Private University In Malaysia Research Articles

Perception on traditional chinese medicine among medical students of a private University in Malaysia

Perception on traditional chinese medicine among medical students of a private University in Malaysia

Career Verdure And Wellness Signification Among Academic Expatriate Members Of Malaysian Private University

The influx of professionals from abroad through the diaspora of career exploration shows a significant increase. Rationally, expatriate individuals who decided to expat must intend to utilise the development of their career development in the host country. In line with the era of globalisation and internationalisation policy of higher education, the understanding of the significance of the career verdure and wellness of expatriates is a critical element in the career development of international staff. The two main objectives of this study are (i) to identify the significance of career verdure and wellness among expatriate academics members of Private Universities of Malaysia and (ii) to work on an assessment that shows the tendency of expatriates in making choices to work in Private Universities of Malaysia. Based on the determination made from the purposeful sampling, a total of 35 expatriate academicians from three private universities willingly gave their consent to participate as study informants. Using a qualitative approach through in-depth interview methods, this study identifies the relevance of expatriate academician’s attendance who choose to serve in Private Universities of Malaysia and the significance of verdure and wellness in expatriate career achievement as an academician. The results of the research include four (4) key findings namely (i) Generating Income Maximization, (ii) Conducive Workplace Environment, (iii) Stimulus of Targeted Job Movement and (iv) Harmony of the Host Country. The findings clearly show that these expatriate academicians have used career paths through expatriation done to develop their careers, further achieving a level of success in a much better direction than what they gained while in their home country. Meanwhile the tendency of the decision to migrate among the expatriates is also seen as a relevant initiative on the part of the university management in order to optimally realize efforts to recruit, select and retain international staff, especially in Private Universities of Malaysia.

The Antecedents of Job Satisfaction amongst Academicians: An Empirical Evidence from a Malaysian Private University

Job satisfaction has always been a prevalent area of interest around the globe. Generally, job satisfaction amongst academicians is inspired by several constructs which follow several theoretical assumptions. Many job satisfaction antecedents have been recommended based on the principles as stated by higher education institutions. This paper provides an extensive critical analysis whether the economic and environmental factors could influence the job satisfaction amongst academicians in a Malaysian private university. This antecedent is extensively investigated in literature and most of them are observed from the Western countries’ viewpoints. Despite the comprehensiveness of the empirical research on job satisfaction in the West, previous research investigating on job satisfaction antecedents in the Malaysian higher education institutions particularly in private universities remain scarce. As a result, this study provides empirical evidence from a Malaysian perspective on job satisfaction antecedents. The study surveys a sample of 198 respondents (99.0% usable response rate) which were duly completed and returned to the study. The findings showed relationships were significant among the constructs developed in assessing job satisfaction. The dimension of human resources policies is the most contributing factor. It could be concluded that the economic and environmental factors significantly influence the job satisfaction amongst academicians with several imperative constructs. The management of universities in Malaysia need to identify best practices that could provide maximum job satisfaction benefits to the academicians. This paper will contribute towards literature of job satisfaction, whereby lead to enhancing higher education institution performance in Malaysia, especially for private universities.

The Influence of Social Presence on Students’ Satisfaction toward Online Course

Students’ satisfaction plays a vital role in ensuring effective online learning. This study investigated the association between social presence and students’ satisfaction toward online discussions in Learning Management System (LMS) platform conducted at a private university in Malaysia. Both correlation and two-step hierarchical linear regression were performed to analyze the online survey data. The instruments used to measure the summated scores of social presence and satisfaction were Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework and satisfaction scale, respectively. The results revealed that the correlation between both variables was significantly positive. Students who declared relatively high level of satisfaction were more likely to report high level of interaction with their peers in online conversation and high level of social presence. Essentially, social presence seemed to contribute the most in predicting the level of course satisfaction amongst the students.

Talent management practices on employee performance among academic staff of Malaysian private universities: employee engagement as a mediator

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine the effect of talent management (TM) practices on employee performance (EP) among academic staff of Malaysian private universities (MPU) through employee engagement (EE).Design/methodology/approachThis paper used both descriptive and quantitative approaches, while the research unit of analysis consists of MPU academic staff. A simple random and stratified sampling approach was utilized in this study while, the research sample consists of 314 MPU academic staff. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the target population, while partial least squares–structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the study hypotheses through a bootstrapping approach.FindingsThis paper results demonstrated that TM practices (succession planning practice, promotion practice and performance appraisal practice) have a significant effect on EP, while EE mediates the relationship between TM practices and EP in MPU.Practical implicationsThis paper encourages university management to adopt and invest in TM practices for effective EE to achieve and sustain EP.Originality/valueThis paper has made a significant contribution to knowledge and to the operationalization of EE, EP and TM practices literature, which could help to develop theory, model, practice and research in areas of work performance.

Sharing Knowledge Through Publishing Research Work in Indexed Journals: A Vision of Malaysian Private Universities

Sharing Knowledge Through Publishing Research Work in Indexed Journals: A Vision of Malaysian Private Universities

“I AM TIRED” – Job Burnout and Citizenship Behaviour in an Organization: Occupational Commitment as a Mediator in a Malaysian Private University

Today, academics are under high pressure to equip themselves to satisfy various demands. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between job burnout, occupational commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) among academics at a private university in Malaysia. The present study was applied on the basis of PLS-SEM analysis. A total of 620 academics from two campuses of a private university participated in the study. The results indicate that emotional exhaustion is the most stressful indicator of job burnout. Secondly, job burnout was found to exert a significant negative influence on OCB as well as occupational commitment. Finally, occupational commitment was found to be a mediator between job burnout and OCB. In summary, this study aims to improve the professional commitment and OCB of academic staff by addressing job burnout.

Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement: The Relationship and Gender Differences of Malaysian University Undergraduates

A positive correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement is often noted in the literature on educational psychology. As such, self-esteem and academic achievement are often inter-related. Additionally, gender is believed to have an impact on an individual’s self-esteem and varied disparities are found in self-esteem level between genders. The relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement among undergraduates in Malaysia, is still understudied and the lack of literature necessitates an empirical study. Hence, this study explored the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement among undergraduates of a private university in Malaysia. Also, it investigated if there is any significant difference in self-esteem and academic achievement between genders. A convenience sampling method was employed on 60 male and 60 female undergraduates of TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) program. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire was utilized to obtain the data on the participants’ self-esteem and their Grade Point Average (GPA). Data analysis using Spearman’s rho correlation revealed a significant relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement. Based on the Chi-square test result, a significant difference in academic achievement between male and female students was established. However, the independent t-test result revealed an absence of significant difference in self-esteem between male and female students. The findings demonstrate essential implications for students, counselors, and educators, and suggest relevant recommendations for future research. A larger sample size should be employed, and other important demographic variables should be explored to examine more in-depth into this interesting field of study.

Students’ Readiness in using E learning Application for English subjects Among Undergraduates in Malaysia

Covid-19 is declared as a global pandemic that has been affecting the economy, society, policy as well as education sector. One of the badly affected countries is Malaysia. Covid-19 had struck the country and affected its education sector. Undergraduates in Malaysia are required to learn their subjects throughout the semesters via e-learning involuntarily. The utilization of e-learning for the teaching and learning at tertiary level came after the announcement from the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia as the initiative to curb the spreading of the virus. However, the usage of e-learning had led to few difficulties and dissatisfactions especially in the learning process among the undergraduates. Thus, this paper attempted to investigate students’ readiness in using e-learning application specifically for English language subjects among university undergraduates. This study also explored students’ perceptions towards the components of e-learning and to see whether this new norm can be administered in the future especially in an emergency state like a pandemic outbreak. This study utilized a questionnaire on students’ readiness in using e-learning to elicit data from 236 respondents. The respondents were both diploma and degree students of one private university in Malaysia, who underwent online classes specifically for English language classes during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period in Malaysia.

STUDENT’S PERCEPTION ON MOBILE LEARNING: THE INFLUENCING FACTORS

Mobile learning has become the most popular way of transporting information and the number of users has been rapidly increasing all over the world. Most importantly, students, these days can be defined as members of the digital native or network generation, born in the digital era while interacting with digital technology since childhood. Mobile devices have gradually become more popular around the world. Due to their popularity, the education sector has considered mobile learning (M-learning) technologies as pedagogical tools for users to be able to use their devices for self-learning anytime and anywhere. Therefore, this study examines the factors affecting students’ perception of mobile learning. Several types of research show University professors are adopting mobile learning for discussion meetings in order to help students in academic learning and through effective connection and collaboration inside and outside the classroom. The theoretical foundations for this study are the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). A total of 200 respondents from a private university in Malaysia participated in this research. Samples were selected using convenience sampling and the respondents answered the questionnaire via Google form and paper and pencil method. A nominal scale and Five-point Likert scale was used to design the questions in the questionnaire. Data analysis methods used in this research were Descriptive Analysis, Reliability Analysis, and Multiple Regression Analysis. The data collected and also information in this research are highly beneficial and valuable to students, supervisors, academics, researchers, learning institutions, and the government as we are able to gauge and understand the factors influencing students’ perception of mobile learning. However, there are some limitations as this research does not reflect the actual student population in tertiary education in Malaysia and it only focuses on four variables i.e. performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and quality of service. There are several possibilities for future researches whereby one can focus more on other influencing factors such as pervasive technology usage, tech-savvy future generations, convenience, and many more.

CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY: MEASURING AWARENESS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT DIMENSIONS AMONG EDUCATORS IN MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY

Sustainable development has long gained momentum as an indispensable change-maker of the present and future, across nations, organisations, institutions, and individuals around the globe. Despite its universal recognition, the understanding of the concept’s constituents seems vague and heterogeneous, which has led to piecemeal initiatives that appear to impede the vision of systemic sustainability. In this disposition, many experts reckon that the higher education institutions that are in the sustainably adept nick, capable of cultivating and leading the community towards a holistic sustainable development approach. This portrays the need for a sound knowledge or awareness of sustainable development dimensions among campus actors; in particular, the educators, as it emerges as the prerequisite to campus sustainability endeavours. This paper, therefore, aims to carry out one of the grassroots level efforts, which is to measure the awareness of sustainable development dimensions among academic staff of a private university in Malaysia. This research adopted an online and offline survey to obtain responses from 169 educators. The findings show that there are significant differences in the level of awareness on sustainable development dimensions (economy, social, and environment) among educators of the university. Gaps and needs identified in this study can be useful to the management to better orientate their actions towards campus sustainability plans, such as policies, curriculum development, operations, research, etc.

Significant Factors of Motivational Needs that Influence Job Satisfaction through Regression Analysis

Motivation is an important life skill. Each person has purposes and to steward their purposes, it must be motivated to work towards their goals which can help their dreams become to reality. The higher the level of motivation needs, the higher the level of their job satisfaction. The main objective of this research is to identify motivational needs that influence the job satisfaction among respondents involved in this study. Specifically, to identify the relationship and significant variables between job satisfaction and five factors of motivational needs namely physiological needs, safety and security needs, love and belonging needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. A sample of respondents who were working and doing part-time study was taken from public and private universities in Malaysia using convenience sampling. Therefore, the result of this research cannot be inferred to the population as a whole and only valid to the respondents involved in this research. The data was analyzed by using Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS) software. Preliminary analysis was conducted such as reliability analysis. Furthermore, correlation analysis was used to quantify the associations between motivational needs and job satisfaction. Multiple linear regression was used to identify significant variables in the model. The results indicated that there was a significant positive linear relationship between motivational needs towards job satisfaction. Furthermore, safety and security, self-esteem and self-actualization made statistically significant contribution to the job satisfaction in the model.

Challenges of Students Housing Provision in Malaysia

The world population has been growing tremendously, which surged up the demand and enrolment in educational institutions to unimaginable level globally. Similarly, Malaysia has witnessed tremendous growth in higher education both in the order and establishment of new higher education institutions (HEIs) to match up with the demand. However, there is no commensurate increase in the student housing facilities to match up with the growing enrolment and demand; hence, accommodate a certain proportion of the total students. The paper explored qualitative methodology data from in-depth expert interviews of selected public and private universities in Malaysia; discussed the problems of HEIs student housing provision to four identified themes: student enrolment, government policy, funding and land issues as what exacerbated the issues. Therefore, challenges for student housing provision are enormous; hence HEIs and Government cannot adequately respond and satisfy the demand unless private housing developers actively involved otherwise problems of student housing provision will continue to persist.

Student and Lecturer Experiences of Eportfolio Assessment for Virtual Classes at a Private University in Malaysia

Assessment during virtual learning is a challenge to both lecturers and students in institutions of higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Movement Control Order (MCO) that followed soon after created pandemonium in the education fraternity globally. Though blended learning was becoming the norm at private universities prior to COVID-19, there was still the avenue for face-to- face assessment until the outbreak of COVID-19. At this private university, ePortfolio as an ongoing assessment was introduced during the MCO. Seven students were involved in this case study which was carried out as part of a more extensive study on the use of ePortfolios as an ongoing assessment in institutions of higher learning. The findings of this study revealed students and their lecture’s experiences on the use of ePortfolio as an ongoing assessment in the virtual classroom. Findings show that students, though digital natives, were challenged by a number of factors including the technicalities of designing and managing an ePortfolio, lack of stable internet connection and the use of malfunctioning hardware. The student’s also highlighted the need for more support from the lecturers to understand the use of ePortfolio as an on-going assessment.

The intention of using Facebook by postgraduate students for knowledge sharing: an empirical study

This study aims to develop a conceptual model that explains the factors that influence the use of Facebook by postgraduate students in Malaysia for knowledge sharing. This study adopted quantitative approach using survey as the data collection method. The data were collected from 206 postgraduate students from the public and private universities in Malaysia. The data were tested using Partial Least Square (PLS). The findings indicate that social interaction ties, perceived enjoyment, and trust have a significant relationship with the behavioural intention of postgraduate students to share knowledge via Facebook while perceived similarities do not affect their behavioural intention to share knowledge via Facebook. The findings extend the scope of the theory and contribute to the body of knowledge for the scope of postgraduate students and existing literature regarding social media adoption, specifically in the Malaysian context. Finally, this study provides suggestions for research and practical implications.

The Application of ICT Techs (Mobile-assisted Language Learning, Gamification, and Virtual Reality) in Teaching English for Secondary School Students in Malaysia during COVID-19 Pandemic

With the sudden changes caused by the ongoing worldwide pandemic in Malaysia and rapid progress in the educational learning system towards online learning, some teachers wondered about the application of technology in students' education and how it would impact their learning process. Therefore, the main objectives of this research are (1) to contextually understand the university interns' perception of ICT Techs (MALL, Gamification, and VR) in teaching English for secondary school students during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia, and (2) to determine which of these ICT Techs (MALL, Gamification, and VR) would be most preferred by the interns for teaching English to secondary school students in Malaysia. The research design for this study was quantitative and a web-based questionnaire was adapted from three articles (Mihaela Badea, 2015; Huseyin Oz, 2015; and Ali Rahimi, Niloofar Seyed Golshan & Hooman Mohebi, 2013). The reliability test indicated a value of 0.866 with Cronbach's Alpha reliability statistic. From a total of 63 university interns selected from a private university in Malaysia, the results indicated that 38.1% chose MALL, 33% chose Gamification, and 29% chose VR, as their preferred technology to teach English for secondary school students during this Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia. Evidence suggested that online learning can be more effective for students where they can control their own learning pace, compared to learning in a classroom environment. Thus, future English teachers should explore and apply innovative pedagogical methods in the teaching-learning process during pandemic outbreak in Malaysia, while contributing to the development of motivation, participation, and engagement among secondary school students in acquiring the English language.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Oral Hygiene Among Students of a Private University.

ABSTRACTObjective:The objective of the study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice among pre-final and final year students of pharmacy, medicine, biotechnology, and business faculties about oral hygiene.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of students towards oral hygiene at a private university in Malaysia. Validated questionnaires were distributed to a convenient stratified sample of 324 students studying in the different selected faculties, namely pharmacy, medicine, biotechnology, and business, respectively. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data.Results:With regard to knowledge, upon evaluation, it was seen that the students of the Faculty of Pharmacy had the highest percentage of adequate knowledge, which was statistically significant with a P-value of 0.001 and the effect size of 0.246. On the evaluation of attitudes, it was seen that the Faculty of Biotechnology had the highest positive attitudes. According to race, Malay students had the highest positive attitude among all the races that participated in the study, which showed a P-value of 0.037 with the effect size of 0.034. Regarding practice, the Faculty of Pharmacy had the lowest practice compared with the other faculties. This variable had a P-value of 0.001 and showed to have significance against the practice with an effect size of 0.193.Conclusion:Overall, a good attitude was seen amongst the students on their oral hygiene. It was also observed that the attitude, knowledge, and practice of the students in a private university increased with an increasing level of education.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice about Mental Health Challenges among Healthcare Students of a Private University.

ABSTRACTObjective:The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of healthcare students (Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry) in a private university about mental health challenges (MHC).Materials and Methods:A research cross-sectional observational was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of students towards MHC at a private university in Malaysia. A validated questionnaire was distributed to 284 students studying in three different selected faculties, namely the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data.Results:Upon evaluation of knowledge, male students were having less-adequate knowledge than females (P = 0.006). Malay students were having adequate knowledge than other races about MHC. Faculty of Medicine was having adequate knowledge than other faculties (P ≤ 0.001). Regarding attitude, the Faculty of Pharmacy students had the highest positive attitudes (P = 0.001). Final year students were having a more positive attitude than pre-final year students. For the evaluation of practice, the Faculty of Dentistry students had the lowest practice compared with other faculties.Conclusion:In conclusion, overall, good knowledge was seen among the students of the private medical university about MHC. The medical students had adequate knowledge when compared with other faculties in the university.

Determinants Affecting Knowledge of Healthcare Students towards Mental Health Challenges

Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the determinants affecting knowledge of healthcare students towards mental health challenges (MHCs) in a private medical university. Methods: A crosssectional observational study was conducted to correlates the different determinants of university students with their knowledge towards MHCs in a private university in Malaysia. Validated questionnaires were distributed using a convenient stratified sampling technique among students studying in the different healthcare faculties, namely medicine, pharmacy and dentistry. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data. Results: Among 284 study participants, male students had less adequate knowledge than females. The majority of the students from the studied faculties had adequate knowledge of MHCs. Students of the age group of 25-30 years had adequate knowledge of MHCs. Multiple logistic regression revealed that statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were present among the three studied variables i.e., faculty, year of education and healthcare professionals in the family. Conclusion: Overall good knowledge of MHCs was observed among the studied cohort of the healthcare students of the private medical university. The present study concluded that faculty, year of education and healthcare professionals in the family were the observed determinants of knowledge about MHCs among the study participants.

Enhancing Decision Making Skills among Postgraduate Students Using Alternative Assessment Approach

Postgraduate learning in Malaysian public or private universities has undergone tremendous shift in its landscape that a continuous diversity of trends has emerged where postgraduate programmes are now offered to a large number of local and foreign postgraduate students. One of the expected aspects of being postgraduates means having to make decisions that are not only wise, but also sound and apt. This requires postgraduates to acquire high level and value decision making skills that would prevent them from making catastrophic decisions such as choosing the right subject matter to investigate, supervisors and appropriate research instruments. Thus, the purpose of this study is to enhance the level of decision-making skills among master students in Strategic Management course using alternative assessment. Using explorative qualitative approach, this study employed an action research where participants' decision-making skills were evaluated followed by intervention treatments that would help them to make better decisions. Ten postgraduate students were asked to complete a self-filled questionnaire and participated in focus group discussion in the first phase of the data collection. SWOT analysis and presentation rubric were used as intervention tools in this study. Results indicated an increase of score from 79% to 85% at the end of the assessment. This concludes that the alternative assessment helps students to make better decisions. The findings illustrated that alternative assessment is different from the restrictive forms of traditional assessment and is advantageous to students, stakeholders, employers, funding bodies and others as it helps to establish capabilities and competencies as well as academic knowledge.