Search results

The purpose of this paper is to present a briefing on milestones of Malaysia Centre of Tourism and Hospitality Education (MyCenTHE) regarding its role as a nation-building exercise in developing human capital talent for future sustainable hospitality and tourism in Malaysia. Under a national initiative by the ministry of education, hospitality and tourism educational institutes in the country have set out to better prepare graduates for industry. MyCenTHE aspires to build a hospitality and tourism cluster (threefold) so that Malaysia is able to increase its annual output of hospitality and tourism personnel from 20,000 in 2009 to 50,000 in 2020 and increase the share of graduates with diploma- or degree-level awards from 13% to 50% by 2020. These expectations can only be achieved by creating a sustainable pool of workers for this sector. It was in this context for which “MyCenTHE” was conceived.

The current study is based on documentary analysis of secondary sources, qualitative in nature, and presents a case study of MyCenTHE with its key accomplishments in promoting hospitality and tourism education in Malaysia.

The hospitality and tourism industry in Malaysia is set to create 600,000 new job opportunities and in so doing, will need many more skilled, work-ready graduates in the coming decade. This paper highlights the collective efforts of the private higher education sector together with some selected public institutions (polytechnics) under the umbrella of the ministry of education through the MyCenTHE platform in promoting hospitality and tourism education nationwide via national awareness campaigns, conferences, skill competitions, seminars, forums and corporate social responsibility projects.

This paper is of value in its own context and in particular support from ministry and related authorities, 26 institutions of higher education working together, approaches to hundreds of local schools and thousands of audiences/participants in awareness campaigns.

The purpose of this paper is to promote the adoption of a work-based learning (WBL) approach by highlighting the benefits to students, organizations and the economy.

This paper provides a review and synthesis of current literature, including two separate case studies, which serve to demonstrate the practical applications of entrepreneurial education in different countries and how this application works to strengthen economies and improve communities.

Learning entrepreneurship in a real-world environment can bridge the gap between traditional, classroom instruction and idea-driven product and service development. It is a business-effective approach that achieves measurable results. Traditional education, typified by mastery of facts and evaluation by testing, can morph into creative, research-inspired solutions that fulfill public and private organizational needs. Success is irrefutable, measured by tangible results. In WBL, students can use industry-standard technologies and collaborate with mentors, clients and customers. They can work as individuals and in teams, with their entrepreneurial education beginning as early as elementary school. In the process, students learn to be motivated by their own achievements, rather than grades. They learn to engage in creative problem-solving, based upon current data, and measure their ability to deal with challenge and failure through an iterative process of problem-solving.

The completion of this research study serves to highlight the potential benefits that Malaysia could attain through the adoption of WBL within the country’s school systems.

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the ways in which hospitality and tourism education in Malaysia is working with the Malaysian Industry 4.0 framework.

A qualitative research approach was used to conduct 30 interviews with respondents working for academic institutions and local or foreign companies.

The analysis of data helped to identify themes relating to current foreign partnerships within this area of industry.

Through the resolution of this research question, specific recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders are made, which, if implemented, may facilitate further improvements in tourism and hospitality education in support of industry in Malaysia.

The Islamic rural banks have the potential to grow in Indonesia. It is important to learn and study the consumer behaviors toward the Islamic rural banks’ services to plan for future strategies. The purpose of this paper is to test the applicability of the theory of reasoned action in predicting the customers’ decision to use the Islamic rural banks’ services.

The descriptive and structural equation model analyses were used to analyze the data. A random sampling technique is adopted with a sample size of 180 consumers of the Islamic rural banks. There are variables to be tested such as Sharia system compliance, product knowledge on Sharia, promotion, services, attitude, subjective norms, intention and customer decisions to use the Islamic rural banks’ services.

The results found that the Sharia system compliance, promotion, services, attitude, subjective norms and intention variables have a significant effect on the use of services at Islamic rural banks. Only product knowledge on Sharia variable has been found to be insignificant.

The model can be used to prepare better strategies to attract more customers as well as increase public awareness toward Islamic rural banks’ products and services. The results are useful as a benchmark for policymakers to improve the establishment of Islamic rural banks particularly in Indonesia.

The purpose of this paper is to profile the Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes theme issue “The way forward: how is Malaysian hospitality and tourism education working with industry?” with reference to the experiences of the theme editors and writing team.

Structured questions were used to enable the theme editors to reflect on the rationale for the theme issue question, the starting point, the selection of the writing team and material and the editorial process.

Malaysia’s hospitality and tourism industry is facing an acute shortage of skilled employees, accentuated by the fact that jobs in the industry are not broadly appealing to Malaysians.

The hospitality and tourism industry in Malaysia wants to employ graduates with a professional attitude and mindset, and to secure this objective, a greater focus on work-based learning is needed.

The paper draws on discussion and applied research to explore the hospitality and tourism industry–education collaboration in Malaysia and the ways in which employability and retention can be enhanced by a greater emphasis on work-based learning.

The purpose of this study is to provide an assessment of communication practices in universities in Yemen. The paper also gives further insight into the relationship between national culture (NC) and communication satisfaction (CS) of multicultural teams at universities.

The study used a quantitative research design and used quantitative instruments to collect data from 338 faculty members from different countries including professors, associate professors, assistant professors, teachers, and tutors working at four universities in Yemen. Data were collected using the CS questionnaire and the Value Survey Module.

The analysis of the data shows that the CS levels among the academic staff vary according to the nationality. In addition, analysis of the data revealed that there is a significant relationship between CS factors and NC dimensions.

This research provides valuable insight into the faculty members' development and performance. It may assist the multicultural academic staff to be able to help, improve working relationships, and understanding of intercultural communication which help them to reach a CS.

Money laundering (ML) is the process used to convert the proceeds of crimes into lawful form. This global problem promotes social ills, corruption and organized crimes. Various instruments are used to counter individual illicit behavior. However, in low-income countries, these regulations are not common because of weak institutions, poor governance and a lack of awareness about the negative consequences of ML. In these countries, multinational corporations take advantage of poor law and order, lower environmental regulations and corruption and shift their domestic operations into foreign countries.

This study uses a multiple mediator model to investigate the link between foreign direct investment (FDI), environmental degradation measured as CO₂ emissions (CE), exports and ML for 118 countries between 2008 to 2018.

Results indicate that FDI promotes exports and CE, leading to illicit financial flows.

Policymakers should enforce checks on foreign funds flow and adopt illicit flow mitigation measures to minimize ML globally.

The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of demographic factors as determinants of citizens’ perceptions toward two dimensions of e-governance, namely: e-openness and e-participation.

A questionnaire was administered to collect data from three locations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Demographic data were analyzed to test two dimensions, namely: e-openness and e-participation of e-governance underpinning five demographic variables. More specifically t-test and the Scheffe method of multiple comparisons were conducted on a sample of 1,500 respondents to measure the significance of gender, age, educational level, nationality and type of employment in relation to the aforementioned dimensions of e-governance.

Findings indicate that, with the exception of nationality, all other demographic variables including gender, age, education and type of employment clearly explain differences among the respondents of e-governance. Furthermore, our findings suggest that respondents perceive moderate satisfaction with one dimension, namely, e-openness, but less satisfaction with the other dimension of e-governance, namely: e-participation.

The study is limited by the exclusive emphasis of the influence of five independent demographic factors on only two dimensions of e-governance. In addition, the sample represents highly educated and experienced respondents of Internet use and thus the results might be biased. Future studies may look beyond the demographic variables by evaluating UAE citizens’ attitudes and behavior towards the adoption of e-services. Furthermore, future research could be an in-depth examination, through focus groups, of the factors that impede an active interaction in the UAE. To overcome the possibility of biasness of the results, future work should include non-users and comparing the adoption behavior of online and offline users.

The key findings are useful for policy-makers and decision-makers for a real understanding of the needs of the citizens and to re-conceptualize the government Web sites as an interactive channel of communication in enhancing transparency and participation and, therefore, to contribute to democratic process.

The primary value of this research lies in extending the understanding of citizens’ perceptions of two dimensions of e-governance according to their demographic attributes. The two dimensions of e-governance identified in this study are neither studied before in the context of Arab countries nor explored in relation to the identified demographic variables. Furthermore, this study combines the two dimensions (e-openness and e-participation) and is in contrast with previous studies which examined these two dimensions separately.

Al-Qaeda is conventionally portrayed as a monolithic, hierarchical organization whose activities – coordinated by the network's leader Osama bin Laden – are the source of international terrorism today. Al-Qaeda is considered a radical tendency within the broader Islamist Salafi movement, legitimizing its terrorist operations as a global Islamist jihad against Western civilization. Al-Qaeda's terrorist activity today is considered, “blowback” from long finished CIA and western covert operations in Afghanistan.

The conventional wisdom is demonstrably false. After the Cold War, Western connections with al-Qaeda proliferated around the world, challenging mainstream conceptions of al-Qaeda's identity. Western covert operations and military – intelligence connections in strategic regions show that “al-Qaeda” is a network whose raison d’etre and modus operandi are inextricably embedded in a disturbing conglomerate of international Western diplomatic, financial, military and intelligence policies today. US, British, and Western power routinely manipulates al-Qaeda through a complex network of state-regional and human nodes. Such manipulation extended directly to the 9-11 hijackers, and thus to the events of 9-11 itself.11This paper advances an original argument based partially on research in Ahmed (2005), supplemented here with significant new data and analysis. Also see Ahmed (2002).