Reward program influences : employees perceptions in Malaysian private organizations

Previous researches on non-monetary rewards have explored ways in which psychological phenomena can enhance the motivational power which may reduce or eliminate any inherent advantage of cash as an incentive to employees. However research on reward program influences in Malaysian private organizations is almost non-existent. Literature also suggests that non-monetary rewards alone do not motivate. This study focuses on the antecedents of cultural orientation, Islam Hadhari’s principles and environmental factors (internal and external) that may influence the perception held by exempt employees of Malaysian private organizations on non-monetary and monetary rewards. This study further investigates the relationship between the Malaysian cultural orientation, Islam Hadhari’s principles, environmental factors and perceptions of non-monetary and monetary rewards toward the reward program influences. The other important aim of the study is to identify the moderating role of organizational characteristics, i.e. organization size and ownership status between cultural orientations, Islam Hadhari’s principles, environmental factors (internal and external) and perceptions of non-monetary and monetary rewards.The study adopted a positivist paradigm and a two-phase sequential mixed method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model was first developed based on an extensive literature review. In the first phase, the qualitative field study was then carried out to explore the perceptions of non-monetary and monetary rewards in the Malaysian private organizations. The findings from the qualitative study were then combined with initial research model and literature review to develop the final research model, which was then used to develop measures and instruments. In the second phase of the study, data were collected by questionnaire survey of 1000 exempt employees in Malaysian private organizations. 329 valid questionnaires were obtained. The responses were analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach.The results of this study showed that femininity orientation, Islam Hadhari’s principles specifically mastery of knowledge and good quality of life, and external environmental factors have positive influences on employees’ perceptions of non-monetary and monetary rewards. However, surprisingly the relationship between internal environmental factors, Islam Hadhari’s principles of balance and comprehensive economic development, and also cultural and moral integrity and non-monetary and monetary rewards were found to be non-significant in this study.This study also confirmed the influence of non-monetary rewards on reward program influences of employees’ contribution, productivity, loyalty except employees’ turnover was found to be non-significant in this study. The results also showed that perception of monetary rewards was significant in relation to employees’ contribution, productivity, loyalty as well as turnover. The findings also revealed the negative/positive, and also significant and nonsignificant relationships between the factors tested in this study in the existence of the moderating variables of organizational size and ownership status. The detailed of the results were discussed comprehensively in the thesis.This study contributes to the existing literature as there has been little evidence and attention found in the literature relating to cultural orientation, Islam Hadhari’s principles and environmental factors (internal and external) with non-monetary and monetary rewards. This study also indicates that Islam Hadhari’s principles does play a very important role in encouraging the intellectual, spiritual (intrinsic rewards) and physical development in Malaysia. The study also will benefit the human resource practitioners theoretically and practically by providing direction and suggestions in designing and implementing the nonmonetary and monetary rewards for Malaysian private organizations from Islamic perspectives

Language learning strategies of graduates for future employment – An overview

English language fluency among graduates is becoming an important capability that graduates need for employment.The industry has noted the declining level of English among Malaysian graduates thus strategies and policies need to be implemented.This paper gives an overview on three areas of literature that is pertinent to this topic: competencies and future employment, language learning strategies and supplier learning.This paper suggest that a model for capability development from the area of supply chain management could be extrapolated as a framework for future research on analyzing the strategies that graduates employ on their own to improve their capability of English language fluency

The influence of organizational culture on employees’ performance: evidence from Oman

This article focuses on the overview of the student attrition model as well as related theory that are pertinent to student attrition studies. It comprises an investigation into the prominent student attrition models, such as the Undergraduate Dropout Process Model presented by Spady, and Tinto’s Model of Institutional Departure.Then, the focus is on the work by Bean that resulted in the Student Attrition Model, and the Pascarella produced the Conceptual Model for Research on Student-Faculty Informal Contact, as well as an exploration of attrition studies in Malaysian Higher Education. In addition, an initial conceptual research model derived from existing prominent student attrition models was proposed by the researchers for investigation in Malaysian Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) student attrition studies, as well as for academic student attrition studie

Factors Influencing training effectiveness: Evidence from public sector in Bahrain

The objective of this study is to explore problems faced by training programmes implemented at the public sector in Bahrain. Key issues discussed are related to training and development. The significance of the training cannot be ignored in delivering the needed knowledge and capabilities. Therefore, the training should be effective enough to attain these objectives. This study evaluates in accordance with vocational training a number of contextual factors discovered to have an influence in a different combination with other previously examined effective factors. It explores the relationship between them. It also identifies types of relation between the training effectiveness and the contextual factors. The framework of this study is established according to the Kirkpatrick training model. This model consists of four levels measuring training effectiveness namely reaction, learning, behavior, and result. Instrument utilized in this study was a 122 item questionnaire combined to respond to 2 hypotheses. The questionnaire was self-administered in staggered among the targeted respondents. It is revealed that contextual factors namely training environment, and trainee motivation have positive effectiveness in programms conducted in the public sector. This study provides critical inputs and contribution to literatures related to training in the public sector in Bahrain

Human resource professionals’ effectiveness, organizational culture and high performance work system link: evidence from Pakistan

HR professionals’ effectiveness is widely discussed as the most significant factor within the organization to gain sustainable competitive advantage at the present time.Nonetheless, the study investigates the impact of organizational culture on HR professionals’ effectiveness in telecom sector of Pakistan.Moreover, it also examines the moderating role of high performance work system in above mentioned correlation.A total of 75 survey questionnaires were distributed to HR managers of telecom firms, out of which 40 HR manager responded which makes 53.3% response rate.The study has used SmartPLS 3 for the assessment of the hypothesized model.The statistical results have established the strong positive effect of organizational culture on HR professionals’ effectiveness, however, findings reveal high performance work system doesn’t moderate this relationship.The study concludes organizations with strong organizational culture can achieve sustainable competitive advantage by augmenting HR professionals’ effectiveness, moreover, organizations have to align their HR strategies with robust HR system which can enhance HR professionals’ effectiveness.The findings of the study are of a great value to both theory and practice and have vital implications for academicians, practitioners and policy makers

Students’ awareness of the importance of English language proficiency with regard to future employment

English language proficiency has an important impact on the opportunities of new graduates for employment.Thus, how could teachers of non-English languages assist in increasing English language proficiency? This study looks at the issue of English language proficiency of business major students from the perspective of business lecturers.This study uses a qualitative method through interviews with two focus groups consisting of nine business major students to investigate the awareness of business majors on the importance of English language proficiency for future employment. In addition, the barriers from the context of the university environment are also examined.The findings of this paper suggest that students have a medium level of awareness of the importance of English for job employment.In addition, the use of the national language during classes leads some students to take advantage in certain situation

Student attrition at technical and vocational educational training (TVET) institutions: the case of XCel Technical College in Malaysia

Student attrition is a challenging issue for tertiary education institutions, especially Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions. There are a lot of explanations why students withdraw from college level programmes and the causes may be unique for students who sign up in a course that suits their interest areas.Small student retention rates reflect negatively on the reputation of the institution and even more, its academic status.This would, in turn, influence institution enrolment, finances, and future plans for development.Thus, this research effort was designed to investigate the influences of students’ withdrawal from these institutions before completion of their studies. As this research took the qualitative approach, data collection was performed through interviews and focus group discussions involving two groups of students (i.e., those who dropped out and those who continued with their studies) from XCel Technical College. The findings showed that the students’ reasons for dropping out from the TVET institutions programme are varied, all which were classified into two categories, namely institutional factors (e.g., training facilities, learning materials, and scheduling) and student characteristics (e.g., parental/family influence and urgency of getting employment).This findings support the results of earlier studies which highlighted that student characteristics, institutional factor, educational and occupational goals and commitments, financial status and other personal factors, are important to their retention in higher education programs (Bafatoom, 2010; Bean, 1980; Braxton, 2005; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1983; Spady, 1970, 1971; Tinto, 1975, 1993)

The Predicted Trainer and Training Environment Influence toward Vocational Training Effectiveness in Bahrain

This research aims to examine the development of vocational training issues faced in the public sector extent in Bahrain. Training implication should not be overlooked in delivering the required capabilities and knowledge in performing a certain task. The proposed research framework is established with a reference to the training evaluation model of Kirkpatrick, however, the study analyzes one of four levels for evaluating training effectiveness, those are reaction, learning, behavior, and the level of interests; result. A quantitative research design is applied. The survey instrument comprised of 29 items that tested two hypotheses. It was distributed to 382 respondents according to their interests using the purposive sampling technique adopted across 4 different public sector organizations in Bahrain. However, 128 were the usable ones from the returned 155 questionnaires. It is discovered that the contextual factor namely trainer has a positive influence on the training programmes implemented in this sector. Also, surprisingly this study unlocks an interesting and challenging area in the training environment for scholars in exploring and improving the quality of training programmes. The study essentially contributes to the paucity in training antecedents and training effectiveness in the public sector literature-related research. Hence, enhancing training effectiveness requires the management and practitioners to enhance the training antecedents to ensure the achievement of training/organization objectives. Understanding the importance of these certain types of factors will help the management to enhance the trainees’ gaining and therefore their performance. Thus, training antecedents should play an important role before trainee’s training. Managers should as well be involved with sponsoring reliable factors and drawing up a comprehensive vision

Islam Hadhari’s principles and reward management practices: A study in Malaysian private organizations

This study is an attempt to provide further insights into the theory and practice of reward management in the local context as Malaysia is implementing Islam Hadhari’s principles in the country.This study also further investigates the relationship between Islam Hadhari’s principles and perceptions of non-monetary and monetary rewards toward the reward program influences.The study adopts a quantitative approach using Partial Least Square (PLS) based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach.The study will benefit the human resource practitioners theoretically and practically by providing direction and suggestions in designing and implementing the non-monetary and monetary rewards for Malaysian private organizations from Islamic perspectives

Mediating the role of employee willingness to perform between career choice and employee effectiveness (case study in public sector universities of Pakistan)

Following the upsurge and development in the globalized and emerging economies, commercial misunderstanding and disputes transcending national borders may also be on the rise. Such disputes can hamper the economic activities and operation within those emerging economies, in particular those activities related to foreign direct investment. National legal mechanisms may not be attractive to international investors. Instead, international commercial arbitration (ICA) could be a preferred choice of foreign investors through which contractual disputes can be resolved via an independent forum because it helps to foster market efficiency, facilitate foreign direct investment and protect the interest of foreign investors. To offer insights on this issue theoretically and empirically, this paper presents a logic-based and empirically- based conceptual discussion to investigate the influence of ICA on FDI, in particular its application in the context of Algeria and the importance of domestic courts’ execution of arbitral awards. The paper finds that ICA is indispensable to contractual conflict resolution and can consequently assist FDI inflows into the country that entrenches it. Algeria may increase FDI inflows by strengthening the legal framework for arbitration through the enhancement of national laws relating to ICA and guaranteeing their effective execution and enforcement by the local judicial system