Malaysian Companies Research Articles

Applying Ethical Climate Theory in Whistleblowing Intentions Study Among Employees in Halal Food Companies: A Protocol

Halal food fraud, such as fake Halal logos and adulteration, may happen due to irresponsible manufacturers seeking to maximise profit. Furthermore, Halal food fraud has been increasing over the years in Malaysia, and this issue needs to be considered since it is a major threat to Malaysia's reputation as an international Halal hub. One of the effective measures in reducing Halal food fraud is whistleblowing. In order to encourage whistleblowing, governments have established laws and policies to protect whistleblowers, but a lot of people are still unwilling to blow the whistle due to the retaliation that whistleblowers will face. Factors that may influence this ethical behaviour need to be studied. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to conceptually discuss potential factors (ethical climate types, organisation size, tenure, supervisor status, and religious obligation) that influence employees' intention to be involved in whistleblowing. A research model is proposed, followed by the developing of research hypotheses to test the model. In addition, the study's protocol (detailed plan) is later described. The theory of Ethical Climates will be used to guide this study. Data will be collected through convenience sampling by distributing self-administered questionnaires to 300 employees from Halal food companies in Malaysia. The collected data will be tested using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). The findings from this study will help Halal food companies improve their whistleblowing practices. In addition, this study is useful for relevant policymakers to support whistleblowing practices.

PREDICTING FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL STATEMENT USING CASH FLOW SHENANIGANS

Detection of fraudulent financial stewardship in the cash flow section is an exciting thing and is rarely studied. This research empirically tests the discovery of fraudulent financial statements based on basic cash flow shenanigans. The sample of this study amounted to 470 data mining companies in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and Japan. The analysis method used is a positive approach. The results show that all ratios used can predict fraudulent financial statements. Three ratios of cash flow shenanigans, namely change in receivable to cash flow operations, days payable outstanding, and change in inventory to cash flow operations, significantly affect the F-Score. Meanwhile, the six cash flow shenanigans ratios, namely cash flow operations to current liability, operating cash flow ratio, free cash flow, cash flow operations to total liability, days payable outstanding, and change in inventory to cash flow operations, have a significant effect on the M-Score.

Factors Influencing Voluntary Audit among SME Companies in Malaysia

Factors Influencing Voluntary Audit among SME Companies in Malaysia

Capital Structure and Firm’s Sustainability: Evidence from Malaysian Oil and Gas Companies at Bursa Malaysia

This study looks into how capital structure theories explain capital structure characteristics of oil and gas companies in Malaysia

Sustainable entrepreneurship in Malaysian companies

Sustainable entrepreneurship refers to the economic, social, and environmental value creation across enterprises in Malaysia. When examining sustainable entrepreneurship in Malaysian companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which serve as the backbone of the Malaysian economy and account for 97.2% of businesses and generate 38.2% of the gross domestic product, cannot be overlooked. The research is the first study in Malaysia, which extends the entrepreneurial event model to develop a comprehensive research framework to examine and propose suggestions to improve sustainable entrepreneurship in SMEs. A questionnaire was distributed to 400 entrepreneurs from SMEs in central regions in Malaysia, and 300 complete and valid questionnaires were used for the analysis. All constructs in the questionnaire were tested and confirmed to have high convergent validity and high composite reliability. The results show that perceived desirability, perceived feasibility and propensity to act have a positive effect on sustainable entrepreneurship in SMEs. Young entrepreneurs under 40 years old show greater propensity to act on sustainable entrepreneurship compared to older entrepreneurs aged over 40 years old. This research offers practical and theoretical new insights for SMEs, entrepreneurs, employees, and institutions toward improving sustainable entrepreneurship in a developing nation in Asia.

Cash Holdings and R&D Intensity with Different Controlling Shareholders

Introduction/Main Objectives: This research aims to examine the effects of cash holdings on a firm’s R&D intensity. We further examine how that relationship may be varied across different controlling share­holders. For robustness reasons, we test it in a developing market and a developed market. Background Problems: Economics and business theories state that research and development (R&D) is susceptible to financing constraints due to the lack of collateral value and asymmetric information issues. This argument has been extensively debated with no consensus being reached. Therefore current study focuses on the examination of R&D and cash holding and the role of controlling shareholders. Novelty: The current study considers the importance of controlling shareholders on the relationship between cash holding and R&D intensity. We expect that different controlling shareholders will have different constraints on R&D financing. Research Methods: This study focuses on a sample of public listed companies in Malaysia and Singapore from the year 2012 to 2018, and estimates the model under a two-step GMM panel regression to eliminate the endogeneity issue. Finding/Results: The results show that cash holdings have significant effects on the intensity of R&D. However, that relationship is different across countries and across controlling shareholders. Malaysia’s foreign firms will increase their R&D’s intensity when their cash holdings are high. Meanwhile, Singaporean family firms will reduce the intensity of their R&D when their cash holdings are high. Overall the findings confirm the hypothetical alignment of the agency theory and also the resource-based view theory. Conclusion: Our findings surmise that higher cash holdings cause a lower R&D intensity due to the cash management decisions by managers. A firm with high leverage tends to reduce its R&D intensity when cash holdings are high, and vice versa. This behavior can be found in all the controlling shareholders.

Gender Diversity and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) of Malaysian Listed Companies

The paper is a review of literature on gender diversity and the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of the public listed companies in Malaysia. Further knowledge on recent developments in this research area is explored in this paper. This study employed a structured review process that critically examined the contents to ensure that the data are filtered from high-quality peer-reviewed journals. Quality papers were selected from top journals to produce the list and organize into five sections; introduction, the ESG Disclosures, gender diversity, and finally on gender diversity and ESG. This study will be beneficial to academics, policymakers, and government authorities who dealt with the ESG disclosure and Women's participation as directors in Malaysian public listed companies

Sustainability report disclosure level: evidence from telecommunications companies in indonesia and malaysia

This study investigates the disclosure level of sustainability report in telecommunication industry. This study specifically compares the disclosure level of companies in Indonesia and Malaysia using Global Reporting Initiative format template. The study compares the published reports between 2014 to 2016 periods. The results reveal that the disclosure level of sustainability reporting content for companies in both countries are in the intermediate level. Interestingly, our finding shows that companies in Indonesia disclose more content related to economy category. However, they disclose less on product-responsibility, environmental, and human rights categories compared to Malaysian companies. Furthermore, this study provides the investors an insight on how to monitor the disclosure level of the companies in both countries and highlight the demand of specific content to increase the contribution of the companies on specific sustainability issues.

The Effect of Leverage and Managerial Skills on The Return of Shareholders in Malaysia's Top 30 Listed Companies in Malaysia

The Effect of Leverage and Managerial Skills on The Return of Shareholders in Malaysia's Top 30 Listed Companies in Malaysia

COMPARISON OF GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (GCG) PERFORMANCE OF COMPANIES IN ASEAN COUNTRIES

ASEAN is an organization of countries in the Southeast Asian region. ASEAN provides many impacts on the world economy that can offer variations in economic progress. In ASEAN itself, many companies have been recognized internationally. In this journal, the author provides an overview of companies in the ASEAN region that have received good scores in Good Corporate Governance (GCG). In the approach in this journal, the author operates qualitative and quantitative procedures with the service of 5 scopes of the OECD regulations, namely Part A: Ownership of stockholder, Part B: righteous handling of a stockholder, Part C: Part of the stockholder, Part D: Exposure and Translucency, and Part E: Commitments of the council. From the results of the calculations that have been done, it can be given a little picture that Singapore and Malaysia have companies that are quite competitive in the international world. 7 Malaysian companies are in the top 20 of ASEAN’s best in terms of GCG, and 5 Singaporean companies are also in the top 20. Hopefully, this journal can provide an overview to academics or practitioners in their respective fields to improve company performance so that they can be included in the top GCG in the ASEAN region and imitated by other companies in the ASEAN region and outside ASEAN. In addition, ASEAN countries that have not been included in the GCG assessment can participate in assessing the company’s GCG performance.

Speed of Adjustment of Capital Structure (Empirical Study on the Aviation Industry in Indonesia and Malaysia)

The purpose of this study is to prove how much SOA capital structure, what factors affect the optimal leverage and what factors affect the SOA capital structure in the airline industry in Indonesia and Malaysia. Hypothesis testing in this study was conducted using panel data regression. The sample used is 10 aviation industry companies in Indonesia and Malaysia with 100 observations from 2010-2019. The regression model is determined based on the results of the Chow and Hausman tests. Empirical findings from 100 observations of panel data variables of company size, short-term debt and non-debt tax shield have a positive and significant effect on optimal leverage. Profitability, asset growth, and business risk variables have a negative and significant effect on optimal leverage. Partial adjustment model (PAM) to measure the speed of firm adjustment to optimal leverage. From the partial adjustment model estimation results, the significant leverage lag indicates that airline industry companies in Indonesia and Malaysia adjust their capital structure towards optimal leverage with SOA of 46.20% per year. Generalized methods of moments (GMM) to estimate the speed of capital structure adjustment. The results show that macroeconomic variables, namely GPD growth, have a negative and significant influence on the speed of capital structure adjustment. In conclusion, it is evident that the funding behavior in the airline industry in Indonesia and Malaysia tends to follow the dynamic trade off theory.

Impact of Logistics AI System on Manufacturing Companies in Malaysia

Impact of Logistics AI System on Manufacturing Companies in Malaysia

Optimizing the Performance of Construction Companies using Goal Programming Model

The construction industry is the driver to the social and economic development of a country. However, the construction industry is capital intensive and resource-reliance with high risk. These characteristics of the construction industry show high vulnerability to financial uncertainties. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the financial performance of the construction companies in Malaysia with goal programming (GP) model. This paper found that ECONBHD, GADANG, and MELATI have high liabilities while GADANG and MELATI have low profits. The powerful GP model has highlighted that the construction companies have high liquidity and solvency risks and could face problems to sustain their operations. This study could help the companies to determine the decremental and incremental values to reach the benchmark values for better financial performance.

Rewards and recognition on employee motivation and employee performance: a study of a manufacturing company in Malaysia

Rewards and recognition on employee motivation and employee performance: a study of a manufacturing company in Malaysia

Rewards and recognition on employee motivation and employee performance: a study of a manufacturing company in Malaysia

Rewards and recognition on employee motivation and employee performance: a study of a manufacturing company in Malaysia

Comprehensive Production Maintenance and its Role in Improving the Company Performance

The study aimed to reveal the impact of applying comprehensive production maintenance on company performance in small and medium industrial Malaysian companies. The descriptive analytical secondary data was utilised as a tool for gathering data from 135 companies as a sample from 2009 to 2017, and after conducting the analysis of the data and testing the hypotheses, the study reached a number of results among them. There is a positive significant effect of the application of comprehensive productivity maintenance on company performance in in the small and medium industrial companies. Therefore, this study recommended that the total productive maintenance is a system that is also valuable for quality administration and safety administration in rapports of keeping the integrity of equipment and operating approaches. The study recommended giving more attention to the management of the industrial companies.

Internal Audit Effectiveness in Insurance and Takaful Companies in Malaysia: A Study of Internal Auditors and Auditees’ Perceptions

Manuscript type: Research paper Purpose: This study examines the views of internal auditors and auditees on factors affecting internal audit effectiveness (IAE) in insurance and takaful companies in Malaysia. Design/Methodology/Approach: A total of 240 respondents participated in a self-administered survey questionnaire. Findings: Multiple regression analyses suggests independence as well as the resources of internal audit functions (IAF) and relationship with the audit committee is perceived to affect IAE. However, management support is perceived to be less significant in affecting IAE. Furthermore, independent t-test and eta squared analyses show that respondents perceive the factors that significantly affect IAE differently, with independent internal audits scoring the highest. Research limitations/Implications: The respondents were only limited to internal auditors and auditees in insurance and takaful companies. Practical implications: Such empirical evidence is expected to be used by companies, regulators as well as researchers in understanding the prevailing factors affecting IAE in insurance and takaful companies. Originality/Value: The value of this study is grounded on limited studies of IAE in the financial industry, specifically insurance and takaful companies, and the analysis of both auditors and auditees’ views on the principal factors affecting IAE.

Corporate Governance Mechanisms, Profitability, Company Size and Tax Avoidance

Purpose: This research examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms, profitability, and company size on tax avoidance.
 Methodology: This research uses multiple regression analysis and an independent sample t-test. Based on a sample of 380 firm-year observations from 95 manufacturing companies listed on the List of Sharia-Compliant Securities in Indonesia and Malaysia in 2015-2018.
 Findings: The results of this research concludes that independent of the boards, audit committees, audit quality, institutional ownership and managerial compensation had negative influences on tax avoidance. Profitability and company size had positive influences on tax avoidance. This research also finds differences in the level of tax avoidance in Indonesia and Malaysia.
 Novelty: This study uses manufacturing companies in Indonesia and Malaysia from 2015-2018

Unravelling the Roles of Social Media Usage, Individual Well-Being, and Working Environment on Happiness at The Workplace

Employee happiness at the workplace has become an increasingly popular topic among researchers and scholars in the past two decades due to the rising support over its role as one of the determinants of organisational outcomes. Despite the availability of vast literature on employee happiness, limited studies have been done on its relationship with social media usage. The past two decades have witnessed unprecedented social media infiltration into every aspect of socio-cultural, economic, and human existence. However, little is known regarding whether employees’ social media usage influences their happiness at work. This study delineated the potential effects of social media exposure on individual wellbeing and investigated whether it has a favourable effect on their happiness at work. Specifically, the study delved into the social media usage among employees of manufacturing companies and its impact on their wellbeing, working environment, and happiness. A survey was conducted on 475 employees of manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The results revealed that social media usage had significant relationships with job position and income. In addition, individual wellbeing and working environment were found to have significant relationships with happiness at work. The study’s findings enrich the literature on happiness and social media usage in organisations. The implications of these findings are discussed within the framework of social media usage and workplace happiness.

Board Diversity in Financial Distress Companies in Malaysia

The declining financial performance is often associated with the weak function of the board’s role in the companies. The number of publicly listed companies categorised as Practice Note (PN17) by Bursa Malaysia shows an increase due to financial distress. This study examines the effectiveness of board diversity in financially distressed companies categorised as PN17 by Bursa Malaysia using content analysis of annual reports for five years as secondary data. The characteristics of board diversity include board professionalism and a politically connected board. In contrast, the proxy of financial distress will be measured using Altman Z Score for multiple regressions in evaluating financial performance ratios. Implementing the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) in 2021 also assessed the effectiveness of board diversity and its interaction with financial distress. The findings from this study are expected to provide evidence that board diversity may have a significant relationship with financially distressed companies. Overall, this study may assist investors, practitioners, and external regulators in monitoring the company by assessing the effectiveness of board diversity from being classified as a financially distressed company.