Vol. 4, Issue 2, 2013

Article 1: Determining critical factors of location choice of cross-border merger and acquisition: the case of Chinese firms
By: Feng Zhang and Guohua Jiang, USA

Article 2: Influence of customer satisfaction on service quality and trust relationship in Malaysian rural tourism
By: Zahir Osman and Ilham Sentosa, Malaysia

Article 3: Finance and corporate governance in sporting sector
By: Bernard Mnzava, Tanzania

Article 4: Impact of capital structure on investor behaviour and performance firms in Pakistan
By: Aamir Farooq, Abdul Jabbar Ahsan, Kush Bakhat Umer, Asma Irum and Madiha Latif, Pakistan

Article 5: Relationship between organizational culture and job satisfaction based on Denison Model
By: Sayyed Mohsen Allameh and Ahmad Reza Akhavan Sarraf, Iran

Article 6: Challenges in developing Baitul Maal Wat Tamwil (BMT) in Indonesia using analytic network process (ANP)
By: Aam S. Rusydiana and Abrista Devi, Indonesia

Vol.4 Issue 1, 2013

Article 1: Determinants and outcomes of strategic orientations: Empirical evidence from multilevel marketing (MLM) industry of Malaysia

By: Leila Radmand and Shamsuddin Mukhtaram

The purpose of this study is primarily to examine the effects of the top management behaviour on the levels of pre-purchase satisfaction and the service profit chain of MLM companies. The sampling size was 453 independent distributors of 25 MLM companies. This study has provided empirical evidence to the argument that strategic orientations are crucial towards the pre-purchase satisfaction and the service profit chain of MLM companies. In particular, market orientation was found to have significant impacts on pre-purchase satisfaction, internal customer orientation, employee motivation and customer commitment. Additionally, pre-purchase satisfaction was found to have significant relationships with customer commitment.

Keywords: Top management behaviour, pre-purchase satisfaction; service profit chain, multilevel marketing, Malaysia

Article 2: Job seekers, recruitment managers and employment agencies in Australia: A fractured triumvirate

By: PJ Davis

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and extent of corporate recruitment managers’ dissatisfaction with the services of private employment agencies they contract for search and selection help. The research finds that the form of recruitment managers’ dissatisfaction relates to various aspects of service such as the quality of candidates recommended by agencies and communication. The relationship between the client (recruitment manager) and the provider (employment agency) is a further source of dissatisfaction. The extent of dissatisfaction varies between moderate and significant depending on the particular issue. The research also only canvasses the views of recruitment managers and not their agency counterparts and so only one perspective on the dynamics of the relationship is heard. The practical implications of the research is that there is significant opportunity for client and agency to improve their working relationship so that expectations are more clearly understood and communication is more productive.

Keywords: Job seekers, recruitment managers, employment agencies, Australia

Article 3: Leadership and risk-taking propensity among entrepreneurs in Malaysia

By: Ahmad Fadhly Arhman and Norhayati Sulaiman

The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, the author intends to explore on the form of leadership behaviours being practiced by leaders of SMEs in Malaysia. Second, this paper aims to explore on their risk-taking propensity. Based on semi-structured interviews among owners and top manager of SMEs, it was found that leaders of SMEs in Malaysia practice both transformational and transactional leadership. Leaders of SMEs in Malaysia also display more frequently the attributes of transformational leadership than transactional leadership. The interview data also revealed that leaders of SMEs in Malaysia are willing to take risks. They understand that being a risk taker supplements the entrepreneurs’ level of innovativeness and proactiveness because without the dimension of risk-taking, it is very difficult for the entrepreneurial firms to invest heavily into the R&D and becoming the pioneers in the marketplace. This study is among the first to examine the type of leadership behaviours and risk-taking propensity of entrepreneurs in Malaysia from a qualitative perspective.

Keywords: Leadership behaviours, risk-taking, SMEs, Malaysia

Article 4: Human factors challege in entrepreneurship development: An explorative study in a developing economy context

By: Jocelyn Sacke, Mohammed-Aminu Sanda and Ylva Faltholm

This study explored the barriers to entrepreneurial development in Ghana with the aim of building a knowledge base for successful entrepreneurship development initiatives in a developing economy context. This is based on the observations that different governments in Ghana have over the years initiated several entrepreneurship development programmes, whose functionalities appeared constrained towards the provision of the requisite support that could have lend to entrepreneurial growth. An exploratory approach was used with both retrospective and qualitative data collected through a survey. The results showed that the functionalities of the numerous schemes initiated to support individual entrepreneurs’ growth were constrained due to the inherent constraints in the design of the guiding frameworks for such schemes. The study also showed that the several policies and structures initiated differently by various governments since Ghana’s independence in March 1959 could not help enhance entrepreneurial development, because the entrepreneurial environment created for entrepreneurship development was not very friendly to the individual entrepreneurs, It is concluded that, in the developing economy context, such as the Ghanaian setting, entrepreneurial success does not solely depend on how entrepreneurship is institutionally structured, but also on the policy-makers’ understanding of the ingrained characteristics of the individual entrepreneurs. By implication, the study provides learning on the need to bridge the distance that exist between the designers/implementers of entrepreneurship development policies/frameworks and the individual entrepreneurs (humans)

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; entrepreneurship development; entrepreneurial policy; entrepreneurial framework; developing economy; Ghana

Article 5: Creating business ethical codes based on organizational values

By: Ahmad Reza Akhavan Sarraf, Sayeed Mohsen Allameh, and Ali Pishbin

Nowadays no one can ignore the importance of culture and morality, in as much as there is no clear-cut boundaries/limitation for them. The creation of a sound culture in an organization leads to its improvement in many other aspects, so the need to concentrate on culture and morality is increasingly becoming the matter of concern. Bearing in mind that concentration on ethical codes in an organization can cause professional moralization; this paper aims to create the ethical codes based on organizational values, and further analyze them to provide practical solutions on how to easily implement these codes

Keywords: Moral, ethics, professional ethics, value, organization value, ethical codes

Article 6: Malaysian employees' perception pertaining to telework

By: Farzana Quoquab, Lim Chui Seong and Haider Ali Malik

The present research attempts to gain deeper understanding of Malaysian employees’ perception pertaining to telework. Telephone and face-to-face interview generated 37 responses which revealed that mostly teleworking was viewed positively by the respondents. However, less team cohesiveness and socialization, lack of infrastructural support and direct supervision, and less control over the employees were mostly cited drawbacks in adopting telework. On the other hand, avoidance of traffic jam, reduced travelling time, saving cost, maintaining work and family life balance, increased productivity, trust, commitment and job satisfaction were mentioned as the benefits of telework. To avail these opportunities, it is indeed important for the Malaysian organizations to embrace this innovative work arrangement. However, the hindrance associated with telework is needed to be tackled with care. This study is among the pioneer in understanding the problems and prospects of telework adoption in Malaysia from a qualitative perspective which calls for more research to conduct in this field.

Keywords: Telework, employee perception, challenges and opportunities, Malaysia