Economics and Administration

University Malaya enrols students from all states in Malaysia as well as a small number of students from overseas. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of past performance on students at three faculties, namely, Faculty of Economics and Administration(FEA), Faculty of Business and Accounting(FBA) and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences(FASS). Students' prior achievements include their entry scores or points in English language proficiency and mathematics at the Malaysian Certificate of Education (MCE) level. Other factors taken into consideration are gender of students and their ethnic origins. Research results show that entry points are an important factor in influencing students' achievement in all three faculties. Apart from this, female students are found to have better results than their male counterparts in FBA and FASS. It was also found that mathematics performance at the MCE level is one of the influential factors for academic achievement in FBA.

Abstract. The aquaculture sector has undergone significant transformation in increasing food security for the nation as well as enhancing Malaysian Economic growth. This sector is put under the consideration of the Third National Agricultural Policy (1998-2010) in order to ...

The indigenous people have been identified to be among the poorest and the most socioeconomically and culturally marginalized people all over the world. The main purpose of the paper is to explore the socioeconomic and demographic factors of indigenous people in Peninsular Malaysia in context of poverty and the role of income dependency of non-timber forest products (NTFP). The data were collected in 2014 and 2015 through primary and secondary sources. Partial least squares (PLS) method was used to analysis the data. PLS is a modeling technique that features multiple regression and principal component analysis. The study shows that still a large number of indigenous households is involved in the NTFP activities. But the communities are moving away from NTFP based income to cash-crop based income because of poor sustainable forest management and lack of forest property rights. However, NTFP have a significant role in the household income and contribute 24% of the average income. Moreover, the analysis shows that location is significant to the poverty. There should be a suitable sustainable forest management system which can teach these indigenous communities about proper way of NTFP gathering and given proper rights to forest land. Furthermore, education is not significant to indigenous people and there is a high rate of school dropout among them. The government should introduce a different education system for indigenous communities which will emphasize the importance of education to them.

This study identifies the effects of climate variability as an environmental pressure on aquaculture production in Malaysia. Using Malmquist index approach, the analyses were applied to brackish-water ponds and cage aquaculture sectors in six states in Malaysia from 1993 to 2013. The Dynamic Malmquist Data Envelopment Analysis results had reflected that environmental technical change is the main factor behind the improvement of environmental performance index in pond production while the relative eco-efficiency is the major influencing factor in environmental performance index in cage aquaculture. Moreover, Pahang is the most efficient states in environmental aspects and technical support of brackish-water aquaculture ponds and cage activities, while Selangor is the least efficient state in aquaculture activities and under high climate change risks.Keywords: Aquaculture Production; Climate Change; Environmental Performance Index; Relative Eco-Efficiency; Environmental Technical Change.

The trafficking in human beings has turned out to be a menace that is difficult to eliminate, in spite of the significant policies, organisations, protective, preventable and prosecutable measures in place. Nevertheless, mysterious madam and voodoo victimisation are trafficking twin terror and two critical exploitative phenomena that had persisted and sustained international prostitution. There is little scholarly research which contributed to the said research area. This research utilises a multiple of qualitative research method of semi-structured one on one interviews, written documents, and observations with participants from government officials, nongovernmental organisation representatives and academics who are individuals indirectly or directly involved in trafficking for international prostitution in Nigeria. The study calls on the federal government to commit the village, ward, district heads, community and religious leaders in their respective communities actively.

Present day human trafficking is said to thrive as a result of the enabling environment given to traffickers with three main attributes, firstly, a reservoir of poverty-driven communities, then a group or bunch of vulnerable persons and lastly, a little paid attention to human trafficking by governments. There is not much information related to trafficking tripartite activities in women and children for sexual exploitation, the study is a descriptive research with in-depth investigation rationally using secondary documents in trying to identify why human trafficking occurs in the contemporary globalized world. In addition, the findings show most of the basic components of human trafficking are in threefold and there is little information to this end. Thus, the study succinctly provides human trafficking definition, the main causes, characteristics, types, stages, categories and approaches all made up in three distinct parts.

Background: This study investigates the decisions on marriage , pregnancy , abortion and spacing of children among Muslim women (MW) residing in the United States , Iran and Malaysia to explore the occurrences as well as socio-demographic characteristics associated with the likelihood of making an independent decision regarding sexual and reproductive health rights. Methods: A total of 1140 MW in Washington, D.C. (the United States),

Indigenous people are generally descended from original inhabitants of the land in which they inhabit and as such have a historical relationship with their land. Nowadays, most of the Orang Asli have been resettled to a village provided by the government. Nevertheless, they are still carrying out their traditional lifestyle, such as hunting and gathering forest product. Over many generations, they have developed a holistic ancestral traditional knowledge of their lands, natural resources and environment, which plays an important role in their livelihood and well-being. Documentation of traditional knowledge on natural resources by the native people in Malaysia is still far from complete. Thus, the objective of this study is to document the traditional knowledge and natural resources used by the Orang Asli in their livelihoods. This study adopts a qualitative approach through exploratory study whereby the study was carried out at the Orang Asli resettlement villages in the state of Terengganu, Malaysia. Data was obtained from the tribal elders who served as informants using indepth interviews and field observations. The results show that two plant species mainly relied on the Orang Asli for their economic activity, including agarwood

Economic, social and ecological development are seriously impeded by the deterioration of the environmentwhich creates detrimental effects on people's livelihoods as well as natural resources management. This study aims to explore the predominant factors affecting natural resources management within marine protected areas (MPAs) and the impact of said factors. The data was collected using a survey questionnaire through face to face interaction with respondents. The structural equation model (SEM) was employed to analyse the collected data. The study found that economic, social, cultural and ecological development factors have a significant influence on "sustainable use of natural resources". By contrast, political and technological development does not have any significant relationship with sustainable use of natural resources. This might be because MPAs are not politically and technologically developed yet according to community expectations. Therefore, this study will propose some directives for policymakers to accelerate economic, social, cultural and ecological developmentas well as to increase sustainability awareness and form favourable environmental attitudes among marine park communities to promote natural resource management.

Background: Knowledge of brides and grooms about reproductive health and pregnancy preparedness in Indonesia still lack. Efforts to give lessons reproductive health and pregnancy preparedness to brides and grooms today still taboo and limited. Education about reproductive health and pregnancy preparedness is one of strategic ways to increase brides’ and grooms’ knowledge and attitudes about reproductive health and pregnancy preparedness. This study conducted to evaluate an effect of reproductive health and pregnancy preparedness education by provision of media on brides and grooms in Brebes district. Methods: This study utilized quasi experimental pre and post-test one group design. Population of this study includes 54 brides and grooms (31 females and 23 males) in Brebes. Results: Based on the results of a different test with Wilcoxon Match paired Test obtained were significant differences between the respondents knowledge and attitudes before and after reproductive health educatio...

The challenges faced by SME to get access to formal lending are well-known. Lending to SME continue, but mostly it was backed up by collateral. However, providing collateral to secure financing is a mammoth task for SME. Establishment of credit guarantee company to woo commercial lenders to lend to SME is a strong signal that collateral remains strong in dictating the credit flow to the SME. Past studies have been too concentrating on collateral lending until the area of financing without collateral to SME has been neglected. Hence, it is vital to scrutiny the factor’s considered by the commercial lenders to grant credit to SME without collateral, as collateral is the main reason SMEs are being denied on the formal lending. Therefore, this conceptual paper was formed to discuss the factors that might influence lending to SME without collateral by examining diverse literature and past studies related to financing to SME.

This paper evaluates the nature and extent of productivity change of the co-operative, Islamic and conventional banks in Malaysia over the period of 2006-2010. Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Rakyat) is a co-operative bank that has been the backbone of the Malaysian co-operative movement. Bank Rakyat had played a significant role by continuously supporting the co-operative sector in contributing to the country’s economy. This study utilized a non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology and Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to estimate the individual bank efficiency and productivity changes within this period. The results from this analysis showed that 64.3 percent of banks studied had total factor productivity (TFP) progress. Out of this 44 percent are Islamic banks. The MPI index summary had shown that TFP had regressed in 2007 by 6.2 percent. TFP summary of annual mean for the 5 year period however, showed a progressed in TFP of 1.5 percent that was con...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of leadership style   and compensation on employee performance through organizational commitment as an intervening variable. This study uses primary data and is quantitative in nature. The population in this study were all employees of Baitul Maal Wa Tanwil, Gunungkidul Regency, while the sample used was 100 people. Sampling technique used in this research is sampling technique, random sampling and hairs theory with Structural Equation Modeling analysis method. The analysis used in this research is path analysis, hypothesis testing, multiple linear regression and single test. This study indicate that employee performance is getting better if the influence of leadership style and compensation is better preceded by the creation of a higher organizational commitment that individuals have to their organization. This is because leadership style has a positive effect on commitment, but has no effect on performance. Compensation has no ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of leadership style and compensation on employee performance through organizational commitment as an intervening variable. This study uses primary data and is quantitative in nature. The population in this study were all employees of Baitul Maal Wa Tanwil, Gunungkidul Regency, while the sample used was 100 people. Sampling technique used in this research is sampling technique, random sampling and hairs theory with Structural Equation Modeling analysis method. The analysis used in this research is path analysis, hypothesis testing, multiple linear regression and single test. This study indicate that employee performance is getting better if the influence of leadership style and compensation is better preceded by the creation of a higher organizational commitment that individuals have to their organization. This is because leadership style has a positive effect on commitment, but has no effect on performance. Compensation has no effect on commitment but has a positive effect on performance. While commitment has a positive effect on performance so that it can be a mediator between leadership style and employee performance, not on employees.

Abstract This paper considers the use of spreadsheet for introducing students to a variety of quantitative models covered in an introductory Operations Research (OR) course at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. This approach allows students to develop skills in modeling as they learn to apply the various quantitative models in a spreadsheet. Indeed, imparting spreadsheet and modeling skills with OR skills will make students highly sought after in the modern workplace.

The literature of the port performance has typically centered on the advanced market and the emerging markets. There is a dearth of studies on the Latin America seaports' performance. It is important to study seaports efficiency in this particular region which has experienced significant reforms since the mid-1980s.

Poor environmental performance of the manufacturing activities is said to be attributed to pollutants produced and emitted during the manufacturing process. These pollutants are regarded as undesirable output and cannot be ignored when measuring the efficiency of manufacturing activities.

This paper surveys scientific thought on issues in airlines‟ performance across regions from 1983 to 2012. The focus of scholarly works since the deregulation of the US airline industry in 1978 has constantly aimed at benchmarking airlines from the aspects of efficiency and productivity. Since then, dozens of research in airlines are centered on how airlines promote efficiency and productivity amidst the rising competition sparked by moves for liberalization in the air transport industry in both the United States and the European Union.

In the last decade, the shipping industry and the global seaborne trade has witnessed a rapid growth due to globalization of the world economy, boom in international trade and borderless investments. As competition among international ports has intensified, the evaluation of port operational efficiency has become increasingly important to enable individual ports to reflect on its current status quo and understand their strengths and weaknesses in the competitive environment.