Research

Siti `Aisyah Baharudin · Hayyan Nassar Waked · Mohd Shah Paimen ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2021 ·JEL: A1, D1, E7

This research attempts to analyze households’ responses to Movement Control Orders (MCO) and assess the impact of MCO on consumer confidence based on the potential disproportionate impact on various income groups in Malaysia. Households’ responses and consumer confidence are measured through an online survey to collect the targeted groups’ financial situation and household information and expectations during MCO. A total of 660 respondents from all over Malaysia were involved in this study. Analysis of the MCO responses showed that households were able to comply with MCO rules with the highest positive response of 99.7%. In comparison, the households’ responses to the implementation of MCO showed the highest negative response of 18.4%, with the majority represented by the B40 income category (65.2%). The consumer confidence present index is operating at six times higher than the expectation index, which indicates that the implementation of MCO in the short-run has a moderate impact on households’ economic status than in the long-run involving the COVID-19 pandemic effect on the overall economy. According to the people’s confidence to the government in the long-run, current political developments are essential to influence the people’s confidence in the economy. The consumer confidence index gives an overview of two policies that need to be emphasized by the government. Based on the short-run status of food consumption, this study strongly recommends that the policymakers consider establishing a National Food Stockpile in light of the nation’s food security and moving on to food-based agriculture that considers the targeted groups in the long-run.

Muhamad Rias K V Zainuddin · Md Shafiin Shukor · Muhamad Solehuddin Zulkifli · Amirul Hamza Abdullah ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2021 ·JEL: F10, F14

The recent pandemic outbreak has distorted international trade flows as the global economic activity reaches a nearstandstill due to stricter movement control imposed by most countries worldwide. Despite gaining the researcher’s attention, the impact of Covid-19 on trade performances are still relatively understudied. Hence, this study aims to analyse the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak on the bilateral sectoral export for Malaysia. This study employs Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) regressions to analyse the sectoral impact in gravity models. The findings provide new perspectives on the varying impacts of the current pandemic outbreak on sectoral trade performances. The dummy variables that represent the existence of Covid-19 have significantly reduced bilateral exports for 11 sectors while increased the exports for seven sectors. Meanwhile, the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak (measured by the number of new cases and death cases) in Malaysia has negative impacts on 14 sectors. The reason for this is that when the current pandemic outbreak in Malaysia is more severe, the government has to enforce stricter movement controls that affect productions and reduce exports. On the other hand, the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak in trading partners has positive impacts on the export for 13 sectors in Malaysia. This is because the more severe pandemic outbreak in trading nations causes lower production capacities and thus higher dependence on imported goods. Differences between the impact of Covid-19 existence and severity by sectors should serve as a red flag for Malaysia’s policymakers to take immediate actions to minimise the impact of the ongoing pandemic outbreak and maximise gains from sectors that have higher demand post Covid-19. The net negative impact on the export performance further reiterates the need for government intervention policies to ensure domestic firms can withstand the current tide, which then minimises the social and economic impacts and helps the economy to recover.

Hasnan Baber ·Malaysian Journal of Consumer and Family Economics ·2019

The study is aimed to investigate the gap between the level of service quality expectations and perception and its impact on customer satisfaction in Islamic banks of Malaysia. Shariah Compliance dimension was included in the SERVQUAL model of service quality. A 29 item questionnaire was employed to collect data from 721 customers of selected banks of Malaysia. In this study, data were statistically analysed through reliability analysis, paired sample t-test, exploratory factor analysis, regression analysis and followed by confirmed factor analysis. Structural equation modelling was used to measure service quality perception and customer satisfaction. This study revealed that there is a partial significant gap between expected and perceived service quality level except in Shariah Compliance and tangibility. The study suggested that there is a positive and significant impact of modified multidimensional SERVQUAL quality scale on customer satisfaction. Addition of Shariah compliance dimension showed the highest contributing factor among all dimensions and thus its inclusion was justified. The study was original and novel to find a quality gap and its impact on Malaysian Islamic bank customers and it will help policymakers of Malaysia and other countries to improve to meet customer expectations.

Farah Ajlaa Julaihi · Asmah Alia Mohamad Bohari · Mohd Azrai Azman · Kuryati Kipli · Sharifah Rahama Amirul ·Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities ·2022

Many countries are witnessing a rise in the ageing population, which has become a global phenomenon that all nations must address. As the population of greying people is expected to increase in Malaysia, the demand for senior citizen accommodation is predicted to have experienced a major rise by 2030. However, although studies related to retirement villages (RV) are highly important to understand how to provide a better ambience for the elderly, research on the development of retirement villages in Malaysia is yet to gather pace fully. Thus, this paper aims to explore the potential of the retirement village in Malaysia by focusing on the push factors for the elderly to move to retirement villages in the local Malaysian context. The outcome of this paper presents the initial findings derived from a literature review and pilot survey. Eight potential push factors were identified after questions were posed to potential respondents through a pilot survey questionnaire. The research revealed that the main potential reason why the elderly relocate to retirement villages was related to social factors, with the elderly preferring better access to healthcare and support due to their unique requirements. The findings of this study are relevant to Chapter 11, as underlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which call on all governments to offer access to a secure, green environment for everyone, especially the elderly. Theoretically, this research provides the first findings on the elements that encourage the elderly to relocate to an RV when they retire in Malaysia.

Ke-Chyn Ng · Mui-Yin Chin ·International Journal of Economics and Management ·2021 ·JEL: F14, F31

This study examined the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the level of international trade between Malaysia and China using 45 observations spanning from 2010 quarter 1 to 2021 quarter 1. The Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model was adopted to compute the exchange rate fluctuations. International trade between Malaysia and China was selected in this study as, since 2009, China has consistently been Malaysia's top trading partner. Besides, to produce precise output, this study employed two models: the export and import models. The empirical results, derived from Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modelling, suggested that exchange rate fluctuations had a negative but statistically insignificant impact on exports. In contrast, exchange rate fluctuations had a positive and statistically significant impact on imports. This result implied that importers from Malaysia were generally risk-takers, as they tended to trade significantly during periods of high exchange rate fluctuation. However, to avoid losses for both exporters and importers due to exchange rate fluctuations, policymakers from both countries should ensure that facilities for exchange rate hedging become more convenient and straightforward for traders so that international trade continues to bloom for both countries.

Abd Halim Ahmad · Nur Adiana Hiau Abdullah · Kamarun Nisham Taufil Mohd ·International Journal of Economics and Management ·2022 ·JEL: G33, G32, G34

This study examined the effects of institutional factors, including; board size, blockholder ownership, and political connections, as some of the determinants (apart from various company-level financial variables) on the outcomes of financially distressed listed companies in Malaysia. A highly concentrated ownership structure is common in most developing countries, including Malaysia. Besides, Malaysia has a unique disclosure environment where all listed companies must release relevant and adequate information to the public to improve investors' protection and corporate transparency. Therefore, Practice Notes which are standards and measures for Malaysian Listed Companies, are designed to help listed companies that are financially distressed to restructure their debts within a stipulated time, giving them sufficient time to re-emerge in the exchange. The logistic regression analysis results on a sample of financially distressed Malaysian public listed companies suggested that; interest coverage ratio, stock returns, blockholder ownership, and political connections were significance at the 5% level. The institutional variables suggested that blockholder ownership and political connectedness had a positive and significant effect on the possibility of companies emerging from financially distressed conditions. The findings have provided important practical implications for managers and potential investors in their risk management decisions.

Chia-Guan Keh · Yan-Teng Tan ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2021 ·JEL: G10, G12, G18, H51, I18, O40

The exponential spread of the coronavirus in Malaysia has caused a significant majority of the economic activities to cease, resulting in poor stock market performance. This pandemic situation has in turn prompted the government to introduce policies to restart and improve economic activity and stock market performance. Hence, does the government’s interference in attempting to control the outbreak of COVID-19 disease, play an important part in affecting the level of economic activity and stock market performance? To resolve this doubt, the impact of government policy responses to COVID-19 in the case of Malaysia was investigated. The sample period of the study was from 28 January 2020 till 29 May 2020, amounting to a total of 84 observations. The findings reveal that the responses taken by the government, such as staying at home requirements, closure of workplaces and debt or contract relief for households, significantly affected both economic activity and stock market performance in the country. Based on the results, these responses appear to have significant policy implications, particularly in displaying that debt or contract relief for households have negative impacts on the economic activities, but a positive impact on the stock market.

Chin Chun How · Wong Hock Tsen ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2019

This study investigated the presence of abnormal returns surrounding stock split announcements and the determinants of cumulative abnormal return and the split factor. This study utilized the fnancial data of 45 corporations that had exercised stock splits on Bursa Malaysia from the years 2011 to 2015. The dependent variables were cumulative abnormal return for 40 days, cumulative abnormal return for 60 days, and the split factor. The independent variables, dividends per share and earnings per share, represent the signalling hypothesis for the stocks in Malaysia, while the bid-ask spread and the trading volume represent the liquidity hypothesis and the market capitalization, respectively. The signifcance of abnormal returns surrounding stock split announcements was tested using standardized t-statistics. The determinants of cumulative abnormal return and the split factor were determined based on Ordinary LeastSquares (OLS) multivariate regression and Stepwise Least-Squares. The empirical results show that there was a statistically signifcant positive abnormal return on day 1 [+1] after the stock split announcements. Dividend per share was found to have a statistically signifcant relationship with the cumulative abnormal return; thus supporting the signalling hypothesis. Bid-ask spread and trading volume were the main determinants of cumulative abnormal return, supporting the liquidity hypothesis under a different estimation window. Bid-ask spread was the only important determinant for the split factor. The results of this study could help investors and policymakers to design policies to improve the overall market effciency in Malaysia, particularly to increase the effectiveness of information disclosure regarding Malaysian stocks.

Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling ·Institutions and Economies ·2019 ·JEL: P48; D23; D02; D62; H4; K11

Within a housing estate, neighbourhood public open spaces (NPOS) are typically governed and managed under the state property regime. However, issues of NPOS overexploitation, mismanagement, and underinvestment persist, which consequently compromise community neighbourhood sustainability. Underpinned by Lin Ostrom’s self-organising-and-governing collective action as a third alternative to addressing theneighbourhoodcommonsissues, this paper examines the applicability and feasibility of the modified Ostromeight design principles (DPs) to the institutional-social-physical system of local public open spaces (POS) andshowcaseshowthecurrentlocalstate-owned common-pool-resource (CPR) can potentially be shifted to a polycentric common property club good NPOS. The residential Country Lease (CL) NPOS and Native Title (NT) NPOS of two districts, namely Kota Kinabalu and Penampang in Sabah, Malaysia, were chosen. The local institutional-social-NPOS performanceis validated and assessed, using a systematic coding system that expresses the extent of absence and presence of DPs. The modified DPs are valid in curbing the existing local NPOS dilemmas as the former may minimise the enforcement costsand perverse incentives (opportunism) of the social-NPOS system, and they are likely to be feasibly adapted into the local NPOS system since the spatial and institutional attributes of some NPOS (especially CL NPOS) highly resemble and adhere to the modified DPs.Thisstudy provides awareness and insights to policymakers that the integrated, adaptive self-governing and organising collective action system is a potential solution, creating a liveable, resilient and sustainable community neighbourhood

Nurita Juhdi · Junaidah Hashim · Rozailin Abdul Rahman ·Malaysian Journal of Consumer and Family Economics ·2019

Malaysia is in the midst of embracing the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and is working hard to strengthen the educational sector so that the future human capital possesses high ethical values and morality. Term like internet of things become the buzzword of the day but still, Islamic education providers particularly private Islamic schools in Malaysia are still struggling to survive and coupled with high turnover rates among the teachers, they have difficulty in producing high quality Islamic education. They are in dire needs of teachers who are willing to stay and sacrifice for students. Despite the high turnover rate, there are teachers who are still willing to stay and hence, the study was conducted to investigate the reasons for the teachers to stay. Job embeddedness theory was used in this study because it was able to uncover the reasons why employees stay in organizations and thus, the study examined the relationship between job embeddedness and employee retention among teachers in private Islamic schools in Malaysia. Three hundred and ninety school teachers in private Islamic schools participated in the study and the data was collected using survey forms. The findings revealed that fit to organization, fit to Islamic school practices, fit to community, links to school and organization-related sacrifices were significantly related to employee retention. The findings contribute significantly to the school administrators. Islamic education aims to nurture the young people as the future leaders. High turnover rates could negatively affect the goal of Islamic education and thus, the administrators and the policy makers have to give attention to the pressing issue especially in the era of technological sophistication.

Norashikin Ismail · Nadia Anridho · Mohamad Azwan Md Isa · Nor Hadaliza Abd Rahman · Noriah Ismail ·International Journal of Economics and Management ·2022 ·JEL: O16, L25

The aim of study is to examine the impact of corporate sustainability (ESG) on the financial performance for Malaysia and Indonesia. A sample was selected comprising of 36 companies listed in Bursa Malaysia and 24 companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange over the ten-year period 2010-2019. Using fixed effect (FE) and pooled OLS suggest that ESG practices are positively associated with financial performance. This result implies that companies engaged in environmental, social and governance aspects have a higher shareholder value. A good economy condition encouraged companies to integrate ESG aspects and rewarded investors with good financial return (ROE). Companies with lesser governance practice would increase shareholders value (ROE). Essentially, this empirical evidence confirms stakeholder’s theory and agency theory. The implication of this study is to strengthen the development of sustainability from ESG practice and in line with current agenda of sustainable finance for the policymakers. Indeed, this study encourages more potential investors to invest companies with ESG practices

Ali Albada · Nurhuda Nizar ·International Journal of Economics and Management ·2022 ·JEL: G1, G4

COVID-19 is a highly contagious viral infection that has changed the world, with many human lives being lost. This study aimed to analyse investors' sentiment and stock market behaviour in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stock market performance was measured through the FTSE BURSA 100 Index (T100) from January 29, 2020, until March 31, 2021, by employing principal component analysis (PCA) to construct the investors' Sentiment Index (SMI). The results indicated that the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and its rapid spread significantly impacted investors' psychology, which disrupted investors' investment decisions. Furthermore, rapid increases in confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths increased the uncertainty and unpredictability of the country's economic situation. As a result, the Malaysian financial market showed a steep downward trend during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bee Hui Soh · Ghee-Thean Lim · Soo Y Chua ·Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies ·2021 ·JEL: B27, F14, O13, Q17, Q22

Malaysia, one of the global major fish producers, has highly traded fisheries products given its many water bodies. Nonetheless, it faces a serious fish trade deficit, implying that the Malaysian fisheries sector might lose its competitiveness in the global market. This paper adopts a modified constant market share (CMS) analysis, which incorporates a net-share approach index and geometric framework, to measure the export competitiveness of the Malaysian fisheries sector. The findings reveal that half of the fisheries products exhibit optimistic export competitiveness. Malaysia reflects the strongest competitiveness in exporting frozen fish and the least competitiveness in the export of crustaceans. Additional effort and attention on those less competitive groups of aquatic invertebrates, live fish and crustaceans are required to improve the export performance. Application of the modified approach is highly proposed as it is not only a simple measurement that gives relatively more accurate results but also succeeds to overcome inconsistency in the traditional approach. The findings provide evidence of unrealised fish export potential regarding product categories, which helps policymakers, traders and marketers to develop their long-term strategic plans and enhance the export competitiveness of the fisheries sector in Malaysia.

Ahmad Fahme Mohd Ali · Naziatul Aziah Mohd Radzi · Ruzanifah Kosnin · Suchi Hassan · Siti Salina Saidin ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2021 ·JEL: B10, D15, D31, E21

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the consumption function among households in Kelantan Malaysia based on the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH). This study used secondary data obtained from annual reports, as well as from published and non-published data between 2000 and 2016. The ARDL bound testing approach to deal with cointegration was applied to estimate the long run correlation between the variables. Meanwhile, the error correction method (ECM) was used to determine any short run correlation. This study found a large disparity between the elasticity to consume from current income and the elasticity to consume from permanent income among households in Kelantan. Therefore, it can be concluded that in the case of Kelantan, the PIH is valid.

Mohamad Fazli Sabri · Eugene Cheng-Xi Aw · Husniyah Abdul Rahim · Nik Ahmad Sufian Burhan · Mohd Amim Othman · Megawati Simanjuntak ·International Journal of Economics and Management ·2021 ·JEL: G41, G53

This study aims to identify the factors determining financial vulnerability among Malaysia households. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted using multi-stage sampling technique. In total, 578 useable responses were collected and data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling. The empirical results revealed that i) financial literacy positively influenced financial behavior, ii) financial behavior negatively influenced financial vulnerability, iii) financial behavior mediates the relationship between financial literacy and financial vulnerability, iv) gender moderates the relationship between financial behavior and financial vulnerability. This study enriches the theoretical foundations of financial vulnerability through the exploration of mediation and moderation mechanism. Implications and future research suggestions are discussed.