Vol. 15 No. 3(I) (2023)

The COVID-19 pandemic has had severe repercussions on individuals' lives, with particularly detrimental effects on those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The quality of life and overall well-being of this vulnerable demographic have been profoundly shaken. In the context of increasing research segmentation based on specific population profiles, this study is designed to investigate the well-being of university students hailing from lower-income groups during the pandemic, particularly when stringent movement control orders were in effect. Furthermore, this research scrutinizes variations in well-being with respect to gender and locality. A quantitative comparative approach was employed, and data were collected through a convenient online survey sampling method. The assessment of the subjects' quality of life was carried out using a standardized WHO-QOL BREF questionnaire, consisting of 26 items that measure various domains encompassing environment, physical health, psychological well-being, and social relationships. Furthermore, the WHO well-being measure was also used to assess the respondents' general well-being. Multigroup analysis (MGA) and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to analyze the data. 305 students made up the study cohort, of whom 112 lived in urban regions and 193 in rural ones. The results show significant differences between male and female students in the areas of physical and psychological health. The study also found that among rural students, environmental characteristics and well-being were significantly correlated, although this was not the case for their urban counterparts.

Home bias reflects the propensity of investors to invest substantially in the domestic market. When investing abroad investors’ exhibit foreign bias, a tendency to overweight certain foreign markets based on their preferences. The existence of foreign bias offers a discovery of a new dimension that enables a thorough investigation of such phenomena. A thorough review of the literature reveals that foreign bias has not been thoroughly investigated in emerging countries, especially in the context of OIC countries. In addition, there is yet to see any attempt to explore the potential explanation of the home bias and foreign bias based on relative factors. In other words, the effect of relative factors between home and host countries’ factors remains unexplored. Therefore, the current study undertakes a novelty approach to fill this gap by engaging on relative factors between home and host countries. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine the determinants of foreign bias in the global portfolio investment of selected OIC countries. An unbalanced bilateral panel data of 12 OIC countries’ outward equity investment in 74 host countries from the year 2001 to 2016 is analyzed. The samples observed are based on the composition of host countries that comprise global, intra-OIC, and non-OIC. Cross-sectional analysis shows that OIC countries exhibit higher foreign bias towards their OIC counterparts especially in the MENA region. The results suggest, OIC countries not only exhibit foreign bias but also demonstrate regional bias. System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) empirically shows that foreign bias is possibly explained by factors related to financial market openness, familiarity, information asymmetry, and global financial crisis. This study has a significant implication for the investors, fund managers and the regulators of the OIC countries. Investors and fund managers in OIC countries should be aware of the existence of foreign bias in their global portfolio investment that may potentially reduce the benefits of optimal diversification. It is a call for policy makers in the OIC countries to convince their local investors that international portfolio diversification offers risk sharing and eventually increases the investment return. In addition, policy makers in OIC countries need to design a comprehensive investment agreement to attract active participation and inter-regional investments among OIC countries.

In ensuring the success of an entrepreneurial endeavor, multiple factors come into play. One important aspect is the personality trait of said individual such as narcissism. In Malaysia, there are studies conducted on narcissism in publicly listed companies and CEOs’ earnings management, but lacking research on entrepreneurs and their impact on business performance. This conceptual paper aims to explore the level of narcissism in Malaysian entrepreneurs and how narcissistic traits impact businesses. The theory of Stimulus-Organism-Response is used as the underpinning foundation for framing the relations of the variables to narrow the gap of understanding entrepreneurs’ narcissistic traits impact specifically in the Malaysian region. After reviewing abundant related literature, three main factors are poised as the stimulus portion of the framework; risk-taking activities, propensity towards entrepreneurship, and business competencies. Meanwhile, the organism portion is represented by the narcissistic trait, and the response portion is evaluated in terms of business performance. The implication of this paper is to spur a more indepth probe into this matter and further enhance entrepreneurs’ successes in the future with preventive measures.

Resilience plays an important role in entrepreneurship; however, an in-depth study of the factors that affect the resilience of Asnaf entrepreneurs is unknown. This paper aims to fill this knowledge gap by delving deeper into the challenges that affect the resilience of asnaf entrepreneurs thus hindering their business expansion. The study also observed the ability of asnaf entrepreneurs to deal with economic shocks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In-depth interviews conducted with 2 executive officers of the entrepreneur development sector and 10 LZS enforcers who supervise 901 asnaf entrepreneurs throughout Selangor present an overview of the impediments that hinder the business progress of asnaf entrepreneurs. From 901 asnaf entrepreneurs, a total of 25 asnaf entrepreneurs were selected based on the criteria that have been outlined, namely those who run food-based businesses and have undergone the LZS micro-entrepreneurship program for more than 6 months. Constraints experienced are analyzed. Three essential themes that enlighten challenges in fostering entrepreneurial resilience emerged, namely; the role of family members, non-tech savvy and fear of failure. These themes are discussed based on the methodology used and the findings of previous studies. The findings provide an insight that is useful for LZS in designing entrepreneur development instruments and organizing periodic entrepreneurship modules.

The increasing energy demand and its impact on climate change pose serious challenges to environmental sustainability. University students, as future leaders and decision-makers, have the potential to adopt and promote sustainable energy-saving behavior in their communities. However, the factors influencing their energy-saving practices are poorly understood, especially in the Malaysian context. Using a cross-sectional survey design, this research examines the factors influencing energy-saving behavior among students of MSU. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to MSU students, covering demographic details and variables related to energy-saving behavior and its determinants. The study employed stratified random sampling and used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) for data analysis. The results show that social norms and perceived control over students’ behaviors are the only significant factors affecting sustainable behavior to save energy among students. At the same time, environmental awareness, energy literacy, and personal attitudes have no significant effect. Social norms are the strongest driver of energy-saving behavior, followed by perceived behavioral control. The findings suggest that interventions and policies to foster sustainable energy-saving behavior among students should focus on enhancing social norms and perceived behavioral control. This research fills the knowledge gap by offering specific insight into sustainable energy-saving behavior among Malaysian university students.

The emergence of information and communication technology (ICT) departed from conventional working arrangements to create new ones that permit interaction between employers and employees via apps and systems. The gig economy has arisen as a key theme in a recent independent review of modern employment practices. However, most of the existing literature focused on the implications of growth in these arrangements for workers and their families. Realizing the importance of the research on job involvement for Malaysian citizens specifically among B40 and M40 to opt for gig work is still largely unexplored, hence, this study aims to explore the factors influencing the involvement of a gig worker among B40 and M40 while examining the effect on the enhancement of the B40 and M40 segment’s socio-economic sustainability. Using a purposive sampling method, the data were collected through a survey among gig workers in Malaysia. A total of 1415 valid questionnaires were gathered from the gig workers in 14 states of Malaysia. Additionally, SPSS 28.0 was applied to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that circumstances, earnings, risk, prospects, and workload had a positive relationship with the B40 and M40 socio-economic sustainability while flexibility is not significant toward B40 and M40 socio-economic sustainability. The result also shows that there is a significant difference between B40 and M40 income groups toward socio-economic sustainability. Findings from this study contributed new knowledge on the gig economy in Malaysia. The research also assists policymakers in understanding holistically the current job scenario of gig workers to formulate policies, incentives, and development programs.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted universities worldwide, necessitating a swift transition from traditional face-to-face learning to online learning within a remarkably short time frame to ensure academic continuity. This study aims to explore COVID-19 and Emergency Online Learning: Perspective of Learners towards Communication Effect, Satisfaction and Productivity Level. Specifically, this study focuses on the experiences of BA118 students at UiTM Melaka and their communication with lecturers. Furthermore, the study aims to discover the satisfaction levels of BA118 students at UiTM Melaka in relation to online classes and to describe how online learning impacts student’s productivity. The findings presented in this paper are based on interviews conducted with a randomly selected group of 10 students who enrolled in the Diploma in Office Management and Technology (BA118) at UiTM Melaka.

The practice of waqf (or Islamic endowment) has been recognized as the mainstream social development in Muslim society today since waqf greatly contributes to Malaysia's socio-economic development. Despite the fact that the current development of waqf is not fully utilized, waqf institutions must play a pivotal role in ensuring the attainment of waqf objectives in contemporary society. To achieve their strategic goals and fulfil their accountability towards relevant stakeholders and the public at large, a comprehensive measurement tool is required to assess the performance of waqf institutions holistically. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore the possible key performance indicators for waqf institutions in Malaysia using the balanced scorecard model with four main perspectives: financial perspective, stakeholder perspective, internal process perspective, and learning and growth perspective. The method of this study is based on a review of the literature on relevant performance measurement for waqf institutions in Malaysia. The findings of this study could assist waqf institutions in Malaysia to define their vision and strategy, as well as change their vision and strategy into specific activities, by implementing the proposed indicators that are measurable and comprehensive and are useful for waqf managers to make an accurate and informed decision. The outcome of this study could provide a guideline for designing a holistic and proper measurement system that can be implemented by all waqf institutions in Malaysia to maintain their sustainability and competitiveness.

The KL Car-Free Morning event in Kuala Lumpur is a popular sporting event promoting physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. It occurs every Sunday and involves closing streets for activities like cycling, running, and walking. With the growing number of participants, safety concerns have emerged, necessitating proper planning and safety measures. Event design includes street closures, accessible route design, safety measures, varied activities, evaluation and monitoring, and community engagement. The purpose of these studies is to investigate the effect of crowd design, information, and management on crowd safety in KL CarFree Morning Sporting Events. A quantitative method was used research as a research design and a survey method was for data collected. The population of this study are all the participants that join this event either from running, cycling, walking, rollerblading, or skateboarding activities. SPSS was used as a tool for data analysis. The findings of this study present that crowd design and management significantly affect crowd safety and crowd information does not significantly affect crowd safety. This study is important for the event organizer to understand the factors that will affect the safety of the participants.

The accounting profession plays a vital role in organizations’ financial stability and transparency, making it imperative to examine the satisfaction levels of employers regarding the quality and preparedness of accounting interns. Limited knowledge about how employers perceive the value of accounting interns who have engaged in digital learning experiences throughout their undergraduate studies is known. The study aims to examine the impact of digital learning environments on employer satisfaction with accounting interns in three different aspects, namely technical and functional skills, communication skills and organizational management skills. The study surveyed a sample of employers that had hosted accounting internships in 2022. The findings of this study revealed that employers have a high level of satisfaction towards accounting interns in the digital learning environment. This has significant implications for various stakeholders, including educational institutions, employers, accounting interns and the accounting profession as a whole. It offers insights into how academic institutions can better align their curriculum and support systems with the needs and expectations of employers, thus bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-world accounting practice.