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Purpose: The present work investigated the effect of corporate social responsibility and top management support on employee ecological behaviour (EEB) with the mediating role of green culture and green commitment. Social identity theory (SIT) was used to describe the association between green culture, green commitment and EEB. Further, a conceptual model that summarises the interaction between perceived corporate social responsibility, top management support, green commitment, green culture and the adoption of ecological behaviour was developed. Design/methodology/approach: The paper opted for a quantitative design using convenience sampling by collecting the data through a structured questionnaire gathered from 308 academics working in five Malaysian higher education institutions. Findings: Corporate social responsibility and top management support positively influence green culture and commitment. Moreover, green commitment positively influenced EEB and fully mediated the relationship between corporate social responsibility and EEB and between top management support and EEB. Research limitations/implications: The academic staff of universities was the target population of this research. Nevertheless, universities have a diverse population with complex activities that can affect the implementation of a sustainable workplace within the campus. Future research should also examine non-academic staff, including administrative, technical and operational staff, due to different employees' perceptions. Originality/value: As far as the authors know, this is the first study to assign the mediator role to green culture in a relationship between top management support and EEB amongst academic staff in the Malaysian context. Future research should consider other intervening variables that influence adopting ecological behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysian music was influenced by British, Portuguese, Indian, and Chinese cultures, which created syncretic music. Aesthetics values strengthen the existence of syncretic music by molding taste and interest among the listeners. It somehow creates various feelings whether to appreciate, accept, or against the music, further developing musical preferences among individuals. Exploring aesthetic values in popular and traditional music is crucial as many cultures have influenced Malaysia due to colonization, trading, wedding, and migration. This paper reviews on Malaysian syncretic music, the aesthetic values in Malaysian popular and traditional music, and the influence factors of Malaysian music. It is found that there was a confluence of various intercultural musical elements in the early era, while assimilation has taken place due to traditional Malay rhythmic patterns and traditional folk themes. This led to the Malaysian conception of music and musical composition, creating the idea that Malaysian music has drastically expanded its artistic resources since the pre-colonial era. We also found communities living in the pre-modern or modern era have different unique taste in the aesthetic characteristics. Despite this, most remote communities are compelled to participate in postmodernity in some way due to the globalization of media, capital, and mobile networks. These combinations result in many theories, concepts, and discourses that enrich aesthetic values in Malaysian syncretic music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Shared decision‐making has been shown to improve the quality of life in metastatic breast cancer patients in high‐literacy and high‐resource settings. However, limited studies have examined the cultural preferences of metastatic breast cancer patients with shared decision‐making implementation and the barriers encountered in an Asian setting where societal norms predominate and physician decision‐making is at the forefront. This paper aims to identify (1) barriers to practising shared decision‐making faced by healthcare professionals and patients and (2) strategies for implementing shared decision‐making in the context of metastatic breast cancer management in Malaysia. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study involving 12 patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, 16 healthcare professionals and 5 policymakers from surgical and oncology departments at public healthcare centres in Malaysia. Semi‐structured in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the thematic approach. Nvivo software was used to manage and analyse the data. Results: Five main themes emerged from the study: healthcare provider–patient communication, workforce availability, cultural and belief systems, goals of care and paternalism versus autonomy. Other strategies proposed to overcome barriers to implementing shared decision‐making were training of healthcare professionals and empowering nurses to manage patients' psychosocial issues. Conclusion: This study found that practising shared decision‐making in the public health sector remains challenging when managing patients with metastatic breast cancer. The utilization of decision‐making tools, patient empowerment and healthcare provider training may help address the system and healthcare provider–patient barriers identified in this study. Patient or Public Contribution: Patients were involved in the study design, recruitment and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine whether Hofstede's cultural dimensions have a significant relationship with ethical decision-making among tax practitioners while performing their duties in ensuring tax compliance among taxpayers. Design/methodology/approach: A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from tax practitioners in the state of Terengganu, Malaysia. Two hundred questionnaires were distributed via Google Forms and email to tax practitioners who were selected from the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia website using a mixture of systematic random and snowball sampling approaches. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences software program was used to analyse the collected data. Findings: The results show that power distance (PD), individualism (IND) and uncertainty avoidance (UAV) have a significant relationship with ethical decision-making, whereas masculinity (MAS) has no significant relationship with ethical decision-making among tax practitioners while carrying out their duties. The positive relationship of PD and of IND with decision-making behaviour indicates that ethical decision-making is highly practised in a low PD and low IND culture rather than in a high PD and high IND culture. In contrast, UAV shows a negative beta sign, which indicates that tax practitioners tend to practise ethical decision-making in a high UAV culture. Originality/value: This study fills a gap in the literature in regard to the influence of culture on tax compliance particularly among tax practitioners in Malaysia. The study shows how culture is related to the decision-making practices of tax practitioners while performing their role as an intermediary between their clients and the government. It is worthwhile to examine the decision-making of tax practitioners because the results of such an examination not only provide some insights into the professional practices of accountants that will be of interest to the relevant authorities such as the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, they also offer some information that will be of assistance to higher learning institutions in formulating accounting programmes to produce the future generation of accountants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment and evaluation of outcomes and continuous quality improvement often lead to uneasiness among engineering educators, which is a barrier to implementing an effective system of results-assessment. The sophisticated evaluation models and analytical instruments adopted by higher learning institutions are believed to worsen this uneasiness, impeding the successful implementation of programme quality improvement. In this paper, the challenges in assessing and evaluating learning outcomes, types of programme outcome assessment model and an analytical tool known as Engineering Outcome Analytics developed by Tunku Abdul Rahman University College for the assessment were presented. Documents related to quality improvement from two higher learning institutions in Malaysia were reviewed and discussed based on the key elements of continuous quality improvement. The results can be used to avoid the shortcomings and adopt the best practices in continuous quality improvement. With proper understanding on the key elements of continuous quality improvement, and adoption of culminating assessment model and a highly integrated analytical tool, engineering educators and programme owners are expected to benefit from this research in three ways. First, it cultivates a culture of continuous improvement of quality by increasing the educators' willingness to evaluate results. Second, it enhances their existing analytical tools to reflect students' actual developments, resulting in significant continuous actions to improve quality. Third, it satisfies the accreditation requirements on outcomes-based assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The study investigates critical care nurses' perceptions of medication administration errors (MAEs) in a tertiary hospital in Kelantan, Malaysia, within the unique sociocultural context of East-Coast Malaysia. The research aims to understand the causes and underreporting of MAEs and assess the proportion of reported incidents according to MAE types. Methods. A cross-sectional study involving 424 critical care nurses from Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II (HRPZII), Hospital Sultan Ismail Petra (HSIP), and Hospital Tanah Merah (HTM) was conducted. Nurses in administrative roles or unavailable during the survey period were excluded. The study utilized a validated Medication Administration Errors Survey questionnaire to gauge nurses' perceptions on the causes of MAEs, reasons for underreporting, and the percentage of reported incidents based on MAE types. Results. Results indicate that illegible medication orders from doctors were identified as the primary cause of MAEs, while a lack of 24-hour pharmacist availability received the lowest score. The most common reason for not reporting MAEs was identified as the nursing administration's focus on individuals rather than systemic issues when errors occur. The majority of MAEs were non-intravenous, with incorrect timing of administration being the leading cause. Conclusion. The study sheds light on critical care nurses' perspectives on MAEs in a Malaysian hospital setting, highlighting key factors contributing to these errors and barriers to their reporting. Understanding these perceptions is crucial for developing strategies to mitigate MAEs and enhance patient safety in critical care environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has suggested that culture influences perception and attention. These studies have typically involved comparisons of Westerners with East Asians, motivated by assumed differences in the cultures' self-concept or position on the individualism-collectivism spectrum. However, other potentially important sources of cultural variance have been neglected, such as differences in traffic directionality shaped by the urban spatial environment (i.e., left-hand vs. right-hand traffic). Thus, existing research may potentially place too much emphasis on self-concepts or the individualism-collectivism dimension in explaining observed cultural differences in cognition. The present study investigated spatial cognition using a Simon task and tested participants from four nations (Australia, China, Germany, and Malaysia) that differ in both cultural orientation (collectivistic vs. individualistic) and traffic directionality (left-hand vs. right-hand traffic). The task used two possible reference frames underlying the Simon effect: a body-centered one based on global stimulus position relative to the screen's center versus an object-centered one based on local stimulus position relative to a context object. As expected, all groups showed a reliable Simon effect for both spatial reference frames. However, the global Simon effect was larger in participants from countries with left-hand traffic. In contrast, the local Simon effect was modulated by differences in cultural orientation, with larger effects in participants from collectivistic cultures. This pattern suggests that both sources of cultural variation, viz. cultural orientation and traffic directionality, contribute to differences in spatial cognition in distinct ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elopement is described as an act that is against the religion, culture and social values of a society. Elopement can cause negative impacts to the individual, the family and society. This issue is commonly discussed from legal and religious perspectives, but not from sociocultural perspectives. This study employed an open-ended question on the perception of elopement among Malay couples. A social media platform, namely Facebook, was utilized as a platform for data collection. The data was analyzed using a thematic analysis. The themes that emerge from the analysis are ungratefulness and disobedience to the family, elopement as a beginning of a miserable life, legal complications, criminal behaviors, and blessings in marriage. This article provides a discussion of elopement from a social perspective and poses further research avenues for future studies. This study hopes to raise the topic of elopement as an important issue when dealing with cultural, religious and family institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Older adults tend to have poorer Theory of Mind (ToM) than their younger counterparts, and this has been shown in both Western and Asian cultures. We examined the role of working memory (WM) in age differences in ToM, and whether this was moderated by education and culture (the United Kingdom vs. Malaysia). Methods We used 2 ToM tests with differing demands on updating multiple mental states (false belief) and applying social rules to mental state processing (faux pas). We also looked at the role of education, socioeconomic status, and WM. A total of 298 participants from the United Kingdom and Malaysia completed faux pas, false belief, and WM tasks. Results Age effects on some aspects of ToM were greater in the Malaysian compared to the UK sample. Malaysian older adults were poorer at faux pas detection, aspects of false belief, and WM compared to young adults. In subsequent moderated mediation analyses, we found that, specifically in the Malaysian sample, the mediating effects of WM on the age and ToM relationship occurred at the lowest levels of education. Discussion This pattern of results may reflect changes in the familiarity and cognitive load of explicit mental state attribution, along with cultural differences in the pace and nature of cognitive aging. Cultural differences in education and WM should be considered when researching age differences in ToM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous communities refer to animals and plants extensively in their folk proverbs. In this study an examination was conducted involving Bidayuh proverbs, with animal and plant elements, of the Bau Jagoi community in Sarawak, Malaysia by (a) categorising them according to the type and frequency of animal and plant elements used, and (b) analysing their implied and implicit meaning using inquisitive semantics approach. Data were collected from interviews with 12 Bidayuh informants aged 23 to 84 who lived in the same village. A total of 33 Bidayuh proverbs were elicited comprising 20 with animal elements and 13 with plant elements. The behaviours of the animals were associated with mostly negative behaviours in human whereas the characteristics of the plants were used to describe desirable human traits and appearance. The proverbs were also used to describe complex situations, teach moral values and good manners, express intense feelings, and give advice about life. Their deep meaning was related to the people's living environment and way of life, their thinking and ethics, their beliefs, and customary practices, which reflect their culture and philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify perceived adult status and to explore the criteria for adulthood of young people in Sabah (East Malaysia). The differences in such criteria based on gender and student status are also examined. Data collected from 208 respondents were analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The empirical results of CFA revealed six criteria for adulthood: family capacities, norm compliance, interdependence, biological transitions, role transitions, and chronological transitions. However, the independence factor was discarded for further analysis because of having weak item loadings. In addition, the ANOVA test showed that women have higher interdependency and higher family capacities than men. Traditionally, women are more "other-oriented"—frequently thinking about the perspectives and needs of others—and are acknowledged as the main caregivers for children. Students are found to emphasize role transitions and biological transitions in determining their adulthood more than nonstudents. The present findings enable policymakers to obtain current emerging adults' views regarding the differences in criteria for adulthood based on gender and student status. Present findings permit a better understanding of the value of emerging adults' mental health as they encounter social, emotional, psychological, and physical challenges. This awareness would facilitate the provision of appropriate developmental programs for emerging adults to assist them in achieving adulthood. Directions for future research are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia is a developing country made up of three main ethnicities: Malay, Chinese and Indian. There are significant ethnic differences with regard to the type of daily food and cooking methods, contraception, breast-feeding preferences, confinement period and care, postmenopausal intake and influence of the traditional healer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Malaysian women across all three ethnicities. However, the National Cancer Registry and local medical centres have documented ethnic differences in breast cancer risk (Chinese, 40.7 per 100,000; Indian, 38.1 per 100,000; Malay, 31.5 per 100,000), peak age (youngest in the Malays), stage at presentation (largest percentage at advanced stage among the Malays) and survival (poorest survival rate among the Malays). The Malays have several practices that are protective against breast cancer compared with the Chinese. However, the Malays have strong beliefs in the traditional healer, which contribute to the delay in getting treatment, causing a poor outcome and a low survival rate. The highest BRCA1 and 2 genetic mutation incidence is amongst the Chinese, but the Malays have the largest triple-negative breast cancer rates. These factors may also contribute to the statistical breast cancer data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]