Abstract: This study explored the relationship between
psychological traits, demographics and financial behavioral biases for
individual investors in Taiwan stock market. By using questionnaire
survey method conducted in 2010, there are 554 valid convenient
samples collected to examine the determinants of three types of
behavioral biases. Based on literature review, two hypothesized
models are constructed and further used to evaluate the effects of big
five personality traits and demographic variables on investment biases
through Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis. The results
showed that investment biases of individual investors are significantly
related to four personality traits as well as some demographics.
Abstract: Taxation as a potent fiscal policy instrument through which infrastructures and social services that drive the development process of any society has been ineffective in Nigeria. The adoption of appropriate measures is, however, a requirement for the generation of adequate tax revenue. This study set out to investigates efficiency and effectiveness in the administration of tax in Nigeria, using Cross River State as a case-study. The methodology to achieve this objective is a qualitative technique using structured questionnaires to survey the three senatorial districts in the state; the central limit theory is adopted as our analytical technique. Result showed a significant degree of inefficiency in the administration of taxes. It is recommended that periodic review and update of tax policy will bring innovation and effectiveness in the administration of taxes. Also proper appropriation of tax revenue will drive development in needed infrastructural and social services.
Abstract: The purposes of this study are 1) to identify
learning styles of university students in Bangkok, and 2) to study
the frequency of the relevant instructional context of the identified
learning styles. Learning Styles employed in this study are those of
Honey and Mumford, which include 1) Reflectors, 2) Theorists, 3)
Pragmatists, and 4) Activists. The population comprises 1383
students and 5 lecturers. Research tools are 2 questionnaires – one
used for identifying students- learning styles, and the other used for
identifying the frequency of the relevant instructional context of
the identified learning styles.
The research findings reveal that 32.30 percent - are Activists,
while 28.10 percent are Theorists, 20.10 are Reflectors, and 19.50
are Pragmatists. In terms of the relevant instructional context of the
identified 4 learning styles, it is found that the frequency level of
the instructional context is totally in high level. Moreover, 2 lists of
the context being conducted most frequently are 'Lead'in activity
to review background knowledge,- and 'Information retrieval
report.' And these two activities serve the learning styles of
theorists and activists. It is, therefore, suggested that more
instructional context supporting the activists, the majority of the
population, learning best by doing, as well as emotional learning
situation should be added.
Abstract: Research in e-Business has been growing
tremendously covering all related aspects such as adoption issues, e-
Business models, strategies, etc. This research aims to explore the
potential of adopting e-Business for a micro size business operating
from home called home-based businesses (HBBs). In Malaysia, the
HBB industry started many years ago and were mostly monopolized
by women or housewives managed as a part-time job to support their
family economy. Today, things have changed. The availability of the
Internet technology and the emergence of e-Business concept
promote the evolution of HBBs, which have been adopted as another
alternative as a professional career for women without neglecting
their family needs especially the children. Although this study is
confined to a limited sample size and within geographical biasness,
the findings show that it concurs with previous large scale studies. In
this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used and
data were gathered using triangulation methods via interview, direct
observation, document analysis and survey questionnaires. This paper
discusses the literature review, research methods and findings
pertaining to e-Business adoption factors that influence the HBBs in
Malaysia.
Abstract: Liveable city is referred to as the quality of life in an
area that contributes towards a safe, healthy and enjoyable place. This
paper discusses the role of the streets- activities in making Kuala
Lumpur a liveable city and the happiness level of the residents
towards the city-s street activities. The study was conducted using the
residents of Kuala Lumpur. A mixed method technique is used with
the quantitative data as a main data and supported by the qualitative
data. Data were collected using questionnaires, observation and also
an interview session with a sample of residents of Kuala Lumpur.
The sampling technique is based on multistage cluster data sampling.
The findings revealed that, there is still no significant relationship
between the length of stay of the resident in Kuala Lumpur with the
happiness level towards the street activities that occurred in the city.
Abstract: This paper is part of an ongoing research on the
development of systemic maintenance management model Malaysian
university buildings. In order to achieve this aim, there is a need to
develop a performance model against which services are measure.
Measuring performance is a significant part of maintenance
management service delivery. Maintenance organization needs to
know where they are in order to provide user-driven services and to
enhance productivity. The aim of this paper is to formulate a
template or model for university maintenance organization in
Malaysia. The model is based on literature review and survey
questionnaire and has been validated. Through grounded theory, this
paper developed a 8 points matrix for the university maintenance
organizations for measuring and improving their service delivery.
The potential of the model is guide and assists towards providing
value added service delivery through initiating maintenance
according to user value system rather than on the condition of the
building.
Abstract: In Thailand, both the 1997 and the current 2007 Thai Constitutions have mentioned the establishment of independent organizations as a new mechanism to play a key role in proposing policy recommendations to national decision-makers in the interest of collective consumers. Over the last ten years, no independent organizations have yet been set up. Evidently, nobody could point out who should be key players in establishing provincial independent consumer bodies. The purpose of this study was to find definitive stakeholders in establishing and developing independent consumer bodies in a Thai context. This was a cross-sectional study between August and September 2007, using a postal questionnaire with telephone follow-up. The questionnaire was designed and used to obtain multiple stakeholder assessment of three key attributes (power, interest and influence). Study population was 153 stakeholders associated with policy decision-making, formulation and implementation processes of civil-based consumer protection in pilot provinces. The population covered key representatives from five sectors (academics, government officers, business traders, mass media and consumer networks) who participated in the deliberative forums at 10 provinces. A 49.7% response rate was achieved. Data were analyzed, comparing means of three stakeholder attributes and classification of stakeholder typology. The results showed that the provincial health officers were the definitive stakeholders as they had legal power, influence and interest in establishing and sustaining the independent consumer bodies. However, only a few key representatives of the provincial health officers expressed their own paradigm on the civil-based consumer protection. Most provincial health officers put their own standpoint of building civic participation at only a plan-implementation level. For effective policy implementation by the independent consumer bodies, the Thai government should provide budgetary support for the operation of the provincial health officers with their paradigm shift as well as their own clarified standpoint on corporate governance.
Abstract: The present study was designed to test the influence
of confirmed expectations, perceived usefulness and perceived
competence on e-learning satisfaction among university teachers. A
questionnaire was completed by 125 university teachers from 12
different universities in Norway. We found that 51% of the variance
in university teachers- satisfaction with e-learning could be explained
by the three proposed antecedents. Perceived usefulness seems to be
the most important predictor of teachers- satisfaction with e-learning.
Abstract: The aim of this research is to propose a Measurement
Scale for Patient Satisfaction (MSPS) in the context of Tunisian
private clinics. This scale is developed using value management
methods and is validated by statistic tools with SPSS.
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to investigate the
effectiveness of ICT training workshop of tutors of Allama Iqbal
Open University Pakistan. The study was delimited to tutors of
Multan region. The total sample comprised of 100 tutors. All the
tutors who participated in ICT training workshop in Multan region
were taken as sample in the study. A questionnaire having two parts,
based on five point rating scale was developed by the researcher. Part
one was about the competency level of computer skills while Part
two was based on items related to training delivery, structure and
content. Part One of questionnaire had five levels of competency
about computer skills. The questionnaire was personally administered
and collected back by the researcher himself on the last day of
workshop.
The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics.
Through this study it was found that majority of the tutors strongly
agreed that training enhanced their computer skills. Majority of the
respondents consider themselves to be generally competent in the use
of computer. They also agreed that there was appropriate
infrastructure and technical support in lab during training workshop.
Moreover, it was found that the training imparted the knowledge of
pedagogy of using computers for distance education.
Abstract: Due to a high unemployment rate among local people
and a high reliance on expatriate workers, the governments in the
Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries have been implementing
programmes of localisation (replacing foreign workers with GCC
nationals). These programmes have been successful in the public
sector but much less so in the private sector. However, there are now
insufficient jobs for locals in the public sector and the onus to provide
employment has fallen on the private sector. This paper is concerned
with a study, which is a work in progress (certain elements are
complete but not the whole study), investigating the effective
implementation of localisation policies in four- and five-star hotels in
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates
(UAE). The purpose of the paper is to identify the research gap, and
to present the need for the research. Further, it will explain how this
research was conducted.
Studies of localisation in the GCC countries are under-represented
in scholarly literature. Currently, the hotel sectors in KSA and UAE
play an important part in the countries’ economies. However, the
total proportion of Saudis working in the hotel sector in KSA is
slightly under 8%, and in the UAE, the hotel sector remains highly
reliant on expatriates. There is therefore a need for research on
strategies to enhance the implementation of the localisation policies
in general and in the hotel sector in particular.
Further, despite the importance of the hotel sector to their
economies, there remains a dearth of research into the
implementation of localisation policies in this sector. Indeed, as far as
the researchers are aware, there is no study examining localisation in
the hotel sector in KSA, and few in the UAE. This represents a
considerable research gap.
Regarding how the research was carried out, a multiple case study
strategy was used. The four- and five-star hotel sector in KSA is one
of the cases, while the four- and five-star hotel sector in the UAE is
the other case. Four- and five-star hotels in KSA and the UAE were
chosen as these countries have the longest established localisation
policies of all the GCC states and there are more hotels of these
classifications in these countries than in any of the other Gulf
countries. A literature review was carried out to underpin the
research. The empirical data were gathered in three phases. In order
to gain a pre-understanding of the issues pertaining to the research
context, Phase I involved eight unstructured interviews with officials
from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (three
interviewees); the Saudi Human Resources Development Fund (one);
the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (three); and the Abu
Dhabi Development Fund (one).
In Phase II, a questionnaire was administered to 24 managers and
24 employees in four- and five-star hotels in each country to obtain
their beliefs, attitudes, opinions, preferences and practices concerning
localisation.
Unstructured interviews were carried out in Phase III with six
managers in each country in order to allow them to express opinions
that may not have been explored in sufficient depth in the
questionnaire. The interviews in Phases I and III were analysed using
thematic analysis and SPSS will be used to analyse the questionnaire
data.
It is recommended that future research be undertaken on a larger
scale, with a larger sample taken from all over KSA and the UAE
rather than from only four cities (i.e., Riyadh and Jeddah in KSA and
Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the UAE), as was the case in this research.
Abstract: The utilisation of Industrial Building System (IBS) in construction industry will lead to a safe site condition since minimum numbers of workers are required to be on-site, timely material delivery, systematic component storage, reduction of construction material and waste. These matters are being promoted in the Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP 2006-2015). However, the enabling factors of IBS that will foster a safer working environment are indefinite; on that basis a research has been conducted. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and identify the relevant factors towards safety improvement for IBS. A quantitative research by way of questionnaire surveys have been conducted to 314 construction companies. The target group was Grade 5 to Grade 7 contractors registered with Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) which specialise in IBS. The findings disclosed seven factors linked to the safety improvement of IBS construction site in Malaysia. The factors were historical, economic, psychological, technical, procedural, organisational and the environmental factors. From the findings, a psychological factor ranked as the highest and most crucial factor contributing to safer IBS construction site. The psychological factor included the self-awareness and influences from workmates behaviour. Followed by organisational factors, where project management style will encourage the safety efforts. From the procedural factors, it was also found that training was one of the significant factors to improve safety culture of IBS construction site. Another important finding that formed as a part of the environmental factor was storage of IBS components, in which proper planning of the layout would able to contribute to a safer site condition. To conclude, in order to improve safety of IBS construction site, a welltrained and skilled workers are required for IBS projects, thus proper training is permissible and should be emphasised.
Abstract: This paper analyzed the perception of e-commerce
application services by construction material traders in Malaysia.
Five attributes were tested: usability, reputation, trust, privacy and
familiarity. Study methodology consists of survey questionnaire and
statistical analysis that includes reliability analysis, factor analysis,
ANOVA and regression analysis. The respondents were construction
material traders, including hardware stores in Klang Valley, Kuala
Lumpur.
Findings support that usability and familiarity with e-commerce
services in Malaysia have insignificant influence on the acceptance of
e-commerce application. However, reputation, trust and privacy
attributes have significant influence on the choice of e-commerce
acceptance by construction material traders. E-commerce
applications studied included customer database, e-selling, emarketing,
e-payment, e-buying and online advertising. Assumptions
are made that traders have basic knowledge and exposure to ICT
services. i.e. internet service and computers. Study concludes that
reputation, privacy and trust are the three website attributes that
influence the acceptance of e-commerce by construction material
traders.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between the principles of Educational Sport and the objectives of Physical Education in two brasilian laws: National Curriculum Guidelines (PCNs) for the Elementary and Middle School Levels and the Guidelines and Basis Legislation (LDB). The method used was the survey analysis in order to determine the practices present in, or the opinions of, a specific population. The instrument used in this research was a questionnaire. After a broad review of the bibliography and according to the methodological procedures, the aim was to set the relationships between the Principles of Educational Sport and the objectives of Physical Education, according to the Brazilian Law (LDB) and National Curriculum Guidelines (PCNs) in a table made under the analysis of a group of specialists. As the relation between the principles of Educational Sport and the objectives of School Physical Education have shown, we can state that School Physical Education has gained pedagogical security for the potential use of Educational Sport as part of its contents.
Abstract: The main purpose of this study was to establish Professional Competency Contents for International Marketer in Taiwan. To establish these contents a set of interviews with international marketing managers and three rounds of Delphi Technique surveys were employed. Five international marketing managers were interviewed for discussions on definitions, framework, and items of international marketing competency. A questionnaire for the " Delphi Technique Survey " was developed based on the results acquired from the interviews. The resulting questionnaire was distributed to another group of 30 international marketer of trading companies in Taiwan. After three rounds of Delphi Technique Survey with these participants, the "Contents of Professional Competency for International Marketer " was established. Five dimensions and thirty indicators were identified. It is hoped that the proposed contents could be served as a self-evaluation tool for international marketer as well as the basis for staffing and training programs for international marketer in Taiwan.
Abstract: This paper deals with the application of a fuzzy set in
measuring teachers- beliefs about mathematics. The vagueness of
beliefs was transformed into standard mathematical values using a
fuzzy preferences model. The study employed a fuzzy approach
questionnaire which consists of six attributes for measuring
mathematics teachers- beliefs about mathematics. The fuzzy conjoint
analysis approach based on fuzzy set theory was used to analyze the
data from twenty three mathematics teachers from four secondary
schools in Terengganu, Malaysia. Teachers- beliefs were recorded in
form of degrees of similarity and its levels of agreement. The
attribute 'Drills and practice is one of the best ways of learning
mathematics' scored the highest degree of similarity at 0. 79860 with
level of 'strongly agree'. The results showed that the teachers- beliefs
about mathematics were varied. This is shown by different levels of
agreement and degrees of similarity of the measured attributes.
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to study the factors
that influenced the success of mobile phone entrepreneurs at Central
Plaza. The sample group included 187 entrepreneurs at Central Plaza.
A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics used
in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, and standard
deviation. Independent- sample t- test, one way ANOVA, and
multiple regression analysis. Data were analyzed by using Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences.The findings disclosed that the
majority of respondents were male between 25-40 years old, and held
an undergraduate degree. The average income of respondents was
between 15,001-25,000 baht. The majority of respondents had less
than 5 years of working experience.
In terms of personality, the findings revealed that expression and
agreement were ranked at the highest level. Whereas, emotion
stability, consciousness, open to new experience were ranked at high.
From the hypotheses testing, the findings revealed that different
genders had different success in their mobile phone business with
different income from the last 6 months. However, difference in age,
income, level of education, and experience affected the success in
terms of income, number of customers, and overall success of
business. Moreover, the factors of personalities included expression,
agreement, emotion stability, consciousness, open to new experience,
and competitive strategy. From the findings, these factors were able
to predict mobile phone business success at 66.9 percent.
Abstract: User satisfaction is one of the most used success
indicators in the research of information system (IS). Literature
shows user expectations have great influence on user satisfaction.
Both expectation and satisfaction of users are important for Hospital
Information Systems (HIS). Education, IS experience, age, attitude
towards change, business title, sex and working unit of the hospital,
are examined as the potential determinant of the medical users’
expectations. Data about medical user expectations are collected by
the “Expectation Questionnaire” developed for this study.
Expectation data are used for calculating the Expectation Meeting
Ratio (EMR) with the evaluation framework also developed for this
study. The internal consistencies of the answers to the questionnaire
are measured by Cronbach´s Alpha coefficient. The multivariate
analysis of medical user’s EMRs of HIS is performed by forward
stepwise binary logistic regression analysis. Education and business
title is appeared to be the determinants of expectations from HIS.
Abstract: In the past, there were more researches of recommendation system in applied electronic commerce. However, because all circles promote information technology integrative instruction actively, the quantity of instruction resources website is more and more increasing on the Internet. But there are less website including recommendation service, especially for teachers. This study established an instruction resource recommendation website that analyzed teaching style of teachers, then provided appropriate instruction resources for teachers immediately. We used the questionnaire survey to realize teacher-s suggestions and satisfactions with the instruction resource contents and recommendation results. The study shows: (1)The website used “Transactional Ability Inventory" that realized teacher-s style and provided appropriate instruction resources for teachers in a short time, it reduced the step of data filter. (2)According to the content satisfaction of questionnaire survey, four styles teachers were almost satisfied with the contents of the instruction resources that the website recommended, thus, the conception of developing instruction resources with different teaching style is accepted. (3) According to the recommendation satisfaction of questionnaire survey, four styles teachers were almost satisfied with the recommendation service of the website, thus, the recommendation strategy that provide different results for teachers in different teaching styles is accepted.
Abstract: Contrary to negative emotion regulation, coping with
positive moods have received less attention in adolescent adjustment.
However, some research has found that everyone is different on
dealing with their positive emotions, which affects their adaptation
and well-being. The purpose of the present study was to investigate
the relationship between positive emotions dampening and
internalizing behavior problems of adolescent in Taiwan. A survey
was conducted and 208 students (12 to14 years old) completed the
strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), the Affect Intensity
Measure, and the positive emotions dampening scale. Analysis
methods such as descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson correlations and
multiple regression were adapted. The results were as follows:
Emotionality and internalizing problem behavior have significant
gender differences. Compared to boys, girls have a higher score on
negative emotionality and are at a higher risk for internalizing
symptoms. However, there are no gender differences on positive
emotion dampening. Additionally, in the circumstance that negative
emotionality acted as the control variable, positive emotion
dampening strategy was (positive) related to internalizing behavior
problems. Given the results of this study, it is suggested that coaching
deconstructive positive emotion strategies is to assist adolescents
with internalizing behavior problems is encouraged.