http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/handle/1812/499 Search the Channel search http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/simple-search http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/handle/1812/786 Title: The relationships between social cognitive constructs, personality factors and exercise behaviour: An integrated model <br/> <br/>Authors: Yap, Sheau Fen <br/> <br/>Abstract: ABSTRACT The evolvement of consumer healthy lifestyle certainly creates new opportunities and at the same time posing marketing challenges to marketers in the health-related industries. A good understanding of the shifting consumer social psychological factors influencing healthy lifestyle behaviour is integral to capitalising on these business opportunities available. Exercise participation was the main focus of this study as it is regarded as an important component of healthy lifestyles and desired public health behaviour. There are several behavioural models exist in the health literature such as the health belief model, protection motivation theory, theory of reasoned action and planned behaviour, self-efficacy theory, locus of control, self-determination theory, transtheoretical model of stages of change. A review of these models suggests the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB, Ajzen 1991) as an appropriate and effective model in examining exercise behaviour. Hence, the present study adopted the TPB as the underpinning theory. The TPB has received great attention in the exercise domain. However, the findings from some of these studies were mixed. These conflicting results indicate a need for clarification of conceptual definitions, operationalisation, and measurement of the TPB constructs which were addressed in the present study. Although there is general support for the use of TPB, the sufficiency of the model has been questioned. Specifically, the role of personality has received increasing attention in the exercise research. Past research has initially focused on personality as an outcome of physical activity. Later, some researchers have focused on personality as an antecedent of exercise behaviour. There are also researchers who have either compared the personalities of inactive/unfit persons to active/fit persons or examined the role of personality in predicting exercise adherence. In most past studies, numerous factors derived intuitively have been included in the original TPB model with an aim to increase the predictive power of their modified model. However, very few researchers have looked into a more comprehensive and integrative model which enables the examination of factors that influence exercise behaviour simultaneously. The main thrust of this study is to propose and test an integrative model of exercise behaviour which aims to: (1) test a theoretical model that integrates the social cognitive constructs contained in the TPB and the five personality factors adopted from the Five-Factor Model of personality (FFM, Tupes and Christal, 1961; Norman, 1963) in predicting exercise intention and behaviour; (2) examine the model efficacy of disaggregated multi-components TPB structure compared to the traditional single concept TPB measure; (3) investigate the effects of social cognitive and personality factors on exercise intention and exercise behaviour; (4) examine the mediating effect of exercise intention that links social cognitive predictors and personality constructs to exercise behaviour; (5) predict group membership based on personality and social cognitive constructs. The present integrative model of social cognitive and personality factors to explore determinants of exercise behaviour is a new application. This study represents one of the first attempts to examine individual exercise participation from marketing perspective. A good understanding of factors affecting the decision making, evaluations and behavioural aspect of individual exercise behaviour is expected to help the development of health-related marketing theory. Cross-sectional survey data was collected via self-administered surveys from general adults sample (n = 512) in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The present study involves three phases of data analyses. First, the constructs are validated using exploratory measurement assessment tools such as corrected item-total correlation, exploratory factor analyses, and reliability test for internal consistency. The measurement model is then created and tested for unidimensionality, convergent validity, and discriminant validity using confirmatory factor analysis. Second, several preliminary analyses have been conducted (i.e., descriptive statistics, chi-square, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, discriminant analysis, and Pearson correlation coefficients) to provide greater insights to marketers and public policy makers. Lastly, alternative model comparisons are performed using the SEM technique, which aim to: (1) test and confirm the optimum measurement structure for TPB predictors; (2) test and confirm the hypothesised partial mediation model. Upon establishing the model fit, the significance, direction, and magnitude of each hypothesised structural parameter are assessed. Multivariate analysis using SEM has supported the proposed integrated model of exercise behaviour based on the tenets of TPB and FFM, which accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in exercise intention (R² = 0.807) and behaviour (R² = 0.421). Specific findings revealed that: (1) all social cognitive and personality predictors were significantly correlated with exercise intention and exercise behaviour; (2) attitude components, perceived control, and conscientiousness predicted exercise intention with affective attitude emerged as the strongest predictor of exercise intention; (3) perceive control, exercise intention, extraversion and conscientiousness predicted exercise behaviour (conscientiousness was found to be the strongest predictor of exercise behaviour); (4) exercise intention mediates the links between attitude component, perceived control, conscientiousness and exercise behaviour, but the mediating effects were small. Other empirical findings include: (1) the alternative model comparison demonstrated that both attitude and subjective norm constructs performed better when modelled as a disaggregated two-factor structure; whereas the PBC construct is best modelled as a single perceived control concept which captures merely the perceived control measures; (2) the independent sample t-tests produced significant mean differences between ‘high active’ and ‘low active’ exercise groups in terms of all social cognitive constructs, personality factors, and exercise behaviour; (3) conscientiousness and extraversion are the second and third most important factors in discriminating the two exercise groups, respectively, after taking into account exercise behaviour. This study has important implications for marketing practitioners, consumer researchers, and public policy makers interested in the determinants of consumer healthy lifestyle behaviour. ABSTRAK Evolusi cara hidup pengguna yang sihat telah memberikan satu peluang dan juga cabaran kepada pengurusan pemasaran di dalam industri yang berkaitan dengan barang- barang atau makanan kesihatan. Penglibatan dalam senaman menjadi fokus utama dalam kajian ini kerana ia adalah satu komponen yang penting dalam gaya hidup yang sihat dan juga amalan kesihatan rakyat keseluruhan diidamkan. Terdapat beberapa model perlakuan di dalam kajian kesihatan seperti „the health belief model‟, „protection motivation theory‟, „theory of reasoned action‟ and „planned behaviour‟, „self-efficacy theory‟, „locus of control‟, „self-determination theory‟, dan „transtheoretical model‟. Model yang paling sesuai dan efektif ialah Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB, Ajzen 1991). Oleh itu kajian ini telah adaptasi dari model TPB sebagai teori asas. TPB telah mendapat perhatian yang ketara dalam bidang senaman. Bagaimanapun hasil kajian adalah bercampur-campur, justeru itu menunjukan perlunya satu penjelasan dari segi konsep, operasi dan ukuran terhadap konstrak TPB yang mana telah diberikan kajian dan penjelasan dalam penyelidikan ini. Walaupun secara amnya penggunaan TPB mendapat sokongan namun terdapat persoalan tentang model ini, khususnya peranan personaliti telah menerima perhatian dalam kajian senaman. Kajian lalu pada mulanya memfokus kepada personaliti sebagai hasil aktiviti fizikal. Kemudian terdapat penyelidik yang memfokus personaliti sebagai faktor kepada tingkahlaku senaman. Terdapat juga penyelidik yang telah membandingkan personaliti tidak aktif/tidak sihat kepada personaliti aktif/ sihat atau dalam erti kata lain mengkaji peranan personaliti dalam jangkaan perlakuan senaman. Telah banyak faktor telah dimasukkan ke dalam model TPB namun tidak cukup komprehensif dan integrasi yang membolehkan TPB digunakan untuk melihat faktor–faktor yang mempengaruhi perlakuan senaman secara bersama. Tujuan utama kajian ini adalah untuk mencadangkan dan menguji model integrasi amalan senaman yang bertujuan untuk: (1) menguji model teori yg mengintegrasikan kognitif social yang terdapat di dalam TPB dan lima faktor personaliti yang diadaptasikan dari Lima Faktor Personaliti Model (FFM, Tupes and Christal, 1961; Norman, 1963) dalam menjangkakan tujuan dan amalan senaman (2) mengkaji keberkesanan model pecahan pelbagai kompenen di dalam struktur TPB berbanding dengan ukuran tradisional TPB satu konsep; (3) menyelidik kesan kesan kognitif sosial dan faktor personaliti di dalam tujuan dan amalan senaman; (4) mengkaji kesan perantaraan tujuan senaman yang menghubungkan jangkaan social kognitif dan cantuman personaliti dan kognitif sosial. Model integrasi sosial kognitif dan faktor personaliti untuk mengeksplorasi sebab amalan senaman yang didapati sekarang adalah aplikasi baru. Kajian ini mewakili satu dari usaha awal untuk mengkaji penglibatan senaman individu dari perspektif pemasaran. Pemahaman yang baik terhadap faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi pembuatan keputusan, penilaian dan aspek tingkah laku individu dalam gaya senaman dijangkakan dapat membantu untuk membangunkan teori pemasaran yang berkaitan dengan kesihatan. v Data telah diperolehi melalui “self administered surveys” dari sampel responden dewasa (n=512) di Lembah Klang, Malaysia. Kajian ini melingkungi tiga fasa di dalam analisis data. Pertama, cantuman adalah disahkan menggunakan “exploratory measurement assessment tools” seperti “corrected item-total correlation, exploratory factor analyses, and reliability test” untuk konsistensi dalaman. Model ukuran kemudian di reka dan diuji untuk “unidimensionality, convergent validity, and discriminant validity” dengan menggunakan analisis “confirmatory factor”. Kedua, beberapa analisis awal telah dijalankan (seperti “descriptive statistics, chi-square, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, discriminant analysis, and Pearson correlation coefficients) untuk mendapatkan maklumat yang lebih baik untuk pemasar dan penggubah polisi awam. Akhir sekali, model alternative dibandingkan dengan menggunakan teknik SEM, bertujuan untuk: (1) menguji dan mengesahkan struktur ukuran optimum untuk penjangka TPB; (2) menguji dan mengesahkan model “hypothesised partial mediation”. Sebaik mendapati model telah ditetapkan, signifikan, tujuan dan magnitude setiap parameter struktur hipotesis telah di nilai. Analisis “Multivariate” menggunakan SEM telah menyokong cadangan model integrasi amalan senaman berdasarkan pandangan di dalam TPB dan FFM, di mana menerangkan untuk “substantial portion” di dalam variasi tujuan senaman (R² = 0.807) dan tingkahlaku (R² = 0.421). Jawapan yang spesifik mendedahkan bahawa: (1) semua kognitif sosial dan jangkaan personaliti adalah signifikan berhubungkait dengan tujuan dan tingkahlaku senaman; (2) komponen sikap, kawalan pemerhatian dan perhatian teliti tujuan senaman dengan sikap yang menunjukkan emosi wujud sebagai jangkaan yang paling kuat di dalam tingkahlaku senaman; (3) kawalan pemerhatian, tujuan senaman, “extraversion” dan perhatian teliti jangkaan tingkahlaku senaman (perhatian teliti telah didapati sebagai jangkaan terkuat di dalam tingkahlaku senaman); (4) tujuan senaman menjadi perantaraan di antara hubungan komponen sikap, kawalan pemerhatian, perhatian teliti dan tingkahlaku senaman, tetapi kesan perantaraan adalah kecil. Kesan kajian yang lain adalah termasuk: (1) model perbandingan alternatif menunjukkan bahawa kedua-dua sikap dan “subjective norm constructs” mendapatkan keputusan lebih baik apabila dimodelkan sebagai “disaggregated” struktur dua-faktor; manakala cantuman PBC adalah model terbaik sebagai konsep “single perceived control” yang merangkumi ukuran kawalan yang dijangka sahaja; (2) “independent sample” untuk “t-tests” menghasilkan perbezaan “mean” yang signifikan di antara „high active‟ and „low active‟ di dalam kumpulan senaman untuk semua cantuman kognitif sosial, faktor personaliti dan tingkahlaku senaman; (3) perhatian teliti dan “extraversion” adalah faktor kedua dan ketiga terpenting di dalam membezakan kedua-dua kumpulan senaman, selepas mengambilkira tingkahlaku senaman. Kajian ini mempunyai implikasi penting kepada pemasar, pengkaji pengguna, dan penggubah polisi awam yang berminat di dalam penentu tingkahlaku gaya hidup sihat pengguna. <br/> <br/>Description: Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, 2009. http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/handle/1812/750 Title: Outsourcing the HR functions: The role of strategies and HR performance <br/> <br/>Authors: Hasliza Abdul Halim <br/> <br/>Abstract: ABSTRACT The primary objective of this study is to examine how the business strategies and human resource management strategies are associated with the degree of outsourcing the human resource functions and their contribution towards human resource performance. In addition, the framework also examines the relationship between business strategies and human resource management strategies. Four types of business strategies are identified namely: quality-based, differentiation, breadth and low-cost. The six human resource management strategies used are namely expansion, quality conscious, cost minimisation, commitment, employee development and conventional. The mediator roles of human resource outsourcing and human resource management strategies are also examined. Using a self-administered questionnaire, a survey was conducted and the respondents were from the Malaysian manufacturing sector. The key informant was the head of human resource department. The original sample comprised of 232 organisations but only 113 engaged in some form of human resource outsourcing. Regression analysis (OLS) and structural equation modeling were conducted to test all the hypotheses of this study. The findings indicated that organisations outsourced only transactional and traditional functions. In general, business strategies influence the human resource outsourcing but specifically, only the differentiation business strategy has significant influence on the outsourcing of transactional and traditional human resource functions. Besides, human resource management strategies also influence human resource outsourcing but only quality conscious, commitment and employee development strategy are found to significantly influence the outsourcing of transactional functions, while cost minimisation strategy has an impact on outsourcing traditional functions. As for the relationship between business strategies and human resource management strategies, the following business/human resource management strategies correlations exhibited significant relationship: quality based strategy with expansion and quality conscious; differentiation strategy with expansion, quality conscious, cost minimisation, commitment and conventional; breadth strategy with expansion and low-cost strategy with cost minimisation. On the mediation test, the results showed that the model exhibited a fully mediated model whereby as a whole, human resource outsourcing mediated the relationship between business, human resource management strategies and human resource performance. Additionally, human resource management strategies also mediated the relationship between business strategies and human resource outsourcing. This study makes both theoretical and methodological contributions, especially in identifying the significant factors that influence the decision to outsource human resource functions and their impact on human resource performance as well as the research design and the measurement of constructs. In short, it provides useful pointers to human resource managers on the importance of business strategy and human resource management strategy in any human resource outsourcing exercise. ABSTRAK Objektif utama kajian ini adalah untuk mengkaji bagaimana strategi perniagaan dan strategi pengurusan sumber manusia dikaitkan dengan fungsi-fungsi sumber manusia yang mengguna khidmat sumber luar dan sumbangannya terhadap prestasi sumber manusia. Rangka ini juga meneliti hubungan antara strategi perniagaan dan strategi pengurusan sumber manusia. Empat jenis strategi perniagaan yang dikenalpasti adalah; dasar kualiti, perbezaan, kepelbagaian dan kos rendah. Enam jenis strategi pengurusan sumber manusia adalah perkembangan, kesedaran kualiti, kos pengurangan, komitmen, perkembangan pekerja dan konvensional. Peranan pengantaraan antara fungsi sumber manusia yang menggunakan khidmat sumber luar dan strategi pengurusan sumber manusia juga dikaji. Kajian dibuat menggunakan soal selidik terhadap responden dari sektor pengilangan di Malaysia. Sumber maklumat utama ialah ketua jabatan sumber manusia. Sampel asal terdiri daripada 232 organisasi tetapi hanya 113 terlibat dalam fungsi pengurusan sumber manusia yang mengguna khidmat sumber luar. Analisis regressi (OLS) dan “structural equation modeling” dijalankan untuk mengkaji semua hipotisis kajian ini. Hasil kajian menunjukkan organisasi hanya mengguna khidmat sumber luar untuk fungsi “transactional” dan “traditional” sahaja. Secara am, strategi perniagaan mempengaruhi khidmat sumber luar untuk fungsi-fungsi sumber manusia tetapi khususnya hanya strategi perbezaan mempunyai pengaruh penting terhadap fungsi “transactional” dan “traditional” dalam mengguna khidmat sumber luar. Strategi-strategi pengurusan sumber manusia seperti kesedaran kualiti, komitmen dan perkembangan pekerja didapati mempengaruhi fungsi operasi yang menggunakan khidmat sumber luar manakala kos pengurangan memberi impak pada fungsi “traditional” yang menggunakan khidmat sumber luar. Strategi perniagaan dan strategi pengurusan sumber manusia menunjukkan hubungkait seperti berikut: strategi kualiti dengan perkembangan pekerja dan kesedaran kualiti, strategi perbezaan dengan perkembangan pekerja kesedaran kualiti, kos pengurangan, komitmen dan konvensional, strategi kepelbagaian dengan perkembangan pekerja dan strategi kos rendah dengan strategi kos pengurangan. Kajian pengantaraan antara kedua-dua strategi ini membuktikan ia adalah model pengantaraan yang lengkap. Secara keseluruhan, mengguna khidmat sumber luar untuk fungsi-fungsi sumber manusia menunjukkan hubungan pengantaraan antara strategi perniagaan, strategi pengurusan sumber manusia dengan prestasi sumber manusia. Selain itu, strategi pengurusan sumber manusia juga menjadi perantaraan antara strategi pengurusan dan penggunaan khidmat sumber luar. Kajian ini memberi sumbangan teori dan metodologi terutama untuk mengenalpasti factor-faktor penting yang mempengaruhi keputusan untuk mengguna khidmat sumber luar bagi fungsi-fungsi sumber manusia dan impaknya terhadap prestasi sumber manusia serta rekabentuk penyelidikan dan pengukuran konstruk. Kesimpulannya ia memberi maklumat yang berguna kepada pengurus sumber manusia akan kepentingan-kepentingan strategi perniagaan dan pengurusan sumber manusia apabila mengambil keputusan untuk menggunakan khidmat sumber luar. <br/> <br/>Description: Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya 2009. http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/handle/1812/745 Title: The determinants of capital structure decision of selected ASEAN countries <br/> <br/>Authors: SHASHI KUMAR, KANESAN <br/> <br/>Abstract: Abstract This study examined the firm-specific and macroeconomic factors affecting the capital structure decision of public listed companies in the selected ASEAN countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. Among the independent factors examined include asset tangibility, financial flexibility, liquidity, profitability, size, GDP growth, inflation rate and interest rate while three dependent variables are used for measuring capital structure, namely short-term debt ratio, longterm debt ratio and total debt ratio. The second objective of this study is to test whether the 1997-98 ASEAN financial crisis have altered the corporate financing decision of the selected ASEAN countries. The third objective is designed to find out whether there are any significance differences in the mean capital structure between various industries of selected ASEAN countries. The sources of data for this study are Balance sheets and Income Statements of companies over 14 years period from 1992 till 2005, which are mainly extracted from the Bloomberg. The generalized least square (GLS) regression methods had been used to run the analysis of the panel data with white heteroscedasticity-corrected variances and standard errors. On the overall basis, the results of the study in the ASEAN countries are consistent with the predictions of theoretical studies and the results of previous empirical work. The factor that are commonly affecting the capital structure that are seen in the developed nations form past studies are the similar factors that affects the capital structure decisions of Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. In all these countries, there are sufficient evidence of companies complying to two major theories, static trade off theory and pecking order hypothesis. The evidence on agency cost theory is not very clear in all these countries. As expected, asset tangibility is positively related to long term debt ratio of all the selected ASEAN countries. From the positive association, it is clear that collateral value of fixed assets generally motivates companies to take long term debt and total debt in the selected ASEAN countries. Mix results aree noted for financial flexibility, liquidity and profitability, however the results seems to dominate negative relationship with debt ratios that indicate the evidence for pecking order hypothesis. However, financial flexibility in Singapore and profitability in Philippines appeared positive to capital structure choice and this shows compliance of the static trade off theory. Company size is positively related to long term debt ratio and total debt ratio of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore while in the Philippines, it appeared insignificant. Although GDP growth, inflation rate and interest rate affects capital structure choice, mix results are noted on five selected countries. This study also shows that 1997-98 financial crisis had altered the financing decision of companies in the selected ASEAN countries as revealed by the different results of the factors affecting capital structure decision during pre-crisis and post-crisis period. Significant differences were found in capital structure among the different industries of all the selected ASEAN countries. ABSTRAK Penyelidikan ini mengkaji faktor khusus firma dan faktor makroekonomi yang mempengaruhi keputusan struktur modal syarikat awam di kalangan Negara ASEAN yang terpilih, iaitu Malaysia, Indonesia, Filipina, Thailand dan Singapura. Di antara faktor pembolehubah bebas yang dikaji termasuk keketaraan aset, kelewesan kewangan, kecairan, keuntungan, saiz firma, pertumbuhan KDNK, kadar inflasi dan kadar faedah manakala tiga variable dependent yang digunapakai untuk mengira struktur modal adalah nisbah hutang jangka pendek, nisbah hutang jangka panjang dan nisbah jumlah hutang. Objektif kedua kajian ini adalah untuk menguji samada 1997-98 krisis kewangan ASEAN mempengaruhi keputusan kewangan korporat oleh negara ASEAN yang dipilh di dalam kajian ini. Objektive ketiga kajian ini adalah untuk menguji samada terdapat perbezaan ketara pada purata struktur modal di kalangan industri negara ASEAN yang terpilih. Sumber data untuk kajian ini adalah penyata keuntungan dan penyata kira-kira untuk tempoh 14 tahun, iaitu dari 1992 hingga 2005 yang didapati daripada Bloomberg. Kaedah ‘Generalized Least Square” regresi digunakan untuk menganalisa data panel. Secara keseluruhannya, keputusan kajian ini adalah konsisten dengan jangkaan kajian teori dan keputusan kajian empirik yang lepas. Faktor yang mempengaruhi keputusan struktur modal untuk negara maju dari kajian yang lepas adalah faktor yang agak serupa mempengaruhi keputusan struktur modal bagi Negara ASEAN yang terpilih. Di dalam kajian ini juga, boleh disimpulkan bahawa terdapat bukti syarikat ASEAN yang terpilih mengikuti dua teori utama, iaitu teori “static trade off” dan teori “pecking order”. Tiada terdapat bukti yang kukuh untuk syarikat ASEAN mengikuti teori “agency cost”. Seperti yang dijangkakan, aset keketaraan mempengaruhi nisbah hutang jangka panjang secara positif ke atas negara-negara ASEAN yang terpilih. Keputusan yang bercampuran diperhatikan untuk kelewesan kewangan, kecairan dan keuntungan, di mana keputusan banyak memihak kepada hubungan secara negatif dengan struktur modal dan ini membuktikan kewujudan “pecking order hypothesis”. Walaubagaimanapun, kelewesan kewangan di Singapura dan keuntangan di Filipina memperlihatkan hubungan secara langsung dengan struktur modal dan ini menunjukkan kepatuhan kepada teori “static trade off”. Saiz firma menpengaruhi nisbah hutang jangka panjang dan nisbah jumlah hutang Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand dan Singapura secara langsung manakala tiada hubungan didapati di Filipina. Walaupun faktor-faktor makroekonomi, iaitu Pertumbuhan dalam KDNK, kadar inflasi dan kadar faedah mempengaruhi keputusan struktur modal, keputusan yang bercampuran dilihat untuk kelima-lima negara ASEAN yang dipilih. Penyelidikan ini juga mendapati krisis kewangan 1997-98 mengubah keputusan kewangan syarikat ASEAN yang terpilih seperti mana yang dilihat daripada keputusan yang berbeza diperolehi untuk faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi struktur modal sebelum krisis dan selepas krisis kewangan. Juga didapati bahawa terdapat perbezaan yang ketara di antara struktur modal di kalangan berlainan industri bagi syarikat negara ASEAN yang terpilih. <br/> <br/>Description: Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya 2009 http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/handle/1812/742 Title: Board of directors, ownership structure, ethnicity and earnings quality: Malaysian evidence <br/> <br/>Authors: Hafiza Aishah Hashim <br/> <br/>Abstract: ABSTRACT The Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s as well as the highly publicised scandals in the United States (US) revealed the critical need for firms in both developed and developing countries to improve corporate governance practices and to regain investors’ confidence in the integrity of accounting numbers. The financial crisis, together with US corporate failures and breakdowns in truthful accounting, has resulted in a massive loss of investor confidence in financial reporting, corporate governance and the integrity of the markets the world over and has driven most of the affected countries, including Malaysia, to make improved corporate governance a priority. To address this issue, this study investigates the relationship between the board of directors’ characteristics, ownership structure, ethnicity and earnings quality of 831 nonfinancial companies listed on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Board over the period 2003-2005. Existing literature has documented that financial reporting quality is of higher quality when firms adopt stronger corporate governance mechanisms. To measure earnings quality, this study employs the accrual quality model developed in Dechow and Dichev (2002) and modified in McNichols (2002) and Francis et al. (2005). Generally, the results of this study indicate that corporate governance does matter in Malaysia. Nonetheless, not all elements of measured governance are important. Despite the general belief that greater independence of the board is associated with greater financial reporting quality, this study finds a contrary but significant relationship between board independence and earnings quality. Contradictory to the agency theory, a higher proportion of independent directors is associated with a lower quality of reported earnings. In order to focus beyond the independent directors’ monitoring role, this study includes board expertise variables as complementary characteristics that might reasonably enhance the effectiveness of boards. This study finds a positive significant association between governance and firm-specific expertise and earnings quality. Additional directorships held by board members and longer average tenure held by independent directors are found to be two important determinants of an effective board. Neither CEO duality nor board financial expertise are found to be significant in this study. Interestingly, a positive significant association between outside board ownership as well as family and institutional ownership, and earnings quality is noted, suggesting the dominant impact of ownership structure on earnings quality in Malaysia. The study reveals that family ownership and institutional ownership play a significant role in explaining the quality of reported earnings. The presence of a higher proportion of family members on the corporate board is likely to enhance the earnings quality reported by the firms. Additionally, it is found that an increase in the institutional investors’ shareholdings has a positive role in determining earnings quality in Malaysia. Further, this study reports higher earnings quality associated with firms dominated by Malay directors suggesting that quality of financial reporting cannot be culturally free and is impacted largely by government policy. Overall, this study makes a contribution to extant literature by evidencing that financial reporting quality depends on the efficiency of a bundle of governance mechanisms that needs to be explored from different theoretical perspectives taking account of the institutional context. ABSTRAK (BAHASA MELAYU) Krisis kewangan Asia pada akhir 1990an dan skandal yang melanda US yang banyak didedahkan menyebabkan banyak firma di negara membangun mahupun sedang membangun terpaksa memperkukuhkan lagi amalan pentadbiran korporat bagi meraih semula keyakinan para pelabur dalam pengurusan amanah. Krisis kewangan dan kegagalan syarikat korporat US serta kelemahan sistem perakaunan menjejaskan keyakinan pelabur terhadap laporan kewangan, pentadbiran korporat dan pasaran amanah dunia yang turut mempengaruhi kebanyakan negara yang terjejas termasuk Malaysia agar memantapkan lagi pentabiran korporat sebagai agenda utama. Bagi menangani isu tersebut, kajian ini meneliti hubungan antara ciri-ciri lembaga pengarah, struktur pemilikan, etnik dan kualiti pendapatan bagi 831 syarikat bukan kewangan yang tersenarai dalam Papan Utama Bursa Malaysia bagi tahun 2003-2005. Sorotan pembacaan yang dibuat menunjukkan bahawa kualiti laporan kewangan adalah lebih baik jika firma memiliki mekanisma pentadbiran korporat yang baik. Bagi mengukur kualiti pendapatan, kajian ini menggunakan model kualiti berakru yang dikemukakan oleh Dechow dan Dichev (2002) yang kemudiannya diubahsuai oleh McNichols (2002) dan Francis et al. (2005). Umumnya, dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa pentadbiran korporat adalah isu penting di Malaysia. Bagaimanapun, bukan semua perkara yang berkaitan dengan topik berkenaan adalah penting. Sungguhpun umum percaya bahawa kewujudan ahli lembaga pengarah bebas meningkatkan kualiti kewangan, kajian mendapati sebaliknya walaupun wujud pengaruh yang jelas antara ahli lembaga pengarah bebas dengan kualiti pendapatan. Bercanggahan dengan teori agensi, peningkatan nisbah ahli lembaga pengarah bebas didapati berkait langsung boleh menjejaskan kualiti pendapatan. Bagi melihat fungsi pengurusan lembaga pengarah, kajian turut mengambilkira pembolehubah kepakaran lembaga pengarah sebagai ciri-ciri tambahan yang mungkin meningkatkan kecekapan syarikat. Kajian ini mendapati perkaitan langsung yang positif antara pentadbiran dan kepakaran khusus firma serta kualiti pendapatan. Kuasa pengarah berbilang bagi ahli lembaga pengarah dan pemilikan yang lebih lama oleh ahli lembaga pengarah bebas juga didapati merupakan dua penentu utama kecekapan syarikat. Kajian turut menunjukkan bahawa kewujudan CEO-Pengerusi berdwi-peranan dan atau pengarah dengan kepakaran kewangan syarikat adalah tidak berkaitan. Menariknya, hubungan yang positif dan jelas antara pemilikan saham oleh ahli lembaga pengarah bebas dengan pemilikan keluarga serta institusi dan kualiti pendapatan dapat dilihat. Hal ini menunjukkan pengaruh yang kuat antara struktur pemilikan dengan kualiti pendapatan di Malaysia. Kajian juga memperlihatkan bahawa pemilikan keluarga dan institusi turut menyumbang kepada kualiti pendapatan firma. Kewujudan lebih ramai ahli lembaga pengarah daripada pemilikan keluarga adalah berkesan untuk meningkatkan kualiti pendapatan. Begitu juga dengan pemilikan saham oleh pelabur institusi yang turut memberi kesan yang positif terhadap kualiti pendapatan di Malaysia. Kajian ini menyatakan bahawa pendapatan yang lebih berkualiti turut dipengaruhi oleh firma-firma yang ditadbir oleh ahli lembaga pengarah majoritinya berbangsa Melayu beerti kualiti laporan kewangan turut dipengaruhi oleh faktor budaya dan polisi kerajaan. Keseluruhannya, kajian ini pastinya menyumbang kepada literatur yang sedia ada dengan membuktikan bahawa kualiti kewangan yang diperolehi bergantung kepada kecekapan beberapa mekanisme pentadbiran yang perlu diterokai dari pelbagai perspektif teori dengan turut mengambilkira konteks institusi. <br/> <br/>Description: Thesis (PhD)-- Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, 2009. http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/handle/1812/596 Title: Human resource management and employee perception of service quality in the Malaysian golf clubs <br/> <br/>Authors: Solha Husin <br/> <br/>Abstract: The critical role of human resources in linking sport organizations to profits is increasingly acknowledged by sport managers. Efforts have been made to enhance the effectiveness of employee contributions to the sport organizations. To provide insightful inputs to this endeavour, the present study develops a model of human resource management (HRM) in sport and proposes it to be tested in the context of Malaysian golf clubs. The model illustrates that there are strong correlation coefficients between servicebased HRM practices and employee organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and between employee OCB and perceived service quality. Further, the model also depicts that these relationships are moderated by the nature of employee job orientation that is; the fact that whether or not the employees are in physical contact with customers will determine the significance of the relationships among those studied variables. Specifically, the HRM practices that are observed in this study are support at work, training, reward system, supervisory assistance and performance appraisals. Survey in a form of self-administered questionnaire has been utilized as the method to collect the data of study. Upon approval and assistance of 68 18-hole golf club management, 680 questionnaires have been mailed to non-executive employees of those participating golf clubs. The samples usable for the study account for a response rate of 325 (48%). Scale purification procedures which include assessments of item-tototal correlation, Cronbach’s Alpha and exploratory factor analysis indices have been performed as a preliminary analysis to ensure the reliability and validity of the instruments used to measure the constructs. Finally, before the hypotheses are tested using structural equation model (SEM) technique, a confirmatory factor analysis has been carried out to verify the fit of the measurement model. Based on the results of SEM test, it is revealed that training is the only one that is not significantly related to OCB. Meanwhile, the rest of other service-based HRM practices indicate large magnitudes of standardized regression weights, led by supervisory assistance as the highest and reward system as the weakest significant predictor of OCB. OCB is also found to be highly associated with perceived service quality. The model undergoes a mediation test and the result demonstrates that it presents better as a fully mediated rather than partially mediated framework. Hence, in the fully mediated model, OCB is shown to be a non-mediator in the training-perceived service quality link while it is a strong mediator in the other service-based HRM practices-perceived service quality links. In contrast to the earlier prediction, the model however is not moderated by the nature of employee job orientation. This means that the proposed model is valid among both the non- and customer-contact employees. This study contributes to the body of knowledge of sport management particularly in highlighting the important role of human resources in sport businesses. For sport researchers, the findings as well as the research methodology adopted in this study serve as valuable inputs in their future researches. As for sport practitioners, this study helps the identification of significant factors that influence the decision to design HRM practices that are geared towards achieving high service quality. In short, the theory and practice of sport management are advanced one step further by the contribution of this research exercise. ABSTRAK Kepentingan peranan sumber manusia di dalam perhubungan di antara organisasi sukan dan sumber pendapatannya semakin di perakukan oleh para pengurus sukan. Berbagai langkah telah diusahakan bagi meningkatkan lagi keberkesanan sumbangan pekerja kepada organisasi sukan. Didalam membantu ke arah usaha ini, kajian ini membina sebuah model pengurusan sumber manusia (PSM) di dalam sukan dan mencadangkan kesesuaian model ini diuji di dalam konteks kelab golf di Malaysia. Model ini menggambarkan bahawa terdapat korelasi koefisien yang kuat yang menghubungkan amalan-amalan PSM yang berasaskan perkhidmatan dengan kelakuan kewarganegaraan (organizational citizenship behaviour) dan kelakuan kewarganegaraan dengan persepsi kualiti perkhidmatan. Selain daripada itu, model ini juga menonjolkan bahawa perhubungan di antara variabel-variabel tersebut adalah dipengaruhi oleh orientasi kerja yang dilakukan oleh pekerja, iaitu samada pekerja tersebut berhubung secara langsung atau tidak langsung dengan pelanggan akan menentukan tahap signifikan perhubungan di antara variabel-variabel yang dikaji. Secara spesifik, amalan-amalan PSM yang berasaskan perkhidmatan yang dikaji di dalam penyelidikan ini ialah, sokongan di tempat kerja, latihan, sistem ganjaran, sokongan daripada penyelia dan penilaian prestasi. Kaedah penyelidikan dalam bentuk kertas soalselidik kendiri telah digunakan sebagai alat untuk mengumpul data. Setelah mendapat kebenaran dan bantuan daripada 68 pihak pengurusan kelab golf yang mempunyai 18 lubang, 680 kertas soalselidik telah dipos kepada pekerja berpangkat bukan eksekutif di kesemua kelab golf yang terlibat. Daripada jumlah tersebut, 325 (48%) respon layak digunakan sebagai data untuk kajian ini. Bagi memastikan skala yang digunakan untuk mengukur variabel-variabel yang dikaji mempunyai kebolehpercayaan (reliability) dan kesahan (validity), prosedur penyucian skala (scale purification) telah dijalankan ke atas data. Nilai-nilai item-totalcorrelation, Cronbach’s Alpha, dan beberapa indeks exploratory factor analysis diperiksa sebagai analisis di peringkat awal. Akhirnya, sebelum semua hipotesis diuji dengan menggunakan teknik structural equation model (SEM), confirmatory factor analysis telah diaplikasikan ke atas data bagi membuktikan kesesuaian ukuran model (measurement model). Berdasarkan kepada keputusan ujian SEM, hanya latihan merupakan satu-satunya amalan HRM yang berasaskan perkhidmatan yang tidak mempunyai hubungkait signifikan dengan kelakuan kewarganegaraan. Manakala hubungan di antara kelakuan kewarganegaraan dengan amalan-amalan HRM yang lain menunjukkan nilai standardized regression weights yang tinggi, dengan sokongan daripada penyelia sebagai faktor tertinggi dan sistem ganjaran sebagai faktor terendah. Kelakuan kewarganegaraan juga didapati mempunyai perhubungan yang sangat kuat dengan persepsi kualiti perkhidmatan. Ujian pengantara (mediation) telah dijalankan ke atas model dan keputusan menunjukkan bahawa model yang dicadangkan adalah lebih baik jika ianya wujud sebagai model pengantara lengkap (fully mediated) berbanding dengan model separa lengkap (partially mediated). Sehubungan dengan itu, di dalam model pengantara lengkap, kelakuan kewarganegaraan telah menunjukkan bahawa ianya berfungsi sebagai pengantara yang signifikan di antara amalan-amalan HRM berasaskan perkhidmatan dan persepsi kualiti perkhidmatan. Hanya di antara latihan dan persepsi kualiti perkhidmatan, variabel kelakuan kewarganegaraan tidak menunjukkan fungsi pengantara yang signifikan. Disebalik ramalan yang telah dibuat di awal kajian, model ini tidak dipengaruhi oleh orientasi kerja yang dilakukan oleh pekerja. Ini bermaksud, model yang dicadangkan di dalam kajian ini adalah sah di kalangan semua pekerja, tidak kira semada mereka berhubung secara langsung atau tidak langsung dengan pelanggan. Kajian ini memberi sumbangan kepada ilmu pengurusan sukan terutamanya didalam menekankan kepentingan peranan sumber manusia di dalam perniagaan sukan. Kepada para penyelidik sukan, hasil kajian serta kaedah penyelidikan yang digunakan di dalam kajian ini berfungsi sebagai input berguna di dalam kajian-kajian yang akan dijalankan pada masa hadapan. Manakala kepada para pengamal sukan, kajian ini membantu mengenalpasti faktor-faktor penting yang mempengaruhi keputusan dalam merekabentuk amalan-amalan PSM yang menjurus kepada pencapaian kualiti perkhidmatan yang tinggi. Kesimpulannya, melalui sumbangan yang diberikan oleh kajian ini, teori dan amalan pengurusan sukan telah maju setapak ke kehadapan. <br/> <br/>Description: Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, 2009.