Hiring of Ex Offenders Qualitative Proposal

BM070-3-2-BRSM
BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
PERCEPTION TOWARDS HIRING OF EX-

OFFENDERS AMONG THE PUBLIC IN KUALA
LUMPUR: A QUALITATIVE STUDY
PREPARED BY: WONG YUEN NEE

TP NUMBER: TP048374
HAND IN DATE: 10th SEPTEMBER 2020
LECTURER: DR JUGINDAR SINGH A/L KATAR SING
PERCEPTION TOWARDS HIRING OF EX-OFFENDERS AMONG THE PUBLIC IN KUALA LUMPUR: A QUALITATIVE STUDY
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................4
1.1 Background of the Study.............................................................................................4
1.2 Problem Statement.......................................................................................................6
1.3 Purpose Statement.......................................................................................................7
1.4 Research Questions.....................................................................................................7
1.5 Significance of the Study.............................................................................................7
1.5.1 Academic Perspective..........................................................................................7
1.5.2 Management Perspective.....................................................................................7
1.5.3 Theoretical Perspective........................................................................................8
1.6 Scope of the Study.......................................................................................................8
1.7 Limitations of the Study..............................................................................................8
1.8 Definition of Terms.....................................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Literature Review.....................................................................................................9
2.1 Perception of hiring ex-offender.................................................................................9
2.2 Barriers of ex-offender securing a job......................................................................11
2.3 Support provided to ex-offender...............................................................................14
2.4 Theories......................................................................................................................16
2.4.1 Attribution Theory.............................................................................................16
2.4.2 Social Network Theory......................................................................................16
Chapter 3: Methodology..........................................................................................................17
3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................17
3.2 Research Philosophy.................................................................................................18
3.3 Research Approach...................................................................................................18
3.4 Research Strategy......................................................................................................19
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3.5 Methodological Choice.............................................................................................19
3.6 Time Horizon..........................................................................................................19
3.7 Data.........................................................................................................................20
3.8 Instrumentation (Interview)....................................................................................20
3.9 Source of Data.........................................................................................................20
3.10 Sampling.................................................................................................................21
3.11 Data Processing.......................................................................................................21
3.12 Data Analysis..........................................................................................................21
3.13 Ethical Considerations............................................................................................22
References................................................................................................................................23
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Chapter 1: Introduction
In chapter 1 of this research, the background of the study, the problem statement of this
research, purpose statement, research questions, the significance of the study which include
academic, management and theoretical perspectives, the scope of the study, limitations, and
definitions of the terms. This chapters will be discussing on the perspective and barriers faced
by ex-offenders in securing a job.
1.1 Background of the Study

According to the current record from (Walmsley, 2018), it is reported that there are a
proximately of 10.74 million individuals that are being held in prison all over the world.
However, this record is not a complete record as there are certain restriction on accessing the
data from certain countries. In the United States alone, there are more than 2.1 million
prisoners currently serving the sentence and followed up by China with 1.65 million
excluding the unknown numbers of other forms of detention that was not disclosed, 690,000
in Brazil, 583,000 in Russia Federation and 420,000 in India just to name a few. (Walmsley,
2018) also mention that there is a grown of 24% in world prison population since the year
2000 and over the last couple of years, the average growth of the world prison population is
around 3.7% as to compared to national populations growth that stands at 3.0% only.
Similarly at the same time, the United States have more than 600,000 released sentenced
prisoners a year from state or federal prison every year that is often being hired by housing
companies due to the apparent “labour shortage” especially for the skilled labour market just
to keep up with the construction demand (Durden, 2017). As reported by (Waldmeir, 2018),
due to the high demand of labour needed, many ex-offenders have been hired without any
application discrimination due to the “ban-the-box” law that allows these individuals to
secure a job more easily. To add into (Waldmeir, 2018)’s claim, most of the ex-offenders are
willing to take up the work offer are often proven that these individuals could be one of the
best employees in the company if given an opportunity. According to the US Bureau of
Labour Statistics in the year 2017, there was an estimated of 27% of ex-offenders that are
unemployed, and some researchers believed the number might be even higher.
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Figure 1:Prison population in Malaysia (Mohamad, et al., 2017)
Besides that, (Mohamad, et al., 2017)’s research shows the number of prisoners in Malaysia
continue to increase over the years and from 2012 till 2016 there is an increment of
approximately 41% as shown in Figure 1. The research done by (Habibullah, et al., 2014)
shows that the hike of crime rate is mainly due to the positive relationship with
unemployment. In these recent years, the Malaysian government have put in more effort to
resolve the unemployment issue by giving tax cut towards employers who had hired the ex-
offenders (Bernama, 2018), fellow ministers have been actively advocating for the hire of ex-
offenders to tackle the labour shortage problem in the country (New Straits Times, 2019) and
the current issue of the coronavirus pandemic have steadily forces company of certain
industry to seek out employment with the ex-offenders in order to cope up with the lack of
workforce that are previously consists of majority of foreign workers (Chu, 20202).
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1.2 Problem Statement

There are numerous reports on the discrimination faced by ex-offenders in securing a job
regardless of country which these individuals are in. According to a study done in 2000, at
least 60% of the released prisoners were unable to secure a job that is caused by
characteristics of the ex-offenders itself along with factors such as discrimination, lack of
educational background, less cognitive skills and even instances of substance abuse and
mental health issue (Pettinato, 2014). (Paynter, 2019) stated that although most consumers
are comfortable in interacting with employees that have criminal record but therefore most
companies are still reluctant to hire these individuals, it is believed that most of the employers
might not know how to encourage more opportunities of hiring these individuals as these
employers are still stuck in an antiquated hiring system. However, there are some small
number of companies that are willing to pick up the challenge of hiring the unemployed ex-
offenders that are uneducated, the bigger challenge will be psychological and sociological
challenges that both employer and employees with criminal history have to face but the main
concern faced by employer will be these employee’s liability as certain industry have
regulations to bar these individual from working (Gross, 2017). Many employers are still
uncertain about hiring ex-offenders even though the government have provided initiatives to
encourage such as act, ” It really takes employers who are willing to let go of their biases in
pursuit not only of equality but of the best candidates.”- Lucius Couloute (POLICY
ANALYST AT THE PRISON POLICY INITIATIVE) (Mullaney, 2018).
Despite all these, there is still no study or statistics done on this subject manner among the
ex-offenders in Kuala Lumpur (Bernama, 2018). Thus, there is a gap that have been
neglected as the perception and barriers faced by ex-offenders in securing a job has not been
extensively explored in academic research and resources is limited to outdated news or
certain old research. Therefore, there is a weak empirical and conceptual basis to understand
the perception and barriers that is in relation with the perception and barriers faced by ex-
offenders in Kuala Lumpur.
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1.3 Purpose Statement

The purpose of this qualitative study will explore the public perceptions towards hiring of ex-
offenders and the perceived barriers towards hiring of ex-offenders.
1.4 Research Questions

 What is the public perception towards hiring of ex-offenders?
 What are the perceived barriers towards hiring of ex-offenders?
1.5 Significance of the Study

The significant of this study is to contribute towards a newer research based on the
exploration of perception towards hiring of ex-offenders among the public in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia and identifying the barriers faced by ex-offenders in securing a job. This research
will be useful and acts as a benchmark for future researcher, employers and policy makers
looking for a qualitative information on this subject matter from an academic, management
and theorist perspectives.
1.5.1 Academic Perspective

From an academic perspective, the finding of this research will provide an in-dept
information of the barriers faced by ex-offenders in securing a job along with the perception
received by these individuals. Taking into the account that there might be a certain perception
that the ex-offenders faced in the public, the research findings and recommendations will
reveal the significance difficulties for these individual to secure a job post prison life.
1.5.2 Management Perspective

In management perspective, employers can rely on this research to understand the barriers
and difficulties faced by ex-offender’s post prison life along with a clearer understanding on
the perception received by these individuals from the public when trying to secure a job. This
research will reveal how the ex-offenders face the difficulties
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1.5.3 Theoretical Perspective

From a theoretical standpoint, this research relates the studies of the barriers of ex-offenders
securing a job and with this available information, the research will assists in bridging the
knowledge gap between the issues faced by the ex-offenders in securing a job and the
perception received from the public about hiring these individual.
1.6 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study will focus mainly on ex-offenders on the barriers and support these
individuals have received when trying to secure a job in Kuala Lumpur. The research will be
a qualitative research that respondent is carefully selected for this research purpose. However,
the research will not be interviewing all the released prisoner but only a selected few that are
willing to be interviewed. The reliability of the research will rely on the honesty of the
respondents when answering questions during the interview.
1.7 Limitations of the Study

The limitation of this research is due to the resource constraints, the interview will be
conducted to only selected participant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. To add on, the
respondents of this research is entrusted to give honest and have a fair consensus while
participating in the interview session in order to reduce any biasness and to make this
information from the interview more reliable. Furthermore, the findings from this research
must not be generalized as this research is restricted to a small number of participants in
Kuala Lumpur and the result obtained from the research is to be unique. The other limitation
of this research is the time constraints that does not allow more participants to be interviewed
in other to collect more open-ended answers from each of the respondents.
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1.8 Definition of Terms

Terms Conceptual Definition Operational Definition
Perception The definition of Perception is the This report focusses on the

process of recognizing, organizing perception, awareness and even
and interpreting sensory information understanding the public view on
from environment through humans’ hiring an ex-offender from the
main sensory organs such as sight, public in Kuala Lumpur.
hearing, smell, touch and taste
(Cherry, 2020).
Ex-offender Ex-offender can be defined as an The report will focus on the

individual with previous criminal various factors of individuals
record (NHS Employers, 2018). with criminal record on securing
a job.
Barrier Barrier can briefly be defined as This report will highlight on the
something that blocks or is intended various barriers (difficulties) of
to block or hinder certain movement an ex-offender in trying to secure
or action and even something from a job in Kuala Lumpur.
happening (Cambridge, 2020).
Chapter 2: Literature Review

Chapter 2 will critically review on the literature reviews and past research done by other
researchers by having three main themes mainly perception of hiring ex-offenders, barriers of
ex-offenders securing a job and support provided to ex-offender.
2.1 Perception of hiring ex-offender
For many ex-prisoners, the mark of

being a convict endures long after
their
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sentences have been served. The

stigma of stereotyping, labeling,
discrimination, status loss, and
separation (Link and Phelan 2001)
felt by ex-prisoners is viewed as a
form of ‘‘invisible
punishment’’
their
punishment’’
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their
punishment’’
(Chui & Cheng, 2013) mentioned that the label of being a convict have serve a long-lasting
mark on the ex-prisoners even after serving the sentences have left these individuals with the
stigma of stereotyping, labelling, discrimination, separation from relationships and loss of
status. (Link & Phelan, 2001) added that these perceptions are felt deeply by the ex-prisoners
and is often viewed and served as a form of “invisible punishment”. A research done by
(Rade, et al., 2016), reveal that ex-offenders often being treated differently due to the status
of being a convicted individual and discrimination towards these individuals happens is a
more subtle manner such as being social distance and (Wiltshire, et al., 2012) added that this
is especially more subtle when the ex-offenders have a history of sexual offences.
Based on (Young & Powell, 2014), the hiring manager’s perception towards the
understanding of the offence and the characteristics of the ex-offenders is the factor of
whether these individuals will be hired in the workplace. (Bainbridge, et al., 2008) added that
the stigma of the criminal history of the ex-offender will contribute to the influence on the
hiring manager’s perception on whether to hire these individuals into the organization as the
hiring managers are worried if by hiring ex-offender, the hiring side will be acquired with a
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similar stigma by the public and therefore the decision on hiring ex-offenders and the
concerns of being associated will impact the relationship between the perception and the
competence of the ex-offender’s applicants towards the hiring decisions as mentioned by
(Young & Powell, 2014) previously.
Figure 2:Research questions and theme from (Obatusin & Ritter-Williams, 2019)
The above Figure 2 shows that (Obatusin & Ritter-Williams, 2019) had explored on several
key factors regarding employer’s perceptions towards hiring ex-offenders. The perceptions
have been divided into several main theme such as perceptions towards ex-offenders securing
a job, employer’s concerns, and employer’s experience in deciding to hire ex-offenders.
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Figure 3:Employment and labour force participation (Schnepel, 2017)
(Schnepel, 2017)’s research shows in both Figure 3 that most employers in the United States
are not willing to accept any potential employee which possess of criminal record and will
prefer applicants with lower skills even though if the ex-offenders might possessed a higher
educational level. On the other hand, some employers are forced to hired these individuals as
opposed to their willingness due to the hard hit by the current pandemic, there are some
labour shortage in certain industry (Straits Times, 2020).
2.2 Barriers of ex-offender securing a job

To many, hiring an individual in the workplace may seems like a normal practice and often
being carried out without much barriers. However, when an individual with a criminal record
at hand one will face various barriers when applying a simple job. According to (Holzer, et
al., 2003), the factors that are affecting ex-offenders of securing a job can be divided into
three main components such as limited education and cognitive skills, limited work
experience and physical or mental health problems along with substance abuse. Based on
(Hamilton, et al., 2015), the resent studies show that 62% of male and 57% of female
prisoners that are currently serving a sentence have diagnosable personality disorder along
with other mental illness such as depression and anxiety at 23% and 49% respectively. The
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high number of mental health issues is highly being reflected in the 23,183 reported self-harm
incidents over the entire year of 2013 alone (Fazel & Danesh, 2002). With the study carried
out in England and Wales by (Ministry of Justice, 2014) shows that there are a certain
changes of incidents that happens in the prison during a period of time that can be seen in
Figure 4.
Figure 4:Safety in Custody Summary Statistics in England and Wales (Ministry of Justice, 2014)
In contra to what have just been mentioned, (Zakaria, et al., 2018) states that the other
barriers of these individuals who failed to secured a job might be on account of the demand-
side, mainly the external factors that is out of the individual’s own control such as employer’s
attitude, government policies or programmes in supporting the employment of ex-offenders,
help from non-profit organization (NGO) and economical states of the nation. In addition to
this, most of the barriers of such low employment rate of ex-offenders is mainly due to the
attitudes employers have towards hiring these individuals that is influenced by the severity of
the criminal charges, the work qualifications and even the race of the individual according to
(Varghese, et al., 2010). A study made by (Albright & Denq, 1996), states that in general of
the research shows that there is a low level of willingness for employers to hire ex-offenders
although the level of education and government’s incentives might help boost up some
willingness among employers to hire ex-offenders but when the criminal record had been
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disclosed, the employer’s willingness will be badly affected if the crime committed was a
serious and violent offend such as sexual crimes and crimes against children.
Figure 5:Employer's willingness to consider different type of applicants (in %) (Schnepel, 2017).
Based on the above Figure 5 research done by (Schnepel, 2017) in the United States (US)
shows that even in certain industries that does not impose restrictions on hiring ex-offenders,
employers disinclination towards individuals with criminal records remained the top reason
for the unemployment as criminal history information is easily available to the hiring
managers. To add on, with the displeased of having employee’s past involvement in crime
being documented, the “Ban-the-Box” policies have taken place in the US which prohibit
employers questioning on criminal backgrounds on employment applications which
researcher finds that employer associate this removal of information by discriminating
against applicants of certain demographic characteristics that is believed to be associate with
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higher crime rate in order to avoid hiring such applicants according to (Bergen & Bressler,
2016).
2.3 Support provided to ex-offender

The process of an individual transitioning from prison back to the community is known as
“prisoner re-entry" where prisoners will be watch closely by the community parole on the
prisoners’ release plans that consists of housing, employment, family relationships and
substance abuse counselling before officially releasing the prisoners back to the society says
(Seiter & Kadela, 2003). To add on, (Seiter & Kadela, 2003) also mention that the prisoners
that are being released back to the society will be highly supervised by two parole officers
during the first two years of release where the ex-prisoners will receive guidance programme
and services from the officers. Before releasing, these prisoners will have to undergo
rehabilitative programs to reduce the repeating problems in the United States. (Shivy, et al.,
2007) ‘s research mention that although most correctional systems promote on vocational
training but (Lawrence, et al., 2002) came up with a more effective programme that targets on
four major factors that will help the released prisoners better such as educational instruction,
vocational training, prison industries and employment service training.
There are several prominent non-profit organizations that provide services to support these
released prisoners and RAND 1have taken up the challenge of creating a new programme to
change the conventional method of helping released prisoners back to the community as
RAND’s own researcher have found that around 70% of the released prisoners of the 16,000
prisoners that is confined in Los Angeles Country jail system will commit new crimes and the
cycle will continue as these individuals does not any idea on where to sought help from upon
being released (Holmes, 2019). In additional to this, (Eurosuccess, 2017) have identified six
participating countries and the best national approached to social and job inclusion for the
released prisoners except for Cyprus where is found to be the most lacking in having good
strategies for these individuals when being compared with countries like United Kingdom,
Poland, Spain, Italy and Lithuania in the research done.
1
RAND Corporation is a non-profit research organization that focuses on developing solutions to public policy
challenges that aims to provide a safer, healthier, and prosperous communities worldwide.
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Figure 6:Incarceration rate for United States, Norway and Western Europe countries (Bhuller, et al., 2019)
In comparison, the above Figure 6, shows the average of incarceration between United States,
Norway, and other Western Europe countries. It can clearly be seen that the number of
incarcerations in the United States alone is very high as to compared with the other European
countries combined. The Norwegian overcome this issues by offering a shorter prison time,
better prison conditions that allows prisoner to have more freedom and responsibilities than
the US prisons, lack of overcrowding of prison cell to ensure personal safety of prisoners, job
training, education, drug treatment programmes and post-release support which such
initiatives is lacking in the US when is being compared of what Norwegian government is
supporting says (Bhuller, et al., 2019).
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2.4 Theories
In this research on the perception of public and the barriers faced by ex-offenders in securing
a job in Kuala Lumpur is supported by two main theories, Attribution Theory and Social
Community Theory.
2.4.1 Attribution Theory

Attribution theory is concerned with how normal individual explain the causes of a behaviour
or events that have took place either through Dispositional Attribution which focus on the
internal characteristics, behaviour, personality, motives and beliefs of an individual rather
than external factors that is out of the individual’s control and Situational Attribution which is
the external factors that causes the situation or even to happen out of a person’s control
(McLeod, 2012). In this research, researcher will be exploring on the perception and barriers
faced by ex-offenders in securing a job. Hence, it is crucial to understand the cause of the of
this issue is either through the ex-offender itself or is it due to external factors that causes
these individuals unable to secure a job.
2.4.2 Social Network Theory

Social network theory is a study of how an individual or groups interact with one another
within their network defined by (Claywell, 2020). In addition to that, (Borgatti, 2010) states
that in contrast with attribution approach, this theory will take the account of the relationship
of the study with the relationship of other relevant parties as well. This research will also
explore on the perception that ex-offenders received when trying to secure a job, therefore
researcher must understand how the public view and interact with these individuals whether
is with prejudice or if there is other reasons for the indifferent perception.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 3 will discuss on the various methodology techniques that have been used in
collecting, processing, analysing the data for this research purpose.
3.1 Introduction
The following area presents the design methodology of a qualitative research. The research
design process will be explained using the Research Onion structure that consists of multiple
layer of process that was suggested by (Saunders, et al., 2016).
Figure 7: Research Onion (Saunders, et al., 2016)
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By referring to Figure 7 the researcher has embraced the interpretivism philosophy and
induction approach through a case study strategy that was used in this research approach as
the methodological choice of this research is qualitative study. Cross-sectional is chosen for
the time horizon of this research as the time is constraints while conducting this research
through interviews in order to collect the primary data through open-ended and semi-structure
questions and each stage of the research is process separately.
3.2 Research Philosophy

According to (GuhaThakurta & Chetty, 2015) Research philosophy can be defined as a
system of assumptions about the development of the knowledge by embarking on research, it
will help develop knowledge in a particular study. This research pursues a more in-depth into
the perception of public towards the hiring of ex-offenders in Kuala Lumpur and the barriers
faced by ex-offenders when securing a job. Knowledge that are gained in the research are
based on primary and secondary research including assumptions based off the findings.
This research according to (Uprety, 2010) endorses interpretivism which uphold an

empathetic stance in the social world as it believes that it is necessary to understand the
differences between humans and objects. It is argued that interpretivism perspective is
suitable for research in business and management specifically in the organizational
behaviour, marketing and human resource management (Saunders, et al., 2009). In this
context, the main research is to understand the perception of public towards the ex-offenders
in securing a job and the barriers that these individuals faced while trying to secure a job.
3.3 Research Approach

Research approach is a plan that will consist of steps or detailed methods of data collection,
analysis and interpretation depending on the type of data collection method according to
(Chetty, 2016). Since this research uses the qualitative research method, hence the data
analysis approach will be inductive. (Saunders, et al., 2016) had mentioned that induction
approach is the suitable approach in a qualitative study as inductive approach is through
thematic analysis that will aid in determining the objectives of the research in order to
understand the phenomenon as it does not focus on testing out the hypothesis. This research
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will focus on the perception the public had on ex-offenders in securing a job in Kuala
Lumpur along with the barriers faced by these individuals and hence a potential relationship
between this issues is the lack of awareness and acceptance from the public.
3.4 Research Strategy

This research of exploring perception towards hiring of ex-offenders and barriers in securing
a job in Kuala Lumpur will be based on basic qualitative research. (Merriam, 2009) defined
this research strategy as a way for respondent to interpret their own experiences by the way
the respondent makes sense of the lives and experience. In this strategy as well, it shows how
meanings are being constructed through one’s experiences and the primary goal of this
strategy is to uncover and interpret more of these meanings from the respondent mentioned
by (Vaismoradi & Snelgrove, 2019). In this research, the primary goal is to uncover on the
deeper level of the barriers and perception received by ex-offenders when finding a job in
Kuala Lumpur.
3.5 Methodological Choice

The research choice that is appropriate to this research is qualitative research method.
Qualitative research reports are more rich with description that comes from the respondent’s
own experience that will allow readers to understand the subject matter more better says
(Palmer & Bolderston, 2006). In this research, it focuses more on the ex-offender’s own
experiences on trying to secure and the barriers faced while trying to secure a job in Kuala
Lumpur. (Creswell, 2013) view on qualitative research as a guidance method targeting
important areas of the research to answer the issue, in this research it will be perception and
barriers.
3.6 Time Horizon

Time horizon can be briefly defined as a period of time where the studies have taken place
claimed by (Melnikovas, 2018). In this research, cross-sectional study has been preferred as
cross-sectional only requires researcher to record information without manipulating the
research environment, allowing researcher to compare multiple variables at the same time but
however this cross-sectional only allows researcher to find out about the current moment of
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the issue rather than before and after the research take place according to (Levin, 2006). Due
to time constraint, the research can only be carried out using this method.
3.7 Data
Primary data is used in this research as the data collected for this research is targeted on a
specific research problem according to (Ayuen, 2015), such as the perception and barriers
faced by ex-offenders in this case. Primary data can be defined as data that is collected first-
handed, most commonly through interview as it allows the respondent to express their
experiences, views and opinions on the subject matter without being obtained from other
sources such as journals or books says (Hox & Boeije, 2005).
3.8 Instrumentation (Interview)

As stated by (Newcomer, et al., 2015), the researchers uses an instrument or test in order to
gather the relevant information and in this research it uses the face-to-face interview with
participant on the perception and barriers faced by ex-offenders to secure a job in Kuala
Lumpur. The interviews will consist of semi-structured and open-minded questions that are
targeted only towards a certain numbers of selected participants only with the intention of
elicit more opinions and experiences from the participants claimed by (Merriam, 2009).
(Saunders, et al., 2009) states that the flow of the questions usually begins with ice-breaking
questions in order to allow the participant to warm up followed by a couple of questions on
the main topic and there will be another couple of questions that focuses more on participants
to express the individual ideas and opinion in a more detail manner.
3.9 Source of Data

(Sekaran & Bougie, 2016) explains that the source of data for this research is semi-structured
interview the requires researcher to have conversation with one respondent at a time by
asking open ended questions and often being accompanied by follow-up questions of why or
how as the conversation can meander around the subject of the research rather than just
rigidly following a standardized survey questions. (Newcomer, et al., 2015) remind that the
interview should be carried out in a relax and engaging manner and a recommendation of an
hour of interview is seem as a reasonable time as to minimize fatigue for individuals
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participating in the interview session. In this research, the researcher will be interviewing
either ex-offenders or any non-profit organization’s officers that are hands-on at managing
employment programs for these individuals to secure a job gain a more insight information
regarding this subject.
3.10 Sampling
This research uses the nonprobability sampling method that can be briefly defined that
sampling that does not involve random selection as it has a specific requirement needed to be
fulfilled by the participants beforehand according to (Trochim, 2020). Purposive sampling
has been chosen to be used in this research as purposive sampling focuses on specific
predefined individuals mentioned by (Merriam, 2009) and in this research it will individuals
who had just been released from conviction. Inside the purposive sampling, the researcher
will also practice the judgment sampling as this sampling method is advantageous when
researcher wants to extract specific information from certain individuals that are able to
provide such information through experiences that most people do not have (Sekaran &
Bougie, 2016). (Bryman, 2008) claimed that there are no specific rules when it comes to
determining a suitable sample size in a qualitative research however, it was suggested that
time and cost is the main factor for deciding the sample size. (Creswell, 2013) suggested that
a range from 5 to 25 of the sample sizes will be sufficient for this research.
3.11 Data Processing

In this point of the research process, data collection had been gone ahead and hence
researcher should prepare for data analysis. The data collected from interview will be
processed in steps as the data in this research is collected through audio recordings during the
interview and hence the researcher will have to listen to the transcripts and to transcribed it
into writing in the computer (Saunders, et al., 2009).
3.12 Data Analysis

Researcher doing qualitative at this stage have identify the problem and has selected
purposeful sample to collect the relevant information to address the problem (Sekaran &
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Bougie, 2016). However, without a proper analysis, the collected data can be unfocused or
overwhelming in terms of the sheer volume of materials that needed to be process before
reaching a conclusion (Merriam, 2009). There are 6 steps by Braun and Clark to help with the
analysis process that begins with familiarising with the data, generating initial codes,
searching for the themes, defining and naming themes and producing the report (Creswell,
2013). The analysis process is illustrated in Figure 8 below.
Figure 8: Six-step thematic analysis procedure -Braun & Clarke
3.13 Ethical Considerations

(Sekaran & Bougie, 2016) claimed that ethical considerations must be addressed when
collecting primary data as the reseaercher should respect the consent givent by the respondent
and only use the information for the research purpose only and not to be discloed to any
unrelevant third parties. This is even more important especially when it involves respondent’s
personal or seemingly intrusive information should be highly respected and kept confidential.
(Saunders, et al., 2016) also highlighted that no participant shall be forced to answer any
questions if its found uncomfortable that might cause discomfort to the participant and
researcher must explain to participants that there must not be any discriminatory views and
offensive languages when participating this interview. On the other hand, the participant is
encourage to cooperate in the research by being honest and truthful when answering the
questions given during the interview
24 | P a g e
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Hiring of Ex Offenders Qualitative Proposal

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BM070-3-2-BRSM

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

PERCEPTION TOWARDS HIRING OF EX-

PREPARED BY: WONG YUEN NEE

1.1 Background of the Study.............................................................................................4

1.2 Problem Statement.......................................................................................................6

1.3 Purpose Statement.......................................................................................................7

1.4 Research Questions.....................................................................................................7

1.5 Significance of the Study.............................................................................................7

1.5.1 Academic Perspective..........................................................................................7

1.5.2 Management Perspective.....................................................................................7

1.5.3 Theoretical Perspective........................................................................................8

1.6 Scope of the Study.......................................................................................................8

1.7 Limitations of the Study..............................................................................................8

1.8 Definition of Terms.....................................................................................................9

Chapter 2: Literature Review.....................................................................................................9

2.1 Perception of hiring ex-offender.................................................................................9

2.2 Barriers of ex-offender securing a job......................................................................11

2.3 Support provided to ex-offender...............................................................................14

2.4.1 Attribution Theory.............................................................................................16

2.4.2 Social Network Theory......................................................................................16

3.2 Research Philosophy.................................................................................................18

3.3 Research Approach...................................................................................................18

3.4 Research Strategy......................................................................................................19

3.5 Methodological Choice.............................................................................................19

3.6 Time Horizon..........................................................................................................19

3.8 Instrumentation (Interview)....................................................................................20

3.9 Source of Data.........................................................................................................20

3.11 Data Processing.......................................................................................................21

3.12 Data Analysis..........................................................................................................21

3.13 Ethical Considerations............................................................................................22

1.1 Background of the Study

Figure 1:Prison population in Malaysia (Mohamad, et al., 2017)

1.2 Problem Statement

1.3 Purpose Statement

1.4 Research Questions

1.5 Significance of the Study

1.5.1 Academic Perspective

1.5.2 Management Perspective

1.5.3 Theoretical Perspective

1.6 Scope of the Study

1.7 Limitations of the Study

1.8 Definition of Terms

Perception The definition of Perception is the This report focusses on the

Ex-offender Ex-offender can be defined as an The report will focus on the

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Perception of hiring ex-offender

For many ex-prisoners, the mark of

sentences have been served. The

For many ex-prisoners, the mark of

Figure 3:Employment and labour force participation (Schnepel, 2017)

2.2 Barriers of ex-offender securing a job

2.3 Support provided to ex-offender

2.4.1 Attribution Theory

2.4.2 Social Network Theory

Figure 7: Research Onion (Saunders, et al., 2016)

3.2 Research Philosophy

This research according to (Uprety, 2010) endorses interpretivism which uphold an

3.3 Research Approach

3.4 Research Strategy

3.5 Methodological Choice

3.6 Time Horizon

3.8 Instrumentation (Interview)