Malaysian Managers Research Articles

E-Waste Management in Malaysia: Residents’ Willingness to Pay for Household E-Waste Recycling in Kuching, Sarawak

‘E-waste’ refers to electronic and electrical appliances that are no longer beneficial to consumers. An increasing amount of e-waste generated due to an increasing demand for electrical and electronic equipment in line with the rapid growth of the global population has become a growing global concern. Furthermore, limitation of the assimilative capacity of the environment and depleting natural resources have also urged the need to prioritize sustainable household e-waste management. This paper aims to examine the resident’s willingness to pay for household e-waste recycling in Kuching, Sarawak. A questionnaire survey was administered among 397 residents living in Kuching. The findings of the study show that majority of the residents in Kuching are not willing to pay for household e-waste recycling of electrical appliances such as fridges (50.6%) and fans (59.4%). However, it also depends on the distinctive types of household electrical appliances they possess. In this study, 10 types of household electrical appliances were selected and the average cost of WTP is expressed based on a percentage of its purchased values of the respective electrical household items listed. It was found that residents from Kuching are only willing to pay an average of 2.3% till 2.6% of recycling fees based on 10 types of the purchased values of their electrical home appliances in this study. This could be explained by the findings that show a low awareness level of sustainable e-waste management practices among the residents in Kuching. Therefore, the study recommends that more environmental education programs are to be carried out in the formal education system to sensitize the residents and children to the risks associated with the importance of household e-waste recycling to promote sustainable household e-waste management, particularly among the growing population in Kuching, Sarawak. Chiam (2013) reported that the residents of Kuching lack knowledge of how to manage their household e-waste and are unaware of the available recycling facilities in the region. However, over time, the e-waste management situation in Kuching has improved, with more recycling facilities being made available to the public for proper disposal of e-waste (Louis, 2020). The Kuching Integrated Waste Management Park, which caters to municipal solid waste and scheduled waste (including e-waste), is claimed to be one of the first integrated waste management parks in Southeast Asia (Trienkens, n. d.).

PENGURUSAN DANA MASJID DI MALAYSIA: SATU ANALISIS BIBLIOMETRIK

Efforts to preserve the role and function of the mosque as a reputable institution for Muslims should be viewed from various aspects including the efficiency of fund management. This study aims to identify and analyze the publication pattern of articles related to mosque fund management in Malaysia over a period of five years (2017 to 2021). The methodology used is bibliometric methods that will involve searching the Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Keywords searches are conducted in Malay and English. The results proved that the frequency of research on this topic shows an increase in the five years from 2017-2021. The study also found some research and publication gaps (research gap) in this search topic. Overall, findings of this study can provide a general overview of current research on mosque fund management, trends, and future directions of related research

The overharvest of porcupine species for bushmeat and traditional medicine in Malaysia

The commercial harvesting to supply the demands of the regional market and beyond with bushmeat and traditional medicinal products has exerted pressure on porcupine species which have reduced population densities in Malaysia regions. This study determined the over-harvested and poaching of the porcupine species in Malaysia by investigating confiscated data of porcupine species, and their parts from 2011 to April 2021. A total of 31 confiscated cases were obtained amounting to an estimated 320 porcupines. Based on the results, porcupines are harvested for bushmeat, traditional medicines, and trophies. This study proved that porcupines are being illegally poaching and over-harvested in Malaysia because of the poor legislation. Lack of awareness of the implications of unsustainable harvesting and difficulty in monitoring by the relevant authorities and organizations appear to be the main challenges to porcupine conservation in Malaysia. This study highlights the lack of research study documenting the overharvesting of the porcupine and the implication of these results are important for future adaptive porcupine management in Malaysia.

Scenario modelling of proxy system in the context of Malaysian food flow management

The research on food flow network is unpredictable as the approaches employed are more targeted at specific study points, often excluding spatial and temporal changes. The research questions must still address why and how food flow moves in the entire supply chain system. This study aims to investigate the movement of food flow using national statistics, comprising of four main subsystems: agriculture, nutrition, waste, wastewater management, and the environment by using the Material Flow Analysis (MFA) approach. Comprehensive research using primary and secondary data including literature reviews have successfully bridged the knowledge gap on food supply chain management in Malaysia. This article provides new contributions through the considerations of food safety and the opportunity to understand flow issues that are connected to hotspots, closed flow, and economic circulars. Additionally, this study acts as a simple guide for policymakers to manage the imbalances of food supply in certain areas. From the perspective of food waste management, several important strategies were successfully formulated to combat the leakage of food waste flow and financial burden while highlighting the need for local social actors' involvement to fulfil Malaysia's agenda of Sustainable Development Goals.

Quantifying the Higher Education Leadership Competency Framework for Talent Management in Malaysia

This paper presents how a Malaysian centre associated with the ministry of higher education developed a framework for assessing leadership abilities in higher education. A qualitative approach is used in this study and the primary focus was on group discussions involving human resource professionals and well-known academics from higher education. The result of this study shows that the Behavioral Event Interview (BEI) instrument is used to quantify each of the five clusters that make up the higher education leadership competencies framework. These five clusters are: impact and influence, achievement and action, leading, cognitive and personal effectiveness. The leaders are then classified into five position levels ranging from Level 1 to Level 5. Level 1 is individual contributor which is coded as ‘Reviewable’ whilst Level 5: is leading the whole organization coded as ‘Significantly Exceeds’. The study’s findings provide an instrument for determining whether the potential leaders in high education institutions are ready to take on the responsibility of leading. In order to improve a leader’s abilities as a part of succession planning, the findings could assist the center. This study provides some considerations for alternatives to the prevalent frameworks for evaluating leadership skills in the interest of sustaining a high-quality organizational culture.

End-of-Life Vehicle Management Systems in Major Automotive Production Bases in Southeast Asia: A Review

End-of-life vehicle (ELV) management is becoming increasingly important as the automotive industry is one of the world’s most critical sectors and is rapidly expanding. ELV management is essential for environmental protection and wellbeing under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, provides more jobs under SDG 8, and promotes a circular economy under SDG 11. All these factors contribute to the importance of ELV management as a research topic. Today, ELV management is well-positioned and an emerging research area particularly on ELV recycling systems in Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. This paper aims to provide a review of ELV management in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which are the major automotive production bases in Southeast Asia, but which lack formal ELV recycling policies. Towards this end, the researchers have adopted a qualitative study in which document research has been used to analyze existing scientific studies and other published sources. The findings reveal that immature ELV management systems in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are the reason that no specific ELV laws and regulations exist, as well as why there are no precise ELV statistics. Nevertheless, there have been growing concerns about ELV management, as evidenced by environmental regulations and programs aimed at better management of ELV recycling in these countries. These findings will assist the respective authorities in formulating specific laws and regulations that will ensure sustainable management of ELV and will also ensure a better life and economy for society and for industry.

Cost analysis of chronic heart failure management in Malaysia: A multi-centred retrospective study.

Estimation of the economic burden of heart failure (HF) through a complete evaluation is essential for improved treatment planning in the future. This estimation also helps in reimbursement decisions for newer HF treatments. This study aims to estimate the cost of HF treatment in Malaysia from the Ministry of Health's perspective. A prevalence-based, bottom-up cost analysis study was conducted in three tertiary hospitals in Malaysia. Chronic HF patients who received treatment between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2018 were included in the study. The direct cost of HF was estimated from the patients' healthcare resource utilisation throughout a one-year follow-up period extracted from patients' medical records. The total costs consisted of outpatient, hospitalisation, medications, laboratory tests and procedure costs, categorised according to ejection fraction (EF) and the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification. A total of 329 patients were included in the study. The mean ± standard deviation of total cost per HF patient per-year (PPPY) was USD 1,971 ± USD 1,255, of which inpatient cost accounted for 74.7% of the total cost. Medication costs (42.0%) and procedure cost (40.8%) contributed to the largest proportion of outpatient and inpatient costs. HF patients with preserved EF had the highest mean total cost of PPPY, at USD 2,410 ± USD 1,226. The mean cost PPPY of NYHA class II was USD 2,044 ± USD 1,528, the highest among all the functional classes. Patients with underlying coronary artery disease had the highest mean total cost, at USD 2,438 ± USD 1,456, compared to other comorbidities. HF patients receiving angiotensin-receptor neprilysin-inhibitor (ARNi) had significantly higher total cost of HF PPPY in comparison to patients without ARNi consumption (USD 2,439 vs. USD 1,933, p < 0.001). Hospitalisation, percutaneous coronary intervention, coronary angiogram, and comorbidities were the cost predictors of HF. Inpatient cost was the main driver of healthcare cost for HF. Efficient strategies for preventing HF-related hospitalisation and improving HF management may potentially reduce the healthcare cost for HF treatment in Malaysia.

Students Satisfaction Towards Cafeteria in University Campus – A Case Study

Food industry plays a crucial role as one of the critical sectors in every country. A restaurant is a part of food industry which serves foods and drinks to customers in return for money. Customer satisfaction is a measurement of service or product supplied by a restaurant whether it unmeet, meet, or surpass customer satisfaction. As restaurants in campus or college cafeteria are the main service provider for students that resides inside a university, it is necessary to regularly maintain their quality as to ensure that the food consumed are of good quality, nutritious, and hygienic. This problem has been faced by all university foodservice management in Malaysia. In response to this problem, this dissatisfaction leads the students to refuse having their meals inside campus. Therefore, this study used structural equation modelling to identify the factors which significantly affect students’ satisfaction toward one cafeteria in a university and determine the relationship among the factors and their impact on students’ satisfaction. Results showed there are two factors which are service quality and varieties of menu show a significant positive influence towards students’ satisfaction. Therefore, this finding suggested that the college cafeteria should put more effort on the service quality that they provided.

Strategic Indicators for Strategic Intervention in Sports Facilities Management Performance in Malaysia

Objective –The sports facilities provided are not fully utilized, misused, unprotected, and not maintained by the responsible parties. Most studies indicate sports facilities face numerous facilities management (FM) issues owing to weakness of current operating systems such as financial factor, lack of qualify staff, efficient and quality management operations, optimisation of operation, and safety issues. The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic indicators for strategic intervention for improving the performance of sports facilities management in Malaysia by initially identifying what the critical considerations. Methodology. The data for this preliminary study was obtained from random samples of 44 respondents involving FM representative from various stadium in Malaysia. The data will initially analysed using SPSS statistical software for factor analysis. The reliability and validity data of the instruments were assessed by experts from academia and the industry. The reliability and validity data of the instruments were assessed by experts from academia and the industry.&#x0D; Findings research contributes to the existing body of knowledge on FM by identifying the relationship between FM performance and strategic intervention.&#x0D; Implications Finally, in order to develop strategic intervention conceptual model toward sports facilities management performance will to be involved in all the strategy phases of the organisation.

Within cluster pattern identification: A new approach for optimizing recycle point distribution to support policy implementation on waste management in Malaysia.

Despite the government's policies and objectives, Malaysia lags behind in sustainable waste management techniques, particularly recycling. Bins should be located conveniently to encourage recycling and reduce waste. The current model of bin location-allocation is mostly determined by distance. However, it has been identified that previous studies excluded an important factor: litter pattern identification. Litter pattern is important to identify waste generation hotspots and litter distribution. Thus, we proposed the within cluster pattern identification (WCPI) approach to optimize the recycle point distribution. WCPI gathers the information on litter distribution using geotagged images and analyses the pattern distribution. The optimal location for recycle bin can be identified by incorporating k-means clustering to the pattern distribution. Since k-means faces the non-deterministic polynomial-time-hard challenge of selecting the ideal cluster and cluster centre, WCPI used the total within-cluster sum of square on top of k-means clustering. The proposed location by WCPI is validated in terms of accessibility and suitability. Furthermore, this study provides further analysis of carbon footprint that can be reduced by simulating the data from geotagged images. The results show that 10,323.55 kg of carbon emission can be reduced if the litter is sent for recycling. Thus, we believe that locating bins at an optimal location will embark on consumer motivation to dispose of recycled waste, reduce litter and lessen the carbon footprint. At the same time, these efforts could transform Malaysia into a clean and sustainable nation that aims to achieve Agenda 2030.

Barriers of and strategies for shared decision-making implementation in the care of metastatic breast cancer: A qualitative study among patients and healthcare professionals in an Asian country.

Shared decision-making has been shown to improve the quality of life in metastatic breast cancer patients in high-literacy and high-resource settings. However, limited studies have examined the cultural preferences of metastatic breast cancer patients with shared decision-making implementation and the barriers encountered in an Asian setting where societal norms predominate and physician decision-making is at the forefront. This paper aims to identify (1) barriers to practising shared decision-making faced by healthcare professionals and patients and (2) strategies for implementing shared decision-making in the context of metastatic breast cancer management in Malaysia. We conducted a qualitative study involving 12 patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, 16 healthcare professionals and 5 policymakers from surgical and oncology departments at public healthcare centres in Malaysia. Semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the thematic approach. Nvivo software was used to manage and analyse the data. Five main themes emerged from the study: healthcare provider-patient communication, workforce availability, cultural and belief systems, goals of care and paternalism versus autonomy. Other strategies proposed to overcome barriers to implementing shared decision-making were training of healthcare professionals and empowering nurses to manage patients' psychosocial issues. This study found that practising shared decision-making in the public health sector remains challenging when managing patients with metastatic breast cancer. The utilization of decision-making tools, patient empowerment and healthcare provider training may help address the system and healthcare provider-patient barriers identified in this study. Patients were involved in the study design, recruitment and analysis.

The Perspectives of Event Experience Post Covid-19: Insights of the Stakeholders in Event Education

In the events sector, research on the event experience is gaining more and more significance. Active, pleasure-seeking customers seek "fantasy, emotions, and fun" via consumption (Holbrook &amp; Hirschman, 1982), which has helped to boost experience marketing by emphasising the need to amuse, thrill, and emotionally connect with consumers through their consuming experience (Schmitt, 1999). According to Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004), authentic, individualised experiences produced via active interaction are more valuable than objects or services. As the number of events increases, event organisers are under increased pressure to provide distinctive experiences in order to maintain a competitive advantage (Geus, Richards, &amp; Toepoel, 2013). This working paper intends to investigate the knowledge of event experience education management in Malaysia, particularly in post-COVID event planning where the event experience must be carried over to both physical and virtual platforms. The planning and curriculum design for adequate operationalization and assessment of event experiences education and skills will need to change, and determining how to implement this change will provide more accurate relevance and useful insights for event academics and the industry, as well as current and prospective students in Malaysia.

The influence of demographic variables to e-waste management practices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

E-waste is defined as electrical and electronic appliances that are no longer functioning, broken, obsolete or unwanted by the present owner and are ready to be discarded. The disposal of e-waste is a challenging task as it contains hazardous substances as well as the precious metals. This study seeks to investigate e-waste management practices among respondents based on their demographic background. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 936 respondents in Kuala Lumpur, and questionnaires survey forms are used as research instrument. A statistical test was run to examine the relation of ten options of e-waste management practices to five demographic variables. The result has shown that respondents’ occupation is the most significantly related demographic variables to e-waste disposal practices compared to other demographic variables. Respondents that work in the private sector were reported to have the highest percentage for each e-waste disposal practices compared to other type of occupations. The factors that have led to this finding may be due to the working environment (which deals a lot with electrical and electronic appliances), as well as the exposure and information from wide range of sources. Overall, the e-waste disposal practices vary based on the demographic background. The output of this study is beneficial for decision makers and relevant agencies in creating an appropriate management actions and approach based on demographic background towards sustainable e-waste management in Malaysia. Keywords: Environment, e-waste management, human health, Kuala Lumpur, practices, public

Asset Management in Malaysia: Current Status

Asset management is a rapidly growing practice in response to changes in urban development and becoming one of the important practices in Malaysia. As a result, the Malaysian government has raised awareness of asset management to manage and maintain government assets. Thus, the Malaysian government has established MySPATA, a fixed asset management system used by all government ministries to help agencies standardize, manage, and monitor fixed assets. The four asset management documents used in MySPATA are the Government Asset Management Policy (DPAK), Government Comprehensive Asset Management Manual (MPAM), Government Immovable Asset Management Procedures (TPATA), and Immovable Asset Management System. Asset management is concerned mainly with operating assets in Malaysia, including their management, monitoring, maintenance, and disposal. Government agencies are charged with supervising governments and enabling the delivery of public services. Thus, asset management policies and processes are critical for delivering and assisting in effective asset management. Asset management must be effective and efficient to ensure that the assets provided can be handled and utilized for the intended purpose. This study examines Malaysia’s current asset management practices and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of the current approach.

The Implementation of Best Practice Model in Tenancy Management

Guidelines for property tenancy management in Malaysia have been set out in Malaysian Property Management Standards and several property-related acts. However, the implementation approach practiced by public and private practices differs according to the organization's functions and objectives. This study aims to develop a Tenancy Management Best Practice Model for Property of Mayor Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL). Qualitative data collection, through three series of structured focus group discussions (FGDs) was conducted to develop a best practice model for tenancy management consisting of three tenancy phases, namely, (i) Pre-Tenancy, (ii) Tenancy Execution, and (iii) Post-Tenancy. Keywords: Tenancy, management; best practice model eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning &amp; Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI:

The Role of Media in Sponsorship Decision Making During Covid-19: A Malaysian Perspective

COVID-19 has impacted not only human lives, but also business organisations. The repercussions of the pandemic on global businesses include sustaining the value of a firm that could benefit stakeholders, such as the challenge for sponsored properties to attain sponsorship through a period of financial struggles and the capacity of a sponsor to provide it. It is imperative for business-to-business (B2B) communities to evaluate criteria and risks of sponsorship to instil public trust and consequently result in value creation for firms. At the same time, the role of the media is pivotal to create visibility of this partnership and achieve set sponsorship aims. With that said, the objective of this study is to explore the role of sponsorship decision making by Malaysian organisations during the pandemic and how the media have strengthened relationship marketing between businesses and their stakeholders; by examining the determinant factors of using media as an activation in sponsorship and the criteria of using media in sponsorship. The qualitative study conducted interviews with 13 corporate communication and marketing managers in Malaysia that are involved directly with sponsorship activation. The findings highlight the sponsorship ecosystem through the Malaysian media and B2B perspectives that would guide practitioners in making strategic decisions on B2B sponsorship matters, particularly on the relational approaches and media engagement should be seen as part of good business conduct. Future recommendation of this research is to seek the perceptions of consumers on the congruence of relationship marketing through sponsor-sponsored properties collaboration in Malaysian media. Keywords: Media, marketing communication, sponsorship activation, business-to-business, Covid-19.

Ujian dalam Menghadapi Bencana Gempa Bumi Berdasarkan Pengalaman Masyarakat Muslim di Lahad Datu, Sabah (An Affliction in Coping with Earthquake Disasters as Experienced by Muslim community in Lahad Datu, Sabah)

Natural disasters are an unavoidable nature, and this phenomenon has been proven to occur either from a religious or scientific perspective. From the Islamic point of view, natural disasters considered as test of faithfulness. This study endevours to conceptualise the meaning of trial and its relation to the understanding of the Muslim community in Lahad Datu. The study discusses action taken by them in facing this natural disaster. This study employed quantitative method through distributing questionnaires around the district of Lahad Datu. The descriptive analysis was done to analyse the relationship between the demographic background of Muslim respondents with their level of understanding and knowledge of earthquake as a test of God. The results showed that majority of respondents, 80 percent, had experienced an earthquake. The average knowledge of the respondents about the history of the earthquake in Lahad Datu is at a minimum level and it can be said that the knowledge about the earthquake is based on the current or latest knowledge that they have experienced themselves. Nevertheless, respondents had a basic knowledge of earthquake as shown on the physical actions they took after an earthquake such as being aware of increasing the level of family safety and participating in disaster awareness programs. The results also show the respondents’ belief that the earthquake is a test of God can be true because their actions and practices after the earthquake are more towards positive practices that are not contrary to Islamic teachings. The study concludes that a holistic approach through the integration of science (geology) and religion (Islam) should be highlighted as a method for improving disaster risk reduction management in Malaysia, especially victims involving the Muslim community.

Short Review on Organic Food Supply Chain Management in Malaysia

The organic food market has not reached its maturity yet in Malaysia. Consumers of organic food have increased in the last year. The development of organic food supply chain management shows substantial opportunities. Although it is only a small part of the food market, it gains the interest of consumers researchers and businessmen. Consumers became interested to know if the food they purchase is fully organic and what are the activities involved in the supply chain management of the organic food. This paper will discuss the factor that affects organic food supply chain management in Malaysia. In addition to that, the study discusses Malaysia’s policy in certifying organic food and standards. Also, the challenges facing food supply chain management. This paper will give a short review of the importance of organic food supply chain management in Malaysia which will give the reader a clear view of the standards and concepts of organic food in Malaysia.

The Compliance Status of Chemical Management among Industries in Malaysia: The USECHH after 20 years

Chemical management plays an important role in the protection of human health and environment. Malaysia through the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) developed chemical related legislations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994 upon tripartite and stakeholder consultation. Effective law enforcement by DOSH is important to ensure compliance to occupational health legislations in order to meet the objectives of OSHA 1994. This paper presents the status of chemical management compliance in Malaysia pertaining to compliance to the Occupational Safety and Health (Use and Standards of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to Health) (USECHH) Regulations 2000 among the industries in various economic sectors twenty years after its inception. This paper proposes four steps for investigating the compliance status. The four steps are overview of chemical legislations, enforcement strategies, data analysis and recommendations. There was a total of 9712 workplaces inspected by DOSH officers during the enforcement activities. About 54% workplaces received satisfactory grades while 46% were non satisfactory. USECHH operations for the last five years (2016-2020) revealed that 70% of the total workplaces inspected received satisfactory compliance while another 30% potrayed otherwise. These positive results show significant improvement in the status of compliance of chemical management as compared to the beginning of its introduction in year 2000 where majority of the grades are unsatisfactory. Analysis of each elements found that the worst compliance comes from elements such as medical surveillance, health surveillance, exposure monitoring and chemical health risk assessment The research also prescribes strategies and methods taken by DOSH Malaysia in ensuring chemical management compliance at the workplace. This paper shows an insight of chemical management in Malaysia briefly and provides suggestions and recommendations, measures and outcomes of enforcement. Future measures to be taken by DOSH is also suggested to boost compliance.

The Acupuncture Using Needling Method of Harmonizing Spleen-Stomach for Body Weight Management: A Study in Malaysia

This paper reports the outcomes of the study on the effectiveness of harmonizing spleen-stomach needling method on body weight management in Malaysia. The study on 30 subjects was conducted with eight treatment sessions given over a period of one month, using the needling method with the focus on 10 acupoints that promote the normal function of the digestion and the circulation of qi and blood. The results showed 67 percent of the subjects successfully reduced their body weight, with the average reduction of 0.48 kg per subject. The study found the needling method was more effective for the subjects with their age under 25 years old, compared to the subjects with the age group of 25 – 50 years old. The needling method was proven effective in reducing body weight of the subjects in average. While proven effective on 30 subjects, study on more subjects might be required to reveal the real potential of the needling method on body weight management.