Wei-Loon Koe

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Performance of Government-Linked Companies (GLCs)

Quite often, people have negative views on government-linked companies (GLCs) due to the unsatisfactory performance of some key players. In order to improve the performance of GLCs in the country, Malaysian government implemented GLC Transformation Program (GLCT) in 2004. As the program is approaching its ending phase, some efforts are needed to assess the performance of GLCs. This study aimed to examine the influence of EO dimensions on the performance of GLCs. The sample of this study consisted of 153 subsidiaries and branches of G20. Based on the multiple regression analysis performed, this study found that all the five dimensions in EO, namely innovativeness (INNO), pro-activeness (PROA), risk-taking (RISK), competitive aggressiveness (COMP) and autonomy (AUTO) recorded significant positive effects on performance of GLCs. Competitive aggressiveness was identified as the most important factor that influences the performance of GLCs. As such, all the hypotheses developed for this study were supported. The results suggested that EO is not only suitable to be applied in privately owned companies, but also in GLCs. Hence, GLCs should not be perceived as public entities and they should be more entrepreneurial in managing their organizations to achieve high performance. Furthermore, this study also verified that EO is a good determinant of GLCs’ performance. At the end of this paper, recommendations for future research have been put forth.

The Use of Ar-Rahnu by Islamic Bank Customers in Malaysia

Ar-Rahnu or Islamic pawnbroking acts as one of the alternatives for people to borrow money quickly with ease. As interest is prohibited in Islam, Ar-Rahnu can be regarded as a permissible choice for Muslims in the country to borrow quick cash money. It is also worth noting that Ar-Rahnu is suitable for non-Muslims as well due to its short and simple process. To date, there is an abundance of studies on various Islamic-based financial products; however, research into Ar-Rahnu still remains low. As such, this study attempts to address the issue of intention to use Ar-Rahnu among the customers of an Islamic bank. A survey comprised of 377 respondents was carried out. Based on the statistical analysis, the results indicated that factors such as attitude, social influence, religious obligation, attractive price, and trust were having significant positive correlations with intention to use Ar-Rahnu. In addition, stronger correlations were found between the last two factors and intention, as compared to the previous three. Thus, offering an attractive price and establishing trust should be put forward as main considerations in drafting marketing strategies to attract and retain customers for this particular product.

Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation and Perceived Employability Among University Graduates

Graduate unemployment has become an intractable issue to most nations nowadays. Malaysian universities have put forth a wide range of effort to help the graduates to secure a job after their graduation. However, the graduate unemployment rate still remains high. University students have undergone a series of entrepreneurial training. However, many of them still prefer a stable employment to a challenging entrepreneurial business. As such, this paper was conducted to provide some insights on the influence of individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) on self-perceived employability among the university graduates. A total of 157 graduates were surveyed through a self-administered questionnaire. The analysis revealed that respondents agreed they possessed attributes of IEO and they perceived themselves as having employability. It further found that graduates’ IEO attributes, namely innovativeness and proactiveness have a positive and significant influence on their perceived employability. However, risk-taking attribute did not contribute to perceived employability. Although this paper did not confirm that all the three attributes of IEO could positively contribute to graduates’ perceived employability, it did highlight the importance of entrepreneurial attributes (i.e., innovativeness and proactiveness) in increasing a graduate’s confidence in getting an employment. It further proposed that entrepreneurial training should be carefully crafted to suit the university students’ needs because it helps them to be entrepreneurial and also enhances their confidence in getting a job in the competitive job market after their graduation.