The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of perceived scarcity, negative feelings, and status consumption on food waste among consumers in Malaysia. A total of 258 questionnaires were collected via convenience sampling from customers who purchased food. The findings suggest that negative feelings and status consumption are significant and positively related to food waste. However, perceived scarcity shows no relationship to food waste. This study indicates that consumer’s behaviors and motivations in buying food can lead to food waste. This study provides empirical and managerial contributions to the underlying factors that influence food waste among consumers. Due to the alarming level of food waste and limited research on consumer food waste behavior in the medium to a high-income group of countries such as Malaysia, there is an urgent call to conduct this study

The cosmetics industry is one of the most lucrative and high-growing industries that are driven by science and innovation. However, there is a lack of studies that analyze scholarly articles on cosmetic products. This study attempts to bridge this gap by reviewing the existing literature, with the specific purpose to explore the trends in the publications and themes related to research on cosmetic products. To achieve this purpose, a bibliometric analysis was conducted using the R application and R-based tools. The research retrieved 613 articles on the Scopus database that used the term ‘cosmetic products’ in their titles. The study reveals that the number of articles published on the topic of cosmetic products is increasing. Two main keywords, paraben, and high-performance liquid chromatography, are the most recurring themes. Halal cosmetics were identified as an emerging research area. In relation to this context, six major topics were identified, which are: regulations for halal certification of halal cosmetics, organization control, attributes of halal cosmetics, consumer purchase, and purchase intention. Overall, this bibliometric analysis provides essential information on the current trends and themes, and provides recommendations for future research on cosmetic products.

This study aimed to investigate factors that influence consumer purchase decision in Malaysian single-priced stores, which are also popularly known as RM2 stores. The study considered six factors that could affect purchase decision in RM2 stores, namely, corporate social responsibility (CSR), sales promotion, social media marketing, perceived value, store environment, and service quality. A quantitative research methodology was employed through a survey using questionnaires administered to 550 customers of the RM2 stores. The data gathered was then analysed through SPSS method to calculate the validity and reliability of the measurement items and to verify the impact of six independent variables on purchase decision. Based on the results, CSR, sales promotion, perceived value, and service quality had significant positive effects on purchase decision, while social media marketing and store environment proved to be insignificant. Among all the factors, perceived value had the strongest influence on purchase decision. The findings are important in assisting RM2 store retailers to understand the factors that affect consumer purchase decision which could help in improving sales. This study complements the current literature and addresses existing research gaps with regard to the linkages between factors that influence consumer purchase decision in Malaysian single-priced stores.

Financial inclusion is a priority agenda in many countries. While the importance of financial inclusion index is widely recognized, the literature lacks a constructive discussion on its measurement in the light of Islamic finance since it is believed that only by the incorporation of the Shariah-based instruments, the level of access to finance can be improved. The study aims to develop a methodology for the computation of an integrated Islamic finance-based index of financial inclusion in Malaysia. Based on the current measurement of financial inclusion index (IFI) in Malaysia, this study employs a self-administered questionnaire and secondary data from Jabatan Waqaf, Zakat dan Haji (JAWHAR) and Yayasan Waqaf Malaysia (YWM), to measure the integrated Islamic finance based financial inclusion index for year 2011 and 2015. Zakat and cash waqf indicators are added in the index computation to represent Islamic finance components. Depending on the value of the index, a country is classified into four categories; high, above average, moderate or low integrated Islamic finance-based of financial inclusion. It is found that the level of financial inclusion using Islamic finance indicator in Malaysia is above average. The overall index level is increased from 0.49 in year 2011 to 0.55 in year 2015. Interestingly, most of the level of zakat and cash waqf indicator indexes are low which indicate that these channels require specific attention to tackle financial inclusion in Malaysia. It is hoped that the findings would be useful for the development of financial inclusion index using Islamic finance approach and monitoring the impact of zakat and waqf to the society.

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is predicted to plunge the global economy, the disclosure on the trends or uncertainties impacting the business operation and financial condition is deemed essential. One of the disclosure areas affected by COVID-19 is management discussion and analysis (MD&A) which is urged to report current and potential future impact of the global pandemic to operations and financial conditions. In this paper, the study is to analyse the information of MD&A disclosure whether the management stating their reaction in relation to COVID-19 implications. The quantitative methodology using secondary data has been utilized to conduct the study. Using a sample of 76 Malaysian public listed companies that made early disclosure on COVID-19 statement, the study employed sentiment analysis to code for the overall tone or sentiment statement made by the chairman/CEO in MD&A. The finding shows that 40.8% (n = 31 firms) of the top management signals pessimistic reaction (P), 21.1% (n =16 firms) shows optimistic reaction (O), 17% (n = 13 firms) shows realism reaction (R) and 21.1% (n = 16 firms) provides no statement on COVID-19 in their MD&A. The top management’s reaction could serve as one of the communication mediums to signal positive, neutral or negative financial and economic anticipation. We believe the study is timely to provide such evidence as capital market regulators worldwide recently has called for the stock exchange operator to issue additional guidance for companies going forward to inform their shareholders and the investing public about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further researches can be conducted to analyse any action taken by companies to modify their MD&A disclosures to adequately capture all the elements of this developing situation and provide more information to users.

This paper reviews the articles on how importance does an individual's spiritual intelligence (SQ) and spiritual congruence (SC) affect individual's attitude in making decision in purchasing product. When the person lives in a way that blends spirituality into his daily life, it will reflect their attitudes and behavior in making the best decision in his life and this allows its association with the rational cognitive processes like goal achievement and problem solving. Meanwhile SC is to examine the degree of match between how consumers actually see themselves in relation to product image. The paper examines the academic literature on construct as well as presents SQ and SC as a causal factor in the formation of the attitude and behaviors of the consumer. The phenomenon of SQ in the organization and workplace has received enormous attention from other scholars. The construct of SQ in individual perspective and developing measurement scale to explore the dimensionality of the concept has not been much explored. While SC is to examine the degree of match between how consumers actually see themselves in relation to Halal cosmetic product image. Thus, this study attempts to enrich the understanding the importance of SQ from the Islamic and western perspective, and SC of individual' attitude towards purchase Halal cosmetic among female Muslim in Malaysia.

This paper intends to investigate the role of engagement, motivation, work environment, supportive culture, and organizational learning on job satisfaction. Responses were collected from 169 employees in Malaysian higher education sector. Further, the data obtained were analysed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results indicated that there are positive and significant relationships between engagement, supportive culture, motivation, and work environment on job satisfaction among employees of Malaysian higher education sector. However, organizational learning is not a significant towards job satisfaction. In future research, employees from private universities and public universities can be studied as comparison. By conducting these comparisons, it will help in creating plans to narrow down the gaps between these two sectors. In addition, the results will help to enhance the rising literature on job satisfaction from Asian context as this study was based on Malaysian samples. Data from employees working in different higher education institutions was utilized for this study to ensure the unbiased responses. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature concerning job satisfaction among employees, and the results of this study provide significant evidence on the influence of engagement, motivation, work-environment, organizational learning and supportive culture on job satisfaction in Malaysian higher education sector. Keywords: Malaysia, Engagement, Motivation, Work Environment, Organizational Learning, Supportive Culture, Job Satisfaction, Higher Education

Plethora of cosmetic products in the marketplace are fighting vigorously for the consumers' wallets; the local brands appear to capture their own niches by projecting themselves as "Islamic" brands via their creative product offerings. The purpose of this paper is to identify a behavioral matrix which classified Malaysian into the appropriate quadrant in the Spiritual Intelligent Matrix and hence will be proposed. The results generated from this study could afford new insights in order to design strategies and policies in branding and positioning halal values to the cosmetic products manufactured in Malaysia. The paper highlights new frameworks which will modify the Planned Behavior Theory (TPB), develop new scales to measure spiritual intelligence in the TPB theoretical framework to explore how the variable could influence consumer attitude towards Halal cosmetic produced in Malaysia. The new measurement scale is used to unravel underlying dimensions of spiritual intelligence from the perspective of the Muslim which is deemed imperative. It is envisaged that it could explicate the effects of spiritual intelligence, spiritual congruence, product involvement and product image of the consumers' attitude towards purchasing halal cosmetics and in turn to reaffirm intention to consume halal cosmetic.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how Halal entrepreneurs perceive success and accordingly develop a novel scale to measure Halal entrepreneurship success. Design/methodology/approach – A sequential mixed methodology was used to develop the Halal entrepreneurship success scale (HESS). The qualitative phase began with a literature review to gain insights into (Halal) entrepreneurship success and identify gaps. Ten respondents were then interviewed to understand how they perceive success. The scale items were then generated based on insights from the literature and the interview findings. The quantitative phase was carried out in two cycles. In the first cycle, a questionnaire was developed and pilot data were collected from a representative sample of 100 respondents. In the second cycle, the revised scale was tested on 300 respondents to confirm its final items and dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used in the quantitative phase. Findings – The final HESS scale contains 24 items divided into four dimensions: Islamic success (seven items), economic success (six items), social success (five items) and environmental success (six items). Originality/value – This scale is perhaps the first to measure entrepreneurial success in its association with religion. It is expected to be a useful contribution to entrepreneurship theory and the Halal industry. The paper presents a foundation for future works on how to define the measures of success of Halal entrepreneurs.

Stroke recovery facilities are significant segment in the general consideration of stroke patients. The nature of stroke is seen as an ailment that causes an entire scope of physical, mental and emotional unsettling influences. Due to this, recovery facilities design should consider the social mental needs of the stroke survivors other than centering the recuperation of their physical capacities. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the potential of supportive remedial environment as a recuperating apparatus to support better passionate and physical wellbeing recuperation of stroke survivors. A mixed methodology was adapted, which included questionnaire surveys and a semi-structured interview with the three rehabilitation health professionals and thirty respondents who are either the patients or relatives of the patients who received treatment at the rehabilitation centre. The semi-structured interviews were analysed using the content analysis method. Meanwhile, the questionnaire surveys were analysed using descriptive analysis. This study has identified that the major limitations of the current rehabilitation facilities were the absence of inpatient facilities, lack of social spaces as well as insufficient of space for various activities conducted. Due to this, such issues need an attention to be solved by the architects in designing the area with healing environment, as well as the government as a funder to smoothen the process of rejuvenating the healing centre.

This research has shed new light on better understanding of the existing knowledge by incorporating relevant constructs as the predictors of intention such as attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control in a Halal skin care product (compliance with the Muslim Shariah requirement) context, among the users and non-users. The predictors of intention demonstrate there have a positive significant effect in influencing user and non-users to intention to purchase and continue to purchase Halal skin care products, the results delineate that subjective norm has a direct effect on intention and continue purchasing among users and non-users. While, perceived behaviour control has a positive significant effect on intention to purchase and continue to purchase for both users and non-users. Lastly, the study depicted that Attitude has a positive significance on continue/intention to purchase halal skin care products for users and non-users Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the hypothesized relationships among the constructs, as postulated in the research model.

This study investigates Tripadvisor as manifestation of tourist experience. The tourist experience posted on TripAdvisor were analysed to gain insight of the destination experience being expressed. The content was analysed to discover what tourists were communicating about their experience in Redang. Results revealed that major strength of the destinations were its activities, natural resources, and infrastructure while international tourists’ experience with environment is mixed of positive and negative comments. This study demonstrated that TripAdvisor as an established travel reviews are an inexpensive means to collect authentic and spontaneous tourist view. This source also served as an cost-effective ways for destination marketers to understand their service quality and enhance the tourist satisfaction.

The growing hospitality industry poses more challenges to competition that leads towards the importance of expanding customer base. One of the segments in the industry is Halal tourism which is tremendously developing. The sector should realize the importance of being aware of Muslim market’ needs and religious sensitivities by offering them quality products and services. Providing sustainable quality services is indispensable for the success of companies in the long run and enable them towards strong positioning strategy in the context of Muslim Friendly Hospitality Services (MFHS) companies. Although service quality is one of the most researched area in marketing because of its impact on success factors but most service quality measurement models have been developed in a western context and may not be suitable for generalizing to non-western, particularly Islamic contexts. Despite the awareness of importance on sustainable service quality, only few studies on sustainable service quality appear in the literature. Therefore, the research’s main objectives are to investigate factors of sustainable service quality in influencing satisfaction and loyalty in MFHS sector in Malaysia. The interview and survey will be adopted. The SPSS and SEM AMOS will be used for data analysis. The findings will be prepared and reported

The aimsof the study are to examine data availability and develop a conceptual framework for the computation of an integrated Islamic finance-based index of financial inclusion in Malaysia.In determining the level of financial inclusion, systematic indicators are inconclusiveparticularlyon its measurement based onIslamic finance.This study employs a self-administered questionnaire and secondary data from two important institutions in Malaysia which administer zakat and waqf. It is found that, although the wealth distribution indicators i.e., zakatand waqfare available for the index’s data source, the data thatcould be used to ratefinancial inclusion usingIslamic finance approach are still incomplete and limited.It is hoped that the findings on data availability and suggested conceptual framework would be useful for the development of Islamic finance-based index of financial inclusion. Keywords: Islamic finance,financial inclusion, index, zakat, waqf, wealth distribution.

Social media, particularly travel blog are increasingly relevant in tourism practices affecting destination and business. With the growth of internet-based social media technologies, tourists are able to communicate, interact and establish relationship with destinations, business and other tourists. Pre-visit stage of tourist experience involves activities that focussed on travel planning, in which travel blogs is considered as a rich sources of travel information. Through interviewing 19 travel bloggers, this study aims to understand travel bloggers behaviour and strategies at the pre-visit stage of tourist experience. The findings show that, travel bloggers engage with travel blogs with different behaviour which influenced by different motivations. It is also highlighted that interaction in blogosphere serves an important role in influencing travel bloggers engagement with travel blogs before the travel. The implication of the study and suggestion for future research are explained. Keywords: Travel Blog, Blogging Motivation, Blog Engagement, Pre-Trip, Qualitative