An investigation of management accounting control systems in the palm oil industry:a sociomaterial approach to practice change

The primary aim of this research is to understand what constitutes management accounting and control (MACs) practice and how these control processes are implicated in the day to day work practices and operations of the organisation. It also examines the changes that happen in MACs practices over time as multiple actors within organisational settings interact with each other. I adopt a distinctive practice theory approach (i.e. sociomateriality) and the concept of imbrication in this research to show that MACs practices emerge from the entanglement between human/social agency and material/technological agency within an organisation. Changes in the pattern of MACs practices happens in imbrication processes which are produced as the two agencies entangle. The theoretical approach employed in this research offers an interesting and valuable lens which seeks to reveal the depth of these interactions and uncover the way in which the social and material imbricate. The theoretical framework helps to reveal how these constructions impact on and produce modifications of MACs practices. The exploration of the control practices at different hierarchical levels (i.e. from the operational to middle management and senior level management) using the concept of imbrication process also maps the dynamic flow of controls from operational to top management and vice versa in the organisation. The empirical data which is the focus of this research has been gathered from a case study of an organisation involved in a large vertically integrated palm oil industry company in Malaysia specifically the refinery sector. The palm oil industry is a significant industry in Malaysia as it contributed an average of 4.5% of Malaysian Gross Domestic Product, over the period 1990 -2010. The Malaysian palm oil industry also has a significant presence in global food oil supply where it contributed 26% of the total oils and fats global trade in 2010. The case organisation is a significant contributor to the Malaysian palm oil industry. The research access has provided an interesting opportunity to explore the interactions between different groups of people and material/technology in a relatively heavy process food industry setting. My research examines how these interactions shape and are shaped by control practices in a dynamic cycle of imbrications over both short and medium time periods

Factors influencing the implementation of Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) among oil palm smallholders in Malaysia

The oil palm industry in Malaysia plays an important role in the growth of the agricultural sector in this country through its contribution to the Gross Domestic product (GDP), foreign exchange, and employment. Oil palm demands are continual increasing as it can produce high yield and low production cost. The present study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the implementation of Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) among the independent smallholders in Malaysia. The result observed several socio-economic factors that can lead to the implementation practices such as smallholder's age, perceived benefits of MSPO, smallholder's education level, Cost of MSPO, knowledge towards MSPO and government support of MSPO. Empirical data shows that there is a need to introduce policies that will guide palm oil smallholders towards sustainable production in order to sustain our oil palm industries in the global market. This study reveals the factors influencing the implementation of Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) among the independent smallholders in Malaysia

Determinants of paddy farmers demographic factors on unsustainability farm practices

Sustainable agriculture is closely related to farming practices. There are many farming practices such as land preparation, use of fertilizers and weedicides among other indicators of farming practices that lead to sustainable agriculture. In particular, weed and pest control are focal points for certain crops such as cotton, rice, vegetables, and fruit with heavily applied chemical inputs which cause unsustainability in farming. Among food crops, paddy requires enormous doses of fertilizers, weedicides, and pesticides to keep it healthy and productive. The objective of this study is to determine the factors that contribute to the unsustainability of paddy farming practices at field level via Paddy Farmer Sustainability Index (PFSI) based on the current 33 paddy farming practices. Tobit regression analysis found that knowledge and awareness played essential roles as the determinant of unsustainability level in paddy farming

Malaysia’s Agricultural Production Dropped and the Impact of Climate Change: Applying and Extending the Theory of Cobb Douglas Production

Under climate change, Malaysia's agricultural production showed decreasing in recent decades. This study tries to fill in the gaps to applying and extending the Cobb Douglas production function theory to examine the impact of climate change and economic factors on Malaysia's agricultural production. Using Engle-Granger (EG) test with 37 years of data from 1980 to 2016. The findings showed that the long-run estimated coefficients for rainfall, temperature, and interest rate were -0.338, -0.024, and -0.029, respectively. This indicates that each additional percent in rainfall, temperature, and interest rate will be affected the agricultural production, on average, to decrease by 0.338%, 0.024%, and 0.029%, respectively, holding others constant. Besides that, the long-run elasticity of real GDP per capita, employment, and Trend showed 0.509, 0.513, and 0.119, respectively. Increase 1% of real GDP per capita will lead to the agricultural production to increase about 0.509%, ceteris paribus. The elasticity of employment showed that each 10% increase in agricultural employment will increase the agricultural production on average 5.13%, ceteris paribus. Furthermore, the trend estimated coefficient showed that the agricultural production will have a constant growth rate which is 0.119% per year. All variables were statistically significant to explain the long-run agricultural production. The short-run rainfall, temperature, employment, and Trend were statistically significant to determine the short-run production growth. Therefore, advanced technology and the latest information on climate change are relevant to boost agricultural production growth. In addition, policymakers also suggested establishing lower interest rate loan facilities and no labor shortage in this industry

Capital structure of Malaysian shariah-compliant firms

This study examines the capital structure of choices in Sharīʿah-compliant markets in view of the numerous attempts made to address the issue of capital structure choice since 1958. None of these attempts studied the capital structure of Sharīʿah-compliant markets. This study applies the model proposed by Huang and Song (2006) to test the determinants of capital structure as suggested by capital structure theories. It uses the regression of fixed effect model to examine the relationship between capital structure and its determinants for 263 Sharīʿah-compliant firms listed on the Bursa Malaysia over the 2006-2011 period. The paper found evidence suggesting that the capital structure choice of Sharīʿah-compliant firms is influenced by factors such as non-debt tax shields (NDTS), profitability, and risks. However, there is no evidence of the influence of tax and tangibility on capital structure choice of Sharīʿah-compliant firms

Consumers' purchase intention towards genetically modified soybean products in Malaysia

In Malaysia, soybean products are a convenient and a popular daily food product, however, the main raw material used to produce these soybean products has been partly changed from the traditional soybean to the imported GM soybean. While the GM soybean products are commercially sold in the market, not all the consumers take notice or are aware of it. There is lack of information sharing between GM soybean products' producers and consumers and the argument about the safety of GM product is still a big issue among consumers. As the GMOs are relatively new to Malaysian consumers, the National Biotechnology Directorate is stepping up its efforts to implement public awareness programs on biotechnology. Thus, this study will attempt to conduct the consumer research to provide insights on how likely consumers are willing to purchase genetically modified soybean. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting consumers' intention to purchase genetically modified soybean products in Malaysia. Multistage and convenient sampling was used in selecting 215 respondents who were surveyed using self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive analysis, reliability test, exploratory factor analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were used to accomplish the objective of this study. The binary logistic result shows that product attribute, consumer attitude, and gender influenced consumers' intention to purchase genetically modified soybean in Malaysia. Understanding the consumer's intention will help the food producer and manufacturer to identify the consumer preferences for GM food products and will help prevent losses in market share of soybean products

Effects of top leadership culture and strategic sustainability orientation on sustainable development among Malaysian herbal‐based SMEs

Entrepreneurial activities cause a disastrous effect on us and our future generation due to its contribution to environmental degradation. Because of this, sustainable entrepreneurship practice becomes a resolution of ecological problems capable of addressing business change issues, public health, and safety concerns and crucial for sustainable development. Pollution was identified causing environmental degradation among the upstream and downstream players in Malaysian herbal industry. In response, the Malaysian government focused on ensuring that herbal‐based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) produce products through safe and environmentally friendly practices. Literature suggests that organizational culture influences sustainable entrepreneurship practice among small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises, hence provide them the opportunities to achieve sustainable business development. Nonetheless, its implementation among SMEs is still low due to numerous challenges. This paper intends to investigate the standpoints of herbal‐based SMEs on the influence of top leadership culture and strategic sustainability orientation on sustainable entrepreneurship practice towards achieving sustainable development. This study surveyed 300 herbal‐based SMEs in Malaysia, and data were analyzed using structural equation model. Structural equation model displays the interrelations among latent constructs and observable variables in a model. The results show that top leadership culture has both direct and indirect effect on sustainable practices through strategic sustainability orientation, accounting for 71.049% variance. Findings reveal that both top leadership culture and strategic sustainability orientation are significantly related to sustainable entrepreneurship practice among the respondents, thus substantiates and support previous findings on the crucial roles of top leadership culture and strategic sustainability orientation in enabling organizations to achieve sustainable development

Factors influencing small farmers to participate in sugarcane loading stations in Thailand

Sugarcane loading stations were established in the sugarcane business in Thailand for more than ten years to decrease the transportation cost of the small farmers. However, the participation rate was rather low. The main objective of this study was to investigate the factors influencing sugarcane small farmers to join contract farming with sugarcane loading stations. Descriptive analysis was used to describe farmers’ demographic profiles and farms’ characteristics. Factor analysis was used to determine factors influencing farmers’ motivation to join with loading stations. Social participation was revealed as the factor the most influenced farmers’ motivation to join with loading stations, followed by economic constraints and individual goals, which these two factors have also significantly influenced the farmers’ motivation to join with loading stations. Conversely, the sign of education (positive) and age (negative) were estimated in the logistic regression analysis, which increases age level will reduce the small farmers’ motivation to participate in the sugarcane loading stations, and the higher education level will increase the small farmers’ motivation to participate in the sugarcane loading stations

Organizational Support and Sustainable Entrepreneurship Performance of SMEs, the Moderating Role of Strategic Sustainability Orientation

Small and medium sized enterprises’ (SMEs) activities have contributed significantly to environmental degradation that causes a disastrous effect on us and our future generation. Considering this, sustainable entrepreneurship has been promoted as a resolution of ecological problems capable of addressing climate change issues, public health, and safety concerns, and has become critical for competing in international markets. SMEs activities increased pollution exclusively causing environmental degradation. In response, the world is focusing on ensuring that SMEs produce products through safe and environmentally friendly practices. Literature suggests that organizational support provide SMEs with the impetus to achieve competitive advantage regarding turnover, customer attraction and market share opportunities to achieve business performance. Nonetheless, the implementation of sustainable entrepreneurship among them is still low due to numerous challenges. This paper intends to investigate the influence of organizational support on sustainable entrepreneurship towards performance among SMEs. A case study involving 300 herbal-based SMEs were surveyed using structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation model. The results show that organizational support have a positive effect on sustainable entrepreneurship and performance among the SMEs, accounting for 52% and 47% variance respectively. This finding reveals that organizational support is significantly related to entrepreneurship performance, thus substantiates previous findings on the crucial roles of organizational support in enabling organizations to achieve sustainable entrepreneurship performance. This study contributes to triple bottom line literature based on incorporation of strategic choice theory, strategic sustainability orientation and resource-based view theory in entrepreneurship framework

Perception of Drone Application and Practicality among Environmental, Health and Safety Practitioners at Building Construction Sites in Malaysia

Safety management in the construction sector is still lagging in terms of technological involvement. A new drone application was proposed as a new inspection tool for a small-scale aerial drone that will give advantages to Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) practitioners on the construction site. A fundamental research was conducted to study the Perception of Drone Application and Practicality among Environmental, Health and Safety Practitioners at Building Construction Sites in Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to safety practitioners in Malaysia through an online survey using Google form. The relationship between the attitudes of the users towards the drone and the practicality of the drone was analysed using a multivariate statistical method known as Multi Linear Regression (MLR). From the result, the respondents show significant positive attitude towards the practicality of the drone system for the inspection of safety, security, fire, and environmental monitoring (R 2 =0.76; p-value=0.01). There is generally a significantly good attitude of future users towards drone usage in the construction industry and the respondents show a good expectation and this is also supported by previous studies