship on parents’ satisfaction. In order to identify the best predictor that contributes to parents’ satisfaction, the multiple linear regressions are used to predict the impact on the five SERVQUAL dimensions on parents’ satisfaction. In a nutshell, responsiveness is the most significant and dominant dimension that influences parents’ satisfaction. The results suggest the private kindergarten operators emphasize more on ensuring continuous communication with parents. Teachers play an important role as they should regularly tell and ask parents in order to understand each child's situation. Teachers are suggested to promptly respond to children’s needs and make efforts to address them

Usage Intention of QR Mobile Payment System Among Millennials in Malaysia

In line with the growth of smartphone and internet penetration, there is a growing trend of cashless payment made via smartphone, or mobile payment system, especially among millennials in Malaysia. Despite its advantages - which includes convenience, fast, and efficient among others – the adoption of the mobile payment system is still low. In this research, the usage intention of QR mobile payment system is observed through seven dimensions, namely perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived security, perceived compatibility, social influence, rewards, and personal innovativeness. 300 set of questionnaires was distributed among millennials as target respondents, and the data was analyzed using Pearson Correlation Analysis. The result showed that except social influence, all six other dimensions showed a significant and positive relationship with usage intention of QR mobile payment system

The Influence of Information Sharing Linkages on Business Performance : Evidence from Micro and Small Enterprises in Sarawak

This paper investigates the relationship between information sharing linkages (i.e. customer linkage, supplier linkage and internal linkage) and micro and small business performance in Sarawak, Malaysia. The empirical results reveal that customer linkage and supplier linkage have positively influenced business performance meanwhile internal linkage has negatively influenced business performance. Due to the challenge of obtaining the responses from business owners and managers of medium-sized enterprises, the responses are recorded only from micro and small businesses. This leads us to conclude that the findings can help small and medium enterprises, researchers and academicians to better understand on the importance of information sharing linkages that affect business performance. Additionally, the findings provide evidence on the ability of the enterprises to utilize the information sharing linkage as a resource to improve business performance