Malaysian Management Journal (MMJ) Vol. 7 No. 2 December 2003
The Association between Ethical Decision-Making, Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment and Selected Demographic Variables
Kamarul Zaman Ahmad
Faculty of Business and Accountancy
Universiti Malaya
Sharifah Haslinda Syed Alwee, Zetty Zahureen Mohd. Yusoff, Suzana Idayu Wati Osman, Siti Normah Awang Tuah
Graduate School of Management
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
Job satisfaction and organisational commitment are variables that have been frequently studied. However, the relationship between ethical decision-making and these two variables are seldom explored. This study conducted on 200 employees from public and private companies in various parts of Kuala Lumpur, aims to investigate the relationship between these three variables. Instruments were used from Paolillo & Vitell (2002), Hunt, Wood & Chonko (1989) and Dubinsky & Hartley (1986) to measure ethics, organisational commitment and job satisfaction respectively. Results show that there is a positive correlation between ethics and organisational commitment and between job satisfaction and organisational commitment. However, contrary to expectations, there is no significant correlation between ethics and job satisfaction. The negative correlation between organisational commitment and position (r = -0.288, p< 0.1) suggests that people higher up in the hierarchy are less committed towards the organisation. The absence of any significant correlation between ethics and age, experience, and position is also contrary to previous studies conducted in the West. This suggests that, unlike the West, ethics does not increase or decrease with age, experience, and position.
Residents’ Attitudes toward Impacts of Tourism: A Case Study of Langkawi, Malaysia
Nurhazani Mohd. Shariff & Shaharuddin Tahir
Faculty of Tourism,
Hospitality and Environmental Management
Universiti Utara Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
This paper presents findings from a study that was undertaken to investigate residents’ attitudes toward the impacts of tourism in Langkawi Island, Malaysia. In order to gain reliable results for the use of Langkawi policy makers and tourism planners, a standardized instrument for measuring residents’ attitude was developed and used in the study. The findings revealed that residents tend to perceive impacts that benefit them as positive impacts of tourism. The findings also indicated that residents tend to perceive impacts of tourism, either positively or negatively depending on how much they would affect their personal lives. The more dependent they were on the positive impacts of tourism, the more supportive they were toward tourism development. Thus, the findings do not support Doxey’s Irridex Model. Finally, the study suggested that for a long-term purpose of achieving sustainable tourism development, Langkawi tourism planners and policy makers should conduct several campaigns and tourism workshops for the residents. Accordingly, this would gain residents support for tourism development on the island.
Introducing Municipal Bond Markets in Malaysia : An Assessment of Present Market Characteristics
Mukaramah Harun, Ting Ding Hooi & Hussin Abdullah
Faculty of Economics
Universiti Utara Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
In developed countries, urban growth has multiplied the demand for investment in basic infrastructure services such as water supply, waste removal, roads and mass transportation. At the same time, decentralization strategies have shifted the responsibility for much of these investments to the local governments. This decentralized investment requires the development of decentralized capital financing. No longer can a central government pay for local investment by raising national taxes or borrowings on international markets and using the funds simply to construct projects at the local level. The introduction of municipal bonds is one of the alternative source of funds to finance the escalating costs of financing local governments. This paper discusses the conditions underlying the development of municipal credit markets, which Malaysia can use to provide a vehicle to narrow the local government’s resource gap through debt funding.
Keywords: Municipal bonds, bonds market, capital financing
Innovative Technologies for Industrial Wastes
Abdul Razak Chik & Juzhar Jusoh
Faculty of Economics
Universiti Utara Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
This article is intended to provide several case studies of successful waste management of a few selected industries in their attempts to become “environmental-conscious” firms. In particular, this article examines the innovative waste-reduction and waste reuse processes undertaken by certain firms in the following industries - asphalt cement and concrete, ferrous metals, Portland cement and concrete, and some other that on the face of it somewhat isolated innovative technologies. For each case, the driver, the waste management technology or processes involved, as well as the associated economic benefits of the adjustments was highlighted. It is hoped that the findings of this article will provide the motivation or continue to motivate engineers and scientists to further explore processes that will help towards better management of industrial wastes.
Keywords: Innovative technologies, waste reuse, asphalt, cement, and concrete.
Information Technology and Cost Efficiency in Malaysian Banking Industry
Mohd. Zaini Abd. Karim, Abdul Rahim Anuar & Shazida Jan Mohd. Khan
Faculty of Economics
Universiti Utara Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
It is argued that information technology can increase cost efficiency of banks by offering opportunities to substitute across inputs into production – for example, to substitute computer technology and information networks for labor. Hence, the transition to a knowledge-based financial sector would lead to banks becoming more competitive, more cost effective and better able in managing risks. As such, those banks that failed to make this transition are less able to compete as they lack the capability to innovate and face higher delivery costs. The main objectives of this paper are to determine the impact of IT on banking efficiency and its economies of scale using a sample of Malaysian banks. To achieve these objectives, stochastic cost frontier method is employed to estimate bank efficiency and panel data approach were used to examine the impact of IT on bank efficiency. The results indicate that the impact of IT on bank efficiency increases with increase in bank size, hence further supporting the process of bank mergers that are currently undertaken in the Malaysian banking industry.
Long Memory and Parity Reversion in Real Exchange Rate
Abd. Ghafar Ismail
Faculty of Economics
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Wahi Ismail
Faculty of Economics
Universiti Teknologi Mara
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
This paper examines the post Bretton Woods experience of the Malaysian Ringgit. In this period, Malaysia moved from a managed to a floating exchange rate environment.We examine persistence in real exchange rates by estimating fractionally integrated ARIMA models and find evidence of long memory, which induces persistence though this long memory need not be associated with a unit root. The results show that three out of four exchange rates being examined display mean reversion. The long memory process re-establishes the Purchasing Power Parity as a meaningful concept of long-run equilibrium relation between the exchange rate and relative prices.
