Malaysian Service Sector Research Articles

Validity and Reliability of Measurements for Perceived Organizational Support and Turnover Intention Among Employees in the Services Sector

Employee turnover is a major challenge faced by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the services sector in Malaysia. It is found that this sector has faced a conservative turnover for the past two years and further studies need to be done to solve this problem. To minimize turnover, employees need to feel safe, valued, and satisfied. Many previous literatures showed that organizations that implement and increase the level of Perceived Organizational Support (POS) among employees could help to overcome turnover problems. Increasing the level of POS is believed to help strengthen the relationship between employee and employer, thereby reducing employees' intention to seek or accept other jobs. This study aims to analyze the validity and reliability of measuring tools designed to identify how POS affects employee turnover in Malaysian SMEs. This study also extends POS research by demonstrating support for a multidimensional measure of supervisor support, organizational justice, and organizational rewards & work conditions. A quantitative method was used and a pilot test for the reliability of the questionnaires was carried out by using SPSS to examine the results of Cronbach’s Alpha. There were 33 respondents from the services sectors who participated in answering the questionnaires. The questionnaire contained 42-items and was developed after a detailed analysis of the literature. Overall, all components show measuring components under the given component providing a reliable internal consistency measure as the alpha of Cronbach for POS and Turnover Intention ranged from 0.784 to 0.856.

Digital Skills Readiness amongst Malaysian Service Sector Workforce

This study aimed to measure the digital skills readiness amongst Malaysian workforce in the service sector by looking into two crucial antecedent factors, namely facility and training as well as applied digital skills (hard digital skills and soft digital skills). The research framework is derived from Vygotsky’s Mediated Action Theory (1978) and tested using 384 samples from the Klang Valley through the statistic reported by the Department of Statistics Malaysia in Q4 2018. Random sampling methods were used, in which an online questionnaire was distributed through random acquittances and posted on social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook. The collected data were analysed using SPSS. The results indicated significant correlations between the ‘Facility and Training’ and the ‘Applied Digital skills – soft and hard digital skills’ with ‘Digital skills Readiness’. Discussions and recommendations are presented considering the crucial role that digital skills play in the general workforce of the future.

Work-Family Conflict and Job Performance: Moderating Effect of Social Support among Employees in Malaysian Service Sector

This study aims to examine the relationship between work-family conflict (work interference family and family interference work) and job performance among employees in Malaysian service sector. In addition, this study focuses on exploring the moderating effect of social support received from supervisors and family members on the relationship of work-family conflict dimensions with employee’s job performance. This study is employed quantitative method whereby the questionnaires are used to gather the data.The data for the present study were collected from a total of 250 employees working in Malaysian service sector.The mean, standard deviations, correlations, and moderated hierarchical regression analysis were performed in analyzing the data by using the IBM SPSS statistics software 23. The results of the study indicate that work interference family and family interference work are negatively correlated with employee’s job performance. Moreover, social support received from supervisors and family members is observed to significantly moderate the relationship of work interference family and family interference work with employee’s job performance.

The Linkage Between Communication Satisfaction, Human Resources Management Practices, Person-Organization Fit, and Commitment: Evidence From Malaysia

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</b> This article explores the previously undiscovered relationship between communication satisfaction (CS), human resources management (HRM) practices, person-organization fit (P-O fit), and affective commitment (AC) among full-time Malaysian employees in the service industry. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review:</b> Despite the recent proliferation of papers dealing with communication satisfaction, little work investigates the role of HRM practices and P-O fit as mediators of the relationship between communication satisfaction and AC. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research question:</b> Do HRM practices and P-O fit act as mediators of the relationship between communication satisfaction and AC? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research methodology:</b> A structural equation model using partial least squares is employed to study the impact of HRM practices and P-O fit on the linkage between communication satisfaction and AC among 195 full-time employees from various organizations in the service sector in Malaysia. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results:</b> The results suggest that high communication satisfaction leads to positive perceptions of HRM practices, which, in turn, lead to favorable perceptions of P-O fit and then ultimately to high AC. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Conclusions:</b> This study provides useful insights for human resource managers in addressing the linkage between communication satisfaction, HRM practices, P-O fit, and AC. If HRM policies are communicated positively, employees will perceive them to be fair, and that perception leads to a perception of P-O fit. HRM policies can also improve P-O fit if employees undergo training to align their values with the values of their organization. These perceptions lead to higher AC, thus contributing to the overall positive working atmosphere in the service industry.

Influence of Competitiveness Factor towards Graduate Competency Level

Intensity to produce a quality human capital is not sufficient by having basic skills for certain field only. The need to have a competitive attitude to enhance their level of competency is much concern for many employers nowadays. Hence, this study is conducted to identify the competitiveness factors that influence the level of competency among graduates, especially who employed in the service sector in Malaysia. This study used survey methods by distributing questionnaires for data collection. The study used stratified purposive sampling by distributing a questionnaire to 450 graduates from 13 services sectors based on a statistic from the Ministry of Higher Education 2016. The finding from the exploratory factor analysis found that seven competitiveness factors were consisting of 47 items that form the competitiveness attitude among graduates. However, based on multiple linear regression analysis, only five models of competitiveness factors have a significant relationship with graduates’ competency which are job competitiveness, organizational management competitiveness, dominant competitiveness, goal competitiveness and self-improvement competitiveness. In fact, aggressive competitiveness and general competitiveness does not influence graduates’ competency level significantly. Thus, the more competitive attitude of graduates such as emotional control, innovation, and competitiveness to be the best is vital for their future marketability. In addition, it is hoped that their level of competence can be enhanced through the development of competitive factors for the advancement of the country's higher education talent.

What Do Our Nurses Know about Managing Patient with Permanent Pacemakers?

Introduction: The number of patients with pacemaker implant is increasing in the health services sector in Malaysia, which requires nurses to have expertise in patient care with pacemaker implantation. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyse the level of knowledge among nurses regarding the management of patients with pacemaker implantation.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted through purposive sampling among all nurses working at the critical care unit, intensive care unit, cardiac rehabilitation ward, investigation clinical laboratory, and non-invasive clinical laboratory in a public hospital in Kelantan. A questionnaire consisted of demographic data and nurses’ knowledge was distributed. Data were analysed for descriptive analysis and using Pearson correlation test.Results: Results from all respondents (n=70), show 48.6 % of the respondents had moderate knowledge about patient management with pacemaker implantation, 32.9 % had a low level of knowledge and only 13.6% had high knowledge regarding management of patient with pacemaker implantation. There is a significant difference between the level of knowledge and demographic data, that is between the level of education (p=0.027), age (p=0.011) and length of service (p=0.015). There is no significant relationship between knowledge and demographic data, such as gender (p=0.481), marital status (p=0.315), and post-basic (p=0.067).Conclusion: Level of knowledge among nurses about the management of patient with pacemaker implantation is low to moderate. Additional education and exposure among nurses are needed to enhance the knowledge of nurses and improve the quality of care among patients with pacemaker implant.

The effects of employee participation in creative-relevant process and creative self-efficacy on employee creativity

Employees are the key determinants of an organization’s success because they possess the greatest source of the organization’s creativity. To produce a highly creative thinker, employee participation in the creative-relevant process is required. However, different forms of employee participation may benefit the organization differently. Mainly, researchers agreed on three forms of participation, namely full-autonomous or discretion over individual work tasks, semi-autonomous teamwork and consultative participation. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the different forms of employee participation in creative-relevant process and employee creativity. In addition, creative self-efficacy has demonstrated a relationship with creativity among employees. Underpinned by the Social Cognitive Theory, this study further examined the effect of creative self-efficacy on employee creativity and as a moderator for the relationship between creative-relevant process and employee creativity. We employed a quantitative approach by distributing questionnaires to employees who are working in public/private service sectors in Malaysia and 250 employees had responded. The study hypotheses were tested using PLS structural equation modeling. The results of the study showed that there is (a) a significant relationship between full-autonomous and consultative participation in the creative-relevant process; (b) a non-significant relationship between semi-autonomous and creative-relevant process; (c) a significant relationship between creative-relevant process and employee creativity; (d) a significant relationship between creative self-efficacy and employee creativity, and (e) a non-significant moderated relationship of creative self-efficacy. This study adds to the body of knowledge on the importance of examining the different forms of employee participation and enforcing continuous training in creative-relevant process in order to develop employee creativity. Keywords : consultative participation, creative-relevant process, creative self-efficacy, employee creativity, full-autonomous, semi-autonomous

Effects of Gender on Leadership, Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organisational Performance

There are two streams of literature regarding relationship between gender and various organisational outcomes and variables affecting performance. Some scholars have found that there are significant differences between males and females regarding their leadership behaviours, entrepreneurial orientation and how organisations perform. Thus, the focus, development and assistance provided to male and female entrepreneurs are different. However, findings also indicated that there is no significant difference between genders. In this study, data were taken from 395 respondents representing either the owners or top managers of various SMEs organisations operating within the manufacturing and services sector in Malaysia. Within the context of SMEs in Malaysia, the result failed to recognise any significant differences between male and female respondents with regards to their leadership behaviours, entrepreneurial orientation and organisational performance. Male and female owners and top managers of SMEs in Malaysia were perceived to be the same in their leadership orientation, entrepreneurial approach and outcomes for organisations. The novelty of this research lies in its attempt to explore gender differences of leaders of SMEs in Malaysia.

Spiritual Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence and Contextual Performance: An Empirical Study in the Services Sector in Malaysia

Spiritual Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence and Contextual Performance: An Empirical Study in the Services Sector in Malaysia

Emotional Stability and Perception of Job Security in the Services Sector in Malaysia

Research pertaining to the perception of job security has focused primarily on attitudinal (e.g. job satisfaction), behavioral (e.g. employee turnover), and health outcomes, while research in the area of emotional stability has largely focused on attitudinal and social consequences. However, there appear to be no reported studies that have examined the relationship between emotional stability and the perception of job security in different industries within the Malaysian context. Data from 255 employees in the information technology, financial services and education industries were collected and analyzed. Results suggest that respondents in the education industry are more stable in the emotional dimension compared to those in the finance industry and that respondents in the education sector perceive job security to be higher compared to those in the finance and IT industries. In all three industries, emotional stability was significantly associated with perception of job security (r=0.403). There is strongest correlation between emotional stability and perception of job security scores in the financial services industry. This suggests that in an industry that is unstable, respondents with higher emotional stability tend to perceive the same environment as more stable than those who have lower emotional stability.

Value innovation activities in the wireless telecommunications service sector: A case study of the Malaysian market

Innovation has become an important source of growth and survival for the telecom industry, especially with the highly competitive, dynamic business environment of this sector. The telecom market attributes of liberalization, privatization and globalization result in fierce competition, which aggravates telecom firms’ challenges to expand their market share, and hence, increase customer base, sales volume, and ultimately profit. A new strategy to succeed is innovation differentiation, which leads to breaking out the competition and creating uncongested market space. The aim of this paper is to highlight the logic of value innovation in the wireless telecom sector. A qualitative research approach was used to analyze the actions related to value innovation in the mobile service sector in Malaysia. In particular, this study focuses on the motivation, and hence the changed strategies, of telecom service providers to embrace value competition rather than traditional tariff competition in order to enhance customer satisfaction and encourage customer loyalty, which will ultimately result in higher profitability and growth. The services and loyalty packages provided by the telecom firms were reviewed through employing analytical case study. Also, this paper highlights the drawbacks and limitations of the services that did not live up to the expectations of customers and failed to earn their loyalty. Moreover, this study gives suggestions to service providers regarding ways to achieve long-run profitable growth.

Risk management practices of transportation companies: practitioners' perspective

It is claimed that organisations face challenges and risks in their operations which hinder their ability to achieve the organisational objectives. Prior studies suggest the implementation of risk management to assist the organisations in ensuring their sustainability in the long run. Risk management practices focus on creating responses to the inherent uncertainties of managing complex situations faced by the organisations, especially in service sector. Delivering quality services is very important in service sector in order to maintain their market share. Thus, this study aims to examine the implementation of risk management in the transportation industry, one of the important service sectors in Malaysia. Fifteen head of operations and managers of transportation companies were interviewed. Findings suggest that the implementation of risk management assist the companies in monitoring the drivers, controlling the maintenance costs of the buses and planning for routes during slack periods. This study provides information to transportation companies about the importance of risk management practices in their operations.

Total Quality Management and the Role of Management Accountants on Organisational Performance: The Service Sector in Malaysia

Manuscript type: Research paper Research aims: This study examines the relationship between total quality management (TQM), the role of the management accountant and organisational performance among the service sector in Malaysia. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study collects data from 100 private service organisations in Malaysia via a self-administered printed questionnaire. Data collected are analysed using partial least squares (PLS) 3.0. Research findings: The results reveal that TQM has a positive significant impact on organisational performance. The TQM’s practice of focussing more on customers and the designing of services also show significant effects on organisational performance. This study finds that management accountants do not moderate the relationship between TQM and organisational performance. Theoretical contribution/Originality: This study expands the previous literature by examining the role of the management accountant as a moderator between TQM and organisational performance. Practitioner/Policy implications: The results derived from this study can be used to facilitate the application of TQM in service organisations so as to enhance their organisational performance. The findings can also assist managers in the service organisations to determine the functions of their management accountants because this can impact on the successful adoption of TQM. Research limitation/Implications: The limitations of this study includes its scope which is confined to only the service industry. Future research should expand further to cover other industries. Keywords: TQM, Organisational Performance, Role of the Management Accountant, Service JEL Classification: M41

Application of Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Method for Financial Performance Evaluation: A Case Study of Services Sector in Malaysia

This paper aims to evaluate financial performance of companies from services sector in Malaysia using TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making method. Financial data of 10 companies in 2017 are retrieved from DataStream. For many years, financial ratios are used to analyse financial performance of a companies. However, some studies indicate that traditional ratio analysis is insufficient to measure firm’s financial performance. Thus, this paper applies Technique for order Preference by Similarity to ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to obtain a more comprehensive result. This TOPSIS approach which involves seven step utilizes financial ratios such as current ratio, acid test ratio, debt ratio, debt to equity ratio, return on asset (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and earnings per share (EPS) as criteria to evaluate the companies’ financial performance. The ultimate finding of this study is the ranking of the companies which also suggest the investor on which companies to invest based on their financial performance. The results from this research are found to be consistent with the analysis by various investment agencies. Thus, this approach can be used as an alternative to the traditional valuation that has been used before.

Measuring and enhancing organisational creative climate, knowledge sharing, and innovative work behavior in startups development

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the organizational creative climate, knowledge sharing and innovative work behavior in startups development. This study also aims to discover the R square, predictive relevance and effect size of the developed model.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative method was used, and a total of 352 usable questionnaires were collected from employees at startups particularly in services sector in Malaysia. The structural equation was developed to explain the complicated relationship between organizational creative climate, knowledge sharing and innovative work behavior. The results of hypothesis were analyzed using structural equation modeling – partial least square (SEM-PLS) test.FindingsThe results indicate that organizational creative climate significantly influence innovative work behavior (H1), organizational climate positively affects knowledge sharing (H2) and knowledge sharing significantly influence innovative work behavior (H3). In addition, the results also show that the R square values of innovative work behavior is weak (R2 = 0.067), while the predictive relevance value demonstrating the model has sufficient predictive relevance. Further, the results of effect size show medium effect for organizational creative climate and knowledge, while the remaining indicates small effect size.Practical implicationsThis study provides a comprehensible and clear understanding on how organizational creative climate and knowledge sharing play important role in fostering the individual innovative work behavior in Malaysian startups.Originality/valueResearch on the significance of organizational creative climate, knowledge sharing and to innovative work behavior particularly in the startups context has not been sufficiently explored. This study shed new light to the startups eco-system stakeholders in stimulating individual innovative work behavior through the practices of sharing information as well as the creative climate and innovative elements in the entrepreneurial activities.

When does ostracism lead to turnover intention? The moderated mediation model of job stress and job autonomy

This study explored the mediating and moderating processes through which social exclusion or ignorance causes employee behavioural outcomes in a workplace. Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the study investigated the effect of perceived workplace ostracism on turnover intention as mediated by job stress and moderated by job autonomy among a sample of 144 employees from the consumer services sector in Malaysia. The results suggest that employees’ perceived workplace ostracism leads to job stress, which in turn leads to negative behavioural outcomes such as turnover intention. Job autonomy was also found to have moderated the mediated relationship, whereby the relationship was stronger with low levels of job autonomy.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance among Employees in Malaysia Service Sector

In this study, the researcher has intended to examine the level of emotional intelligence among respondents in Malaysian service sector. The differences of emotional intelligence level will be examined based on demographic factors such as gender, age, and marital status. This study also examines the relationship of emotional intelligence on employees’ job performance. This study use quantitative method whereby a set of questionnaires are used to collect the data. There were 330 of data responses from employees in Malaysia service sector. The data analyses in this study were analyzed by using the IBM SPSS statistics software version 23. Descriptive statistics were used to measure the level of emotional intelligence. Meanwhile, testing of means analysis were used to examine the differences in the levels of emotional intelligence. Pearson Correlation Coefficient and regression analysis were performed to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and employees’ job performance. Results indicate that there is a strong significant relationship between emotional intelligence and employees’ job performance. The discussions of study implications and future research will be explained at the end of this article.

Externalities of Colleagues’ Human Capital Accumulation and Individual Wages: Empirical Evidence from the Malaysian Service Sector

The aim of this study is to examine the extent to which colleagues’ human capital accumulation (education, work experience and training) had an impact on individuals’ earnings in the service sector in Malaysia. The study employed data from the 2007 Productivity Investment Climate Survey (PICS) and the colleagues’ human capital accumulation was measured using information from both workers and employers survey. Random Effect (RE) was used to estimate the effects of these factors on wages. Findings from the RE showed that only co-workers’ education had a positive and significant impact on individual wages. One year of colleagues’ additional schooling will increase the individuals’ earnings between 2.8 and 4.7 percent a year. Women experience a higher wage premium than that of men (4.7 against 3.5 percent). In addition, educational dispersion between respondents and workplaces also had a significant impact on earnings as it increases workers’ earnings between 2 and 3.7 percent for every additional increase of one standard deviation of the educational dispersion. These positive effects can be interpreted as the existence of positive spillovers or externalities of the education of colleagues at the workplace as it can enhance productivity of other employees in the same organization.

Labour Demand Elasticity and Manpower Requirement in Malaysian Service Sector

The first objective of this study is to analyse the elasticity of labour-output and labour-wage for professional and technical labours. The second objective is to project the requirements of these two occupational categories for year 2015 and 2020. The analysis is based on data of four selected services subsectors, namely, professional business, education, health and information and communication technology for the period 20002010. Data are obtained from the Service Industry Survey collected by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. The results show that the elasticity of labour-output is positive, while the elasticity of labour-wage can be positive or negative depending on the occupational category and sector. The manpower requirement for the professional and technical occupations depend on the output growth and the initial stock of employment, which are dominated by the education and information and communication technology sectors.

Entrepreneurial Training of Low-Income Women Micro Enterprises in the Service Sector in Malaysia: Understanding the Problems and Challenges

Most of the low-income women who are involved in micro enterprises (MEs) in Malaysia have low business sustainability due to low confidence and business skills. Current training programmes offered to the low-income segments have limitations such as too general training contents, expensive fees etc. The current assistance schemes given by the government have fallen into the trap of charity and high cost. Nevertheless, women who have undergone some kind of entrepreneurial training faced lesser obstacles and produced higher business growth than those who have never attended training. Despite the increase in the number of research involving women entrepreneurs, there is lacked of research about entrepreneurial training involving low-income women micro enterprises (MEs) in service businesses in Malaysia. For this reason, little knowledge exists regarding the entrepreneurial training for MEs and service sector, particularly in Malaysia. Therefore, this study intends to explore the problems and challenges relate to entrepreneurial training among low-income women MEs in service business. To achieve the objectives, this study will employ qualitative methods using focus groups and interviews targeted at low-income women MEs in the service sector in Malaysia. This study delivers an important contribution to our understanding of how to develop a better entrepreneurial training to low-income women MEs in service sectors in Malaysia.