Learning Institutions In Malaysia Research Articles

Self-Leadership and Innovative Behavior Among Entrepreneurship Educators: The Mediating Role of Mindfulness

Entrepreneurship educators play a critical role in fostering innovation and creativity within higher education institutions. This study explores the relationship between self-leadership and innovative behavior among entrepreneurship educators, with mindfulness serving as a mediating factor. Self-leadership, characterized by self-regulation, intrinsic motivation, and goal-setting, is essential for entrepreneurship educators to effectively guide students and promote an innovative learning environment. Simultaneously, innovative behavior involves generating, promoting, and realizing new ideas that can enhance educational practices. Recent studies suggest that mindfulness, defined as a heightened awareness and attention to the present moment, can enhance individuals' self-leadership capabilities and foster a conducive environment for innovation. This research adopts a quantitative approach, surveying entrepreneurship educators from various higher learning institutions in Malaysia. A structural equation modeling (SEM) method is employed to examine the direct relationship between self-leadership and innovative behavior and the mediating role of mindfulness. Preliminary findings suggest that self-leadership positively influences innovative behavior, with mindfulness significantly mediating this relationship. The implications of this research are critical for higher education policymakers and educators seeking to enhance innovative pedagogical practices in entrepreneurship education. By integrating self-leadership development and mindfulness practices, institutions can better equip educators with the skills and mindset necessary to drive innovation in their teaching methods. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on self-leadership and mindfulness, offering new insights into how these constructs can jointly enhance innovative behavior among entrepreneurship educators.

WORD-OF-MOUTH: THE KEY DRIVER BEHIND GEN Y’S BUYING TRENDS

In today's digital landscape, online word-of-mouth (WOM) has emerged as a powerful influence on purchase decisions, especially among Generation Y through social media (Socmed). This study explores the impact of key factors—innovativeness, trust, social capital, and opinion leadership—on Gen Y's buying behaviour. Surveying 230 respondents from Northern Higher Learning Institution in Malaysia, the analysis used correlation and multiple regressions, revealing significant relationships among the variables. The findings underscore the importance for marketers to craft distinctive and innovative marketing strategies to capture the interest of their target audience.

Intrinsic Motivation, Life Satisfaction and Happiness: Students at higher learning institution in Malaysia

Happiness is currently one of the primary indicators of social progress in modern society, particularly among students at higher learning institutions. The study examines the relationship between intrinsic motivation, life satisfaction, and happiness. 285 business faculty students at a higher learning institution in Malaysia enrolled in a bachelor's degree programme received online surveys. The results demonstrated a positive and significant relationship between happiness and the two independent variables of intrinsic motivation and life satisfaction. This study sheds light on how offering extracurricular activities can boost students' pleasure in higher learning and improve students’ intrinsic motivation and life satisfaction

PERSEPSI AWAL PARA PELAJAR KEJURUTERAAN TEKNOLOGI DI UNIVERSITAS SWASTA TERHADAP AMALAN RASUAH (KORUPSI) DI DALAM KERJAYA

The Integrity and Anti Corruption Course was first implemented at private higher learning institutions in Malaysia in 2022 (UniKL) to follow the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) which aims to realise the vision of the country to be of high integrity and corruption-free. The Integrity and Anti course was made compulsory to be offered and taught as one of the elective courses under the general subject category (MPU). The objective of the study is to measure the level of comprehension of the university students of engineering technology programme on integrity and corruption in Malaysia. This is important for them to be individuals who have high integrity and despise corrupt practices when they join the workforce. This initial study is important to see whether the content, delivery method, and duration of the course are suitable and adequate to create positive impacts among the undergraduates. A total of 89 respondents were chosen as convenient non-probability sampling for this study and all of them have enrolled in the Integrity and Anti-corruption course for 1 semester. They were asked to respond to questions in a survey instrument adapted from previous studies by Malaysia Integrity Institute (MII). The findings from the survey show that the majority of the respondents have a good grasp on what is integrity and why anti-corruption is detrimental to a country. Their general comprehension on the matter of Integrity and Anti-corruption is good but many have the preceptive that some specific examples of corrupt practices are acceptable. This is quite worrisome and the study proposes that this course be further improved and enhanced into a compulsory subject for all university undergraduates. This is to propagate a more comprehensive understanding of integrity and corruption as a crime that must be eradicated.

The Influence of Commitment to Change and Change-Related Behaviour among Academics of Malaysian-Islamic Higher Learning Institutions

The implementation of change in higher learning institutions is rapidly becoming a norm. Academics have to grapple with the changes imposed in order to remain relevant. With the introduction of the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013–2025) and other factors, academics in higher learning institutions have had to change and ensure that change is sustainable. In line with this, one of the issues in the area of organisational change is commitment to change. The purpose of this paper is to determine the link between the academics’ level of commitment to change and change-related behaviour in selected Islamic higher learning institutions in Malaysia. A survey method was applied, and questionnaires were distributed. Responses from 103 respondents were analysed using PLS-SEM. Results indicated that academics’ level of affective commitment to change has an influence on cooperation and championing, while continuance commitment to change only influenced compliance. Normative commitment to change only has an influence on cooperation. Other than being the only study that focuses on Malaysian-Islamic higher learning institutions in studying commitment to change, the results of this research also provide insights on the behavioural outcomes of commitment to change, which is crucial for the success of change implementation.

Determining Entrepreneurial Intention Among Undergraduate Students in Malaysia Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

One of the main issues many countries face is unemployment. Entrepreneurship has been acknowledged as a means of solving unemployment problems. The study aims to determine the factors influencing the entrepreneurial intention of undergraduate students after having exposure to entrepreneurship subjects. This study adopts a quantitative approach using an e-survey and was distributed to students in one of the higher learning institutions in Malaysia. A stratified sampling method was chosen and only 100 responses can be used for further analysis. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Results of the study show that personal attitude and family influence have a significant relationship with students’ intention to start a business. However, there is no significant relationship between perceived behavioral control and entrepreneurial intention. The study has provided valuable insights for the university to develop more effective entrepreneurship programs besides providing support to those who are passionate to go into business.

Factors Influencing Operational Excellence in Higher Learning Institutions

Operational excellence is a concept that emphasizes continuous improvement, efficiency, and effectiveness in an organization's operations. While it is often associated with businesses and manufacturing, it is also highly relevant for Higher Learning Institutions such as universities and colleges. Operational excellence in the context of higher education refers to the ability of institutions to consistently deliver high-quality educational services and outcomes while optimizing their resources and processes. Therefore, this paper formulates a framework postulating the factors influencing operational excellence in Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia. Eventually, the findings will offer empirical support for the theories and concepts being explored in the operational excellence research to be used specifically in the context of higher education institutions.

Literacy, profile, and determinants of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin: Survey results

This study attempts to assess individuals’ Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin literacy, and then identifies different profiles based on the literacy levels of these cryptocurrencies, and further investigates whether financial literacy explains Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin literacy. Using a sample from higher learning institutions in Malaysia, the results indicate that individuals exhibit higher knowledge on Bitcoin compared to Ethereum and Litecoin. Cluster analysis revealed two clusters, where the high-cryptocurrency-literacy cluster (high in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin literacy) has a distinct demographic profile and higher financial literacy than the low-cryptocurrency-literacy cluster (low in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin literacy). Financial literacy is shown to explain Bitcoin and Ethereum literacy, but not Litecoin literacy.

Determining the Factors that Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills in Mathematics Technology Enhanced Learning Environment: Perspective from University Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influence promotion of higher order thinking skills (HOTS) among mathematics higher learning institution students in technology enhanced learning environment (TEL) in Malaysia. The study used descriptive research design. Data of the study was collected by using quantitative research approach. A total of 250 students from three public universities participated in the study. The study explores the relationship between students' attitude towards technology use and organisation support towards promotion of HOTS in mathematics TEL environment. Results from structural equation modelling reported that students' attitude towards technology use had a positive direct relationship with HOTS. Meanwhile, organisation support had a positive direct relationship with students' attitude towards technology use which in turn indirectly influence promotion of HOTS. The hypothesized structural equation model accounted for 20.2% of the variance in HOTS. The results indicated a need for further studies in order to examine factors that predict promotion of HOTS in mathematics TEL at higher learning institutions in Malaysia.

Entrepreneurship Education at Higher Learning Institutions (HLI): Policy Mismatch and Recommendations

Recognizing the importance of entrepreneurship as one of the engines of economic growth. The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) has launched MOHE Guide to Entrepreneurship Integrated Education (EIE) Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2021 – 2025. The main aim of the plan is to form holistic entrepreneurial ecosystem that will encourage young entrepreneurs to venture into business upon their graduation. Past studies on youth entrepreneurship development mainly concentrated on the public universities in Malaysia. Studies on the youth entrepreneurial development at the private universities still untrodden. Despite various efforts and policy initiated by the government, the youth entrepreneurship achievement is still unsatisfactory. Hence, the objectives of this paper are to review the impact of youth entrepreneurship policy at the higher learning institutions particularly at the private universities; to identify issues and challenges of youth entrepreneurial development programmes; and finally, this paper will give recommendations to enhance entrepreneurial education development at the private universities. This paper reviewed past literatures on entrepreneurial development at higher education in Malaysia. The findings of this paper revealed that the private universities were unable to leverage to the youth entrepreneurship development programmes designed by the government; there is lack of synchronization of entrepreneurship curriculum and modules from foundation level to master’s degree level; and there were insufficient support systems to nurture young entrepreneur at the tertiary level. Lastly, this paper able to provide several policy recommendations that can be considered to improve the youth entrepreneurship development particularly at private higher learning institutions in Malaysia.

Examining the effects of academic motivation and online learning on Malaysian tertiary students’ psychological well-being and perceived learning performance

This study investigated how online learning, mandated for tertiary education over one year in Malaysia since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, impacted students’ perceived learning performance and psychological well-being. This study focused on the relationship between academic motivation, psychological engagement (enthusiasm, perseverance, and reconciliation), and their impact on perceived learning performance and psychological well-being, with psychological engagement acting as a mediator. This study collected survey responses from 288 students at 49 higher learning institutions in Malaysia using purposive sampling in March 2022. The results revealed that intrinsic motivation is the sole predictor of enthusiasm engagement. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations jointly influence perseverance engagement, while reconciliation is significantly affected by all three types of motivations. The mediation analysis results suggest that enthusiasm engagement mediates the relationship between intrinsic motivation and two outcome variables. Furthermore, perseverance engagement mediates the relationship between both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations with the two outcome variables. In contrast, reconciliation serves as a mediator for the relationship between amotivation and learning performance, as well as the relationship between extrinsic motivation and both learning performance and psychological well-being. Overall, the study highlights the importance of academic motivation and psychological engagement in online learning in tertiary education.

Determinants of Students’ Academic Performance in Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia

Determinants of Students’ Academic Performance in Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia

Descriptive Analysis of Psychological Well-being among Students in Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia: Which Gender Contributes More?

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on our daily lives. Officials from the Department of Public Health are urging people to limit their social gatherings, limiting the amount of time and people they can interact with in person. Due to the closure of educational institutions, students have to changed their learning method from face-to-face to online learning. Stress, anxiety, and depression have been identified as the most common mental health issues among university students. Many people, notably students, have suffered psychological consequences as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. University students experience stress, worry, and despair even when there is no epidemic because of the constant demands of study. Research objectives of this study is to determine factor mostly influenced psychological well-being during online learning and to identify the significant relationship between digital competence, fear of infection COVID-19, social interaction, student attitude and psychological well-being.

SWOT Analysis on the Concept of Spirituality among Muslim Support Staff in a Faith-Based Higher Learning Institution in Malaysia

Spirituality and religion are two different concepts that are closely related to one another. For its strategic planning, the organisation under study (a faith-based higher learning institution) needs to conduct a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis related to the concept of spirituality. Therefore, a hermeneutic research design was used to identify the institution’s Muslim support staff’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Purposive sampling was used to recruit eight participants who were Muslim full-time support staff currently working at the institution. Data were collected via a focus group discussion through the Google Meet platform. The findings revealed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats at both theoretical and practical levels. Although all participants agreed that spirituality is an innate human nature expressed via good deeds, it is still difficult for them to differentiate between spirituality and religion. In terms of opportunities, spirituality becomes the institution’s branding as a faith-based organisation, and this organisation conducted many spiritual-based programmes and community service activities. However, the financial constraints, generational gap, and organisational change might threaten the practice of spirituality in the organisation. The findings serve as an essential basis and guideline for the organisation to develop interventions related to spirituality. Some limitations and recommendations for future research were also discussed.

Correlates of Job Satisfaction among Female Non-Academics

This study aims to determine the relationship between motivation, emotional intelligence and job satisfaction among female non-academics in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). A total of 154 respondents were involved in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used in the data collection. Result revealed that respondents had high levels of extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. Extrinsic motivation (r = 0.33, p < 0.01), intrinsic motivation (r = 0.44, p < 0.01) and emotional intelligence (r = 0.48, p < 0.01) were significantly correlated with job satisfaction. There was also a significant difference in job satisfaction between marital status, (F (2,150) = 8.16, p < 0.05), where the divorced female respondents exhibited higher job satisfaction than the single and married female respondents. Multiple regression analysis revealed that intrinsic motivation (? = 0.22, p < 0.05) and emotional intelligence (? = 0.31, p < 0.001) were the significant predictors of job satisfaction. Respondents’ intrinsic motivation and emotional intelligence were important in influencing job satisfaction. Thus, by understanding the positive impact of motivation and emotional intelligence towards job satisfaction among female non-academics, it helped to ensure the high quality of job satisfaction while maintaining the performance of higher learning institutions in Malaysia.

University Students’ Perceptions on The Effectiveness of Online Teaching in Malaysia During Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case of the International Relations (IR) Programme, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Malaysia

Since the pandemic outbreak, most of the students of higher learning have to instantaneously adapt to online teaching as part of today’s new norms. Malaysia is also not an exception to this situation. Since March 2020, most of the higher learning students had to undergo lectures and tutorials via online platform for the entire academic year. As a result, various feelings and opinions on the effectiveness of online teaching were ubiquitously discussed particularly on the cognitive ability of the students to comprehend online lectures. Generally, it has been agreed that, the most challenging issue is the internet coverage involving students residing in the interior areas that either have poor or no internet access. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to unravel higher learning students’ perceptions on the effectiveness of online teaching and learning in Malaysia during this pandemic. To achieve this, this paper focuses on undergraduate students from the International Relations (IR) Programme at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) located in Sabah. Such a selection is due to Sabah being one of the states that is facing enormous challenges to provide internet services for academic learning. The data collection method for this study is a combination of documentary analysis and the online of survey-questionnaires distributed to 100 IR students as the main respondents. From the findings, this paper crucially identifies the students’ internet problems as well as recommends remedies to increase the effectiveness of online teaching at higher learning institutions in Malaysia.

Online Teaching and Learning During Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges Faced by English Teachers in Islamic Tertiary Institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the education sectors globally. The sudden shift from traditional face to face learning to online teaching and learning brings various challenges to English teachers, particularly in tertiary institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine the online teaching and learning challenges faced by teachers teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in Islamic tertiary institutions in Malaysia and teachers teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Indonesia during the Covid-19 pandemic. The qualitative research design used in this study was a case study using focus group interviews (FGI), individual open-ended responses via Google Form and a discussion thread via Whatsapp. Purposive sampling was used, and 10 English teachers from Islamic tertiary institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia were chosen as the participants in this study. The data in this study was analysed through NVIVO applications and categorized according to themes. The findings revealed that among the challenges English teachers faced in ESL/EFL online teaching and learning are a lack of technological skills to teach online, constraints in terms of internet accessibility and devices used for teaching and learning, and effective interaction in online teaching and learning. The findings from this study could potentially be utilised to plan strategies and produce practical solutions to overcome the challenges in conducting online teaching and learning among English teachers in any tertiary learning institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia in the future.

Group Online Engagement: An Analysis From Tuckman Model

The use of group work strategy or collaborative learning can enlighten and benefit students in studying and completing tasks assigned to them. In view of this, online group work has been incorporated into online learning to promote student engagement in their learning process. However, there are also challenges related to this approach as the students would have to manage their collaborative work with other group members virtually. This study investigated the feasibility of conducting online group work by examining the students’ engagement through four group developmental stages, namely forming, storming, norming and performing. This quantitative research involved 141 undergraduates in several public higher learning institutions in Malaysia. A survey instrument was used to collect data related to forming, storming, norming and performing in an online group work where the items were divided into four sections namely demographic profile, learner-to-learner engagement, learner-to-instructor engagement, and learner-to-content engagement. The descriptive analysis of the quantitative data revealed a significant finding to prove that learners have high engagement in online learning when doing group activities or tasks. The result from this research would be useful for educators to be more aware of the effective strategies to enhance students’ understanding and improve online engagement. Future research could also be carried out to investigate the efficacy of online group in a larger scale from various fields to further strengthen the findings from this research.

PAPAN PEMUKA (DASHBOARD) SEBAGAI ALTERNATIF VISUALISASI INTEGRITI STAF

Honesty, transparency, and responsibility to the organisation depicts the integrity personality of an officer towards the organisation. Therefore, integrity is one of the components that could drive the development of the organisation to be more progressive and excellent in its specialisation. Various data could be assessed by the management to evaluate the integrity level of its staff, however it is quite difficult for the management to read through all the unstructured data and analyse them without missing any information. Accordingly, this study proposes the development of an analytical integrated technique to assess the integrity level of structured and unstructured data in the form of dashboard to make it easy for the management to analyse their staff’s data. The primary objective of this study is to examine the roles of dashboard as an alternative to visualize integrity data of staff at one higher learning institution in Malaysia. This objective could be achieved by developing a dashboard framework for integrity and generating reports and visualisations in the form of dashboard based on the respective staff. The outcome of the study is the identification of the roles of dashboard and the reporting and visualisation in the form of dashboard for the organisation’s purpose. The potential use of the dashboard system is wide, particularly for organisations that want an integrity framework for their staff information, as well as generating reports and interesting visualisations in the form of dashboard, in line with the needs of the organisation.

Use of Animation in Classrooms at Higher Learning Institutions: Student Perception

The integration of animation in higher learning institutions' teaching and learning process has become apparent as contemporary instructional materials are paramount to ensuring quality education. The current study aims to identify the students' perceptions of Animation in their learning environment in higher learning institutions in Malaysia. The researchers administered an online survey via Google form to a total of 275 undergraduates. Data elicited from the respondents were analyzed using a quantitative research approach. The findings indicated that most of the undergraduates had shown interest in using Animation in their classroom teaching and learning activities due to its effectiveness in facilitating learning. They found animations to be an efficient way to deliver and disseminate information, thus making their education more stimulating besides enhancing their knowledge of computer skills. The respondents further indicated that animation helped them understand a complex concept easily and made their presentations more appealing. Conversely, it was time-consuming for students to create the simplest animation. Besides, too much Animation on the page can be distracting. This study concludes with an overall discussion and recommendations for further study.