Noor Raihani Binti Zainol

The Effect of Cognitive and Relational Social Capital on Structural Social Capital and Micro-Enterprise Performance:

Social capital and its dimensions are highly interrelated, and the outcome of social capital provides entrepreneurs with resources and knowledge that are not available in the first place. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of relational and cognitive social capital on structural social capital and the effect of structural social capital on the performance of micro-enterprises owned and managed by women in Peninsular Malaysia. This study uses a cross-sectional approach, and quantitative data are collected through structured interviews. It was found that cognitive social capital has a significant positive effect on structural social capital, and structural social capital has a significant positive effect on micro-enterprise performance. It was found that relational social capital has a positive but insignificant effect on structural social capital. Therefore, women entrepreneurs should emphasize on making the communication process easier and on ensuring that their business values, norms, interpretation, and meaning are shared and communicated to relevant parties to improve network ties and to build a dense network, which is essential in providing access to resources and knowledge. This, in return, is expected to improve the micro-enterprise performance in Malaysia.

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES: A STUDY AMONG WOMEN MICRO- ENTREPRENEURS IN MALAYSIA

ABSTRACT:The participation of women entrepreneurs are rapidly increasing over last few decades and studies highlighted women entrepreneurship is one of the key contributors for economic development through speeds up development process, reduces poverty unemployment and inequalities, and improves the overall well-being of children. Development initiatives allover the world, therefore, focused on improving the socio-economic condition of low-income households through providing access to working capital and/or other resources to improve entrepreneurial performance. Development initiatives, however, commonly ignore the potential impact of social capital. Social capital is the most under-rated influential factor, which may have a strong influence on entrepreneurial competencies and enterprise performance. This study therefore aimed to examine the effect of social capital on entrepreneurial competencies among the women micro-entrepreneurs in Peninsular Malaysia. This study employs a cross-sectional approach and quantitative data are collected through structured interviews from registered women micro-entrepreneurs in Peninsular Malaysia. The sampling frame was based on the business directory of SME Corporation Malaysia’s registered members of National Association of Women Entrepreneurs. Based on the list of registered women entrepreneurs under the SME Corporation Malaysia, there are a total of 126,910 registered SMEs in Malaysia, owned by women entrepreneurs; among them, 111,571 are registered microenterprises. This research adopted the stratified random sampling method in order to identify 500 women entrepreneurs from the four regions. Among the selected 500 micro-entrepreneurs, a total of 421 micro-entrepreneurs were selected based on their recent status (active, own, and manage) and size. Among them, only 4 women micro-entrepreneurs refused the request for an interview; therefore, complete data were collected from 417 women micro-entrepreneurs. Findings of this study noted the r2 values in the hierarchical entrepreneurial competency model noted that the degree of explained variance of this hierarchical construct is reflected in its components. The r2 values in the hierarchical social capital model noted that the degree of explained variances of the hierarchical construct is reflected in its components. The path coefficient between social capital and entrepreneurial competencies is 0.495, indicates a positive effect of social capital on entrepreneurial competencies at the chosen 5% level of significance. Women entrepreneurs should be focusing on how to identify and reach key business players and spend time to network with other business by joining formal and informal networks. Development policies and programs in Malaysia should therefore focus on building social capital among micro-entrepreneurs to foster the national development process and reduces poverty, unemployment rate and inequalities.

Examining the effectiveness of micro-enterprise development programs in Malaysia

Previous studies on socioeconomic development have examined the effect of development initiatives (i.e., access to finance and training) on several socioeconomic indicators (i.e., income, empowerment, asset, quality of life, employment). These studies have focused mostly on the outcomes of specific types of programs offered by specific development organizations. This study however focuses on informal women micro-entrepreneurs’ participation in various development programs available to them and their influence on entrepreneurial competencies, human capital development, competitive advantages, economic vulnerability, supportive environment, and performance of micro-enterprises. This cross-sectional study adopted the purposive random sampling method and collected data from 384 informal women entrepreneurs from the local markets in different districts of Kelantan, Malaysia. The findings show that the development program participants have relatively higher levels of entrepreneurial competencies, human capital development, and higher levels of enterprise performance compared to non-participants. It is also noted that the level of economic vulnerability is relatively low among participants compared to non-participants. However, these findings contradict most of the earlier studies Received: October, 2016 1st Revision: March, 2017 Accepted: May, 2017 DOI: 10.14254/20718330.2017/10-2/20 Noor Raihani Zainol, Abdullah Al Mamun, Hasannuddin Hassan, Rajennd Muniady Examining the effectiveness of micro-enterprise development programs in Malaysia 293 that show a significant positive impact of micro-credit on socio-economic wellbeing, as the difference in entrepreneurial competencies, human capital development, economic vulnerability, and performance of micro-enterprises among participants and non-participants in this study is not statistically significant. However, findings reported significantly higher levels of competitive advantages, and better supportive environment among the participants compared to the non-participants. Development organizations should therefore focus on expanding their outreach to spread the positive effects of their development programs towards uplifting the economic condition of low and middle-income households in Malaysia.

The Moderating Effect of a Supportive Environment Toward the Relationship of Entrepreneurial Competencies and the Performance of Informal Women Entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia

In Malaysia, women dominate many sectors particularly those related to small business sectors. It is crucial to realize that participation of women entrepreneurs through the informal economy can support the development of their family. The development of women entrepreneurship is crucial for creating a vibrant and dynamic economy in Malaysia. The objective of this study is to determine the moderating effect of a supportive environment toward the relationship of entrepreneurial competencies and the performance of informal enterprises owned and managed by women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and a purposive random sampling method using quantitative data from 384 informal women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia. The sampling frame was based on an informal sector’s workforce survey report, Malaysia-2013. Based on the report, the total number of population of informal women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan is 534 000. The informal women entrepreneurs were drawn from six districts in Kelantan, Malaysia, which are Kota Bharu, Tanah Merah, Pasir Puteh, Tumpat, Machang, and Ketereh. Findings of this study revealed that opportunity recognition competencies, relationship competencies, and commitment competencies have a positive and significant effect on the performance of informal microenterprises owned and managed by women entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia. Findings also reported a significant moderating effect of a supportive environment on the commitment competency and the performance of informal microenterprises. To improve the socio-economic condition of the low-income informal women micro-entrepreneurs and their households, development programs and policies should therefore focus on improving informal entrepreneurs’ capacity to recognize and take advantage of new income generating opportunities. As for the informal women micro-entrepreneurs, it is crucial to recognize their significant positive role, and therefore accumulate relational and commitment competencies to improve the performance of their informal microenterprises.

To Serve or not to Serve? Student Leaders, Community Service, and Community Service Learning

Community service is volunteer activities that require commitment to help others. This paper explores the knowledge and experience of community service activity among student leaders. It identifies the attitudes and perceptions of the student leaders on community service learning module as a requirement in their academic program. The Community Service—Learning Attitudes and Perception Scale (CSLAPS) was applied in this study. The findings show that the student leaders would participate in community services because of their interest in the program itself as well as for their career development. This research information could be used by the schools and academia to engage their student leaders in an academic-based community service as a way of learning and contributing back to the society. Having served both, the learning part and social purposes of the module, it could shape students into well rounded future leaders whose theoretical learning and real engagement of Community Service could benefit many.