Zainuddin Zakaria

The Intention to Purchase Life Insurance: A Case Study of Staff in Public Universities

Abstract The last 20 years has seen a drastic increase in the cost of living in Malaysia. This scenario highlighted the value of acquiring proper financial management scheme that will enable the Malaysian citizen to enjoy their retirement years comfortably. Past research revealed that there is lack of understanding and awareness of having life insurance or Takaful plan. Furthermore, since 2014, there has been an increase in fees for medical consultation and procedures. This explains the importance for an individual to be insured, regardless of whether it is through conventional life insurance or Takaful. Having an insurance policy will not only reduce the retirement gap, but it will also help Malaysians to secure financial security for their family and also in meeting outstanding financial obligations. This study hopes to determine the perception of public universitys staff in acquire a life insurance or Takaful using self administered survey. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to determine the factors that may influence the staff of public universities to purchase or not purchase a conventional life insurance or TAKAFUL policy. Data collected was analysed using Correlation and Multiple Regression analysis.

The Mediating Effect of Family Support in Influencing Business Competitiveness of SME

The issue of the competitiveness among small and micro size enterprise (SME) operated by the local indigenous citizen (Bumiputera) has received great attention from the government of Malaysia. In fact, the Malaysian government through its “New Economy Policy” has taken several initiatives to enhance the competitiveness of the SMEs Among the initiatives taken by the Malaysian government are creating more employment, generating higher income, improving the local economies and building modern business physical facilities. The challenge, however remains whether micro entrepreneurs are really committed to the government’s initiative and efforts in improving their business competitiveness that will help them penetrate new and bigger markets. In light of this issue, the authors postulate three entrepreneurial factors and one mediating variable that may influence the competitiveness of the micro entrepreneurs. A total of 520 micro-entrepreneurs were selected from seven districts in Terengganu, Malaysia. The three steps regression analysis revealed that family support partially mediates two entrepreneurial success factors, effective management, and internal motivation and fully mediates the entrepreneurs’ ability to exploit business opportunities. These findings revealed that the combination of family support with other entrepreneurial success factor would be more potent in creating sustainable competitive advantage among the entrepreneurs. The authorities responsible for the development of the entrepreneurs would therefore be wise to design entrepreneurial programs that not only cater to the entrepreneurs themselves but also focus on the participation of the whole family