Business Administration and Business Economics

Md Fauzi Ahmad (Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)) · Khor Chun Hoong (Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)) · Norhadilah Abdul Hamid (Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)) · Norliana Sarpin (Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)) · Rozlin Zainal (Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)) · Ahmad Nur Aizat Ahmad (Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)) · Mohd Fahrul Hassan (Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)) · Mohd Nasrun Mohd Nawi (Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM)) ·International Journal of Supply Chain Management ·2018

New product design and process design are vital aspects for a company to survive in in global competition market. Product design determines in the success of a company through how product design can accomplish in today's marketplace and customer needs. Nevertheless, many new products which have been developed from research and development fail to compete in global market due to product performance issue such as quality, cost and delivery. Besides, many new product design is not capable to match with the process design and machine capability in production process. The objective of this paper is to identify the relationship between new product design and new product process design towards new product performance in manufacturing industry. Random sampling techniques have been used by distributing questionnaire to 400 companies in Malaysia manufacturing sector. 80 companies had replied with the respond rate of 20%. The result shows that the extent level of new product design and process design are moderate and high level respectively. Furthermore, there is a significant relationship between new product process design and new product performance (r(80) = 0.570, p < 0.05). However, there are no significant relationships between new product design and new product performance (r(80) = 0.092, p > 0.05). The study is important to gain insight on the effect of new product design and new product process design towards new product performance.

Suhaiza Ismail · Zuhudha Rasheed ·Meditari Accountancy Research ·2019

Purpose This paper aims to identify the influence of personal factors on the ethical judgement of future accountants in Malaysia. In particular, there are two research objectives for this study: first, to investigate the influence of ethical ideology on the ethical judgement of accounting students and second, to investigate the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on ethical judgement. Design/methodology/approach The respondents of the study were final year undergraduate accounting students from three public universities in Malaysia. A survey questionnaire comprising instruments about ethical ideology, EI and ethical judgement was distributed. A total of 205 responses were received and were deemed as useable. To achieve the research objectives, multiple regression was performed. Findings The findings indicate that idealism and EI have a positive influence on the ethical judgement. In contrast, the study discovered that relativism influences ethical judgement negatively. Originality/value This study fills the research gap as research on personal factors on the ethical judgement of future accountants is very limited and scarce. It gives insights to the various parties concerning how to enhance ethical judgement among future accountants, which ultimately will improve the credibility of the accounting profession.

Abdo Yousef Qaid Saad · Amer M Alhusini Alshehri ·Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business ·2021 ·JEL: M00, M31, G1, G2, G21

The study aims to measures the service quality of Islamic banking in Malaysia from non-Malaysian customers’ perspective based on the six different dimensions of the SERVQUAL model, namely, Shariah, assurance, reliability, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness. This study surveyed 100 non-Malaysian respondents from 25 different countries who have first-hand experience with Islamic banking services in Malaysia. The collected data were analysed by using the SPSS v23 for reliability analysis and descriptive statistics. The results indicates that customers’ impressions of Islamic banks’ service quality in Malaysia did not meet their standards. The independent variables, namely, compliance, assurance, reliability and empathy have positively affected customer satisfaction, while two dimensions, namely, tangibility and responsiveness does not significantly influence non-Malaysian customer satisfaction in the Islamic banking system in Malaysia. The findings of the study suggested that the Islamic banks should develop and obey the customer perception’s policy by following customers’ expectations and the results are also expected to include recommendations for improving the level of satisfaction of the Islamic banking system’s foreign clients in Malaysia. Since this study was limited to Islamic banks in Malaysia, the findings may not be applicable to other traditional banks.

Christine Nya Ling Tan · Adedapo Oluwaseyi Ojo · Ramayah Thurasamy ·Young Consumers ·2019

Purpose This study aims to investigate the factors, which may potentially influence green product buying decision among young consumers in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach A perceived lack of intention to buy green products observed among the Malaysian Generation Young consumers has sparked the interest to carry out this study. With the aid of structured questionnaires, data were collected from a total of 217 respondents, between 18 and 25 years of age. Findings The results of data analysis indicated that environmental consciousness, eco-label, price and advertising were significant predictors of green product buying behaviour. Contrary to the hypothesis, attitude was not a significant predictor of green buying behaviour among young consumers. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are outlined at the end of this paper. Originality/value This study offers empirical insights from the perspective of an emerging economy on the determinants of green products buying behaviour among young consumers.

Siew Imm Ng · Jo Ann Ho · Xin Jean Lim · Kee Lin Chong · Khairunnisak Latiff ·Young Consumers ·2019

Purpose In this digitalization age, smart technologies are on the cusp of changing all business sector including retailing. Today’s consumers desire to shop in a smart store where the physical products on display are connected to the internet world. This study aims to propose a model for investigating Generation Z (Gen-Z) consumers’ expectations towards the smart retail technology (SRT) in the Malaysian context through the application of the stimulus-organism-response framework. Design/methodology/approach By using a purposive sampling technique, a self-administered questionnaire was conducted. A total of 220 usable responses were collected from Gen-Z consumers who had experience in using SRT. The data were analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings This study underscores the role of perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and perceived value on Gen-Z consumers’ attitude and word-of-mouth (WOM). Expectations on usefulness, enjoyment and value provide some ideas on Gen-Z consumers’ value who put a high emphasis on functional value, fun value and value for money when adopting the SRT. On the other hand, the result also demonstrates the mediating role of consumers’ attitude in connecting perceived value and perceived enjoyment on WOM towards SRT. Practical implications The findings of this study provide beneficial insights for a retailer who desire to pursue a smart-related acquisition strategy. Retailers are recommended to embrace on the following three key features: innovative solution (high usefulness), reliable benefits (high perceived value) and fun experience (high enjoyment) to provide Gen-Z consumers with compelling experiences. Additionally, retailers are suggested to acknowledge the importance of managing consumers’ attitude in driving positive WOM evaluations. Originality/value This paper responds to Ting et al.’s (2018) call in uncovering values and lifestyles of generation in details. In Malaysia, retailers ought to incorporate of the high level of usefulness, value and enjoyment when designing their SRT to constitute the Gen-Z consumers’ expectations. Moreover, similar to Ting’s conclusion, this cohort members are very much into technologies and they tend to embrace SRT in their lifestyles.

Ali Saleh Alarussi · Sami Mohammed Alhaderi ·Managerial Auditing Journal ·2018

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors affecting profitability in Malaysian-listed companies. It has been argued that profitability is the main pillar for any company to survive in the long run. Although profitability is the primary goal of all business ventures, scant attention has been paid to the factors that affect profitability in developing countries. This study investigates the factors affecting profitability in Malaysian-listed companies. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on five independent variables that were empirically examined for their relationship with profitability. These variables are: firm size (as measured by total sales), working capital (WC), company efficiency (assets turnover ratio), liquidity (current ratio) and leverage (debt equity ratio and leverage ratio). Data of 120 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia covering the period from 2012 to 2014 were extracted from companies’ annual reports. Pooled ordinary least squares regression and fixed-effects were used to analyze the data. Findings The findings show a strong positive relationship between firm size (total sales), WC, company efficiency (assets turnover ratio) and profitability. The results also show a negative relationship between both debt equity ratio and leverage ratio and profitability. Liquidity (current ratio) has no significant relationship with profitability. Research limitations/implications Due to the time limitation, the data includes only 120 companies listed in bursa Malaysia and covers the period from 2012 to 2014. Practical implications These results benefit internal users (such as mangers, shareholders and employees). They can realize the determinants of enhancing the profitability of their company after the depreciation of the Malaysian currency and therefore concentrate more on the factors that enhance their companies’ profitability. On the other side, other external users (such as investors, creditors, new established companies, tax authority) also may get advantages of these results. It is clear that those users concern about the profitability of companies and the determinants of their profitability after the currency’s depreciation. Originality/value This study differs than previous studies in many ways: first, it focuses on non-financial listed companies in Malaysia. Previous studies have concentrated on companies in the financial sector, such as banking and financial institutions or on industrial organizations. Second, this study analyzes the data in companies’ annual reports for a three-year period from 2012 to 2014. During this period, the economy in Malaysia was fluctuating due to currency depreciation. Third, the study used both return on equity and earnings per share as indicators of profitability. Fourth, the results of the study provide empirical evidence that large size firms with efficiently managed assets can improve operating income and ultimately enhance profitability. Last but not least, this study applies the resource-based theory and the trade-off theory.

Wan Nordin Wan Hussin · Hasan Mohamad Bamahros · Siti Norwahida Shukeri ·Managerial Auditing Journal ·2018

Purpose Motivated by a recent call from DeFond and Zhang (2014) for auditing scholars to use “a richer set of audit firm, auditor office, and individual auditor characteristics to capture competency”, this study aims to extend the related line of research by examining the association between lead engagement partner workload, defined as the number of public listed clients the partner is in charge of, and audit lag. The moderating effects of partner tenure on the partner workload–audit lag relationship have also been examined. Design/methodology/approach The association between auditor workload and financial reporting timeliness on 651 non-financial firms listed on Bursa Malaysia is tested in this study. Data to compute the partner workload are based on 222 lead engagement partners who signed off the audit reports for all 892 public listed firms in 2013. Findings The busy auditors are observed to prolong audit lags, and the effect is more acute for non-Big 4 clients, busy season clients and a short partner tenure. The engagement partners with heavy workload can also mitigate the adverse effects of reduced audit report timeliness when they have a longer partner–client tenure. Research limitations/implications This study may understate the level of engagement partner workload when partners have private firms in their client portfolios. Notwithstanding that, this study reiterates the growing importance of examining accounting and auditing outcomes at the individual partner level. Practical implications The findings that over-burdened engagement partner takes a longer time to complete the audit add to the current debate, where audit regulators and various stakeholders are actively promoting discussions on potential indicators of audit efficiency and quality. Originality/value This study provides new evidence on the association between partner workload and audit reporting lag, which has hitherto been unexplored. This study also extends the research carried out by Gul et al. (2017) and Sharma et al. (2017) by providing additional evidence on the relationship between partner tenure and audit delay.

Paul Hughes · Vitor Leone · Ian R. Hodgkinson · Mathew Hughes · Darwina Arshad ·Asia Pacific Journal of Management ·2017

Planning and improvisation are depicted as alternate decision-making orientations in the strategy process literature, executed by two parallel cognitive contexts: rational or intuitive, but can rationality and intuition be harmonized in the strategy process? Strategic managers may not have to choose to either plan or improvise, rather there is a need to shift the focus of research from such trade-offs to paradoxical thinking. Drawing on survey data from Malaysian research-intensive firms, we investigate how strategy develops through managers’ strategic reasoning under key external (market turbulence) and internal (centralization, manager level) contingencies. In contrast to common assumptions in the management literature, we find that both rational and intuitive reasoning can drive planning and improvisation for firms in emerging economies, with additional positive moderation effects under centralization and manager level. Firms that achieve high levels of both planning and improvisation concurrently are characterized by significantly greater rationality relative to the high planning group and the high improvisation group. The findings extend strategy process research, highlighting how firms in emerging economies differ from theory derived from developed economies.

Nur Shuhada Abdul Basir · Chemah Tamby Chik · Sabaianah Bachok · Noradzhar Baba · Rasidah Hamid · Maria Mohd Salleh ·International Journal of Supply Chain Management ·2018

The halal food industry is vital to the world wide muslim consumers to ensure the food they consumed, use and purchase are hygienic, clean and not harmful to health. Muslim is the largest group in Malaysia with 61.3% from total population. Thus, having halal products are important in Malaysia. However, halal is not just for the muslim, the process of producing halal product may well benefit nonmuslim all around the world. Therefore, the markets for halal product are huge beyond the consumption of Malaysian population. But the capabilities of exporting halal products among small and micro enterprises in Malaysia are still weak. Therefore, this research intends to study the motivational factors that influence or hinders halal certification adoption among small and micro companies. It is designed to investigate the connection between motivational factors towards halal certification adoption, to study if expected competitiveness affects halal certification adoption, and to what extent top management commitment impacts the halal certification adoption. This study could add knowledge and help government in introducing policy to encourage these companies to embark in the halal journey.

Sitraselvi Chandren · Ayoib Che Ahmad · Zaimah Abdullah ·International Journal of Supply Chain Management ·2018

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to address the link between corporate governance and operating performance during and after GST implementation. With the support of agency theory, this paper develops five propositions for the relationship between corporate governance and operating performance (sales growth and current ratio) during and after GST implementation. The nature of their relationship shall contribute to all stakeholders on the impact of corporate governance to operating performance. This displays on the governance effectiveness in discharging their roles to strengthen operating performance particularly during a new financial or tax policy implementation that requires necessary changes in business processes. It uncovers the transparency of Malaysian corporate governance commitment and acceptance to GST for firm and country sustainable development. In sum, for business friendly GST requires effective governance to support the firm operating system.

Chwee Ming Tee ·Journal of Multinational Financial Management ·2018 ·JEL: G30; G32; G34; P26

This study extends prior work on the relationship between politically connected firms (PCFs) and the cost of debt in Malaysia. Motivated by the results of Bliss and Gul (2012), this study employs a longer and comprehensive dataset to re-examine the association between PCFs and the cost of debt. First, political connections are associated with lower cost of debt. Second, CEO duality is associated with higher cost of debt. Third, higher audit committee independence leads to lower cost of debt. Although the results are intuitive and in line with established theories and prior evidence, they differ from the findings of Bliss and Gul (2012). Overall, we provide further evidence that studies examining the influence of political connections on firm outcomes should employ a longer period of study in order to capture the dynamic changes in leadership.

Dahlia Fernandez · Zaini Zaino · Hawa Ahmad ·International Journal of Supply Chain Management ·2018

The implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to surge the performance has induced various organizations towards its adoption. Even though the government may perhaps strive for enhancements from ERP adoption, however, the organizations may experience adverse effects. The aim of this study is to investigate the challenges in implementing the ERP system on public sector organizations. This study was conducted using questionnaires survey with 52 local authorities in Malaysia which have implemented the system. It is found that that the main challenge to implement ERP in public sector organization is due to the complexity of existing working structure (i.e. protocols, bureaucracy, etc.) in meeting ERP requirements. It is followed by the difficulties in adapting to the change brought by this system where its change the way people work, and lack of experience and appropriate skills in implementing this complex system.

Richard Harrison · William Scheela · P. C. Lai · Sivapalan Vivekarajah ·Asia Pacific Journal of Management ·2018

Emerging economies are characterized by the presence of institutional voids which challenge and constrain the behavior of economic agents. In this paper we report on one set of agents, angel investors, in Malaysia, which investors fear is experiencing a middle-income trap whereby economic growth and new venture formation stalls due to persistent institutional voids. This research addresses this question through interviews with 19 Malaysian business angel investors in 2015, utilizing a mixed-methods approach. Results indicate that business angels in our sample generated strong returns, though they did find it a challenge to invest in and monitor new ventures in a highly uncertain and competitive environment where there is high political uncertainty, weak legal and financial support for investors and SMEs. In order to overcome weak institutional support, business angel investors develop informal institutions by co-investing and networking with family members and government officials. They also conduct careful due diligence before investing and closely monitor their investee companies after investing. This research provides several theory and practice contributions with respect to business-angel investing in emerging economies with weak formal institutional regimes.

Karen M. Y. Lai · Andriyawan Sasmita · Ferdinand A. Gul · Yee Boon Foo · Marion Hutchinson ·Journal of Business Ethics ·2018

The required professional and ethical pronouncements of accountants mean that auditors need to be competent and exercise due care and skill in the performance of their audits. In this study, we examine what happens when auditors take on more clients than they should, thus raising doubts about their ability to maintain competence and audit quality. Using 2803 observations of Malaysian companies from 2010 to 2013, we find that auditors with multiple clients are associated with lower earnings quality, proxied by total accruals and discretionary accruals. Our results demonstrate that associating client firms’ reported discretionary accruals with individual auditors, rather than their firms or offices, is important in determining audit quality. Moreover, we demonstrate that the disclosure of auditors’ signatures on their reports is useful for assessing auditor quality at the individual level, thus contributing to the debate on the usefulness of having auditor identities on reports.

Jayalakshmy Ramachandran · Khoo Kok Chen · Ramaiyer Subramanian · Ken Kyid Yeoh · Kok Wei Khong ·Managerial Auditing Journal ·2018

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and performance of Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs) in Singapore and Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The CG attributes that contribute best toward R-Index scores are tested followed by analysis of whether R-Index scores contribute toward better performance of the REITs when controlled for growth, firm size and leverage. Regression analysis using structured equation modeling (SEM) is instituted. Findings All attributes in the R-Index except management ownership are significantly correlated to R-Index. Regression analysis using SEM reveals that all the three measures of performance are significant. When controlled for growth and firm size, CG mechanisms reduce the impact of losses. However, highly levered firms could be risky for investors despite strong CG mechanisms. Research limitations/implications All S-REITs and M-REIT sampled were grouped as one regardless of the country differences, which may have limited the results and findings. The R-Index used to score the CG practices for Asia is still very new. Practical implications Findings of the study will help REIT policymakers to update scorecards frequently. Loss-making REITs must emphasize on specific CG attributes to enhance their overall CG scores to gain market confidence and procure financial assistance through better disclosure. Originality/value Due to research scarcity on CG effectiveness associated with performance of Asian REITs after the global financial crisis, this study comes as a timely contribution in understanding the relationship between CG and performance of REITs.