A prospective study of dengue infection in Malaysia: A structural equation modeling approach

Background: Dengue fever has been a major health threat to Malaysia over one century since 1902. This situation is getting worse every year so that the government has taken an affirmative action to tackle this particular issue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of government support, climate changes, public attitude, population growth, and environment on dengue infection. Also, this study considered the environment as a mediator construct as the past literature revealed its role in dengue infection model. Methods: In order to identify the relationship between exogenous and endogenous constructs, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. Also, in order to identify the factors affecting dengue infection, measurement and structural model evaluation were applied. Using stratified sampling method, 670 questionnaires were distributed among prospective respondents from eastern region, but in turn, only 505 cases could be used after data cleaning process. Results: Considering environment factor as a mediator, the results show that public attitude and population growth have a significant impact on the environment, while government support, public attitude, and environment factors have a significant impact on dengue infection. Population growth was the most important factor affecting dengue fever. Conclusion: According to the results, dengue fever that emanating from four exogenous and one mediator constructs are adequate to discuss on respondent perception of dengue fever in Malaysia. Keywords: Dengue infection, Population growth, Malaysia, Government, Surveys and questionnaire

Confirmatory Factor Analysis on Family Communication Patterns Measurement

AbstractMeasurement of Family Communication Patterns is widely used to measure the communication in family practice by many researchers. This measurement was developed by McLeod and Chaffee in 1972 and was later revised by Fitzpatrick and Ritchie in 1994. Family Communication Patterns measurement consists of two dimensions, namely conversation orientation and conformity orientation. The objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate the measurement of Family Communication Patterns by CFA, (ii) to know the reliability of the model, and (iii) to prove the validity of the model. The results showed that the resulting model from measurement of family communication pattern using CFA. The findings also show items and the number of items resulting from the CFA. The resulting model will help next researchers especially in studies related to family communication

DOES SCHOOL COOPERATIVE PROGRAM INCREASE ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION? A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING APPROACH

Purpose of the study: The primary purpose of this empirical research is to investigate the impact of school cooperative involvement on entrepreneurial intention among Malaysian secondary school students. The school cooperative program was introduced in Malaysia in 1968, and presently, 2421 school cooperatives are operating nationwide. Despite so, the impact of school cooperative towards students’ entrepreneurial intention remains unclear. Methodology: This research employed the quantitative method, using a cross-sectional survey. The data collected from secondary school students in the East Coast Peninsular of Malaysia involve three states, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang. The study employed the Covariance Based Structural Equation Modelling (CB SEM) to analyze the data using the Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) graphic. Principal finding: The result shows that the students’ involvement in the school cooperative increases their entrepreneurial intention. Applications of this study: The Malaysian government should focus on nurturing entrepreneurship in schools. The Ministry of Education (MOE) and Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia (ANGKASA) need to enforce assessments on participating students to ensure the effectiveness of this entrepreneurship education program. Moreover, school administrators should support the school cooperative owing to its positive impact on students. Novelty/Originality of this study: This research delivers the best way to increase entrepreneurial intention by measuring the impact of students’ involvement in school cooperatives. Also, the paper proposes a framework for enhancing entrepreneurial intention by clarifying the Theory of Students’ Involvement. Consequently, this research fills the previous research gap on entrepreneurial intention and lack of information on Malaysian school cooperatives

Modelling The Multimediator On Motivation Among Youth In Higher Education Institution Towards Volunteerism Program

This study aimed to evaluate the factors used for develop a best model of multimediating effect on motivation among youth in higher education institution towards volunteerism program. The data be collected through questionnaires distributed at four higher education institution. This questionnaire is constructed based on five dimension which is motivation, benefits, goverment support, barrier and challenges. The data were distributed by using stratified sampling technique and involving 453 respodents  . In this case, the data were analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) by using Analysis Moment of Structural (AMOS) 18.0 in order to examine the influence of exogenous and endogenous variables. As a result showed that the goverment support is significant and direct influences on motivation, benefits, challenges and barrier. Moreover, the benefits and barrier is significant and direct influence on motivation while the challenges is insignificant influence on motivation. In generals, the findings revealed that benefits influence is most crucial for motivation of volunteerism. Keywords: Stratified Sampling Technique, Volunteerism, Structural Equation Modelling, Multimediating Effec

DEVELOPING AND VALIDATING THE MEASUREMENT MODEL FOR FINANCIAL LITERACY CONSTRUCT USING CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS

Purpose of the study: This study aims to develop and validate the instruments measuring financial Literacy construct. Methodology: The pilot study randomly sampled some 100 school-teachers using a self-administered questionnaire. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) procedure has explored the usefulness of measuring items and determined the dimensionality of the construct. Finally, using the newly developed instruments, the field study obtained a random sample of 300 school-teachers to survey using a self-administered questionnaire. The data from the field were used to validate the instruments through the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) procedure. Main Findings: The EFA procedure found three components that emerged from the items. The CFA procedure validated the instruments measuring Financial Literacy construct for uni-dimensionality, validity, and reliability. Applications of this study: The result showed that the measurement model of the Financial Literacy construct achieved the requirement for construct validity and reliability and should be able to be used in the future of research. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study produced instruments to assess Financial Literacy performance specifically among school teachers in Malaysia. School teachers consist of the highest number of employees in the country besides their nature of works and job characteristics differ from another group of employees

The Antecedent and Consequence of Youth Drug Abusers' Life Satisfaction: Delinquency Behavior as the Mediator

The incidents of drug-abuse behavior has escalated especially among youths in Malaysia. The objectives of the study were to ascertain the effects of social support on drug abuse through life satisfaction. Delinquency was treated as the mediating factor on the relationship between life satisfaction and drug-abuse behavior. A survey was conducted among youth addicts getting treatment at rehabilitation centers. A total of 275 questionnaires were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling. Findings revealed that social support had a significant influence on life satisfaction. Delinquency had a full mediating effect on the relationship between life satisfaction and drug abuse. An increase in life satisfaction would reduce delinquency and drug-abuse behavior among youth by enhancing social support assistance. Therefore, rehabilitation programs should be focused on matching the drug dependences' needs for social support to increase the chances of remaining sober and achieving success in ending the cycle of relapse

EXPLORING AND DEVELOPING ITEMS MEASURING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP II (SLII)

Purpose of the study: This research intended to develop a valid and reliable survey instrument to measure Situational Leadership Model II (SLM II) through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), including the four quadrants, evidently describe the Situational Leadership aspects style which is; directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. Methodology: A survey with an interval scale between 1 and 10. Using the extraction method of Principal Component with Varimax Rotation, the researcher performed the EFA procedure on construct elements using Amos 24.0. Bartletts’ Test of Sphericity and the sampling adequacy by (KMO) was performed also. Cronbach’s Alpha was applied to test the reliability of the retained items. Main Findings: The Bartletts’ Test of Sphericity is highly significant (sig. 000). Furthermore, the sampling adequacy by (KMO=0.889) is excellent. The four components have Cronbach’s alpha values with more than 0.7. Furthermore, Cronbach’s Alpha value for all 24 items also exceeded the threshold value of 0.7. The development scale and validation confirmed that the instrument is consistent and stable across samples. Applications of this study: This study was applied to the leading telecommunications companies in Jordan that are exclusively providing mobile phones and internet service. It Includes Orange, Zain, and Umniah. The study targeted all permanent middle managers of (JTS) who hold supervisory positions, heads of departments, directors of divisions, or directors who are supervising three or more subordinates. Novelty/Originality of this study: It adds a remarkable contribution to the measurement of the SLM II, mainly in the JTS context. The EFA outcomes formed a configuration that extracts four components of SLM II, which can be measured by 24 items established in this research, which reveals that the elements are applicable in this study

The Likert scale analysis using parametric based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

The Likert scale is commonly used in survey research using primary and secondary data to measure the respondent attitude by asking insofar to which they agree or disagree with a particular questions. In generals, Likert scale would be preferred in the questionnaire development stage to ascertain the researchers conducting their research needed. However, the researchers nowadays are abuse to understand the nature of measurement scale in data analysis and thus causes the finding obtained are meaningless. This article is aimed to compare the performance of two categories of measurement scales which are 5 point and 10 points of Likert scales using the same sample size and research subject that would pave the way to understand the real different between both of these ranges using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Moreover, this study also interested to clarify briefly between two types of measurement scale namely ordinal and interval data. The findings reveal that 10 points of Likert scale is more efficient than 5 points of Likert scale in operating of measurement mode

Re-examining Family Communication Pattern: The Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the model for Revised Family Communication Pattern (RFCP) can be used to measure the communication patterns within a family.Methodology: A survey questionnaire was administered to 500 respondents but only 380 of them were deemed useable. Prior to this, a pilot study was undertaken in which an internal alpha procedure was conducted to determine the reliability of the variables for this study. Similarly, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was also performed to confirm the factor structure so that variables with low factor loading could be excluded. On the other hand, the variable with highest factor loading was identified and then rigorously explained in regard to this model.Results: More than 50% of the respondents had agreed with the item B9 of the conversation orientation and B17 of the conformity orientation thus, indicating that the model is useful in measuring the communication patterns within a family after omitting several effect indicators that had severe negative impact on estimation.Implications: When the value of factor loading of a variable is low, fitting the variable in the model will result in the model becoming a misfit that ends with a discussion about the underlying factor structure that is fruitless. This study is particularly useful for practitioners who need to identify variables that are suitable for research on family communication. Besides that, this paper also provides valuable reference for researchers to consider the adoption of RFCP based on conversation and conformity orientations in Malaysia