S. M. Ferdous Azam

Can parental involvement mitigate “swing away from science”? Sri Lankan perspectives

Abstract “Swing away from science” is a dilemma that researchers are seeking solutions over 50 years. The dilemma is becoming more complicated due to the developmental decline in students’ motivation toward learning science around the world, particularly at the secondary level. While the parental involvement becomes more vital in the secondary school years, it also dramatically declines in this period. The study investigated the level of parental involvement in terms of parents’ socioeconomic factors and students’ demographic factors. The association between parental involvement measured in terms of four dimensions and Sri Lankan secondary public school students’ motivation toward learning science measured in terms of six dimensions was also studied. A random sample of 689 students and their parents participated in this quantitative survey. While the parental involvement showed significant differences in relation to the parents’ income level and the school category that the child attends, the same showed no significant difference in relation to parents’ ethnicity and child’s gender. Parental involvement showed a strong association with students’ intrinsically and extrinsically motivated science learning and self-efficacy. Home-based parental involvements had a stronger impact on students’ motivation compared to the school-based involvements. Measures that can be taken by the stakeholders to strengthen the parental involvement activities, which enhance students’ motivation to learn science and mitigate swing away from science were discussed.

Operational or strategic benefits: Empirical investigation of internet adoption in supply chain management

Purpose The purpose of this study is twofold: identifying important determinants for effective adoption of internet technologies in an organizational supply chain context and examining and classifying benefits yielded from internet adoption in supply chain. Design/methodology/approach A structured Web-based questionnaire was designed and administered to respondents to collect the primary data. With two reminders, this study managed to obtain 236 respondents from different industries in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was applied to test the seven hypotheses. Findings Four of five factors were significant for successful implementation of internet technologies in organizations. In addition, results suggested that internet technologies contribute more to operational activities rather than strategic initiatives, which would be one of the main contributions of this study. Research limitations/implications This study is limited by its being based on organizational perception rather than absolute value for measuring the benefits of internet adoption. Moreover, this study applied the cross-sectional technique which may limit generalizability of the findings. Practical implications This study provides in-depth knowledge about internet adoption and benefits for the organization by combining both theoretical and empirical knowledge. It helps managers to understand the importance and process of internet adoption. Originality/value Organizations who are interested in adopting the internet in their supply chain may feel that these results will guide them in making their final decision.

How comfortable are Malaysian users in utilizing webpages of small businesses

The main objective of the current study is to explore the challenges the Malaysian consumers face in terms of e-commerce experiences with small businesses in general. In addition, the study looks into the potential impacts of demographic profiles of respondents on the e-commerce experiences in general and bad experiences in particular. The results suggest that e-commerce users face highest challenges with after purchase services followed by overall quality, usage experience, value, and installation. Regarding bad experiences, slow internet appears on the top of the list followed by slow delivery of the products, unfriendly website, poor quality products, complicated payment system, and unsecured operations. Also, this study reveals that security issue is no longer serious issue for Malaysian customers. The demographic characteristics have significant impacts on the level of satisfaction perceived in the e-commerce transaction while regarding bad experiences the demographic profiles have little or no impacts.