May-Chiun Lo

The relationship between leadership styles and organizational commitment in Malaysia: role of leader–member exchange

Building upon the ‘social exchange theory’ notion, this study hypothesized the moderating impact of leader–member exchange (LMX) on the relationship between two leadership styles and organizational commitment of employees. One hundred and fifty-six Malaysian executives voluntarily participated in this study. Though the hypotheses for direct effects received low to moderate support for transformational leadership styles, the moderating hypothesis received substantial support, with a stronger relationship particularly in the case of professional respect dimension of LMX. Implications of the findings, limitations of the study and directions for future research are suggested.

Market orientation, service quality and organizational performance in service organizations in Malaysia

Purpose – This study seeks to examine the relationship between market orientation, service quality, and their impact towards organizational performance.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 175 sets of structured questionnaires were distributed to managers of 175 service organizations in the northern region of Malaysia, and only 57.71 percent of it, which is 101, was returned.Findings – The results show that market orientation has a significant effect on organizational performance and service quality. Also, service quality has a significant effect on organizational performance. Interestingly, this study found that service quality partially mediates the relationship between market orientation and organizational performance.Research limitations/implications – In order to be more generalized to the service industry, a wider sample with multiple responses from different individuals and management levels can be used for any future study. The same study can also be done by including other mediating or even m...

Market Orientation and Organizational Performance: The Moderating Role of Service Quality

Orientation plays a vital role for organizations to compete to create sustainable competitive advantage. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between market orientation (MO) and organizational performance (OP) with service quality (SQ) as a moderator in the context of the hotel industry in Malaysia. MO and OP were conceptualized as three- and two-dimensional constructs, respectively, whereas SQ, which consists of two-dimensional constructs, namely, technical quality and functional quality, was used as a moderator. Data were gathered through a survey using a structured questionnaire with a sample of 187 executive-level employees employed in hotels rated three stars and above in Malaysia. SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) with path modeling and bootstrapping was used to examine the standard error of the estimate and t-values. The findings suggest that only competitor orientation dimension of MO was significantly related to OP, whereas customer orientation and inter-functional coordination were not related. Interestingly, SQ was found to have moderated the relationship between MO and performance of the hotels in Malaysia. SQ exists to fill in the gap between customers’ expectations and their perception of the service providers’ performance that further creates differentiation and competitive advantage, which enhance MO practices and ultimately lead to improvements in the firm’s performance. Implications of the findings, potential limitations of the study, and directions for future research are highlighted.

Self-efficacy and sustainable rural tourism development: local communities’ perspectives from Kuching, Sarawak

ABSTRACT The future of the tourism industry is dependent on local communities’ ability to develop and sustain tourism developments, especially in sensitive rural areas. But there is limited research on this topic to guide tourism authorities and governments. In particular, few studies have studied sustainable rural tourism development from the perspective of the local communities. Therefore, this study examines local communities’ views on their capability to achieve sustainable rural tourism development in selected rural areas in Kuching, Sarawak. Questionnaires were distributed to the local communities residing at three rural tourism destinations in Kuching, Sarawak. Interestingly, the results indicated that local communities’ self-efficacy has a positive relationship with social, cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability. Hence, this study offers theoretical and practical contributions to sustainable rural tourism development literature and the tourism industry.

Local Communities Perceptions on Rural Tourism Competitive Advantage: A Study on Kampung Bako (Bako National Park), Kuching, Sarawak

Rural tourism in Malaysia has been designated as a potential segment to give a boost to the tourism industry in further up the value chain; it is also a natural and ready-made vehicle for the rural community to develop their local area economically and infrastructurally. The development of tourism destination, however, should own a capacity in maximising the competitive advantage to be effective and yet sustainable. This study examines the perspective of local community on the relationship between economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impacts on tourism, stakeholder involvement, and community tourism knowledge with rural competitive advantage. 150 residents of a rural tourism destination in Sarawak, Malaysia voluntarily took part in this study. SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) was applied, to assess the developed model, based on path modelling. Subsequently, to generate the standard error of the estimate and t-values, bootstrapping with 500 re-samples was applied. The findings suggested that stakeholder?s involvement in tourism, community support for tourism, and economic impact of tourism have had a significant positive impact on rural competitive advantage; community knowledge of tourism and environmental and socio-cultural impacts of tourism, did not have a significant impact on the same. The implications arising from these findings are then been further discussed.

The novel concepts and practices of firm innovativeness: the mediating and moderating impacts

The objective of this study is to propose a conceptual model that blends the dimensions of knowledge management, information technology capability, innovative culture and firm innovativeness into a single framework for practitioners and academicians. In conceptualising the model, this study reviewed a range of existing literature. The findings identified: 1) four processes of knowledge management that represent the construct; 2) information technology capability as a variable that mediates the relationship between knowledge management and firm innovativeness; 3) innovative culture as a variable that moderates the link between knowledge management and information technology capability. The resulting conceptualisation is meant for evaluating the potential strategic model for firms to implement information technology capability and innovative culture. It is posited that the proposed conceptual model, when implemented, would give practitioners a better understanding of factors that enhance firm innovativeness.

Sustainable leadership: power of influence in MNCS in Malaysia

Building upon social exchange theory which explains how power is gained and lost in the process of influence between an agent and the target, this article hypothesized the impact of supervisors’ and subordinates’ power bases on the usage of influence tactics by the supervisors. Bases of power of supervisors, subordinates and influence tactics were conceptualized as seven-, seven- and nine-dimensional constructs, respectively. Three hundred and eighty-five pairs of Malaysian managers and executives working in large multinational companies participated. Currently, the manufacturing sector is considered as one of the cornerstone of Malaysia’s economic diversification strategy. The findings suggested that supervisors apply various influence tactics on their subordinates.

Leadership styles and financial services performance

This paper seeks to explore the relationship between leadership practices and organisational performance of financial leaders in Malaysia. It aims to investigate the existence of contemporary leadership styles such as transformational, transactional and leader-member exchange (LMX) in enhancing organisational performance particularly in financial services sector. Data was collected from financial services companies, comprising commercial banks, investment banks, unit trust management companies and insurance companies. SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) was applied to test the hypotheses that comprised both transformational and transactional leadership styles and also LMX on organisational performance and subsequently bootstrapping was conducted to investigate the standard error of the estimate and t-values. This research highlights the importance of leadership awareness as well as recognition of LMX as a valuable approach in achieving a better organisational performance. This study attempts to blend various leadership styles and organisational performance of financial services sector in Malaysia.

Service quality gap and tourists? satisfaction at rural destination: an empirical examination

Tourists? satisfaction and service quality has each been the subject of extensive, but separate, research, although a great deal of interest on tourists? satisfaction has been conducted in tourism setting. Little research has empirically examined the distinctions and the perceived satisfaction and actual satisfaction of tourists particularly in rural destination. This study was conducted, firstly, to assess the service quality gap by measuring tourists? perceived and actual service performance and secondly, to identify the service quality dimensions on tourists? satisfaction. The results revealed that there are significant differences between tourists? expectation and their perceptions. All four dimensions showed that tourists? expectation exceeded their perception with places having the smallest gap and outdoor activities having the largest gap. The analysis had shown that different service quality components had various impacts on tourists? satisfaction. Implications of the findings, potential limitations of the study and directions for future research were discussed further.