Awareneness, Acceptance And Perception Of Malaysia's Vision 2020 Challenges Among University Staff Member

Two-hundred and twenty-two questionnaires were distributed to all university staff members (those in the professional and managerial groups) of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Utara Malaysia to examine: (i) their level of awareness and acceptance of Malaysia’s Vision 2020 Challenges and how they perceived the difficulties in overcoming the Challenges; (ii) the relationship between their awareness and acceptance of, and their perception of difficulties in meeting the Challenges; and (iii) the influence of socio-demographic features of gender, age, work site and work setting assignment on their acceptance of and their perception of difficulties in overcoming the Challenges. Staff member’s responses were measured using a fivepoint Likert-type scale. The returned questionnaires, 145 of them, were analyzed using the Pearson Correlation, t-Test and ANOVA to determine any significant relationship and differences among the 10 hypotheses at the .05 level of significance. The findings revealed that: (i) there was a positive significant relationship between staff awareness and staff acceptance of the nine Challenges of Malaysia’s Vision 2020. This indicated the staffs’ awareness of the Challenges had some degree of influence in their acceptance of the Challenges; (ii) there was a relationship between staff awareness of the Challenges and their perception of the difficulties in overcoming the Challenges, at a slight correlation or negligible relationship; and (iii) there was a significant mean difference in the staffs’ perception of the difficulties in overcoming the Challenges according to the work sites. The results indicated that there were no significant mean differences in the staffs’ acceptance of the Challenges according to their demographic features of gender, age, work site, and work setting assignment; and there were no significant mean differences in the staffs’ perception of the difficulties in overcoming the Challenges according to gender, age and work assignment. Staff are aware of the nine central strategic Challenges they must face in realizing the Vision. Among these nine, staff were most aware of Challenge 2--Creating a developed Malaysian society, while Challenge 5--Establishing a mature, liberal and tolerant society , appeared to be the most accepted Challenge. Challenge 8--Ensuring an economically just society, was perceived as the most difficult Challenge to overcome. In addition, the staff were 68 percent confident that the nine Challenges could be overcome. The findings indicated the Vision is accepted and has been well communicated. Programs and actions related to the role of the universities in assisting the nation to realise the Vision were discussed

Website evaluation measures, website credibility and user engagement for municipal website

This paper attempts to explore website evaluation measures specifically for information driven website such Municipal electronic government website toward website credibility and user engagement. Despite overwhelming of information source in online environment, the role of government website as a prominent government information provider becomes less preferred. Even, rapid development and continuous assessment been done by the government bodies to enhance and make utilize their website by the users, issues such usability problem, low popularity ranking and less user engagement still been reported. Therefore, the first part of this article reviews on existing assessment measures for websites done by scholars and also by practitioners. Then, in the second part of this article presents some finding on self evaluation of ten municipal website around Klang valley, Malaysia in term of popularity ranking and user engagement measure (bounce rate, Daily Pageviews per Visitor, and Daily Time on Site). Through related literatures reviewed, less study done previously includes overall or multiple measures for evaluation of information driven website. Estimation result of popularity ranking and user engagement percentage among municipal website also shows that there is still need some improvement to make the gateway of Malaysia electronic government become more favorable and engaging

The Effects of Computer Self-Efficacy and Technology Acceptance Model on Behavioral Intention in Internet Banking Systems

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to determine the acceptance of internet banking system amongst potential young users in internet banking. Specifically, it has been attempted to examine the effects of Computer Self- Efficacy (CSE) and extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) on the Behavioural Intention (BI) to use the internet banking systems. Data was obtained from 222 undergraduate marketing students in a Malaysia's public university. The finding showed that Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of use (PE) and Perceived Credibility (PC) of extended TAM had a significant relationship with BI. It was found that PC exerting a stronger influence than PU and PE on respondents’ BI to use the internet banking systems. This study validated the critical role of CSE in predicting individual responses to information technology systems. The finding also unveiled that indirect relationship existed between CSE and BI through PU, PE and PC of TAM

Total Quality Management Implementation in Higher Education; Concerns and Challenges Faced by the Faculty

ABSTRACT It has now be a major concern among the Public Universities in Malaysia to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) to ensure quality of higher education. TQM initiatives include the implementation of ISO 9001:2000, Total Quality Organization and Total Quality Education Models, and more recently the Quality Assurance (QA) exercise. The QA consists of nine criteria and standards, which was imposed by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia to inculcate the quality culture in Malaysia's public universities. In the Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development UTM, effort has been made to utilize the criteria and standard of the QA as a mean to achieve total quality in managing its Marketing Program. This paper presents the concerns and challenges the faculty lives through in implementing the QA system onto the Marketing Program. The most significant concerns are: To Run the Program Effectively -Execution of the QA and ISO 9001:2000 QMS; Difficulties to measure a complex range of performance indicators -Program specification, Process performance, Process outputs, Service Standard and Quality of Graduates; The misfit of the focus between the University's concerns and the focus of QA; The trade off between creativity and rigidity in teaching and students' assessment; Cohesive teamwork and synergy amongst academic staff of different panels (specialization) and different faculties with the program specification; The intricacy between external decisions on students enrolment and resources capability of the Faculty; Limited involvement of SH; and Resources, Human resource development and Research. This paper presented the obstacles and offering recommendations to improve the QA implementation for the public universities in Malaysia

Using Project Performance to Measure Effectiveness of Quality Management System Maintenance and Practices in Construction Industry

This paper proposed seven existing and new performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of quality management system (QMS) maintenance and practices in construction industry. This research is carried out with a questionnaire based on QMS variables which are extracted from literature review and project performance indicators which are established from project management's theory. Data collected was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The findings indicate that client satisfaction and time variance have positive and significant relationship with QMS while other project performance indicators do not show significant results. Further studies can use the same project performance indicators to study the effectiveness of QMS in different sampling area to improve the generalizability of the findings

Relationship between customers’ perceived values, satisfaction and loyalty of mobile phone users

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between customers’ perceived value s, satisfaction and loyalty amongst users of mobile phones . The measurement of customers’ perceived economic, emotional and social values and the eight items of custom er loyalty were based on the work of Lim, Widdows and Park. Customer satisfaction was measured using three modified items based on the Lee ’s study. A total of 270 sets of questionnaires were distributed randomly to users of a mobile phone service provider in Johor Bahru , Malaysia. The findings revealed that customers’ perceived high emotional value towards the mobile phone. Economic and social values were in the moderate level . The high and moderate positive correlations were found between customers’ perceived emotional value and economic value with customer satisfaction. Customers’ perceived emotional value of the mobile phone had the strongest impact on customer satisfaction. A high correlation existed between customer satisfaction of the mobile phone and their loyalty towards the mobile phone service provider. This research had validated the construct of economic, emotional and social values to measure customers’ perceived values of mobile phone services. The findings provide usable model for mobile phone service providers to enhance customers’ perceived values of their services that contribute to high customer satisfaction and loyalty

Determination of brand personality dimensions for a laptop computer using AAKER’s brand personality scale

This research was conducted to (i) identify brand personality dimensions of a laptop computer amongst computer science students; (ii) examine significant differences in the brand personality dimensions of the laptop according to the students’ background of gender, brand owned, year of study and programs; and (iii) examine the relationship between perceived brand personality of the laptop and its quality rating. The measurement of brand personality was based on the Aaker’s Brand Personality Scale. A total of 268 questionnaires were gathered from computer science students in a Malaysian public university using Stratified Random Sampling method. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to validate the measurement. The findings revealed that sincerity was ‘the human characteristic’ that users of the laptop associated themselves with the brand. Ruggedness was a brand personality that non-users associated themselves with the laptop. Significant means differences were observed in the brand personality dimensions of the laptop according to the students’ gender, present year of study and academic program. For users of the laptop, sincerity and modern of the brand personality dimensions were positively correlated with the brand quality rating. For non-users, a positive correlation existed between ruggedness, diligent and modern of the brand personality with the brand quality rating. Several implications were drawn based on the results of the research to enhance branding strategies of the laptop and for future researches

Electronic Service Quality of Iranian internet banking

This study attempted to determine electronic service quality (e-SQ) of Iranian internet banking and its impact on electronic customer satisfaction (e-CS). Using convenience sampling procedure and a web-based questionnaire, 292 completed questionnaires were gathered from internet banking users of four main public banks in Iran. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis performed indicated that six dimensions - efficient and reliable services, fulfilment, security/trust, site aesthetics, responsiveness/contact, and ease of use - were applicable to measure the Iranian internet banking e-SQ. Results of descriptive analysis indicated that Iranian internet banking users perceived a high level of e-SQ and the high level of the e-SQ was statistically significant using One-sample t-test analysis. All items for each dimension of e-SQ recorded high descriptive value indicating that users’ perceived high e-SQ in the usage of internet banking. A significant positive relationship exists between e-SQ and e-CS in the Iranian internet banking. The regression analysis performed showed that security/trust, site aesthetics, and ease of use of the internet banking e-SQ have positive effects on e-CS. Managerial and future research recommendations were discussed in relation to improving the internet banking e-SQ and to explore contributing factors to the low usage of internet banking in Iran

Total quality management implementation in higher education: concerns and challenges faced by the faculty

It has now be a major concern among the Public Universities in Malaysia to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) to ensure quality of higher education. TQM initiatives include the implementation of ISO 9001:2000, Total Quality Organization and Total Quality Education Models, and more recently the Quality Assurance (QA) exercise. The QA consists of nine criteria and standards, which was imposed by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia to inculcate the quality culture in Malaysia’s public universities. In the Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development UTM, effort has been made to utilize the criteria and standard of the QA as a mean to achieve total quality in managing its Marketing Program. This paper presents the concerns and challenges the faculty lives through in implementing the QA system onto the Marketing Program. The most significant concerns are: To Run the Program Effectively - Execution of the QA and ISO 9001:2000 QMS; Difficulties to measure a complex range of performance indicators – Program specification, Process performance, Process outputs, Service Standard and Quality of Graduates; The misfit of the focus between the University’s concerns and the focus of QA; The trade off between creativity and rigidity in teaching and students’ assessment; Cohesive teamwork and synergy amongst academic staff of different panels (specialization) and different faculties with the program specification; The intricacy between external decisions on students enrolment and resources capability of the Faculty; Limited involvement of SH; and Resources, Human resource development and Research. This paper presented the obstacles and offering recommendations to improve the QA implementation for the public universities in Malaysia