LUMBAN GAOL, MARS & SARAGIH

EDITORS
MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY IN KNOWLEDGE, SERVICE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY
Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service, Tourism and
Hospitality contains papers covering a wide range of topics in the fields
of knowledge and service management, web intelligence, tourism and
hospitality. This overview of current state of affairs and anticipated
developments will be of interest to researchers, entrepreneurs and students
alike.

MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY IN

KNOWLEDGE, SERVICE, TOURISM AND
HOSPITALITY

EDITORS:
FORD LUMBAN GAOL
WYNE MARS
an informa business HOGA SARAGIH
MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY IN KNOWLEDGE,
SERVICE, TOURISM & HOSPITALITY
This page intentionally left blank
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MANAGEMENT AND
TECHNOLOGY IN KNOWLEDGE, SERVICE, TOURISM & HOSPITALITY 2013 (SERVE 2013),
JAKARTA, INDONESIA, DECEMBER 14–15, 2013

Management and Technology

in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality

Editors
Ford Lumban Gaol
Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia

Wyne Mars
University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Hoga Saragih
Lembaga Telematika, Indonesia
CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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ISBN: 978-1-138-00133-6 (Hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-77552-4 (eBook PDF)
 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Table of contents

Preface VII

Business system
Outsourcing system development risks: A survey 3
J.H. Yahaya, N.F. Hamzah & A. Deraman
Internet security risks: Are youths aware of them? 9
Z.H. Bibi, A.B. Bujang & A. Johari
Applications of green technology for sustainable public bus services 13
M. Alias, A. Masek, S. Salam, N. Bakar & R.M. Nawawi
A case study of quality evaluation from consumers’ perspectives on Malaysian B2C
e-commerce websites 19
A.A. Wahab, F. Ahmad, F. Baharom & J. Yahaya
The governmental support in improving the ability of ICT small entrepreneurs to utilize
market opportunities 25
W. Dhewanto, C.H.E. Rachmawati, S. Herliana, Q. Aina, R. Chaerudin, R.D.C. Lantu &
H. Bayuningrat
An Islamic perspective on CSR-workplace-employee practice in Islamic banks 31
H. Yusoff, F. Darus, D.M.A. Naim, H. Fauzi & Y. Purwanto
CSR in the workplace: Exploring the practice of Takaful organizations 37
F. Darus & H. Yusoff
Innovation and quality service factors to customer loyalty in Indonesia telecommunication
company by using structural equation modeling method 41
M. Dachyar & L. Hananto
Designing instruction for Knowledge Management processes using a wiki 45
D. DeWitt, N. Alias, S. Siraj & F. Hutagalung
Mobile educational apps for children: Towards development of i-CARES framework 51
F.D. Yusop & R.A. Razak
Designing framework of electronic Continued Professional Development for teachers (e-CPD) 55
R.A. Razak & F.D. Yusop
Integrating employability skills in school curriculum 59
G.E. Hadad, Z. Naimieb, S.H. Halili, R.A. Abuzaid & S. Siraj
Recent inroads into decision-making theories 63
C.V. Madhavi & A. Shukla
Computer-assisted learning program of Arabic language for non-native speakers 69
A. Al-Bazeli, Z. Naimie, S. Siraj, R.A. Abuzaid & S.H. Halili

Service sciences
Customer satisfaction in selected Western restaurants in Malaysia: A case study 77
N. Arumugam, S. Subramaniam, X. Thayalan & K. Kaur
The influence of knowledge sharing on innovation: A study of Jordanian four and five stars hotels 83
S.J.B. Melhem & N. Mat

V
Contributing factors of Halal warehouse adoption 89
A.H. Ngah, Y. Zainuddin & R. Thurasamy
Motivation and working behaviour in frontier tourism business of Thailand-Laos 95
T. Maneenetr
A comparative study of customers’ satisfaction between dental and medical services in
University Putra Malaysia Health Centre 101
A. Kamarul, F. Hutagalung & W.P. dan Sh. Ezat
Ascertaining white teachers’ understanding of issues relating to multicultural education in
school settings of the Northern Cape 107
G. Alexander
The relationship between academic self-concept, parenting styles and academic achievement
of remove class students 113
U. Shanmugam & F. Hutagalung
Heat concept learning and teachers’ intervention in science among year five students 117
K. Sathiah, M.Z. Ganesan & F. Hutagalung
LINUS assessment accordance with the cognitive level among year 1 students in a
School Klang District 123
Y.S. Wei & F. Hutagalung
Perceived value of bargain shopping among youth excursionist 127
I.R.A. Razak, N. Aminudin, N.H.M. Wasilan & S. Tarmudi
The teaching of critical and creative thinking skills in the English Language classroom in Malaysia 137
T.G. Thuraisingam, S. Siraj, Z. Naimie, R.A. Abuzaid & S.H. Halili
Author index 141

VI
 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Preface

The International Conference on Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service, Tourism & Hospitality
2013 (SERVE 2013) was held at the Gran Mahakam Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia, on 14 and 15 December 2013.
The Annual International Conference on Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service, Tourism &
Hospitality 2013 (SERVE 2013), provides such a platform for all researchers, enterprisers and students to
exchange new ideas and application experiences face to face, to establish business or research relations and to
find global partners for future collaboration. SERVE 2013 featured invited speakers who further explored this
topic that is so significant for management. Concurrent sessions and a poster session covered a wide range of
topics and issues, including both contributed papers and special sessions developed on specific themes.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all in the Technical Program Committee who have reviewed
the papers and developed a very interesting conference program as well as the invited and plenary speakers.
This year, we received 101 papers and after rigorous review, 25 papers were accepted.
The participants came from 7 (seven) countries. There were 5 (five) Parallel Sessions and two Keynote
Speakers.
It is an honour to present the publication of SERVE 2013 by CRC Press/Balkema/Taylor & Francis Group
and we deeply thank the authors for their enthusiastic and high-grade contributions.
Finally, we would like to thank the conference chairmen, the members of the steering committee, the organizing
committee, the organizing secretariat and the financial support from the conference sponsors that allowed the
success of SERVE 2013.

The SERVE 2013 Proceedings Editors

Dr. Hoga Saragih
Prof. Dr. Wyne Mars
Dr. Ford Lumban Gaol

VII
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Business system
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Outsourcing system development risks: A survey

J.H. Yahaya
Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia

N.F. Hamzah
RISDA Plantation Sdn Bhd, Malaysia

A. Deraman
Faculty of Science and Technology, University Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: System development outsourcing has become an important practice in many public organiza-
tions in Malaysia. This is because it can reduce operation and development budget for Information Technology
Department and improve service quality and operational efficiency. Although it is very beneficial, but there are
risks that must be considered when using a third party in software development. This paper presents a study
conducted in Malaysia to identify main risks in software outsourcing and to analyze the risks to identify the
level and severity of the risks. A questionnaire containing a list of identified risks is provided for the purpose
of collecting data from respondents who work in the Information Technology Department at The Rubber Indus-
try Smallholders Development Authority or RISDA. The data obtained is analyzed to determine the level and
severity of the risks. The results of this study suggest to the organization of the main risks identified exist during
system development and help the organizations to manage risks by its priority and severity.

1 INTRODUCTION process and services. Taylor (2005) expressed out-

Project management with proper planning is impor-
tant to ensure the success of a project. This is because
project management is often associated with budget
and time constraints problems (Sommerville 2011).
Project managers are responsible for ensuring the
implementation of the project runs smoothly and
successfully to overcome all constraints in order to
produce high-quality systems. The main goal of soft-
ware projects are to ensure the system implemented on
time, within budget, system meets the needs of the cus-
tomer and the project team works well (Sommerville
2011). The importance of achieving these goals
leads the implementation of outsourcing in software
development.
Hongxun et al. in 2006 defines outsourcing from
the verse ‘external sourcing’ which is a service that
the organization submit all or part of their informa-
tion technology business to a third party who is skilled
in this field. It is also the implementation of projects
that make full use of information technology pro-
fessionals from external experts, in order to reduce
costs, increase efficiency, enhance skills and increase
customer flexibility to the changing environment.
Previous studies done by Syaripah Ruzaini et al.
(2010) and Dhar & Balakrishnan (2006) stated that
outsourcing of information technology is the situa-
tion when the use of outside companies to manage and
maintain internal data to provide information-related
sourcing as a solution and effective way for organi-
zations to reduce operating costs and control system
development. It also claimed to reduce or elimi-
nate risks associated during system development. The
increased use of outsourcing in software develop-
ment leads to the importance of managing risk during
project implementation. Survey done by Djavanshir
(2005) revealed that risks were always associated with
outsourcing whether in offshore or conventional out-
sourcing. To overcome this situation identifying and
analyzing the risks are important and crucial.
In many organisations (we focus this issue in
Malaysia), there is no specific unit, section or group
that monitors and manages risks of software develop-
ment project including outsourcing approach. Thus, in
this situation risks are being handled based on uncer-
tainties and individual experience and perspective.
Previous studies revealed that software development
projects failed not because of technology but normally
caused by management factor (Addison & Vallabh,
2002). The knowledge and management aspect of risks
are important to be considered and concerned by the
practitioners because of the popularity and demand of
outsourcing approach in software development today.
This study has three main objectives as follows:
1. To identify the key risks in the system development
outsource.
2. To analyze the degree of risk.

3
3. To advise severity of risks in system development
outsource.
The remaining of this paper is organized as follows:
Section 2 discusses the outsourcing system develop-
ment and risks. The empirical study conducted in this
research is explained in section 3, while section 4 dis-
cusses the analysis and results. Section 5 presents a
discussion on this issue based on the findings and the
last section concludes this paper.
2 OUTSOURCING SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
AND RISKS
In software engineering, risk is divided into three main
categories which are project; product and business
risk (Sommerville 2011). Project risks are risks that
affect the project schedule and resources. This risk
includes the staff turnover, change in management,
hardware and software unavailability and etc. Product
risks are risks that affect the quality or performance of
the software being developed. It includes size under-
estimate, user’s requirements change or incomplete,
specification delays, and CASE tools underperfor-
mance. Business risks are the risks that affect the
organization developing or procuring the software.
These risks include technology changes and product
competition in the market.
Cost reduction is the leading benefits of adopting
and using outsourcing in software development (Javed,
2012). Organizations that use outsourcing can reduce
costs by 9 percent and 15 percent increase service qual-
ity and operational efficiency (Hongxun et al., 2006).
In addition to cost reduction, it is also an effective pro-
cess to solve the limitations in managing information
technology functions and resources, as well as lack of
appropriate skilled staff to develop certain software
requirements. These limitations cause the outsourcing
to become a popular choice and grow rapidly. Kishore
et al. (2003) defines outsourcing provides functions
such as managing data center operations, software and
hardware support and maintenance, network services
and others services in software development activities.
He also discovers that when there is interference in the
management of the project, the benefits can be turned
into a problem.
Not all outsourcing projects will achieve benefits
and successful. It involves challenges in addressing
the risks arising from the current complexity of sys-
tem development and uncertainty of the risk handling
and managing. Review by Emad et al. (2012) found
that only 16.2% of the systems development projects
can be completed within a specified time and on a
budget. While 52.7% ends up with incomplete require-
ments, and 31.1% of system development projects are
canceled before completion. This problem occurs due
to lack of exposure to the risk and risk management.
This shows that the system development activities
are getting more difficult and requires good plan-
ning, control and careful execution especially in out-
sourcing approach because it concerns on third party
4
involvement. The third parties involvement can also
refers to the offshore outsourcing which may come
up with different risks such as political, legal, infor-
mation vulnerability and security, and socio-cultural
(Djavanshir 2005).
Risk management is a way to manage risk. It means
the project team must be sensitive to each develop-
ment activity to mitigate the uncertainty inherent in
each phase (Misra et al. 2006). Review by Javeria and
Naveed (2006) showed 56.89% of organizations do not
use the risk management and 29.6% use on the basis
of risk management only. Most organizations refuse
to manage risk because of lack of understanding and
confusion to manage risks. In risk management, the
analysis is an iterative process. This is because the
probability and an assessment of the risk may vary
depending on the information and how to manage the
risks undertaken.
Risk according to Dhar and Balakrisnan (2006) is
undesirable. Hooman & Hassan (2009) discover that
risk is any situation or event that can potentially has a
negative impact on project management. Meanwhile,
the study of Misra et al. (2006) defines risk is the
possibility of loss or injury. In daily life, we cannot
get away from risk as it is inherited in each activity
such as political, economic, social, and others. Failure
to understand, identify and manage risks can cause
in a loss, neglect and affect the achievement of the
organization’s business in general.
In theory and practice, risks in software devel-
opment need to be identified, planned and managed
accordingly to ensure the successful of software prod-
uct development and specifically for outsourcing
approach which is the main focus of this paper. There
are some good reasons and benefits to outsource:
a. Team growth and expansion: It is the most appro-
priate to find an outsourcing partner that has expe-
rience doing certain skill to enhance and expanse
the team specialties.
b. Quick time to market: The Company needs to
expand quickly, and deliver their products in short-
est possible time. The right outsourcing partner
can improve the time by adding employees quickly,
train them within a short period, and greatly com-
press the targeted time-to-market for the clients.
c. Technical problem assistant and support: There are
situations when a company is confronted with rela-
tively isolated technical problems outside of its core
expertise and it may simply make sense to contract
these to other company.
d. Cost saving and reduction: Having the right out-
sourcing partner could lead to a significant cost
saving and reduction. Large portions of the sav-
ings come merely from the different salary rates
for software developers or engineers. There is
also a financial profit by reducing the calendar
time-to-market which applies in terms of both over-
all operating costs and reducing time-to-revenue.
Nevertheless more important and significant is that
is one of the tool for getting things done effectively
and appropriate (Sitrus, 2013).
 In software engineering, there are certain conditions
that projects are good and dangerous to outsource.
In this study we explore some of the risks associated
with outsource particularly which deals with vendors
and Third Party Company. We analyse feedbacks from
the respondents through questionnaire. This study was
conducted in an organization in Malaysia which is
known as Rubber Industry Smallholders Development
Authority or RISDA.
3 EMPIRICAL STUDY
This study was conducted using a purposive sampling
and the respondents were staff from Information Tech-
nology Department in RISDA. RISDA is one of the
Federal Statutory Bodies under the Ministry of Rural
and Regional Development in Malaysia. It is a large
organization with several subsidiaries and branches all
over the country. Generally, 60% of system develop-
ment in RISDA is through outsourcing approach. As
an organisation of statutory body, the amount is con-
sidered as very large and the risks need to be monitored
and well managed. RISDA started outsourcing in soft-
ware development in 1998. It started to outsource the
Integrated Information System or SMB to Sankiya
System Company. RISDA took over SMB in 2005 and
made customization internally. The system consisted
of three main modules which were finance, stock and
replanting module. The SMB is still in used currently
in RISDA (Jamaluddin, 2012).
To achieve the objectives of the study, the respon-
dents must directly involve with system development
outsourcing, served more than 10 years in the Depart-
ment of Information Technology and has the expe-
rience, knowledge and broad perspectives in system
development outsourcing. The study was conducted
through a survey and questionnaire and as well as
interviews.
3.1 Instruments and data collection
Fellegi (2003) defines a survey as a systematic activity
of data collection and gathering and later to make con-
clusion from the data collected. The survey instrument
can be grouped into two groups which are opened-
ended question and closed-ended questions. Opened
ended questions are set of questions without possibility
answer attached to the questions while closed-ended
questions are the questions with possible answers. In
this study, we only adopt the closed-ended questions
type of survey to ensure the respondents enable to
answer the questions given the possible answers in the
form of scale.
In the questionnaire design, the instrument is
divided into four main sections: Section A is the
respondent background, Section B is regarding the
organization background, Section C is the questions
related to the software and the last section, Section
D is related to risks. In Section D we also include
questions related to the main risks in software develop-
ment and the identified risks obtained from literature
review are vendor’s rapport, service system provided
5
by the vendors, contract agreement and vendor’s bond
or relationship. Each of these risks is broken down to
more specific risks or sub-risks.
The survey and data collection processes require
careful observation to ensure the quality of data
because analyzing error will affect the results of the
study. On the other hand, interviews were also being
conducted in collecting data for this study to get
respondents verbal information directly based on the
history of the organization in outsourcing and the
risks during developing a system with vendors. Inter-
view process is important because it reinforces the
information obtained in the questionnaire.
4 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
As been discussed in previous section, the risks are
classified into four categories which are vendor’s rap-
port, service provided by the vendors, contract agree-
ment and vendor’s relationship or bond. In the analysis,
two main tasks were carried out, 1) to assess risk possi-
bility in the scale of low, less critical, medium, critical
and very critical, and 2) to assess risk as insignifi-
cant, tolerable, serious or catastrophic. The scale used
in the survey which is referred to: 1 = low, less criti-
cal, 3 = medium, 4 = critical and 5 = very critical. It
is based on previous related study done by Padayachee
(2002). The average scores are then computed from the
survey respondents feedbacks. Based on the average
score, the level of the risk can be identified and deter-
mined. The average score is then mapped to a scale to
determine whether the risk is not critical (1.00–1.49),
less critical (1.50–2.49), moderate (2.50-3.49), critical
(3.50–4.49) and very critical (4.50–5.00). We adopt
the scales above based on study done by Mohd Afiz
(2005).
Table 1 shows the results of the survey for risk on
vendor’s rapport. It shows that project leadership is
very important and critical risk under this category fol-
lows by reputation, loss of key talent, bid prices, lack
of experience and expertise, and financial instability.
Table 1. Vendor’s Rapport.
No Risks Value Level
0 Vendor’s Rapport 3.80 Critical
1 Project leadership 4.50 Very
Critical
2 Loss of key talent 4.00 Critical
3 Bid prices offered by vendors 3.50 Critical
4 Lack of experience, expertise 3.50 Critical
and customer engagement
with vendors
5 Provider’s financial instability 3.50 Critical
6 Changes in customers or 3.25 Moderate
management
7 External business environment 2.75 Moderate
8 Claims of bias or trivial 3.00 Moderate
from vendors
Table 2. Contract Agreement. Table 4 shows the results of risk related to service
provided by the vendors. The result from the survey
No Risks Value Level shows that this category is critical as well. Under this
category most sub-risks are considered critical except
0 Contract Agreement 3.79 Critical not familiar with tools is classified as moderate risk.
1 No penalty for extreme 4.50 Very
The following section will discuss the results and
performance Critical
2 Clause in the contract agreement 4.00 Critical underpinning issues in more detail.
3 Policy and technical condition 3.75 Critical
of the customer organization
4 Misconceptions about 3.50 Critical
5 DISCUSSION
service standards
5 Contracts management are 3.50 Critical
not effective If the risk is too obvious and severe to be accepted,
6 Contract standard in favor 3.50 Critical organizations can avoid the problem by changing
of the vendors the system development strategy in order to reduce
the risk or take the decision not to proceed with the
project. If the risk involves changes in technology,
organization and vendors may decide to suspend tem-
Table 3. Vendor’s Bond and Relationship.
porarily the project until the implementation of the new
No Risks Value Level technology.
Westfall (2001) states that avoiding risk also avoid-
0 Vendor’s Bonding 3.50 Critical ing chances during the development of the system. Not
1 Conflict and confusion 4.25 Critical all of the risks can be avoided and avoid the risk can
between vendors and customers attracting another risks because risks are interrelated.
2 Influence and power 4.00 Critical Organizations should prepare a contingency plan if
3 Commitment is not perfect 3.50 Critical the risk turns into threats that affect the development
4 Communication problems 3.50 Critical system. For example contingency plan is the disaster
5 No team spirit 3.25 Moderate restoration plan, hired a consultant firm or an alterna-
6 Less trust 3.25 Moderate
7 Language difficulty 2.75 Moderate
tive design approach if the new technologies are not
successful (Westfall 2001).
Vendor’s rapport affected indirectly in outsourc-
ing. This is because only qualified vendors are able
Table 4. Service Provided by Vendors. to develop a good system. The effects can be seen
after the system development start. Vendor’s rapport
No Risks Value Level also includes services offered to the organization. It
is actually interconnected with each other. Contract
0 Service Provide by Vendors 3.71 Critical agreement for example, is to control the overall system
1 The complexity of the current 4.00 Critical
operational and technical
development process and reduce risks of the services
2 Planning and unrealistic 4.25 Critical offered by the provider. Vendors who fail to maintain
project budgets good services and have the risks as set out in Table 2
3 Software requirements change 3.75 Critical may apply penalties agree by the organization and the
4 Lack of understanding of 3.75 Critical vendor.
the overall structure and Relationship factor plays an important role between
value-added costs. organizations and vendors. This risk can’t be avoided
5 Continuously changing 3.50 Critical because it involves human nature. System develop-
project schedule ment process requires cooperation between the two
6 Not adequate project planning 3.50 Critical
7 Not familiar with tools/specific 3.25 Moderate
sides. Failure to provide a good contact can cause
software development approach risks as in Table 2 and Table 3. To control this situ-
ation, the contract agreement can be used to ensure
that the actions of each team member do not affect
the development of the system and the quality of the
Table 2 shows the risks of category contract agree- product.
ment. This result shows that contract agreement cate- The solution to avoid the risk of outsourcing is to
gory is considered as critical risk. The sub-risks under develop an in-house system (Westfall 2001). However,
this category are mostly critical risk (see Table 2) and these factors should be studied carefully especially in
no penalty for extreme performance is the most critical terms of manpower and experience. If the organiza-
risk in this category. tion wishes to develop in-house systems, recruitment
Table 3 shows the result obtained by the risk of cate- of skilled manpower is required and this will increase
gory vendor’s bond and relationship. This category too the organization operating costs. As discussed before,
falls in critical risk. It shows that the two most critical outsource can reduce operating costs, but the devel-
sub-risks are conflict and confusion between vendors opment of in-house systems will increase the cost.
and customers, and influence and power. Whether outsource or internal developments, both of

6
these methods remain risks. Outsourcing can be a
viable option for companies as long as the outsourc-
ing company or organization to objectively identifies
and analyses the risks. Furthermore, it is up to the
organization to make a wise move and manage the
risks.
6 CONCLUSION
The study of risk is very important in the field of
software engineering because risk often exists in the
system development process whether in-house or out-
sourcing. In this study, the risks affecting the system
development are identified on the basis of the risks
that have been identified by previous researchers. The
data was collected through survey and questionnaires
as well as interviews with selected respondents in
IT department of RISDA who have experienced in
handling and managing outsource software develop-
ment. Respondents in this study provide the necessary
feedback and the data is analyzed to transform into
information.
Risk severities are also determined based on feed-
back from respondents. This level can help orga-
nizations to realize severity of the risk during the
development and manage the risk in advance. Many
organizations aware and notice of the project risks but
they do not give much attention in managing it. Such
situations lead to the disruption or project manage-
ment failure at the end. Therefore, this study can help
organizations to identify and understand the risks and
tackle the next risks inherent with more guided. In soft-
ware engineering, risks are calculated based on their
severity that affect the project schedule or the quality
of the software being developed, and the actions taken
to avoid these risks.
For future work, the research may expand and con-
tinue to explore from wider perspective with different
categories of respondents. This project continues in
exploring the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)
method for risks management and decision making
technique. The AHP method is used in this study
because AHP is a well-known Multi Criteria Deci-
sion Making and many studies used it to support the
decision making process. In our research we adopt
AHP in experimenting risks for identifying outsourc-
ing vendor’s performance to support decision making
process.
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bahagian Risiko (SPR) Dalam Projek Pembinaan. Tesis
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Internet security risks: Are youths aware of them?

Zainon Haji Bibi

Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak

Azlina Binti Bujang

Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak

Aiza Johari
Academy of Language Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the types of internet security risks that youths often face
when accessing the internet. Additionally, it also explores the youths’ level of awareness towards the existence of
internet security risks. To investigate these, a questionnaire was randomly distributed to 100 respondents (high
school and university students) and the data were analysed and presented as frequencies (number of respondents).
As a result, the study more or less has given awareness to the youths on the latest internet security risks that they
might face while accessing the internet and hence, they will practice caution when being online.

1 INTRODUCTION security but also network security on a more general

level as it applies to other applications or operating
The internet has become a very popular medium in systems on a whole. Its objective is to establish rules
recent years and now it becomes part of our daily and measures to use against attacks over the Internet
routine. According to Ktoridou et al. (2012) internet (Preston, 2007). Internet security risks can be syn-
has entered dynamically to people’s working environ- thesized based on various online sites and studies
ments, entertainment fields, means of communication, which discuss online risks and safer internet surfing
education systems and it has facilitated, eased and for children and adolescents.
improved the quality of our lives. Viewing its signifi-
1. Paedophilia and sexual harassment
cance, students find the internet to be their borderless
2. Cyberbullying
means of connection to the world with the purposes
3. Offensive language
of education and play. In fact, children can actu-
4. Sexual discrimination or favouritism
ally develop their knowledge in areas like wording,
5. Online gaming and gambling
spelling, grammar and learning new words, or/and
6. Social disclosure
improve their arithmetical, numeracy and mathemat-
7. Online violent games or images with violent
ical skills (Crocodile Clips Ltd, 2010). With today’s
representations
advancement in technology and communication, more
8. Racism
and more children and youths have gained access to
9. Bomb making or drug usage or gunfire usage
the internet. Given these circumstances, they may trust
10. Use of unreliable content
technologies without being fully aware of the under-
11. Defamation
lying dangers and implications, a condition, which
12. Presentation of specific stereotypes
represents a growing concern for parents, educators,
13. Improper advertisement pirating
and legislators (Lwin et al., 2012). Parents cannot con-
trol or be with their children 24 hours while they access The above list is an attempt to construct a com-
the internet. Looking at the extensive use of tech- plete view of the online risks that children may face if
nology, many youths are exposed daily to numerous given unrestricted, unsupervised access to the internet.
internet treats (Ktoridou et al., 2012). Some of these risks have direct and comprehensible
As many internet users often face internet security effects to the children. For example, pedophilia and
risks, maintaining its security is an important issue sexual harassment or disclosures of personal details
because in certain cases, corporate data are also at risk on various social networks have immediate negative
when they are exposed to the internet. Internet security effects on the physical safety of children and adoles-
is defined as a branch of computer security, specifi- cents. Problems like offensive language, defamation
cally related to the internet, often involving browser of other people, phishing and illegal downloading of

9
software products have more long-term effects on Table 1. Frequency in accessing the internet.
children. Children might become more aggressive,
less respectful of other people’s work and in general How often do you access the internet No of respondents
more demanding (Lazarinis, 2010).
To add, Shelly et al. (2012) affirmed that computer Everyday 32
Almost everyday 53
security risk is any event or action that could cause a
Once a week 14
loss of damage to computer hardware, software, data, Less than once a month 1
information, or processing capability. Though current
technologies have provided a number of ways to secure
data transmission and storage which include encryp-
tion, firewalls and private networks (Hawkins et al.,
Table 2. Levels of awareness when accessing the internet
2000), having the awareness and obtaining knowl- (High Awareness).
edge related to computer and internet security risks
are crucial for all individuals. At the very least, inter- No of
net users will be vigilant of any impending risks that Item respondents
might arise while they are online. Users who are more
knowledgeable about internet security issues would be Never give personal information 64
more prepared and confident in their ability to protect to people in chat rooms
themselves from such risks. In the words of Buchanan Exposure to child pornography 47
et al. (2007) greater knowledge would enhance their Exposure to sex and violence 46
self-efficacy.
As a result to the numerous cases of internet secu-
rity risks, this paper will highlight the types of internet
security risks that youths often face as well as to deter- Table 3. Level of awareness when accessing the internet
mine youths’ awareness levels towards the existence (Some Awareness).
of Internet security risks.
No of
Item respondents

2 FINDINGS Child seduction and abuse by adults 41

The survey consists of randomly distributed ques-
tionnaire which involved 100 respondents who are
university students. The data were then analysed using
SPSS Software Version 20 and presented in tabula-
tion forms in accordance to frequencies (number of
respondents).
2.1 Respondents’ backgrounds and internet habits
In this research, the respondents consist of 41 males
and 59 females. The age of the respondents is between
18–24 years old.
In Table 1, more than half respondents ‘almost
everyday’ have accessed the internet while 32 respon-
dents responded that they accessed the internet
‘everyday’.
Another question was asked about the respondents’
age regarding the first time they accessed the inter-
net and it was revealed that the youngest age was 7
years old and the oldest was 19 years old. Besides,
23 respondents mentioned 12 years old while another
23 stated 13 years old. At this age, they are exposed
to subject such as Information Communication and
Technology Learning (ICTL) which is conducted for
two years in many Malaysian schools. In most areas
with significant online access, the majority of children
now use the internet to complete school assignments,
check e-mails, chat online, play online games, and/or
access a variety of social networking sites (Rideout
et al., 2010).
(via internet)
Never talk to stranger online 38
Table 4. Level of awareness when accessing the internet
(Very Little Awareness).
No of
Item respondents
Read rules and policy of the web before 21
proceeding (i.e. facebook, email….)
Practice caution when surfing on the internet 20
2.2 Levels of awareness when accessing the internet
This section identifies the respondents’ levels of
awareness when accessing the internet. It also provides
the respondents with awareness or reminder on the
probable internet risks. This basic knowledge might
help the youths to reduce the exposure to risks while
accessing the internet. Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4
below indicate the respondents’ awareness according
to the levels (High Awareness, Some Awareness and
Very Little Awareness).
The results give the perspective that the social
networking and entertainment sites are the popular
websites that the respondents favour. Therefore, the
most prominent threats may fall into two categories:
technical and social. From a technical perspective,

10
Table 5. Websites that respondents like to access (With Table 7. Levels of awareness – internet security risks
ranking). (Top 3 Rankings).

No of No of
Item respondents’ Rank Item respondents Rank

Social network (Facebook, 90 1 Hackers (someone who accesses 58 1

Twitter, blog …) a computer or network illegally)
Entertainment (Music, video …) 84 2 Phishing (is the act of attempting 51 2
File sharing (upload/download 63 3 to acquire information such as
picture, music, video…) usernames, passwords and
Fun (games) 61 4 credit card details
News 44 5 Inappropriate content 50 3
Educations 42 6 (i.e. pornography) and contact
Chatting (Chat room, YM, 37 7
Skype…)
Blog 31 8
Business (e-commerce…) 18 9 Table 8. Other internet security risks.

i. Crakers (someone who access a computer or network

Table 6. Awareness of the internet risks.
No of
Item respondents
IP address on computer can indicate 90
where are we
Accessing internet is dangerous 84
Expose to risks when accessing the internet 63
these social networking sites are, in reality, allow hun-
dreds of thousands of people to post content: on-line
profiles, videos, and/or commentary (Skoudis, 2013).
Easily, the most common use of Social Networking
sites and the main reason for them existing in the first
place is for personal reasons. The majority of people
using Facebook or Myspace keep to the “social” label.
It is used for its original purpose – to keep in touch
with friends. One great way of taking advantage of
the personal side of Facebook is keeping in touch with
people hundreds of miles away. In the past, it would
have been impossible to keep in touch; much less to
keep up to date with what they are doing (Getnetwise,
2013).
Looking at Table 6, it can be concluded that the
respondents are aware of some of the risks that might
occur while they access the internet. 90 out of 100
respondents were aware that the IP address which
is located in the computer can indicate where they
are which may expose them to dangerous users who
are keen to locate other users with whom they often
communicate.
2.3 Level of awareness on internet security risks
Table 7 reveals the three highest rankings when the
respondents were asked to respond to the internet secu-
rity risks that they are aware of or they are familiar
with. It is indicated that only half of the respondents
were aware of the three internet security risks above,
illegally but has harmful intention
ii. Cyber Bulling (online harassment/abuse)
iii. Exposure to sexual predators
iv. Identity theft (Someone steal other people identity)
v. Money frauds/scam
vi. Grooming (accept for inappropriate sexual content and
behaviour)
vii. Pharming (attacker intense to redirect the website to
another faux site)
viii. Unsafe download
ix. Viruses
x. Harassment via e-mails
xi. Cyber stalking
while the other internet security risks in the question-
naire are as shown below. Thus, this shows that the
respondents only acknowledge certain internet risks
as indicated above while they are rather ignorant or
are unaware of the rest of the types of internet risks
listed.
The numbers of respondents who had ‘some aware-
ness’of other internet security risks lists above (besides
the ones in Table 7) consist of 27 to 43 respondents.
While, as for ‘Very little awareness’, it reveals 12
to 22 respondents only. Finally, a very small number
between 3 to 15 respondents claimed that they had ‘no
awareness’ towards internet security risks lists above.
The next section illustrates the basic network attacks
that might affect their computer while the respondents
spend their time accessing the internet.
i. Virus attack
The ‘high awareness’ level was indicated for
‘Trojan Horse’ with 56 respondents and it is appar-
ent that the respondents were more aware of the
Trojan virus compared to Computer virus, worm
and rootkit.
ii. Symptoms of virus attack
Table 9 shows the top 3 rankings of the respondents’
awareness of virus attacks symptoms where only half
of the respondents seem to be aware of the symptoms
above. Other symptoms of virus attacks are operating

11
Table 9. Symptoms of virus attacks (High Awareness:
Top 3 Rankings).
No of
Item respondents’ Rank
Available memory is less than 59 1
expected
Files become corrupted 51 2 have certain degree of awareness on the various inter-
Screen displays unusual message 51 3 net security risks and symptoms that are on the rise in
or image
system runs much slower than usual, music or unusual
sound play randomly, existing programs and files dis-
appear, programs or files do not work properly and
unknown program or files mysteriously appear. These
further indicate that only few of the virus attack symp-
toms are known by the respondents, hence suggests
that the respondents need to improve their internet
knowledge to reduce such attacks.
3 CONCLUSIONS
With the advancement of technology such as mobile
phones and computers, the users of the technology
need to be aware of their potential dangers and risks
(Refer to Table 7 and 8). The overall results reveal
that most of the respondents are able to recognize
only some of the types of internet security risks and
symptoms listed. As a result, the respondents’ levels
of awareness are not highly sufficient to counter many
types of existing internet security risks and potential
dangers. In fact, Wilson and Hash (2003) affirmed
that no matter how advanced and stringent the secu-
rity technological solutions, humans are generally the
first line of defense to secure information assets. Users
need to be fully vigilant that their online information
could actually be accessed by others if they do not
practice proper caution. With more literate users on
the internet, the risks of the internet security can be
decreased.
Wilson and Hash (2003) further mentioned that
the “human” factor is the weakest link in informa-
tion security and the cause of many security threats
in which most users do not have highly adequate
security traits and are not sensitive to information secu-
rity threats in their surrounding environment. Thus,
to enhance internet security, organizations can install
up-to-date antivirus programmes such as encryption
and Firewalls, utilize legal software and private net-
works, organise internet security training for the staff
12
as well as hiring Information Technology experts to
monitor and check the organisations’ computer and
internet statuses. In turn, any members of organ-
isations or individuals can also potentially protect
themselves from internet security threats by improv-
ing their levels of security awareness in their working
environment. Notably, the users of the internet need to
order to utilize the internet to the fullest.
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Development of measures of online privacy concern and
protection for use on the Internet. Journal of the American
Society for Information Science and Technology. 58(2):
157–165.
Crocodile Clips Ltd (2010). Sumdog, Available at: www.
sumdog.com/ (accessed February 2, 2013).
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at: http://kids.getnetwise.org/safetyguide/technology/
socialnetworking, (accessed February 10, 2013).
Hawkins, S.,Yen, D.C. and Chou, D.C. (2000) Awareness and
challenges of internet security. Information Management
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Ktoridou, D., Eteokleous, N. and Zahariadou, A. (2012).
Exploring parents’ and children’s awareness on inter-
net threats in relation to internet safety. Campus-Wide
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Lazarinis, F. (2010). Online risks obstructing safe internet
access for students, Electronic Library. Vol. 28, Iss: 1,
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Lwin, M. O., Miyazaki, A. D., Stanaland, A.J.S. and Lee, E.
(2012). Online usage motive andinformation disclosure
for preteen children. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas
for Responsible Marketers. Vol. 13, Iss: 4, pp. 345–356.
Preston, G. (2007). How the Internet Works. Que Pub,
Indianapolis.
Rideout, V.J., Foehr, U.G. and Roberts, D.F. (2010). Genera-
tion M2: media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. Kaiser
Family Foundation. Available at: www.kff.org/entmedia/
8010.cfm (accessed February 6 2012).
Shelly, G.B., Cashman, T.J. and Vermaat, M.E. (2012).
Discovering Computer 212. ITP.
Skoudis, E. (2013). Past Search Security.com expert. What
are the risks of social networking sites. Available
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the-risks-of-social-networking-sites (accessed February
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Applications of green technology for sustainable public bus services

M. Alias & A. Masek

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

S. Salam, N. Bakar & R.M. Nawawi

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia, Melaka, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Reduced carbon footprints and sustainable public transportation including bus services can be
achieved with the applications of suitable green technology. However, to promote the usage of green technology,
the technology must not only meet public needs but the public must also appreciate the benefits of adopting
green technology in the form of ICT solutions in their routines. Using a theoretical model based on the theory of
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study determines the needs for prompt delivery from bus operators as
one of the most important modes of public transportation and to develop the appropriate technology applications
that would best fulfil these needs. Twenty five bus drivers and users from the state of Malacca were surveyed
on their perceptions of existing services as well as suggestions for actions to improve the services. Potential
characteristics of green technology for meeting these needs were also identified which will be used for the
development of the new technology. Initial findings from this research indicate that ascertaining availability
of bus is an issue that can be alleviated by appropriate applications. Important attributes of the ICT solution
identified included ease of payment and ease of use.

1 INTRODUCTION use on the environment (Ministry of Energy, Green

Malaysian aspires to be a high income nation by the
year 2020 and emphasizes sustainability development
as one of its core values. Thus, green technology has
been identified as one of the key elements in the
process of achieving the high income goal status. To
spearhead the achievement of the vision, the Ministry
of Energy, Water and Communications was established
in March 2004 (which was later renamed as Ministry
of Energy, Green Technology and Water in April 2009)
formulated the National Green Technology Policy
(NGTP) that provides national guidelines to improve
the four (4) key sectors namely, energy, buildings,
water & waste water management and transportation.
Meanwhile, the existing New Economic Model has
established sustainability as one of the three goals of
the economic transformation programs and aspires to
place Malaysia as a green hub all the way along the
business development continuum; from research to
design to manufacturing to commercialization. The
Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water has
elaborated on the vision for the energy sector for 2020,
which stipulates that by the year 2020, every mem-
ber of Malaysian society should have access to high
quality, secure electrical power and other convenient
forms of energy supplied in a sustainable, efficient and
cost-effective manner, and to use them efficiently and
responsibly to propel economic activities and main-
tain a high quality of life, having regard to the need
to minimize the negative impacts of their supply and
Technology and Water, 2013).
To ensure proper planning, regulating and enforce-
ment of public land transportation related matters and
operations, The Land Public Transport Commission
(SPAD), was established in June 2010 and began oper-
ations in September 20120 (SPAD, 2012). It is also
be responsible for providing guidelines that lead to
safe and reliable services public transport at reason-
able fares to encourage more people to use public
transport (Tenth Malaysia Plan, 2010). The establish-
ment of SPAD support the high income nation agenda
as public transportation is related to high productiv-
ity; a key factor in the high income nation agenda.
Efficient public transportation encourages the use of
public transportation; discourage the use of private
transportation leading to reduced traffic congestion
(Kamaruddin et al., 2012). Public transportation thus,
should become the preferred services for the people
of Malaysia in the urban area, as one of the effort to
support the sustainable environment.
However, as it is now, public transportation is not the
preferred choice for commuters in Malaysia as com-
pared to other developed countries. For example, a
typical urban area such as the Klang Valley records
only 17% of public transport users in 2010 compared
to around 60% in Singapore and 89% in Hong Kong
(Yaakub and Napiah, 2011). The low usage of public
transportation according to Yaakub and Napiah (2011)
is due to the fact that public transportation system in
Malaysia is still below the standard of other developed

13
countries and thus is unsatisfactory in meeting public
needs. These figures indicate improvement is needed
in some aspects of management and implementation
of public transport services in Malaysia.
Malaysia recognizes the need to upgrade the exist-
ing public transportation services nationwide and by
creating more reliable, efficient and integrated pub-
lic transportation system and has taken appropriate
measures towards it (Tenth Malaysia Plan, 2010).
Effective public transportation system will increase
public transportation users and indirectly reduce pri-
vate vehicles and their associated problems such as
high accidents occurrences, traffic congestion and air
pollution. Ineffective public transportation system will
not only affect the economy, but also affect the environ-
ment from greenhouse gas emission. For that reason,
reduced carbon footprints and sustainable public trans-
portation including bus services is necessary and can
be achieved with the applications of suitable green
technology.
Previous study has proven that ICT application has
significantly decreased the total number of trips made
by users (Wang and Law, 2007). Thus, ICT system can
be applied to increase the effectiveness of management
and implementation of public transportations system,
especially bus services. Past study also indicate that
public transportation will be the preferred choice of
commuters if it is efficient as commuters can avoid
from paying high petrol prices and tolls and being stuck
in traffic jams when using private transport (Kambala,
et al., 2007). Therefore, the purpose of this study is
to seek greater understanding of the public transporta-
tion issues and potential green technology solutions.
The specific objectives are to identify needs of pub-
lic related to public bus services, to identify attributes
of the green technology that may fulfill the needs of
public (operators, drivers and users), and to determine
public awareness of green technology.
2 METHODOLOGY
2.1 Research design
The survey design was used in this study, as it can be
used to make descriptive assertions about large popu-
lation (Dantzker and Hunter, 2012). A random sample
of 25 bus drivers and users in Malacca were surveyed
on their perceptions of existing services and possible
steps to be undertaken to improve the services. Melaka
was selected as the location of study as Melaka is a
tourist state which is expected to benefit most from
immediate establishment of efficient public transport.
Potential characteristics of green technology for
meeting these needs were also identified which will
be used for the development of the new technology.
To strengthen the findings, interview was conducted
to support the quantitative data. Of all participants,
nine drivers and 10 users were randomly selected for
semi-structured interview. All the drivers are male par-
ticipants aged ranges from 32 to 59 years old, while
14
Table 1. Cronbach Alpha
reliability coefficients.
Part Reliability
A 0.63
B 0.81
C 0.61
eight female and two male users aged range from 16
to 25 years old.
2.2 Instruments
The study uses questionnaire for data collection, which
comprises of three parts: Part A = satisfaction of bus
services, Part B = intention to use a green technology,
and Part C = public awareness of green technology.
In part B and C, the Technology Acceptance Model
(TAM) was used to guide the researchers in the iden-
tifications of green technology attributes to increase
users’ acceptance of the yet to-be-developed technol-
ogy. Based on TAM, two components are crucial in
influencing users’ intention to use a new technology
namely, perceive usefulness and ease of use. Thus, the
questionnaire on characteristics of green technology
has two main components, perceive usefulness and
ease of use. An example of item for perceived use-
fulness is “Driver’s profile permitting consumers to
choose drivers as necessary to increase passenger’s
safety” and an example of item for ease of use is
“Can implement mode of payment online (MB2u)”.
Respondents are asked to give their agreements to
given statements based on the five point Likert Scale,
“1” for strongly disagree and “5” for strongly agree.
Instrument was tested for reliability. A high reliabil-
ity coefficient indicates a highly reliable instrument.
The reliability coefficient based on the Cronbach
Alpha method for the instrument as a whole is 0.73,
which is acceptable being above 0.6 (Perera et al.,
2008). The reliability estimates for each questionnaire
components are shown in Table 1.
Quantitative data from the questionnaires were ana-
lyzed using frequencies, percentage and mean scores.
For the qualitative data, the interview participants were
asked a series of thematic questions regarding the uses
and satisfaction of bus services, their intention to use
green technology, and awareness of green technology.
The qualitative data were recorded in written for-
mats. They were then classified according to thematic
groups and arranged into matrix form.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Demography
The gender of the participants is not split equally, with
72% female and 28% male for the users. It was found
that 84% (21) users using bus services at least three
 Table 2. Users satisfaction of bus services. Table 3. Perceived usefulness of ICT application.

Users Users Drivers

Item Min SD Item Min SD Min SD

Services are available on time 2.64 .76 Travel map to be introduced 3.96 .68 3.68 1.49
Drivers are courteous 2.96 .89 enabling consumers to choose
Reasonable rate 3.40 .87 their travel routes
Feel secured using bus 3.08 .86 Driver’s profile permitting 3.84 .69 3.80 1.08
Interior comfort is satisfactory 3.04 1.02 consumers to choose drivers
Bus service is easily available 2.48 1.00 as necessary to increase
passenger’s safety
Current traffic conditions 3.88 .67 2.96 1.06
times for a week and 16% (4) more than seven times for and related activities
a week. The highest proportion of users demonstrates that can influence traffic
that 72% using bus for a personal purpose. The next flow, hence enabling
highest is using bus services to travel to work (20%). consumers to plan
Other reasons for using bus services were including their journey
for a safe journey (36%), for on time reach destination The cost and payment 4.00 .71 4.08 .91
enabling consumers to
(20%), for comfortable (12%), and for other reasons
plan their budget
(32%) (e.g.: travel to school and to hometown). The Consumer’s acknowledgement 3.76 .88 1.96 .98
majority of users (52%) taking a bus at the bus station enabling them to plan
while the next highest proportion is taking a bus at the their journe efficienly
roadside bus stop. Proof of payment and 4.16 .55 4.56 .71
reimbursement
3.2 Issues related to public transportation
Means and standard deviations (SD) were used to
determine issues and problems related to public trans- is useful with mean score of 4.00 (SD = .71). A very
portation services. The data is based on Part A, high percentage of users (92%) perceived the attribute
regarding users’ satisfaction of bus services. Of all “Proof of payment and reimbursement” as useful with
respondents, 48% of users had spent more than 30 min- a mean score of 4.16 (SD = .55) on the associated
utes waiting for a bus services. When asked regarding item. Also, about 84% of users perceived useful on
users’ satisfaction, 48% rated low or dissatisfaction on the item “Travel map to be introduced enabling con-
the item “Bus service is easily available” with mean sumers to choose their travel routes” with mean score
score 2.48 (SD = 1). Also, 48% perceived dissatisfac- 3.96 (SD = .68). The other items were also rated useful
tion of bus interior comfort (Mean = 3.04; SD = 1.02) in regards to the information of current traffic condi-
and 44% perceived dissatisfaction on the punctuality tion (Mean = 3.88; SD = .67) and the information of
of the bus services (Mean = 2.64; SD = .76).The mean driver profiles (mean = 3.84; SD = .69).
scores for the other items are indicated in Table 2. For bus drivers, a high percentage of 96% of
Based on the interview data, respondents high- the respondents agreed that proof of payment and
lighted that the bus services were usually late, as well reimbursement is very important to have for the
as departs not according to the schedule. Overcrowd- ICT application (Mean = 4.56; SD = .71). However,
ing with passengers is another main complaint. Almost respondents perceived that the consumer’s acknowl-
all of respondents interviewed were waiting more than edgement was less important with mean score of 1.96
30 minutes, only few of them waiting less than 15 min- (SD = .98). The details of the analysis are shown in
utes. In regards to the matter of users’ satisfaction on Table 3.
the bus services, seven out of 10 participants stressed Regarding perceived ease of use of ICT applica-
their dissatisfaction. Most comments recorded were tion, the data analysis result indicates that 82% of
“service is not on time”, “not according to schedule”, the users agreed that the ICT application should dis-
“not enough seats”, and “not enough bus”. play information in both languages namely in Bahasa
Based on the interview with drivers, the partici- Melayu and English with the highest mean score of
pants raised issues of passengers who did not pay the 4.08 (SD = .64). About 80% of users surveyed indi-
cost/fare. The participants also believed that this issue cated their agreement on having an ICT application
is due to the conventional payment system that is using that is easily accessible using all types of smart phones
ticket. Some drivers also highlighted that they have to (Mean = 3.96; SD = .73).
deal with nagging passengers. For bus drivers, 96% of the respondents agreed
that the ICT application should display information
in both languages with the highest mean score 4.24
3.3 Attributes of green technology
(SD = .52). More interestingly, 96% of the bus drivers
Eighty four percent of users of bus services perceived disagreed on the item “Can implement mode of pay-
that the information regarding the cost and payments ment online (e.g. maybank2u)”. The details on the

15
Table 4. Attribute of ICT application. Table 5. Public awareness on green technology.

Users Drivers Users Drivers

Item Min SD Min SD Item Min SD Min SD

Consumer can 3.84 .94 2.64 1.22 I understand the meaning 3.52 .82 4.04 .89
register online of green technology
Easily accessible 3.96 .73 3.28 1.28 I understand the purpose 3.64 .70 3.84 .90
using all types of of using green technology
smart phones I know that Malacca 3.76 .72 4.40 .65
Online access 24/7 3.92 .81 1.88 .93 practices green
Interface that is 3.72 .74 3.52 1.00 technology
consumer-friendly I am interested in 3.44 1.04 4.56 .58
Display both Bahasa 4.08 .64 4.24 .52 green technology
Melayu and English I use green technology 3.04 .73 3.12 .78
Can implement mode 3.80 .87 1.44 .71 in my daily routine
of payment online (MB2u) Green technology improves 3.48 .82 3.96 1.06
the quality of work life

mean score and standard deviation on each item are

shown in Table 4.
Based on the interviews, respondents seem to favor
the use of ICT applications as a solution to the public
transportation issues. Examples of suggestions include
“implementing touch N go and online payment sys-
tem”, “introducing mobile and internet application”,
and “using better website application”.
Respondents among bus drivers also stressed
the importance of implementing mobile application
system that is aligned with the users’ identified
requirements. In line with this, drivers suggested the
implementation of online ticketing, a touch and go
system, and online payment method.
3.4 Public awareness towards green technology
Table 4 illustrates public awareness of green tech-
nology. Of all respondents, a high 60% of the users
acknowledged that green technology has been prac-
ticed in Melaka with the highest mean score 3.76
(SD = .72). The lowest mean score is 3.04 (SD = .73)
on the item “I use green technology in my daily
routine”.
For bus drivers, ninety-six percent of the respon-
dents are interested in green technology (Mean = 4.56;
SD = .58) and 92% acknowledge that green tech-
nology is used in Melaka (Mean = 4.40; SD = .65).
Similar to bus users, the lowest mean score was on
the item “I use green technology in my daily routine”
with mean score 3.12 (SD = .78). Further descriptive
statistics are shown in Table 5.
Based on the qualitative data, users’ suggestions on
ways and means of using green technology include
“using website application”, “using mobile internet
application”, and “implementing touch N go and
online payment system”. Suggestion from bus drivers
include several ways of green technology practices
such as, “applying online ticketing system”, “apply-
ing mobile, touch N go, and online payment system”,
and “the application of mobile system”. Suggestions
from bus drivers also include the uses of Natural Gas
Vehicle (NGV) for green technology.
4 DISCUSSION
Dealing with public transport services, users’ satisfac-
tion is one of the main concerns to be achieved by
providers. In this study, users voiced dissatisfaction
towards bus services in the state of Melaka. Amongst
the main issues raised is the punctuality of the bus
services, which is not according to the schedule. The
data indicate that services on time (punctuality) are the
most frequently cited concern raised by users. These
include the time for waiting a bus, and availability of
services, which has caused difficulty to users to catch
a bus at the bus station or at the roadside bus stop. This
finding is similar to the findings in previous studies
on bus services in other metropolitan city of devel-
oping country. For example, the Istanbul’s Metrobus
System in Istanbul city only recorded a moderate users’
satisfaction (Yazici et al., 2013). Major complaints
from users include long waiting time, uncertain bus
travel time, uncertain trip frequency, trip cost, and
overcrowding of buses. This is similarly the case in
the Metropolitan city of London, where the main com-
plaints about their bus services is the less than desirable
punctuality in services (Wall and McDonald, 2007).
Lack of passenger comfort is another issue when
using bus services according to the surveyed respon-
dents. Users complained that bus drivers take up
too many passengers on-board. As a result, the bus
becomes overcrowded which leads to lack of comforts
for passengers. Similar findings were also recorded
for the bus services in Instanbul, where Yazici et al.
(2013) found that users for the Metrobus services was
dissatisfied with the travel cost, as well as the over-
crowded buses. The overcrowded bus problem resulted
in drivers having to deal with nagging passengers as
well passengers who skipped paying bus fares as the
divers are unable to cope with their high boarding and
alighting rates. Drivers also believed that this problem
is due to the conventional payment system that uses
paper tickets.

16
 In another study on solutions to transportation woes,
Wang and Law (2007) found there is positive impact
of ICT application on time use and travel behaviour of
public transport users, which could be similarly used
to solve similar issues experienced in public trans-
portation services in the current study. Therefore, users
and drivers’ intention to use ICT application were also
investigated in this study based on three main com-
ponents of TAM model: perceived usefulness, ease of
use, and awareness. According to the result, ICT appli-
cation that supports green technology for bus services
must provide information regarding the cost and pay-
ments, provides proof of payment and reimbursement,
display travel map, information of current traffic con-
dition, as well as the information of driver profiles.
The drivers also agreed with users in term of proof of
payment and reimbursement is very important for ICT
application. However, respondents perceived that the
consumer’s acknowledgement was less important.
For the second component, in term of ease of use
of ICT application, users and drivers highlights the
need of the ICT application to display information in
both languages; Bahasa Melayu and English language.
Users also agreed that the ICT application is accessi-
ble from any types of smart phone. More interesting,
bus drivers disagreed on the item “Payment can be
made online (e.g. maybank2u)”. This finding shows
that drivers are sceptical on the online payment system.
Users do not feel safe since security is essential con-
dition for the payment system using ICT application
(Hung et al., 2006; Linck et al., 2006).
Based on users’ interview, most comments high-
lighted the application of ICT as a viable solution.
Examples of such comments were “uses touch N go
and online payment method”, “introduces mobile and
internet application”, and “uses of better website appli-
cation”. The users and drivers also suggested the uses
of mobile application. Bus drivers highlighted the uses
of online ticketing, the uses of touch N go, and the
online payment method. Additionally, previous study
suggests the availability of technical support is another
attributes that enhances users’ perceived ease of use of
ICT application (Thompson et al., 1991).
For the third component of TAM model, regarding
awareness of green technology (all aspects including
the uses of ICT application), the majority of users
acknowledged that green technology has been prac-
ticed in Melaka. Besides suggesting the ways of how
green technology practices can be realised such as
in, “using website application”, “using mobile inter-
net application”, and “implementing touch N go and
online payment system”, some respondents among
bus drivers also suggest “using of NGV for green
technology” for sustainable environment. Although
respondents seems to be aware but they are not well
informed on green technology, since majority of them
do not understand the purpose and meaning of green
technology being practiced in Malacca. Understand-
ing and knowledge is important in helping to solve
environmental problems and practices relating envi-
ronmental protection, conservation, as well as creating
17
positive values (Ganai and Zargar, 2013). It is probably
for that reason, that both users and drivers do not
integrate green technology in their daily lifes.
5 CONCLUSION
The study seeks to develop a greater understanding
of public transportation issues and challenges in its
provision as well as to identify potential green tech-
nology solutions to deal with the issues. The TAM
model was used as the framework in evaluating users’
and drivers’ intention to use a proposed technology,
by assessing their perceptions towards the attributes
of a proposed technology namely, its perceived use-
fulness and ease of use. The data indicate that public
transport users have needs that can be alleviated with
the use of technology and the technology suggested is
an ICT application. These findings support the need
to develop an online system that can help to allevi-
ate some of the problems facing public transportation,
especially drivers and users. The application of an
online system will improve efficiency of public trans-
portation services and management via reduction in
waiting and travelling time, as well as management
cost. Ease of use of the ICT application however must
fulfil essential requirements including high security
level for online payment and availability of techni-
cal support. Drivers and users’ awareness towards the
application and usefulness of green technology is how-
ever not very high which means that further actions are
necessary to increase awareness and appreciation of
green technology to promote success in future imple-
mentations of green technology. In conclusion, the
findings of this study as a whole are useful in pro-
viding support – based on empirical data – for the
development of an ICT application as a green technol-
ogy solution for meeting the needs of stakeholder of
public bus transportation industry.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research program is supported under the MTUN-
COE research grant scheme led by Universiti Teknikal
Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) in collaboration with Uni-
versiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). The pro-
gram led by Associate Professor Dr. Sazilah Salam is
called Green Public Services (GreenPicS) consists of
three projects with the following reference numbers:
MTUN/2012/UTeM-FTMK/10-M00018,
MTUN/ 2012/UTeM-FTMK/10-M00019, and
MTUN/2012/ UTeM-FTMK/10-M00020.
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© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

A case study of quality evaluation from consumers’ perspectives on

Malaysian B2C e-commerce websites

A. Abd Wahab, Faudziah Ahmad & Fauziah Baharom

Universiti Utara Malayisa, Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

J. Yahaya
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Many researchers have reported that more than seventy five percent of dot.com companies do
not last longer than two years. One contributing factor is the ignorance of dot.com companies on the consumer
needs in their website development. Furthermore, consumers’ perspectives are often ignored in e-commerce
website evaluations. This paper presents a framework for e-commerce quality and evaluation based on consumer
perspectives. The framework consists of four components: e-commerce quality metrics, assessment entity, assess-
ment specification and quality level. In order to illustrate the practicality of the framework, a case study on six
Malaysian B2C e-commerce websites has been conducted. The findings show the framework is applicable and
realistic. The successful implementation of the framework shows that it offers a guidance and standard proce-
dure for e-commerce website quality evaluation that can be used to improve organization websites to meet the
consumer need and to keep the organization competitive and sustainable.

1 INTRODUCTION and organization objectives. To the authors’ knowl-

In the e-commerce world, the importance of quality
websites has been recognized by many (Lee and Kozar,
2006). This is due to numerous benefits that it may
bring to the organizations involved (Kim et al., 2003).
A quality website may improve customers’ satisfac-
tion, boost traffic generation or increase the possibility
of online purchase (Shchiglik and Barnes, 2004). For
any organization with an online presence, the website
functions as a medium through which customers have
their initial interaction. The consumers’ perception
of their initial experience of online transaction may
affect repeat visits and online purchase. According
to Forester Research (Manning et al., 1998), approxi-
mately 40 per cent of consumers will not repeat their
visit if they have a negative experience and 50 per
cent will leave if they cannot find an item on a web-
site. Hence, it is crucial for organizations to focus
their efforts on improving website quality to keep their
existing customers and attract new ones. However,
the challenge is to find the ways in which organiza-
tions can continuously improve the quality of their
website. According to Lee and Kozar (2006), the fail-
ure of dot.com companies is mostly due to ignoring
consumers’ elements in their website development.
Therefore, the consumer characteristics must be taken
into account in e-commerce website development to
ensure the success and quality of e-commerce websites
to meet the consumers’ expectations.
Evaluating e-commerce website helps to create a
higher quality product that meets consumers’ needs
edge, there is no generally accepted framework to
evaluate the quality of e-commerce websites scientif-
ically and comprehensively. According to Shchiglik
and Barnes (2004), initial work in website evaluation
is not scientifically based in which subjective prefer-
ences of individuals are used to assess website. Later,
more methodically approach to website evaluation
was undertaken by incorporating theories and devel-
oping evaluation criteria. However, these evaluation
approaches suffered from lack of consumer character-
istics in their construction (Joia and Olivera, 2008).
Furthermore, these authors have focused on particular
aspects of website evaluation such as quality instru-
ment (Shchiglik and Barnes, 2004), and the major-
ity neglect comprehensive method for e-commerce
website evaluation. Therefore, a quality evaluation
framework for B2C e-commerce website that covers
comprehensive evaluation aspects is needed by the
industries.
We have developed a framework that addresses the
evaluation process of B2C e-commerce website and
provides detailed guidance. The framework, called
e-commerce quality and evaluation (ECQE), consists
of four components that support the quality evaluation
of e-commerce websites. The theoretical and empiri-
cal studies that lead to the development of the ECQE
framework have been documented separately (Ahmad
et al., 2012, Ahmad et al., 2011, Abd Wahab et al.,
2010) and this paper focuses on the case study of six
B2C e-commerce websites to validate the framework.
The framework developed in this project is an attempt

19
 Table 1. Table of metrics of attributes.

Attributes Metric

Information Quality Authority

Web document current and updated
Relevance
Accuracy
Clarity
Information content
System Quality User friendliness
High responsiveness
Safety
Service Quality Trustworthiness
Enjoyment & entertainment
Promotion
Figure 1. The e-commerce quality and evaluation frame-
Process visibility & promptness
work.
Credibility
Price savings
to provide guidance and standard procedures that will Diversity of products
ensure the quality of the e-commerce websites can be Serviceability
measured and justified.
The structure of this paper is as follows. In the
next section, an overview of the ECQE framework
is presented. Section three presents the case study:
its objectives, approach and the results. Finally, the Table 2. Metrics and measures.
conclusion section discusses the relevance of the case
study results. Metric Measure

Authority The website provides information

2 THE ECQE FRAMEWORK that has some reputable expert
behind it.
The development of the ECQE framework was based Web documents The websites provide timely
on previous work in software quality and certifica- current and information (current).
tion. The model referred was SCfM-prod model which updated
was a certification model for software product (Yahaya Relevance The websites provide relevant
information.
et al., 2008). Figure 1 illustrates the ECQE frame-
Accuracy The website provides accurate
work. The ECQE framework consists of the following information.
components: e-commerce quality metrics; assessment Clarity The website provides information
entity; assessment specification and quality level. that is clear and precise.
Information The information content of the
2.1 The e-commerce quality metrics content website is useful.
User- I feel that is easy to find
The e-commerce quality metrics were identified friendliness information on the website.
through an extensive literature review (Abd Wahab High The website provides quick
et al., 2010) and a thorough empirical study (Ahmad responsiveness response /to my inquiries.
et al., 2011, Ahmad et al., 2012). As discussed in Safety I feel secure when I do transactions
(Ahmad et al., 2012, Ahmad et al., 2011), of thirty through the website
Trustworthiness I feel very confident when I
three factors, seventeen quality metrics were found to use the website.
be important factors. Based on literature review on Enjoyment & The website promotes customer
information systems effectiveness, website quality and Entertainment excitement such as online games.
e-commerce quality (Delone and McLean, 2003, Kim Promotion The website regularly provides
et al., 2003, Liu et al., 2000, Shchiglik and Barnes, promotion information.
2004), these metrics were categorized into three main Process visibility The website is noticeable.
attributes and each metrics contain associated measure and promptness
to measure the quality attributes as shown in Table 1 Credibility The website provides contact
and Table 2. information such as email address,
phone numbers, etc.
The website is professionally design.
2.2 Assessment entity Price savings The website offers price savings.
Both customers or users and website owners are Diversity of products The website offer diversity of
considered as the assessment entity within this frame- goods and services.
Serviceability I feel satisfy with the after sale
work. The responsibility of an assessment entity is service and warranty provided
to perform the evaluation process. Since customers by the website.
have experience using the e-commerce website under

20
consideration, it will reduce the time taken to do
the evaluation process. On the other hand, the web-
site owners could have firsthand knowledge of their
website quality and status if they are involved in the
evaluation process.
2.3 Assessment specification
The evaluation instrument selected for this framework
is the checklist technique (Punter, 1997). Checklist
was chosen because it provides an easy way to ensure
that business benefit statements are clear and under-
standable. Furthermore, it is considered as a good
technique for software evaluation (Tergan, 1998). This
technique involves formal reviews of intermediate and
final websites as software products. For each website
characteristics or factors, a checklist would list various
questions to be asked. The checklist for this frame-
work has been constructed based on the extensive
literature review and the empirical study’s findings.
Likert scale from 1 to 5 has been selected as a mea-
surement to express the degree of agreement that
can be determined and calculated (Behkamal et al.,
2009). This research used the following scale to rep-
resent the degree of agreement: 1 = strongly disagree;
2 = disagree; 3 = neutral; 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly
agree.
Each attributes defined in the framework need to
be assessed by calculating the score of each metrics
obtained through the evaluation process. As discussed
above, each attributes is represented by a set of met-
rics and associated measures. To calculate the average
score for each metric, the following formula is used:
where pij is the perspective value given by the asses-
sor for each measure, n represents the number of
assessor, i represents the number of measure and t
represents the number of metric. Subsequently, the
average perspective score (ASoAtt) of attribute a can be
calculated by:
Each average perspective score (ASoAtt) of attribute
calculated using formula (2) can be used to calculate
quality score of each attribute by:
where a represents a specific attribute. The constant 5
represents the possible maximum value of the degree
of agreement score in the checklist. The QLoA of all
attributes is averaged to obtain the total quality score
for each e-commerce websites.
2.4 Quality level
The last component of the framework provides a rank-
ing table, Table 3 with which the total quality score
21
Table 3. Ranking of e-commerce website quality score.
Total Quality
Score (TQS) Quality level Quality status
90 <= TQS <= 100 4 Excellent
75 <= TQS < 90 3 Good
50 <= TQS < 75 2 Basic & Acceptable
0 <= TQS < 50 1 Poor
obtained in section 2.3 can be compared. Based on
Table 3, there are four quality levels with its associated
total quality score. According to Table 3, if a website’s
total quality score is 95, then its quality level is 4 which
translated into an “excellent” status.
The preceding subsections have discussed in details
the components of ECQE framework. The framework
clearly provide guidance and standard procedures in
the evaluation of B2C e-commerce through providing
a set of verified quality metrics, identifying person
responsible for the evaluation process (user or owner),
offering an evaluation instrument (checklist) with a set
of assessment techniques and providing quality rank-
ing table with which to rank the quality of e-commerce
website involved.
3 A CASE STUDY
In order to demonstrate the implementation of the
ECQE framework a case study was conducted on
six Malaysian e-commerce websites. Of six websites
selected, two represent online banking (to be referred
as Bank A and B), two represent online ticketing (to
be referred as Airline A and B) while the last two rep-
resent online payment (to be referred as PaymentWeb)
and online auction (to be referred as AuctionWeb)
respectively. The real name of the websites will not
be disclosed here as to avoid any unnecessary business
implication.These e-commerce websites were selected
base upon their popularity among Malaysian citizen
(Radwanick, 2011).
The objectives of the case study were to (i) assess
the selected e-commerce websites according to the
ECQE framework; (ii) determine the relative qual-
ity level of the selected e-commerce websites based
on ECQE standard and (iii) validate the feasibility
and practicality of the ECQE framework in the real
environment.
3.1 Case study approach
The evaluation was conducted in three main phases as
follows:
3.1.1 Phase I
In phase I, a meeting was held among the researchers to
establish the goals of the evaluation, to discuss the plan
of activity and to select suitable e-commerce websites.
As discussed above, six e-commerce websites were
chosen based on their type and popularity. Since all Table 4. Quality score for each e-commerce website.
the researchers have experienced using the selected
e-commerce websites, it was agreed in the meeting Quality Service
that the researchers will conduct the evaluation. Information System Quality
Quality (IQ) (SQ) (EQ)
3.1.2 Phase II Bank A 4.83 4.33 3.88
The evaluation was conducted as scheduled. A briefing Bank B 4.33 3.67 3.63
on the procedure for e-commerce websites assessment Airline A 3.83 4.67 3.63
was given to all evaluators at the beginning of the Airline B 4.33 4 4
evaluation session. The evaluators were asked to rate PaymentWeb 4.33 2.33 1.88
their perceptions of each e-commerce website using AuctionWeb 2.5 3.33 3.5
the checklist with 1 to 5 scale which the anchor for
1 was “strongly disagree” and for 5 “strongly agree”.
Before completing the checklist form, the evaluators
were asked to browse and familiarize themselves with
the features of the websites.

3.1.3 Phase III

The data collected via the checklist were analysed
using the Microsoft Excel™ software. A simple aver-
age score for each main attributes which are infor-
mation quality (IQ), system quality (SQ) and service
quality (SQ) were calculated. The radar chart was used
to compare the performance of each websites’ qual-
ity attributes. Lastly, the quality score was calculated
based on the average score of each quality attribute Figure 2. Radar graph for websites attributes’ score.
to determine the quality level of each e-commerce
websites. Table 5. Total quality score and quality level.

Total quality
4 CASE STUDY RESULTS AND ANALYSIS Score Quality level

The average score obtained by the quality attributes Bank A 86.93 GOOD (level 3)
Bank B 77.53 GOOD (level 3)
of each e-commerce websites are shown in Table 4.
Airline A 80.87 GOOD (level 3)
Based on Table 4, Bank A obtained the highest aver- Airline B 82.20 GOOD (level 3)
age score in terms of information quality and service PaymentWeb 56.93 Basic & Acceptable
quality, whilst Airline A obtained the highest average (level 2)
score in terms of system quality. Table 4 also shows AuctionWeb 62.20 Basic & Acceptable
that PaymentWeb obtained the lowest average score for (level 2)
both system quality and service quality, whileAuction-
Web obtained the lowest average score for information
quality. It can be seen in Table 4 that in terms of all
constructs (information quality, system and service needed to improve on information quality since the
quality), only Airline B is perceived as having a quality websites’ average score of information quality fall on
website based on the average score of 4 which indicate the inner layer of the graph.
customer’s perception of strongly agree. Table 5 presents the quality level for each of the
Figure 2 presents the radar graph that illustrates e-commerce website which was determined based on
the quality attributes’ scores for each of the selected the total quality score. As discussed in section 2.4,
e-commerce websites. In Figure 2, abbreviated IQ there are four levels of quality status ranging from
refers to the information quality; SQ refers to the sys- “excellent” to “poor”. A score of 90 to 100 is regarded
tem quality whilst EQ refers to the service quality. as “excellent” whereas a score of less than 50 is
The attributes that fall near the centre are consid- regarded as “poor”. Based on Table 5, Bank A, Bank
ered to have lower quality score compared to the B, Airline A and Airline B gained level 3 of the qual-
attributes on the outer layer of the graph. The radar ity level which indicate the quality of the websites
graph clearly demonstrates the quality attributes that as “GOOD”, whilst PaymentWeb and AuctionWeb
the e-commerce websites owners needed to pay close obtained level 2 of the quality level which indicate
attention to. For example, Figure 2 shows that Bank the quality of the website as “Basic and Acceptable”.
B and PaymentWeb each needed to improve on their Based on on the above discussion, the following
website system quality and service quality while Air- conclusion can be made: (i) clearly BankA is the indus-
line A needed to improve on their website information try leaders in terms of website quality. Particularly in
and service quality. AuctionWeb on the other hand, terms of information quality, the other sides can learn a

22
lot from Bank A’s experience; (ii) PaymentWeb needs
major improvements mainly in terms of system and
service quality and finally (iii) AuctionWeb is in a bad
condition and drastically need to improve its’ website
in all areas.
The successful implementation of the case study
seemed to suggest that it is practical and feasible to
apply the ECQE framework in real environment and it
provides some indications toward the level of quality of
each e-commerce websites involved. Furthermore, the
case study also showed that the ECQE framework is not
only an abstract concept but it can be operationalised
in actual setting.
5 CONCLUSION
The ECQE framework based on consumer perspec-
tives has been developed to offer a comprehensive
guidance and standard procedures in the evaluation of
B2C e-commerce websites. The ECQE framework was
then verified through a case study of six e-commerce
websites representing four different categories of
e-commerce namely online banking, online ticketing,
online payment and online auction. Upon successful
completion of the case study analysis, the practicality
and feasibility of the framework were verified. Fur-
thermore, the quality factors and metrics were found
to be reliable measures of B2C e-commerce websites.
The successful implementation of ECQE framework
in the real environment also shows that standard oper-
ational framework is required to assess the quality of
the e-commerce websites.
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tion framework based on technical and user perspectives.
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Ahmad, F., Yahya, J., Tarawneh, O., Baharom, F. &
Abd Wahab, A. (2011) E-commerce (B2C) evaluation
23
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

The governmental support in improving the ability of ICT small

entrepreneurs to utilize market opportunities

Wawan Dhewanto, C.H. Evy Rachmawati, Sri Herliana, Qorri Aina, Rendra Chaerudin,
R. Donald Crestofel Lantu & H. Bayuningrat
Entrepreneurship and Technology Management Interest Group, School of Business and Management (SBM),
Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Indonesia

ABSTRACT: Over the last 10 years the market opportunities of information and communication technology-
based products increased along with the rapid development of the ICT industry.
For developing countries such as Indonesia, the magnitude of this potential market cannot be fully responded
by ICT business entrepreneurs. In accordance with the concept of the triple helix, the government is one of the
important factors that could affect or improve the ability of small business entrepreneurs in the ICT industry to
take advantage of the market opportunities which opened widely.
This paper will analyze the extent of government support of small entrepreneurs in ICT business capitalize
on market opportunities that are available by using the SERVQUAL approach of small entrepreneurs respond
to market opportunities available to get the profit. The unit analysis of this research is small businesses which
provide ICT product in Bandung ICT Sector.

Keywords: governmental support, ICT small entrepreneurs, servqual, Indonesia

1 INTRODUCTION industry, one of the priorities of industry develop-

In the effort to achieve national development vision,
Indonesian government seeks to create economic
growth in various sectors. It is stated in The Regula-
tion No. 17 of 2007 National Long Term Development
Plan 2005–2025. Government seeks to encourage the
acceleration and expansion of Indonesian Economic
Development through developing existing and new
economic growth centers.
The goal of developing economic growth centers is
to maximize profits agglomeration, and explore poten-
tial areas of excellence as well as improve the spa-
tial disparity of economic development in Indonesia.
Developing center economic growth through devel-
oping industrial clusters and special economic zones
(SEZs) is an important strategic Economic Develop-
ment of Indonesian government. Overall, the center
economic growth and connectivity creates Indonesia
Economic Corridor. Improvement of the economic
potential of the region through economic corridors
became one of the three main strategies (main pillars)
(MP3I, 2011 to 2025).
One of the economic corridor which developed by
Indonesian Government is the Javanese economic cor-
ridor. To improve the competitiveness of economic
corridor, the development must be accompanied by
a strengthening of the innovation cluster as a center of
excellence in order to support an increase in the ability
to innovate. Besides agro industry and transportation
ment in Indonesia is an information technology (IT).
The Indonesian Government through the Ministry of
Industry has made information technology as one of
the most important strategies and policies in the devel-
opment of industry in Indonesia. One of the industries
that can be developed as a center of excellence are ICT
small businesses particularly ICT small entrepreneurs.
ICT small entrepreneurs is an important sector to
be developed because it can support the growth of
Small and Medium Industries based verifiable sci-
ence which further increases the economic growth as
well as to improve competitiveness in the current free
trade show.
ICT infrastructure development in Indonesia is still
not adequate, other problem is the number of activ-
ities or programs related to ICT were scattered in
various government agencies, so that the lack of plan-
ning that synergistically in supporting the realization
of the information society. However, there is a lack
of effective coordination among government agencies
in developing and directing the development of ICT
sector.
Initiatives to develop the ICT industry clusters have
quite a lot in Indonesia that can be found in various
areas, but it still not show optimal results. In West Java,
there are several institutions that develop ICT industry
clusters, such as Bandung Techno Park, Bandung Dig-
ital Valley, Cimahi Creative Association, RICE INTI,
I2TB, and IBC.

25
 The pattern of ICT industry development in
Indonesia, especially for small entrepreneurial sec-
tor is following the concept of triple helix. In
the Triple Helix concept that was developed by
Eztkowitz in 1990, the government, industry and uni-
versities are essential elements that integrate each
other in innovation-based economic development
(http://www.triplehelixassociation.org). Government
is an important part that stimulates collaboration
between businesses, universities and research institu-
tions with the establishment of policies or regulation
and supporting infrastructure.
On the other hand, the government is an institu-
tion that serves the public which in this case is the
ICT small entrepreneurs. In this context, all the reg-
ulations and infrastructure that is built is intended to
provide services to ICT small entrepreneurs in enhanc-
ing their competitiveness and ability to grab market
opportunities. For ICT small entrepreneurs, regulatory
and service provided is a form of government political
will which can help them to overcome their limited
resources. Therefore, assessing the government’s per-
formance using servqual approach is relevant enough
to be used in this research.
1.1 Research question
1. Identification any ICT policy in Indonesia
2. Assessing government policies and services in
improving the ability of ICT small entrepreneurs
utilize the market opportunities
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
SERVQUAL approach was first developed by
Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988). In general, this
approach is used to measure the service quality of
private firms. In this sense the user’s consumer are
the ones that give an assessment of the services pro-
vided by the company. The next this concept was
applied to assess the performance of public sector ser-
vices ((Donnelly et. al, (1995), (Orwig, Pearson &
Cochran, (1997), Aliah and Tarmize (1998), Shari-
fuddin (1998/1999; 1999a, 1999b), Sharifah Latifah,
Mokhtar and Arawati (2000) and Sharifah (2001). The
application of SERVQUAL in the public sector is still
not widely used in Indonesia. This concept is tried
to be applied with the assumption that the govern-
ment in implementing its policies are the ones that
run the service function. All policies and activities
conducted is essentially an attempt to satisfy the con-
sumer which is in this case is a ICT small companies.
For ICT small entrepreneurs who generally have lim-
ited resources, the government’s role in improving their
ability to participate and take benefit from the business
opportunities are enormous.
By adapting the dimensions of service quality
from Parasuraman, the dimensions of service quality
of government support Small Entrepreneurs in ICT
could be:
• Tangibles include the performance of all informa-
tion infrastructure provided by the government.
26
• Reliability involves consistency of government pol-
icy in developing ICT sector.
• Responsiveness is the willingness of the govern-
ment to develop the ICT entrepreneurs through the
ICT policy.
• Assurance is the availability of regulations and stan-
dards provided by the government to ensure the
security and credibility of products and business
activity of ICT small entrepreneur.
• Empathy is the approachability, ease to access and
government effort or program taken to understand
of ICT small entrepreneurs needs.
3 METHODOLOGY
This research is a descriptive qualitative study of the
policies and programs of the government in develop-
ing the ICT industry in Indonesia, especially for small
ICT entrepreneurs. This study adopted a case study
research method that was proposed by Robert K. Yin
(2003). Variables used in this study are derived from
SERVQUAL dimension as been described above.
The unit analysis of this research is small busi-
nesses which provide ICT product/service. Population
of this research is practitioners in the ICT Bandung
Cluster. There are about 200 small entrepreneurs in
ICT Bandung Sector, however, the results of observa-
tions made in MP3EI research shows that about 50%
of them are start-up business whose activities are less
than a year so that their understanding of government
policies related to ICT businesses is inadequate. With
these considerations, a sample of 10% are taken so
that practitioners who serve as the respondent are 10
people.
The research was conducted by studying the lit-
erature, especially for understanding the Indonesian
government’s policies and programs in the ICT sector
over the last 5 years. After that, further deep inter-
views conducted to 10 practitioners in the ICT sector
are considered to provide an assessment of the qual-
ity performance government policies and programs
based on the dimensions of SERVQUAL developed
by Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988).These practitioners
are individuals who are engaged in ICT business activ-
ities, especially ICT small entrepreneurs. For example,
interviews were conducted to the board of MIKTI,
CCA and I2TB.
4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 ICT policy in Indonesia
The development of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) is one of the important aspects that
promote national development, especially for Indone-
sia. ICT is a factor of production and also plays a role
in the economic and socio-cultural development of the
community. Indonesia is an archipelago country, so
ICT is able to eliminate geographical barriers result-
ing transformation of human life in various areas of
society towards a knowledge-based or knowledge –
based society. (MP3I, 2012) Currently ICT policy
in Indonesia is putting innovation within the frame-
work of the system and the approach is no longer
concentrated in the central government but also local
governments.
Realizing the role of ICT for national develop-
ment, the ICT policy developed by the Indonesian
Ministry of Research and Technology include: infor-
mation infrastructure, software, information content,
human resource development and institutional, regula-
tory and standards development (Ministry of Research
and Technology, 2006: 5).
a. Information infrastructure
The development of information infrastructure
includes three aspects: first, physical network that
serves as an information highway at the level of the
backbone network and the level of customer access.
Backbone network must be able to connect all regions
of Indonesia to the smallest government are. Back-
bone network also should improve customer access,
so the communication will be available cheap and
adequate for the community. Second, management of
information resources to provide the greatest possible
benefit for the entire community. This condition can
be achieved through the accomplishment of resource
information that can be used efficiently and effectively
by all stakeholders.
The last aspect is the development of hardware, both
on the network side and terminal side. This devel-
opment should be designed based on the needs and
conditions of the existing network in Indonesia, by
adopting an open system and instill a certain level of
intelligence to facilitate system integration and devel-
opment in the future. The ICT Infrastructure Needs
Forecasting Data from Directorate General of Post
and Telecommunications in 2012 showed that year-
over-year rate of ICT infrastructure needs was higher,
but not matched by growth in infrastructure develop-
ment www.depkominfo.go.id Jakarta. The availabil-
ity of adequate information infrastructure throughout
Indonesia is a tangible dimension in SERVQUAL.
b. Software
Indonesian government directs to realization of sys-
tem software applications that are able to support the
process of fast and secure economic transactions, as
well as business decisions. In addition to supporting a
policy of import substitution, the criterion required is
an affordable price so as to increase competitiveness
in the international market.
Government policies relating to software devel-
opment reflects the responsiveness and quality of
access because it shows the willingness of Indone-
sia the government to support the Indonesia ICT in
experts to enter the international market quickly and
easily soon.
c. Information content
The development of information content aims to
structuring, storage, and processing of information
27
that is needed to improve the efficiency of the
development process, organization, retrieval, and dis-
tribution of information.
To develop the content of the information begins
with mapping the various potentials and national
information along with modeling information retrieval
process. Thus the implementation of information
repositories and information sharing is one of the criti-
cal success factors for the development of information
and communication technology. Richness and diver-
sity of Indonesian arts and culture is a potential that
can be exploited optimally so that it can produce art
and culture products on based multi-media.
d. Human Resource Development
Development of human resources that are designed
to improve the ability of the government directed
the information technology and management capabil-
ities of the ICT small entrepreneur. Application of
this policy is realized by providing training in the
field of ICT technology and business management
These training programs are implemented through the
Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Communi-
cation and Information, both top-down and bottom-
up as well as working with the Association of ICT
Incubator.
The human resource development program that
known as top-down is usually the programs that
have been designed by the Ministry of Industry or
the Ministry of Communication and Information in
accordance with the government’s budget. While the
bottom-up program is a human resource development
program that proposed by small entrepreneurs through
association, or incubator of institutions that foster
them.
In this case the SERVQUAL dimensions can
be shown by the government is the reliability and
responsiveness. The Government reliability in human
resource development can be reflected from a given
training program content. If the training program
content was mach with the ICT needs of small
entrepreneurs in doing business in the real world, it
can be stated that the source of human development
policies that are developed can reflect the quality of
government services. Suitability of a given training
program with the real needs of the business world
also reflects the level of responsiveness of the gov-
ernment in carrying out its role in helping small ICT
entrepreneurs in improving their ability to adapt to
changing market circumstances.
e. Regulations and Standards Development
The existence of laws and standardization is a form
of security and credibility in the SERVQUAL dimen-
sions. Therefore, Indonesian government develops and
refines the policies associated with information tech-
nology, communications and broadcasting. Besides,
the Indonesian government is also preparing regula-
tions that speed up the implementation process of the
competition by fixing the services and convenience for
users of IT services.
Table 1. Quality Performance of Government policies and program.

Dimension Percentage Performace

Tangibles Performance of all information infrastructure provided by the government. 80.00 Quite good
Reliability Consistency of government policy in developing ICT sector. 70.00 Poor
Responsiveness The willingness of the government to develop the ICT entrepreneurs through 80.00 Good
the ICT policy.
Assurance The availability of regulations and standards provided by the government to 80.00 Quite good
ensure the security and credibility of products and business activity of ICT
small entrepreneur.
Empathy The approachability, ease to access and government effort or program taken 80.00 Quite Good
to understand of ICT small entrepreneurs needs.

f. ICT in Education from market opportunities. But research shows that

The use of ICT in the learning process is one of
the government’s policies to optimize the utilization
of technology in the learning process. This policy
reflects the government courtesy and responsiveness
in addressing the Indonesia education issue, especially
for the area primarily in remote areas especially for the
region which are remote areas.
g. Electronic book
Electronic book or eBook is one of computer tech-
nology utilization to deliver multimedia information
in the form of a compact and dynamic. EBook can be
integrated into the sounds, graphics, images, anima-
tions, and movies so that the information presented is
richer than the conventional book.This is a government
courtesy and responsive in Indonesian education.
4.2 Assessing government policies and services
in improving the ability of ICT small
entrepreneurs utilize the market opportunities
There is huge market opportunity in ICT business.
Along with the development of IT in various sectors,
demand for ICT products also increased. For example,
according the Chairman of ATSI (Asosiasi Teleko-
munikasi Selular Indonesia), market share cellular in
Indonesia is still open since level of its penetration is
still approximately 40% and still the lowest compared
to other Southeast Asian countries. The market oppor-
tunities can be utilized optimally with the support of
government policies and programs. From the results of
interviews with some ICT practitioners suggests that
quality performance of government policies and pro-
grams based on SERVQUAL dimensions can be seen
in Table 1.
From the table above shows that the willingness of
the government to develop the ICT entrepreneurs is
good. Efforts to develop innovation clusters prove that
the government has realized that ICT has a huge space
for develop innovation. The presence of clusters of
innovation that supported by ABG (academics, busi-
ness and government) are expected could increased the
ability of ICT small entrepreneurs to take advantage
the willingness of the government to develop the ICT
entrepreneurs was not supported by adequate infras-
tructure (tangible). This weakness will greatly affect
the speed of internet access and data transmission,
especially for location which far from urban area.
Assurance dimension is expressed less good because
even though the government has made ICT regulation
but often the implementation was of not in accordance
with the rules that have been made. The practition-
ers also expect that the government made rules which
encourage increased utilization of local ICT products
compared to foreign ICT products, so the domestic
producers of ICT products gets greater opportunity
to market their products. An example is a policy that
encourages the television to broadcast local animation
products.
Overall, Indonesian government through the min-
istry, such as Ministry of Industry and KOMINFO has
designed a variety of programs which are expected
could help ICT small entrepreneurs increase their
expertise in the ICT, management and marketing capa-
bilities. However, the program is highly dependent on
the funding provided, so this development program
was impressed implemented sporadically.
Very unsatisfactory ratings was given to the reli-
ability dimension, because the government’s role in
the development of small entrepreneurs ICT is less
consistent and less synergy, highly dependent on how
far the head of the institution has a concern to the
development of ICT small entrepreneurs.
The results showed that based on the dimensions
of service quality (SERVQUAL), government poli-
cies and programs to improve the ability of ICT small
entrepreneurs has not been satisfactory yet, but prac-
titioners argue that the government’s move was not in
vain because the facts demonstrate the role of ICT
small business entrepreneurs ICT market increased
enough significant.
5 CONCLUSION
So far, based on SERVQUAL approach, the govern-
ment support t in an effort to increase the capabilities of

28
ICT small entrepreneurs, considered good for respon-
siveness dimensions but less satisfactory for tangible
dimension, assurance, and empathy. Government sup-
port is contained in the form of policies and programs
will be very meaningful if all government agencies as
well as the individuals running it with consistent and
synergy.
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Badan Pusat Statistik, 2009, Pola Sebaran dan Peletakan
Menara Telekomunikasi Seluler Bersama Kabupaten Ban-
dung, 2007–2008.
Donnelly, M., Wisniewski M., Dalrymple, John F., Curry,
Adrienne C (1995) “Measuring service quality in local
government: the SERVQUAL approach”, International
Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 8, Iss: 7,
pp. 15–20
Etzkowitz, Henry (2002), The triple helix of university-
industry-government: implications for policy and eval-
uation, SISTER working paper 2002–11, Stockholm,
Sweden.
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Etzkowitz, Henry (2003), Innovation in innovation: the triple
helix of university-industry-government relations, Social
Science Information, Vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 293–337.
Etzkowitz, Henry (2008), The triple helix, university-
industry-government innovation in action, Routledge,
New York, USA.
R.A. Orwig, J. Pearson and D. Cochran. “An empirical investi-
gation into the validity of SERVQUAL in the public sector.”
PublicAdministration Quarterly. 1997, 54–67.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, Valarie A., Berry, Leonard L.
(1985), A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its
implications For Future Research, Journal of Marketing,
Vol. 49, pp. 41–50.
SAK. Sharifah Latifah, A. Mokhtar and A. Arawati. “On ser-
vice improvement index: a case study of the public service
sector.” Total Quality Management. 11 (4–6): 837–843.
Yin. Robert K., (2003), “Case Study Research: Design and
Methods”, 3rd Edition, Sage Publications www.depkom
info.go.id
Zeithalm, A Valarie, Bitner, Mary Jo, & Gremler, Dwayne
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

An Islamic perspective on CSR-workplace-employee practice

in Islamic banks

H. Yusoff, F. Darus & D.M. Abang Naim

Accounting Research Institute, Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

H. Fauzi
Indonesian Center for Social and Environmental Accounting Research and Development (ICSEARD),
Faculty of Economics and Business, Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia

Y. Purwanto
Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Indonesia

ABSTRACT: This study seeks to investigate specific CSR practices i.e. dimension of workplace from an
Islamic perspective. Three major principles in Islam, which include vicegerent (khalifah), divine accountability,
and obligation to enjoin good and forbid evil guide the understanding about the responsibilities of business
organizations to their employees. Using content analysis, annual reports (2007–2011) of six full-fledged Islamic
banks in Malaysia and Indonesia have been analysed. The data has been collected based on the AAOIFI’s (2005)
guidelines and disclosure index of some prevailing literature. Generally, the Malaysian banks disclosed more
information, but the trend in both countries is rather similar. Generally, all banks have treated their employees
justly in creating a positive workplace environment hence comply with the Islamic laws and principles.

1 INTRODUCTION for business long-term success (e.g. Galbreath, 2006,

The expanding business communities has to a large
extent led to the increasing societal demands for
businesses act more responsibly, in particular, practis-
ing good corporate social responsibility (CSR). From
the perspective of Islam, such concept of CSR is
very similar to the responsibilities of business orga-
nization following the Islamic law and principles,
as contained within the Qur’an and the Sunnah of
the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Accordingly, any
‘Islamic’business organizations such as Islamic finan-
cial institutions are therefore highly expected to prac-
tice Islamic-related CSR.
Bursa Malaysia, in its introduction of CSR Frame-
work in 2006, highlighted the four key dimensions of
CSR which encompass marketplace, workplace, com-
munity and environment. The mainstream research
works highly concentrate on the investigation of CSR
practice in general (e.g. Branco & Rodrigues, 2006,
Chih et al., 2008, Darus et al., 2009, Esa & Ghazali,
2012, Che Hassan et al., 2012), but limited focus has
been given on specific CSR dimension. Some pre-
vailing literature on the conventional CSR has also
explored the factors attracting employees to work;
which include firm CSR engagement (Greening &
Turban, 2000) and fairness of organizational actions
towards employees (Cropanzano et al., 2001). Employ-
ees have also been found to be an essential factor
Sharma et al., 2009). This study therefore takes a dif-
ferent focus of research by investigating specific CSR
practices i.e. dimension of workplace from an Islamic
perspective.
This paper is organised into four sections. The
subsequent section proceeds with the background lit-
erature review of the study. The third section provides
the methodology and this is followed by the results
and discussion section. The final section offers the
concluding comments.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Islam and CSR
Islam is not simply a religion but more essentially it is
a way of life; in which, the Qur’an and Sunnah govern
the life of Muslims and provide guidance on individ-
ual’s as well as business organization’s daily activities.
In Islam, all individuals as well as business organiza-
tions are deemed accountable to God and the ummah
(society at large) by recognizing the rights of others.
Farook (2007) highlights that the fundamentals of
CSR derives itself from the principles in the Qur’an; in
which, three major principles include the vicegerency
role of humankind on Earth (khalifah), divine account-
ability and obligation to enjoin good and forbid evil

31
(see Farook, 2007). Being a khalifah, every individ-
ual is a representative of Allah thus entrusted with the
stewardship of Allah’s possessions. The principle of
divine accountability represents one’s duty to uphold
the values of fairness and justice in his/her daily prac-
tices. Guided by the concept of tawhid (the unity of
Allah), all humanbeing are therefore subject to total
submission to Allah’s will according to the religious
requirement in all aspects of life (see Maali et al.,
2003). These two principles provides clear direction
on the principle of enjoining good and forbidding evil;
in which every Muslims are to embrace good values
in everyday doings and carry out social reponsibility
and justice to society.
The application of these Islamic principles can be
evidenced through the Muslim’s responsibilities in dis-
tributing annual payment to the ‘needy’ group (zakah),
as well as the prohibition of usury (riba) in business
dealings. The concept of brotherhood (ukhuwwah)
promotes all Muslims to take care one another, as the
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “the Muslims in their
mercy towards each other are like a body, if single part
of it complains the other parts would be affected”
(Al-Bukhari and Muslim). These Islamic principles
imply the strong support for CSR, both to individuals
and business oragnizations.
‘The Believers, men and women, are pro-
tectors one of another; they enjoin what is
just (accepted), and forbid what is unjust
(rejected)…’ (Qur’an, 9:71).
‘You are the best of peoples, evolved for
mankind, enjoining what is just (accepted), for-
bidding what is unjust (rejected), and believing
in Allah’ (Qur’an, 3:110).
2.2 Islamic CSR and workplace
Being the khalifah on Earth, one has the responsibil-
ity towards other human beings (see Dusuki, 2008); as
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: ‘No one of you shall
become a true believer until he desires for his brother
what he desires for himself ’ (narrated by Al-Bukhari).
This implies that business organizations are expected
to treat their employees with justice and fairness (see
Othman & Thani, 2010), based on Islamic moral and
ethical principles, as prescribed in the Qur’an and
Sunnah.
‘the one who looks after and works for a widow
and for a poor person, is like a warrior fight-
ing for Allah’s cause or like a person who
fasts during the day and performs prayers all
night’ (Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), narrated by
Al-Bukhari).
‘It is not righteousness that you turn your faces
towards East or West; but it is Righteousness –
to believe in Allah and the Last Day and the
Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to
spend of your substance, out of love for Him,
for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the
32
wayfarers, for those who ask; and for the freeing
of captives; to be steadfast in prayer, and prac-
tice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which
you make; and to be firm and patient in pain and
adversity and throughout all period of panic.
Such are the people of truth, Godconsciousness’
(Qur’an, 2:177).
These verses imply that Islam look up for individu-
als and business organizations to do justice to others;
this, which can be carried out through CSR prac-
tices. For instance, Md Anowar et al. (2012) mention
that employers should not let their employees work
in a dangerous or life threatening working environ-
ment, thus ensure safe, healthy and enjoyable work
environment (Zahid, 2010).
Hence, it is rather interesting to explore and under-
stand the current CSR practices of business organi-
zations concerning their primary internal stakehold-
ers i.e. the employees. Do companies care for their
employees’ welfare? Do they fulfil the basic needs and
rights of the employees, such as fair salary and wages,
health and safety at work, education, equal opportu-
nity, and rewards?Additionally, it is further inspiring to
research the CSR practice of Islamic institutions, and
examine whether their CSR practices are in accordance
with the Islamic laws and principles.
3 METHODOLOGY
Content analysis of annual reports has been carried
out on all six full-fledged Islamic banks operating in
Malaysia and Indonesia, as the followings:
Malaysia
• Bank Islam Malaysia (BIM)
• Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia (BKR)
• Bank Muamalat Malaysia (BMM)
Indonesia
• Bank Muamalat Syariah (MMS)
• Bank Mega Syariah (MGS)
• Bank Mandiri Syariah (MDS)
The reporting period of study covers five years
i.e. from 2007–2011, which resulted to 30 cases of
observation. The Accounting, Auditing and Gover-
nance Standards for Islamic Financial Institutions
(AAOIFI) guidelines (2005), Haniffa and Hudaib’s
(2007), and Hasan and Harahap’s (2010) CSR dimen-
sion of workplace-employee have been used as the
primary reference for the disclosure instrument used
in this study, which comprise of the following 10
sub-dimensions:
• equal opportunities policy (EO)
• employees welfare (EW)
• ensuring diversity (ED)
• training on Shari’ah awareness (TS)
• training for professional skill (TP)
• encouraging talent (ET)
Table 1. Scope of workplace-employee information gathered.

Sub-dimension Scope of information

1 Equal opportunities policy
2 Employees welfare
3 Ensuring diversity
4 Training on Shari’ah awareness
5 Training for professional skill
6 Encouraging talent
7 Comply with the policy of
international labour standard
8 Reward for employees
9 Employees appreciation
10 Focus on safety of staff
Bank’s policy statement about equal work related opportunities/rights of
employees/future employees.
Activities/initiatives of bank in ensuring the welfare of employees.
Diversity in workplace practice. E.g. Including people from all communities
regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, age.
Training/education provided to employees in enhancing awareness about
Shari’ah related matters.
Training/education provided to employees for their professional development.
Promote/conduct activities for employees to improve their talent in many
aspects including professional development, arts and culture etc.
Compliance of bank’s recruitment activities with relevant international rules/
regulations.
Provide forms of reward (monetary/non-monetary) for employees’ efforts
and/or achievements.
Conduct activities as platform to acknowledge employees’ efforts and/or achievements.
Develop policy or establish department/unit/committee on employees’ safety at work.

• comply with the policy of international labour Table 2. Total disclosures for workplace-employee informa-
standard (IL) tion by full-fledged Islamic banks in Malaysia and Indonesia.
• reward for employees (RE)
• employees appreciation (EA) 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 Total
• focus on safety of staff (SS)
BIM 9 9 8 8 5 39/50
Table 1 gives brief explanations about the 10 sub- BKR 4 8 2 2 1 17/50
dimensions/variables studied. BMM 8 8 8 2 1 27/50
The scoring of disclosure is done using an equal-
weighted index, with a point awarded for each dis- 21 25 18 12 7
closure theme in relation to any of the key elements
considered. Disclosure score for each bank is totalled MMS 7 6 2 5 5 25/50
MGS 5 6 7 7 7 32/50
and not given any specific percentage as it is consid- MDS 8 7 7 3 4 29/50
ered that each item of disclosure is equally important.
The CSR disclosure score indexes are constructed as 20 19 16 15 16
follows:

The index indicates the level of disclosure for a com-

pany, where N is the maximum number of relevant
items a company may disclose and dj is equal to 0
if there is no disclosure and score of 1 if there is
disclosure.
Descriptive and graphical analyses are used to
understand the CSR practices of the Islamic banks
in these two countries, in particular, the employee-
workplace related information disclosed.

Figure 1. Mean scores of workplace-employee disclosures

4 FINDINGS OF STUDY for full-fledged Islamic banks in Malaysia.

The improvement in disclosure, between the five years
of study, pertaining to the workplace-employee related
practices has been found rather not obvious for all the
six Islamic banks (see Table 2). Nevertheless, BIM was
the Malaysian highest workplace-employee informa-
tion reporter (39/50 scores: 78%), while MGS was the
Indonesian one (32/50 scores: 64%).
Table 2 also shows that over the five years, the
Indonesian Islamic banks have begun disclosing about
their workplace-employee information higher that the
Malaysian ones. Nonetheless, the total quantity of dis-
closures is relatively consistent with little progression
(16 to 20 disclosure scores).
Comparatively, disclosures amongst the Malaysian
Islamic banks started with minimum total score of
seven and improved significantly the following years
till 25 scores in 2010. BKR, however, has experienced
a decrease in its total disclosure scores in 2011.
Figure 1 illustrates that generally the emphasis on
specific workplace-employee related practice given by

33

Figure 2. Mean scores of workplace-employee disclosures
for full-fledged Islamic banks in Indonesia.
all three Islamic banks in Malaysia is somewhat of
similar trend.
All three banks showed a high focus on ‘encour-
aging talent’ (ET) and ‘employees appreciation’ (EA).
Zero disclosure has been made on ‘compliance with
policy of international labour standard’ (IL), while,
lowest disclosure point was found for ‘safety of staff ’
(SS). Such a finding is rather surprising, as safety
matters for employees at work is deemed as highly
important; but this may be due to the nature of
operation of banks which deal with minimum work
related risk.
The Indonesian Islamic banks seem to provide
higher focus on ‘training on Shari’ah awareness’
(TS), ‘training for professional skill’ (TP), ‘reward for
employees’ (RE) and ‘employees’ appreciation (EA)
(see Figure 2).
The least information reported are ‘compliance
with policy of international labour standard’ (IL),
while, lowest disclosure point was found for ‘safety
of staff ’ (SS).
In general, the apparent similarities of workplace-
employee related practice by the Islamic banks in both
countries relate to the zero (all Indonesian banks and
two Malaysian banks) and minimal (one Malaysian
bank) reporting made on ‘compliance with policy of
international labour standard’ (IL) and ‘safety of staff ’
(SS). The findings on low practice concerning safety
of employees are contradictory to the study by Zahid
(2010) and Md Anowar et al. (2012) which emphasize
the importance of safe working environment for the
company’s employees.
Above all, the Islamic banks in Malaysia and
Indonesia, to a certain extent, have carried out their
responsibility in ensuring a conducive and favorable
workplace environment to their respective employees.
The study findings also put forward a preliminary idea
that these Islamic organizations practice their CSR in
respect to workplace-employee in accordance with the
Islamic laws and principles.
5 CONCLUSION
Generally, the CSR practices of the Islamic banks in
Malaysia, in particular, the dimension of workplace-
employee, has shown steady improvement over the five
34
years period of study; i.e. 2007–2011. The Indone-
sian Islamic banks, nonetheless, showed no specific
trend. In total, the Malaysian banks communicate more
information about their CSR-workplace-employee
activities, when compared to their neighbouring
counterparts.
Based on the AAOIFI’s guidelines, the content anal-
ysis on the sub dimension of the workplace-employees’
aspect has resulted with a similar trend of workplace-
employee reporting for all the Islamic banks in both
countries. ‘Compliance with policy of international
labour standard’ (IL) and ‘safety of staff’ (SS) are the
two specific aspects of the CSR dimension least dis-
closed by all banks. To a degree, it is concluded that
the full-fledged Islamic banks in Malaysia and Indone-
sia have treated their employees justly in creating a
positive workplace environment. The study findings
also put forward a preliminary idea that the CSR-
workplace-employee practices of these Islamic banks
are in accordance with the Islamic laws and princi-
ples. Additionally, these findings offer inputs to the
respective banks as well as the relevant regulatory bod-
ies on aspects to be improved concerning CSR in the
workplace.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and the
Ministry of Education for the grant received.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

CSR in the workplace: Exploring the practice of Takaful organizations

F. Darus & H. Yusoff

Accounting Research Institute, Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to examine the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure of takaful
organizations in the workplace benchmarked against an Islamic CSR (i-CSR) framework. A content analysis of
the annual reports of eleven (11) takaful organizations in Malaysia over a three-year period (2010–2012) were
undertaken to examine the CSR disclosure relating to workplace. The findings from the study revealed that
the CSR disclosure of takaful organizations revolves around training and education of employees, specifically
relating to self-development and skill enhancement.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 LITERTURE REVIEW

In recent years, corporate social responsibility (CSR)
has become an increasingly important issue and has
attracted an increasing attention globally. There is
growing global expectations that organizations includ-
ing Islamic organizations to engage in (CSR) practices.
Prior literature provided evidence that the disclosure
of CSR information can enhanced corporate reputation
(Fombrun and Shanley, 1990), will result in increased
investment from investors (Orlitzky et al., 2003), will
increase customers’ loyalty, attract the best talents and
will encourage media coverage (Laufer & Coombs,
2006). One aspect of CSR practices involves the man-
agement of human resource in the workplace which
requires the commitment of organizations to ensure
equal opportunities to all employees, fair and effective
practices in relation to workplace diversity, work/life
balance, health and safety, training and staff devel-
opment. From an Islamic perspective employers are
religiously bound to guarantee the welfare of their
employees. Therefore, in their pursuit of economic
gains, Islam prohibits actions leading towards abuse,
discrimination and exploitation of their employees.
Payment of wages, for example, should not be delayed
and must be paid as soon as possible, for it is haram to
delay and postpone when one is able to pay. Therefore,
the aim of this study is to examine the CSR disclosure
of takaful organizations in the workplace benchmarked
against an Islamic CSR (i-CSR) framework. The three
(3) core elements that function as the fundamentals of
Islamic principles are incorporated in the framework;
namely the concept of Tawhid and Ibadah, the prin-
ciples of Maqasid al-Shariah and Maslahah, and the
Practices and Dakwah.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows.
The next section provides the literature review. Sec-
tion 3 provides the research methodology. Section 4
deliberates on the research findings. The final section
provides the concluding comments.
2.1 CSR and takaful organizations
The European Commission defined CSR as:
“a concept whereby companies integrate social
and environmental concern in their business
operations and in their interaction with their
stakeholders on a voluntary basis”
(European Commission 2001 p. 6)
In Malaysia, the government views CSR as a
national agenda that can help to transform the coun-
try into a competitive nation with moral and ethical
values (Khazanah Nasional Bhd, 2007). However, the
total amount spent on CSR programmes in Malaysia in
2012 stood at an estimated RM75 million which is less
than 0.01 per cent of the total gross domestic product
(GDP) of the country (Lemarie, 2013).
CSR from an Islamic perspective requires organiza-
tions to be accountable to God in pursuit of their CSR
activities. This involves God-consciousness (Taqwa)
where human actions are motivated towards the satis-
faction of God, and not for materialistic gain or loss
(Dusuki, 2008). Takaful which is a system of Islamic
insurance that is based on the principles of taawuni
(mutual cooperation) and tabarru (voluntary contri-
bution) was introduced in Islamic finance because
the conventional insurance contains factors of gharar
(uncertainty) and maisir (gambling) in its insurance
contract, and riba (interest) in its investment which is
prohibited by Shariah.
A review of existing CSR literature revealed very
few studies that have explored the CSR practices of
takaful organizations (see for example Obalola, 2008,
Muzawwir, 2011). In this study, the CSR reporting
of takaful organizations pertaining to workplace is
investigated to provide a better understanding of the
human resource management in the workplace of an
Islamic organization. Prior studies on CSR disclosure

37
Table 1. Workplace dimension based on key areas & sub-
divided into vital & recommended items.

Key Areas Vital Recommended

Training and Education 6 4

Occupational Safety and
Health Administration
Equitable Opportunity
Employment
Awards and Recognition
Labour and Management
Relations
Total
1 4
0 2
8 8
1 2
1 4
17 24

of public-listed companies in Malaysia highlighted

that CSR in Malaysia focused on human resource man-
agement (see for example Zakaria, 2002; Thompson &
Zakaria, 2004, Haron et al., 2006, Zain & Mohammad,
2007, Yam, 2012) suggesting that these companies
nurture their employees in order to enhance their per-
formance in order to achieve competitive advantage in Figure 1. Total mean CSR disclosure score by key areas.
the long-term (Barney, 1991, Russo & Fouts, 1997).
Table 2. Average mean scores by key areas.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Av Av Av Av Std.

Min Max Mean Devn
A content analysis of the annual reports of eleven
(11) takaful organizations in Malaysia over a three- Training & Education 4.00 20.00 9.76 5.02
year period (2010–2012) were undertaken to examine Occupational Safety 0.00 8.00 1.64 2.44
the CSR disclosure relating to workplace. As takaful and Health Admin
Equitable 0.00 4.00 1.30 1.27
organizations were established to ensure compliance
Opportunity
with Shariah, an Islamic CSR disclosure index devel- Employment 0.67 22.67 6.55 5.82
oped based on Shariah was used to evaluate their Awards and 0.00 7.33 3.53 2.30
CSR practices. The workplace dimension was divided Recognition
into 6 key areas comprising of vital (17 items) and Labour and 2.00 10.00 4.76 2.54
recommended (24) items for a total of 41 possible Management
items of CSR disclosure. The vital items denote funda- Relations
mental activities that were identified as essential and
should be undertaken by Islamic organizations while
the recommended items refer to discretionary activities not show a progressive improvement over the three (3)
that may be undertaken to secure additional rewards years except for Key Area 5 (Awards and Recognition).
and betterment. The level of extensiveness for each Table 2 presents the average mean score by key
item disclosed were ranked according to five cate- areas.
gories; non-disclosure (NON) a score of 0, general The results revealed that Training and Education
information (GEN) a score of 1, qualitative/narrative attained the highest average mean score (9.76), fol-
information (QUA) a score of 2, quantitative infor- lowed by Employment (6.55) and Labour and Man-
mation (QUAN) a score of 3, and a combination agement Relations (4.76). This implies that takaful
of qualitative and quantitative information (COM) a organizations are emphasizing on the competency
score of 4 (see Yusoff et al., 2006). development of their employees. Employment which
Table 1 presents the workplace dimension based was ranked second suggests that takaful organiza-
on key areas, sub-divided into vital and recommended tions are also concerned about their employees basic
items. employment needs. Takaful organizations also seemed
to care about employer-employee relationship.
Table 3 meanwhile presents the average mean score
4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION for the vital items by key areas.
The results revealed that of the vital items, Train-
Figure 1 presents the CSR disclosure based on the key ing and Education achieved the highest mean score
areas for the workplace dimension for the three-year (6.06) suggesting that takaful organizations are direct-
period. The results revealed that the CSR disclosure ing their fundamental CSR practices towards providing
were concentrated on Key Area 1 (Training & Edu- training and education to their employees. This could
cation). However, the results for all the key areas did be to ensure the effective delivery of their products

38
Table 3. Average vital mean scores by key areas. Table 5. Average mean score and ranking by key areas.

Average Average Average Average Ranking based on Level of

Min Max Mean Std. Devn average mean score extensiveness

Training & 1.33 12.00 6.06 3.25 Average Average

Education Mean Ranking Mean
Occupational 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Safety and Training and Education
Health Admin Spiritual and 2.09 11 0.17
Equitable 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Motivational
Opportunity Enhancement
Employment 0.00 8.00 2.94 2.65 Skill Enhancement 13.09 2 1.45
Awards and 0.00 6.00 2.00 1.91 Self-Development 14.73 1 1.57
Recognition Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Labour and 0.00 2.00 0.36 0.69 Health and Safety 5.00 6 0.33
Management Requirements
Relations
Equitable Opportunity
Diversity of Workforce 3.91 9 0.65
Employment
Table 4. Average recommended mean scores by key areas. Remuneration and 2.91 10 0.18
Benefits
Av Av Av Av Std Facilities and Working 3.91 9 0.26
Min Max Mean Devn Conditions
Employees Volunteerism 5.27 5 0.88
Training & 1.33 8.00 3.52 2.17 Healthy Working 4.75 7 0.77
Education Environment
Occupational Safety 0.00 8.00 1.73 2.50
Awards and Recognition
and Health Admin
Incentives and Bonuses 5.00 6 1.62
Equitable Opportunity 0.00 4.00 1.30 1.27
Innovative Ideas and 1.45 12 0.48
Employment 0.00 14.67 3.58 4.09
Awards
Awards and Recognition 0.00 4.67 2.15 1.42
Loyalty Packages 4.36 8 1.45
Labour and Management 1.33 8.00 4.33 2.28
Relations Labour and Management Relations
Employees-Management 7 4 0.84
Engagement
Communication 7.09 3 1.09
and services especially in the marketing of Shariah
compliant products.
Table 4 presents the average mean score for the the spiritual needs of their employees. The results sug-
recommended items by key areas. gest that takaful organizations were not emphasizing
The results from Table 4 show that in the con- training and education in Spiritual and Motivational
text of recommended items, takaful organizations Enhancement as this item was ranked eleven (average
were focusing their CSR activities towards improv- mean 2.09).
ing the labour-management relations (average mean In terms of extensiveness of disclosure, generally,
score 4.33) through engagement activities with their the information provided by takaful organizations is
employees. limited and are of general type information (aver-
Table 5 presents the ranking of the CSR information age mean between (0.18 and 1.62). The most exten-
disclosed based on the detailed average mean score by sive information provided relates to Incentives and
key areas and the level of extensiveness of disclosure Bonuses given to employees (average mean 1.62)
for each item. The results from Table 5 revealed that under the key area Awards and Recognition. This sug-
the item self-development under the key area Train- gests that takaful organizations are concerned about
ing and Education registered the highest score and providing detailed information about rewards given to
was ranked first (average mean 14.73), followed by their employees in order to promote a high perform-
skill-enhancement (average mean 13.09). The item ing team where it is essential that people receive proper
communication under the key area Labour and Man- compensation and are recognised for their work.
agement Relations was ranked third (average mean
7.09). The results imply thattakaful organizations are
emphasizing CSR at the workplace in the context of 5 CONCLUSION
self-development and skill enhancement. However, as
an Islamic organization, it is crucial that these orga- From an Islamic perspective, humans are vicegerent
nizations should also be concerned about the spiritual (khalifah) on this Earth, and are entrusted by God
and motivational development of their employees in to take care of the environment and to interact with
line with Islam’s requirement that employers enrich other humans in order to maintain harmony and peace.

39
In this context, Islamic organizations such as taka-
ful are expected to infuse Islamic values into their
CSR activities and to integrate such CSR activities into
their business model including in their human resource
management. This study examined the CSR disclosure
of takaful organizations in the workplace to enable
a preliminary understanding of the CSR initiatives
undertaken by these organizations.
The findings from the study revealed that the CSR
disclosure of takaful organizations revolves around
training and education for their employees specifically
relating to self-development and skill enhancement.
Takaful organizations also seemed to care about the
employment needs and employer-employee relations.
However, as an Islamic organization, it is crucial that
takaful organizations also embed the spiritual and
motivational development of their employees as such
efforts would align the core values of the organiza-
tion that was set-up to preserve the Shariah element
in insurance, with that of the employees. Furthermore,
such efforts would help in retaining employees who
will be proud to work with organizations that they
share similar values with.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and
the Ministry of Education for the grant received.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Innovation and quality service factors to customer loyalty

in Indonesia telecommunication company by using
structural equation modeling method

M. Dachyar & L. Hananto

Industrial Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, University of Indonesia, Indonesia

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to investigate the influence of innovation and quality of service factors to cus-
tomer loyalty in the telecommunication companies. Big three telecommunication companies in Inodnesia become
an object of this research. Innovation factors which are used being viewed by product, service, technology, and
marketing innovation. While quality of service factors are being viewed by network, coverage, voice limpidity,
data transfer rate, and customer service quality. While customer loyalty is composed of several antecedents,
namely customer expectation, perceived quality, perceived value, corporate image, perceived ease of use, cus-
tomer satisfaction, customer trust, customer commitment, customer complaint, and customer loyalty. Structural
Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that innovation factors has no significant direct influence to customer loyalty,
but has indirect effect through its influences to the antecedents of loyalty, as customer commitment, customer
trust, and customer satisfaction.

1 INTRODUCTION interaction to customer in a business by combin-

Telecommunications industry in Indonesia has grow-
ing rapidly along with increasing number of products
and innovations. Competition among telecommuni-
cations operators are also grow with the growing
telecommunication industry, it is characterized by
numbers of customer of each telecom operator.
Mobile telecommunications industry in Indonesia
grows rapidly due to low penetration of fixed line. The
number of subscribers XL Axiata, has reached to 44
million in 2011. The numbers of Indosat at the same
period was 44.7 million customers, while Telkomsel
has not shifted position in the first sequence with
as many as 115 million subscribers in 2011 from 95
million the previous year.
According to Frost & Sullivan; manager Eugene
van de Weerd, Indonesia cellular telecommunica-
tions market has reached significant progress in the
last five years. Although there are slowdown in the
development of the telecommunications industry as
a result of the pressure of global financial crisis in
2009, but the market in domestic telecommunications
industry is still promising. Total population of Indone-
sia had reached to 240 million that were potential
market for the development of telecommunications
industry (Bisnisukm, 2009).
ing business processes and technology to be able to
understand the customer as a whole.
The advantages of running CRM in a business
(Jutla, C. & Bodorik, 2001; Stone, W. & Wilson, 1996)
are:
• Increasing customer retention & loyalty
• Increasing profits from customer
• Creating values to the customer
• Easy process, producing quality products and high
services
Many people argues on CRM as one of the mar-
keting activity within business process. The following
table described the differences of CRM to Marketing.
2.2 Innovation
In general, innovation can be defined as the appli-
cation of new methods for products, processes, and
other parts to a company or organizations. Innova-
tion is such a new way of doing something, that has
specific values. Innovation can also be translated to a
Table 1. Differences between CRM and Marketing.

CRM Marketing
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Wider Concept Smaller Concept
2.1 Customer relationship management Include Marketing Activity Part of CRM Activity
Business approach to Business using a simple
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is customer oriented marketing strategy
defined as a managerial activity to regulate the

41
Figure 1. Initial Research Model.

revolutionary change in mindset, products, processes, Table 2. The Questionnaire Validity.

and organizations (Schumpeter, 1934).
There are seven dimensions of innovation which KMO and Bartlett’s Test
are based on systemic approach that were introduced
by Vadim Kotelnikov (Inventor, author and founder Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure .917
of Sampling Adequacy.
Ten3 Business e-Coach), namely: Bussiness, Strategy,
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 1.014E4
Organizational, Marketing, Product, Process, Technol- df 3403
ogy. In this study we included only four areas: Product, Sig. .000
Process, Technology, and Marketing, which was also
introduced by Rogers (1995), these were considered as
direct contact to customers, so it was evaluated based
on customer perceptions. Table 3. Demographic Data.

Gender Age Mobile Celuler Provider

2.3 Quality of service
Male 49% 15–18 10% Telkomsel 32%
Service quality are result between customers and Female 51% 19–22 53% Indosat 36%
expectations about services and perceptions are per- 23–26 36% XL 32%
formed (Lehtinen & Lehtinen, 1982; Lewis & boom, 27–30 1%
1983, Grönroos, 1984; Parasuraman et al, 1985; 1988;
Caruana, 2002). Quality of service is the degree of dif-
ferences between normative expectations and service
performance perceptions. Later this were developed 3 RESEARCH METHOD
as overall evaluation of a specific service which
comparing firm’s performance to customer’s general This research model are based on model that has
expectations (Parasuraman et al, 1985). been developed by Feng-Cheng Tung. Building model
Dimension of quality is Quality Network, Quality were adopted from the existing variables. The created
Coverage, Quality Sound Clarity, Quality Data Trans- variable is the manifestation of latent variables and
fer Rate, Quality Customer Service. Basic use of the its effect to others by measuring level of agreement
above dimensions is Minister of Communications and proposed in the questionnaires.
Information Technology 2007 on Mandatory Perfor- The spread questionnaire were conducted in one
mance Standards Implementation Network Operation month which are 600 respondents, and only 520 data
and Cellular Mobile Telephone Services. from respondent can be inputted. After finishing the

42
Figure 2. Path Diagram Latent Variable in Structural Model.
data process, data screening only 467 questionnaires
are valid because lack of consistentcy answers.
The data were processed by multivariate analy-
sis; Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) prior to
processing and data analysis is considering data ade-
quacy. According to Hair, Anderson, Tatham, and
Black (1998), minimum sample for SEM testing is the
ratio of five respondents per variable were observed
as Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE).
In this study, the numbers of observed variable were
83, the adequacy of sample required is 83 × 5 = 415.
Questionnaires that have been deployed as many as
467 are sufficient for data process requirements.
The result of overall reliability test using Cronbach
alpha 0.947 with 83 items. The following test results
for overall validity.
The result of demographic from the questionnaire
respondents are as follows.
4 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
In this study the data were processed by multivariate
analysis, namely Structural Equation Modeling.The
test were conducted on the measurement model fit
by value or the value of RMSEA p-value. Parameters
of the suitability are viewed from value of RMSEA.
The RMSEA below 8%, or if the terms the value
p-value above 5%. Furthermore, testing the validity of
measurement models, by t-value which if it is greater
than the critical value, i.e. ≥1.96. is said the observed
variable are valid latent variables.
The RMSEA value measurement model for 0015 is
less than 5%. The suggestsion for this measurement
models are matched to the existing data. It has t-value
>1.96.
If the t-value are between −1.96 and 1.96 (−1.96
< t-value <1, 96) then declared indication of no
significant effect between the latent variables.
Obtained RMSEA value measurement model
shows the value of 0016 is less than 5% this indicates
43
the structural model of fited to existing data. The
obtained of structural relationship has valued of −1.96
< t-value < 1.96, which means there is no influence
of one latent to others in a path. We can see at Figure 2.
5 CONCLUSION
Referred to structural model analysis, there may be
some influences among latent variables which are
not significant; are less able to represent the existing
theory.
The influence of innovation on loyalty can be
demonstrated by indirect influence; quality factor,
quality on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, viewed
from the influence of customer satisfaction to cus-
tomer confidence that leads to the influence of cus-
tomer trust and customer commitment. Enhancing
customer loyalty, companies must gives attention of
gaining customers trust committed to mobile oper-
ator which then improved customer satisfaction by
improving quality of service and innovation of mobile
operators.
REFERENCES
Cheng Tung, Feng. 2010. Exploring Customer Satisfac-
tion, Perceived Quality and Image: An Empirical Study
in the Mobile Services Industry. The Business Review,
Cambridge. Vol. 14.
Eboli L. & Gabriella M. 2009. A New Customer Satisfaction
Index for Evaluating Transit Service Quality, Journal of
Public Transportation, Vol. 12. No. 3. pp. 21–37.
Hair Jr., Joseph F., C. Black, William, Babin, Barry J., Rolph
E. 2010. Anderson, Multivariate Data Analysis; Seventh
Edition.Pearson Prentice-Hall.
Joreskog, Karl G., & Sorbom, Dag. 1993. Lisrel 8: Structural
Equation Modeling with Simplis Command Language,
Scientific Software International, Inc-USA.
Kim, J. & Hwang, H. 2003. A Model for Evaluating Effec-
tiveness of CRM Using Balance Score Card, Journal of
Interactive Marketing, vol. 17, no. 2.
Lee, Y. & Liu, Dr. Tsai-lung. 2008. Tajen University. Taiwan.
“The Effects of Innovation Diffusion on Customer Loy-
alty”. The Business Review, Cambridge Vol. 10. Summer.
Lichtlé, M. & Plichon, Véronique. 2008. Understanding
Better Consumer Loyalty. Recherche et Applications en
Marketing. Vol. 23. No. 4. p. 122.
Parasuraman, A., Valerie A. Zeithaml, and Leonard L. Berry.
1988. SERVQUAL: A Multiple-Item Scale for Measur-
ing Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality. Journal of
Retailing, Vol. 64, No. 1, 12.
44
Rogers, Mark. 1988. The Definition and Measurement of
Innovation. Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 10.
p. 6.
Tsoukatos, E. & K. Rand, Graham. 2006. Path analysis of per-
ceived service quality, satisfaction and loyalty in Greek
insurance. Managing Service Quality Vol. 16. No. 5.
pp. 501–519.
White, M. A. & Burton, G. D. 2007. The Management
of Technology and Innovation: A Strategic Approach,
Thomson South-Western, p. 328.
 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Designing instruction for Knowledge Management processes using a wiki

D. DeWitt, Norlidah Alias, Saedah Siraj & Fonny Hutagalung

University of Malaya, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: In the digital age when there is unlimited information on the internet, knowledge management
(KM) is important for management and generation of new knowledge. However, KM is not taught formally
in learning institutions. There are few studies incorporating KM processes in learning, and even less with ICT
tools. There is a need to determine suitable design for tasks to promote KM processes among undergraduates. In
this study, a task was assigned for students to plan the use of an ICT tool in the field of counseling and display
it on a wiki for their peers’ comments. The task was shown to be beneficial as new knowledge was created. The
results indicated that KM processes had occurred. This study is significant as a design for developing KM skills
for generation of knowledge, innovation and creativity is required in learning institutions and at the workplace
to create k-workers for the future.

1 INTRODUCTION new knowledge to be generated (Zhang, Scardamalia,

Lamon, Messina & Reeve, 2007; Montero-Fleta &
1.1 Knowledge management Pérez-Sabater, 2011). The interactions during the col-
laboration on online platforms promote the generation
In this digital age, the internet is invaluable for com-
of knowledge (Jyothi, McAvinia & Keating, 2012;
munication and sharing of information (Martin &
Zydney, deNoyelles & Seo, 2012).
Madigan, 2006). The unlimited information available
KM processes for the transformation of knowledge
requires new skills in order to manage the knowledge
are knowledge acquisition, knowledge internalisation,
to be developed among the knowledge workers of the
knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, and knowl-
21st century (Martin 2006). Knowledge workers with
edge application for innovation (Kappes & Thomas
expertise in solving problems are highly in demand and
1993). In collaborative writing tasks, learners need
add value to existing content by creating new knowl-
to acquire and manage the knowledge before the
edge through social interactions in communities of
new knowledge is generated to be published online
practice (Ronen & Pasher, 2011). The original purpose
(Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012). As knowledge is
of KM is to realise the value of knowledge and to create
selected and linked to the existing mental schema for
new wealth for the community (Chen & Xu, 2010).
internalization, and thorough discussions and interac-
On the other hand, KM is not taught formally in
tions in the community of learners, it transforms into
schools and in universities (Cranfield & Taylor, 2008;
a collective knowledge in a new context (Kappes &
Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012). Some organizations
Thomas, 1993). In this way, higher level cognitive
focus on instruction for information literacy, which is
skills are developed as part of the KM processes
the acquisition, evaluation and the use of information
(Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012; Kappes & Thomas,
to address issues and problems (Martin, 2006). How-
1993).
ever, there seems to be a lack of emphasis on the cre-
ation of knowledge, one of the value processes in KM.
ICT tools and applications can enable KM pro-
cesses. Search engines and other data mining tools 2 THE STUDY
are used for the discovery of knowledge and to cap-
ture content, while word processors, web pages and 2.1 The need for the study
blogs can be used for content creation (Dalkir, 2011). KM is originally used for the management of orga-
Knowledge is shared through emails, group forums, nizations, but its use has been extended to educa-
social media and collaborative writing tools (Dalkir, tion (Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012). However, not
2011). many studies have analysed KM processes in learning
(Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012). In the Malaysian con-
text, there have been fewer studies on KM processes
1.2 Wikis for knowledge management
using wikis for use in higher education.
Studies have shown that wikis can be utilised for col- This study is important as there is a need to
laboration in problem-solving activities and enables determine if the design of instruction using KM

45
processes to create new knowledge can be extended
to education in fields other than management studies.
The transformation of the education system towards
quality teaching and learning requires a shift towards
developing knowledge management skills (Biasutti &
El-Deghaidy, 2012). This is required in order to
develop skilled k-workers of tomorrow.
In this study, a knowledge sharing tool, a wiki,
is employed for creation of new knowledge. A is
task designed for problem-solving among counseling
undergraduates, who are required to publish online
and share their work on a wiki. The study will deter-
mine whether KM processes are undertaken in the
completion of this task. KM is for the creation of
new knowledge, and this study seeks to investigate the
potential of wikis to be used in a problem-solving task
for this purpose in an institution of higher learning.
2.2 The aim of the study
In this case study, the knowledge management pro-
cesses of undergraduates undertaking a problem task is
investigated in order to answer the following research
questions:
What knowledge management processes occurred dur-
ing the solution of the task?
What are the participants’ perceptions of the problem-
solving task using a wiki?
2.3 Method and procedure
First-year undergraduates enrolled in a counseling
course in a public university participated in the study.
The 36 undergraduates enrolled in the Computer Skills
for Counselors course were given a task to investigate
the use of a new technology application for counsel-
ing. A list of technology applications were given for
the student for selection. They had to attempt the task
individually, and describe the application, its original
purpose, the history of the development of the applica-
tion and create new information on how the application
could be used for counseling related activities. In addi-
tion, they had to suggest a detailed plan for the use of
the application in the field of counseling.
The task was displayed through links on the class
wiki to their individual wiki sites on WikiSpaces. The
progress could be viewed by their peers, who gave
comments and encouragement online.They were given
three weeks to complete the task, with the help of their
friends, and were evaluated on their final product.
On completion of the tasks, they were then given
two questionnaires to answer, the Knowledge Manage-
ment Questionnaire (KMQ) and Student Satisfaction
Questionnaire (SSQ) as described below. Data was
also collected from interviews with the students on
their perception of the task and the KM processes. In
addition, a content analysis of the written documenta-
tion of the task on the wiki was done according to the
five domains of KM (Kappes & Thomas 1993).
The interpretation of the five domains for con-
tent analysis is as follows: Knowledge acquisition
is for selection of accurate and suitable information,
46
Table 1. Mean and standard deviation on KM domains.
Domains Mean Standard Deviation
Knowledge Acquisition 4.2000 .49309
Knowledge Internalization 4.1238 .58904
Knowledge Creation 4.0000 .74973
Knowledge Sharing 4.5333 .44428
Knowledge Application 4.4286 .57492
from internet search or otherwise, to be included in
the documentation, while knowledge internalization is
indicated when there is a reference to prior knowledge,
and organizing the information. Knowledge creation
refers to ideas and ways of using the technology for
counseling that is not copied from other sources, but
may be innovated from others. Knowledge sharing
is indicated when the information is not hidden but
shared with other freely. Knowledge application refers
to the knowledge of the use of the tool specifically to
the counseling consultation and work environment.
2.4 Instrument
Two questionnaires were employed: The Knowl-
edge Management Questionnaire (KMQ) and Student
Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ). The KMQ mea-
sures the application of KM processes using a 5-point
Likert Scale and is reliable above the 0.70 standard
of reliability with a total Cronbach alpha of 0.86
(Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012). The SSQ evaluated
students’ opinions on the use of wikis with a 5-point
Likert scale and covered the following: use of the wiki;
the didactic materials and the instructor (Biasutti &
El-Deghaidy, 2012). The SSQ had Cronbach’s alpha
coefficients above the 0.70 standard of reliability as
follows: Wiki tool alpha: 0.73; Didactic materials:
0.71; and Instructor: 0.85.
3 FINDINGS AND DISUCSSION
3.1 Background information
Although the participants were ‘digital natives’ who
use social media tools (all of them use the microblog,
Facebook), the majority had never used wikis before
(77.1%), while most used rarely (11.4%) and only
one person, regularly (2.7%). The task was their first
experience in using wikis for learning.
3.2 Knowledge management processes
Participants perceived that they shared, applied
and acquired knowledge. However, they were cer-
tain whether they had generated knowledge. The
analysis of the KM processes from the KMQ
showed higher scores for the sharing and application
of knowledge (Mean = 4.5333; S.D. = 0.44428; and
Mean = 4.4286; S.D. = 0.57492, respectively) (see
Table 1).
Further analysis of the individual items showed that
the students scored lower on the knowledge creation
aspect as they.
Table 2. Mean and standard deviation on the KM processes. to develop new ideas.” One new idea suggested was on
using an application for interactive storytelling using
Items Mean SD* graphics to make a storybook, Storybird, to be used for
youths to create their own stories. The counselor can
I selected the right information on the 4.2857 .62174 use the storyline and graphics to identify problems,
internet
phobias and other obsessions the youth may have.
I documented the type of information 4.2000 .63246
needed However, most of the new knowledge created was
I summarized the results of the internet 4.1143 .67612 related to the use of new technology tools for com-
search munication and collaboration. The community of
I related new information to previous 4.2571 .56061 learners, the first-year counseling students, were also
knowledge learning new tools and observing how it was applied
I updated my knowledge repertoire 4.0857 .74247 into their field for interaction and therapy. As one
consistently student shared: “I learnt to collaborate and I discov-
I categorised the new information in an 4.0286 .82197 ered a lot of new things. I have a deeper knowledge
organised way
about YouTube, and I can relate on how to apply it in
I developed new ideas 4.0286 .78537
I developed new concepts 3.9429 .90563 the counseling field. I learnt how to design the wiki
I developed new ways of using ICT in 4.0286 .82197 page, and how to organise information systematically
counseling so that people can read it comfortably.” The students
I shared information with my peers 4.5143 .50709 had to present their task on the new technology tools
I supported sharing information with 4.4286 .69814 on a wiki. This wiki enabled the students to read
others by the use of technological tools their friends task and learn new applications of tech-
I encouraged a culture of knowledge 4.6571 .53922 nology. There were collaborative writing platforms
sharing such as wiki and GoggleDocs, and social and interac-
I applied the knowledge to my tasks 4.4857 .65849
tive platforms in video repositories, such as Youtube
I referred to best practices 4.4286 .69814
I transferred and adapted best practices 4.3714 .64561 and Vimeo, being presented. Hence, the wiki enabled
to my tasks the community of student-counselors to acquire new
knowledge which can be applied in their field of study.
*Standard Deviation. Knowledge sharing was important for knowledge
application. “New ideas were developed when my
peers contributed their opinions”.The sharing gave the
learner a responsibility to ensure information posted
Although the mean for knowledge creation was
was accurate and well-organized. “The answers and
high (Mean = 4.000; S.D. = 0.74973), analysis of the
comments from my peers made me feel responsible in
details indicated the lowest score in the development of
ensuring information was clear and interesting.” The
new concepts (Mean = 3.9429; S.D. = 0.90563) (see
processes led to the internalization of knowledge:“I’ve
Table 2).
learnt how to design my own page, to make it more
The students perceived that the KM processes of
interesting. I learnt how to arrange my points in order
knowledge acquisition, internalization, sharing, cre-
when writing. In addition, I gained knowledge on the
ation and application were occurring (see Table 1).
topics chosen.”
This was verified during the interviews. Knowledge
The tasks was useful for creating new knowledge:
was acquired: “I learnt new things that I had never
“It was easy to get new ideas from my friends”, “we
thought of before.” Observation during the process of
sometimes get ideas from things that we overlooked”,
documentation on the wiki showed that the students
and “It’s my first time using wiki and I actually felt
were actively searching for knowledge using search
refreshed as I never imagined that I could make my
engines such as Google. There was not much related
own wiki page, although it’s not an official one”.
to the technology tools they had to investigate in books
All the processes of KM were occurring in the task
and academic journals, hence the internet was referred
assigned, which was verified form the interviews and
to for shared knowledge.
content analysis on the wikis.
As the students searched for information, they had
to evaluate it. They identified the uses of the technol-
3.3 Satisfaction in using the wiki
ogy tool as well as advantages and disadvantages. This
knowledge of new technology tools and its application, The students were satisfied in the design of the learning
had to be internalized so that new knowledge could be environment as the score for the wiki as a tool for col-
created in the students field of study, counseling. laboration in doing the tasks, the nature of the materials
There does not be to be many applications of tech- as well as the instructor in the learning environment
nology tools for the use of client-counselor interaction were high (see Table 3).
sessions, or even for therapy at present. Students had The students were actively using the wiki for their
to use the internalized knowledge to create new uses own work as well as viewing their peers’ work. They
for the tool for client-counselor interaction, and to use had accessed their personal wiki and peers’ wiki more
for therapy sessions. than a couple of times (See Table 4).
New knowledge was being created as ideas were The wiki was a “fun” way to interact as the user
investigated after information was internalized: “I got can “put graphics, links and colour.” Students felt that

47
Table 3. Mean and standard deviation on the satisfaction of the learner to search and evaluate the information, then
the design of the learning environment. internalize with his existing schema, and to share the
information with his peers on an online site was use-
Items Mean SD* ful in the creation of new knowledge. Publishing of the
information online, on a wiki, encouraged the learner
Wiki tool 4.3667 .40584
to ensure the accuracy and validity of the information,
Didatic material 4.0971 .34427
Instructor 4.5746 .45533 and hence creation of valuable knowledge (Biasutti &
El-Deghaidy, 2012).
*Standard Deviation. The wiki, as a collaborative writing tool proved
to be effective for sharing and creating new knowl-
edge (Dalkir, 2011). Learners were engaged with the
Table 4. Frequency of access to the wiki during the study. capability of the wiki in creation of knowledge, dis-
play of information and for an interactive platform
More than 7–12 3–6 1–2 for social interaction. In fact, these social interactions
Frequency 13 times times times times Never in the learning community contributed to the genera-
tion of knowledge (Ronen & Pasher, 2011). The new
Personal 28.6 31.4 31.4 8.57 0.0 knowledge was a result of the need to ensure the infor-
wiki (%)
Group 5.7 37.1 25.7 28.6 2.9
mation was accurate, and improvement through the
wiki (%) suggestions from the community (Kappes & Thomas,
1993). In addition, observing the wiki published by
their peers, and modeling the formats used by the
experts within the community, enabled the learner to
learning using wikis was beneficial: “Learners get to generate new ideas.
be more open-minded, creative and critical. Learning A collaborative problem-solving task can enable
gets to be more interesting.” knowledge management processes to encourage cre-
The wiki was also a useful collaborative tool: ativity and innovation in learning at undergraduate
“Wikispaces is a good platform for groups of people level. Future research will need to be done to deter-
to interact and have the opportunity to explore and mine if it can generate creativity and innovation in
share information with everyone.” It enabled didactic other subjects and at different levels of education in
interactions with the materials posted by the learners: school. However, it is not known if other collabora-
“The wiki encourages interaction and the members are tive tools can have the same results. Other technology
closer.” tools may have different affordances for KM processes
The instructor played a main role in maintaining the (Dalkir, 2011). In addition, different combination of
interaction and collaboration:“We’re often encouraged technology tools may be more effective.
by our lecturer to interact with each other by com- The digital age requires students to be equipped
menting or criticizing on the posts in the wiki, and with skills that can help them to be innovative and
from those comments, we get to know which part of creative in this knowledge-laden work. Hence, new
our work needs to be corrected and improved.” instructional strategies and tasks which allows the
In general, the students felt that wikis could be used student to manage knowledge will allow students to
for learning: “This is applicable and suitable to most expand their creativity and be innovative.
of the courses, especially for learning,” and “wikis
can be easily accessed by everyone in learning, and
doesn’t cost a thing. It is important that other people
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
are introduced to wikis as well.”
The participants were satisfied and interested in
This work was supported by the University Malaya
learning using wikis. They found it interesting and all
Research Grant [RG386-12HNE].
of them said that they would recommend it to their
friends, and 80% indicated they would definitely use
wikis for learning again. REFERENCES
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Education 58: 77–87.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Mobile educational apps for children: Towards development

of i-CARES framework

Farrah Dina Yusop & Rafiza Abd razak

Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Mobile devices have becoming a new phenomenon not only among adults but also children of
all ages. Children use these devices most frequently for entertainment purposes especially to playing games
easily downloaded via online mobile app distribution stores such as Google Play and Apple’s App Store, more
than for its educational purposes. Consequently parents and educators in general are concerned with the impact
of this phenomenon – or mobile apps addiction – among their children. This is due to the inappropriateness
of the apps content and graphics for their growing children. What is much needed is educational-appropriate
mobile educational apps suitable for children. This paper discusses i-CARES, a five-phase framework detailing
proposed sequential processes of selecting, categorizing, reviewing, evaluating and synthesizing variety of mobile
educational apps for children. The framework was based on two theoretical models that is Howard Gardner’s
(1993) and Jean Piaget’s (1928) theories of Multiple Intelligences and Stages of Development from birth to the
age of 12. Each stage of the framework consists of specific processes and tangible outputs to inform the selection
of the apps. The i-CARES framework is intended to act as practical guidelines for parents and educators alike
to make informed decision in utilization of any mobile educational apps.

1 INTRODUCTION if not any, educational values for children to learn from

Mobile computing devices such as iPad, tablet comput-
ers, netbooks and smartphones have become a social
phenomenon in today’s society. It is not uncommon
to see children of all ages as early as preschoolers to
teenagers walking around with these gadgets in their
hands. They use the gadgets not only to communicate
with their friends and acquaintances, but also to orga-
nize their daily activities from planning on what movie
to watch during the weekends to buying things online
(Yusop & Sumari, 2013).
Because these mobile devices havebecome part of
children’s everyday activity and lifestyle, it is quite
impossible for parents to preventthem from using the
technologies. Instead parents should take control over
the type of mobile apps including games that their chil-
dren are playing with. Mobile apps in this paper refers
to various software applications designed for and
downloadable to mobile devices such as smartphones,
computer tablets, and iPads, among others.
Whilst there are thousands of apps available in the
market today, choosing the most appropriate ones for
children to use and play with is problematic. This is
because some of the apps such as games-based apps are
very entertainment-oriented and lack of its educational
impact on child cognitive and attitude development.
Moreover some apps are unsuitable for specific age
of the children which may result in issue with content
appropriateness or to some extent graphic appropri-
ateness. Violent games for instance do not have much,
and are definitely unsuitable for younger children.
This paper proposes a design and development
approach to help parents and educators in choosing
suitable mobile educational apps for children from
birth to 12 year old. This approach focuses on the five
crucial steps parents and educators should apply based
on two main theoretical constructs: Howard Gardner’s
(1993) Multiple Intelligences theory and Jean Piaget’s
(1928) Stages of Development theory. Both theories
are discussed in the following section.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
We propose that selection of suitable apps needs to
adhere to physical, emotional, cognitive and skill level
of the individual child. In this paper, the review was
based on Piaget’s (1928) four stages of child develop-
ment theory and Howard Gardner’s (1999) Multiple
Intelligences Theory.
The Multiple Intelligence web-based learning has
the very positive effect on overall students. Grounded
on this basis, this research discussed the application of
the theoryas well as its development and design, in the
hope of achieving effective “individualized” learning.
With this in mind, learning oriented web sites are to
be brought into full play, instead of being limited to
simply dazzling sound and visual effect or plain text
(Zang & Kung 2004).

51
Figure 1. i-CARES system design.
Cabada et al. (2008) created four different instances
corresponding to four different student learning
styles: Visual/Spatial, Logical/Mathematical, Ver-
bal/Linguistic, and Musical/Rhythmic. They presented
an author tool to facilitate the creation of adaptive
learning material to be used in handheld devices. The
adaptive material uses a pedagogical approach based
on Multiple Intelligences and Fuzzy Logic Theory. The
main contribution is a new author tool which allows
instructors to systematically build tutoring systems for
groups of mobile learners; everything under a graphic
and visual environment. Another application of Multi-
ple Intelligence Theory presented by Zuo et al. (2007),
hope to realize human’s full scale development on the
basis of obtaining knowledge through game-learning.
Subsequently, the early roots of Constructivism are
from the educational theories of John Dewey and Jean
Piaget (Brown and Green, 2006). Dewey set the foun-
dation for constructivism by finding inquiry to be
a key part of learning. Piaget’s theories also helped
to shape constructivism with the key concepts of
assimilation, accommodation and schema. Combined,
these theories constitute the beginning of the construc-
tivist learning process by focusing on how learning is
processed and structured (Neo, 2007).
Cognitive developmental research has had a great
impact on the constructivism movement in education
and educational technology. Piaget’s cognitive theory
and derive an inquiry-training model from it that sup-
port a constructivist approach to teaching and learning.
The theory contributed to the design, process and
development of constructive e-learning environments.
Gillani (2010) presented the Web as an appropri-
ate instructional delivery medium to apply Piaget’s
cognitive theory to create e-learning environments.
2.1 Development of i-CARES framework
i-CARES is a linear systems designcomprising six
developmental stages (Figure 1). It is the process of
defining and developing systems of mobile educa-
tional app for children to satisfy specified require-
ments of parents in selecting the appropriate mobile
educational app for their children. The Process Design
of i-CARES concerned with how data moves through
the system, and with how and where it is validated,
secured and/or transformed as it flows into, through
52
and out of the system. At the end of the systems design
phase, documentation describing the six sub-tasks is
produced.
The flow of i-CARES production process began
with identifying the appropriate educational apps for
the children ages 0 to 12 year old. A careful selection
of the educational apps was based on three impor-
tant criteria in choosing educational apps for children.
Educational traits and values are put forth as the ini-
tial criteria in selecting appropriate educational apps
for children. Furthermore, the highlight was prepar-
ing children in becoming 21th century learners. Thus,
producing effective instruction via integration of tech-
nology and media in education can aid educational
process for 21th century learners.
Nonetheless, i-CARES considers Piaget’s four
stages Child Development theory essentially useful in
developing the educational mobile apps for children.
The sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years) allow children
to explore the world around them with their sensors
and motor skills. Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
is the development of speech and symbolic activities,
numerical activities, increased selfcontrol and ability
to delay gratification. Concrete operational stage (7 to
11 years) increased their abstract reasoning ability, can
generalize from concrete experiences and able to per-
form conservation tasks. Formal operations stage (12
to 15 years), they form and test hypotheses, organize
information and reason scientifically and able to show
abstract thinking with symbolic materials. However,
the identifying stage in i-CARES considers the formal
operation stage merely at the age 12.
The language aspect is nevertheless, significant
in developing educational mobile apps for children.
English as an international and globally used lan-
guage was chosen as the medium for communication
throughout the process. Clear, concise and unbiased
content of language use in the educational mobile apps
is essential in maintaining the quality of the product.
The output of the identifying stage is the checklist
of appropriate educational mobile apps that cater for
children between birth till 12 years old.
Next, is the categorizing stage in the development of
i-CARES.This is the stage where the carefully selected
and appropriate apps being clustered in the suitable
category according to Multiple Intelligences The-
ory. Gardner categorizes eight different and relatively
 Table 1. i-CARES stages, processes and output.
Stages Processes involved
Identify Choose apps
• Criteria
◦ Have educational values
◦ Age-appropriate – Piaget’s
developmental stages
◦ Language – English
Categorize Cluster the apps based on the Multiple Intelligences
Review Review the advantages and limitations of the apps
Evaluate Evaluate the quality of the apps – high, medium, low quality
Synthesis Recommend or not recommend for use
independent types of intelligences namely linguis-
tic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-
kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal and naturalist.
The outcome of this stage is Multiple Intelligence
checklist for educational mobile apps.
The third stage of the development of i-CARES is
the review stage. Advantages and limitations of the
educational mobile apps are presented at this stage.
Predominantly, a transparent and clear description
of the educational apps is portrayed for the conve-
nience of targeted audience. The output of this stage
is a review report with detailed description of advan-
tages and limitations of educational mobile apps for
children.
Subsequently, the developmental stage of i-CARES
passed through evaluation stage. The quality of the
educational mobile apps is evaluated based on three
levels; low, medium and high in terms of quality. At
the end of the process a report on the status of qual-
ity is produced. Finally, thei-CARES developmental
process reach the synthesis part. This part produce
recommendations on whether the educational mobile
apps applicable or not applicable for use among chil-
dren. The end product is the i-CARES Rubric. Table 1
summarizes of the developmental stages of i-CARES.
3 SUMMARY
The process of selecting mobile educational apps for
children is a complex one as many theories could
be applied as its base. In this paper we highlighted
two main theories, that is, Howard Gardner’s (1993)
Multiple Intelligences theory and Jean Piaget’s (1928)
Stages of Development theory to aid our selection pro-
cesses. The on-going i-CARES framework featured in
this paper is hoped to become a useful guideline for
parents and educators on choosing appropriate mobile
educational apps based on their children development.
It may also be used by mobile app designers and
developers in thinking about their intended audiences
in the process of creating such apps.
53
Output
Checklist of appropriate apps
criteria for children 0–12 year
Multiple Intelligence checklist
Review report
Quality report
i-CARES Rubric
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study is funded by the University of Malaya
Research Grant no. RP004E-13ICT.
REFERENCES
Brown, A. & Green, T.D. (2006). The essentials of instruc-
tional design: Connecting fundamental principles with
process and practice. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Pearson.
Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelli-
gences for the 21st Century. NY: Basic Books
Gillani, B. B. (2010) Inquiry-based training model and the
design of e-learning environments.Issues in Informing
Science and Information Technology, 7(1).
Neo, M. (2007). Learning with multimedia: engaging stu-
dents in constructivist learning. International Journal of
Instructional Media, 34(2), 149–158.
Piaget, J. (1928).The child’s conception of the world. London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul
Cabada, R. Z., Estrada, M. L. B., Barrientos, E. U., Velásquez,
M. O., and García C A R. (2008). Multiple Intelligence
Tutoring Systems for Mobile Learners. Eighth IEEE Inter-
national Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies
July 1–5, 2004. Santander, Cantabria.
Yusop, F.D. & Sumari, M. (2013). The use of social media
technologies among Malaysian youth. Paper presented
at the International Educational Technology Conference
(IETC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Zang Y. O., Kung W. L. (2004). Integrating the the-
ory of Multiple Intelligences in the Chemical equilib-
rium course to improve student’s learning achievements.
Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on
Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT’04) 30 Aug.–
1 Sept. 2004. Retrieved on 24 November, 2013. Retrived
at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&
arnumber=1357704&url = http %3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.
ieee . org % 2Fxpls%2Fabs _ all . jsp%3Farnumber%3D13
57704.
Zuo M. Z., Wang Y. F., Yu Y., Chen L. (2007). The design-
ing strategy of rgp game-learning under the instruction
of multiple intelligence theory 37th ASEE/IEEE Fron-
tiers in Education Conference. October 10–13, 2007,
Milwaukee, WI.
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© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Designing framework of electronic Continued Professional

Development for teachers (e-CPD)

Rafiza Abd razak & Farrah Dina Yusop

Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses on designing framework of virtual training for teachers namely electronic
Continued Professional Development (e-CPD). The discussion contributes to the professional development of
teachers in applying virtual training to augment their understanding of their teaching according to specialization.
The paper also presents the virtual teaching and learning platform such as Frog Virtual Learning Environment
(VLE) initiated by the Malaysia Ministry of Education. E-CPD was thus designed in conjunction for teachers’
Continued Professional Development via virtual environment. E-collaboration activities in the virtual training
are also highlighted. Predominantly, the paper presented the development of e-CPD design framework which is
essentially useful and recommended for future application in designing virtual training for technical skills.

Keywords: E-collaboration, Virtual Training, Continued Professional Development, e-Continued Professional

Development

1 INTRODUCTION 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Student learning and success are due, in large part, 2.1 Application of virtual teaching
to the effectiveness of teachers. However, Deakin and learning in Malaysia
et al. (2010) mention that teaching routine workload
Realizing the challenges in Malaysian educational sys-
and time constraint often hinder them from spending
tem, a new technological initiative called 1BestariNet
more time doing activities such as planning, preparing
was launched in 2010 to provide schools with more
resources, observing colleagues’ lessons and contin-
computers together with high-capacity wireless Inter-
ued professional development (CPD). The activities
net access to support technology-based teaching and
are accessible and available to be implemented at
learning approaches. In achieving quality education,
anytime and anywhere via online. Teachers are able
a high speed wireless internet with 4G has been
to collaborate and share task with other colleagues
equipped in all schools. To complement, frog virtual
for example utilizing a ‘personal learning network’
learning environment (vle) was established in schools.
to improve preparation and instructional activities
It is designed to augment learning for teachers and
(Microsoft Partners in Learning, 2013).
students.
Thus, teachers’ continuing professional develop-
The platform was cloud-based design to cater for
ment has become a major highlight within the school
unlimited learning experience. Learning can be any-
reform and improvement researches (OECD 2009).
where at anytime and no more heavy school bags for
Professional development is seen as an important
students. Teachers may not fear for lacking in tech-
mechanism for enhancing teachers’ content knowl-
nical skills. Without technical skills in developing a
edge and improving their instruction (Desimone et al.,
website, teacher or students can collect video, image
2002). There are recent studies examining successful
and educational resources then arrange and organize
online environment in terms of professional devel-
them in a website. They may design and develop own
opment teaching online (Mandernach et al., 2005;
teaching and learning materials to suit the variety of
Taylor & McQuiggan, 2008). Hence, this research
learning styles within a simple click. Moreover, less
investigated the implementation of e-CPD on design-
time and effort required thus ease teacher in planning
ing creative multimedia products for instructional
for instruction and manage academic calendar.
purposes.

55
 An online learning management system called Frog
Virtual Learning Environment (Frog-VLE) has been
established as a web-based learning platform intended
to expand the learning experiences beyond the con-
fined classroom setting. The platform not only desig-
nated for teacher and students, but also for parents to
track their children’s learning progress.
The frog virtual learning product is an established,
renowned and recognized globally. Content and edu-
cational tools are integrated for example from Khan
Academy and Google Apps to enhance teaching and
learning. It comprises of social networking platform
to connect teachers, thus be able to communicate and
collaborate within their community of practice.
Similar tools, is also designed for students.
2.2 Application of virtual training for teachers
Electronic Continued Professional Development or
e-CPD is a platform for virtual training designed to
augment teachers’ understanding of technology based
teaching according to specialization.The designed was
intended to suit the local context of teachers’ pro-
fessional development (Rafiza, Farahdina and Shahril
Nizam, 2013).The design caters for the need to encour-
age teachers’ collaboration and sharing of expertise.
The platform was designed to inculcate the culture
of sharing knowledge and collaborating online among
teachers in Malaysia.
Looking at the implementation of E-Continued Pro-
fessional Development (E-CPD), Wang (2007) identi-
fies difficulties such as extra time required to support
chat discussion, some academic staff may have prob-
lems with lack of available time and technical skills
to utilize the technology. They seldom utilize chats, or
suggest listservs to students, or upload students’ work
on web pages. On the contrary, academic staff con-
veniently use email and prefer students to use online
resources (Wang, 2007).
A study concludes that teachers exposed to the
e-training significantly changed their attitudes toward
online instruction. They perceive it as more of an inter-
active medium than face-to-face instruction and more
participatory form of instruction. Significantly, upon
completing the online training, teachers utilize the
online platform as a medium of interaction and instruc-
tion accessible anytime and anywhere (Gold, 2001).
Virtual CPD or e-CPD is a method which is tremen-
dously useful and applicable in enhancing teachers’
performance. Its online nature allows activities and
learning resources to be accessible and available at
anytime and anywhere. Teachers, too, are able to dis-
cuss, collaborate and share tasks or teaching resources
with their online colleagues to plan and improve their
teaching preparation and instructional activities.
Whilst e-CPD seems to be ideal solution to current
face-to-face CPD, it needs to be carefully designed and
closely monitored by the CPD administrators and/or
organizers. Reflecting on their own e-CPD experience
with several groups of Malaysian in-service teachers,
Rafiza, Farrah Dina and Shahril Nizam (2013) con-
clude that e-CPD could be a complete failure without
56
Figure 1. e-CPD design framework.
continuous participation, collaboration and techni-
cal support between the administrators and teachers.
They also mention sustaining teachers’ motivations
to actively participate in the online environment has
proven to be a great challenge. Among other fac-
tors, they associate the challenge with the teachers’
feelings of comfort interacting in an online envi-
ronment. If teachers feel uncomfortable interacting
online, they would not participate actively in discus-
sions, and vice versa. They recommend teachers to
be exposed to the e-training environment prior to the
session and equipped with necessary technical skills
to interact so as to boost their confidence level with
the technology. Their views are somewhat similar to
of Snoeyink and Ertmer (2002) who mention that lim-
ited resources, lack of time, lack of technical support,
technical problem, the teachers’ lack of confidence,
resistance to change and negative attitudes and no per-
ception of benefits may slowly drift away as more
effective training and administrative support applied.
2.3 Development of e-CPD framework
E-CPD is an abbreviation of Electronic Continued
Professional Development. It is a system designed
specifically tailored for the purpose of preparing pro-
fessional development programs for teachers. The
design of the system is based on virtual collaborative
interaction between teachers and instructors. Despite,
the development process is a cyclic motion as it
continuously experiences the enhancement and main-
tenance procedures to ensure the content of the virtual
training conveniently suits the needs and demands of
the teachers. Nevertheless, the iterative process pro-
vides training that suitable for the current demand of
educational trend.
The design of e-CPD provides useful links to
accommodate teachers along the training process.
These encompasses reflection, forum, notes, news and
announcement, activities, modules, multimedia aca-
demic materials, online video, resources. The links
assist teachers in accessing information and content
of e-CPD (Rafiza Abdul Razak, 2013).
Thus, in designing the framework of e-CPD, the
Three-Phase Development (3PD) Model and ADDIE
Model are adapted (Mayer, 2005). Figure 1 illustrates
the process of design and development of e-CPD. The
model is designed conveniently suitable in to meet the
teachers’ current needs and demands in training infor-
mation, communication and technology skills. The
framework describes the system in developing virtual
training for teachers. In addition, the system is also
applicable for other virtual professional training. The
design is intended to enhance and dynamically update
the skills and knowledge among educators.
The process in designing and developing e-CPD
involves seven phases; Analysis (A), Design (D1),
Development (D2), Implementation (I), Evaluation
(E1), Enhancement (E2) and Maintenance (M). The
analysis phase analyzes the demographic background
of the teachers. The teachers’ ICT competency and
needs are investigated. Furthermore, the conducive
infrastructure for virtual training is also looked
through in preparing comfortable and appropriate
conduct of virtual training platform.
The design phase produces the storyboard explain-
ing the dynamic interaction and activities in e-CPD.
This is essential as it provides the overview of each
interface and thus explains the interaction between
teachers and trainers. The developmental phase repre-
sents the authoring and production process of e-CPD.
Useful and dynamic multimedia integration such as
graphics, animations and video elements are integrated
for advance accommodation throughout the virtual
training process.
Upon implementation of e-CPD, pre-virtually train-
ing; a prior face-to-face training is required to guide
the teachers to maneuver along the virtual training pro-
cess. The registration and logging in procedures are
also highlighted to assist teachers prior to their involve-
ment in the virtual training. Close and step-by-step
guidance are delivered throughout the implementa-
tion phase. This is crucially important as it determines
the success of the virtual training. Followed by the
pre-virtually training is the involvement of teachers
in e-CPD. Teachers starts interacting with the content
of e-CPD.
The evaluation phase explains the monitoring of
teachers interaction and activities by the trainers. The
momentum of responses, inquiries and feedback are
closely monitored and continuously engaged with the
trainers. This ensures the positive relationship between
trainers and teachers which is significant in making the
virtual training a success.
The enhancement phase is designed specifically
to ensure the quality of the virtually continuously
meets the demands and needs of the teachers. All
responses and feedbacks are carefully monitored. The
cyclic motion of the e-CPD system design allows for
continuous improvement thus enhance the quality of
e-CPD at all times. In order to manage e-CPD, the
maintenance phase essentially ensures the process of
virtual training in the system design of e-CPD carefully
maintained and organized.
3 CONCLUSION
The design and development of e-CPD framework is
applicable to virtual training thus not restricted to
57
any certain specialization. E-CPD provides alterna-
tive to training platform apart from the traditional
face-to-face. Hence, the issue of lacking in time for
training and heavy workload for teachers can be solved
via virtual training. Predominantly, this adds to the
improvement of teachers’ professional development.
With better training, more knowledgeable and skill-
ful teachers can be produced. Hence the quality of
education is perceived to be continuously improved.
Quality education requires quality teachers and qual-
ity teachers needs quality training. E-CPD provides
the necessities and meets the demands in improving
educational quality.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was financially supported by the
University of Malaya Research Grant (Grant No.
RP002C-13ICT).
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Deakin, G., James, N., Tickner, M., & Tidswell, J.
(2010). Teachers’ workload diary survey 2010. (DFE-
RR057). UK: Department of Education. Retrieved from
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Desimone, L., A. Porter, M. Garet, K. Yoon, and B. Birman.
2002. Effects of professional development on teachers’
instruction: Results from a three-year longitudinal study.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 24, no. 2:
81–112.
Gold, S. (2001). A Constructivist Approach To Online Train-
ing For Online Teachers. JALN Volume 5, Issue 1 – May
2001.
Mandernach, B., Donnelli, E., Dailey, A., & Schulte, M.
(2005). A faculty evaluation model for onlineinstructors:
Mentoring and evaluation in the online classroom.
Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration.
8(1). Retrieved 5 August 2013 from http://www.
westga.edu/∼distance/ojdla/fall83/mandernach83.htm
Mayer, R. E. (2005). The Cambridge Handbook of Multime-
dia Learning. USA: Cambridge University Press.
Microsoft® Partners in Learning. Innovative Teachers- 21st
Century Skills: Collaboration. Retrieved at: http://www.
innovativeteachertoolkit . com / links / collaboration . html.
Retrieved on: 24 June, 2013.
OECD. 2009. Creating effective teaching and learning
environments: First results from TALIS. Paris: Organi-
zation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
http://www . oecd . org / document / 54 / 0,3343,en_2649_
39263231_42980662_1_1_1_1,00.html
Rafiza, A. R., Farrah Dina, Y., & Shahril Nizam, S. (2013).
Implementation of e-Continued Professional Develop-
ment (E-CPD): issues and challenges. Paper presented
at the International Conference on Creative Education,
Singapore.
Snoeyink, R., & Ertmer, P. A. (2002). Thrust into technology:
How veteran teachers respond. Journal of Educational
Technology Systems, 30(1), 85–111.
Wang, Y. M. (2007). Internet uses in university courses.
International Journal on E-Learning, 6(2), 279–293.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Integrating employability skills in school curriculum

Ghada El Hadad, Zahra Naimieb & Siti Hajar Halili

Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Rana Ahmed Abuzaid

Senior Researcher in Saudi Binladen

Saedah Siraj
Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: According to both recent studies and previous ones, there seems to be a consensus by employers
and recruiters that college graduates lack certain professional and career skills. There are some key skills that
workers should posses to be able to enter the labor market as argued by some employers as well as government
agencies. Previous studies have reported that business practitioners perceive college graduates lack creativity,
people skills, aptitude for teamwork, and the ability to speak and write clearly. The common conclusion that these
conducted studies share comes down to the fact that the skills typically sought by employers are totally different
from the skills students believe employers want. Accordingly, that in return reflects the miscommunication
between the different stakeholders or at least that the communication with each other is not efficient enough.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 DEFINITIONS

According to both recent studies and previous ones,
there seems to be a consensus by employers and
recruiters that college graduates lack certain profes-
sional and career skills. They think that graduates do
not have creativity, people skills, aptitude for team-
work, or speaking and writing abilities (Davis &
Miller, 1996; Deutschman, 1991; Eberhardt & Moser
1997; Hahs, 1999). They believe that graduates need
to acquire a broad base of interpersonal and self-
reliance skills needed for a successful business career
(Nabi, 1999). There are some key skills that work-
ers should posses to be able to enter the labor market
as argued by some employers as well as government
agencies. They give these generic skills various names
such as “soft”, “employability”, and/or “life” skills
(Conference Board of Canada, 1995, 2000).
Previous studies have reported that business practi-
tioners perceive college graduates as lacking creativity,
people skills, aptitude for teamwork, and the abil-
ity to speak and write clearly (Davis & Miller 1996;
Deutschman 1991; Eberhardt & Moser 1997; Hahs
1999). The common conclusion that these conducted
studies share comes down to the fact that the skills typi-
cally sought by employers are totally different from the
skills students believe employers want. Accordingly,
that in return reflects the miscommunication between
the different stakeholders or at least that the communi-
cation with each other is not efficient enough (Krahn,
Lowe and Lehmann, 2002).
A recent contribution to the discussion of employabil-
ity skills is the report of the Canadian Prime Minister’s
Advisory Committee on Science and Technology’s
Expert Panel on Skills (Expert Panel on Skills 2000,
p. 7). The Expert Panel on Skills defines “skill” as the
ability to apply knowledge in order to accomplish a
task (ibid., p. 14). For example “it identifies four skill
sets – essential, technical, management, and leader-
ship – as critical to the growth of knowledge-intensive
industries in Canada over the coming decade”.Accord-
ingly, that definition is made specific to Canada as this
definition declares that the needs of the country over
the coming decades are for the growth of knowledge-
intensive industries and maybe these needs are not the
same in another country especially that including the
part “… in Canada over the coming decade” in the def-
inition is hard to make it applicable on any other nation.
As a result it cannot be considered or used as a general
definition.
In a study by Kucker (2000) even though career
planning is the key term discussed in this study, nei-
ther the definition nor the operational definition was
mentioned. Moreover, in another study by (Krahn
et al., 2002) the employability skills, a key point
again, was not introduced in the article. However, in
study Benjamin (2009) detailed definition of the key
terms and even related terms were clearly introduced
and sometimes classified. For example, the skills
defined in employability skills profile (esp) included;

59
communication, thinking, learning, positive attitudes
and behaviors, responsibility, adaptability, as well as
working with others.
3 THE OBJECTIVES
There are some obvious gaps in the area of the employ-
ability skills applied curricula and practices. One of
these gaps is that recently there have been surveys
assessing how postsecondary programs contribute to
developing specific job-relevant skills and abilities
(Evers, Rush, & Berdrow, 1998; Krahn & Bowlby
1999; British Columbia, 2000, 1999), while, on the
other side, such similar research has not been con-
ducted at the high school level. One of the strengths of
this study is using a survey methodology for the anal-
ysis in which young people are allowed to self-define
job-relevant skills, assuming that these perceptions
will influence their education and labor market deci-
sions as they make the transition from high school to
the adult labor market.
Another study made by Ehiyazaryan & Barraclough
in (2009) focuses on the appropriate learning design
which would be of interest to academics and practi-
tioners in developing curricula for employability since
students were found to be most motivated in a subject
matter when they are engaged in activities or real-life
situations that they are most likely to encounter in the
world of business. In this study, Ehiyazaryan’s contri-
bution is to elicit the interest of both academics and
practitioners in developing curricula specifically for
employability.
In South Dakota, in another study conducted by
Kucker (2000), a comprehensive system for career
and life planning has been developed in order to
assist students to develop the ability to compete in
the increasingly technological job market. Schools
are responding by reconsidering the traditional edu-
cational approaches in terms of building on what does
work and omitting what does not.
Moreover, the study by Benjamin in (2009)
addresses the fact that some employers use educational
credentials just a first filter when recruiting graduates
because they are not quite certain about the skills that
educational programs develop within. Many employ-
ers use educational credentials as a pre-screening
device in recruitment (Holzer, 1996). Accordingly,
in his article, Benjamin (2009) tackled the critical
and vital issue of the criteria involved and used by
employers when hiring applicants.
Benjamin study in (2009) has also another contri-
bution in the field through his study that aimed at
describing the British Columbia Ministry of Educa-
tion’s CAPP curriculum in four Vancouver schools
(Yin, 2004). Even though the study covered a variety of
areas across the city, the results could not be general-
ized because the program CAPP was taught in different
strategies from one school to another. That makes it
pretty obvious that Employability skills curricula can-
not be standard or typical worldwide or taught globally
60
in the same way not only because strategies will differ
from one city to another, not to mention one coun-
try to another, but also because after all these skills
are related to the job market of each country sepa-
rately which arises from a particular country’s needs
and standards.
Benjamin’s study (2009) uses the qualitative
approach which is conveniently applied through par-
ticipant’s observation and in-depth one-on-one inter-
viewing. Another interesting idea this study presented
is criticizing the use of employability in the described
program, CAPP curriculum, in two aspects. The first is
that there is an assumption of transferability of skills;
while it can be very challenging for these skills to be
transferred from one workplace to another (Hyslop-
Margison, 2000c). For example, the skills needed to
be a builder and perform work in a safe manner would
be very different than those needed to be a lawyer. The
second critique is found in the blanket use of employ-
ability in that, as Griffith assumes, skills are acquired
from every day or even common sense knowledge,
a view that “obscure the social organization of class
relations and focuses on the individual mastery of
skills” (Griffith,1998) cited in (Benjamin, 2009).
4 THE FINDINGS AND LIMITATIONS
According to the study by Kelley and Bridges in
(2005), many educators may argue that a university
should not be involved in career preparation but should
focus on education in general. Even if such a course
does make it into the curriculum, several barriers may
exist in teaching the course.These barriers may include
overambitious course content, problems with identi-
fying and selecting of faculty to teach the course, and
developing ways to address student resentment related
to having to practice skills rather than “study” course
content (Holier & Kopka, 2001).
The study still has some limitations. First, the ques-
tions included in the surveys were chosen from past
literature and informal talks. Therefore, the results
tracked those of past studies. Second, the practitioner
sample may be somewhat biased since no question
was posed to qualify the potential respondents rela-
tive to their history with recent marketing graduates.
Third, some questions in the survey asked respondents
to indicate the importance of the inclusion of certain
skills in a specific course which may have led to indi-
cating all skills were relatively important. A different
result might have been found if the respondents were
asked to rank in order of importance the skills listed in
these questions. A fourth limitation is that some of the
measured constructs and variables were confounded
by other constructs and variables. Respondents may
not have differentiated between the marketing and
business curricula.
The study by Krahn et al. (2002) had a limita-
tion with the methodology used. Interviews and focus
groups should have been conducted where a qualita-
tive approach could have been utilized in this area of
research to obtain more details and information about
the level of skill acquisition or the specific content
of the skills reported. The study by Kucker (2000)
did not provide any findings or results. It is merely
very detailed description of the program, how it runs,
its history and so forth. No mention whatsoever was
made to what the program achievements were or how
successful it was.
5 FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS
Almost all of the selected articles have introduced valu-
able future recommendations concerning the employ-
ability skills issue. However, in the Dakota study as
mentioned above, no recommendations were made.
One of the studies that provided quite valuable insights
concerning the future recommendations is the study
by Kelley and Bridges in (2005). One of the recom-
mendations is perhaps future studies need to examine
faculty-student-employer differences before deciding
on the outcomes required from the curriculum. More-
over, it also suggested the tool to be used to high-
light these differences through “gap analysis” (Davis,
Misra & Auken, 2001). Another recommendation is
to develop a reliable and valid scale based on theory
which ought to provide more depth of understanding
the perspectives of practitioners and educators of the
skills included in the study.
REFERENCES
BC Ministry of Education. (2003). Career and Personal Plan-
ning: IRP. Victoria, Canada: Province of British Columbia.
BC Ministry of Education. (2005). BC Ministry of Education
Website. Available at http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca
Benjamin, A. (2009). Turning eastside kids into westside
kids: Employability skills in the BC Career and Per-
sonal Planning Curriculum. The Journal of Educational
Thought.
Benjamin, A. (2009). Double bagged or fries with that:
Adolescent perceptions of the job market in four urban
Vancouver secondary schools. The Alberta Journal of
Educational Research, 55(2), 143–156.
61
British Columbia 2000. 1999. BC Student Outcomes:
Survey Results by Program. Victoria: BC Outcomes
Working Group, Centre for Education Information. At
<www.ceiss.org>.
Conference Board of Canada. (1995). Employability skills
profile: What are employers looking for? Ottawa, Canada:
The Conference Board of Canada.
Conference Board of Canada. (2000). Employability skills
2000+. Ottawa, Canada: The Conference Board of
Canada.
Conference Board of Canada. (2000). Employability Skills
2000+. Ottawa: Conference Board of Canada. At
<www.conferenceboard.ca/nbec
Davis. Barbara D., and Thomas R. Miller. 1996. Job prepara-
tion for the 21st century: A group project learning model
to teach basic workplace skills. Journal of Education for
Business 72 (November/December): 69–74.
Ehiyazaryan, E., & Barraclough, N. (2009). Enhancing
employability: Integrating real world experience in the
curriculum. Education + Training, 51, 292–308.
Griffith, A. (1988). Skilling for life/living for skill: The social
construction of life sills in Ontario schools. Journal of
Educational Thought, 22(2a), 198–208.
Hyslop-Margison, E. (2000c). The market economy dis-
course on education: Interpretation, impact and resistance.
Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 46(3), 203.
Kelley, C. A., & Bridges, C. (2005). Introducing professional
and career development skills in the marketing curricu-
lum. Journal of Marketing Education, 27, 133–148.
Krahn, H., Lowe, G. S., & Lehmann, W. (2002). Acquisition
of employability skills by high school students. Canadian
Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques, 275–296.
Kucker, M. (2000). South Dakota’s model for career and life
planning. Journal of Career Development, 27
Lehmann, W. and A. Taylor. 2001. “Learning Work: New
Approaches to High School “Vocational” Education in
Alberta,” in Conference Proceedings: Second Interna-
tional Conference on Researching Work and Learning, ed.
P. Sawchuk. Calgary: Faculty of Continuing Education,
University of Calgary
Lowe, G.S. 2000. The Quality of Work: A PeopleCentred
Agenda. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press
Nabi, Ghulam R. 1999. Graduates’ perceptions of transfer-
able personal skills and future career preparation in the
UK. Education &Training 41 (4/5): 184–93.
Yin, R. (1994), Case Study Research: Design and Methods,
Sage Publications, London.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Recent inroads into decision-making theories

C. Vasanta Madhavi
Pagwon Consulting, Hyderabad, India

Archana Shukla
IIM Lucknow, India

ABSTRACT: Organizational hierarchies, technology, industry & research paradoxes, and risk analysis have
often been seen to be affecting the decision-making process and management within any sector of business. We
develop three propositions in this paper based on academic studies and industry cases. These serve as findings to
understand the subjective, qualitative and quantitative yardsticks to measure risk, opportunities and performance
within firms for further exploration.

1 INTRODUCTION 3 areas of latest developments in this paper: decision

theory paradoxes, importance of risk analysis and opti-
Decision-making has been examined by scholars on mal decisions. The objective of this paper is to raise
various perspectives from power, rational policy, incre- an alarm for the managers, and administrators of the
mental policy and behavioral theory. March & Simon upcoming decision-making challenges.
were the early proponents who talked about the role of
bounded rationality, satisficing, and problem-solving
in decision making in 1958. Then French & Raven 2 DECISION-THEORY PARADOXES
delved into the concepts of social power and their
bases to decide the decision makers. Cyert & March 2.1 Paradoxes in theory and practice
looked at the behavioral perspective of how execu-
Paradoxes are not uncommon in any field. As
tives become decision makers as process of exercise
researchers start playing with different aspects of
of authority or participation in goal achievement. The
a topic, doubts and conflicts emerge that lead to
work on Garbage can model (Cyert-March-Simon) is
contradictions in most cases. The paradoxes remain
the oft-cited example while explaining the progress
unresolved for long periods of time until new thread
of research in this area. Kanter also explained it as
breaks out of the area expertise that throws light on
the failure of power when decisions failed. Pfeffer
hitherto unknown elements that untangle the ties of
detailed out the aspects of politics and power to under-
paradox. Dilemmas arise because of differing behav-
stand the decision-making process. Mintzberg carried
ior of people with different beliefs in different times
it further by assigning participants and roles in the
(Madhavi, 2013a). Beliefs and behaviors of individ-
game of decision-making. Weber explained decision-
uals vary, so paradoxes are born. Decision-theory is
making from the point of view of formal (extent of
no exception. The most common is Ellsberg paradox
quantitative calculation) and substantive (degree to
that discusses the 2-stage inconsistency of decision-
which economic action serves values) rationality. The
maker as a result of difference between preferences and
evolution has happened in decision-making in the con-
consequences (Etner, 2010). The behavior is not same
text of changing business environment by reviewing
even when the probabilities of outcomes are known.
various scholars’ work in multiple disciplines like
For example, there is an urn of 30 red, 60 yellow and
organizational theory, public administration, behav-
blue balls.
ioral sciences, and strategic management. Scholars
have considered multiple elements like rationality, Stage 1 – Gamble 1 – individual’s preference for
behavior, values, facts/knowledge, and means-ends Get $100 if a red ball is drawn
in decisions. The current business in any industry Vs.
is facing a dynamic world. Today companies per- Get $100 if it is a blue ball
form with high speeds of product/service delivery Stage 2 – Gamble 2 – individual’s preference for
and strategies that they need to be flexible enough to Get $100 if red or yellow ball is drawn, otherwise $0
alter decisions without compromising on profitabil- Vs.
ity (Madhavi, 2013b). Given this context, we look at Get $100 if blue or yellow ball is drawn, otherwise $0.

63
Ellsberg predicted that most people would prefer
option a) to b); and d) to c). This is against the sure-
thing or utility principle where the higher probability
of getting a ball chosen will make it the preferred
choice (in this case, it follows that people who pre-
fer a) to b) will also prefer c) to d); and those who
prefer d) to c) will prefer b) to a). Surveys conducted
by Slovik & Tversky (1975) and MacCrimmon &
Larsson (1979) supported Ellsberg’s predictions thus
generating the paradox. The logic provided behind
the paradox is that decision-makers’ beliefs are dif-
ferent from the sampling process/probability tenets
etc. The same beliefs influence the decision-making
in firms where bright managers attempt at increas-
ing returns by taking more risk (risk-return paradox).
Incorrect moves create scandals such as the one in Nick
Leeson’s case who went against the stock market tenets
and traded on behalf of a client erroneously. Magnified
profits though garnered for the company were illegal
as the decision-making was incorrect. The company,
Barings Bank had to pay for the blunder committed by
an employee (a paradox), and was sold for one sterling
pound to ING Vysya.
2.2 Collaboration
Collaboration is important for effective functioning of
firms in the current globalized era. It reduces risk
and uncertainty for the participating companies. It
thus helps managers separate the good opportunities
from bad ones with ease (Hansen, 2009). Decision
of which firms to choose for collaborating faces
the ‘embeddedness paradox’ as argued by Meuleman
et al (2010) who suggested that firms usually create
a collaboration with partners with whom they have
an embedded relationship to create trust, joint prob-
lem solving and improve organizational performance.
The logic provided behind this paradox (combines
agency and network theory) is the emphasis on trust
and opportunism that tends to make firms confined
to their earlier partnerships. Organizations need to
make effective decisions for both short-term and long-
term planning, in times of crisis and boom. The
decisions of organizations affect the performance too
(Madhavi, 2010). Customers make purchase deci-
sions and consumption decisions. Of late, consumers
have created a paradox in technology selection by
having contradictory objectives (Johnson, 2008). On
one hand, they prefer lot of features but find the
decision-making to be complex in such situations.
When provided more freedom of decision-making,
consumers are able to embed capabilities within the
technologies, thus easily making consumption deci-
sions. Their satisfaction depends on past experience,
attitudes, emotions and expectations. Managers of
firms must be concerned if their consumers have con-
flicting experiences (Olsen, Wilcox, & Olsson, 2005).
Ambivalent customers often switch to other products
and hence trust must be created in the technology.
Thus managing the paradoxical behavior is critical in
decision-making.
64
2.3 Proposition 1
The process of decision-making is attached with
tremendous subjective dependence like that on expe-
rience, attitudes, emotions, expectations, doubts, con-
flicts, uncertainty that it is prone to increase complex-
ity the more a firm tries to simplify. There are inherent
paradoxes in the apparently straightforward decision-
making and that even if resolved gives rise to new ones
again.
3 IMPORTANCE OF RISK ANALYSIS
3.1 Industry & research alignment
Styhre (2010) argues that uncertainty in industries is
leading to more risk-taking in companies that in turn is
affecting the decision-making quality, cost and speed.
In organizations, different levels of hierarchy take stan-
dardized inputs for decisions with differing degrees
of risks. Risk-analysis forms the basis of approval
of decisions at different levels (Table 1). For exam-
ple, the top management is responsible for decisions
on strategies like new product launches, geographic
expansion or mergers & acquisitions. Here the risk
may be considered to be at its maximum as a merger
may lead to expansive hiring or heavy downsizing;
or heavy investments against unknown returns. Such
decisions do not occur on a daily basis but once in
few months/years. The middle management is respon-
sible for go/no-go decisions on projects which are
also not daily but n-weekly or n-monthly (say every
2 months, the company gets a new project). Here the
risk is low-medium as the decisions are more related
to scope and output of projects, the risk is limited to
customer satisfaction and exceeding deadlines. Risk
analysis is done for each project. Approval is done by
senior management.The junior management is respon-
sible for execution of assigned tasks like accounting,
documenting, manufacturing (line, assembly etc. as
applicable) and so on. Here the risk is at its minimum
as the tasks are well-defined and expectations are clear.
Also, there is no ambiguity because the tasks are stan-
dardized in that there are no two possibilities about
debiting losses and crediting gains. It’s well-defined in
advance. Approvals are done by higher level managers.
Decisions at this level are related to the operations
like running or not of a slow machine, granting leave
to workers, allocations etc. These are high-frequency
decisions become actions on daily basis as they are
related to employees and not organization-wide.
Following risk analysis, risk communication is criti-
cal for spreading the knowledge and action steps across
the organization. It can ensure employee involvement
Table 1. Risk Analysis Table.
only by communicating milestones. Their concerns
are resolved with effective counseling and by creating
more awareness about the process.
Finally, the risk preference of the individuals is an
important contributor of decision-making. The risk-
aversion can be overcome by proper incentives within
organizations. An example is GE that kept rewarding
its employees on the basis of risk-return. If a highly
risky project was undertaken by a manager then the
decision was appreciated and full-funding was pro-
vided for the project. Next, if the decision resulted
in profits, then the manager would be rewarded with
bonuses, vacation packages etc. However if the project
failed the manager received a demotion of designation
or retrenchment. An interesting example is discussed
by Roos and Sarafidis (2010) who studied the risk-
attitudes of participants of a game show called ‘Deal or
No Deal’ in Australia. The structural stochastic model
developed by the authors revealed that there is substan-
tial heterogeneity in risk preferences of participants
due to different expected utilities by contestants. They
also found out that there was no clear-cut evidence in
favor of endowment when people bought lotteries.
3.2 Proposition 2
The fact that decision-making happens at a different
level of hierarchy than the task that depends on the
decision creates risk propensity. This can be reduced
with effective communication, apt technology and
relevant knowledge in different layers of hierarchy.
4 OPTIMAL DECISIONS
Given a pool of alternatives, how can a company
select the best strategy/solution (Figure 1)? The nor-
mative school handles this by converting the decision-
situation to optimization problem and finding its
solution. The decision outcomes are considered to be
random variables. Decision problems are framed in
terms of expectations; and solutions are derived as
maximized outcomes (expected utility among prob-
ability distributions of outcomes) for different sets of
actions (Johnson, 2010). Software firms get projects
based on their programming skills, pharmaceutical
firms get healthcare projects or drug development,
testing, or medical equipment manufacturing, FMCG
firms create their own projects to develop new prod-
uct features and entertainment firms get projects from
providers like movie producers etc. in case of firms
that get client-based projects, the relationship is the
key element that gets affected by all decisions on
the project. A very good performance for the first
time raises the client expectations, and the next lev-
els need to be incrementally better to sustain the same
utility levels for the client. This also follows the law
of diminishing marginal utility where each additional
unit provides lesser satisfaction to the consumer than
the earlier one. The company has to take risks by trying
out a new technology to increase the utility of the next
65
project. The decision-making needs to be faster as the
experience increases with the client behavior.
Garbage Can model allows us to select from a pool
of problems and solutions, not the best outcome but
the optimal one suited to the situation and partici-
pants (March, 1972). This happens in organizations
in reality because managers are guided by biases,
perceptions and power aspects. It is also due to the
environment that is uncertain and keeps throwing new
challenges in front of companies. Usually a company
sees multiple product possibilities (say in laptops with
camera, or thin small notebooks as laptops, or a laptop
with in-built wireless connectivity; serving different
segments like photographers, students and working
professionals respectively). The company has differ-
ent solutions for different groups. It needs to decide
based on its investment funds, technology capabilities,
existing product portfolio and market demand – about
the new product to be followed up. The third laptop
with in-built wireless connectivity may seem to be the
best but may not be suited to the market demand where
working professionals may not mind using an internet
card. The demand may show more sales for student
laptops (notebooks). Hence the optimal solution is to
select the production of student laptops for the given
time.
Alonso (2007) introduces the importance of optimal
delegation in arriving at optimal decisions. Employ-
ees at appropriate levels of hierarchy and possess-
ing right skills can make the decisions faster. The
decision of delegation is itself based on various fac-
tors like resource availability, skills, and scope of
projects. Optimal delegation should happen for effec-
tive decision-making. Decision-making should not
slow down due to lack of decision-making power.
Decision-making gets delayed because the architect
may take extra time for deliberating and discussing
with others in the organization before taking a final
decision. This hurts the customer relationship. Thus
optimal delegation is a key factor in decision-making.
Combining the aspects of expectations, garbage-can
and delegation, optimal decision-making should strive
for the right amounts of these ingredients. Apple’s
Steve Jobs encourages to this day, a functioning of
this type where he feels every innovation in the mar-
ket makes the company start afresh and hence all
team members, irrespective of levels work on informal
methods of communication and constant interaction
(Sculley, 1987). Optimal action plans (Figure 1) can
be developed out of optimal decisions by consider-
ing aspects like cost of implementation, limitations
of each decision, gaps in organizational capabilities,
and optimality in timing of information acquisition
(Bolton, 2009). A decision may be planned for action
in phases if it is found to be expensive. The limitations
in company capabilities may need to be covered by out-
sourcing, acquiring new technologies and such other
strategies. A decision of product launch that is much
delayed without knowing competitors’ moves is not
worthwhile. These are critical after decision-making
stage and may form the basis of future research. A fast
Figure 1. Optimal Decision-making process.
and right decision-making serves no purpose until it
is implemented and results are yielded.
4.1 Proposition 3
The increasing number of opportunities in the future
needs optimal decision-making to reap full gain within
a firm. This can be achieved by a combination of
optimal resource allocations, optimal delegation and
optimal action plans.
5 IMPLICATIONS & CHALLENGES
The above three developments are chosen in view of
the current technological pace and the tremendous
opportunities that are getting opened up every day
in the present management world. The businesses are
making rapid progress and technological advancement
is creating a bag of opportunities with every inno-
vation. These opportunities come with their set of
problems and managers have to make optimal deci-
sions to match with market-timing. The firm that
makes timely and efficient decisions minimizes the
66
risk of losing game to the competitors. Problems need
to be matched with the solutions (right opportunities).
Dilemmas and paradoxes are prone to increase in the
coming years as the business uncertainties are on a rise
and environment complexity is not getting any sim-
pler. Organization structures today claim to be more
informal, less bureaucratic and less hierarchical but
the decision-making authority is still in the hands of
the top-few who do not have access to complete infor-
mation about the lower divisions. Decision-making is
the crucial phase that decides the success of a project,
an investment or a strategy. The challenges that will
affect decision-making in future organizations may be
classified into:
Technology-driven pace: this is a crucial influencer
of decision-making in the firms and will have only
increasing impact in the future. Organizations use sev-
eral tools in different areas of operations and admin-
istration. Technology can be seen only on an upward
trend of advancement with no sign of reversal. Orga-
nizations need to make changes on equal pace in their
administrative affairs to match the benefits accruing
from latest technologies. A pharmaceutical firm that
has the latest technology excels in R&D but if its man-
agers do not have the same pace in decision-making
then they are prone to missing good opportunities
in the market. A bureaucratic firm that takes several
weeks and multiple rounds of approvals will only delay
its decision-making in the future technologically agile
world.
Environmental uncertainty: the future business
environment will be more uncertain if not anything
better than today. Economies will come closer but
their cultures and values will still be native. Customers
will be different across the world. Regulations vary
for nations. Governments are of different types and
issues like corruption, poverty, illiteracy and crime
exist. Business can only aim to reduce them with
ethical functioning and adequate social responsibil-
ity. The uncertainty can be handled by improving the
administration of firms in terms of transparent and
prompt decision-making. Firms can think of delegat-
ing decision-making authority according to the priority
of issue at hand. The market segmentation decision-
making must be left to the business development
managers rather than including the employees from
other levels.
Risk-return proposition: traditionally decisions
have considered NPV and cost-benefit analysis to
judge the returns against the risks. Today EVA (eco-
nomic value added), balance-scorecard, PERT etc. are
used to judge the risk-return vs. quality. Tomorrow the
world is going to be based more on real options where
investments and returns need to be calculated based on
the resources and capabilities of the firm. The firms
will need to decide between investments in multiple
innovations, technologies, markets and regions instead
of one project or machine at a time. Decision-making
needs to consider returns based on the success proba-
bility and market needs. Risk needs to be considered
based on competitor response, loss of market share if
the other players make a similar decision that has an
impact on firm’s brand image. Decision-making will
become top-down at times and bottom-up at others,
more real-time at times, and instantaneous at others.
Offline or delayed decision-making will reduce the
flexibility in organizations thus increasing the risk of
failure.
Changing organizational structures: in the form of
different types of hierarchy and administration will
arise in future. Some firms may prefer Matrix form;
others may still prefer the line hierarchy. Still others
may keep experimenting with different forms at differ-
ent times. Also, more and more firms or rather every
firm in future will be automated. Today firms like Fox-
conn are using 10000 robots in their daily operations
and administration, expected to use 30 million robots
in the coming years. The same is going to be the real-
ity with other firms tomorrow. When manpower will
be replaced with robots, it will be a different organi-
zational structure altogether. Decision-making under
such circumstances (may be chaired by one human
moderator and discussed by 10 robots or vice-versa!)
will eliminate human errors, documentation delays
67
and perceptual biases to a great extent but will it
include all aspects of business responsibility, societal
welfare etc.?
The dilemma between speed and efficiency has
existed for long and it will continue to exist in future.
Will speedy decisions compromise on important con-
cerns? The amount of automation against human
intervention will be the most important paradox fac-
ing decision-making authorities of future companies.
Decision-making by human intervention enriches the
decision on many counts like value-addition, welfare,
considerations on softer issues often claimed to be
ignored by men and only accounted by women, so
automation will altogether eliminate such considera-
tions. Technology seems to be simplifying the conduct
of operations but it creates much more complexity
in other realms. The knowledge and use of technol-
ogy is one. Every participant needs to learn the use
and the paradox is that the easy things must not
be taught but technological applications have many
aspects that need to be taught to avoid glitches. Still,
glitches arise in technology, and then what is the good
that it serves? Technology has its own errors and
faults. A PC can crash or hang or create errors due to
virus. Thus manual errors are replaced with technol-
ogy glitches. Even if decision-making is automated it
is prone to technological glitches. The trail of paradox
is never-ending.
6 CONCLUSION
It is interesting to note that the recent research in
decision-making is happening as an inter-disciplinary
study where concepts are being used from the fields
of Mathematics (problem-solution), Statistics, Opera-
tions research (Optimization), and Economics (Dimin-
ishing utilities). This portends a rich evolution of the
field in practice with relevance to be seen across all
fields. It may also be a cause for ambiguity and para-
doxes in decision theory that are being pointed out
by the latest research papers. We also see that lat-
est developments in the last 5 years indicate more
work in areas like optimal delegation and risk anal-
ysis in decision-making in all industries. Future may
see more research in related areas like real-time
decision-making using online databases. An exam-
ple is study of credit card applicants and deciding
on credit-card approvals/rejections and credit limits
instantly (online). Finally, decision-making field may
itself expand vastly in the coming times due to interdis-
ciplinary influence as mentioned in the given article.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Computer-assisted learning program of Arabic language

for non-native speakers

Abduljalil Al-Bazeli, Zahra Naimie & Saedah Siraj

Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Rana Ahmed Abuzaid

Library and informatin scince, Saudi Arabia

Siti Hajar Halili

Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Originally the Arabic language has been very important to Muslim people all over the world
in order to have a better understanding of the Quran. The last couple of years the importance of being able
to understand the Arabic language has even increased. Not only because of the political occurrences in the
Arabic world, also known as the Arabic spring, but also did it become very difficult to travel to Arabic countries.
Therefore people are turning to use more computer assisted programs in order to learn the Arabic Language.
This paper performs a review on self-regulated learning and especially focused on adopting computer-assisted
language learning of Arabic language and pedagogy. The study underlined the advantages and usefulness of using
computer technologies. It is concluded that the application of ICT and the use of computer technologies can
enhance the teaching and learning of Arabic language and be able to accelerate the proficiency of the language
learners.

Keywords: Arabic, Languages, ICT, ICALL, Learning

1 INTRODUCTION The studies underlined the advantages and usefulness

Nowadays computer based technologies have improved
significantly. Computers and smart tabs are being used
even by the students in the schools. Several tools and
applications were developed and introduced in the
schools leaded to replacing the handbooks. Computer
Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is one of the soft-
ware developed to study a foreign language and have
been making continuous progress, especially in the
recent years with the spread of new technologies and
new teaching methods. This article performs a review
on using computer as a tool for foreign language teach-
ing and learning. It describes the effect of using Natural
Language Processing (NLP) tools for learning Arabic.
Five articles (Lubis, 2009; Mohamed, Ghoul, Nahdi,
Mars, & Zrigui, 2012; Shaalan, 2005; Wahba, Taha, &
England, 2013; Whiteman, 2012) have been selected
for this review and they addressed the teaching and
learning of Arabic language, especially for non-native
speakers. The studies revolved around utilizing self-
regulated learning and especially focused on adopting
computer-assisted language learning of Arabic lan-
guage and pedagogy. All the writers postulated that the
application of ICT and the use of computer technolo-
gies can enhance the teaching and learning of Arabic
language and be able to accelerate learner proficiency.
of using computer technologies, ranging from sim-
ple ICT applications such as word processing, email
and Internet browsing and extended to the adoption
of computer programs such as CALI and CALL to
enhance Arabic teaching and learning. One writer even
attempted designing improvements to CALL by incor-
porating artificial intelligence compatibility and called
it Arabic ICALL. The writers also highlighted the
weaknesses and limitations of their findings and rec-
ommended areas of work that should be undertaken
to increase teachers’ capability and enhance students’
learning interests and desire to accelerate proficiency
in Arabic language. In all the studies reviewed, it is
imperative that both the teachers and learners should
be computer literate and alert in order to be able to use
more advanced computer intelligence technologies.
2 DEFENITION
2.1 Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
It provides an effective learning environment so that
students can practice in an interactive manner using
multimedia content, either with teacher supervision or
at their own pace in self-learning. The advancement

69
of speech and language technologies has opened new
perspectives on CALL systems, such as automatic pro-
nunciation assessment and simulated conversational-
style lessons.
2.2 Information and Communications Technology
(ICT)
Is often used as an extended synonym for informa-
tion technology (IT), but is a more specific term that
stresses the role of unified communications and the
integration of telecommunications (telephone lines
and wireless signals), computers as well as neces-
sary enterprise software middleware, storage, and
audio-visual systems, which enable users to access,
store, transmit, and manipulate information.
2.3 Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI)
CALI provides access to an extensive collection of
interactive, computer-based lessons covering a number
of subject areas.
2.4 Diglossia
A situation in which two languages (or two varieties
of the same language) are used under different condi-
tions within a community, often by the same speakers.
The term is usually applied to languages with dis-
tinct ‘high’ and ‘low’ (colloquial) varieties, such as
Arabic.
3 LITRATURE REVIEW
All five authors made use of secondary sources as their
major references. The references quoted include jour-
nal articles, books, and handbooks written by others
from empirical research and studies applying ICT, and
utilizing computer assisted programs such as CALI,
and CALL, and ICALL as well as theories and studies
in the fields of Arabic education, and self-regulated
learning pedagogy in teaching and learning Arabic,
especially for non-native or foreign speakers. Other
secondary sources include government reports, statis-
tics, theses, and workshop reports. In some of the
studies, inputs and data from primary sources were
also utilized. For example Lubis (2009) conducted
interviews and observed field data in a multicultural
setting in the application of ICT to transform and
enhance the Arabic education process in the pesantren
(Arab Islamic boarding schools) Shaalan (2005) intro-
duced his own inputs to develop the architecture in the
Arabic ICALL system he was proposing with graphics
and practical exercises for interested users to try. In all
the articles, the writers used both inductive and deduc-
tive reasoning to persuade and convince their readers
on the importance and relevance of the methodologies
they employ in putting forward their recommended
system for teaching and learning Arabic Mohamed
et al. (2012), for example, developed and illustrated
ARAC with figures and sample exercises to strengthen
70
his reasoning. All the articles were fairly structured
into various topics covering and outlining the scope
of the study. Each topic was adequately addressed and
clearly presented to make the reader easily grasp and
understand the main issue. After all, what the writers
intended was for the readers to be convinced and be
persuaded to agree and adopt the methodologies they
developed, improved, and used for teaching and learn-
ing the Arabic language. Khalid’s study employed both
qualitative as well as quantitative approach in develop-
ing his model on an ICALL system for learning Arabic
by students at primary schools or by learners of Ara-
bic as a second or foreign language. He systematically
referred to the findings of previous work on CALL and
ICALL, especially noting their limitations and took
into consideration their recommendations to overcome
the weaknesses in developing his proposed system.
The writer used NLP tools for reacting to the learner’s
response in order to give appropriate feedback to the
learner. He also incorporated other techniques and
improved existing ones besides employing a logical
framework to develop his protocol for the proposed
new ICALL system. The writer based his proposed
ICALL system on the curriculum of Arabic grammar
in Egyptian primary schools. In his model, for user
interface the writer adopted the rule-based approach
over the pattern matching-based approach and the
statistical-based approach on the strength that it has
the advantage of providing appropriate feedback as it
can perform detailed analysis for both well-informed
and ill-informed answers. It is also easy to acquire lin-
guistic knowledge and to specify linguistic constraints
and heuristics. The other two approaches lack a sys-
tematic and automatic way in diagnosing the learner’s
ill-informed input and providing appropriate feed-
back. The course material in Arabic ICALL includes
educational units, item bank, test generator and acqui-
sition tool. The sentence analysis in Arabic ICALL
includes a morphological analyzer, syntax analyzer
(parser), grammar rules and lexicon. The grammar for
Arabic contains the grammatical knowledge required
to analyze a grammatically correct sentence. The
grammar is being developed especially for learning
Arabic. Arabic grammar in Arabic ICALL is written
in definite clause grammars (DCG) formalism. The
central formal operation in DCG is the unification of
feature-structures.
4 TEACHING STRATEGIES
Language learning, most often, does not occur within
the confines of a classroom, but rather involves a
long-term commitment by the learner to study inde-
pendently following any formal education. There are
several ways of learning a foreign language; here we
will discuss three main methods.
4.1 Computer based learning
In the previously mentioned articles, all the writers
have made a convincing case of applying ICT and
computer-assisted language learning for those inter-
ested in acquiring proficiency in the Arabic language.
Life in the 21st century has been revolutionized by
the advent of ICT. Nowadays, young and old people
interact and communicate drastically different from
the way they did before the digital age. The young
generation is at a dizzying technological level and
it will be rare for a student not to master the most
basic of technologies, and so, the advanced technolo-
gies will be second nature to them. The average adult,
however, will only be most familiar with just three
basic applications, namely word-processing, email,
and browsing the internet. According to Wahba et al.
(2013), teachers can and should use an Arabic word
processor, Arabic email, and Arabic language on the
Internet as these three have persisted for so long and
will continue to improve in functionality and efficacy
and will develop further to provide more and more
options for the end user. Furthermore, word process-
ing, email and internet rarely require sophisticated
hardware and software, and no additional cost to the
user. They are easily adapted to any Arabic language
classroom and to any Arabic student’s computer. These
three universal technologies can be incorporated by
Arabic teachers into their pedagogy because they are
readily available as well as primarily and precisely the
kind of computer applications that benefit students in
acquiring high levels of linguistic proficiency. This
usage also permits considerations of the ways in which
Arabic language and technology are used by native
speakers and, as such, frames decisions about technol-
ogy choices in pedagogy and curricula for non-native
speakers, Wahba et al. (2013) made reference to per-
tinent pedagogical literature with respect to concrete
ideas on how to employ a certain technology in the
classroom and the ways in which it has been proved to
enhance second language acquisition. Adopting tech-
nology for teaching depended on whether the technol-
ogy can serve the pedagogical needs of the instructor;
familiarity with and competence in its application;
technology application flexibility (the more flexible
an application, the more effective it will likely be)
and employing technology in teaching requires an ini-
tial investment in time to learn, manage, and evaluate
the technology in question. There are many positives
encouraging use of computer technologies in (Wahba
et al., 2013) work, but studies have shown that teach-
ers nevertheless are hesitant in utilizing technologies
in their teachings Mohamed et al. (2012) highlighted
the benefits of using CALL, NLP (Natural Language
Processing), and the integration of multimedia into
language teaching. The article illustrated ARAC as a
platform for teachers to create interesting and diverse
activities simply with the advantage of accessing data
independently by either teachers or learners. But as
with other applications, ARAC has limitations of deal-
ing with the cultural aspects of the language, the
abstract message of the text, and the sophisticated
styles of language where figures of speech are used,
and where the message is hidden between the lines
and not expressed explicitly. The writer concluded
71
the article by stating more improvements need to be
added to the ARAC architecture to make it more use-
ful and effective. In the study conducted by Lubis
(2009), among students of different backgrounds in
Pesantren institution, she exerted efforts to highlight
the value of multicultural backgrounds and applying
ICT in enhancing the students’ capacity and accelerat-
ing the language pedagogy. The author pointed out that
the processes involved in teaching and learning Ara-
bic proficiency through ICT among diverse ethnic and
cultural groups of students give them a means to learn
Arabic language in a wider cross-cultural context with
different beliefs and attitudes and provide individuals
from diverse backgrounds opportunities to learn, live
and work together. The usage of ICT in teaching and
learning is also a positive method to make the subject
taught more understandable and give students different
educational perspectives and experiences.
4.2 Environmental support
Furthermore, the author pointed out that both teach-
ers and learners can benefit and achieve the objective
of teaching and learning process in the classroom. A
major concern of the author is focused on the need
to unite the multicultural backgrounds of students to
give them opportunities to live with and master Arabic
language along with the communication skills with
each other. In Arabic Language teaching, the basic
objective of multicultural education is to develop stu-
dents’ ability to live in the context of multicultural
society and also in teaching environment to improve
student academic performance. The task of multicul-
tural education is to help to achieve a higher stage
of ethnic and cultural coexistence so that there will
be sufficient cultural and social overlap for society
to function. Ideology of multicultural education is
aimed at developing social change in our society to
one that embraced cultural pluralism, equal opportu-
nity, diversity and social justice. Furthermore, another
important point in teaching and learning Arabic sup-
port is providing students proactive communication
with others. There is also evidence that the web site
can promote improved learning Whiteman (2012), in
his study stated the case that the Arabic language is
diglossic in that the spoken variety is different from
the written variety. Essentially, it implied that learning
the spoken variety would be significantly distinct from
the written variety. The cadets at West Point gave feed-
back that they are totally unprepared for the colloquial
Arabic variety they picked up on the streets and could
not connect it to the Arabic they had been taught at
USMA. The problem is with the fact that there is more
than one language to be learned and that students will
require also learning two sets of vocabulary items, pro-
nunciations and grammar rules. Therefore, in order to
be more proficient in both varieties of the language
the students must spend considerable amount of time
in and outside the classrooms. So, in order to enable the
autonomous learners to learn the spoken variety in an
environment separate from the formal version learnt
in the classroom, a CALL program can be designed to
make it easier for the students to manage in tackling
the diglossic problem.
4.3 CALL method
CALL methods have become increasingly incorpo-
rated in language curricula, and over time, CALL
technologies and platforms have become more com-
plex, yet they are also more effective in their delivery.
Whiteman (2012) believed that learning spokenArabic
through CALL in an integrated approach can deal with
Arabic diglossia. However, some precautions should
be taken into account to ensure CALL is functional.
5 RECOMMENDATIONS
Following are the recommendation suggested by this
study.
1. Teachers teaching the language need to be educated
in the use of computer aids in order to successfully
integrate technology into their curricula; teachers
must be aware of the range of technologies in
software available and learn how to use them in
order to set the best conditions for their students to
autonomously learn.
2. CALL by its nature promotes autonomous learning
as students can work alone at their leisure, but for
students to become autonomous learners they will
have to be highly motivated and must take initiative
to learn on their own accord.
3. The design of CALL activities which promote
learner autonomy should incorporate feedback and
interactivity, so learners can assess their program
and use the newly acquired dialect in a practical
way.
4. When implementing CALL technologies in learn-
ing Arabic dialects, it is important that the learner
understands why the dialect is being introduced to
the learner in a manner different from that to which
they are accustomed.
In Arabic ICALL there is a feedback system which
is the computer’s response to answers made by learn-
ers. Feedback allows students a feel of how well they
are progressing through a lesson. This will increase
their confidence levels. Arabic ICALL system has
been successfully implemented using SICStus Prolog,
Visual Basic, Flash and Microsoft Access. The system
is transportable and capable of running on an IBM PC
which will allow the learner to use it to learn Arabic
language anywhere and anytime. However, the system
still has some limitations. Among others the system
is targeted only at a well-formed sub-set of Arabic,
and would not extend well to more colloquial dialects;
the system does not handle the voweled Arabic text
where letters are written with diacritical signs; the
system does not diagnose spelling errors and accepts
only answers that are free of typographical errors. The
72
writer has plans to improve the system, for example,
by adding a student or course management facility
that allows him to have full performance and record-
keeping features, add more multimedia instructional
material to allow learners to fully comprehend what
they learn in natural settings, make the system avail-
able on the Internet to serve remote learners worldwide
(especially learners of Arabic as a second language),
and extend the grammar to include more advanced
grammar levels.
6 CONCLUSION
After reviewing few relevant researches that been car-
ried out following a systematic methodology and clear
description. The background literature was scoured
quite comprehensively and was up-to-date. The writers
were able to make their readers easily understand their
ideas and present their findings convincingly backed
by empirical data or by qualitative assumption. Their
reference to the work of others were well chosen and
analyzed and had relevance. The adoption of ICT and
other specially for teaching and learning the Arabic
language is definitely a sound proposition. There is
little doubt that specially designed programs such as
CALI, CALL and ICALL had been contributing to
the successful teaching and learning of Arabic or any
other languages. Arabic ICALL as developed by one
of the writers being reviewed definitely has poten-
tial to further enhance the proficiency capability level
of new learners of Arabic. ARAC too has potential
when further developed. With the rapidly changing
scenario in communications technology, all pointing to
its mobility and versatility, authors are optimistic that
designing and applying computer-assisted language
teaching and learning tools would be the next order
of the day. It will be a boon to interested learners of
Arabic or any language, for that matter, and enrich the
world with multi-lingual citizens. I believe improved
computer models along the lines of CALL, ICALL,
Arabic ICALL and ARAC will surely be continually
developed by the experts and be made available on the
Internet for learners of language, whether as native
or non-native speakers. This, I am willing to put my
money on! Given the optimism and the appeal of
probable success of applying ICT and the utilizing of
computer-assisted technologies as propagated by the
writers quoted above, there are still reservations about
the functionality and efficacy of the models designed
by the writers or those that may come along with the
solutions which will be installed. It will be worthwhile
to be cautious about the worthiness of the models or
systems put forward by the above writers and evaluate
these reservations as noted from the reviewed studies.
REFERENCES
Lubis, M. A. (2009). Teaching and Learning Arabic Language
through Multicultural Approach and Applying ICT in
 Pesantren Institution. International Journal of Education Wahba, K. M., Taha, Z. A., & England, L. (2013). Hand-
and Information Technologies, 3(3), 171–178. book for Arabic language teaching professionals in the
Mohamed, M. A. B., Ghoul, D. E., Nahdi, M. A., Mars, M., & 21st century. London: Routledge.
Zrigui, M. (2012). Arabic CALL system based on peda- Whiteman, M. (2012). Learning Spoken Arabic through
gogically indexed text. arXiv preprint arXiv:1207.2373. Computer-Assisted Instruction: An integrated approach.
Shaalan, K. F. (2005). An Intelligent Computer Assisted
Language Learning System for Arabic Learners. Com-
puter Assisted Language Learning, 18(1–2), 81–109. doi:
10.1080/09588220500132399

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Service sciences
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Customer satisfaction in selected Western restaurants in Malaysia:

A case study

Nalini Arumugam, Sathiyaperba Subramaniam, Xavier Thayalan & Kuldip Kaur

Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Today, there are many foreign workers who are employed at restaurants in Malaysia. This poses
a unique situation in terms of communication between the waiters and the customers. This study aims to deter-
mine challenges faced by foreign waiters at restaurants in Malaysia and customers’ perceptions towards service
provided by these personnel. This study adopted a quantitative approach to elicit data which was then triangu-
lated through semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that the foreign waiters face challenges not only
in verbal communication, but also to comprehend their customers’ orders and queries. At times, this resulted
in wrong orders being served to customers. Restaurant management do acknowledge that each customer has
distinct preferences about restaurant services but they find that the turn-over of local waiters is high and it incurs
high cost. Although hiring foreign waiters do have some drawbacks, they found foreign waiters to be enthusi-
astic in learning and enhancing their efficiency. As for the customers, they were dissatisfied with the language
competency of the waiters. To conclude, language proficiency and communication skills of the waiters do play
a crucial role in ensuring continuous patronizing of restaurants.

1 INTRODUCTION Alin Sriyam, 2010). Much needs to be learnt about

1.1 Introduction
Malaysia is popularly known as a food paradise as one
can find any kind of food at any time of the day. Klang
Valley is one place where one can eat not only local cui-
sine but also foreign delicacies.These include Western,
Asian as well as Middle Eastern specialties. However,
western food appears to be sought after among most
Malaysians in urban areas. As the restaurant industry
is seen as a robust market, many restaurant proprietors
strive to retain existing customers as well as to attract
new ones. Hence it is crucial for restaurant proprietors
to identify the perceptions of customers in order to stay
in business.
In a restaurant industry, customer demand for high
quality services has been on the increase in recent
years (Alin Sriyam, 2010). One of these demands
is customer satisfaction which is related to commu-
nication (Ghimire, 2012; Dominici & Guzzo, 2010;
Kitisuda, 2006; Choi & Chu, 2001). This is espe-
cially true in industries that involve foreign work-
ers because customer satisfaction is derived from
customers’ perception of and attitude towards these
workers (Hansemark & Albinsson 2004).
Studies investigating the hotel and other hospitality
industry which focus on service quality have shown
that customer satisfaction is important (Ghimire,
2012; Cheney, 2011; Dominici & Guzzo, 2010;
how customers perceive restaurant industry which
employs foreign workers in a multi-racial country like
Malaysia.Thus this study focused on investigating cus-
tomers’ perception at western restaurants measuring
the service quality provided by foreign waiters.
1.2 Background to the study
Hansemark and Albinsson (2004) defined customer
satisfaction as an emotional reaction to the differ-
ence between what customers anticipate and what
they receive, with regards to the fulfillment of some
need, goal or desire. Therefore, establishements should
ensure customer satisfaction by providing good ser-
vices and fulfilling customers’ desires and wants
(Ghimire, 2012; Angelova & Zekiri, 2011). This
includes effective communication that could foster
satisfaction between a waiter and a customer.
Statistic from the Immigration Department of
Malaysia shows that the hiring of foreign work-
ers in the restaurant industry in Malaysia con-
tinued to increase from 2001 to 2007 (Ministry
of Human Resources, Immigration Department of
Malaysia and Department of Statistic Malaysia). Most
of these foreign workers are employed in restau-
rants. Since these employees have language barrier
(Trajkovski & Loosemore, 2006), miscommunication
between customers and waiters could occur. This may

77
result in dissatisfaction among customers (Loosemore
& Andonakis, 2007). For example, when these wait-
ers take food orders from customers, they may not
comprehend the customers’ wants and have difficul-
ties in taking and placing their food orders. This
intricate communication can pose unpleasant expe-
riences for both the customers and waiters and even
job-threatening occurrences for employees.
Studies on customer satisfaction and service qual-
ity in businesses such as spa, tourism, and hotel
have attempted to identify factors influencing or con-
tributing to customer satisfaction and service qual-
ity. Researchers (Ghimire, 2012; Dominici & Guzzo,
2010; Kitisuda, 2006; Choi & Chu, 2001) have stud-
ied customer satisfaction towards service quality in
service businesses such as spa, tourism, and hotel and
revealed that service quality and communication abil-
ity play a crucial role in customer satisfaction. For
example, Kitisuda (2006) studied customer satisfac-
tion with spa service while Ghimire (2012) inves-
tigated customers’ satisfaction in food and services
provided in restaurants. Both researchers indicated
that there is a significant relationship between ser-
vice provided and customer satisfaction. Additionally,
the researchers found that satisfied customers tend
to patronise the restaurants and this leads to profit
increase for the organization. On the contrary, if cus-
tomers are discontented with the service rendered at
a restaurant, they may share their bad experiences
with their friends and may also decide to stop patro-
nising the particular restaurant. This highlights the
importance of service quality which may influence
customers’ satisfaction to a certain extent. Hence, this
study is intended to investigate customers’ satisfaction
at western restaurants with the aim to make recommen-
dations such as providing training for the target group
in relation to language and communication skills that
they require.
2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
2.1 Research questions
The present study developed a conceptual frame-
work which aims to examine the relationship between
service provided by foreign waiters and customer
satisfaction. This is based on the original works
of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) which
discusses service quality, as a conceptualization of
restaurant attributes such as food quality, service trans-
action, environment and its overall images. However,
this study examines only service provided by foreign
waiters and customers’ satisfaction.
This research attempted to answer the following
questions:
1. What are the challenges faced by foreign waiters at
restaurant industry in Malaysia?
2. What is the perception of customers towards service
by foreign workers at food courts?
78
Figure 1. Conceptual framework of the study
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Methodology
The study was carried out in Klang Valley using non
probability and convenience sampling. Klang Valley
includes Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya and Klang.
Klang Valley was selected as it is highly populated
and there are many western restaurants in this vicin-
ity (Euromonitor, 2010). In this study, three western
restaurants were selected from Kuala Lumpur, Petaling
Jaya and Klang, one each respectively.
The survey employed a Likert type scale with a
range of 1 = “completely capable” to 4 = “cannot cope
at all” with each item.A survey in the form of question-
naires and interviews were used for this study. Two sets
of questionnaires were adopted from the works of Nair,
Krishnasamy & De Mello (2003) and Dominici &
Guzzo (2010). The first set of questionnaire aimed to
elicit information from a sample population of 45 male
foreign waiters at three established western restau-
rants where English is widely spoken. Each restaurant
employed an average of 17 waiters; hence 15 waiters
were selected randomly to respond to the question-
naires. The questionnaire was to retrieve information
on the waiters’ language problems pertaining to their
occupation. Out of the 45 foreign waiters approached,
35 of them were from Bangladesh, ten form Pakistan
while the rest were from Nepal. They reported that they
have been working in Malaysia for less than a year. The
questionnaires were distributed to the waiters during
their break time, with permission from the Restaurant
Manager/Supervisor.
The second set of questionnaire was given to 100
customers of which 80% of them were Malaysians
and 20% were expatriates and foreign students. The
questionnaire was to retrieve feedback on the services
rendered at selected restaurants. The questionnaires
were distributed to the customers after they had placed
their orders and collected before the customers left the
restaurants. The respondents were informed that the
participation was on a voluntary basis and all informa-
tion provided would be kept private and confidential.
The questionnaires were distributed only to those
who agreed to participate in the study. The data was
analysed using statistical analysis in SPSS frequency.
Semi-structured interviews were also conducted
with foreign waiters who could speak English fairly
well, the restaurant Supervisors and six customers:
four local customers and two expatriates. The semi-
structured interviews provided the flexibility of adding
questions based on the response given by the intervie-
wees.This was done in the hope to elicit differing views
from customers of different nationality. The data was
transcribed verbatim.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
RESEARCH QUESTION 1: What are the chal-
lenges faced by foreign waiters at restaurant industry
in Malaysia?
In terms of English language competency, only 12%
of the foreign workers felt that they were completely
capable of following and understanding conversations
in English. A total of 18% felt they could cope with
the conversations though they faced a few problems in
understanding. However, the majority, 64% revealed
that they encountered a lot of problems in conversing
with the customers. Only 6% of them felt they could
not cope at all in communicating in English.
In relation to asking questions and answering
queries from customers, a minority (11.1%) of the
foreign waiters were confident while 26.7% felt they
faced a few problems. More than half or 55.6% still
faced a lot of problems, while 6% admitted that they
could not cope at all. A total of 47% of the waiters
admitted that they faced a lot of problems in coping
with reading customer orders. Surprisingly, 60% of
the foreign waiters revealed that though they can cope
with written English, they still faced a lot of problems.
This predicament is also reflected in taking orders face
to face or over the telephone. This shows that they
lack competence to communicate orally in English.
On the contrary, 33.3% of the foreign waiters claimed
that they could convey messages clearly to the kitchen
staff and another 42.3% admitted that they face a lot
of problems in conveying messages.
In relation to dealing with customers in choosing
the menu, 28.8% of the waiters agreed that they could
help customers to choose the right menu while another
35.6% still struggle to assist the customers. In addi-
tion, 53.3% of them reported that they were unable to
explain the special dishes served at the restaurants. The
findings also reveal that the foreign waiters who could
not cope well in reading orders were also unable to
write competently. The findings of the study demon-
strate that the waiters need competency not only in
verbal communication, but also in reading and writ-
ing in English to enhance the functionality of the
restaurants.
Results also indicate that the foreign waiters face
challenges not only in verbal communication, but also
in reading and writing in English. With the minimum
competency that they have, they are unable to fol-
low conversations in English. In addition, they find
it daunting to comprehend their customers’ order and
queries. These foreign waiters also find it challeng-
ing to relate customers’ orders to the kitchen staff,
which may result in wrong dishes being served to cus-
tomers. Though they are able to help customers choose
the right menu and explain to customers about spe-
cial dishes served at the restaurants, they still require
basic competency in speaking, reading and writing in
English in order to execute their tasks effectively. If
they are unable to perform at the workplace, this will
affect their job as well as the prospect of the restau-
rants losing their business in the long run, especially
79
in the urban areas where there is a major competition
in the restaurant industry. In the effort to remain com-
petitive and ensure returning customers, restaurants
should ascertain excellence of service and satisfaction
of customers. This is also concurred by Dominici and
Guzzo (2010).
RESEARCH QUESTION 2: What is the percep-
tion of customers towards service by foreign workers
at food courts?
A questionnaire was also given to customers to
gauge their views on the services provided by for-
eign waiters and waitresses. Customers (70 females;
30 males in the age categories of 20–29 (64%) 30–39
(20%), 40–49 years old (8%), 50–59 (4%) and above
60 (4%) participated in the survey. In short, the major-
ity of the customers were below the age bracket of 40
years. In terms of education background, the survey
found that that most of the respondents have at least
a diploma. These demographic factors of the respon-
dents show that they had undergone some form of
formal education regardless of their difference in level
of achievement. Thus, it could be hypothesised that
having formal education and being mainly Malaysians,
they may expect some basic understanding and ability
to communicate with the foreign waiters. Additionally,
as for the foreign waiters, it could be very arduous
for them to communicate in English or Malay with
customers, especially in using jargons pertinent to the
service industry.
A total of 100 customers responded to the ques-
tionnaire. The majority (80%) of the customers found
the waiters to be friendly. However, most customers
were not satisfied with the foreign waiters’ service.
94% responded that they were unsatisfied as the for-
eign waiters were unable to help when customers had
problems with orders. Furthermore, 48 customers felt
the waiters do not have the adequate knowledge and
training to be in the food service sector. This corre-
sponds with their feedback that they were unsatisfied
with the waiters’ ability to respond to their complaints.
A total of 78% of the customers were unsatisfied with
the language used by the waiters as they found it
difficult to comprehend. Being able to communicate
effectively is a pertinent requirement in the restaurant
industry (Yen & Su, 2004), however, this was lack-
ing in these particular restaurants. Nevertheless, the
customers were satisfied with the foreign waiters’effi-
ciency in carrying out their tasks in terms of cleaning
tables after customers leave, taking orders of new cus-
tomers and providing baby chairs for young customers.
There was a variance in the satisfaction of customers
in relation to waiters’ ability to listen carefully to the
customers. The findings also reveal that 80% of the
customers did not have a good first impression of
the waiters.
Based on the feedback from the customers, it can be
concluded that communication barrier exists between
customers and waiters. It appears that customers are
unsatisfied with the English language competency
of the waiters. Providing high quality services and
improving customer satisfaction are widely recognized
as fundamental factors boosting the performances of
the restaurant industry (Opermann, 1998). Similarly,
Choi and Chu (2001) claimed that in competitive
restaurant industry which offers homogenous services,
restaurants must be able to satisfy customers better that
their counterparts. Though this is not apparent in the
present restaurants being studied, customers still patro-
nise these restaurants because of the quality of the food
being served and customers’ degree of loyalty to the
restaurants. Since customer satisfaction is the start-
ing point to define business objectives (Dominici &
Guzzo, 2010), long term and reciprocally advanta-
geous relationships between customers and restaurants
is becoming progressively important because of the
highly positive correlation between customers’ overall
satisfaction level and the probability of their return to
the same restaurants (Choi & Chu, 2001).
In the present study, qualitative data was also
obtained to add depth to the data. A semi-structured
interview was conducted with three selected wait-
ers, who could communicate fairly well in English,
the restaurants supervisors and customers. In the
interview, one of the waiters reported that on many
occasions, they needed their superior (supervisor) to
explain the orders taken or the questions asked by the
patrons. He said, “l lost when I wait my Boss tell in
Bangladesh (I forget when I have to wait for order
to get translated by another waiter or my supervisor).
“It also take time.”
Another waiter lamented that “It very good if restau-
rant give one month simple training no need very
expensive training. Like big brother, senior waiter just
teach only. Like food name and no scolding from boss.”
(It will be very helpful if the restaurant can give us
training for a month. No need for special training but
a senior waiter to help us take order and understand
the name of the menu. This can really help us and we
will not get scolding from supervisor).
A Pakistani waiter shared, “I like my ‘Boss’. He
sent me for some training. So I know how to greet
and take order and also what the customer want”. The
foodservice industry has become more diverse. It is
crucial to emphasise on learning effective and effi-
cient communication. If adequate training is provided
before the waiters start work hands-on, it will reduce
frustration among them and enhance their efficiency
and self-esteem in executing their duties.
Furthermore, the said group of waiters admitted in
the semi-structured interviews that they encountered
various predicament in carrying out their duties in the
restaurants due to their low language proficiency in
both English and Malay language. The response from
the semi-structured interviews shed light on the needs
of the foreign waiters which may have been taken
lightly by the Management.
The interview with the Supervisor revealed that they
would prefer to hire local waiters and waitresses to
reduce language barrier, but this proves difficult as
locals are more demanding in terms of salary and
fringe benefits. Lim (pseudonyms) says. “I know it
will be good to employ local waiter and waitress but
80
they demand high salary. Besides, we need to look into
many other problems such as annual leave, medical
benefits etc. Not all of us are doing very well in busi-
ness. So all these high demands from local workers
leaves us with no choice but to employ foreigners’.
He also added, ‘It is very difficult to retain
Malaysians. Sometimes students take up part-time
jobs during their semester break. They will just resign
and some will not even tender in their resignation, but
just leave the job without notice. This makes it difficult
and expensive to manage the local waiters.’
The supervisor from restaurant B shared that though
the foreign waiters lack communication skills in
English, they however, are enthusiastic to learn and
progress on the job. At times, time is wasted in con-
veying instructions between staff members. They need
some training on language skills such as oral and sim-
ple written communication with customers and peers
at the restaurants.
A local customer who was interviewed shared his
views that though there is a major language obstacle
between him and the foreign waiters, where he needs
to repeat his orders a few times, he still patronises the
restaurant due to familiarity to the restaurant and the
quality of food served. He also added that in the service
industry, employers should seriously look into provid-
ing proper training to all service personnel, especially
the foreign staff.
From the semi-structured interview responses, it
indicates that customers have different expectations
when they patronise the restaurants. Language incom-
petence is a major hindrance in the restaurant industry
because effective communication between the cus-
tomers and service personnel does influence contin-
uous patronizing of the restaurants.
Another customer, an expatriate, revealed that,
“Yes, communication with the waiters is a problem
but it does not hinder me from enjoying the good food
here. Moreover, it is understandable that they are for-
eigners and it is expected of them to be incompetent in
English language proficiency. But they are efficient in
carrying out their tasks. But of course it will be good
if the waiters are able to communicate better, so that I
can have a peaceful start to my dining.”
To the question if he would return to the restau-
rant in future, the customer hesitantly replied that he
may not. This indicates that each customer has dis-
tinct preferences about restaurant services, hence it is
proper to gather cumulative statistics as well as indi-
vidual perception. To conclude, the findings show that
when employees lack good communication skills, it
affects the customers’ satisfaction.
5 CONCLUSION
Despite the limitations of this study which surveyed
only 45 foreign waiters in three western restaurants,
preliminary conclusion can be drawn, nevertheless.
It is learned that foreign waiters need to communi-
cate in both English and Malay language competently
in order to be efficient and productive in their work.
The restaurant industry has to take into account both
oral and written communication skills as essential in
making the service industry more marketable. It is rec-
ommended that waiters are given basic spoken and
written English and Malay language training/courses.
This course should be designed to meet the pro-
cess flow needs of the hospitality industry. To remain
competitive, the foodcourt management need to anal-
yse customer’s satisfaction and perception towards
the communication skills of their staff. Foodcourt
proprietors have to constantly strive to attract new
customers while retaining the existing ones. Hence,
customer satisfaction is of utmost important. With the
advent of digital technology, customers tend to express
their feedback on Facebook and Twitter. In order to
elicit information on customer satisfaction to improve
their business, it is suggested that restaurant propri-
etors provide a simple Suggestion/Feedback forms for
customers to fill in before leaving the restaurant.
It is possible that drawing new customers is more
challenging than retaining the existing ones. Thus, the
Management of restaurant industry should consider
implementing effective in-house coaching as well as
other attractive factors to ensure returning customers.
The in-house coaching may include a mock restaurant
setting, especially for waiters who have no experi-
ence in the hospitality industry. The Management can
also implement the mentor-mentee system whereby
senior waiters train newly employed waiters. Effective
communication is even more crucial in restaurant man-
agement because it connects workers and aids effective
functioning of the organization (Shahrina Md Nordin,
Mohammed Halib & Zulkipli Ghazali, 2011). Mis-
communication, however, can occur between a sender
and a receiver of a message which in turn inhibits cus-
tomer satisfaction (Keyton, 2011) and profit making.
This is more apparent in the service sector such as
foodcourt, whereby when employees and customers
experience satisfaction, the business will experience
more positive outcomes (Schneider, 1990).
6 RECOMMENDATIONS
Basically the recommendations in this study are nec-
essary to help maintain or increase the satisfaction of
customers in the restaurant industry. The foreign wait-
ers should be given in-house training to build their
knowledge in delivering services. This training should
be contextually based to fulfill foreign waiters’ job
requirements.
Foreign waiters should be able to perform basic
duties under the direction of supervisors including
the tasks of taking orders, cancelling orders, chang-
ing orders, explaining the special menu for the day and
taking orders over the telephone. In relation to this, for-
eign waiters need to have good communication skills
by equipping themselves with the basic four language
skills. They also must be attentive listeners and have
good oral skills to communicate with customers.
81
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank Universiti Teknologi MARA for funding the
research and publication.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
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© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

The influence of knowledge sharing on innovation:

A study of Jordanian four and five stars hotels

Shaker Jamal Bani Melhem & Norsiah Mat

School of Business Management, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of knowledge sharing on innovation
in Jordanian hotel industry. An electronic questionnaire was sent to 234 managerial staff in Jordanian hotels
working in various departments. The response rate achieved was 98.7 percent or 231 responses which were
considered very good using electronic survey. Self-reported measures on knowledge sharing and innovation
(process and organizational) constructs, adopted from previous research were used. Exploratory factor analysis
and regression analysis were used for data analysis. The study found that the level of innovativeness among
4 and 5 stars hotels in Jordan were moderate. The hypothesis of the present study received full support when
knowledge sharing was shown to significantly influence innovation (both process and organizational) and has an
important influence to service innovation in hotel sector and much remains to be studied in service innovation
area.

1 INTRODUCTION out (Agarwal et al., 2003; Frehse, 2005, Ottenbacher

1.1 Tourism industry in Jordan
The tourism sector in Jordan has become one of the
major players for both the Jordanian service sector and
the economy. Recently, it showed significant growth in
terms of revenues with a remarkable increase by 9 in
the first quarter of 2010 and was ranked in position 53
out of 130 countries on the Travel and Tourism Index
(JITOA, 2013). This Sector is considered as the sec-
ond fastest growing sector in the kingdom, the largest
export sector and a major employer in Jordan. Despite
its advantage and its importance to the economy, Jor-
dan’s tourism sector is underperformed. Efforts to find
out an effective way that offer new and innovative fea-
tures on the product and services provided which in
turn increase the competitiveness and the economical
growth is needed (Mustafa, 2012).
Within the tourism sector, hotel industry generates
the most income in Jordanian GDP and the most con-
tribution regarding to whole employs (Fischer, Khan,
Khemani, & Najmi, 2009). Hotel sector was chosen in
this study because hotels are the basic tourism recep-
tive units and one of the most important segments of
the tourism offer. As such, they are often taken as a
basic indicator of its development. Specifics of the
hotel industry compared to the rest of the tourism sec-
tor are its relative homogeneity (the nature of services
in hotels almost same) and the fact that different lev-
els of quality of service offered do have significant
contribution on hotel preferences (Orfila Sintes et al.,
2005). In addition, there is little empirical evidence of
innovative activity in hotels due to the lack of existing
data since few surveys on innovation have been carried
and Gnoth, 2005, Orfila-Sintes et al., 2005). Thus, this
study argues that through the implementation of inno-
vation in hotels, it can cause competitiveness as each
firm will compete to offer higher quality outputs at
lower costs (Ottenbacher & Gnoth, 2005; Chadee &
Mattsson, 1996).
2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
The importance of innovation in order to remain
competitive is evident especially in today’s fierce com-
petition. It was found dearth of innovation studies in
the services sector relative to manufacturing and inno-
vation in this industry is an understudied area (Chan,
Frank, & Pine, 1998; Rodgers, 2007). Thus there is a
need for more empirical studies on this subject.
Hotels as a part of service sector in particular
could benefit from the application of service inno-
vation in several ways. First, the hospitality market
suffers from homogeneity of offerings and easily sub-
stitutable service offerings. This can cause difficulties
for hotel managers to differentiate an individual hotel
from its competitors (Dan Reid & Sandler, 1992).
As an alternative to this challenge, a new and inno-
vative offering may help to differentiate one’s hotel
from its competitors. Secondly, the accelerations in
information technology have caused the hotel indus-
try rapidly changing, for example the introduction of
on-line interfaces services. Managers need to be more
proactive and customer focused to remain competi-
tive and relevant (Olsen & Connolly, 2000). Thirdly,
a challenge to identify a truly brand loyal hotel

83
guests or travelers. Today, travelers approach hotels
that offer the best value for money within budgetary
constraints. This may require hotel managers and mar-
keters to identify services preferred by hotel guest
and prioritized those preferences accordingly (Olsen &
Connolly, 2000).
This study sought to fill a gap in existing knowledge
of the necessary innovation in tourism and hospital-
ity sector, in particular the hotel industry in Jordan
through knowledge sharing activities.
3 LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 Knowledge sharing and innovation
Knowledge sharing refers to the “provision of task
information and know-how to help others and to col-
laborate with others to solve problems, develop new
ideas, or implement policies or procedures” (Pulakos,
Dorsey & Borman, 2003). The importance of knowl-
edge sharing in innovation has been empirically evi-
dent in past studies. For example, Cohen and Levinthal
(1990) urged that the interaction among individuals
who possess different knowledge help improves the
organization’s ability to innovate. Likewise, Boland
and Tensaki (1995) argued that the innovation capa-
bility of the organization is the outcome derived from
interaction taken place among individuals who possess
different kinds of knowledge. In the same vein, several
authors agree that knowledge sharing among employ-
ees as a basic and fundamental step in the process of
organizational knowledge creation and if effectively
perform can enhance innovation (Ipe 2003; Chang
et al., 2007).
Knowledge sharing occurs when “an individual is
willing both to learn (i.e., knowledge collecting) and
assist (i.e., knowledge donating) others in developing
new capabilities” (Bock & Kim, 2002). Knowledge
sharing is thus “the process where individuals mutu-
ally exchange their knowledge and jointly create new
knowledge” (Van den Hooff & De Ridder, 2004, p.
118). Individual knowledge can create value to orga-
nization when shared thus is essential for knowledge
management implementation and a prerequisite for
innovation (Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Kim & Lee,
2010, 2012). Research has shown that knowledge shar-
ing is positively related to reductions in production
costs, faster cycle of new product development pro-
cess, team performance, firm innovation capabilities,
and firm performance (e.g., Arthur & Huntley, 2005;
Collins & Smith, 2006; Hansen, 2002).
Some of the previous empirical studies that provide
support for knowledge sharing and innovation are dis-
cussed here. For example, it was found that those orga-
nizations that promote knowledge-sharing processes
are more successful in innovation than those organiza-
tions that do not do so (Seidler-de Alwis & Hartmann,
2008). Swan, Bresnen, Newell and Maxine (2007),
in their study of the factors that affect innovation in
the biomedicine sector found a positive relationship
between knowledge sharing and innovation projects.
84
Brachos et al. (2007) concluded that necessary factors
should put in place to encourage and motivate indi-
vidual to share and transfer knowledge, thus improves
innovation.
Kamasak and Bulutlar (2010) investigated the
effects of knowledge sharing on innovation. There
are two forms of knowledge sharing being studied:
knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. A set
of questionnaire was distributed to 246 middle and
top-level managers in Turkey to measure the rela-
tionship between knowledge sharing and innovation.
The findings of this study reveal that knowledge col-
lecting resulted in significant effect on all types of
innovation and ambidexterity. Meanwhile, knowledge
donating does not result in any effects on exploratory
innovation.
According to an empirical study conducted by
López-Nicolás and Meroņo-Cerdán (2011), the results
from 310 Spanish organizations indicate that both KM
strategies (codification and personalization) influ-
ence on innovation and organizational performance.
This influence may be in a direct and indirect form
(through an increase on innovation). In other study
carried out among 170 Taiwanese firms, including
electronic, financial insurance and medical industries
for a samples of 355 found that knowledge sharing
has a positive influence on innovation in Taiwan’s
services industries (Liao, Fei, & Chen, 2007). Mean-
while, Lin (2007) investigates the influence of three
factors that affect innovation capability: individual,
organizational and technology. Individual factors are
characterized as “enjoyment in helping others and
knowledge self-efficacy” meanwhile organizational
factors are defined as “top management support and
organizational rewards”. As for technology factors, the
researcher illustrates them as information and commu-
nication technology use. The findings indicate that that
two individual factors (enjoyment in helping others
and knowledge self-efficacy) and one of the organiza-
tional factors (top management support) significantly
affect knowledge-sharing processes. The findings fur-
ther shows that employees are keen to both donate and
collect knowledge that enables the firm to improve
innovation capability.
Hu, Horng and Sun (2009) in their study carried out
among 621 employees of international tourist hotels
showed significant and strong relationship between
and among knowledge sharing and service innova-
tion. In addition Bierly, Damanpour, and Santoro
(2009) demonstrated that there is a significant rela-
tionship between knowledge sharing and organiza-
tional innovation. Brachos, Kostopulos, Sodersquist
and Prastacos (2007) asserted that individual knowl-
edge provides the “raw material” necessary for the
creation of new knowledge and innovation for a com-
pany. Some authors argued that, unless the knowledge
is shared with other individuals and groups within the
organization, it will reside in the individual and will
have little or no impact on the performance or the inno-
vation of the company (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995; Ipe
2003; Subramaniam & Youndt 2005).
 In conclusion, based on the above literature, we can
draw the consistent findings on how knowledge shar-
ing can enhance innovation and capability to innovate
in organization.The following research hypothesis was
explored in this study.
H. Knowledge sharing has a positive influence both
on process and organizational innovation.
4 METHOD
4.1 Sample and procedure
An electronic questionnaire was sent to 234 man-
agerial staff in Jordanian hotels working in various
departments (11 departments) namely: Food & Bev-
erage, Rooms services, Finance, Accounting, Sales &
Marketing, Security, IT, Public Relations, Engineering
department, Purchasing and Customer Service depart-
ments. The response rate achieved was 98.7 percent
or 231 responses which were considered very good
using electronic survey. Departmental managers par-
ticipated in this study came form four and five star
hotels. 52.4 percent (121) were from 5 star hotels and
48 percent (110) were from 4 star hotels. The results of
the descriptive statistic indicate that the level of inno-
vation in these hotels were at moderate level, but the
five stars hotels were more innovative compared to
the four stars hotels. In terms of total years of expe-
rience in hotel industry, the result indicated that most
of the respondents had experiences from 4 to 6 years
which (39.0 percent), 29.9 percent had experienced
from 7 to 9 years, 20 percent had experienced from 10
to 12 years. The remaining made up the rest. Regard-
ing experience working in the current hotel, most of
respondents had experiences in current hotel from
1 to 3 years (Frequency = 110, 47.6%), followed by
respondents who had experienced 4 to 6 years which
were 44.6 and the remaining had experienced 7 to 9
years in the current hotel.
4.2 Measures
Measures were originally developed in English. Items
were measured on a 5-point Likert response scale rang-
ing from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Knowledge sharing (KS): knowledge sharing was
measured using Van Den Hooff and De Ridder’s (2004)
11-item scale. A sample item is “Colleagues outside
of our department tell us what their skills are, when
we ask them about it.” The items were anchored on
a continuum from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree). Cronbach alpha was 0.84 for the scale.
Process innovation (PI): process innovation refers
to changes in the method organizations produce end
services or products. Process innovation was measured
using 4-items adopted from Deshpande et al. (1993). A
sample item is “Our hotel members regularly develop
new methods of improving products and operating pro-
cesses.” The items were anchored on a continuum from
1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Cronbach
alpha was 0.81 for the scale.
85
Organizational innovation (OI): Organizational
innovation was measured using 24 items adopted from
the scale developed by Gallouj and Weinstein (1997).
Organizational innovation in this study refers to the
implementation of new or improved changes in the
company’s management or structure with the intention
of improving the company’s quality of goods and ser-
vices, use of knowledge and the efficiency of work).
A sample item is “Our hotel regularly examines and
improves rules and operating processes.” The items
were anchored on a continuum from 1 (strongly dis-
agree) to 5 (strongly agree). Cronbach alpha was 0.85
for the scale.
5 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
5.1 Exploratory factor analysis
We performed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for
knowledge sharing (single dimension variable) and
innovation (multi-dimensions variable) to identify the
underlying factors. Linear regressions analyses were
used to test our hypothesis, after the major assump-
tion of the regression analyses i.e. outliers, normal-
ity, linearity, homoscedasticity, multicollinearity, and
independence of errors (Coakes, 2005), were met. The
following presents the results of the study.
The result of factor analysis for 11-item of knowl-
edge sharing variable using principal component with
varimax rotation is shown in Table 1. Since all items
with communalities less than 0.50 (4 items) have been
removed from the analysis, the Rotated Component
Matrix table examined to identify items with loadings
of less than 0.40 on any factor or with loadings greater
than 0.40 on more than one factor to drop from conse-
quent analysis (Hair, et al., 2006). Rotated component
Table 1. Result of Exploratory Factor Analysis for
knowledge sharing.
Factor: Knowledge Sharing Component 1
Colleagues within our department .842
tell us what they know, when we ask
them about it
Colleagues outside of our department .827
tell us what their skills are, when we
ask them about it.
We share our skills with colleagues .786
outside of our department
Colleagues within our department tell us .735
what their skills are, when we ask them
about it
Colleagues outside of our department .732
tell us what they know, when we ask
them about it.
Eigen value 3.086
Variance 61.720
Total Variance 61.720
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin MSA 0.827
Barlett’s test of sphericity 447.358
Table 2. Result of Exploratory Factor Analysis for Table 3. Descriptive statistics and Pearson Correlations.
Innovation (Organizational and Process Innovation).
Variable Mean SD 1 2 3
Component
1. KS 3.45 0.555 .755** .667**
Factor 1: Organizational Innovation 1 2 2. PI 3.47 0.588
3. OI 3.33 0.585
Our hotel usually has activity that .886 .047
improves the interaction between Note: N = 231; KS-Knowledge sharing; PI-Process
cross-department employees innovation; OI-Organizational Innovation
Our hotel is strongly interested .815 .201 **P < 0.01
in change
Table 4. Simple regression analysis result between knowl-
Our hotel regularly examines and .768 .375 edge sharing and process innovation.
improves rules and operating processes
Our hotel has a high level of .745 .207 Variable Beta t-test Sig Result
support in implementing innovation
KS 755** 17.421 .000 H3.a -
Component Supported

Factor 2: Process Innovation 1 2 R Square 0.570

Adjusted 0.568
Our hotel members regularly develop .059 .820 R Square
new methods of improving products F Value 303.486
and operating processes Sig. F 0.000***
Our hotel has quick speed for .157 .793
developing new project Note: *p < 0. 05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
Dependent variable: process innovation.
The speed with which we adopt .266 .755
the latest technological innovations
in our processes variables are presented in Table 3. There was a strong
Our hotel strives to listen to employees .284 .730 positive relationship between knowledge sharing and
and respond to their suggestions organizational/process innovation.
Eigen value 2.774 2.630
Variance 34.677 32.877 5.3 Linear regression
Total Variance 64.479 The first regression analysis was carried out to deter-
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin MSA 0.815
mine the relationship between knowledge sharing and
Barlett’s test of sphericity 818.823
process innovation. The result of the regression anal-
ysis for process innovation is provided in Table 4.
matrix showed that 2-items have cross-loading values The R square value indicated that 57% of variance
and need to drop. Table 1 show that the exploratory in process innovation can be explained by knowl-
factor analysis for knowledge sharing appeared to be edge sharing (R2 = 0.57; F = 303.486; p < 0.001). The
single dimension which was represented by 5 items. regression result also showed that knowledge sharing
Factor loadings for items ranged from 0.732 to 0.842, (β = 0.755, p < 0.001) is significant determinants for
which accounted for 61.720% of the total variance. process innovation.
Twenty-eight (28) items were used to measure two The second regression analysis was carried out
dimensions of innovation; 4 items relating to process to determine the relationship between knowledge
innovation and 24 items measuring the organizational sharing and organizational innovation. The result of
innovation. The results of Principal component with the regression analysis for organizational innova-
varimax rotation are represented in Table 2. After tion is provided in Table 5. The R square value
checking for cross-loadings and communalities of the indicated that 44.5% of var0iance in organizational
items, organizational innovation items that left for innovation can be explained by knowledge sharing
further analysis are 4 and process innovation items (R2 = 0.57; F = 303.486; p < 0.001). The regression
remained unchanged and were considered for further result also showed that knowledge sharing (β = 0. 667,
analysis. The number of dropped items is acceptable p < 0.001) is significant determinants for organiza-
since innovation scale items were adapted from previ- tional innovation.
ous researchers, all of which were developed outside
Jordan which could subject to culture bias. The result 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
of EFA for innovation is shown in Table 2.
This study sought to investigate the influence of
5.2 Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations
knowledge sharing on innovation in service sector,
Means. Standard deviations, alpha reliability coef- more specifically the hotel industry in Jordan. Two
ficients and Pearson correlations among the study types of innovation were identified i.e. process and

86
Table 5. Simple regression analysis result between knowl-
edge sharing and organizational innovation
Variable Beta t-test Sig Result
Knowledge .667** 13.550 .000 H3.b -
Sharing Supported
R Square 0.445
Adjusted 0.443
R Square
F Value 183.601
Sig. F 0.000***
Note: *p < 0. 05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
Dependent variable: organizational innovation.
organizational innovation. The study found that the
level of innovativeness (process and organizational)
in all four and five stars hotels investigated under
this study were moderate as indicated by the descrip-
tive statistic of mean value. The hypothesis of the
present study received full support when knowledge
sharing was shown to significantly influence inno-
vation (both process and organizational). This result
suggests that an effective knowledge sharing between
employees will effect positively on hotels innovation
(process innovation and organizational innovation).
This is because:
• knowledge is the most essential element in innova-
tion (Kim & Lee, 2006).
• unless individual knowledge is shared with other
individuals and groups within the organization, it
will reside in the individual and has little or no
impact on the performance or the innovation of
the company (Brachos, Kostopulos, Sodersquist &
Prastacos, 2007).
• knowledge sharing can stimulate creative and inno-
vative thoughts if manage effectively that may
eventually lead to better process and organizational
innovation (Aulawi, et al., 2009).
• individual knowledge acts as “raw material” nec-
essary for the creation of new knowledge and
innovation (Aulawi, et al., 2009).
• those organizations that promote knowledge shar-
ing are more successful in innovation than those
organizations that do not do so (Seidler-de Alwis &
Hartmann, 2008).
• knowledge sharing significantly influence the com-
pany’s ability to acquire and assimilate the knowl-
edge that further effect on the ability to transform
and exploit knowledge has proven positive effects
on innovation, especially process innovation.
• organization with knowledge sharing in place and
practice are likely to have a chance of increasing
their innovativeness (Lin, 2007)
The findings of the present study have some man-
agerial implications. First, knowledge is personal.
Organizations can only begin to effectively manage
knowledge resources when employees are willing to
cooperate with colleagues to contribute knowledge
to the firm. Therefore, knowledge sharing should be
87
fostered in service oriented organization to realize
it benefits such as innovation, performance, speed
up the process etc. However, it is important to note
that attention should be given to factors that influ-
ence knowledge sharing behavior such as communi-
cation, information systems, rewards, organizational
structure, organizational culture, leadership, norm of
reciprocity and trust, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
etc in order to further enhanced knowledge sharing
initiative in organization (Hsu et al., 2007; Ridings
et al., 2010). Second, knowledge sharing can occur
at the individual and organizational levels. For indi-
vidual employees, knowledge sharing can simply be
done by talking to colleagues to help them get some-
thing done better, more quickly, or more efficiently.
For an organization, knowledge sharing is capturing,
organizing, reusing, and transferring experience-based
knowledge (i.e. keeping record of previous decision
events that can help improve decision making process
by managers by reducing decision time and improve
decision-making quality and efficiency) that resides
within the organization and making that knowledge
available to others in the business.
IT-based instruments as a means for knowledge
sharing can be utilized to make sure knowledge avail-
able to others. These instruments varied from e-mail,
online discussion forums and/blogs, intranet, extranet,
groupware tools and online knowledge repositories
(Dalkir, 2005; Davenport & Prusak, 2000). Besides
IT-based instruments, other initiatives in order to
promote social interaction among individuals are com-
munities of practice and/or meetings by field of
interest, forums, storytelling and/or lessons learned
and/or best practice collection and diffusion, coach-
ing and/or mentoring, employee functional rotation,
employee external mobility and meeting events and/or
workshops in order to promote reflection as well
as knowledge and experience sharing with external
agents (Wiig, 2004).
To remain competitive in service oriented
organization, there is a need to capture both levels
of knowledge sharing effectively to ensure innovation
performance and reduce redundant learning efforts.
In conclusion, we found that knowledge sharing
has an important influence to service innovation and
much remains to be studied in service innovation area.
Knowledge sharing can stimulate individual to think
more critically and creatively and help to produce new
knowledge to be used for the advantages of the organi-
zation in many ways. It was also argued that knowledge
sharing may lead to superior firm innovation capability
(Jantunen, 2005; Lin 2007) and further enhanced firms
performance (Cummings, 2003; Lin 2007;Yang & Wu,
2008).
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Contributing factors of Halal warehouse adoption

Abdul Hafaz Ngah

Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

Yuserrie Zainuddin
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Gambang, Pahang, Malaysia

Ramayah Thurasamy
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Increasing demand for Halal products by Muslim consumers due to their religious obligation has
created new services known as Halal warehouse. These services are unique, which only could be applied by Halal
manufacturers to maintain the integrity of their Halal products. However, the adoption of Halal warehouse in
Malaysia is relatively low. By adopting the TOE framework, this study will try to identify what are the contributing
factors influencing Halal manufacturers to adopt Halal warehouse, either drivers or barriers. Understanding the
drivers and barriers to the adoption of Halal warehouse is essential for the government to promote Malaysia as a
Halal hub in this region. By adopting the systematic sampling method, data was gathered from 140 participants in
the Malaysian International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) 2013. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was
used to test the relationship between research model construct. The findings show that cost, customer pressure,
perceived benefits, and organizational readiness are significant predictor for adoption decision. The findings
beside presents the suitability of PLS in statistical analysis, has also provided useful information to a better
understanding regarding drivers and barriers to the adoption of Halal warehouse. Limitation and suggestion for
future research are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION fundamental knowledge and understanding of Halal

In global business environment, increasing the demand
for Halal products due to the increasing of Muslim
population in the world are incrementally growing the
demand for Halal services especially in supply chain
activities. That is why it is undoubtedly the halal supply
chain sector will be one of the fastest changing areas to
watch out for in the region (Baharuddin et al., 2011).
Although Halal is booming and an upward trend, there
are very limited studies published on Halal logistics
and academic research in this area is highly needed
(Talib et al., 2013). Most of the studies that has been
conducted are regarding Halal consumer behaviours,
Halal orientation Halal logo, Halal meat and and
very limited studies has been done regarding adop-
tion of Halal supply chain especially in warehousing
activities.
According to the Halal supply chain service
providers, even the numbers of Halal certified manu-
facturers keep on increasing, but the adoption of Halal
warehouse is still relatively low, but at the same time
Halal manufacturers and consumers still believed that
the Halal products available in the market is Halal to be
consumed. This statement supported by Othman et al.
(2004) which they mentioned that Instead of having
concept, Malaysian manufacturers are not ready to
commit themselves to a higher level of Halal. Since
Halal supply chain services such as Halal warehous-
ing is design purely to meet the demand from Halal
manufacturers, therefore the low level of adoption
rate for the services among Halal manufacturers are
quite weird. Hence, there is a significant need to
identify the reason behind such slowness and lag-
gardness in adopting Halal warehousing. Since Halal
integrity of the products is comes from various activ-
ities in supply chain, It is the time now for Halal
certified companies it is important to look beyond
their production and ingredients, and extend Halal to
the entire supply chain in ensuring that their trans-
portation, storage and handling are in compliance
with Shariah and meet the requirements of their tar-
get Muslim market (Tieman, 2011). Tieman (2013)
also mentioned that academic research are highly
needed in this area, hence, this paper would try to
contribute something new in Halal study and it is
about Halal warehouse service adoption. Beside try-
ing to identify what are the barriers, this paper also
will try to identify what are the drivers that could lead
them to adopt Halal warehousing in their supply chain
activities.

89
2 RESEARCH CONTEXT AND RESEARCH
MODEL
2.1 Halal warehouse
Halal warehouse is part of the activities in Halal supply
chain services. Since it is a new approach of conduct-
ing finished goods, there are still not many providers
applying the correct method (Talib et al., 2013) unless
the one who are certified by JAKIM or their affiliates.
Halal warehousing activities strictly stress on separat-
ing of Halal goods and non-Halal goods to avoid cross
contamination (Riaz & Chaudary, 2004), not only in
the rack, but also tools such as pallet or load carrier
used to handle them (Tieman, 2007, Talib et al., 2010).
Halal products are cannot be confirmed as Halal at
the point of consumption if it is not been handled
by Halal service providers along their chain, espe-
cially in warehousing activities. According to Tieman
(2007), the important arguments that Halal products
need Halal compliance for warehousing activities is
because there is evident showing that goods spent more
time on warehousing compared to the transportation
and transformations processes.
2.2 Perceived benefit
According to Tornatzky and Klein, (1982), Premkumar
et al., (1997), Rogers, (2003), Brown & Russell,
(2007) perceived benefits of a technological inno-
vation encompass the expected advantages for the
organization and the extent to which it perceived as
better than the technology to be substituted. For this
study, perceived benefits refer to the extent of manage-
ment recognition that Halal warehousing can provide
more benefits to the Halal manufacturers. Tornatzky
and Klein (1992), Lacovou et al. (1995) and Rogers
(1995) are regarded perceived benefits as an impor-
tant factor in determining adoption of new innovations.
Literature in Information System suggests that the per-
ceived relative advantage is significant determinants
of E-Commerce adoption in an organization (Grandon
and Pearson, 2004). Lacovou et al. (1995) found that
perceived benefits have a positive effect on the likeli-
hood of EDI adoption. Ghobakhloo et al. 2011 and
Marimuthu et al. 2011 found that perceived bene-
fits have a positive relationship with the adoption of
E-commerce and E-Business. Since those consistent
findings in the relationship between perceived bene-
fits and adoption of new technology, researchers also
believe that:
H1: Perceived benefits positively related to the
adoption of Halal warehousing.
2.3 Cost
Organization would like the benefits of adopting new
innovation more than it cost. (Premkumar & Roberts,
1999). According to Irwin & Brown, (2007), the costs
associated with a new technology therefore have a
major bearing on the decision as the whether organiza-
tions choose to adopt it or not. New technology usually
90
to be too expensive to deploy over the subsequent
2–3 years. (Hoske, 2004). The literature in technol-
ogy innovation mentioning that costs as an inhibitor
of technology use (Tornatzky and Klein, 1982). In
Halal industry, from the insight of industry players, for
them Halal supply chain means adding extra cost and
it can be a problem to the company without knowing
underlying reason behind it. (Omar & Jaafar, 2011).
Therefore:
H2: Cost negatively related to the adoption of Halal
warehousing
2.4 Organizational readiness
Organizational readiness is important variable to
be considered in new technology adoption (Asif &
Mandivalla). Organizational readiness varies accord-
ing to the internal characteristics and property of a firm
to the type of new technology going to be adopted.
Even there are differences in organizational readiness,
it is still play on important role in the decision to adapt
an innovation (Wei & Ling, 2012). For this study, orga-
nizational readiness is defined here as capability of the
operation management to adopt Halal warehousing.
Brown and Russell (2007) found that organizational
readiness is a vital variable in RFID adoption. Previ-
ously, in 1995, Iacovou et al proved that the availability
of financial and technology resources (i.e., people,
technology, and expertise) is a major derived behind
the adoption of electronic data interchange.
H3: Organizational readiness positively related to
the adoption of Halal warehousing.
2.5 Customer pressure
‘Customer is always right’, the term used in the mar-
keting strategy to ensure customer will satisfy with our
services. Without customers, how good your services
or products are, it will not turn it to a profit. In relation
to customers, the firm must necessarily be sensitive
to clients’ needs and demands (Sandy Chong, 2008).
Several studies have demonstrated the association
between customer pressure and an adoption deci-
sion (Al-Qirim, 2005; Dholakia and Kshetri, 2004;
Grandon and Pearson, 2004; Lertwongsatien and
Wongpinunwatana, 2003; Premkumar and Roberts,
1999). Customer pressure has been ranked by
Kittipong Sophonthummapharn (2009), as a third
most important variable among 12 variables has been
studied regarding adoption of electronic customer
relationship management. Hence:
H4: Customer pressure positively related to the
adoption of Halal warehousing.
3 METHODOLOGY
The unit of analysis of this study is at organiza-
tional level. Respondents of this study are Halal
manufacturers are who attending the Malaysian
International Halal Showcase 2013 at Kuala Lumpur
 Table 1. Results of measurement model.

Model Measurement
constructs item Loading CRa AVEb

Cost cost1 0.863 0.948 0.822

cost2 0.940
cost3 0.907
Customer custx1 0.893 0.909 0.769
Pressure custx2 0.913
custx3 0.821
Perceived pb1 0.836 0.912 0.674
Benefits pb2 0.806
pb3 0.832
pb4 0.784
pb5 0.845
Readiness Ready1 0.899 0.895 0.682
Ready2 0.847
Figure 1. Reseach Model. Ready3 0.828
Ready4 0.719
Halal int_W1 0.944 0.962 0.895
Warehouse int_W2 0.942
Convention Centre (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur on 3rd– int_W3 0.952
6th April 2013. Focus of this study are on three indus-
tries which is food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetic. Note: a Composite reliability (CR) = (square of the summa-
Since we could get a list of exhibitors, systematic tion of the factor loadings)/{(square of the summation of the
sampling method was used in this study factor loadings) + (square of the summation of the error vari-
ances).
b
Average variance extracted (AVE) = (summation of the
square of the factor loadings)/{(summation of the square of
3.1 Data collection the factor loadings) + (summation of the error variances)}.
The questionnaire was distributed among 200 Halal
manufacturers who joined the exhibition. The
exhibitors are come from all around the world and
also come from every state in Malaysia. Since this 3.3 Construct validity
study only focus on companies which are operat- Construct validity can be done by looking at the respec-
ing in Malaysia only, all international participants are tive loadings and cross loading to evaluate if there are
excluded from the survey. Out of 200 hundreds ques- problems with any particular items. Hair et al. (2010)
tionnaires, 189 of them were response, but due to poor suggested the cut off value for loading at minimum
quality of data, only 140 of them can be used for data 0.5 as significant. The cross loading is a significant
analysis purpose. Another 11 respondents were reluc- problem if any items which has a loading of higher
tant to response since the person who could answer the than 0.5 on two or more factors. Analysis shown that
questionnaires was too busy entertaining their clients all the items measuring a particular construct loaded
or not attending the event. highly on that construct and loaded lower on the other
constructs thus confirming construct validity.

3.2 Measures and assessment of goodness of

measure
Five point Likert scale was used to gather data
regarding independent variables, and seven-point Lik-
ert scale was used to measure item in dependant
variable. This is an approach in order to avoid
common method variance before data analysis sug-
gested by Podsakoff & Organ, (1986). Since lack
of literature in Halal supply chain adoption, all of
the instruments were adapted from other technology
adoption studies and were modified to fit with cur-
rent study. Items measuring the perceived benefits
were adapted from Sophonthummapharm (2009), Cost
and customer pressure from Premkumar & Roberts
(1998) and Sophonthummapharm (2009), organiza-
tional readiness from Khemtong & Roberts (2006) and
Sophonthummapharm (2009).
3.4 Convergent validity
Convergent validity is the test to measure the degree
to which multiple items to measure the same concepts
are in agreement. Hair et al. (2010) suggested that to
assess convergent validity, the cut off value for load-
ing is should exceed 0.5, and the CR is greater than
0.7. The cut off value for AVE is also 0.5 (Barclay
et al., 1995). As shown on the Table 1, the loadings
for all items, CR and the AVE value, all of them are
above the recommended value by Hair et al. (2010) and
(Barclay et al., 1995). Table 1 summarizes the results
of the measurement model. The results indicate that
all the constructs used are all valid measures of their
respective constructs according to their parameter esti-
mates and statistical significance (Chow and Chan,
2008).

91
Table 2. Discriminant validity of the constructs.
Ware
Cost Customer PB Ready house
Cost 0.849
Customer −0.137 0.877
Perceived −0.124 0.487 0.841
Benefits −0.229 0.600 0.641 0.817
Readiness
Warehouse −0.415 0.657 0.604 0.709 0.912
Note: Diagonals (in bold) represent the square root of the ave
and the off diagonals represent the correlations.
3.5 Discriminant validity
The discriminant validity can be assessed by examin-
ing the correlations between the measures of potential
overlapping constructs. Items should load higher on
their own constructs in the model. The average vari-
ance shared between each construct and its measures
should be greater than the variance shared between
the construct and other construct (Compeau et al.,
1999). As depict in the Table 2, the square correla-
tions for each construct are lower than the average
variance extracted (AVE) by the indicators measuring
construct indicating adequate discriminant validity.
As a whole, the measurement model demonstrated
adequate convergent validity and discriminant validity.
The results of the hypothesis testing are stated in
the Table 3. It is shown clearly that all the hypothesis
were supported. All the relationships were significant
at p < 0.01.
4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Among those variables has been studied, cost is the
only variable that is significantly act as a barrier to the
adoption of Halal warehouse. This finding it is align
with the findings has been found by Premkumar et al.
(1997) regarding EDI adoption and also Ghobakhloo
et al. (2011) in E-commerce adoption study. It also
means that, the higher the cost to be bone, the lower the
intention for Halal manufacturers to adopt Halal ware-
housing. It is important for the government to know
what are the barriers impeding Halal manufacturers
to adopt Halal warehousing in Malaysia. Currently,
the government only provides incentives to the logis-
tics service providers to attract them become a Halal
service providers, but there is still a lack of incentive
provided by the government to encourage Halal manu-
facturers to adopt the services. Due to that matter, this
finding is very useful to the government for them to
take same actions to overcome it.
Customer pressure was found as a significant vari-
able in the adoption of Halal warehouse in this
study. This finding support the findings from other
areas of studies by Premkumar & Roberts (1999);
Lertwongsatien & Wongpinunwatana (2003), Kit-
tipong Sophonthummapharn, (2009). Customers now
92
Table 3. Path coefficient and hypothesis testing.
Hypothesis Relationship Beta SE t-value Decision
H1 Cost -> 0.272 0.061 4.453**

Warehouse
H2 Customer -> 0.328 0.085 3.878**

Warehouse
H3 Perceived 0.207 0.067 3.115**

Benefits ->
Warehouse
H4 Readiness -> 0.317 0.088 3.591**

Warehouse
**p < 0.01, * p < 0.05.
have not only request for Halal products but also in the
Halal process (Bonne & Verbeke, 2008). Furthermore,
according to Tieman (2007), for customers, the Halal
supply chain is a critical success factor in ensuring the
Halal integrity for Halal products. In the early phase,
Halal supply chain activities are based on trust among
Muslim companies, whereas the seller will be respon-
sible to Allah for ensuring the products are really Halal
to be consumed, but since the majority of the Halal
manufacturers in Malaysia nowadays is from the non-
Muslim, the application of Halal warehouse is a must
to reduce the doubts of Halal integrity for the Halal
products (Tieman, 2011).
Most of the studies found that perceived benefits
have a positive relationship with the intention to adopt
of new technology. This study also confirms the find-
ing from Low et al. (2011) and Ghobakhloo et al.
(2011).
It shows a strong indication that in order to increase
the adoption rate of new innovation, the non-adopter
must understand what are the benefits they could get
if they adopting Halal warehousing in their business
operation. In this case, government body such as Halal
Development Corporation (HDC) or JAKIM should
conduct more sessions or talks regarding the impor-
tance and the benefits of adopting Halal warehousing
services. During an event like MIHAS and Halal fes-
tival which are have been conducted annually, they
should take this opportunity to continue encourage and
convince Halal manufacturers to adopt Halal services.
If the government only relies on the providers them-
selves, may be the potential adopters think they are
promoting their services for their business survival.
But, if the effort comes from the government body,
the perspective should be different. The action taken
by the government usually will have a bigger impact
compare to action taken by service providers.
This study also found that the organizational readi-
ness has a positive relationship with the intention
to adopt Halal warehousing services. This also sup-
ported by Khemtong & Roberts (2006) and Brown &
Russell (2007). This finding is very interesting since
the majority of Halal manufacturers in Malaysia is
owned by the non-Muslim (Tieman, 2011). It shows
that, even though the owners are not Muslim, but the
organizations are still ready to adopt Halal warehous-
ing services for their Halal products. This scenario
is aligned with the statement made by Othman et al,
2006 and Suhaiza et al., 2011. They mentioned that
compliance with the Halal requirements is not a threat
anymore, but now it is a business opportunity and even
as a sources of competitive advantage. Furthermore,
recently, Halal products also have extended not only
on consumer products, but also in a lifestyle and other
services (Alserhan, 2010).
Even the respondents who attended MIHAS 2013
exhibition is from all around Malaysia, the findings
cannot be reflect for the whole Halal manufacturers in
Malaysia since not all of the Halal manufacturers have
an equal chance to joint this exhibition. This study also
is not a complete study. Few potential variables such as
awareness and complexity were not being used for this
study and yet could provide extra information regard-
ing the study. Future studies should try to understand
the relationships between intention to the adoption
and the organizational characteristics such as location
of manufacturers and number of Halal products they
have.
The important of this study is beside identifying
the drivers to the adoption of Halal warehouse, results
also shown the barriers that impeding Halal manufac-
turers to adopt Halal warehouse. Information on both
the drivers and barrier to the adoption could be used
by practitioners and also from the government bodies.
Both parties should notice what to be done in order
to increase the adoption rates of Halal manufacturers
towards Halal warehousing services, for their business
survival and also to the best of Muslim in Malaysia.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Motivation and working behaviour in frontier tourism business of

Thailand-Laos

Thirachaya Maneenetr
Head of Tourism Department, Faculty of Management Science, Khon Kaen University, Muang, Khon Kaen, Thailand

ABSTRACT: The objectives of this research were to study the motivations and working behaviour of the frontier
tourism business at the Thailand-Laos border, to compare the working relationship between travel agencies and
the hotel business and to study the relationship between working motivation and working behaviour in the tourism
business by using a total sampling of 140 persons: 112 persons from the hotel business and 28 persons from
travel agencies.
The personnel in the tourism business were comprised of 42.1% males and 57.9% females. The ages ranged
accordingly: 15–25 years old (15.0%), 26–35 years old (53.6%), and 36–45 years old (26.4%). The educational
levels of the sample group were: high school diploma or equivalent (28.6%), associate’s degree or equivalent
(27.9%) and bachelor’s degree (27.9%). Most of the personnel in the tourism business had a working motivation
in the moderate range and the others were in the high range.
Most of the personnel in tourism business thought that their work quantities were in the moderate range.
The overall of the work qualities were in the high range. Therefore, the personnel were considered to be worthy
resources for having an average in the highest range. For overall abilities they were in the high range and their
average rating for morals was in the high range. And, the relationship with the organization of the personnel in
the tourism business was in the moderate however, if someone criticized their organization, they would suddenly
rise into the high range.
In addition, the results of the hypothesis: 1) the working behaviour in the travel agencies and hotel business
had the same significance rank of 0.05. 2) the working motivation of the personnel in travel agencies had a
positive relationship with their working behaviour having a significance rank of 0.05 by using the Pearson’s
Product Moment Correlation result of 0.69. 3) the working motivation of the personnel in the hotel business
also had a positive relationship with their working behaviour having a significance rank of 0.05 by using the
Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation result of 0.74, and 4) the working motivation of the personnel in the
tourism business also had a positive relationship with their working behaviour having a significance rank of 0.05
by using the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation result of 0.79.

Keywords: Motivation; Working behaviour; Frontier tourism

1 INTRODUCTION order to work. These regulations encourage people to

For the past decade, Tourism has been a major source
of revenue for Thailand. People consider Tourism
to be one of life’s necessities. After working hard,
they choose to go to a nice place, have new expe-
riences, get some needed relaxation, and tourism
healthcare. Tourism is booming because many people
join businesses hoping to be able to travel after some
time.
The Travel Guide Agency Act 1992 determined that
tour operators must have permission to do business
in order to control product and service for customer
satisfaction. Nowadays, there are a lot of regulations
to govern tourism and hotel management. Because of
the increase in tourism generic standards of tourism
have been established i.e. a guide must be certified, in
try to improve their skills in order to get higher pay
which is the major way to motivate people to join this
industry. When the pay matches the requirements of
the workers’ tasks the result will be higher efficiency
(Watcharayoo, 1994).
Work satisfaction is the motivation for working
and this motivation leads people to perform their
tasks successfully. Motivation is thus very impor-
tant in management. Positive motivation can lead to
positive working behaviour. Kaewprom (2005) stud-
ied about “Impact factors for working behaviour of
teachers in schools in the 3rd area of education in
Ubonratchathani”. They found that the aspects of the
work, attitude, success, policy and responsibility had a
good positive relationship with the working behaviour
of government officials in that area. And Khampen

95
(2001) who studied the “Motivation in working of
bank officers: case study of Kungsri Ayuthaya Bank,
Chaingmai”, found that most officers agreed that moti-
vation policies like having a good working manual
helped them to work very well.
The above reasons helped to influence the
researcher’s interests
- in a study about motivation and
work behaviour in business tourism and to find a
relationship between them. This led to the decision
to study Thai-Laos tourism which is presently popu-
lar at the fixed borders in Nongkhai, Mukdahan and
Ubonratchathani. Theresults will be used as criteria for
managing, improving and revision of the motivational
factors necessary for working in the tourism business
with a high amount of efficiency.

2 OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY

1. To study the motivation for working and working

behaviour in the frontier tourism business at the
Thai-Laos border.
2. To compare the working behaviour between travel
agencies and hotel businesses.
3. To study the relationship between working motiva-
tion and working behaviour in tourism businesses.
Figure 1.

3 HYPOTHESIS

1. The working behaviour of the personnel in the travel
agencies and hotel business is different.
2. The working motivation and working behaviour of
the personnel in the travel agencies is related.
3. The working motivation and working behaviour of
the personnel in the hotel business is related.
4. The working motivation and working behaviour of
the personnel in the tourism business is related.
4 SCOPE OF THIS STUDY
The research is about the study of the motivation and
working behaviour of those working in tourism at
the Thai-Laos border, the scope of which the author
defines below:
Scope of area: area of tourism at the Thai-Laos
border separated into hotels and travel agencies in
the three provinces of Nongkhai, Mukdahan and
Ubonratchathani.
Scope of details: details of the study consists of
motivation and working behaviour.
Scope of population: population includes man-
agement and operation officials in tourism in
the three provinces of Nongkhai, Mukdahan and
Ubonratchathani.
5 GLOSSARY
1. Motivation: the process of reaction to the needs of a
person which motivates that person to do whatever
is necessary to achieve his/her objective.
2. Working behavior: methodology of developing
a positive attitude, sense of success, policy of
management, sense of responsibility and positive
behaviour related to that work.
3. Travel agency: travel agencies which have the
license of a legal tourism company.
4. Hotel business: business accommodations which
have the license of a legal hotel company that were
members of the Thai Hotel Association.
5. Tourism business: tourism businesses which have
the license of a legal tourism company.
6. Frontier tourism: all tourism activities established
to serve tourists at the Thai-Laos border.
6 FRAMEWORK
The definition of the framework of the study “Moti-
vation and working behaviour in frontier tourism
business of Thailand-Laos” as in Figure 1.
7 METHOD
This study was survey research involving the motiva-
tion and working behaviour in tourism at the Thai-Laos
border which was done in order to find a way to bet-
ter manage and improve the working behaviour in
tourism. The results will be used to develop better
methods of motivating those working in the tourism
industry.

96
Table 1. Sample group of the study. Negative questions involved compensation and social
status, policies of organization, work environment,
Hotel businesses Tourism businesses management system of organization and relationship
with workmates and supervisors.
1.Kangsapeu Riverside Hotel, 1.Sakda Travel World, The working behaviour test concerned ques-
Ubonratchathani. Ubonratchathani.
tions on working behaviour, work satisfaction and the
2.Ubon International 2. Ubon-Surachai Travel
Hotel, Ubonratchathani. Center, Ubonratchathani. relationship with workmates and supervisors.
3.Ploy Palez Hotel, 3. Nevada Grand Travel,
Mukdahan. Ubonratchathani.
4.Mukdahan Grand Hotel, 4. Mukdahan International
11 INFORMATION OF ANALYSIS AND
Mukdahan. Tourim, Mukdahan.
5.Nongkhai Grand Hotel, 5. Paphavadee Tourism, STATISTICS
Nongkhai. Mukdahan.
6.Royal Mae-Khong 6.Pratep Tour, Mukdahan. The researcher analyzed the information by using
Nongkhai, Nongkhai. 7. Dimon Inter Tour, the SPSS for windows program and presented it by
Nongkhai. information analysis explanation. The statistics of the
8.Parichat Tour, information analysis are listed below:
Nongkhai.
9. Kantana Tour, Nongkhai. 1. Percentage statistic explains the characteristics of
10. Narumon Tour, demography (sex, age, status, education, career and
Nongkhai. income per month)
2. Mean and standard deviation: SD
3. The test of hypothesis used t-test to test differ-
ences between the average of the two independent
8 SAMPLE GROUP OF THE STUDY groups at a significance level of 0.05
4. Correlation analysis in the relationship level test
Random research tests were done involving manage- used a coefficient of correlation.
ment and operation officials of tourism businesses at
the Thai-Laos borders of three provinces: Nongkhai,
Ubonratchathani and Mukdahan. This was done at 12 RESULTS
hotel businesses and travel agencies which had legal
company licenses and hotel businessesthat were mem- The personnel in the tourism business were comprised
bers of the Thai Hotel Association. The group con- of 42.1% males and 57.9% females. The ages ranged
sisted of six hotels and ten travel agencies as shown in accordingly: 15–25 years old (15.0%), 26–35 years
Table 1. old (53.6%), and 36–45 years old (26.4%). The edu-
cational levels of the sample group were: high school
diploma or equivalent (28.6%), associate’s degree or
9 VARIABLE OF THE STUDY equivalent (27.9%) and bachelor’s degree (27.9%).
Most of the personnel in tourism business had a
1. Independent variable: working motivation working motivation in the moderate range (57.9%) and
2. Dependent variable: working behaviour the others were in the high range (42.1%). Concerning
success of the work, the most significant impact in this
area was when colleagues gave moral support. Other
10 TECHNIQUE OF THIS STUDY factors were position change, salary and work perfor-
mance measured by the amount of work responsibility
Working motivation test: based on the theory given.
of Maslow (1954), the need to achieve theory The biggest impact from colleagues was due to
(Mcclelland & Akison, cited in Santiwong, 1990) their competence and their working relationship with
and the theory of motivation by Herzberg (cited in the respondents of the sample group. The respon-
Santiwong, 1990). The test consisted of 11 items: dents were willing to receive knowledge from their
1) Success of work 2) Assistance from colleagues colleagues and they trusted them in things involving
3) Job description 4) Responsibilities at work 5) important work.
Progress of work 6) Stability of work 7) Compensation The most significant impact concerning the aspect
and social status 8) Policies of organization 9) Work of the work was in personal development and the career
environment 10) Management system of organization path of the work. Another factor was their personal sat-
11) Relationship with colleagues and supervisors. All isfaction and happiness with their work. The biggest
11 items were used with a choice of positive or neg- impact on responsibility for work involved the respon-
ative responses. A total of 43 questions were applied dents being fully able to fulfill their responsibilities
using the Likert scale as a research test. and being on time for work at the company. The other
Positive questions involved success of work, assis- part was company assurance of their importance.
tance from colleagues, job description, responsibilities The most relevant impact on progress in work
at work, progress of work and stability of work. was the support from the company for opportunities

97
to make personal improvement of skills and also
company support of continuing education. The great-
est impact on stability of work was the respondents
perception about the stability of the company and addi-
tionally, whether the company only fired their staff for
serious infractions.
The most significant impact from salary and social
status was whether the pay received matched their
skills and whether they could get more money for
working at higher levels. Another factor was receiving
appropriate paid for their knowledge and ability.
The biggest impact in policy was company policy
that fit into the current economy and matched the per-
sonal goals of the respondents in addition to this was
company policy and goals which were directed toward
their needs, and the greatest impact concerning work
environment was location and the facilities at the work-
place which promoted better working. Following this
was the company having appropriate materials and
modern office equipment.
The most significant impact in good governance
was established company rules and a charter to gov-
ern work, after this was whether the company offered
opportunities for work advancement and had a work
manual for reference, and the most important impact
concerning the relationship with colleagues and super-
visors was co-operation between colleagues and fol-
lowing this was respondents having a family type
relationship with their colleagues.
Finally, in the area of working behaviour it was
found that the personnel from the tourism business
thought they had work quantities in the moderate range
(45%). For the overall of work image qualities they
were in the high range (42.9%). Therefore, the respon-
dents considered the resources worthy by having an
average in the highest range and also being able to
finish the work by themselves and completing their
workload with minimum errors were also factors. Part
of the overall image ability revealed that they were in
the high range; the respondents had an average range
for morality and were in the high range for respon-
sibility for work, sensibility, framework, teamwork,
expertise in service and strategic management.
The respondents from the tourism business had
a relationship with the organization in the moderate
range and if someone critized their organization, they
rose up into the high rate.
13 RESULTS OF HYPOTHESIS
The 1st hypothesis: Working behaviour of the person-
nel in travel agencies and the hotel business would be
different.
The result of this hypothesis found that working
behaviour of people in travel agencies and the hotel
business were not different having a significance rank
of 0.05.
The 2nd hypothesis: The working motivation of
the personnel in travel agencies would have a posi-
tive impact on their working behaviour. The results
98
of the hypothesis found that the working motivation
of the personnel in travel agencies had a positive
impact on their working behavior having a significance
rank of 0.05 by using the Pearson’s Product Moment
Correlation result of 0.69.
The 3rd hypothesis: The working motivation of the
personnel in the hotel business would have a positive
effect on their working behaviour. The working moti-
vation of the personnel in the hotel business had a
positive effect on their working behaviour having a sig-
nificance rank of 0.05 by using the Pearson’s Product
Moment Correlation result of 0.74.
The 4th hypothesis: The working motivation of the
personnel in the tourism business would have a pos-
itive effect on their working behaviour. The working
motivation of the personnel in the tourism business
had a positive on their working behaviour having a sig-
nificance rank of 0.05 by using the Pearson’s Product
Moment Correlation result of 0.79.
14 CONCLUSION
From the analysis it was found that the most significant
impacts to success of the work was when successful
colleagues cheered up the respondents, and change in
position or pay. When colleagues commended them
for their performance it motivated them to work bet-
ter and promoted better behaviour. When they were
promoted to a new position which improved their
social status this raised their level of esteem. This
matches with the theories of Maslow, Herzberg and
EERG and Alderfer. Maslow stated that motivation
from colleagues stimulates competence, a good work
relationship and satisfies the social needs.
Concerning the aspects of the work Herzberg sug-
gested that motivation arose from personal develop-
ment and a definite career path in the work including:
the opportunity to develop in required areas, opportu-
nities for promotion, and opportunities for continued
education which affected job satisfaction”. This is in
agreement with the research findings.
Concerning stability of work the theory of Herzberg
states that motivation arises from knowledge that the
company will only terminate staff for serious infrac-
tions. Concerning pay and social status, motivation
arises from people being paid commensurate with their
skills and feeling assured that they will receive more
when their work improves to a higher level. This agrees
with the theory of Herzberg who said that salary and
salary upgrades led to the satisfaction of personal and
better working behaviour.
Regarding policy, motivation arises from com-
pany policy that fits into current economies and that
matches with personal goals which produces better
working behaviour.
As far as the work environment, location and the
facilities of the workplace affected better working. The
theory of Herzberg says that factors of the heart will
pacify and help remove dissatisfaction in the work-
place and things such as workplace location, materials
and modern office equipment are important.
 Good governance involves establishing regulations,
having a reference work manual and providing forums
for open discussion which can lead to better job
satisfaction. This is supported by the research of
Khampen who studied the motivation in working of
bank officers: case study of Kungsri Ayuthaya Bank,
Chaingmai, if the bank had a good work manual that
helped promote better performance.
Concerning relationships with colleagues and
supervisors, motivation arises from co-operation of
colleagues and a family-type atmosphere in the work-
place. Moreover, direct-indirect communication helps
further promote this topic.
In the area of working behaviour of personnel in
the tourism business they felt their quantity of work
was at the middle level. For the quality of work, the
focus was on how to utilize resources and how to finish
their workload by themselves and do their job with a
minimum amount of errors.
That ethics, responsibility, sensibility, framework,
expertise in service and strategic management helps
promote low conflict is based on what Davis said:
When people are older, their work behaviour will be
better because they have more experience. The pride
and happiness from talking about one’s workplace,
about satisfaction with pay, having a good work policy,
and good a work manual can help too.
The assumption was that working behavior in travel
agencies and the hotel business was not different
because both of them are management oriented with
most of the work produced by serving. The motiva-
tion for working for the personnel in travel agencies
is related to their positive working behaviour, and
the motivation for working for the personnel in the
hotel business is also related to their positive working
behaviour. The motivation for working for the person-
nel in the tourism business is the same, related to their
positive working behaviour.
This was based on the research of Rohitsatian who
studied the motivation and working behaviour of the
head of flight attendance on an airplane: case study of
Thai Airways, and found that their motivation was in
the medium range for achieving, work relationships,
and power. Their total motivation had a positive impact
on their working behaviour.
15 SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL STUDY
1. This research was done to find the relationship of
work motivation on behaviour in Frontier tourism
at Thai-Laos borders, in order to improve manage-
ment style in tourism. Additional research should
be done to identify more organizations in each area
so that there can be an increase in services provided
to tourists.
2. Subsequent research should study the meaning
of communication between people in business in
order to build a network for exchange of knowl-
edge to solve problems regarding the potential
development of tourism in the future.
99
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

A comparative study of customers’ satisfaction between dental and

medical services in University Putra Malaysia Health Centre

Ahmad Kamarul
Dental Department, University Health Centre, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

Fonny Hutagalung
Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, University of Malaya, Malaysia

W.P. dan Sh. Ezat

Department of Community Health, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: This study was a cross-sectional study involving customers who received Medical and Den-
tal treatment at University Health Centre UPM. A total of 419 respondents involved in this study which was
selected using a simple random sampling method using a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire which con-
sists of SERVQUAL domains and Others domains. Overall results shows that customers of University Health
Centre UPM are satisfied with the Medical and Dental services given. Level of customers’ satisfaction were
higher for Medical services compare to Dental customers. Overall result for customers’ satisfaction accord-
ing to SERVQUAL domains shows that customers were satisfied with responsiveness, assurance, empathy and
tangibles domains but customers were not satisfied with reliability domain.

Keywords: Customers’ satisfaction, SERVQUAL, Medical and Dental services

1 INTRODUCTION as meeting other corporate imperatives. Managing sat-

Every organisation nowadays concerned with satisfy-
ing the users of its products or services. The subject of
satisfaction has been studied extensively in the fields
of sociology, psychology, marketing and healthcare
management. The customers’ satisfaction in modern
setting plays an important role in determining the over-
all success of the organisation. The public sector is
changing constantly and rapidly in order to cope with
a lot of challenges and to respond to new needs and
demands in society. The place and the role of the cus-
tomer have become of very high importance in these
changes and reforms. Managing customer satisfaction
is therefore indispensable for public organisations in
order to see if they are doing the right things and if
they are doing things right (Thijs and Staes 2008).
Feedback from customers can influence the whole
quality improvement agenda and provide an opportu-
nity for organisational learning and development. It
provides crucial information on what the customers’
expectations are and how they perceive the quality of
care, which may be different from that of all staff
providing that care (Irish Society for Quality and
Safety in Healthcare (2003). Successful organisations
use customer’s feedback to understand the needs and
expectations as a starting point, developing proposals
around their customers’needs and expectations as well
isfaction therefore not only has to do with managing
services and/or products, but also managing expecta-
tions and perceptions of the customer (Thijs and Staes
2008).
As in general settings, customers’ satisfaction with
health care becomes a priority issue that is getting
increasing attention from administrators, practitioners,
consumers and evaluators of health care especially in
the competitive health care arena of today. One reason
for this attention is that patient satisfaction is believed
to be one goal of health care delivery; as a conse-
quence of the consumer movement the satisfaction of
the consumer is seen as a necessary outcome of any
transaction irrespective of the efficacy of that trans-
action. Patient satisfaction is also believed to relate
causally to various health and illness behaviours (Pelz
1982).
In University Putra Malaysia (UPM) there are more
than 40,000 populations with the majority are students
(under graduate and post graduate), staff and depen-
dants, pensioners; living inside and outside UPM
campus (www.upm.edu.my). There were more than
110,000 attendance of customers came to seek med-
ical and dental services to University Health Centre
since 2009 and 2010 (University Health Centre UPM
Yearly Report 2010). These numbers of customers is
expected to increase every year due to the increase

101
of awareness and knowledge through the information
technology regarding medical and dental services.
With the increasing numbers of customers from
different socioeconomic and level of education back-
ground to University Health Centre UPM has elevated
the demand and expectation of customers for a more
quality medical and dental services in UPM. Hence;
University Health Centre UPM as a customer cen-
tered health care system realize that it is important
that patients concerns, desires and views of health care
services need to be investigated carefully because of
their potential impact on the utilization and satisfaction
(Al Johara 2009).
However, with the increase of demand and expecta-
tion from the customers has also increased the response
and feedback towards the Dental and Medical services
provided by University Health Centre, UPM. Despite
of many efforts has been implemented to improve
the level of services to enhance customers’ satisfac-
tion, University Health Centre has still received a
significant increased in customer’s complaint regard-
ing the services given. According to University Health
Centre customer’s feedback report for the year 2010
to 2011 shows an increase of more than 88% in
customer’s complaint regarding medical and dental
services (University Health Centre UPMYearly Report
2011). If these matter is not being taken seriously, these
increasing numbers of customers’ complaint could
give significant negative impact to the success of the
treatment and to the overall image of the organisa-
tion as mentioned by Andaleeb, patient satisfaction
enhances hospital image, which in turn translates into
increased service use and market share (Andaleeb
1988).
2 RESEARCH METHOD
This research using a cross-sectional study involving
customers who received medical or dental treatment
at University Health Centre UPM during the period of
the research. Criteria for sample selection are:
• Students (under graduate and post graduate), UPM
staffs (academician, professionals and supporting
staffs), pensioners and public seeking medical and
dental treatment to University Health Centre UPM.
• Respondents who received medical or dental ser-
vices during research period. Criteria for sample
exclusion are respondents below 18 years old and
sample who does not want to participate.
2.1 Sampling method using quantitative analysis
University Health Centre UPM has been selected due
to University Health Centre UPM is the only centre
that provides medical and dental services in UPM. In
this research a total of 419 respondents that meets the
criteria for sample selection were selected. From 419
respondents, it was divided into 2 group (1 group con-
sisting of 319 respondents who received Medical ser-
vices and 1 group consisting of 100 respondents who
102
received Dental services). List of the customers that
were selected as a respondents in this study obtained
according to daily visitation history of customers who
came to University Health Centre. An estimated 300–
400 customers came to University Health Centre UPM
to received medical services and 50–60 customers
came for dental services every day (University Health
Centre UPM Yearly Report 2010). Based on this list
of customers, 40 customers that come for medical
services and 10 customers for dental services to Uni-
versity Health Centre during research period will be
selected daily as a respondents using a simple random
sampling method.
2.2 Research instrument
SERVQUAL questionnaire that has been modified
accordingly based upon the needs of this research were
used and administered to respondents. Respondents
were given a set of questionnaire and requested to
answer all the questions in the questionnaire using the
sc ale given before and after they have received medical
or dental services at University Health Centre, UPM.
Respondents also required to give comments and sug-
gestions regarding the services provided. Respondents
were asked to return back the questionnaire by insert-
ing the form into a survey box provided at the Service
Counter of University Health Centre, UPM once they
have completed the questionnaire.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Response rates
During study period, 452 questionnaires have been
distributed to the customers of medical and dental
services of University Health Center, UPM, but only
419 respondents return the questionnaire. It gives the
response rates of 93% from total respondents. Most of
the uncooperative respondents were those from pen-
sioners and supporting staff category and the most
common reason is because they don’t have the time
to fill in the questionnaire.
3.2 Overall customers’ satisfaction level of dental
and medical services
Measurement of customers’ satisfaction in this study
using SERVQUAL consists of reliability, responsive-
ness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. Customers’
satisfaction is positive (satisfied) if P value – E value
is more than 0 (P − E > 0); and customers’ satisfac-
tion is negative (dissatisfied) if P value – E value is
less than 0 (P − E < 0).
Results of this study shows that customers of Uni-
versity Health Centre UPM were satisfied with the
dental and medical services given, with overall level
of customers’ satisfaction for both dental and medi-
cal services in University Health Centre, UPM were
positive with the value of Perception (P) = 4.508
Table 1. Overall Customers’Satisfaction Level With Dental
and Medical Services.
Services N P value E value Mean ± sd
Dental and Medical 419 4.507 4.133 0.374 ± 0.502
Table 2. Overall Customers’ Satisfaction Level According
To SERVQUAL Domains.
Domains Services
(Dental & Medical) (n = 419)
Mean ± sd
Reliability −0.004 ± 0.311
Responsiveness 0.062 ± 0.289
Assurance 0.099 ± 0.220
Empathy 0.073 ± 0.226
Tangibles 0.042 ± 0.218
minus Expectation (E) = 4.133 value [P (4.507) – E
(4.133)] = 0.374 ± 0.502 (refer Table 1).
3.3 Satisfaction level according to SERVQUAL
domains
Overall result for customers’ satisfaction (n = 419)
according to SERVQUAL domains, showed that reli-
ability received a negative score of mean = −0.004 ±
0.311. This means that customers were not satisfied
with reliability domain of Dental and Medical ser-
vices. For responsiveness domain showed a positive
score of mean = 0.062 ± 0.289 which means that cus-
tomers were satisfied with responsiveness domain of
the services.
Results shows customers’ satisfaction for assur-
ance domain also showed a positive score of P–
E = 0.099 ± 0.226. Customers also satisfied with
empathy (mean = 0.073 ± 0.226) and tangibles domain
(mean = 0.042 ± 0.218) of Dental and Medical ser-
vices of University Health Centre (refer Table 2).
3.4 Comparison of overall customers’ satisfaction
level between dental and medical services
Study indicated that Dental and Medical services
received a different scores of Perception minus Expec-
tation from respondents for SERVQUAL domains
studied in this research. Overall customers’ satis-
faction level between Dental and Medical services
showed that customers who received Medical ser-
vices were more satisfied with the services given
compare to Dental customers. Level of customers’
satisfaction with Medical customers’ were higher
with mean = 0.427 ± 0.029, compare to Dental cus-
tomers satisfaction with mean = 0.206 ± 0.040 (refer
Table 3).
103
Table 3. Comparison of Overall Customers’ Satisfaction
Level Between Dental and Medical Services.
Services N Mean ± sd
Medical 319 0.427 ± 0.519
Dental 100 0.206 ± 0.400
4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Overall customers’ satisfaction level with
dental and medical services
Results of this study showed that customers of Uni-
versity Health Centre UPM were satisfied with both
Dental and Medical services with the mean score of
0.374 ± 0.502, which could be considered as high level
of satisfaction. This is similar with Cakraborty and
Majumbar (2011) who did a study on measuring con-
sumers’ satisfaction in health care sector found that
customers were satisfied with the hospitals services
in Malaysia with the mean scores of perceptions have
exceeded expectations for all the measures examined.
Study by Davies and Ware (1981) on measuring cus-
tomers satisfaction with dental care also found that
customers were satisfied with Dental services.
Customers were satisfied with services given by
University Health Centre UPM was due to Univer-
sity Health Centre UPM provides 24 hours Medical
services such as emergency services, on-calls doctors
and standby services for students and staff activities
throughout the years including weekends and public
holidays which are not available in any other pub-
lic University Health Centre in Malaysia. The other
reason could be University Health Centre UPM used
more than 70% of originals drugs for Dental and
Medical treatment and also due to modern and up
to date facilities of laboratory, dental equipment and
radiology.
4.2 Overall customers’ satisfaction according to
SERVQUAL domains
Customers’ satisfaction regarding reliability in
SERVQUAL domains showed a negative score, which
means that customers were not satisfied with relia-
bility domains of the services. This was similar with
study by Silvestro (2003) who did a research on apply-
ing gap analysis in the health service to inform the
service improvement agenda found that there was a
negative gap for every factor of reliability, integrity,
functionality and comfort and perceptions of all these
factors were significantly lower than the importance
rating. Study by Yeiladal and Direktor (2010) on a
comparison on health care service quality between
public and private hospitals in Northern Cyprus also
found that the largest gap in public hospitals exists
in reliability-confidence dimension which constitutes
from reliability, responsiveness and assurance issues.
 This findings also supported by Wisniewski and
Wisniewski (2005) who applied SERVQUAL in a
Scottish colposcopy clinic and found that across the
five dimensions, statistically significant gap scores
were identified for reliability and responsiveness.
They found that reliability was the priority dimension
given that it had both the largest negative gap and the
highest mean weight. In Dental services, result from
this study were similar with study done by Karydis
et al (2001) and John et al (2010) who did a study on
Greek patients regarding the quality of dental health
care and measuring service quality of public dental
health care facilities in Kelantan, Malaysia also found
that the largest gap was observed regarding reliability
domain.
The reason that customers were not satisfied with
reliability domains is probably due to long waiting
time to received treatment needed. This is due to Uni-
versity Health Centre UPM received more than 400
customers per day for Dental and Medical treatment
which consists of medical examination, laboratory
test, radiology, emergency cases, tooth extraction and
minor oral surgery.These treatment were considered as
time consuming and create a long queue for customers
to received their treatment which in turn customers feel
that Dental and Medical services were not complied
with the time frame given in the client’s charter of
University Health Centre.
It was found that customers were satisfied with
responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles
domains of Dental and Medical services of Univer-
sity Health Centre. This was similar with the results
from Sohail (2003) who did a study on service qual-
ity provided by private hospitals in Malaysia using
a comprehensive scale adapted from SERVQUAL to
test between expectations and perception indicate that
patients perceived value of the services exceed expec-
tations and perception for the variable measured.These
variables including tangibility, reliability, assurance
and empathy. Finding in this study also supported by
Sharifa Ezat et al (2010) who did a study on cus-
tomers’ satisfaction among urban and rural public
health clinic that showed the overall highest scores of
satisfied respondents were on empathy and assurance
domain and responsiveness dimensions were almost at
the same level. These also consistent with study done
by Saiboon et al (2008), showed that higher patient sat-
isfaction scores were associated with higher caring and
teaching as their contributing factors of the health care
provided at Emergency Department HUKM. These
findings also consistent with study by Karydis et al
(2001) and John et al (2010) that found the small-
est gap is assurance and tangibles domains of dental
services.
5 CONCLUSION
Customers’ satisfaction is being recognized to play
an essential role in the success and survival of any
service provided in today’s competitive environment.
104
Not surprisingly, considerable research has been con-
ducted on what customer satisfaction comprises and
instruments have been developed to measure customer
satisfaction. One of the most valuable elements of the
SERVQUAL analysis is the ability to determine the
relative importance of the various dimensions in influ-
encing customers’ overall service quality perception
(Zeithaml et al 1988). Studies have provided insights
into the appropriateness of the SERVQUAL model
as a tool for measuring service quality in the Dental
and Medical health care environment. This modified
SERVQUAL questionnaire has good to excellent reli-
ability, and the questions within each dimension had
desirable levels of internal consistency (Palihawadana
and Barnes 2004; White et al 2001). This is in agree-
ment with Babakus and Mangold (1992) who in their
study found the completed expectations and percep-
tion scales in hospital services met various criteria for
reliability and validity.
Findings of this study using a modified SERVQUAL
as an instrument to measure customers’ satisfaction
can contribute to further quality enhancement of the
delivery of service in the Dental and Medical health
care system. Satisfaction is multifactorial, and no
individual factor contributes to satisfaction or dissat-
isfaction as reflected in this study. All factors that
could contribute to increase or lowered the customers’
satisfaction found in this study should be given a pri-
ority and attention in order to meet the expectation
and increase the perception of the customers. This
study could also provide the management of University
Health Centre UPM a better understanding regarding
the expectation and needs of customers for further ser-
vice improvement and to increase awareness on the
effect of customers satisfaction to the organization as
well as the customers.
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181–7.
Babakus, E. and Mangold, W.G. 1992. “Adapting the
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Davies, A.R. and Ware, E.J. 1981. Measuring patient satis-
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
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© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Ascertaining white teachers’ understanding of issues relating to multicultural

education in school settings of the Northern Cape

G. Alexander
Department Psychology of Education, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein,
Free State Province, South Africa

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this exploratory study is to ascertain white teaching staff’s understanding of
issues relating to multicultural education in school settings of the Northern Cape province, South Africa. School
integration as portrayed by national and local media reports, is characterised by incidences of racial conflict,
negativity and the consequent break down in teacher-learner relations. The process of school integration as an
evolutionary process embodied in a multicultural educational setting, needs to be facilitated through various
support initiatives. The processed data (Teachers’ understanding of issues relating to multicultural education)
revealed that needs and priorities for staff development may provide valuable direction for the developmental
goals of diverse school contexts.

1 INTRODUCTORY BACKGROUND of communication among people who differ from one

In the recent literature there seems to be increasing
discourse regarding the meaning of terms such as mul-
ticulturalism and multicultural education (North 2008;
Lemmer, Meier, & Van Wyk, 2006). For the sake of this
study, I prefer to use the term multicultural education.
Within the South African schooling context, I hold the
view that these terms have their inherent relevance,
applicability and contextualised implication.
The Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court
case in the United States of America in 1954 is gener-
ally viewed in the literature as the issue which gave
rise to multicultural education (Scott, 2004; Banks
in Moore, Madison-Colmore, & Collins, 2005). Dur-
ing this period in American history there was growing
agitation amongst minority groups, against inter alia,
social inequalities, discrimination, domination, racism
and a lack of educational opportunities. This develop-
ment is related to issues of social justice (confronting
racism, poverty and various societal problems), which
is viewed by Miller (2001) as “… an approach
to education which is also directed to addressing
social imbalances caused by inequalities perpetuated
by discriminatory legislation.” On the other hand,
Clemons (2005) argues that multicultural education
is sought not to be thought of as an ethnic or gender-
specific movement but an approach which is propelled
at empowering all learners in becoming conscious,
knowledgeable, caring, active and democratic citizens.
Furthermore, according to Alexander (2004), the post-
World War II intercultural dimensions of education
with a focus on core values such as respect, human-
ity and dignity, necessitated a more effective means
another in terms of race, culture etc., also contributed
to the advent of multicultural education (Moore et al.,
2005). In the 1970s and 1980’s, renowned scholars
such as Carl Grant, Christine Sleeter, James Banks,
Geneva Gay and Sonia Nieto ventured into using
certain design principles and dimensions on which
multicultural education was premised as a means of
responding to an inadequate schooling system which
was plagued with injustices. The rationale behind these
scholars intentions was to transform the system and
to also initiate efforts directed in providing equal
opportunities and quality education for all learners.
The South African schooling system shows numer-
ous similarities to what has been described around
the afore-mentioned position to multicultural educa-
tion. The heterogeneous nature of the South African
society is duly reflected in the school setting, notably
white schools which are seemingly becoming more
racially and culturally diverse. Teachers in these class-
rooms, predominantly white, and indicative of the
Northern Cape high schools, are now challenged by
the teaching and managing of mostly black learners to
meaningful learning experiences and equal opportu-
nities. In most cases, these educators are unfamiliar
with the backgrounds, cultures, languages, life and
world views of their learners. In this regard Alexander
(2004) hold the view that any education process
aimed at promoting multicultural education should
be about engaging critically in teaching and learn-
ing practices, especially in a school setting which is
reflective of diversity. In relation to the latter said,
Lemmer and Squelch (1993) pronounce that multi-
cultural education should be viewed as an educational

107
approach in which diversity is embraced and associ-
ated with notions of cultural appurtenances which is
premised on the dimensions of race, language, sex,
class, religion, socio-economic status, ability etc. The
cue taken from this, is that the fostering of educa-
tional excellence endeavours and quality imperatives
for black learners in former white high schools might
be difficult to attain if attempts geared towards the
instilment of educational equity is not initiated. More-
over, equal opportunities for all learners to develop
their optimal potential needs to be translated into
visible action and goal directed behaviour which
every classroom practitioner takes upon him/herself
in establishing conducive multicultural learning
environments.
1.1 Issues influencing teacher understanding of
multicultural understanding
Bennett (2007) states that educators tend to make
judgements based on their subjective perceptions
about learners and consequently treat them differ-
ently. Alexander (2004) and Kivedo (2006) state that
teachers interact differently with learners coming from
diverse race and socio-economic status. These authors
have also found in a study conducted with white teach-
ers that they hold different academic expectations for
black learners. These sentiments are supported by
Bennett’s (2007) research findings where it was dis-
covered that different attitudes hold by teachers’ from
different race groupings, influence learner achieve-
ments. This author’s stance is that teacher beliefs
and expectations interact with learner beliefs and
behaviours. Lemmer et al. (2006) concur with the latter
view and reiterate that white teachers in South African
schools seem to hold low expectations of their black
learners and therefor come across as more supporting
of white learners. The outcome of this engagement
may result in black learners underachieving in educa-
tional tasks. Moletsane (1999) supports this view and
argues that white teachers tend to have lower scholastic
expectations and beliefs in the attainment of success
for black learners, especially those learners coming
from educationally challenged and environmentally
deprived residential areas.
Educators’ attitudes and expectations which may
never be explicitly verbalised but are communi-
cated to learners, often serve as a self-fulfilling
prophecy, meaning that they expect certain learners to
achieve/not achieve, which in most cases becomes a
reality (Tiedt &Tiedt, 1990). Furthermore, skin colour,
socio-economic level, sex or even a learner’s surname
may often be perceived as determinants of limited
expectations. Hulmes (1989) refers to the manner in
which teachers bring their own internalised biases,
prejudices, beliefs and attitudes to the classroom.
Grant and Sleeter (1986) find that most educators
assist in perpetuating the status quo, rather than chang-
ing it and most do not see biases in their assumptions
about learners, learning and teaching. Misunderstand-
ings of cultural cues lead to the development of
108
negative stereotyping that may result in teachers and
learners behaving in a specific way toward one another.
The promotion of teaching and learning practices
in former white high schools is dependent on each
teacher’s commitment in making a concerted effort
to understand and engage in opportunities in fos-
tering conducive multicultural education practices.
In this regard, Adams (1991) and Alexander (2004)
articulate that teachers confined to diverse school
settings need to familiarise themselves with the cul-
tural practices of learners. Teachers need to reflect
upon and interrogate their own value and belief sys-
tems as a way of (re)constructing their own cul-
tural orientations. It is therefore, I argue, crucial that
white teachers engage in meaning-making experiences
regarding their own cultural inhabitations. According
to Mwamwenda (1993) teachers ought to treat adoles-
cents (high school learners) with care, understanding
and sensitivity. Learners should be encouraged to
embrace social norms and courtesy, which ought to
be practised among themselves- this could then trans-
late in learners, exhibiting these attitudes to others
outside their life and cultural world. Therefore, teach-
ers should not be surprised when learners are found
to be extremely happy, singing, dancing and enjoy-
ing themselves and should not as such try and curb
these expressive forms of behaviour. Teachers should
be aware and take special notice of the different ways
the members of different cultural groups use to express
their sorrow as well as their happiness (Kusi-Appiah,
1996).
1.2 Statement of problem
Current statistics released by the Northern Cape
Department of Education, indicate that black learn-
ers are accounted for the highest enrolment figures in
former white schools, while white teachers represent
over ninety percent of teaching staff (Northern Cape
Department of Education-EMIS, 2012). The trend
observed shows that learners, mainly black, are almost
exclusively taught by white teachers which in turn may
lead to various pedagogical challenges (Alexander,
2004). The school culture and environment in former
white schools seems to be non-reflective of the ide-
als associated with a post democratic South Africa
and therefor lack agency in promoting multicultur-
alism and the positive appreciation of the cultural
and linguistic capital of black learners (Mpisi, 2010).
Accordingly, Claasen in Le Roux (1997) states that
the inclusion and teaching of learners from diverse
race and cultural backgrounds in adesegregated school
settings, should not be equated to the practice of mul-
ticultural education. These inadequacies may result in
cultural misunderstandings and the unhealthy inter-
personal relations between white teachers and black
learners (Kivedo, 2006; DFA, 2002).
Based on the above outline, the following research
question for the study is pursued:
What is white teachers’ understanding of issues
relating to multicultural education in integrated school
settings of the Northern Cape province?
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The underpinning for this study draws from social con-
structivist learning theory. A social constructivist lens
is used to explain the manner in which social phenom-
ena (Social relations and interactions) develop in a par-
ticular social and cultural context. The latter implies
that meanings and understanding in diverse school
contexts, such as observed in the Northern Cape, grow
out of social encounters (Alexander, 2004). Within the
South African classroom situation, learners actively
construct knowledge and meaning via the role of the
teacher as perceived learning mediator. Therefor the
enhancement of an optimal teaching and learning con-
text is beneficial in mediating the dynamic interaction
between teachers, learners and engaged learning tasks-
though this process, an understanding of the ‘other’
and the world (Mpisi, 2010). This further implies that
meaning is reflected in the social beliefs that exist at
any juncture in a specific school community. Culture,
context and language are cardinal in understanding
what? is occurring in diverse contexts and the world
at large (Jonassen, Peck & Wilson, 1999).
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The methodology for this study is premised on the
analysis of an exploratory short survey method framed
within a quantitative research approach which attempts
to ascertain teachers’ understanding of issues relat-
ing to multicultural education in school settings of the
Northern Cape province.
3.1 Participants
For the purpose of this study, 260 white teachers
selected from ten former white high schools, represen-
tative of the four education districts were selected for
this investigation. Ultimately, a total of 241 teachers
completed the short survey.
3.2 Instrument
A self-designed survey ascertaining white teachers’
understanding of issues relating to multicultural edu-
cation was designed for this research study. Items relat-
ing to section A of the survey probed the biographical
information of teachers. A 4-point Likert scale dealt
with statements/items relating to section B (Issues
probing white teachers’understanding of multicultural
education) of the survey. Teachers were requested to
indicate their preference for each statement/item deal-
ing with multicultural education as: 1. Strongly agree
(SA); 2. Agree (A); 3. Disagree (D) and 4. Strongly
disagree (SD).
3.3 Procedure
The relevant education authorities, school principals,
school governing bodies and teacher participants were
informed about the purpose of the study. These parties
gave formal consent prior to the commencement of the
study and completed the survey.
109
3.4 Statistical analysis
Data analysis was analysed in descriptive form
employing the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Pertaining to section A of the questionnaire (Biograph-
ical information), 53.5% of the teacher participants
are males while 46.5% are females. In terms of age,
64.4% of the teachers are 39 years old. It needs to be
noted that the majority of these teachers were trained
in racially segregated teacher-training institutions,
during the apartheid period and seems inadequately
trained and less knowledgeable to teach in a diverse
school context-these teachers may find it difficult to
change their fixed and ingrained ways of teaching
(McCray & Gracia, 2002; Johnson, 2003). Further-
more, 43.2 % of the teacher participants indicate they
have less than 9 years teaching experience, 24.9% have
more than ten years teaching experience and 31.9%
indicated they have more than twenty years of teaching
experience. In terms of the medium of instruction, 79%
teacher participants preferred to teach in Afrikaans
(mother tongue) while 21 % of participants prefer to
teach in English (medium of instruction). The major-
ity of teacher participants prefer to teach in Afrikaans
(Mostly white teachers’ mother tongue and one of
the eleven official languages of South Africa) this
may be interpreted as teacher participants being less
conversant with teaching in English.
The results for section B of the questionnaire have
been presented in Table 1.
The results for section B (White Teachers’ under-
standing of issues relating to multicultural education
in school settings) of the questionnaire where teacher
participants disagree (D) and strongly disagree (SD),
are indicative of the majority responses. These issues
may be construed as challenges which need prioriti-
sation by education authorities, participating schools
and teachers. The items where there’s a cornering
level of disagreement (D) and strongly disagreement
(SD) amongst participants, are as follow: Item 2.1
(Establishing a holistic approach to education which
permeates the entire school environment) – 30.3% (D)
and 23.3% (SD); item 2.5 (Acting positively upon the
diversity of all my learners in class) – 31.1% (D) and
21.9% (SD); item 2.6 (Understanding and appreci-
ating the valuable contribution made to society by
other race groups) – 21.9% (D) and 28.2% (SD); item
2.7 (Assisting learners to explore ways to engage with
other cultural groups) – 34.9% (D) and 19.9% (SD);
Item 2.8 (Strengthening social skills that will enable
learners to become effective agents of change) – 41.9%
(D) and 28.2% (SD); item 2.10 (Using the experiences
of learners from diverse backgrounds as examples dur-
ing teaching) – 48.5% (D) and 26.6% (SD); item 2.11
(Presenting curriculum subject matter to learners in
such a way that they might approach it from different
perspectives) – 38.5% (D) and 32.8% (SD) and item
Table 1. White Teachers’ understanding of issues relating to multicultural education in school settings.

Statements 1-SA 2-A 3-D 4-SD

Multicultural Education is about: % % % %

2.1 Establishing a holistic approach to education which permeates the entire 20.3 26.1 30.3 23.3
school environment
2.2 Providing quality and equal educational opportunities for learners from various 32.8 36.9 15.8 14.5
socio-economic and cultural backgrounds
2.3 The establishment of a non-racist, non-sexist and non-discriminatory 27.8 30.7 21.2 20.3
education practices
2.4 The instilment of inter-cultural competency such as the demonstrating empathy, 38.2 33.6 13.3 14.9
acceptance, respect and trust for individuals from other races
2.5 Acting positively upon the diversity of all my learners in class 29.5 17.4 31.1 21.9
2.6 Understanding and appreciating the valuable contribution made to society 24.1 25.7 21.9 28.2
by other race groups
2.7 Assisting learners to explore ways to engage with other cultural groups. 18.3 26.9 34.9 19.9
2.8 Strengthening social skills that will enable learners to become effective 13.7 16.2 41.9 28.2
agents of change
2.9 Prevention and addressing racial prejudice amongst learners at school 23.2 34.4 22.8 19.5
2.10 Using the experiences of learners from diverse backgrounds as 13.7 11.2 48.5 26.6
examples during teaching
2.11 Presenting curriculum subject matter to learners in such a way that they 18.3 10.4 38.5 32.8
might approach it from different perspectives
2.12 The school’s extra mural activities included sport codes and cultural activities 11.6 19.9 42.3 26.1
for all learners
2.13 Acknowledging the contribution parents make in school activities 38.2 32.4 12.0 17.4
2.14 Creating forums where learners from diverse backgrounds can 26.1 18.7 46.5 8.7
learn from each other
2.15 Recognising the need for staff development because of the limited understanding 39.8 29.9 18.3 12.0
I have regarding the teaching of diverse learners.

2.12 (The school’s extra mural activities included sport
codes and cultural activities for all learners) – 42.3%
(D) and 26.1(SD); 2.14 (Creating forums where learn-
ers from diverse backgrounds can learn from each
other) – 46.5% (D) and 8.7% (SD).
In summary, the above-mentioned results show
that there are prevailing issues pertaining to teachers’
understanding of multicultural education that need to
be given attention and considered as aspects, schools
and educational authorities need to prioritise. Efforts
which hinder multicultural practices in former white
schools might imply that several white teachers are still
ignorant as regards to educational transformational
issues on diversity and social justice (Mpisi, 2010).
However, responses to statements/items where par-
ticipants agreed (A) and strongly agreed (SA) are
indicative of the majority responses. These issues
may be construed as being constructive in nature and
may benefit the schools’ progress towards establishing
authentic environments for the practising of multicul-
tural education. The items where there is an agreement
(A) and strongly agreement (SA) amongst participants
are as follow: Item 2.2 (Providing quality and equal
educational opportunities for learners from various
socio-economic and cultural backgrounds) – 36.9%
(A) and 32.8% (SA); item 2.3 (The establishment of
non-racist, non-sexist and non-discriminatory educa-
tion practices) – 30.7 (A) and 27.8 (SA); item 2.4
(The instilment of inter-cultural competency such as
the demonstrating empathy, acceptance, respect and
trust for individuals from other races) – 33.6% (A)
and 38.2% (SA); item 2.9 (Prevention and address-
ing racial prejudice amongst learners at school) –
34.4% (A) and 23.2% (SA); item 2.13 (Acknowledging
the contribution parents make in school activities) –
32.4% (A) and 38.2 % (SA) and item 2.15 (Recog-
nising the need for staff development because of the
limited understanding I have regarding the teaching
of diverse learners) – 29.9 (A) and 39.8 (SA).
In summary, the afore-mentioned results show that
some teachers in former white schools also hold per-
ceptions with positive attitudes towards multicultural
schooling practices and a commitment in providing
quality education and equal education opportunities
to all learners, irrespective of race, colour, culture or
ability. In this regard (Alexander, 2004) professes that
any attempt by white teachers in acknowledging and
embracing diversity which eventually contribute to the
holistic development of learners, should be applauded.
The findings relating to the research question (What
is white teachers’ understanding of issues relating to
multicultural education in integrated school settings of
the Northern Cape province?) indicate that teachers’
hold different opinions of issues pertaining to mul-
ticultural education. In nine of the five teen items
scored, teachers demonstrated an understanding of
multicultural education practices. Evidently, the find-
ings also indicate the prevalence of situations where
white teachers seem to be misinformed, ignorant and
uneducated of multicultural issues.

110
5 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
In realising the aims of multicultural education, I
recommend a holistic approach to teacher training
and development be initiated by institutions of higher
learning and education authorities of SouthAfrica- this
approach which ought to accommodate the strengths
and efforts of diverse groups within the South African
society must oversee the development of a more viable
alternative to multicultural education. Teachers should
be trained in learner diversity issues when embarking
on attempts aimed at strengthening lesson planning,
classroom dynamics and the structuring of appropri-
ate pedagogical methods in various classroom settings.
Clearly, it comes to say that teachers, especially white
teachers in former white schools of the Northern Cape
province should acquaint themselves with the life
experiences a world view orientations and situatedness
of their learners.
In my view, this research study undertaken, provides
the Northern Cape Education Department in South
Africa with data which could support staff develop-
ment initiatives aimed at eradicating and/or minimis-
ing teachers’ lack of understanding of multicultural
issues. Furthermore, an approach directed at embrac-
ing diversity could provide teachers, policy makers and
education planners with invaluable information and
skills in facilitating and managing multicultural class-
rooms, especially when dealing with issues of social
justice, cultural misunderstandings and racism.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
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© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

The relationship between academic self-concept, parenting styles and

academic achievement of remove class students

Uavarani Shanmugam & Fonny Hutagalung

University of Malaya, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Remove class students and poor academic achievement has been always an issue in the education
system of Malaysia. Remove class students are the students from national type schools, SJKC (Sekolah Jenis
Kebangsaan Cina) or SJKT (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil) schools who failed to obtain at least Grade C
in the subject Bahasa Malaysia Comprehension or Bahasa Malaysia Writing or in both papers in their UPSR
examination. Many issues are going on either the remove class should be retained or abolished in the secondary
level of education system in Malaysia. Despite all that, the factors contributing to the low achievement in academic
level among remove class students should be identified.This paper is aimed at identifying the relationship between
three variables, which are academic self-concept, parenting style and academic achievement of remove class
students. A sample of 100 remove class students from Klang Valley will be completing the questionnaire on
academic self-concept and parenting style. Results will be displayed on the level of academic self-concept and
which parenting style is predominant is among remove class students. Significant association between different
parenting style and academic self-concept also will be found in this study.

Keywords: Self-Concept, Parenting Styles, Academic Achievement & Remove Class Students

1 INTRODUCTION 2 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

Academic achievement plays an essential role in
national education because it indicates the success
of the development of a country. In Malaysia, public
examinations such as UPSR, PMR, SPM, and STPM
are held in determining the academic achievement of
the students. Assarian, Biqam & Asqarnejad (as cited
in Dehyadegary, E. et al, 2012) states that students may
face negative consequences due to low achievement
in academic level in schools. Problems such as stress,
hopelessness, delinquency, psychopathology, and sub-
stance abuse are very much related to students with low
academic achievement. Hence, it is important to iden-
tify the factors that lead to low academic achievement.
In Malaysia, Remove Class students are categorised
as low achievers in academic level in secondary
schools.
There are many factors that could influence the aca-
demic achievement of a student. Sikhwari (as cited
in Coetzee, L. R., 2011) states that most researchers
have ignored the affective factors that influence aca-
demic achievement while they concentrate more on
cognitive factors that influence academic achieve-
ment. Hence, this research concentrates on affec-
tive factors, which are academic self-concept and
parenting style in remove class students’ academic
level.
The Malaysian Education System has undergone sev-
eral changes after the British colonial era. One of
the important aspects to note is the status of Malay
language which has become the medium of instruc-
tion in all schools with the exception of national-type
schools which have been given exemption (Education
Act 1996, Section 17). Bahasa Malaysia is the National
Language and had become a compulsory subject in all
schools.
After six years of primary education, primary
school children in Malaysia will proceed to another
level, which is the secondary level. The minimum
requirement for a student to gain entry into a secondary
school is a UPSR certification, an examination which
the students sit during their last year in primary school
at Year Six. Based on the most common government
type secondary school, students are normally enrolled
in the school at the age of thirteen. Their enrolment
will be based on UPSR results. Students who either
passed or failed in UPSR from national schools will be
placed in Form One class while students from national
type schools, SJKC (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina)
or SJKT (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil) schools
who failed their Bahasa Malaysia subjects, Bahasa
Malaysia Comprehension or Bahasa Malaysia Writ-
ing or both in the UPSR will be placed in a probation

113
Table 1. Data of Remove class students in Malaysia. in future. Ishak, Z. (2010) clarifies that students with
positive academic self-concept feel that they can do
State Non-Bumiputera Bumiputera Total well in their studies with proper effort while the stu-
dents with negative academic self-concept are uncer-
Johor 6123 29 6152 tain of their performance in academic achievement.
Kedah 697 0 697
The Brookover’s scale which was used in this study
Kelantan 72 3 75
Melaka 537 2 539 was developed by Brookover in 1962 and since then
Negeri Sembilan 1089 1 1090 many all over the world have used this scale to mea-
Pahang 872 34 906 sure students’ academic self-concept. At the Michigan
Perak 3827 20 3847 State University, Brookover and his colleagues (1979)
Perlis 47 0 47 carried out both longtitudinal and experimental studies
Pulau Pinang 2915 20 2935 on the relationship between academic self-concept and
Sabah 656 115 771 academic achievement among teenagers. They found
Sarawak 3076 343 3419 that chance or stability in the academic self-concept
Selangor 6364 12 6376
is positively associated with change or stability in
Terengganu 58 2 60
WP Kuala Lumpur 2343 7 2350 performance. Brookover (1979) found correlations of
WP Labuan 13 3 16 0.56 to 0.65 between academic self-concept and aca-
demic achievement. They also found that academic
28689 591 29280
self-concept is an intervening variable between stu-
Source: Ministry of Education Malaysia 2013. dents’ perceived parental evaluation of their ability,
their grade point average, a measure of performance.
This change in academic self-concept is accompanied
(Peralihan or called “Remove Class”). In this remove by changes in social interaction patterns, which in turn
classes, they will be taught the basics of secondary may lead to better academic achievement.
education syllabus in Bahasa Malaysia before being Despite the factor of academic self-concept in influ-
allowed to move to Form One the following year. encing academic achievement, parenting styles also
Based on the syllabus for Bahasa Malaysia, the plays a crucial part influencing students’ academic
main objectives are to master the four language skills achievement. Parenting style has been largely influ-
which are listening, speaking, reading and writing in enced by Baumrind (1971), which conceptualises of
Bahasa Malaysia. The primary school students from authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting
SJKC and SJKT schools or known as national type styles. Past studies as cited in Dehyadegary et al.
schools who failed to attain at least Grade C in the (2012) shows that authoritarian parenting style is
UPSR examination are also failed to achieve the objec- related to low academic achievement (Attaway & Bry,
tives of mastering the language skills. Hence, the aim 2004) and higher levels of school problem (Roche,
of the remove classes, which is the transition classes in Ensminger, & Cherlin, 2007). Besides, permissive
secondary schools, is to prepare the children for bet- parenting is also correlates significantly to aca-
ter proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia. Currently, pupils demic achievement (Lee, 2006; Roche, Ensminger, &
placed in remove classes are those from Chinese and Cherlin, 2007). Past studies also show that authori-
Tamil type schools who did not attain at least Grade C tative parenting style has a positive correlation with
in Bahasa Malaysia in their UPSR examination. academic achievement. (Slaten, 2006; Roche et al.,
Currently, there are altogether 29280 remove class 2007; Simons & Conger, 2007; Pong, Johnston &
students all over Malaysia (Ministry of Education, Chen, 2009).
2013) and 6376 remove class students in the state of
Selangor (Education Department of Selangor, 2013)
and the majority races of the students are Chinese and 2.2 Baumrind’s typology of parenting style
Indian students. Apart of the issue of retaining or abol- Diana Baumrind created parenting style theory at
ishing the remove classes, concern of the remove class the year of 1966. She joins the ranges of par-
students should be given a priority. Academic failure enting behaviours that reflect the level of control,
of the remove class students should be identified and clarity of communication, maturity demands and nur-
rectified. turance are four important dimensions in this typology
(Bornstein & Zlotnik, 2008). Baumrind states that par-
enting behaviour consists of two dimensions which are
2.1 Literature review
responsiveness (also known as parental support) and
According to Eggen & Kauchak (1994), self-concept demandingness (also known as strict control). Based
consists of academic self- concept, social self-concept on the four dimensions that have mentioned above and
and physical self-concept. This research is focused these two dimensions, three distinct parenting styles
on academic self-concept. For Sanchez (as cited have been distinguished and labelled as authoritarian,
in Coetzee, L. R. (2011), academic self-concept is authoritative and permissive (as cited in Huver et al.,
formed starting in Early Childhood Education from 2009).
peer contact and teacher attitude and expectations Baumrind (1991) states that authoritative par-
which would be the basic of success or failure in school enting style is high in both demandingness and

114
responsiveness (as cited in Pellerin, 2005). Author-
itative parents apply firm control and require their
children obey with a reasonable set of rules and
guidelines. They utilize reason and control to make
disciplinary decisions while harsh forms of punish-
ment are discouraged to use (Bornstein & Zlotnik,
2008). Authoritative parenting style provides warmth,
love, and acceptance for their children to educate them
to become progressively more autonomous. Another
important characteristic to highlight is verbal give-
and-take between parents and children. Dwairy &
Menshar, (2005) claims that open communication and
reciprocal dialogue can be found within this parenting
style.
Authoritarian style tends to be high on demand-
ingness and low or without in responsiveness (Huver
et al., 2009). Authoritarian parenting style is restric-
tive, directive, highly demanding and not respon-
sive to the needs or demands of children (Gould &
Martindale, 2009). Authoritarian parents usually dis-
courage autonomy and not allow their children to make
decisions. (Bornstein & Zlotnik, 2008). Authoritar-
ian parents can be divided into two types which are
nonauthoritarian-directive and authoritarian-directive.
Nonauthoritarian-directive parents are directive but
will not either invasive or tyrannical in their use of
power while authoritarian-directive parents are highly
intrusive and autocratic in the way using their power
(Gould & Martindale, 2009).
Baumrind states that permissive (indulgent par-
enting style) is high on responsiveness and low on
demandingness, which is hardly enforcing rules for
their children to follow. Permissive parents are dif-
ferent with authoritarian parents. They are practicing
high level of nurturance and clarity of communica-
tion while exercising low level of control and maturity
demands (Bornstein & Zlotnik, 2008). Permissive par-
ents encourage autonomy and decision making by
their children. They tend to accept and support greatly
towards impulses, needs, and behaviours of their
children while avoid confrontation and punishment
(Dwairy & Menshar, 2005). Despite that, it has been
divided into permissive-neglectful and permissive-
indulgent based on responsiveness of parenting.
Permissive-neglectful parents show their love, express
low level of support and low level of parental control
to their children so their children experience excessive
autonomy normally (Gullota et al., 2007). Permissive-
indulgent parents are warm, cuddly and responsive,
convey low level of parental control such as provide lit-
tle direction and instruction to their children (Edwards,
1999). However, they show high level of parental sup-
port and emotional nurturance (Gullota et al., 2007).
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Design, sample and instrument
This is a quantitative method research where a ques-
tionnaire is set to collect the data. The subjects for
115
this study comprised 100 students, whose average
age is 13 years old. Both male and female students
were included in the sample. The subjects included
are Indian students as the questionnaire is set in two
languages which are English and Tamil. The subjects
are chosen from the state of Selangor in the district of
Petaling Perdana.
The questionnaire is divided into 4 sections which
are Section A, Section B Section C and Section D. In
Section A, demographic information such as gender,
income and education level of parents were asked. In
Section B, UPSR result which is the national examina-
tion that they sat in their primary school is asked. This
is just for general information of the subjects either
they just failed in Malaysian Language subjects or
in other subjects too. This data will be useful to get
information related to their academic achievement.
Section C of the questionnaire consists of 15 ques-
tions of the Brookover Academic Self-Concept Scale
with a little modification for the purpose of the study.
The Brookover’s scale which was used in this study
was developed by Brookover in 1962 and since then
many all over the world have used this scale to mea-
sure students’ academic self-concept. Each question
consists of five choices ranging from A to E. The five
choices reflect the degree respondents rate themselves
on academic ability as compared to other students.
The five choices may either range from favourable
to unfavourable ratings or unfavourable to favourable
ratings.
Section D consists the Parental Authority question-
naire which is one of the instruments in this study. The
questionnaire was created by John R. Buri in 1989 and
it is used to measure parental authority or disciplinary
practices from the perspectives of children at any age.
PAQ consists of 30- items that have three subscales
based on the parental authority prototypes and each
subscale consists of 10 items.
4 CONCLUSION
This research can contribute to identify the level of aca-
demic self-concept and most practiced parenting style
among remove class students. Besides, the analysis of
data will be helpful to find out the relationship between
academic self-concept, parenting style and students’
academic achievement. This study is also would be
helpful for teachers to understand the factors of low
achievement among Remove class students. Educa-
tion planners too can be benefit from this study as
one current issue is whether Remove classes should be
continued or abolished. Strategies to improve Remove
class students’performance in Bahasa Malaysia can be
planned as they wish to make any changes in Remove
class students. Based on the past studies, the rela-
tionship of parenting styles, academic self-concept
and academic achievement has different significance.
However, much research was only done in western
countries and it is still a myth for Asian people regard-
ing the unpopular statistics between academic self-
concept, parenting styles and academic achievement.
REFERENCES
Bornstein, M. H., & Zlontik, D. (2008). Parenting styles and
their effects. Encycloppedia of infant and Early Childhood
development, 496–509.
Brookover, W. B., Beady, C. H., Flood, P. K., Schwetzer, J.
H., & Wisenbaker, J. M. (1979). School social systems
and student achievement: Schools can make a difference.
New York, NY: Praeger.
Brookover, W. B., Beady & Thomas, S. (1964). Self-concept
of ability and school achievement. Sociology of Educa-
tion, 37, 271–278.
Coetzee, L. R. (2011). The relationship between students’
academic self-concept, motivation and academic achieve-
ment at the University of the Free State. University of
South Africa.
Dehyadegary, E.,Yaacob, S. N., Juhari, R., &Talib, M.A. et al.
(2012). Relationship between Parenting Style and Aca-
demic Achievement among Iranian Adolescents in Sirjan.
University Putra Malaysia.
Dwairy, M., & Menshar, K. E. (2005). Parenting style, indi-
viduation, and mental health of Egyptian adolescents.
Journal of Adolescents, 29, 103–117.
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Edwards, C. D., (1999). How to handle a hard-to handle kid:
A parents’ guide to understanding and changing prob-
lem behaviors. Minneapoils, United States: Free Spirit
Publishing.
Eggen P. & Kauchak D. (1994). Educational Psychology-
Classroom Connections, 2nd Edition. USA: Macmillan
College Publishing Company.
Gould, J. W., & Martindale, D. A. (2009). The art and science
of child custody evaluations, New York: Guilford Press.
Gullota, T. P., Blau, G. M., Ramos, J. M. (2007). Handbook of
childhood behavioural issues: Evidence-based approaches
to prevention and treatment. London: CRC Press.
Huver, R. M. E., Otten, R., Vries, H.de., & Engels, R. C. M.
E. (2009). Personality and parenting style in parents of
adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 33, 395–402.
Ishak, Z., (2010). Factors influencing students’ self-concept
among Malaysian students. World Academy of Science,
Engineering and Technology, 42, 787–790.
Pellerin, L.A. (2005). Applying Baumrind’s Parenting typol-
ogy to high schools: Toward a miidle-range theory of
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Heat concept learning and teachers’ intervention in science

among year five students

Kavitha Sathiah, Madhya Zhagen Ganesan & Fonny Hutagalung

University of Malaya, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: The main aims of the study were to identify the relationship between the specific teacher inter-
vention and achievement in science assessment among primary students, to assess whether the gender differences
affect the level of understanding of selected science concept among primary students and to identify the differ-
ences in scores between direct and application type questions in science assessment of selected science concept.
The sample consists of 60 students (30 males and 30 females) from a national primary school in Seremban
district, Sekolah Kebangsaan Dato’ Bandar Rasah. This research consists of two groups of respondents, one is
experimental group and another is control group. The experimental group is given teachers’ intervention during
science lesson and the control group learn through traditional method. The difference in acquisition of science
concept and the ability to apply the concepts to answer application type question is measured through a post-test
only method using a self-constructed achievement test called Achievement in Science Test (AST). The results
will be analyzed using SPSS to obtain the percentage, mean and t-test comparison. The results will reveal if there
is any significant increase obtained by the experimental group.

1 INTRODUCTION – PRIMARY SCIENCE Plan as reference. Therefore, the Integrated Curricu-

EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA
In recent education, great emphasis has been given
to learning and mastery of science subject as scien-
tific knowledge is vital for the growth of a nation. As
a developing nation, Malaysia needs citizen who can
contribute to the scientific and technological develop-
ments in order to compete and be at par with other
developed nations and be able to achieve this goal by
the year 2020 (Syarifah & Lilia, 2009). This research
emphasizes on learning of concept of heat among
primary students in Malaysia and how teachers can
intervene to help meaningful learning of the concept.
In Malaysia, heat concept is included in Year Five
primary science syllabus. As described in cognitive
psychology, formal science education in school should
be based on informal learning that students experience
in their daily lives or in other words their prior knowl-
edge. However, to ascertain students’ prior knowledge
is not an easy task for teachers.To facilitate meaningful
learning, teachers play a very important role to scaffold
learning especially for those in primary level educa-
tion to associate the concepts of science to relevant
prior knowledge in cognitive structure. Teachers play a
vital role in helping the students to develop conceptual
change by using the prior knowledge of the students.
In Malaysia, science subject is taught as a core
subject from Primary 1 (Year One) until Primary 6
(Year Six). As stated in the World Data on Education
(2010/2011), the Malaysian primary education was
reformed in 1983 by taking the National Development
lum for Primary School (ICPS) was formulated and
implemented which is being used until now. At the
end of the primary schooling in Year 6, pupils sit for
the Primary School Assessment Test or better known
as UPSR (Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah). Pupils
will receive a certificate as a proof for primary educa-
tion completion. In January 2011, a new curriculum,
The Standard Curriculum for Primary School or KSSR
was introduced and implemented nationwide for Year
One. The science subject was taught in Malay lan-
guage in National schools, Mandarin and Tamil in
vernacular schools. In UPSR examination, science is
one of the five subjects assessed. This is the highest
level of assessment for primary level under the current
education system in Malaysia.
In June 2002, decision to change the medium of
instruction of science subject to English was made.
This decision was made to overcome the law profi-
ciency of English among Malaysians in order to keep
abreast with the development in Science and Technol-
ogy, with the rationale that materials for teaching and
learning this subject are vastly found in English. The
program Teaching and Learning Science in English is
better known as Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains
dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris in Malay lan-
guage or PPSMI, an acronym in Malay language. Thus,
the implementation of PPSMI began in January 2003
nationwide starting from Year One in primary level
and Form One and Lower Six in secondary level. The
implementation was done gradually and progressively
encompass to all the other levels.

117
 The government provided schools with IT equip-
ments such as notebooks, LCD projectors and teaching
courseware to aid the teaching of Science in English.
Training for teachers was offered for teaching Science
in English which is known as ETEMS (English teach-
ing for Mathematics and Science). Later, in 2008, the
government announced that the subject can be taught
in two languages to enable rural students to understand
the subject by learning using their mother tongue. The
question papers for UPSR assessment for this sub-
ject are set bilingually; in English and Malay while in
English and mother tongue languages for vernacular
schools. However, the six years English policy in Sci-
ence and Mathematics Education has been reversed
to Malay language on 8th July 2009 by Education
Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. The reversal was
based on empirical studies as achievement in Science
dropped by 2.5% in urban schools and 3% in schools
(Star Online, July 12, 2009). The effect of the rever-
sal to national Malay language in National school and
mother tongue language in National Type schools and
took effect in year 2011.
In October 2010, MOE issued a circular on the
implementation of the new Standard Curriculum for
Primary School (KSSR) starting from January 2011
(UNESCO, 2010/2011). The Science subject under
KSSR in Year 1 now is known as Science and Tech-
nology World or DST (Dunia Sains dan Teknologi)
and it is taught in Malay medium. The time alloca-
tion for this subject is 60 minutes per week. This
curriculum is developed to improve mastery learning
and pupils will be assessed continuously under School
Based Assessment (SBA).
The Malaysian primary science education is based
on The National Philosophy of Science Education. The
National Philosophy of Science Education states that:
In consonance with the National Educational Philoso-
phy science education in Malaysia nurtures a science
and technology culture by focusing on the develop-
ment of the individuals who are competitive, dynamic,
robust and resilient and able to master scientific
knowledge and technological competency.
Source: Integrated Curriculum for Primary Schools,
Science Syllabus, Curriculum Development Centre
(CDC), Ministry Of Education (2003).
The main aim of science education at the primary
level is to lay the foundation for building a society
that is culturally scientific and technological, caring,
dynamic and progressive. To achieve the aim, students
should be provided opportunities to acquire sufficient
skills, knowledge and values through experimental
learning that inculcates the sense of responsibility and
a high regard of nature’s creation. The objectives of
primary science curriculum developed by Curriculum
Development Centre (CDC) are:
1. Stimulate pupils’ curiosity and develop their inter-
est about the world around them.
2. Provide pupils with the opportunities to develop
science process skills and thinking skills.
118
3. Develop pupils’ creativity.
4. Provide pupils with basic science knowledge and
concepts.
5. To provide learning opportunities for pupils to
apply knowledge and skills in a creative and critical
manner for problem solving and decision-making.
6. Inculcate scientific attitudes and positive values.
7. Foster the appreciation on the contributions of sci-
ence and technology towards national development
and well-being of mankind.
8. Be aware the need to love and care for the
environment.
The primary science curriculum is developed by
CDC which focuses on the mastery of scientific skills
to study and understand the physical world around
us. In order to achieve the mastery of scientific skills
among students, educators must ensure students leave
a science classroom with meaningful understanding
and proper conceptual change. The scientific skills
consist of science process skills, science manipulative
skills and thinking skills.
In Level One (Year 1, 2 and 3) the elements of sci-
ence are integrated across the curriculum. The time
allocated to this subject is 90 minutes per week. For
LevelTwo (Year 4, 5 and 6) the subject is organized into
five major themes of The Living World, The Physical
World, The Material World, The Earth and the Universe
and The World of Technology. The time allocated for
science subject is 150 minutes per week. This research
focuses on Heat concept learning amongYear Five stu-
dents. As can be seen in Table 1.1, most of the topics
covered in UPSR science paper contain concepts and
knowledge application fromYear 4 toYear 6. Heat con-
cept concerning Energy is covered inYear Five and will
be assessed in mostly in Section A (Multiple Choice
Questions) where students have to answer direct and
application type questions.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Concepts are abstract ideas derived from experience
around which new experiences may be organized. By
reducing many observations to fewer categories, con-
cepts bring a measure of coherence and simplicity
to the world. Concepts are developed gradually, from
many experiences and reflection on them. Examples
of concepts encountered in elementary science include
stem and veins of leaves, magnets, magnetic poles,
birds and light reflection. Each of these concepts is
a class in which the members of the class have some
common attributes. Birds, for, example have two legs,
wings and feathers. Some birds lay eggs in nest and live
in trees. Some birds, but not all, fly. Concepts enable us
to interconnect past experiences so that we can better
use them to begin to make sense of new experiences.
For example ‘expanding’(getting larger), ‘contracting’
(getting smaller), ‘hot’ (having a high temperature),
and ‘cold’ (having a low temperature) are all concepts
in science (Vitale & Romance, 2000).
 Often misconception takes place in learning on
scientific concepts. Heat, temperature and related
concepts belong to the world of physics. Sometimes
we learn false concepts, commonly called as “miscon-
ceptions” (Tolman, 2002). These data can enter into
the processing of new information and interfere with
the correct interpretation of new informationor expe-
riences. Tolman added that the “unlearning” of certain
misconceptions can be very difficult, even with delib-
erate effort on the part of the learner. Some previous
studies have revealed that in learning of concept of
heat the terms ‘heat’ and ‘temperature’ are often not
differentiated by students (Erickson, 1985). Past stud-
ies also revealed that many students when asked what
heat is, they were unable to go beyond the answer “Heat
is a form of energy”. Some were able to relate it to
temperature by saying “Heat increases temperature”.
Students seem not to have acquired the intensive nature
of temperature. Some students perceive that if a con-
tainer is portioned in two unequal compartments, the
temperature of the containers will be different.
Students learn thousands of additional concepts
during the school years. They acquire some concepts
quickly and easily (Ormrod, 2008). Furthermore, they
acquire other concepts more gradually and continue
to modify them over time. The fundamental role of a
teacher in constructivist approach is to help children
to generate connections between what is to be learned
and what children already know or believe. Learning
comes hand in hand with cognitive development. Some
predominant theories of learning related to science
concept learning, the constructivist approach devel-
oped by Jean Piaget, Ken Appleton, Jerome Bruner
and David Ausubel, have been discussed.
For conceptual change to occur, children must
become dissatisfied with their existing conception
(Martin, 2000). Martin (2000) also added that one’s
dissatisfaction with what actually is happening as
contrasted with what ought to happen is called, in
Piagetian terms, cognitive disequilibration or some-
times cognitive dissonance. Disequilibration will seek
for solution. Usually, the constructivist teacher seeks
to induce cognitive disequilibration by setting up situa-
tions that encourage children to question their existing
beliefs and ask what is going on. Children attempt to
make predictions about the situation based on prior
understandings. When these predictions do not work,
the children question the prior beliefs. This brings the
existing belief to surface, giving the teacher access to
what is in the children’s minds and thus the opportu-
nity to help the children reconstruct their beliefs in
valid ways that include the new information and make
sense to them. Piaget’s learning theory emphasizes on
the individuals active construction of understanding.
His theory underscores the importance of examin-
ing the developmental changes in children’s thinking.
Children’s knowledge changes as their cognitive sys-
tem develop and as their experiences are filtered
through increasingly mature ways of thinking and of
constructing representations of knowledge (Martin,
2000).
119
A guide for learning of science concepts was
proposed by (Appleton, 1989) with combination of
views of famous theorists such as Jean Piaget and
Osborne and Wittrock. Appleton believes specific
teacher actions or intervention can reduce the like-
lihood of learners for taking exits in learning. As a
result, (Appleton, 1989) outlined nine specific teacher
actions or interventions, related to the learning model,
to encourage students to opt for exit with previous
ideas changed, which gives the best learning out-
come. Appleton believes that teacher intervention will
help students build new and more powerful schemata
related to physical world. On the other hand, Jerome
Bruner’s research revealed that teachers need to pro-
vide children with experiences to help them discover
underlying ideas, concepts, or patterns (Abruscato,
1995).
In other words, Jerome Bruner (1978) proposed
learning via insights. In this theory the influence of
motivations on learner’s perception and learning is
highlighted. For example, teacher demonstrates the
expansion of matter when matter is being heated
by using iron ball and iron ring. The effect on iron
ball is observed and recorded before and after heat-
ing. Besides, David Ausubel (1963) argued that while
learning concepts or ideas, one should engage in mean-
ingful learning as through rote learning no effort is
made to relate new ideas with relevant existing ideas
in cognitive structure. He said in meaningful learning,
the learner chooses to integrate in some substantive
way new concepts and propositions with existing rele-
vant ideas in her or his cognitive structure (Novak J. D.,
2010). To experience meaningful learning, students
need to do much more than access or seek information.
They need to know how to examine, perceive, interpret
and experience information. When new knowledge
is subsumed into existing concept and propositional
meaning, Ausubel calls this process as subsumption.
Gradually, super ordinate learning process takes place
when a learner acquires a more general, more abstract
concept that subsumes more specific related concepts.
Therefore, the process of more meaningful learning
builds an integrated framework of concepts and propo-
sitions organized hierarchically for a given domain of
knowledge. He adds that, knowledge acquired mean-
ingfully usually retained longer, functions to facilitate
future learning and can be used in novel problem
solving or creative thinking.
2.1 Teacher intervention in heat concept formation
According to (Harlen, 2001) teachers play a vital role
in helping children to understand science better. Teach-
ers can encourage children to realize that evidence is
the basis for accepting scientific ideas by accepting
what the children have found from their investiga-
tion as the ‘right’ answer, provided they have used
their evidence and reasoning well. Teachers also can
allow children to make sense of their observations
for themselves without imposing explanations that are
outside their experience and comprehension. Children
may be interested in solving problems that are beyond
their scope, sometimes because the required experi-
mentation can be simply too difficult or complicated.
A knowledgeable teacher is then a great asset and
can contribute considerably toward widening the chil-
dren’s horizon of learning and knowledge, because
this teacher can fathom the depth of the children’s
ability and thus measure the quality and quantity of
the information or explanation to be given. In this
research Teacher’s intervention employed in science
classroom to teach science concept of Heat includes
Teacher wait time, Teaching With Analogies (TWA)
and Questioning technique.
3 CONCLUSION
This research investigates the teachers’ intervention
in learning of a particular concept in Malaysian Year
Five primary Science syllabus: Heat Concept and
the achievement in science test. In this research, the
independent variable (IV) is teachers’ intervention
and the dependant variable (DV) is the achievement
(test score) in science test (AST). Teachers’ inter-
vention involves the pedagogical elements of mainly
Teacher wait time, Teaching With Analogies (TWA)
and Questioning technique.
Proper teacher intervention will result in mean-
ingful learning and conceptual change that will help
students to grasp the heat concept. This will lead to
increase in test score as they will be able to apply
the concept learnt in answering test questions. As the
main objective of concept learning and teacher’s role
is to achieve mastery of concept of heat, the concep-
tual change will help in application of concept and
this will lead to improvement in achievement in sci-
ence assessment. Furthermore, the understanding and
mastery of the concept will help students to become
scientifically literate citizen which will help in the
development of the nation. Teachers’ intervention as
a whole helps in concept formation and conceptual
change in heat concept learning. This will eventually
help students to apply the concept in answering test
and achieve high scores. Besides, student will be con-
fident in learning other heat related concepts as their
misconceptions have been corrected.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

LINUS assessment accordance with the cognitive level among

year 1 students in a School Klang District

Yeoh Sun Wei & Fonny Hutagalung

University of Malaya, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Malaysia’s Educational System is experiencing huge changes in recent time. Changes are com-
pulsory in education world to rising international educations standards hence produce human resource that able
to fulfill the labor market needs. This comprehensive change enables the country to develop a new National
Education Blueprint. Under the National Key Result Areas (NKRA), Ministry of Education Malaysia emphasize
on student abilities in literacy and numeracy basic skills. Requirement of literacy and numeracy basic skills is
important for student especially in stage 1 (Std. 1, 2 & 3) because it is the mediation to pursue more knowledge.
LINUS screening test was implemented in all primary schools around Malaysia to ensure students are predom-
inant the basic learning skills. This research is conduct to determine the effectiveness of LINUS screening test.
McCarthy Scale of Children Abilities is the battery use in this research to find the correlation between results
of LINUS screening test and cognitive level for children of 7 years old. A mixed method is used in the research;
quantitative analysis will present in descriptive and bi-serial between both assessments. An interview session
will be conduct with teachers regarding the quantitative results.

Keywords: Linus, cognitive ability

1 INTRODUCTION achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and

In this ever-changing world, we can’t use previous
ways of teaching to educate today’s children fac-
ing their life in future. In year 2011, the Ministry
of Education Malaysia launched a new syllabus into
Malaysia primary and secondary schools education
system. This comprehensive change enables the coun-
try to develop a new National Education Blueprint.
Changes are compulsory in education world to ris-
ing international educations standards hence produce
human resource that able to fulfill the labor mar-
ket needs. Furthermore, human resource is the key
instrument for nation’s development. Education plays a
central role in any country to pursuit economic growth
and national development. The Government’s aspira-
tion is to prepare Malaysia’s children for the needs
of the 21st century, and increased public and parental
expectations of Malaysia Education Policy (Malaysia
Education Blueprint 2012).
The learning and content standards that are out-
lined in KSSR are specifically aimed towards ensuring
pupils acquire basic literacy skills by the end of Year 3.
Literacy is the ability to read and write. According to
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul-
tural Organization (UNESCO), literacy as the “ability
to identify, understand, interpret, create, communi-
cate and compute, using printed and written materials
associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves
a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to
potential, and to participate fully in their community
and wider society. It is important for student to obtain
further knowledge and interest, write coherently, and
think critically about the written word. This is also
in line with the second National Key Result Areas
(NKRA) for the ministry to ensure all primary school
pupils have basic literacy skills after three years of
formal schooling (Saifuddin Abdullah, 2010).
The effectiveness of LINUS screening tests is
conduct to ensure students’ abilities in literacy and
numeracy skills. To enhance the validity and reliabil-
ity of LINUS screening tests, researcher will use the
McCarthy Scales of Children Abilities (MSCA) to cor-
relate with LINUS screening test results for student in
standard 1. This research will increase teachers confi-
dent during conducting the screening tests. Besides,
teacher may take action if student diagnose in the
screening test. Early resolution is important for the
child, to avoid them keep failing and frustrated with
learning in school.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Malaysia education achieved significant improvement
compare with 50 years ago. Adult literacy rate is
now above 92% under the policies of 3M (read-
ing, writing and counting) in KBSR curriculum. But
we cannot satisfied with these achievements because

123
Malaysia’s student outcomes have deteriorated com-
pared to countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and
South Korea and the gap within Malaysian student out-
comes is also becomes wider. As ministry’s analysis
shows, 20% of Malaysian students failed to meet the
minimum TIMSS benchmarks for Mathematics and
Science in 2007. This situation worries stakeholders,
as higher education levels correlate consistently with
long-term economic growth. (Human Development
Index, Malaysia, 2008).To equip our student with the
skills to obtain knowledge, LINUS has introduced as
a screening test. It is part of the National Education
Blueprint to ensure Malaysian children acquire basic
reading, writing and arithmetic skills after three years
of primary school education. Those who fall behind
will be given remedial coaching until they catch up.
The teachers will receive special training that is tai-
lored to ensure the best strategies are applied to assist
the students in mastering the skills needed (Education
Ministry’s Curriculum Development Division deputy
director, Shamsuri Sujak, 2012).
Basic principle of literacy and numeracy are
included in the 12 constructs in the screening test.
All of the construct are parallel with the definition
of numeracy and literacy which set by the Curriculum
Development Department. The screening test helps to
determine all students considered to have mastered the
principles of literacy and numeracy. Students who do
not master all 12 constructs will go through a recov-
ery program LINUS-dedicated remedial class or Kelas
Pemulihan Linus (LINUS, 2010).
The assessment use to measure children cognitive
is McCarthy Scale of children abilities (MSCA) it
is an individually administered test that assesses the
cognitive development and motor skills of children
from aged 2½–8½. The length of the testing session
is about 45 minutes for children under the age of 5
and an hour for older children. A wide range of puz-
zles, toys, and game-like activities is used to evaluate
each child according to five different scales. MSCA
is chosen because beside indicating overall cognitive
development, the McCarthy Scales are also useful
for determining strengths and weaknesses in specific
areas. Parts of this test are included in the McCarthy
Screening Test, used to assess school readiness in the
early grades (Trueman, M.; Brantwaite, 1985).
Researcher such as William Van Ornum, Linda
Dunlap, and Milton Shore provide a detailed descrip-
tion of the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities in
psychological testing across the lifespan (Van Ornum,
W., Dunlap, & Shore, M., 2008). Van Ornum empha-
size that a key contribution of McCarthy was creating a
test measuring “cognitive ability” rather than “intelli-
gence.” This is much important because by separating
cognitive ability from intelligence, interpretation of
the test need not enter the endless debates regarding
intelligence, genetics, lifelong proclivity or nature vs
nurture issues which never reach to satisfied answer
for each side of debaters. Rather, the scores can be
simply stated as “strengths” and “weaknesses.” A
T-score with a mean of 50 and SD of 10 is used so these
124
scores will not be interpreted as IQ scores by teachers
and parents. This is important for educator to avoid
judging student’s intelligent by IQ score or other scale
of measure cognitive level. Van Ornum gave credits
for the MSCA creativeness and variety in method of
measurement. “This is one of the best tests ever cre-
ated for children. It’s fun and engaging, with pictures,
a hopping game, and even a xylophone!” (Van Ornum,
2008).
3 METHODOLOGY
This research is to find relationship between LINUS
assessment and Year 1 student’s cognitive level. In
this study, mixed method is use where data is collect
and analyze. Quantitative and qualitative methods are
equality vital for reliability and validity of research.
Mixed method design gave researcher holistic point
of view. Quantitative method provide researcher with
accurate numerical results; qualitative method helps
researcher to construct more ideas from different point
of view (Hanson, W.E., Creswell, J.W., Plano Clark,
2005).
Samples for this research are 38 students from
year 1 in Primary School. Class of students that had
been chosen is rank in the middle from 13 classes in
school. Samples are chosen base on the average per-
formance in school. It is important to exclude student
with special needs or who has language advantages.
Both categories may bring significant influences in
the research findings. It may influence the generality
of research too.
Quantitative method used in this study is descriptive
and bi-serial. The major advantage of the descrip-
tive statistic is that they permit researcher to describe
the information contained in many scores with just
a few indices, such as mean, median and mode. The
main purpose of descriptive research is to look into
every form of data that is possible. Sometimes data
collected can only give a limited amount of informa-
tion. However, when using descriptive research people
are able to accumulate findings from all forms of
data such as individual’s performance, group’s per-
formance or comparison. Due to this, a point biserial
correlation coefficient method can provide answers to
this study because researcher has the numerical ele-
ment (Fraenkel, 2009). In this research an artificially
dichotomized variable element created as the scale of
measurement. Every task in the assessment will be
measure as passed or failed; 1 or 0 score.
Mixed method helps to increase the validity and
reliability of research’s results. An interview session
with year 1 Malay Language and Mathematics teachers
will be conduct after researcher analyzed quantitative
data. Teachers will be asked regarding the outcomes
of the quantitative analysis. Teachers are also encour-
aged to give their opinion regarding the factor which
influences such results. Lastly, teachers are given
opportunity contribute opinions on enhance student’s
learning outcome referring to the LINUS and MSCA
assessments’ results.
There are two instruments will be used to measure
children cognitive level. LINUS’s literacy and numer-
acy assessment results from standard 1 student in year
2013. There were total three screening tests through-
out year 2013; researcher will use the last screening
test result to ensure it is accordance with MSCA con-
duct period. Standard 1 student is being choose in the
research because researcher realize that it is important
for teacher to determine their effectiveness of teaching
ensure student dominant basic linguistic and cognitive
skills in early year of their school life. McCarthy Scales
of Children Abilities (MSCA) assessment which mod-
ified to accordance with the syllabus will be conduct
to test respondents’ cognitive level. MSCA is used
because the scale is testing on children cognitive level
rather than their intelligent. Therefore, interpretation
of the test not enters the sometimes excoriating debates
regarding intelligence, genetics, lifelong proclivity,
etc. (Van Ornum, W., Dunlap, & Shore, M., 2008).
4 SUMMARY
Teacher must aware of the student’s cognitive level
and abilities. This is due to if teacher conduct their
teaching in class according to student cognitive level
and abilities, student learning outcome will be opti-
mized. But, how do educators determine that what
they are teaching is accordance to their samples’ abil-
ities? Assessment is a method of measure children
cognitive abilities. Researcher will use MSCA to mea-
sure samples’ cognitive level. The results of student’s
MSCA assessment will correlate with LINUS screen-
ing test. Teacher’s perception toward the assessment is
one of the variable that influences to identify student’s
cognitive level and abilities. We must always remind
ourselves, purpose of assessment is not to rate student
with marks or ranking. LINUS is a method for teacher
to diagnose student’s problem and help them overcome
those barrier in learning. In the other hand, teacher in
this context is a mediator of learning not instructor
of strategy during children problem solving process.
Teacher may facilitate student in the assessments to
help them achieve higher cognitive level but not give
them the answer directly.
Compare with previous research regarding the
LINUS Program conducted by Nazariyah bt Sani
and Abdul Rahman Idris, their research focused on
understanding of school leaders on the implemen-
tation of LINUS program (Nazariyah bt Sani and
Abdul Rahman Idris, 2012). The findings are different
from our research because in this research, researcher
aims to determine the correlation between LINUS
and students’ cognitive level and by this correlation
research enhance the validity of LINUS screening
test. In the meanwhile, finding from Nazariyah and
Abdul research is to find school leaders understanding
of LINUS’s concepts. In the next year, they con-
ducted another research on LINUS program regarding
125
challenges encountered by teachers in dealing with
indigenous students. The study explores the relation-
ship and interaction between teachers and Indigenous
parents (Nazariyah bt Sani and Abdul Rahman Idris,
2012). There is a huge different of generality compare
with our study. Their samples of study were targeted
in indigenous population, but our study samples are
targeted in urban area. Their research can be general-
ized to larger indigenous population but not in urban
population. In the other hand, our research suitable
to generalize in urban area but can’t be a scale for
indigenous population as well. This is due to, beside
assessment content that will influence in identify stu-
dent cognitive level, there are many external variables
and variety between indigenous and urban area will
influence the ability of generality. External variables
such as: facilities provided, social economy status,
parent education level and etc. will influence student
cognitive.
Despite LINUS screening test, KSSR formative test
is another assessment teacher used to assess student
in primary schools. Researcher chooses to study on
LINUS because it is standardize assessment which
uses the synchronized assessment for all primary
schools in the nation. Instead, KSSR formative assess-
ment is invented by teacher individually. Validity and
reliability of KSSR formative test is depend on the
teachers.
Researcher aware the important on LINUS program
playing in student early learning process especially
stage 1 in primary education. To ensure LINUS screen-
ing test is accordance with children cognitive abilities
we should emphasize on control the validity and relia-
bility of the screening test. Teacher must aware of their
role during conduct the assessment.There is an instruc-
tion for teacher below every constructs on LINUS
assessment, researcher emphasize the instructions to
teacher remind them to conduct assessment accord-
ing to instructions. Although researcher emphasize on
the synchronization of conducting the assessment, but
teacher’s individual differences still playing role in
the process. To overcome this limitation, researcher
will assist teacher during they conduct assessment.
Researcher will ensure teacher give the appropriate
instruction to samples according to the guideline from
the ministry.
This research will help to diagnose those who fall
behind from the education system in very early stage.
Students who fall behind will be given remedial coach-
ing until they catch up. Student will be teaching
according to their level. Teacher teach them from basic
such as reintroduce to them alphabet, number 1–10
and etc. In the remedial class, students are given more
individual’s abilities concern compares than when they
are in the mainstream education. Besides, solutions to
enhance students learning outcomes will be suggest in
the end of research. Teachers who involved in LINUS
dedicated-remedial class should receive special train-
ing that is tailored to ensure the best strategies are
applied to assist the students in mastering the skills
needed. After this research, researcher will found out
the validity and reliability of LINUS screening test by
accordance with student’s cognitive level and sugges-
tion can be invent by reviewing this study to enhance
student’s abilities during implementing the LINUS
program.
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 Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service,
Tourism & Hospitality – Lumban Gaol, Mars & Saragih (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00133-6

Perceived value of bargain shopping among youth excursionist

I.R.A. Razak, N. Aminudin, N.H.M. Wasilan & S. Tarmudi

Universiti Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: Shopping is acknowledged as an enjoyable activity where most countries are applying the concept
of shopping “festivals”, “carnivals” and “seasons”. Youth shoppers, those aged between 18 to 30 years old are
one of the potential segments that should not be overlooked. They are now being recognized as a meaningful
market segment as they have high spending power. Due to the recession, consumer had changed their mindset
about discounted goods as nowadays, they are looking for good deals. The concept of customers’ perceived value
used for more sophisticated measures of the construct. This study investigates the relationship between youth
perceived value attributes of bargain shopping towards future intention. There is a lack of studies pertaining
to their perceived value of bargain to youth especially the youth excursionist. The findings offer significant
implications for retailers and may help the retailers to understand the youth shopping behaviour and refurbish
their strategies as to attract youth spend in Malaysia.

Keywords: Youth excursionist, customers’ perceived value, bargain shopping

1 INTRODUCTION to the uprising of shopping malls, shopping events, fac-

Shopping is acknowledged as a primary means of gen-
erating tourism revenue and contributing tourism rev-
enue towards the economic development (Litrell et al.
2004) and it has been recognized as the most common
and enjoyable activity undertaken by people (Timothy,
2005). Therefore, some countries use shopping as one
of the pulling factors in attracting tourists, includeing
Malaysia. Other than the on-going activities of shop-
ping, some countries apply the concept of shopping
“festival” or “carnivals” which are usually held annu-
ally and are anticipated by the public. Well-known
events which are centred on shopping include the
Great Singapore Sale in Singapore (Official Singapore
Tourism Board, 2012.), the Dubai Shopping Festi-
val in Dubai (Dubai Tourism Board, 2012), the Hong
Kong Summer Spectacular in Hong Kong (Hong Kong
Tourism Board, 2012) and in Malaysia, there are a
few: the Malaysia Grand Prix Sale, Malaysia Mega
Sale Carnival and Malaysia Year End Sale (YES). The
events are created to grab the attention of shoppers
(Tourism Malaysia, 2012). In addition, the emergence
of shopping malls is one of the efforts to boost up retail
tourism in Malaysia (Shopping Malaysia Secretariat,
2012).
Other than attracting international tourists, the
activity of shopping is also helpful in curbing the
outflow of local currency to the international mar-
ket. In Malaysia, the importance of spending in the
domestic market is especially highlighted after the
economic crisis in 1997, thus the increase in various
types of shopping and venues. This partly contributed
tory outlets, open-air markets such as night markets,
cross-border shopping, premium outlets, and on-line
shopping (Wong et al., 2012).
Other than going shopping at shopping malls, other
venue such as bargain shopping areas at Bazarena
Shah Alam, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR), and
Low Yatt Plaza. This kind of shopping attracts domes-
tic tourist as well as excursionist who are willing to
travel for a certain distance without putting a night.
This bargain attraction received little attention despite
its potential in contribution to the economy of the small
and medium scale retailers.
This is in line with the results of a study conducted
by Euromonitor International (2012) which states that
due to recession, people had changed their mindset
about discounted goods where nowadays people tend
to look for bargain and good deals.
Research conducted by Wong et al. (2012), shows
that bargain shopping is popular among Malaysian
youths as they are known to have limited budgets, thus
making it their preference. Nevertheless, research con-
ducted by Wong et al. (2012) did not identify what
products are bought by youth, their study covered
general shopping experience, shopping motives, store
attributes and shopping enjoyment among Malaysian
youth.
An emerging group of shoppers is the youth mar-
ket segment, as their trend of spending is growing
and their numbers are increasing (Euromonitor Inter-
national, 2012). According to United Nations World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2012), youth mar-
ket represents a major opportunity for future growth

127

Figure 1. Research Framework (Adapted from Lloyd,Yip &
Luk, 2010).
in travel industry. Therefore, their contribution to the
economy is increasingly noticeable and should not be
overlooked.
Having been ranked second place in Asia-Pacific as
a shopping paradise by the Globe Shopper Index-Asia
Pacific 2012, Kuala Lumpur’s strength is a combi-
nation of low prices with a good range of products
and large number of stores in line with the Govern-
ment’s effort to boost up the retail tourism. In attracting
youth shopper to shop at the bargain shopping venue,
there is a need to understand the perceived value of
bargain shopping that affect their behavioural inten-
tions. Nonetheless, how far the youth is willing to
travel for bargain shopping remains uninvestigated.
Hence, the context of this study is looking at youth
as excursionists and their bargain shopping behaviour.
The main aim of this study is to investigate the
relationship between youth perceived value attributes
of bargain shopping towards future intention. This
research attempts to achieve specific objectives as
follows:
1. To investigate bargain shopping perceived value to
youth excursionist.
2. To analyze the moderating effect of satisfaction
between perceived value and future intentions.
1.1 Research framework
The research framework above is derived from the
underpinning theory of the Theory of Reasoned Action
(TRA) in explaining the behavioural intentions and
for this study. As the objective is to analyze the
function of satisfaction, Path 1 explains the rela-
tionship of perceived value towards behaviour inten-
tion where satisfaction acts as mediation. Meanwhile,
Path 2 explains the relationship of perceived value
towards behavioural intention where satisfaction acts
as moderator.
1.2 Hypotheses
In testing the relationships between the research con-
structs, the hypotheses are as follows:
H1 : There is a positive relationship between perceived
value towards future intentions.
H2 : Satisfaction is the moderating variables of per-
ceived values and future intentions.
128
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Shopping tourism
Tourism and shopping cannot be separated (Hsieh &
Chang, 2006). It has been rated as one of the world’s
largest industries that is widely known to be a revenue
contributor in terms of travel and shopping (Litrell
et al, 2004) and acts as a socioeconomic activity which
attracts travellers (Formica & Uysal, 2011).
According to Butler (1991) and Timothy (2005),
shopping is a form of tourism where it acts in two forms
of tourist shopping either as an added attraction of the
destination visited or as the primary reason for travel-
ling. Additionally, the width and depth of merchandise,
pricing, branding, quality and exclusivity and product
availability have been shown to contribute to a leisure-
oriented retail environment that keeps people longer
and encourage them to spend (Timothy, 2005).
2.2 Retail shopping in Malaysia
Malaysia is recognized as one of the most devel-
oped country among the developing nations besides
being known as an upper income country (Nor &
Rosmimah, 2008). Evidence from Malaysia Associa-
tion of Shopping and High Rise Complex Management
states that one in five Malaysians visit shopping mall
on a weekend, a scenario which shows that there is
a fast growing shopping retail industry in Malaysia
(Teng et al., 2012).
2.3 Youth
According to United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2012), youth
is best understood as a period of transition from the
dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence
and awareness of or interdependence as members of a
community.
In Malaysia, current definition of youth is aged 15
to 40 years old but the updated definition of youth is
those aged 18 to 30 years old (Ministry of Youth and
Sports, 2012). Therefore, this study used the updated
definition of ‘those aged 18 to 30 years old’.
The youth market is recognized as having unique
characteristics and is a sought after segment to be
examined, owing to its considerable size as a promi-
nent market, its massive spending power with a higher
standard of living, its role of being the trendsetters, the
tendency of lifetime loyalty customers establishment,
its susceptibility to new products and the potential
influencing power (Wolburg & Pokrywczynski, 2001).
Most of the marketers have identified youth shoppers
as a target market group and therefore has resulted
in shopping malls to be built in higher proximity to
the crowds of institutions of higher learning (Zafar
et al., 2007). This group of shoppers resembles the
rapid change in consumption patterns in terms of taste
and spending style prevalent in the Malaysian society
besides going on to bear on the responsible of creating
Malaysia’s future exciting and dynamic marketplace
(Yin-Fah et al., 2011).
2.4 Domestic travellers
There is no widely accepted definition of domestic
tourist (Inskeep, 1991). However, the commonly used
definition was a guideline from World Tourism Orga-
nization (Chadwick, 1991), which defines a domestic
tourist as any person or resident of a country visiting
his own country or travelling to a place within his coun-
try other than his usual residence for a period of not less
than 24 hours or one night but less than one year for the
purposes of recreation, leisure, holidays, sport, busi-
ness, meetings, conventions, study, visiting friends or
relatives, health, mission work or religion. Meanwhile,
a domestic excursionist, on the other hand, is a visitor
travelling in his country of residence for any of the rea-
sons given for tourists, but who stays less than 24 hours
at the destination (Mohamed & Yusof, 1996; Smith,
1988). According to WTO (2008), an excursionist is
defined as a visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound)
and is classified as a same-day visitor (or excursion-
ist) if his/her trip does not include an overnight stay.
It can be concluded that there is no specific travelling
mileage for the excursionist. Therefore, this study used
the definition of United Nation (UNWTO, 2008).
2.5 Behaviour intention of bargain shopping
The pleasure of bargain hunting in shopping literature
relatively received little attention. Bargain shopping
has been increasing across all income spectrums and
across a wide variety of goods (Silverstein & Butman,
2006) and bargain hunting is a critical source of
shopping enjoyment (Cox et al. 2005).
Individuals gain a sense of excitement and pleasure
from bargains by taking advantage of the deal itself,
as well as by saving substantial amounts of money
(Schindler, 1989). Although the term ‘bargain’ is often
used as equivalent to ‘price promotion’ (Schindler,
1989) or ‘price discount’ (Alford & Biswas, 2002),
previous researchers claim that cool cognition and
the source of emotional satisfaction (Cox et al, 2005)
drives from the hunt for a low price. Nevertheless,
another research suggested that getting a bargain
involves more than just the monetary gains but rather,
consumer willingness to make an extra shopping trip
to get a large percentage discount even though the
amount of money saved was the same in both cases
(Kahneman & Tversky, 1984; Schindler,1998). This
study combines and adopts both definitions and por-
trays the concept of a bargain. Its definition of bargain
is not only to get the lowest price but also finding the
great discount promotion.
2.6 Underpinning theory
2.6.1 The theory of reasoned action
The theory of reasoned action (TRA), was devel-
oped and modified by Fishbein and Ajzen (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) has been
widely used and accepted by socio-psychological
129
Figure 2. The Theory of Reasoned Action Model (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980).
researchers to investigate human behaviour (Lo,
2007).
As to explain the factors that could influence
behavioural performance, whether positive or nega-
tive, an attitude theory is adopted. The main proposi-
tion underlying this theory is that people’s behaviours
are shaped by their attitude, which is explained in
theory reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980).
TRA regards a consumer’s behaviour as deter-
mined by the consumer’s behavioural intention, where
behavioural intention is a function of ‘attitude toward
the behaviour’ (the general feeling of favourableness
or unfavourableness for that behaviour) and subjective
norm (the perceived opinion of other people in rela-
tion to the behaviour in question) (Fishbein & Ajzen,
1975; Chang, 1998). This theory predicts intention to
perform behaviour by consumer’s attitude toward that
behaviour rather than by consumer’s attitude toward
a product or service. In addition, a consumer’s inten-
tion to perform a certain behaviour may be influenced
by the normative social beliefs held by the consumer
(Hansen et al., 2004).
Figure 2 shows a simplified version of TRA
that indicates the factors that determine a person’s
behaviour.
2.7 Satisfaction
The literature has employed various definitions of
customers’ satisfaction to identify antecedents of
satisfaction and behavioural consequences. Empirical
findings suggest that satisfaction from past expe-
rience provides customers with confidence in the
seller (Bansal & Taylor, 1999; Cronin et al., 2000;
Rucci, Kirn, & Quinn, 1998; Siau & Shen, 2003)
and that customer satisfaction is the key to customer
retention and repurchase behavior (Bolton, 1998;
Jones, Mothersbaug, & Beatty, 2000; LaBarnera &
Mazursky, 1983; Oliver, 1980; Sambandam & Lord,
1995; Yang & Peterson, 2004). From both the theoreti-
cal and empirical perspectives, customer satisfaction is
the key to companies’ competitiveness and can be con-
sidered the essence of success in today’s highly com-
petitive world of business (Bitner & Hubbert, 1994).
However, as to retaining their customers, building cus-
tomer loyalty and gaining more profits (Reichheld,
1996) and also competitive differentiation (Su, 2004),
satisfaction is the important key.
Focusing on the post-purchase moment, the per-
ceived value is a comparison between what the
purchase has contributed in ‘getting’ and what it has Table 1. Distribution of respondents’ gender, race, age and
involved in ‘giving’, meanwhile satisfaction is a com- status.
parison between the results and previous expectations
(Sanchez et al., 2006). Kotler (2000) states that cus- Indicator
No Variables N = 150 Frequency Percentage
tomer’s satisfaction depends on a customer’s feelings
of pleasure or disappointment resulting from com-
1 Gender Male 52 35%
paring the product’s perceived performance and their Female 98 65%
expectations. 2 Race Malay 138 92%
Based on the literature and empirical studies by the Chinese 6 4%
aforementioned previous researchers, this study adopt India 3 2%
the definition of customer satisfaction as referring to Others 3 2%
the consumer’s fulfilment response and proposes that 3 Age 18–21 23 15%
one should distinguish between transaction-specific 22–25 72 48%
satisfaction and overall satisfaction (Oliver, 1980; Dai, 26–30 55 37%
4 Status Single 108 72%
2010). This study is parallel with the study conducted
Married 42 28%
by Cronin et al. (2000) which defined satisfaction as
the extent to which the customer believes the shopping
experience evokes positive feelings.
Table 2. Distribution of respondents’product group bought.

3 METHODOLOGY No Item bought N Frequencies Percentage

The population for this study is Malaysian youth with 1 Clothes 150 135 90%
the range of age from between 18 to 30 years old. The 2 Shoes 150 86 57%
total population of Malaysian youth is approximately 3 Scarves/Hijab 150 83 55%
9.2 million taken from Department of Statistics (2012), 4 Perfume 150 77 51%
5 Watches 150 48 32%
Malaysia 6 Computer/Laptop 150 39 26%
Since, the number of youth population in Malaysia 7 Electrical Equipment 150 26 17%
has been identified; a non-probability sample via con- 8 Handphone 150 22 15%
venience sampling was implemented for the purpose
of this study. The convenience sampling method is pre-
ferred for this study as it is a slightly faster and more
efficient way to get the information. In addition, it Out of the 150 of respondents, 48% is from the
gives the freedom for a researcher to choose anybody age range of 22 to 25 years old. While 37% is from
they may find. the range age of 26 to 30 years old. The least were in
A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed to the range of aged 18 to 21. Out of 150 respondents,
youth excursionists who shop at the bargain venue. 72% of them are single and 28% is married.
The respondent must meet the criteria of “excursion- Table 2 above identifying product group bought
ist” who stay not longer than 24 hour as been stated by by youth which is measured through the descriptive
Inskeep (1991) and aged in the range of 18 to 30 years analysis. The most frequently purchased items were
old. The respondent also must not be the residence of clothes (90%), followed by shoes (57%), scarves or
the bargain shopping venue as to clarify and validate hijab (55%), perfume (51%) and watches (32%). Other
the chances to become the targeted respondent. The than that, the respondents also bought stationeries
respondents were intercepted at bargain venues such (31%), computers or laptops (26%), electrical equip-
as Petaling Street, Bazarena Shah Alam which is some- ment (17%) and hand phones (15%). Clearly, item
times being called ‘carboot sale’, Jalan Tunku Abdul purchased such as cloth, shoes, scarves/hijab, per-
Rahman, shopping malls and Uptown in Klang Valley fume and watch are the most top five items that youth
area. The collection of data was done in the span of preferred. Meanwhile, the bottom three items bought
three days starting from Friday to Sunday. are computer or laptops, electric equipment and hand
phone are the least favoured products for youths.

4 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
4.1 Respondent profiles
The information of the respondents was revealed to
review the socio-demographic background of respon-
dents through descriptive analysis.
Refer to Table 1 above, female dominated with a
commanding 65% of respondents whereas males rep-
resented 35% of total respondents. 92% of respondents
are Malay, 4% are Chinese and 2% are Indian.
4.2 Analysis on the bargain shopping perceived
values of youth excursionist.
Objective 1: To investigate bargain shopping perceived
value to youth excursionist.
Table 3 above summarizes the result of descrip-
tive analysis on perceived values. Relatively, most of
the respondents agree to all of the statements per-
taining to perceived values. Majority of respondents’
reported positive perceived values of bargain shop-
ping. In average, the respondents positively agree with

130
Table 3. Results of respondent perceived value. Table 4. Top 5 respondents’ perceived values.

Standard Standard
No Items N Mean Deviation No Items N Mean Deviation

1 The lower priced 150 3.78 .966 1 The quality of the product 150 4.37 .781
products are usually my 2 I look carefully to find the 150 4.31 .759
choice best value for the money
2 I look carefully to find 150 4.31 .759 3 It is fun to buy something 150 4.25 .744
the best value for money new and exciting
3 Hunting for and finding 150 3.82 .890 4 I like to go to places that 150 4.22 .776
real bargain offer a variety
4 Comparison shopping to 150 4.13 .841 5 I like to survey around the 150 4.17 1.022
find the best product for place first before buying
my money the best product
5 Bargaining with a sales- 150 3.60 .882
person on the price of the
product Table 5. Bottom two respondent perceived values.
6 I buy as much as possible 150 3.27 1.034
at sale prices Standard
7 The outlet has attractive 150 3.93 .803 No Items N Mean Deviation
discounts
8 Special prices of the 150 4.03 .759 1 I shop quickly, buying the 150 2.94 1.137
products are available first product or brand I find
9 I like to survey around 150 4.17 1.022 that seems good enough
the place first before 2 I’m looking for a fake 150 2.33 1.234
buying the best product branded item
10 I like to go to place that 150 4.22 .776
offer a variety
11 Total number of stores 150 3.82 .997 the statement of bargain shopping perceived values.
entered will influence
my decision
Apart from that, only a few statements were not agree-
12 It is important for me 150 4.04 .810
able to the respondents pertaining to the perceived
that the venue offers a value of bargain shopping. The following is the table
variety of products of the top five bargain shopping perceived values,
13 I’m looking for a fake 150 2.33 1.234 according to the respondents.
branded item Based on the result in Table 4, majority of the
14 The product are authen- 150 3.51 1.091 respondents agree that when bargain shopping, the
tic not fake respondents seek for the quality of product, with a
15 Products are of the latest 150 3.78 .881 score of M = 4.37. Respondents also look carefully
style/model to find the best value for the money (M = 4.31) next
16 The quality of the prod- 150 4.37 .781 with the value of M = 4.25, the statement it is fun to
uct is good buy something new and exciting. Most of the respon-
17 Shopping is a pleasant 150 3.67 1.240 dent positively like to go to places that offer a variety
activity to me of product (M = 4.22). Nonetheless, they also like to
18 Shopping is a waste of 150 2.27 1.294 survey around the places first before they buy the best
time product (M = 4.17). In other words they do not sim-
19 Going shopping is one 150 3.95 .944 ply buy the first product that they see without looking
of the more enjoyable
activities of my life
around first.
20 It is fun to buy some- 150 4.25 .744
Table 5 explains the bottom two bargain shopping
thing new and exciting perceived values. This bottom two basically disagrees
21 I enjoy shopping just for 150 3.74 .886 with some of the statement relating to perceived val-
the fun of it ues. Respondents do not really shop quickly, buying
22 I gain positive shop- 150 3.91 .806 the first product or brand which they find that seems
ping experience through good enough (M = 2.94). This is parallel to one of the
interaction with friends, statement that they prefer to survey first before buy-
family, salespeople and ing a product. Respondents response that they are not
other consumer looking for fake branded item (M = 2.33).
23 Shopping with friend as 150 3.71 1.040 H1 : There is a positive relationship between per-
a social occasion ceived value towards future intentions.
24 I shop quickly, buying 150 2.94 1.137 In terms of determining the strength of the rela-
the first product or brand
tionship, Cohen (1988) in Pallant (2005) suggest that
I find that seems good
enough r = 0.50 to 1.0 or r = −0.50 to −1.0, the strength is
large and shows a strong relationship. Therefore, as

131
Table 6. Results of Single Regression on perceived value
towards future intentions.
Predictor
Dependent Variable: Future Intentions
Independent Variable: Perceived Values 0.819**
R2 0.671
Adjusted R2 0.659
F 57.011***
Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
Table 7. Result of Standard Multiple Regression on satis-
faction as the moderating effect between perceived values
towards behavioural intention.
Predictors
Dependent Variable: Future Intention
Independent Variable: Perceived Value 0.487
R2 0.671
Adjusted R2 0.659
F value 57.011***
Dependent Variable: Future Intentions
Independent Variable: Perceived Value
Moderator: Satisfaction 0.391**
R2 0.713
Adj R2 0.692
F value 33.562***
*p < 0.05. **p < 0.01,*** p < 0.001
shown in Table 6, the result on regression between
perceived value and future intention (R2 = 0.671, Adj
R2 = 0.659, F = 57.011) shows that there is a large
correlation between these two variables which sug-
gest a strong relationship between perceived values
and future intention. Thus, perceived value (β = 0.819,
p < 0.01) positively impact the future intention. There-
fore, it can be concluded that this study accepts the
alternate hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis.
Objective 2: To analyze the function of satisfaction
between perceived values and future intentions.
H2 : Satisfaction is the moderating variables of
perceived values and future intentions.
As demonstrated in Table 7 above, the result of
standard multiple regression on satisfaction as the
moderating effect between perceived value towards
future intentions is applied. The result shows that satis-
faction act as the moderating effect between perceived
value towards future intentions. On the other hand,
results show that, satisfaction moderates the relation-
ship of perceived value towards future intension with
39.1%. This shows that satisfaction play an important
role in the relationship.
Furthermore, satisfaction proves to be the mod-
erating effect and it is supported by looking on the
differences between R2 . Thus, this result indicates that
satisfaction may influence future intention. In addi-
tion, another method to prove satisfaction as the mod-
erator is by using Preacher and Hayes Bootstrapping
Method (2008). Table 8 below, indicates satisfaction
132
Table 8. Result of Preacher and Hayes Bootstrapping
Method (2008) on moderator effect of perceived value
towards future intention.
Bias Corrected Confidence Intervals
Lower Upper
Total −.2827 2.4402
Satisfaction −.2827 2.4402
point estimates where number zero fall between the
results of confidence intervals at 95 percent of con-
fident level. Therefore, it can be concluded that this
study accepts the alternate hypothesis and reject the
null hypothesis.
5 DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS
5.1 Respondent profiles
The results of the socio-demographic background of
respondents reveals the information on the gender,
race, age, status, current job, monthly income and
travel characteristics pertaining to bargain shopping
venue and frequency of visit. From this researcher’s
observation and data gathered, it shows that female
shoppers are more excited than male shoppers. During
the distribution of survey, it can be said that most of the
visitor were female. This is similar with the previous
researcher that states male shoppers are less excited
than female shoppers (Wong et al., 2012). This is due
to the fact that there are more female shoppers than
male shoppers in most bargain shopping venues. Apart
from that, the result demonstrates 42% of the respon-
dent has a monthly income of less than RM1000. This
proves that nearly half of them prefer to shopping at
bargain venue and seeking for best value for money. It
is comparable to price consciousness trait previously
identified by Mokhlis & Salleh (2009).
Among the products bought by youths are clothes,
shoes, scarves/hijabs, perfumes and watches. Most of
the entire products are offered at the bargain shopping
venues. Clothes represent 90% of purchases, followed
by shoes 57% and scarves or hijabs 55%. This result
shows the necessities of clothes in daily life and most
purchased item by youth. As for women, the emerging
of muslimah apparel changed muslim fashion style.
Not only that, the magazines that covers the latest hijab
styles have influenced women to seek for the latest
hijab fashions at the retail outlets.
5.2 Bargain shopping perceived value to youth
excursionists
In regards with the first objective of the study, the
significance of customer perceived value showed that
most of the respondents gave a positive response
towards bargain shopping perceived value. On aver-
age, almost all of the respondent agreed to the state-
ment pertaining to customer perceived value. With
regards to price, it is agreed upon by the respondents
that they look carefully to find the best value for Table 9. Hypotheses Results.
money (M = 4.31). This result is consistent with a
previous research by Mokhlis & Salleh (2009) which Hypothesis Findings Discussion
found that price conscious, “value-for-money” con-
sumers have a high consciousness for sale prices and H1 There is a Accepted The Pearson Correlation
positive relationship test shows that there is
lower prices in general. Furthermore, this is also in line
between perceived a strong relationship
with the study conducted by Sundstrom, Lundberg & value towards between perceived values
Grannakis (2011) which indicated that the main reason future intentions towards future intentions.
for visitors to go shopping were price related. H2 Satisfaction is Accepted The Pearson Correlation
Furthermore, the respondents shop to hunt for the moderating test shows that satisfaction
and find real bargains (M = 3.82) since they enjoy variables of moderates the relationship
the excitement of finding a really good deal. This perceived values between perceived values
statement is supported by Davis and Hodges (2012). and future and future intentions
Bargain shopping provides a thrill and exhilaration as intentions
well as a sense of accomplishment, pride and affirma-
tion of intelligence (Schindler, 1989). These findings of the relationship. This is supported by previous
are also reflective with the observation of Cox, Cox research conducted by Brady et al. (2005) which states
and Anderson (2005). that customer satisfaction is the key determinant of
On the other hand, pertaining to product perceived, behavioural intentions. Lloyd et al. (2011) demon-
it is agreed that the respondent look for products strates that there is a positive path between customer
with good quality. This result is similar with the find- satisfaction and future intentions. This inclusion is
ings of Sundstrom, Lundberg & Grannakis (2011) parallel with prior studies which found that customer
that a visitor’s main reasons for their visit were prod- satisfaction is a strong predictor of behavioural inten-
uct related. This is due to that product perceptions tions (Eggert & Ulaga, 2002; Ravald & Gronroos,
will determine a store’s reputation and influence con- 1996).
sumer decision (Pan & Zinkhan, 2006). In contrast,
result findings by Davis & Hodges (2012) indicate
that, mass merchandisers do not provide quality value 5.4 Hypotheses results
since they believe that product quality offered there
5.4.1 H1 there is a relationship between perceived
is low. Apart from that, the variety of products offered
value and future intention
(M = 4.22) were also consistent with the research con-
Table 9 illustrates two hypotheses that was introduced
ducted by Sundstrom, Lundberg & Grannakis (2012)
in the early stage of this study. The process of analyses
that shows there is a chance to explore a wide vari-
was done to test the hypotheses, as decision on whether
ety of goods. It seems that, since they are looking for
to accept or reject the hypothesis introduced. The rela-
a chance to explore first, the respondents agreed that
tionship can be identified through Pearson Correlation
they like to survey around the place first before make
analysis output as shown in table 9 above. Significance
any purchases. Undeniably this may influence their
value p = 0.05 was interpreted as 95% with only 5%
decision-making in terms of looking for a shopping
probability error.
venue.
The results show that there is a strong relationship
As for experience, it was mostly agreed upon that
between perceived values and future intentions. The
shopping is a pleasant (M = 3.67) and enjoyable activ-
value of perceived values towards future intentions of
ity for the respondents (M = 3.94). By looking at the
bargain shopping (β = 0.819 p < 0.01), as it has a high
results findings, it is parallel with the previous research
influence on youths future intention to shop. There-
that states shopping is the most common and enjoyable
fore, it can be concluded that this study accepts the
activity undertaken by people (Timothy, 2005). Mean-
alternate hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis.
while, Sundstrom, Lundberg & Grannakis (2011)
Empirically, this result was supported by a previ-
found that the term “escapism” represents an enjoyable
ous research which demonstrates the direct impact of
shopping trip in their study. Apart from this, shopping
customer perceived value on behavioural intentions
also provides a socialization value. A person may gain
(Grewal, Monroe & Krishnan, 1998). Basically, CPV
positive shopping experience through their interaction
is also tested by previous researcher (Brady et al.,
with friends, family, salespeople and other consumers
2005; Cronin et al., 2000; Petrick, 2002; Sweeney &
(M = 3.91). The attractiveness of shopping and diver-
Soutar, 2001; Lloyd at al., 2011) which demonstrates
sified environments are among the elements that lead
CPV as the driver of behavioral intention.
to a leisure experience (Murphy et al., 2011).
5.4.2 H2 satisfaction is the moderating variables of
perceived values and future intentions
5.3 The function of satisfaction between perceived Pertaining to this second hypothesis, the result
values and future intention obtained showed that satisfaction is the moderating
Satisfaction plays an important role between the effect of customer perceived values and future inten-
relationship of perceived values and future inten- tions. The result of multiple regressions showed that
tions. This is due to that satisfaction influences 39% satisfaction has the power effect of 39% in relationship

133
of perceived value towards future intention (Table 7).
In other words, satisfaction influences 39% of the
relationship.
Based on the results findings, the differences
between Adjusted R2 in Table 7 (Adj R2 0.659, 0.692)
confirmed that satisfaction moderates the relation-
ship between perceived values and future intentions.
It shows that satisfaction plays an important role in
the relationship, since it represents 39%. Other than
that, to prove that satisfaction as a moderator, this
researcher looked at the Preacher and Hayes Boot-
strapping Method (2008), which also confirmed the
findings as this analysis showed that it falls between
the point estimates results of confidence intervals at
95 percent of confidence level.
This result is in line with a study conducted by
Bradly et al. (2005) that states customer perceived
value and satisfaction are allowed to influence future
intention. It is possible that the shoppers still continue
visiting the bargain shopping venues even though they
may not satisfied. In addition, the results findings of
by Lloyd et al. (2011) demonstrates that although they
may be satisfied, this does not guarantee them to revisit
the store again as they may not intend to visit the venue
again.
6 CONCLUSION
The findings of this study provide the important impli-
cations for both theory perspective and practice. The-
oretically, this study adds to the existing knowledge
on customer perceived value and bargain shopping in
Malaysia. Practically, it provides information to policy
makers and marketers to plan for future by reposition
their strategies by and redevelopment to entice more
satisfied shoppers especially youth and assist retailers
in enhancing the perceived value of customers.
This study contributes to the existing literature by
shedding light on the drivers of customer perceived
value among domestic tourists, especially youth excur-
sionists, in terms of their shopping behaviour and their
evaluation of the bargain shopping experience. It also
helps the academicians consolidate and understand the
important features of bargain shopping.
From the practical standpoint, it generates insight
for major inputs for the practitioners, particularly
retailers, as it highlights bargain shopping attractions
among youth excursionists that lead the youth to
attaining their value and satisfaction.
The result of this study will also be valuable for
tourism bodies including the Shopping Malaysia Sec-
retariat in developing appropriate marketing strategies
to encourage locals to spend their money in the coun-
try. This is from the perspective that these youths will
one day posses greater purchasing power. Similarly, the
marketing strategy may also be used to attract young
international tourist, thus enhancing the potential of
Malaysia to become a shopping paradise.
In conclusion, from the study conducted all of
the objectives and hypothesis youth shoppers or
consumers are motivated and influenced in a variety
134
of ways either through internal or external influ-
ences. Youth shoppers have a relatively high level of
education, are more sophisticated in their tastes and
preferences, are technology savvy and are typically
connected to internet. They are also exposed to social
networks such as Twitter and Facebook which enables
them to communicate and interact with their friends
around the world.
Therefore, it is crucially important for the mar-
keters and retailers to keep on attracting the consumers
and have a full understanding of their behaviour. A
more holistic picture of consumer behaviour should
be gained by marketers, retailers, managers and the
government since they are the key players of the retail
sector. Undoubtedly, people’s needs and wants keep
on changing. By always keeping track of the current
trends and lifestyle, it could be one of the strate-
gies that can attract the Malaysian youth shoppers to
spend in the country since they are known to be more
advanced, possess high spending power and are quite
sophisticated.
Apart from that, the emerging of technology
advancements forces and allows these youth to think
and act spontaneously since everything is on their fin-
ger tips. Pertaining to this scenario, marketers should
take advantage of this technology by holding promo-
tions through the internet, by using catchy words and
attractive brochures to attract them to shop. This tech-
nology enables them to have a better communication
with people around the world where they can eas-
ily share their experience, exchange ideas and expose
them to the latest trends of a particular country. The
responsibility of marketers and retailers lies not only
on competing in the global market but also in keep-
ing abreast with the latest trends among consumers
around the world. This is related to the understanding
of consumer behaviour and the perception.
Basically, people shop not just for buying necessi-
ties, they also do it as a form of leisure activity for the
consumers. Some people may view it as socialization
value where they can mingle around with their fam-
ily, friends and relatives. As for the youth, they see it
as a “hang out” activity with their friends since they
normally go shopping with friends.
In a nutshell, in order to have a more enjoyable
customer, it would be good to obtained profile of shop-
ping motives prioritised by them. The findings of the
study may guide us to have deeper understanding of
the effects of shopping enjoyment on store selection
and their purchasing behaviour. The element of “shop-
pingtainment” should be introduced as a development
strategy in trying to provide shopping enjoyment for
the consumers. The main concept is that, consumers
tend to choose shopping venues that could offer excite-
ment to them rather than just visit any shop and
purchase the items or product that they are looking for.
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The teaching of critical and creative thinking skills

in the English Language classroom in Malaysia

T. Gewa Thuraisingam, Saedah Siraj & Zahra Naimie

Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Rana Ahmed Abuzaid

Senior Researcher in Saudi Binladen

Siti Hajar Halili

Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ABSTRACT: The teaching of critical and creative thinking skills in Malaysian schools became more prominent
after the implementation of the new standard currikulum or Kurikulum Baru Sekolah Rendah (KBSR) in 1982.
In line with the Malaysia Educational Philosophy (1988) which stresses on the development of individual
student’s potential, the teaching of critical and creative thinking skills is given much emphasis today. Critical and
creative thinking are important metacognitive skills. More importantly, these skills are fundamental in the area
of education especially among students in the English Language classroom. Apart from the decline in English
Language proficiency among Malaysian students over recent years, the emergence of students who are passive
learners and lacking problem solving skills have raised tremendous concern. Therefore, it is important that the
English Language classroom play an important role in imparting critical and creative thinking skills in English
to enable students to become not only proficient in English Language but also efficient users of their cognitive
skills.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 THE APPROPRIATE AGE FOR TEACHING

Various surveys on graduate employability have found
that English language is a main weakness, where
many of them cannot use the language effectively.
Another shortcoming is the lack of critical and creative
thinking in the graduates (Higher Education Ministry
Survey, 2008; World Bank Report, 2005). According
to Beyer (1985), an important aspect of critical think-
ing is the ability to collect, evaluate and make use of
information effectively and appropriately. Similarly,
Shakirova (2007, p. 42) states that critical thinking
skills are important because they enable students “to
deal effectively with social, scientific and practical
problems.” Creative and critical thinking skills are
considered essential for students (Crane, 1983). Crane
(1983) states that “when reasoning fails, imagination
saves you! When intuition fails, reason saves you!”
(p.7). Scriven (1979) stated that “critical skills go
hand in hand with creative ones” (p. 37). In addition,
Fisher (1990) states that the “development of criti-
cal and creative thinking skills are complementary,
and both encourage independent and student-centered
learning.” Creativity on the other hand is a complex
construct and is most commonly expressed through a
broad range of intelligences including linguistic, musi-
cal, mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal,
and perhaps even intrapersonal (Gardner, 1985).
CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING
SKILLS
Children need to be taught these skills so that they can
be accustomed to critical and creative thinking from a
very young age. However, the ability to think critically
and creatively involves a kind of intelligence which
students do not readily possess but it can be taught
in the classroom. Since it is a “learnable skill” (Bean,
1996, p. 4), teachers need to undertake a proactive role
in initiating and guiding critical and creative thinking.
In Malaysia, since English Language is taught since
preschool and more contact time is allotted for pri-
mary school pupils to learn this language, it is crucial
that critical and creative thinking skills are incorpo-
rated in the English Language classroom. Moreover,
expressive creativity is often noticed in children where
they demonstrate creative abilities through drawing,
art, music and play.
Nevertheless, the question of at what age critical
and creative thinking should be taught to children
is an important issue. In the constructivist point of
view, young children are exposed to critical and cre-
ative thinking as they learn through experience and
their struggle with discrepancies causes understand-
ing. Therefore, it is evident that children regardless of
age need to be taught to think critically and creatively

137
in the English Language classroom with the very give ample time for students to think and answer
young ones by learning through experiences whereas questions.
more mature children and adolescents can be exposed In view of the above, problem-based learning
to formal reasoning (Piaget, 1983). (PBL) can foster creative thinking because teach-
ers can add useful additions to their teaching such
as “problem-solving activities, critical-thinking exer-
cises, collaborative learning and independent study.
3 STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING CRITICAL
(Uden & Beaumont, 2006, p. 45). Other strategies
AND CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS
for integrating critical thinking skills in the English
Language classroom are heuristic techniques to solve
English Language teachers need to foster critical and
problems, problem-based learning activities and work-
creative thinking by creating a friendly, supportive
based learning. Project based learning is also an
and non-threatening classroom atmosphere because
excellent way to promote creative thinking since the
“it can have a positive impact on students’ motiva-
process toward the finished or end-product is not pre-
tion and language performance” (Tsiplakides Iakovos,
planned, but requires active involvement and higher
2011). Duckworth (1987) states that “the construc-
order thinking skills in the student.
tivist teacher must not only be open to young children’s
Correia (2006) suggests that language teachers
ideas but must provide a setting that enables them to
should incorporate active reading tasks, such as sum-
be caught up in the idea of their own making.” There-
mary writing and note taking, which require students
fore, it is important that a conducive English Language
to go beyond a superficial reading of the text to read
classroom environment which is warm, friendly and
between the lines. In order to achieve this, she suggests
accepting be created so that students can think aloud,
that students should work “together in pairs or groups,
probe various dimensions of their thinking and solve
with or without guidance from the teacher, in order to
problems.
negotiate answers to questions”. Correia (2006) also
According to Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956), the cog-
points out that tasks that stimulate critical thinking
nitive domain emphasizes intellectual outcomes, and
include creating diagrams and filling in tables, tasks
as such, this is the domain which is of most con-
that enable students to interact with the text and each
cern in English language learning. Bloom divided the
other and tasks that require students to “to voice their
cognitive domain into six categories or levels. While
own opinions about the text and discuss those opinions
most teachers still test at the lower levels of the tax-
with other students and the teacher” (p. 17–18).
onomy, research has shown that students remember
Methods to encourage both critical and creative
more when they have learned to handle the topic
processes in the language or literature classroom
at the higher levels of the taxonomy namely level
include using the ‘process writing’ approach where
four to six which is analysis, synthesis and evalua-
any piece of writing is not completed in one go but
tion (Garavalia, Hummel, Wiley, & Huitt, 1999). For
allowing works to undergo the drafting process to mod-
older children and adolescents, teaching that enhances
ify, re-organize and develop the writing (Goffman &
critical thinking using questioning techniques require
Velazquez, 1993; Watkins-Goffman, 1993). This
students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate infor-
allows time for creative thinking by using techniques
mation to solve problems and make decisions (think)
such as brainstorming or free writing to provide a new
rather than merely to repeat information (memorize)
‘entrance’ to a topic, giving ample time for ideas to
(Scriven & Paul, 2008; Schafersman, 1991;Tempelaar,
emerge, using group-work as an active support for stu-
2006).
dents doing things as individuals and allowing a period
This is because when more elaboration is required,
of critical thinking such as comparison, analysis and
a principle of learning which is based on findings
evaluation.
from the information processing approach to learn-
In learning literature, students can be encouraged to
ing is utilized. The use of open-ended questions to
think critically the differing view point of life because
check the comprehension level of students as they
it allows the reader to look into the lives of other peo-
read texts where there are many acceptable answers,
ple, their culture and periods of history. Apart from
reasons, solutions and possibilities which co-exist
novels, poetry and short stories are an extremely valu-
and these discussions encourage tolerance of ambi-
able development of language where students can be
guity and bring about more interpretations. That is
encouraged to think critically and creatively causing
the reason English Language teachers need. to incor-
them to have a leap in their imagination as they analyze
porate questioning techniques that stimulate students’
alternative points of view.
critical thinking and problem solving skills. In their
research, Haynes and Bailey (2003) emphasized the
importance of asking the right questions to stimu-
late students’ critical thinking skills. Other researchers 4 IMPORTANCE OF USING ONLINE TOOLS
(Brown & Kelley, 1986; Hemming, 2000) also focused
on integrating questioning techniques into class dis- A key feature of online education is the asynchronous
cussions to support an educational environment where learning environment that it creates. Online English
students can demonstrate and practice critical think- Language activities provide educators with the means
ing skills. Apart from that, it is vital that teachers to offer instructional assistance and learning activities

138
that meet the demands, pace and interest of individ-
ual students. As described by Pyle (1997), “at present,
asynchronous learning may be the only path to critical
thinking for most undergraduates.” Central to student
centered learning and development of critical thinking
is allowing students individualized time with online
tools necessary for mastering the learning process out-
side the classroom and constraints of schedules class
periods. This is especially meaningful for English Lan-
guage students to do their own self accessed learning
by using the numerous English materials available
online. Online resources enable students to have the
time necessary to prepare for learning tasks (Pyle,
1997) at the convenience of their own time and space
without peer pressure and self-consciousness.
Integrating online instructional strategies provide
two distinct benefits in developing students’ criti-
cal thinking. Firstly, it moves lower-level learning
tasks outside of class time so that more time can
be devoted to higher-order critical thinking activi-
ties during teaching and learning sessions. Secondly,
it creates opportunities for students to have individ-
ualized, in-depth interactions with course materials
beyond the confines of the classroom (Mac Knight,
2000; Muirhead, 2002; Murchu & Muirhead, 2005).
Online tools such as online preparation quizzes,
online lectures or supplements (Peirce, 2003) provide
an efficient way for English Language teachers to shift
the instruction of basic concepts outside of class so
that students are prepared to fully engage in classroom
activities. This shift of focus enables teachers to ded-
icate their face-to-face interactions to strategies that
foster critical thinking about the content or syllabus
they are supposed to teach. A wide range of asyn-
chronous teaching strategies are available and the most
effective asynchronous tools for promoting critical
thinking are e-mail, electronic mailing lists, threaded
conferencing systems, online discussion boards, blogs,
wikis and podcasting.
5 BARRIERS IN TEACHING CRITICAL AND
CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS
As important as teaching critical and creative thinking
skills are to upgrade students’ cognitive skills, sadly
there are many barriers which hinder the teaching
of critical and creative thinking skills in the English
Language classrooms. The main culprits are English
Language teachers who do not foster the develop-
ment of critical and creative thinking among students.
This is because teachers generally require “reactive”
thinking from their students. They expect them to
react to questions, exercises or test items and to give
a preferred “correct” answer. They usually have the
tendency to discourage “proactive” thinking, such as
generating novel questions and answers instead of a
single “correct”, or “accepted” answer. Wrong answers
and mistakes are not the ‘accepted’ norm as students
are expected to regurgitate whatever is taught to them
and produce the expected correct reply to make the
139
teacher’s teaching task much easier. Thus, risk taking
and learning through mistakes which are characteris-
tics of critical and creative thinking are not enforced
in the classroom.
Another genuine problem is the time constraint as
teachers need to cover more materials and the syllabus
in depth in traditional classrooms. Therefore, they tend
to rush students through a pre-planned set of yearly syl-
labus or content materials with minimal time spent on
individual interaction or critical analysis of the infor-
mation presented. Barrell (1991) wrote, “One of our
challenges then, is to create settings where students’
thinking is encouraged as a natural process in school”
(p. xiii). He recommended that for students to think
well in school, we as teachers must give them not only
opportunities to do so, but also the authority to do so.
Barriers to critical thinking in the classroom are
very real problems due to the standardized curriculum
and priority on test scores. The emphasis on “teach-
ing to test” distracts the critical and creative thinking
learning process in the classroom. The emphasis on
achieving examination results with flying colors and
exam oriented lessons impede critical thinking in the
classroom. This is because assessments given to stu-
dents should emphasize thinking rather than facts
(Ennis, 1993). Unfortunately, examination questions
and assignments test memory recall instead of being
intellectually challenging (Schafersman, 1991). Other
barriers to integration of critical and creative thinking
in the English Language classroom are lack of train-
ing among teachers, lack of information on critical
and creative thinking in the instructional materials and
negative preconceptions that block students’ ability to
think critically and creatively.
6 CONCLUSION
The importance of teaching critical and creative think-
ing skills to students right from a very young age is
very vital as they progress throughout the academic
journey from primary into secondary schools and
then into institutions of higher learning. The English
Language classroom plays a key role in helping stu-
dents achieve these higher order thinking skills. Being
an English Language teacher, the focus on teach-
ing critical and creative thinking skills is a subject
very close to my heart. I believe that Malaysian stu-
dents lack these skills enormously and they have to
be exposed to them from the primary school age.
Moreover, English Language teachers can incorpo-
rate various activities that stimulate students’ thinking
skills in the listening and speaking, reading, writing
and language arts lessons. These activities are excel-
lent ways to enable students to employ thinking skills
in the classroom so that they can make intelligent
guesses, inferences and associations by thinking intu-
itively, spontaneously and independently. This is an
exact contrast with traditional teaching methods that
do not encourage thinking ‘out of the box’ and fos-
silizing students to become passive and ‘stereotyped’
learners.
 Thus, the need to impart critical and creative think-
ing skills in children is a necessity which cannot be
procrastinated in the English Language classroom in
Malaysian schools especially when it is becoming
more evident that students are passive instead of being
critical and creative thinkers. In order to create a future
generation of students who are cognitively competent
and proficient in English Language at the same time,
more proactive steps should be taken to achieve these
goals.
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