|
Workplace Condition as a Moderator between Innovation Investment and Company Performances
Azlan Amran, Abdul Hadi Zulkafli and Nur Syazwani Selamat
Abstract
This study aims at investigating the moderating effect of workplace conditions, namely occupational safety and health, employee development, employee retention, employee diversity and employee relation; on the relationship between innovation investment and company performance. The study was conducted using the annual report for year 2007 and 2008 as the main source of data collection. The finding shows that the workplace conditions are not significantly contributed to the ROE in the interaction effect. However, the employee development was noted to have negative significant contribution to the ROE in the direct effect model which may be due to the short period of observation. It is concluded that workforce conditions is not necessarily producing positive input to ensure that innovation investment undertaken by the firm would improve company performance in a short run.
Keywords: Working conditions, innovation, performance.
|
|
Company Size: Does Intellectual Capital Differ?
Md. Abul Kalam Azad and Md. Shariful Haquee
Abstract
This paper aims to find out the relationship between the company size and its intellectual capital. Few variables such as the number of employees, annual turnover and most importantly total asset have been predetermined to specify the size of the company. Ten small and ten big UK based companies using the purposive sampling have been taken as samples. For calculation and analysis the linear regression has been run using an online resource viz. (www.fame.com) Final outcome of the study shows that the IC tends to equal contribution in market value of both the Big and Small companies.In some cases IC works more for the small companies
Keyword: Intellectual capital, company size, annual turnover
|
|
The Level of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Healthy Lifestyle among the University Students in Kedah/Perlis
Nor’izah Ahmad, Mohammad Rezal Hamzah, Suffian Hadi Ayub
Abstract
This study was conducted to enquire the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthy lifestyles among students in Public Institutions of Higher Learning (IPTA) in Kedah and Perlis particularly at Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Perlis branch and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). Data were collected from 422 students consists of 272 students of Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), 87 students of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and 63 students of the University Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Perlis branch using a questionnaire that was adapted from Burton (1999 ). In general, the study shows that students in the UniMAP, UUM and UiTM possessed an adequate level of knowledge about healthy lifestyle. In addition, respondents also have a positive attitude towards the practice of healthy lifestyle.
Keywords: Knowledge, attitudes, practices, healthy lifestyles
|
|
The Continuum of Psychotic Organisational Typologies
Mohd Murray Hunter
Abstract
This paper discusses the influence on our perceptions from the basic psychotic disposition of organizations. Cognitive distortion is influenced by the psychotic traits of an organization along a continuum of various states which include paranoia, obsessive-compulsive, dramatic, depressive, schizoid, and narcissistic tendencies. These tendencies may be of assistance in the early start-up phases of a firm but overtime distort perceptions and behavior of the organization through the defensive mechanisms that develop. The psychotic continuum is a worthy paradigm through which to view organizational opportunity, strategy, operations, and decision making, potentially capable of assisting in diagnosing the causes of organization dysfunction.
Keywords: Pyschotic, organisational, typologies, cognitive distortion
|
|
The Effect of Patriotism and Consumer Ethnocentrism on Consumer Attitudes
Khairul Anuar Mohammad Shah
Abstract
The growth of international trade and business has contributed to the availability of various ranges of products from different national origins throughout the world. This has resulted in greater interest in examining consumer attitudes towards products of different countries. The attitude of consumers in a country surely will have an impact on the purchase intention of products from foreign countries. However, most research have been conducted in large industrialized countries such as the United States of America (US), France, Germany and Japan that have large internal markets and a wide range of domestic alternatives or brands in most product categories and little attention had been given on developing and less-developed countries. Therefore, this study attempted to identify whether the negative attitudes towards foreign made products by consumers in developing country, namely Malaysia, will have an impact on their purchase willingness and actual purchase behavior.
Keywords: Patriotism, Consumer Ethnocentrism, Product Judgment, Purchase Willingness
|
|
The Role of Zakat in Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh from a Community Social Work Perspective
Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta
Abstract
Poverty is an epidemic that is challenging the entire Muslim world including Bangladesh. Zakat is widely recognized as one of the tools to combat poverty. While zakat is a key mechanism in Islamic faith to eradicate poverty, its formal implementation began during the epoch of Abu Bakar, the immediate successor of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Zakat is a mechanism and social work is the practice of assisting people to solve poverty and make social change at the community, organizational, and international levels. This paper contends that Bangladesh should incorporate zakat, whilst social work is knowledge for poverty reduction and the overall development strategies. Drawing distinct dichotomous between these two, this paper contends that if used effectively, they can play an important role of wealth redistribution to enable as well as empower the poor to be more independent and to generate income. This paper examines the role and implementation strategies of zakat to effectively eradicate poverty and provide avenues for the generation of income.
Keywords: Bangladesh, zakat, poverty, community social work, microfinance
|
|
Perception of Supervisory Support, Organizational Support and Job Satisfaction
Hazril Izwar Ibrahim
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived supervisor support and perceived organizational support on job satisfaction. The study sample comprised of 115 part-time MBA students registered with a local public university. Correlation was used to establish the relationship between the independent and dependent variables and multiple regressions was used to investigate the impact of supervisor support and organizational support on job satisfaction. Results reveal that only supervisor support has a significant impact on job satisfaction, while, organizational impact does not have any significant impact on job satisfaction.
Keywords: supervisor support, organizational support, job satisfaction
|
|
Entrepreneurs versus Employees Psychological Motivation Needs: A Gender Perspective
Ho Tiong Keng, Rosni Bakar, and Marilyn Ong Siew Ai
Abstract
The subject of this research is entrepreneurial behaviour and how organisational psychology serves to explain what motivates and drives entrepreneurial behaviour amongst men and women. The theoretical framework of McClelland’s psychological motivation needs theory (1961) is applied (1) to examine entrepreneurs’ and employees’ needs for achievement, affiliation and power; (2) to determine to what extent psychological motivation needs, if at all, differ between established entrepreneurs and employees; (3) to explore the possible extension of motivation needs from entrepreneurs to employees; and (4) to compare motivation needs on a gender basis between employer and employees. The needs that motivate entrepreneurs and employees sometimes compete and hence the confrontational positioning between entrepreneur and employee and between genders, is taken for this study. The state of Malacca was selected as the site for a survey using the questionnaire technique. The sample size for study was 220 respondents comprising of employers and employees of both genders. 197 questionnaires were collected from 94 entrepreneurs (85.5 %) and 103 (93.6 %) employees. The research findings were: MacClelland's psychological motivation needs influences the local entrepreneur and employee just as it does in the West; entrepreneur motivational needs coincide irrespective of entrepreneurs’ gender; and finally, dissatisfaction with the working environment can also give rise to an employee’s motivation need of power to become an entrepreneur.
Keywords: entrepreneurial behaviour, organisational psychology, psychological motivation needs theory.
|
|
Emergency Preparedness amongst Emergency Response Team in Managing Accidents at the WorkplaceAzuddin Bahari, Hanum Hassan and Razli Ahmad
Abstract
Hazardous materials are chemical substances, which if released or misused can pose a threat to the environment or health. Recently, various type of crisis or emergency due to hazardous materials handling had occurred at the workplace due to human negligence and weaknesses which causes loss of lives and property. Accidents at the workplace involving hazardous materials are most often due to release of chemical substances in plants. Actions have to be taken to address the crisis to prevent unauthorized access and to protect the installation and equipment. These initial tasks can be undertaken by Emergency Response Teams (ERT). The ERT is the first responder in emergencies while waiting for assistance from the relevant authorities such as the Fire and Rescue Department to deal with the crisis at hand. Hence, the paper aims to highlight the role of the ERT in managing accidents at the workplace involving hazardous material.
Keywords: role of ERT, regulations, emergency preparedness, safety measure
|
|
Amalan Nilai-Nilai Murni Dalam Kalangan Usahawan: Kajian Terhadap Usahawan Berjaya MARA Perlis
Shuhairimi Abdullah
Abstract
Amalan nilai-nilai murni dituntut untuk diaplikasikan dalam semua bidang kehidupan manusia termasuklah dalam skop keusahawanan. Tegasnya, nilai-nilai murni adalah sebahagian daripada komponen penting dalam aktiviti keusahawanan. Penulisan ini memerihalkan tentang amalan nilai-nilai murni dalam kalangan usahawan berjaya MARA Perlis. Kaedah penyelidikan yang diaplikasikan adalah berbentuk kajian kepustakaan Di samping itu, kajian lapangan di Perlis juga dilakukan dengan menggunakan kaedah “purposive sampling” yang merangkumi temu bual dalam kalangan individu penting yang mampu memberikan maklumat dan data yang berkaitan seperti para usahawan dan pihak MARA Data-data yang diperolehi dianalisis secara kualitatif. Dapatan kajian ini mendapati bahawa kejayaan yang dikecapi oleh para usahawan berjaya MARA Perlis adalah berkait rapat dengan penghayatan nilai-nilai murni yang berkaitan dengan aktiviti keusahawanan.
|
