Hayrol Azril Mohamed Shaffril

The process of social adaptation towards climate change among Malaysian fishermen

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of social adaptation to climate change among fishermen in the East Coast Region of Peninsular Malaysia.Design/methodology/approach – A set of questionnaires was developed based on the individual adaptive capacity framework on social adaptation to climate change developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Based on multi‐stage simple random sampling, a total of 300 registered fishermen in the East Coast Region of Peninsular Malaysia were chosen as the respondents.Findings – The fishermen surveyed had a high level of adaptation with regards to two aspects: first, environmental awareness, attitudes and beliefs; and second, local environmental knowledge. In contrast, they showed a low level of adaptation with regards to three aspects: attachment to place; formal and informal networks; and attachment to occupation. In addition, the fishermen had a moderate level of adaptation in relation to ten other aspec...

Mapping the patterns and problems in using rural library services among rural youth in Malaysia

This study attempts to discover the pattern of rural library usage among rural youth in Malaysia and to determine the problems that are associated with such usage. The findings of this study provide an insight into youth usage of rural library services. The most obvious pattern that resulted from the findings is the connection between library usage and the availability of reading materials. Furthermore, it was found that some of the respondents raised their concern with regard to rural libraries being congested with children. A number of recommendations have been highlighted and it is expected that these can be used by concerned parties to further improve and develop rural library services.

Individual adaptive capacity of small-scale fishermen living in vulnerable areas towards the climate change in Malaysia

The present study attempts to identify the individual adaptive capacity of small-scale fishermen living in coastal areas that are vulnerable to the climate change in Malaysia. This study is quantitative in nature and involves a total of 240 respondents from four areas in Malaysia. It can be concluded that small-scale fishermen in Malaysia have adaptive strength in two aspects: namely formal and informal networks; and environmental awareness, values and attitudes. Although the fishermen were found to record a high mean score for three other adaptive aspects – local environmental knowledge; attachment to job; and attachment to place – this actually demonstrates their adaptive weaknesses. Employability is another area of concern, as it emerged as the fishermens weakest adaptive aspect. This study demonstrates the potential of alternative skills, managed retreat, accommodation and protection, information management, periodical assessment and access to credit to produce progressive adaptive capacity of small-scale fishermen in Malaysia.

Quality of life in rural communities: residents living near to Tembeling, Pahang and Muar Rivers, Malaysia

The main aim of this study is to identify the quality of life (QoL) among communities residing near the Tembeling, Pahang and Muar Rivers in Malaysia. This quantitative study used a constructed questionnaire as main tool to collect data on the QoL of river communities. A total of 240 villagers were selected as respondents. The results indicated that the dimensions of settlement, safety, involvement and social relationships, as well as education scored highest, while dimensions of physical environment, financial and job security yielded moderate scores. Dimensions of infrastructure facilities yielded a low mean score. Recommendations are provided, in the hope that our results may be useful for strategies that could enhance QoL of these river communities.

Information and Communications Technology Acceptance by Youth Entrepreneurs in Rural Malaysian Communities: The Mediating Effects of Attitude and Entrepreneurial Intention

This study aims to examine information and communication technology (ICT) acceptance among youth entrepreneurs in rural Malaysian communities by employing two tailored technology acceptance models based on attitudes (AT) and entrepreneurial intention (EI) that influence actual use (AU). The study involved 400 rural youth entrepreneurs selected from four states in Malaysia, and both mediating effects were analyzed using bootstrapping procedures through structural equation modeling. The two models were tested, and vary in terms of different conceptualization of the pathways of mediating entrepreneurship latent factors. The models in the present paper are closely related to the model in a prior study that used the same data set [Zaremohzzabieh et al., 2015. A test of the technology acceptance model for understanding the ICT adoption behavior of rural young entrepreneurs. International Journal of Business and Management, 10(2), 158–169.]. The results revealed that the first model is better than the second model. The results also revealed that the confirmatory strength of the two models improved the initial TAM through some form of mediating effects (i.e. AT and EI). The outcomes of this study contribute to our theoretical understanding of variables that influence ICT acceptance, and inform practice by recognizing methods to improve ICT acceptance among rural youth entrepreneurs in the country. The results provide new insights for small rural businesses and help to explain ICT acceptance, which is relatively underresearched in these growing nations.

Mapping the Patterns of Mobile Phone Usage Among Fishermen in Malaysia

The main attempt of this paper is to identify the patterns of mobile phone usage among fishermen in Pangkor Island in Malaysia. This study is quantitative in nature, where a total of 250 fishermen were selected as the respondents. The findings confirm that although the majority of fishermen do not spend much time and money on making and receiving calls and messaging, the mobile phone is still a crucial tool for them, particularly in its role in enhancing their safety and easing the communication process with their family while conducting their fishing operation. Although the mobile phone has superior functions in marketing, fishermen in Pangkor Island seem to place less importance on it. The findings also show the similarities and differences relevant to the patterns of mobile phone usage in Pangkor Island, and hopefully this can be applied to other fishing areas and further intensify the development in the fisheries industry.

The Coastal Community Perception on the Socio-Economic Impacts of Agro-Tourism Activities in Coastal Villages in Malaysia

This paper is concerned with the socio-economic impacts of agro-tourism activities in coastal villages listed as Desa Wawasan Nelayan (DWN) in Malaysia. The paper discussed the impacts of the two major components of socio-economics dynamics, namely social and economic activities. This account highlights a number of discussions with specific reference to DWN in Malaysia. It identifies the similarities and differences with regard to socio-economic impact, and it is expected that these points will be of practical use for other agro-tourism areas around the globe, and help to increase interest in agro-tourism activities.

The coastal community awareness towards the climate change in Malaysia

Purpose – The present paper attempts to investigate the awareness of coastal community towards climate change in Malaysia and to explore the factors associated with their awareness toward the climate change. Design/methodology/approach – This is a quantitative study where a set of questionnaires was developed based on reviews of literature and series of instrument development meeting. Through a multi-stage cluster sampling, a total of 210 respondents from three coastal villages in Peninsular Malaysia were selected. Findings – The coastal community are shown to record a high mean score on their awareness toward changes relating to the sea, temperatures and the coast. Surprisingly, fishermen are found to be less aware toward climate change compared to other groups, such as housewives/retirees and students. Further analysis confirms that there are significant differences regarding coastal community awareness to changes relating to the sea, temperatures and the coast. Research limitations/implications – This ...

Infrastructure requirement of knowledge management system model of statistical learning tool (SLT) for education community

Today, teaching and learning (T&L) using technology as tool is becoming more important especially in the field of statistics as a part of the subject matter in higher education system environment. Eventhough, there are many types of technology of statistical learnig tool (SLT) which can be used to support and enhance T&L environment, however, there is lack of a common standard knowledge management as a knowledge portal for guidance especially in relation to infrastructure requirement of SLT in servicing the community of user (CoU) such as educators, students and other parties who are interested in performing this technology as a tool for their T&L. Therefore, there is a need of a common standard infrastructure requirement of knowledge portal in helping CoU for managing of statistical knowledge in acquiring, storing, desseminating and applying of the statistical knowedge for their specific purposes. Futhermore, by having this infrastructure requirement of knowledge portal model of SLT as a guidance in promoting knowledge of best practise among the CoU, it can also enhance the quality and productivity of their work towards excellence of statistical knowledge application in education system environment.

Toward understanding Malaysian fishermen's decision making on the use of fishing technology: A mental model approach

The vast majority of Malaysias fishermen are located in rural areas, specifically in the Western and Eastern coastal regions of Peninsular Malaysia and the Sabah and Sarawak central zones. In these areas, the fishing industry is relied upon as a major economic contributor to the regions residents. Despite the widespread application of various modern technologies into the fishing industry (i.e., GPS, sonar, echo sounder, remote sensing), and the Malaysian governments efforts to encourage their adoption, many small-scale fishermen in the countrys rural areas continue to rely on traditional fishing methods. This refusal to embrace new technologies has resulted in significant losses in fish yields and needed income, and has raised many questions regarding the inputs to decision making of the fishermen. Drawing on multiple literatures, in this article we argue for the use of a mental model approach to gain an in-depth understanding of rural Malaysian fishermens choices of technology adoption according to four main constructs--prior experience, knowledge, expertise and beliefs or values. To provide needed inputs to agricultural specialists and related policy makers for the development of relevant plans of action, this article aims to provide a way forward for others to understand dispositional barriers to technology adoption among fishermen who use traditional methods in non-Western contexts.