Enhancing extension education research using structural equation modeling: enriching evidence-based extension work practices

Amidst the increasing global demand for food, health, social, economic and political security, the need for new knowledge and technologies initiated by higher learning as well as other research and development institutions is undeniably significant. The transfer of such knowledge and technologies takes place systematically through the support of impactful, effective and efficient extension work practices. The continuous challenge that awaits extension professionals is to ensure that the knowledge and technology transfer process is not only demand-driven, but most importantly, research-driven and evidence-based. Research-driven and evidence-based extension work practices can scientifically complement the demands of the community and industry. Poor research and extension work practice linkages will leave the community and industry unfamiliar with new knowledge and technologies. This calls for an enhancement of extension education research to enrich evidence-based extension work practices. This gap needs to be addressed by utilizing appropriate research and statistical applications that can help extension professionals to explain technical findings in a simple and straightforward manner to their clients. Through evidence-based extension work practices, extension work professionals can connect clients with research-based information, which will eventually improve their overall well-being. Current and future trends in extension work practices call for more participatory knowledge and technology transfer approaches as compared to the old 'top down' model. Extension professionals should thus equip themselves with knowledge on adult education and extension education research, as well as substantial technical knowledge in planning, implementation and evaluation of extension programs. Given the need for a combination of research-driven, participatory and demand-driven extension work practices, this inaugural lecture will focus on how extension education research and organizational extension work practices can be enhanced through the utilization of appropriate statistical applications, specifically Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Based on my personal and professional knowledge and experience, the first part of this lecture will be an elaboration on how extension education stakeholders can take advantage of the powerful statistical analyses provided by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in their research and development projects. Secondly, I will highlight the importance of equipping extension professionals with adequate knowledge and skill in the application and interpretation of SEM outputs. Finally, I will address how the incorporation of SEM analysis can lead to better development and enrichment of evidence-based extension work practices. Malaysia and the world are faced with the task of providing more evidence-based extension education work practices. This is where research and extension linkages need to utilize cutting edge analysis tools that can provide more objective and tangible evidence to inform extension professionals on the impact of their work with the community and industry. The use of empirical evidence in evaluating the impact of extension education programs must be embraced by stakeholders at all levels. Future extension education work and research will go beyond reporting feedback from clients and partners and calculating income generated from extension collaboration. By making use of tangible evidence to inform clients, which includes policy makers, researchers and extension practitioners at all levels (Ministries, Higher Learning Institutions, Research and Extension agencies and other relevant bodies) can provide more rigorous input to improve and advance the overall research-extension-utilization ecosystem. Hence, in this inaugural lecture, I will humbly share how Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) can enhance extension education research and ultimately enrich evidence-based extension work practices

A social exchange approach to people's participation in watershed programs in Iran

The degree of popular participation in development programs is a major determinant of success or failure but the factors which make participation efforts successful still remained a mystery. Many studies have developed numerous and sometimes different views concerning to the dimensions of participation. Most of these literatures tends to be descriptive and rarely applies theory. This study was designed to analyze the people participation in Watershed Management Programs in Iran by using the framework of social exchange theory and determine the role of this theory in explaining people participate in Watershed Management Programs. In order to achieve to this goal, a cross sectional survey was design and utilized. The data for this study were gathered from 200 respondents which were randomly selected in three villages in August and September 2008 through personal interviews by using a questionnaire. Findings of study showed that there are significant relationship between exchange factors and level of people participation in watershed management programs in Iran. Multiple regression analysis discovered that exchange factors explained 33 percent of variation in the level of people participation in watershed management programs. This study found that social exchange theory is an appropriate perspective to explain level of people participation but participation is a complex issue and future researchers might use multiple perspectives for explaining participation

Socioeconomic factor and first-degree graduate employability: The Malaysian scenario

This paper discusses graduates’ employability and its relationship to socioeconomic factor. Approximately 2048 first-degree graduates from the public universities were studied. Graduates were surveyed online regarding their employment status (being employed or unemployed, current earning and job status) soon after they completed their degree and two years later. Descriptive statistics including logistic regression were utilized as tools of analysis. The findings reveal that graduates’ socioeconomic status as measured by their family income is related to their employability status both soon after graduation and two years later. Discussions pertaining to possible reasons for this phenomena and measures to enhance the employability of graduates from poorer homes was discussed

Perception towards importance of information and communication technology among rural administrators

This study was conducted to examine the perception of Village Development Committee (VDC) in realizing sustainable development of rural community in Village Vision Movement (VVM) village and factors that affect it in three zones representing three states in Peninsular Malaysia. States selected were Selangor (central zone), Negeri Sembilan (southern zone) and Pahang (east coast zone). Six villages were selected from each state and the village selected were from villages listed in Village Vision Movement (VVM). A total of 235 respondents were chosen for this study. Overall, members of VDC perceived Information and Communication Technology or ICT from moderate to high in term of their importance for their village development. Zone, where respondents stayed had been identified to have significant difference in their perception towards the importance of ICT, while income per month of the VDC members indicated positive and significant relationship with their perception towards the importance of ICT

Determinants of happiness among youth in Malaysia

This study was conducted to identify factors associated with happiness among urban youth in Malaysia. Respondents were 400 youth community-dwelling residents in the metropolitan areas of Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Findings showed that social and family environments and education predict the happiness of young adults. Surprisingly, the results also revealed a significant negative relationship between economic opportunities and their happiness, while health, ICT use, and civic engagement had no significant effect on their happiness. Our findings support the implementation of actions to stimulate social and family environments, education, and economic opportunities for young urban adults in Malaysia, particularly given the importance of these factors in the perception of their happiness

Perceived parental overprotection and separation anxiety: does specific parental rearing serve as specific risk factor

The present study was designed to explore the role of perceived parental rearing style in Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD). We examined the association between perceived parental overprotection and rejection rearing style with children’s SAD symptoms. The study was conducted with a normal sample of first grade school children. Findings indicate significant association between parental overprotection and SAD symptoms, means those children with SAD symptom perceived their mother as high overprotective than others. Also, we discovered parental rejection merely was not significant predictor, but it could modify the effect of parental overprotection

Sense of community and citizen participation in neighborhood council in Iran

This paper was explored to understand the effects of sense of community on citizen participation in Neighborhood Councils of Tehran city, Iran. There is a variation in study results regarding citizen participation, therefore understanding the effective factors (e.g. sense of community) can help to make citizen participation efforts successful in neighborhood organization. The analysis of data uses SEM to determine the effects of sense of community on citizen Participation in neighborhood organization. The findings revealed that 66% variance in citizen participation explained by sense of community. The findings of the study imply that residents who have a sense of community with their neighbors are more likely to participate in neighborhood associations

Inclination towards agriculture among rural youth in Malaysia

Globally, agriculture has been admitted as one of the important sectors and the similar setting can be found in Malaysia. Government has never stopped in placing their effort to further improve this sector and it can be proven through the establishment of number of high impact agriculture projects. As the sector has well developed, nonetheless, the ageing agriculture community in Malaysia has raised concerns among the related parties and such issue has driven this paper to its main objective which is to explore the inclination of the younger generation particularly the youth towards involvement in agriculture. This paper is exploratory in nature where data were gained through literature and document analyses. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that most of the youth have a positive perception about agriculture but only few of them are involved directly in this field

The relationship between transformational leadership behaviors, leader-member exchange and organizational citizenship behavior

It has been proposed that issues of transformational and transactional leadership behavior should be incorporated in the study for predicting subordinate citizenship behaviors, as both the theories are based on transformational leadership behaviors. This research had two objectives: to assess the impact of six dimensions of transformational leadership behaviors – contribution and affect – on citizenship behavior and to test the mediating impact of the LMX on the transformational leadership behaviors citizenship relationship. The subjects of this study were all full-time employees with their managers who working in the educational organization in Iran. This study surveyed 220 respondents. The sampling frame of the respondents was obtained from educational organization in Shiraz city in Iran. Data were collected on a structured questionnaire containing standard scales of transformational leadership behaviors, LMX, and organizational citizenship behaviors. After establishing the psychometric properties of the scales, hypotheses were tested through statistical analysis of the data. Results indicate that dimensions of transformational leadership behaviors are more likely to predict citizenship behavior than the affect dimension of LMX. Further, LMX is not mediating the relationship of transformational leadership behaviors with citizenship behavior

The impact of the National Service Programme on self-resilience among youth in Malaysia

Physical activities, besides having a positive impact on health, are also effective in improving strength, bravery and resilience in individuals. In Malaysia, there are a number of physical programmes designed with this objective in mind such as the National Service Programme. Compared with other physical programmes, the physical module in the National Service Programme is quite different due to its longer duration. The main objective of the physical module in the National Service Programme is to enhance self-resilience among the trainees; this study aims to discover the effectiveness of such a module in enhancing self-resilience among the participants and attempts to provide answers to these main questions: How much self-resilience is gained by the trainees? Is there any difference in their self-resilience before and after they joined the physical training module? This is a quantitative study in which a total of 362 trainees were selected based on multi-stage sampling. The data collection process covered two stages (pre- and post).Based on the analysis done, it was found that most of the trainees had a moderate level of self-resilience in the pre- and post test. The results demonstrated that the physical module was able to enhance the trainees’ self-resilience based on the significant difference identified in the mean score of the pre- and post tests. It is therefore recommended that the National Service Programme in Malaysia be implemented for a longer period of time and that the period for physical training be extended to give more room for new and challenging activities