All in the name: the effect of elite source cues on value perception

This study investigated the effect of message source labeling (US politician versus Al-Qaeda leader) on citizens’ perception of their own values in comparison to their perception of values held by the message source. An experiment conducted on 145 participants found that citizens perceived the values of the political figure as more similar to their own when the political figure was labeled “US politician” instead of “Al-Qaeda leader”. However, when presented with a statement with no source labels, participants perceived the values of the US politician and the Al-Qaeda leader to be similar to one another

Online interpersonal relationship strategies between same gender among Malaysian chatters

Strategies utilised by users of the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) will determine the level of their interpersonal relationship in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). However, strategies for establishing relationships between the same gender differ from one another. Therefore, this study intends to answer the question of whether or not differences exist in the utilisation of strategies in the form of online interpersonal relationships for chat partners of the same gender. This study undertakes a quantitative approach. However, in-depth interviews are used to obtain the strategies that are used to build interpersonal relations through CMC by IRC users. All the strategies are modified to create questions in the research instrument in order to conduct a study through a survey method. A multi-regression analysis was conducted to analyse the data. The results show that male IRC users interact with one another by using only one strategy, which is the strategy to create similar values/ understanding of the meaning of emoticons. When female IRC users interact with one another, they use three main strategies; strategy of relationship continuity through e-mail, strategy to create similar values/ understanding of the meaning of emoticons, and strategy of satisfaction fulfilment of the chat buddy. The results of this study provide implications toward face-to-face interpersonal communication-related theories and their applications in the context of CMC

Online threats and risky behaviour from the perspective of Malaysian youths

The usage of the internet has become inevitable in this day and age. While there are many benefits that come with its usage, there is also a lot of harm, particularly for adolescents. While there are ample studies proving this, there are no known studies which explain the indulgence of online risky behaviour from the perspective of the youth. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to understand the issue of online threats from the Malaysian youths’ perspective. Findings from four focus group discussions consisting of 32 adolescents from urban and rural secondary schools in Malaysia show that despite displaying an understanding of the meaning of online threats, adoslescents still indulge in risky behaviour online. They are found to treat the online space as a socializing platform where social prestige is sought. Additionally, some youths from the rural area are found to be victims of cyberbullying, while some from the urban area are the culprits who commit the act. Findings also show that “befriending strangers online” and “cyberbullying” are hot topics discussed among the youth. Hence, these topic areas should receive sufficient attention in future policymaking and practices undertaken by the relevant agencies in Malaysia

Interpersonal arguing in Malaysia and how it compares to the U.S., India, and China

Malaysia is a nation of 30 million people living in an ethnically and religiously diverse society. Interpersonal arguing, an inherent feature of personal and public experience, seems never to have been previously studied in Malaysia. We did so here and compared results to those obtained in India, China, and the U.S. (where our theories and instruments originated). In Study 1 (N = 230), we found interesting distinctions between Malaysia and the other nations on several measures fundamental to the study of interpersonal arguing. Malaysians had a number of comparatively aggressive impulses, but these were tempered by their higher expectation of civility in arguments and their greater sophistication about the general nature of interpersonal disagreement. Malaysians had positive (not negative) correlations between argument-approach and argument-avoid, and between verbal aggressiveness (prosocial) and verbal aggressiveness (antisocial). Malaysia also produced very few sex differences. In Study 2 (N = 200), we recorded the language of the questionnaires disseminated (English or Bahasa Melayu) and replicated Study 1. Results were largely similar to those from Study 1. We found that age, sex, and the language of the questionnaires did not affect the results. Some unexpected findings for Malaysia showed that there is a discrepancy in the understanding of interpersonal arguing between the countries included in this study and that U.S.-developed theories may not be necessarily applicable in Malaysia, particularly in the case of conflict personalization

Gamers' Reasons for Purchasing Gaming Virtual Products: A Systematic Review

With the development of the gaming industry, the trend of gaming virtual goods consumption is gradually growing, and online gaming goods consumption has become a hot topic. Players spend a lot of money purchasing virtual items. Why do people buy these items? Therefore, we conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the reasons for purchasing virtual goods in games. We use the “The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses” (PRISMA) statement to guide the data collection, analysis and reporting project for the systematic review. This article obtained 37 papers from the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases. The article covers research during the period 2013-2023. We review the independent and dependent variables, research methods, theoretical background, and findings involved in the relevant literature. The study finds that the "enjoyment", "social attributes" and "functional value" of gaming products often play a key role in consumer purchases at certain times and among certain user groups. It is the hope of this paper that these findings will increase gaming companies' understanding of what drives players to purchase virtual items. Game designers can grasp the needs of game users and better convert ideas into payment points so that game companies can get higher profits

Exploring Perceptions of Goodness Among the Malaysian and Chinese University Students: A Focus Group Study

The notion of goodness is implicitly central to the discourse relating to person perception. To date, no empirical research has focused solely upon understanding the notion of goodness and how it’s perceived and discerned in others. Utilizing focus group interviews, this paper explores how people perceive and interpret goodness in collectivist cultures of Malaysia and China. Findings revealed that Malaysian and Chinese participants had somewhat similar notions about goodness. “Concern for others’ welfare” was found to have the most resonance across the two nationalities as a key element in discerning goodness in others. Another category emerging from the findings was labelled as “Goodness a subjective notion” which encapsulated additional interpretations surrounding goodness. Directions for future research are discussed

The relationship between engagement in co-curricular diversity and civic responsibility: exploring gender differences

The amount of outside classroom engagement students gains while in the campus is important to develop their civic responsibility. Developing civic responsibility in the students allows the higher education to fulfil their basic mission which is the preparation of good citizen. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between engagement in co-curricular diversity and civic responsibility. Gender differences were also assessed. co-curricular diversity is involvement of student in sports, clubs, debate, drama, student council, volunteerism and other social events (Bowman, 2011; Denson, 2009; Reason, 2013; Shamsudin, Ismail, Al-Mamun, & Nordin, 2014) [5, 10, 17, 19] . Data are obtained through a survey questionnaire to total of 720 respondents from three public research universities in Malaysia. This study employs quantitative method using Spearman correlation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The study found that there are some gender differences in the degrees of participation in co-curricular diversity activities and the development of civic responsibility characteristics. The more exposure student in outside classroom experiences, the more develop student civic responsibility. This study shows that there is small disparity between male and female students and their levels of engagement in activities that may ultimately influence engagement in civic life. Present study suggests University should create more co-curricular diversity opportunities for both genders to avoid disparity

Framing analyses of Malaysia's media outlets and editorial decisions concerning frame preferences after the 2008 general election

A study was conducted to investigate the journalistic practices in Malaysian news outlets post-2008 general elections through a combination of content analysis and interviews. Through a content analysis of news articles of an UMNO-owned media (Utusan Malaysia) as well as an independent news portal (Malaysiakini), the study identified five different news frames (conflict, human interest, economic consequences, morality, and responsibility) employed in the news articles. The study established that the previously government-owned media relied heavily on the morality frame, while the responsibility frame was most dominant in independent news portals. The study revealed that the responsibility frame was written in a positive tone while morality and conflict frames were written in negative tones. The study suggests that there were differences and similarities in terms of framing practices employed by the media. It also found that the tonality of the news strengthened the functions of frames. To further understand the relationship between the frames and journalistic practices, semi-structured interviews with editors from both media outlets were conducted. The editors noted that their organizations’ agendas functioned as guidelines on how political issues were highlighted. The interviews also revealed that although both news outlets received political instructions, the media still strived to promote fair reporting within their scope and capacity

The relationship between news media consumption and civic responsibility among university students

This study examined whether the use of various types of media for news consumption would influences young people civic responsibility through a survey of university students in Malaysia. This study expands the literature on the issue of civic responsibility by looking at the effects using of different media types such as: television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet. Despite a significant worldwide decline in youth civic responsibility, few researchers investigated the inter-relationship between these two variables in a Malaysian context. Civic responsibility means active participation in the public life of a community in an informed, committed and constructive manner, with a focus of common goal. Civic responsibility is an attitudinal measure of obligation towards serving or creating change in one’s community (Mccrillis, 2013). Data are obtained through a survey questionnaire to total of 606 respondents from three public research universities in Malaysia. Respondents’ ages ranged from 21 to 31 years. This study employs quantitative method using correlation to determine relationship between these two variables. The result shows that a strong, positive correlation between news consumption and civic responsibility, which is statistically significant among final year undergraduate students. The internet and various media associated with it have greatly increased the capacity of university students in Malaysia to consume the news and participate in a greater variety of civic activities. Higher education transforms communities by providing students with information and competence from which they can plays significant roles within societies. This can lead to a healthier community, more skilful graduates both in their disciplines and soft skills, and in the long run, a more successful nation

Employees’ Viewpoint On Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) Practices: A Preliminary Study On Universiti Putra Malaysia

In the past few decades, research in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged tremendously in the corporate and academic world. Organisations today realise the significance of being ethical in their business in order to attract external stakeholders and retain employees. However, majority of the previous studies on CSR mainly focuses on the external stakeholders such as customers, media, investors, and government while the influence of CSR practices from an employee’s perspective (as an internal stakeholder) remains largely undiscovered. The current study investigates university as an entity of organisation to explore their CSR practices. The key focus of this study is on one of the research universities in Malaysia, namely Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)