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Services export plays a significant role in the world economy and benefits businesses and countries. In the service sector, higher education service has become vital for countries’ economic sustainability. The flux of international students has created global business opportunities and trade networks. However, past studies have largely focused on exports within the manufacturing industry rather than service exports, particularly on the inward export service industry. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between business technology strategy, cultural sensitivity, and export performance in the higher education service industry. Data were collected from directors of international offices of 137 Malaysian higher education institutions. PLS-SEM was used for data analysis using the SmartPLS 3.2.8 software. The findings reveal that business technology strategy is positively related to cultural sensitivity and inward export performance. Furthermore, the study found that business technology strategy mediates the relationship between cultural sensitivity and inward export performance. The findings can help researchers in understanding factors that influence the inward export performance of higher education institutions. Since business technology strategy plays a mediating role in the inward export performance of higher education, this study recommends that Malaysian higher education institutions (HEIs) are equipped with the latest education-related technologies in order to increase their internationalization performance.

Purpose This study aims to examine the direct effect of compensatory health beliefs (CHBs), environmental self-identity and perceived environmental responsibility (PER) towards consumers' pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). Moreover, this study also investigates the mediating role of PER. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from nutricosmetics consumers in Malaysia. A questionnaire survey was carried out in three major shopping complexes in Klang Valley areas, which generated 448 completed usable responses. The partial least square technique (SmartPLS, version 3) was used to analyse the data and to test the study hypotheses. Findings The results revealed that CHBs, environmental self-identity and environmental perceived responsibility positively affect consumers’ PEB in nutricosmetics consumption. Additionally, data supported the mediating role of PER in the relationship between CHB, environmental self-identity and PEB. Practical implications It is expected that the study findings will provide significant insights to help marketers and policymakers about consumers’ nutricosmetic products consumption. It will help the marketers to plan for effective marketing strategies to produce environmentally friendly products and to serve the green consumer segment effectively. Moreover, companies attempting to launch new nutricosmetics brands may find the results helpful in understanding PEB. Originality/value This study is among the pioneers to examine consumers’ PEB of nutricosmetics products. Moreover, there is a dearth of studies that have investigated the PEB of consumers in regard to the CHBs, environmental self-identity and PER towards nutricosmetics consumption. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role of PER between “CHBs and PEB” and “environmental self-identity and PEB”, which are yet to examine in the past literature in the field.

Employee learning plays a vital role in corporate sustainability strategy. Past attempts to map sustainability learning (SL) in organizations have fallen short in explaining the interactions between key learning approaches and the dynamics within the learning environment. This paper is based on a study conducted to explore how employees learned sustainability in organizations and the contextual factors that facilitated their learning process. The study adopted the interpretivist qualitative approach in data collection. Semi-structured interviews were used as the main method, supported by participant observation and document analysis. The findings found evidence suggesting an interplay between several types of learning approaches in SL and highlighted important contextual factors that facilitated the learning environment. Based on the findings, this paper proposes an integrated model for sustainable learning that contributes to refining understanding of the SL process and can be used to assist organizations in enhancing their SL programs. This research addresses the dearth of studies on SL in the organizational setting. It also provides theoretical contribution by providing a clearer overview regarding how SL occurs among employees based on the perspectives of social, experiential, and transformative learning theories.

Organizations consist of numerous tangible and intangible factors. Many of these factors were individually studied in relation to each other, but several factors still need a more thorough investigation. This study aims to examine the direct and indirect effects of organizational culture (OC) on organizational innovation (OI) through the management control system (MCS) as a mediating factor. To achieve this aim, studies were comprehensively conducted in regard to the effects of OC on OI, the effects of OC on the MCS and the effects of MCS on OI. This study attempts to focus on the effects of OC and the MCS as mediating factors for OI among universities in Saudi Arabia. In this study, SmartPLS was used to validate the measurement model and relations between variables. The study results found that OC was significantly and directly related to OI, and it was significantly and indirectly related through the MCS as the mediating factor. This finding confirmed previous findings and supported the important roles of both constructs in university improvements.

In recent years, innovation is an important factor for developing organizations in a highly competitive world. Most scholars agree on the positive effect of the innovation on organization, and there are a few studies on the subject. The goal of this paper is to shed light on the definitions, types, importance and how to manage innovation. Through the review of relevant literature, this study intends to deepen our understanding of the theme and provide a comprehensive review of previous research.

The case portrays a macro-view of human resource management (HRM) at the national policy level. The case is imbued with concepts to promote responsible HRM, social and workplace inclusion of marginal groups. Set against a canvas of general rights and challenges of persons with disabilities (PWDs), the case showcases the Malaysian government’s initiatives spearheaded by the Social Welfare Department (JKM) to boost PWD employment in its public service. The case revolves around the case protagonist, Aleeya Tan, the head of assistant director of the division of PWD career development in JKM. Relatively inexperienced in PWD employment, Aleeya was tasked to oversee the progress of an affirmative policy on PWD employment that required every public department to employ at least 1 per cent PWDs in their workforce. The catch—the policy remained rhetoric even three decades after it was passed. Following Malaysia’s recent economic blueprint, the policy was once again resurrected and put under public scrutiny. The case describes personal, institutional, structural, legal and social problems faced by the protagonist to outline strategies to meet the policy overdue target. The case is suitable for postgraduate courses in HRM and/or Employment Policy in Masters in Business Administration. Case learners will acquire conceptual knowledge on the subject, problem-solving skills and develop positive values towards the PWD community.

Public university business schools (PUBS) appear to struggle in upholding their educational self. Corporate scandals linked to business graduates raise questions about the role of PUBS in the development of civilized societies. This study develops an ethical decision making model in the PUBS context based on moral theories and then empirically tests the model. The model hypothesizes that individuals’ moral philosophies in terms of egoism and utilitarianism as well as subjective norm in terms of peer influence affect their unethical behavioural intention. Moreover, this study compares ethical levels between business students with those from other disciplines. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from established public universities in Malaysia. The data was analysed using the Smart Partial Least Squares, a second generation structural equation modelling software, as well as the SPSS version 23. The results reveal that moral philosophies and subjective norm exert positive and significant effects on unethical behaviour intention. The study, however, found no significant effect with regard to unethical behaviours between business and non-business students. The authors argue that a university’s status may explain a student’s intentions towards ethics. Implications of the results and future research are proposed.

In order to enrich more pro-environmental behaviour among consumer, present paper aims to enlighten on the “greenwashing” issue. Such deceptive practice leads to lure consumers to believe they are offering environmental friendly product. As such, this is necessary to make consumers aware about the issue concerning “greenwashing.” Considering this, the present paper aims to answer the following questions; (1) Why pro-environmental behaviour in the forefront? (2) Does eco-label will ensure the genuineness of environmental-friendly product? (3) Why greenwashing is a problem? (4) How to differentiate between the greenwashed and the real deal products? And (5) What is the role of marketers in this regard? Relevant literatures are reviewed to respond to the research questions. Since environmentally concerned consumers became a profitable market segment in recent years, many companies are moving towards eco-label. However, not all eco-friendly claims are genuine. Therefore, the increase of greenwashing, with deficiency of enforcements, contributes to consumer disbelief of all green claims. With that, it weakens the value of consumers as an inspiration to influence companies toward environmental friendly determination for industrial practices and business operations. It is expected that, the present study will contribute significantly to the existing body of knowledge in regard to existing falls environmental claims regarding eco-labels.

This research examines the impact of financial and non-financial incentives on nurse performance in a private hospital in Singapore. Financial and non-financial incentives play an important role in determining the quality of employee performance. Data was collected from nurses who worked in an operating theater department. The research concludes that financial and non-financial incentives have a strong influence on the respondents’ performance. Therefore, management of the hospital must place a good rewarding system that gives appropriate performance-based incentives. Monetary and non-monetary incentives would result in highly satisfied nurses who would then positively impact the hospital in the long run. The paper ends with a discussion and suggestions for future research.

Higher education is a crucial platform for development of future talent. Graduates produced by universities must have comprehensive set of skills. The case teaching method has been acknowledged for its role in building participants’ generic skills including knowledge acquisition. However, much of the existing evidence on its effectiveness is limited to the experience of individual instructors, classroom or faculty-based context. Empirical evidence to understand its effectiveness at a wider, institutional context is lacking. Such gap raises question on whether the case method is only suitable as a stand-alone rather than across-the-board initiative. To fill this gap, a research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the case method at one of the prominent public universities in Malaysia. Two objectives were pursued in the research: (1) to determine participants’ perceptions towards their case learning experience, and (2) to investigate the relationship between case learning experience and the knowledge acquisition. Questionnaires, named the ‘Skills and Learning Experience from Case Method Questionnaire (SLECMeQ)’©, were distributed in 2015 to 1,874 undergraduate students in the university. Based on a return rate of 43%, the results support the strengths of the case method. The research also shows a positive relationship between respondents’ case learning experience and their knowledge acquisition. Implications for practice and future research are consequently proposed.

This research investigates the relationship between employee job satisfaction, perceived customer satisfaction and profitability of the 5-star Hotels in Kuala Lumpur. These elements play an important role in determining firm’s profitability, especially in the hotel industry. The research data was collected from the top and middle managers of the hotels in Kuala Lumpur. The research found that employee job satisfaction has a significant influence on customer satisfaction and profitability. In addition, customer satisfaction also results higher profitability for the hotel industry. Therefore, it is important for hotels operators to ensure that employee job satisfaction is met at all time in order for their customers to attain good service quality from their staff and increase their hotel profitability. The research limitations, management and theoretical implications were also discussed and ending with some directions for further research.

Contemporary organizations are made up of various tangible and intangible components. While several of these components have been subjected to a variety of scholarly studies, both individually and in relation to one another, a number of organizational components still require deeper investigation. The present study looks at the direct and indirect effects of transformational leadership (TL) on organizational innovation (OI) through management control system (MCS) as a mediating variable. This objective has been achieved through an exhaustive review of the literature on the impacts of TL and MCS on OI. The data were collected through questionnaire distribution among 400 high-level managers of seven universities in Saudi Arabia, within the period of May–July 2019. Subsequently, 264 surveys were acquired for the final analysis, indicating 66 per cent accuracy in the response rate. Furthermore, Partial least squares SmartPLS 3.0 used to assess the measurement model and the structural model. It is revealed that TL and MCS have a significant correlation with OI. However, the levels of influence of TL and MCS are quite different in terms of the influence on OI. Finally, our study proposes a few future studies for the research scholars and practitioners.

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of religiosity on Malaysian cardholders’ decisions in choosing either to have Islamic Credit Card or Conventional Credit Card. To achieve the objectives of this study, 174 selfadministered questionnaires and online survey were distributed among Muslims, which generated 130 usable questionnaires. SPSS software version 22 was used to analyze the data. The result of t-test demonstrated a significant difference between Malaysian Islamic and conventional credit card holders, which implies that religiosity plays a crucial role in the type of credit card holding. This study would assist issuing banks, academicians and policymakers in understanding the role of religiosity among Muslims in the selection of financial products.

The present paper attempts to shed some light on consumers' consciousness on environmental aesthetics in using nutricosmetics products. More particularly, this paper seeks to answer the following questions: (1) How does green marketing contribute to consumer consciousness towards environmental aesthetics? (2) How do nutricosmetic products present its aesthetic values towards its consumers? (3) How do consumers perceive environmental aesthetics in purchasing nutricosmetic products? (4) How are environmental aesthetics interconnected with the environment? In answering these research questions, relevant literature is reviewed, analysed, compared and synthesized as a way to gather the required information. The present paper contributes to the understanding of environmental aesthetics in the context of nutricosmetics industry.

The present study investigates how and why American management education (ME) ideas proliferate. It also examines their contributions to sustaining the hegemonic status of the United States. To achieve these objectives, a study in Malaysia was conducted that involved interviews with management educators from three public university business schools as well as analysis of their websites and program prospectuses. The findings suggest that the American influence on local ME practices is substantial. Three key American agents were determined to be responsible for spreading and sustaining the observed hegemony. The author associates the phenomenon with post-war American imperialism and discusses its implications on local ME and business practice.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitudes of two key groups of stakeholders (n=22) from academia and industry toward the nature of business ethics and their integration and inculcation in MBA programs in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – This is a qualitative study based on n=22 interviews with stakeholders from academia and industry. Findings – The main findings of the study indicate that respondents in this context tended define business ethics with reference to factors such as the interests of organizational stakeholders, environmental issues, property rights, and religion. It was also found that the respondents tended to consider ethical business practice to be primarily a social and religious obligation rather than representing a specific requirement of the workplace which could and should be developed during an MBA program. Research limitations/implications – The implications of the study are discussed in relation to some of the barriers that may exist to integrating business ethics into MBA programs in Malaysia. Originality/value – The study highlights the widely held view among the respondents that employees’ business ethics are primarily attributable to family upbringing, including religious instruction thus limiting the perceived need for and effect of later training and education in business ethics.

Much has been written about the case method, also known as the case-based teaching (CBT) as a teaching pedagogy. Most commonly adopted in the realm of business studies, the method is rather innovative when applied in other disciplines. The aim of this paper is to share policy-making and implementation experience of one of the public universities in Malaysia in embedding the case method into the teaching of its undergraduate academic programs. This paper also describes development of a tool to measure the effectiveness of the case method in terms of its role in inculcating participants’ generic skills. Contribution of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it describes adoption of this method at an institutional level (compared to individual level, self-reflection of instructors commonly found in the literature). Secondly, the paper is useful for instructors who plan to use the method in their teaching or/and to evaluate its effectiveness to the development of generic skills.

The theory and practice of competency approach has remained significant even decades after its conception. However despite its omnipresence, its validity has been repeatedly questioned. For it to be a truly useful tool, these criticisms and their roots must be critically analyzed to identify improvement measures. To find the solutions, a proper analysis of the competency subject must be first conducted. This paper aims to revisit the prevailing competency theories and backgrounds, with the intention to identify gaps and propose corrective measures. This paper starts by reviewing the theoretical foundations underpinning the competency approach, its origins, frameworks and key criticisms. Based on the reviews, it was found that the approach suffers two limitations. Firstly, its frameworks tend to be bias towards achieving utilitarian objective whereby definition of competent managers is limited to their contribution to organizational economic performance. Secondly, its research were mainly conducted from the positivistic lenses which over-simply the complex nature of managerial work. Based on these findings, the author then proposes epistemological and ideological turns that researchers should consider in researching the competency subject.

Learning through training and development programmes has been seen as an important vehicle to embed sustainability in organizations. This paper aims to conceptualize a model of sustainability learning in organizations and to understand the pivotal role that Human Resource Development plays in facilitating the learning process. It also explores relevant contextual factors that may influence the learning process engaged by employees in developing knowledge about sustainability. To fully understand the process of sustainability learning in organizations, this paper analyzes relevant theories on sustainability, Human Resource Development and learning theories. Results of the literature review will act as a basis to propose a framework which future researchers may refer to in studying sustainability learning in organizations. The proposed framework shall act as a point of departure to the development of holistic sustainability learning model through initiatives of Human Resource Development.

Stress is a universal and inevitable component of life. The article reports findings of a study aimed to determine the sources of stress among medical practitioners in private hospitals. The context of the study is medical practitioners in private hospitals and clinics in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Field study was conducted and primary data collection instrument was questionnaires. The questionnaire was based on five dimensions: workload, working conditions, role overload, sleep deprivation and unrealistic demands of the patients. The data was analyzed through statistical techniques using SPSS Version 16. Findings of the study revealed that sleep deprivation was the most important source of stress, followed by workload, working conditions, role overload and unrealistic demands of patients. The study provides a piece of evidence which may be used to illustrate the stress level of private practitioners in the healthcare industry in a developing country. Results of this study are useful to guide and inform healthcare management and policy measures.