Strategic thinking research using grounded theory

The aim of the study is to explore the process of strategic thinking among top leaders in six government-linked companies (GLCs) in Malaysia. Strategic thinking is about how organizational leaders make strategic decisions. This study had focused on GLCs in Malaysia. They are owned by the federal government through some government-linked investment companies (GLICs) namely Khazanah Nasional, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP), Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) and Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH). The methodology adopted was the Grounded Theory (GT), one of the prime qualitative methods in the literature. GT could be divided into two perspectives – the Glasserian GT and the Straussian GT. After comparing the characteristics of the two GT perspectives, the researchers found that the Straussian GT perspective was more suited to track the strategic thinking process of top leaders in the selected Malaysian GLCs. The data collection was done through telephone interviews with the relevant CEOs of the organizations concerned. The interview findings showed that all the CEOs had some kind of masters’ degrees which then shaped their perceptions of strategic thinking. The emergent theory for strategic thinking in this study was the learning theory

Facebook, YouTube and Instagram: Exploring their effects on undergraduate students’ personality traits

Research presented in this article examines the effects of social media usage on Norman’s (1963) five-factor personality traits. Drawing upon the Five-Factor Model of personality traits, a research model that examines the effect of social media on personality traits was developed.The validated model provides evidence of the effects of Facebook, YouTube and Instagram usage on Extra version, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neurotic ism and Openness to Experience

The relationship between advertising and Muslim student's intention to visit kopitiams

Kopitiam is a traditional coffee shop mostly owned by Chinese in Malaysia. It has been re branded with a modern taste to fulfill the changing lifestyle of the Malaysian society.Thus, Kopitiam has been accepted as a Malaysian brand.Recently, a number of negative news were reported in the mass media highlighting issues such as the Halal logo and certificates, the suspicion of chicken slaughtering process and the use of pork-based gelatine in food and beverages in Kopitiams have stirred the feelings of Malaysian Muslims.This paper is an excerpt of a research that identifies factors influencing students to visit Kopitiam based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour by Ajzen (1991) combined with another construct which is the influence of advertising.Quantitative approach was employed based on a survey through a questionnaire that applies cross sectional design. 382 respondents were involved through a systematic random sampling from the population of 18,000 undergraduate students in Universiti Utara Malaysia.The result shows that the intention to visit Kopitiams has a significant relationship with attitude, environment (subjective norms), perceived behavioral control and influence of advertising

Implications of social media on end-user personality

Social media are playing an increasing role in today’s living.In Malaysia, the usage of social media has shown a significant growth in the last few years.The importance of studies concerning social media and personality is increasing day by day in line with the popularity of social media use, yet research into social media use in relation to personality traits remains rather limited.The existing literature on social media usage and its implications on end-user personality in Malaysia are also limited.The current research outlined two objectives, which are to identify the profile of social media usage among users in Malaysia, including experience, frequency of use, purpose, and reasons of social media usage, and to examine the effects of social media usage on the five factor personality traits.The study employed a cross-sectional survey using self-administered questionnaire which was distributed among university students who use social media via printed and online questionnaires.The population of this study is students in one of the public universities in Malaysia.The selections of subject being studied have been carried out based on active use of social media in everyday life. Drawing upon the Five-Factor Model of personality traits, a research model that examines the effect of social media on personality traits was developed. Questionnaires for the social media profile are adapted from Pew Internet Report and the Five-Factor Model items were adopted from the International Personality Item Pool.Result shows that majority of the respondents spent below RM150 on telephone and Internet while more than 95% owned notebook computer and almost 79% owned smartphones.The highest score for purpose of using social media is to communicate, either with friends or families.The research model has been validated through survey data collected from 382 social media users, and the analysis results provide evidence to the hypothesized relationships.The current study generates new knowledge on the literature of social media and personality traits; it also sheds lights on the social media profiling among university students. This research extends better theoretical framework to the existing literature through survey regarding the issues related to personality traits and social media

Perubahan persepsi, psikologi dan komunikasi pelajar program Student Development Group (SDG) di Universiti Utara Malaysia

Isu-isu yang berkaitan dengan pembangunan akademik dan sahsiah pelajar sememangnya menjadi tumpuan utama institusi pengajian tinggi di Malaysia kerana ini merupakan hasrat negara membangunkan tenaga kerja yang berkualiti.Hal yang sama juga menjadi tumpuan Universiti Utara Malaysia.Untuk memantapkan lagi sistem yang sedia ada, pihak UUM telah melaksanakan program Self-Development Group (SDG), satu sistem hubungan pelajar dan pensyarah yang berbeza paradigma daripada sistem mentoring dan tutorial.Program ini telah berjalan selama lima tahun.Sehubungan itu, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti sumbangan program SDG kepada kemahiran insaniah pelajar.Pemboleh ubah yang dikaji ialah persepsi pelajar terhadap SDG, psikologi penghargaan kendiri, kekhuatiran komunikasi dan keyakinan bertutur dalam bahasa Inggeris berdasarkan jantina, penglibatan dalam kokurikulum dan tempat tinggal responden. Kaedah eksperimen digunakan bagi kajian ini dan data dikumpulkan melalui pengedaran borang soal selidik kepada dua kumpulan, iaitu kumpulan rawatan yang terdiri daripada 684 orang pelajar Universiti Utara Malaysia yang mengikuti program SDG dan kumpulan kawalan terdiri daripada 552 orang pelajar Universiti Sains Malaysia.Dapatan kajian mendapati bahawa faktor demografi umumnya tidak menunjukkan perbezaan yang signifikan dengan aspek tanggapan terhadap SDG, psikologi penghargaan kendiri, kekhuatiran berkomunikasi dan keyakinan bertutur dalam bahasa Inggeris.Kajian ini juga menunjukkan bahawa faktor penglibatan dengan kegiatan kokurikulum tidak mempunyai perbezaan yang signifikan dengan kesemua pemboleh ubah bersandar kecuali bagi kumpulan kawalan. Faktor tempat tinggal pula didapati menunjukkan perbezaan dari segi tanggapan terhadap SDG bagi keduadua kumpulan.Hasil kajian menunjukan pemboleh ubah bebas, iaitu psikologi penghargaan kendiri, kekhuatiran berkomunikasi dan keyakinan bertutur dalam bahasa Inggeris mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan persepsi terhadap SDG bagi kedua-dua kategori responden.Justeru, program SDG atau program intervensi dapat dilaksana untuk pelajar di UUM dan juga di institusi pengajian lain untuk meningkatkan kemahiran insaniah pelajar. Hal ini sejajar dengan Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan di samping mencapai hasrat Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi untuk memantapkan kemahiran ini dalam kalangan mahasiswa

Social media usage among university students in Malaysia

Social media are playing an increasing role in today’s living.The social media platforms allow users to search, create, share, collaborate, and organise contents among them, and at the same time provide virtual self-presentation and self-disclosure of oneself. Social media were also claimed to give implications to human beings with regards to personality, yet these variables have not much been emphasised in previous studies. Thus, it is important to highlight the implications of social media on users’ personality.Given the issues and challenges faced by the country in profiling the adoption of social media and its implications in view of the perspective of personality, it is timely and significantly important to undertake this research in Malaysia.The objective of this chapter is to discuss a research conducted recently to determine the relationships between social media and personality traits.The specific objectives of this study are to identify the profile of social media adoption among students in Malaysia, including duration, frequency of use, purpose, and person/s that introduced the social media, and to determine the relationships between social media and personality traits