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Technology is the lifeline for the logistics industry, and it has been immensely disrupted by the emerging blockchain technology. This paper has two main objectives. The first is to explore how the current blockchain technology can be implemented in the logistics industry with the aim of improving logistic services amongst the network of logistics service providers (LSPs). The second is to propose the development of a blockchain model for the small and medium logistics service supply chain.

A prototype blockchain-based logistics system has been created and tested in a case study with a real logistics company. The primary technologies for developing a blockchain model on the Hyperledger platform as well as how the system is designed based on the logistics service flow are explained.

The study has resulted in the successful implementation of the proposed prototype blockchain-based logistics system. In particular, the case company has managed to fully utilise the developed tracking and tracing system. Whilst utilising the prototype, the participants have been able to fulfil their responsibilities in an effective manner. The performance of LSPs has improved following the World Bank Logistics Performance Index (LPI) criteria.

This paper contributes to current research in the application of blockchain technologies in the domain of logistics and the supply chain to progress LSPs towards Logistics 4.0. The current frameworks for Logistics 4.0 and how blockchain as a disruptive technology revolutionises logistic services are reviewed. In addition, this paper highlights the benefits of blockchain technology that LSPs can leverage to further improve their performance based on the LPI criteria.

Numerous academic institutions have embarked on the pursuit of hybrid learning as an alternative approach, catering to students who opt for replacing a fraction of their conventional in-person meeting schedule with remote teaching. However, these new remote learning patterns have brought forth new stands against students' expectations. The universities have come across immense challenges in devising efficacious strategies that encompass the delivery, effectiveness and acceptability of hybrid courses. Consequently, identifying pivotal determinants related to user acceptance of technology persists as a crucial matter. This study aims to shed light on the adoption of hybrid learning from students' perspectives.

Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to scrutinise the proposed research model and hypotheses. A total sample of 444 students responded and partook in the survey. The data were analysed using AMOS software, a powerful tool for statistical analysis in the field of social sciences.

The findings of this study show that perceived service quality positively and significantly impacts the ease of use and usefulness of a hybrid learning system among students. In addition, the results demonstrate that ease of use and usefulness of the system positively and significantly influence students' favourable attitudes toward hybrid learning. Remarkably, the statistical analysis unveils the significant mediating effect of ease of use and usefulness in the relationship between perceived service quality and students' attitudes toward hybrid learning.

The findings suggest that the pervasive dependence on information systems and the quality of service from novel technologies continues to be a vital influence in the learning environment. The study has provided valuable insights into student perseverance learning strategies for higher education institutions.

This study's novelty lies in illuminating the crucial role of ease of use and usefulness as mediators, highlighting their criticality in enhancing students' attitudes towards hybrid learning. Notably, the study underscores that perceived service quality exerts a positive influence on ease of use and usefulness.

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ attitudes, self-efficacy and emotional behaviour associated with online learning and the effectiveness of online learning.

A research model was formulated and analysed with the structural equation modelling technique. The respondents consist of 843 students pursuing their studies at a private university’s foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. A two-step systematic approach was used using the SmartPLS version 3 software to conduct statistical analysis and draw meaningful insights.

The study’s findings have demonstrated that students’ attitudes and self-efficacy exhibit a positive relationship with online learning behaviour (OLB). It is observed that the students’ emotions are related to online learning effectiveness (OLE) and mediate the relationship between OLB and OLE. Furthermore, OLB partially mediates the relationship between attitude and OLE and between self-efficacy and OLE.

The operational instructions and digital resources have proven to be highly effective in providing valuable learning experiences to the students. As a result, the students are now expanding and applying their new encounters to a broader range of learning opportunities. This study has provided valuable insights for stakeholders, including scholars, higher education institutions and the Ministry of Higher Education, in providing the ideas of online learning or Web-based education.

The originality of this study sheds light on the role of OLB as a mediator. It was underlined that emotion is critical in improving students’ OLE. Thus, students’ attitudes and self-efficacy have been essential in reassuring OLB and enhancing OLE.

Medical tourism has grown to become a formidable multinational industry to generate revenue. This phenomenon has also increased impact on the healthcare sector as well as strategies development opportunities. The present study emphases on the international tourists' behavioural intention for medical tourism in Malaysia. A research framework is derived from the exceptional component of fear appeal in protection motivation theory (PMT).

Data were collected with a sample of 501 respondents and analysed via structural equation modelling approach. Both measurement model and structural model were assessed to generate the result.

The outcomes have shown a good backing on the use of adapted PMT theoretical model. There is a higher predictive power on health coping than health threats. Coping alternatives can be served as the linkage between the PMT appraisals and behavioural intention.

The study confirmed the effectiveness of using a theoretical framework in predicting international tourists' behavioural intention for medical tourism. It is suggesting that risk adaptive behaviour does offer a valuable proposition in contributing to the reception of medical tourism.

The present study argues the need for greater clarity in understanding the emergent implications for health policy and healthcare delivery for future medical tourism development.

The fundamental theories and current literature do not incorporate the component of fear appeal in explaining decision making. The study findings demonstrate that protection motivation theory has provide another promising theoretical model in explaining international tourists' behaviour intention for medical tourism.

Health tourism is recognised as a recent new pattern of taking a break while accessing health-care services overseas. Past studies have explored this research area, but few have focussed on the theoretical perspective. Applying an appropriate theoretical model to guide interventions in planning and programme development is crucial, particularly when the focus of the study is on the cognitive mediation processes of change in individual behaviour. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the protection motivation theory with the influence of threat appraisal and coping appraisal. The purpose is to trigger the behavioural intention to engage in international health tourism.

A total of 299 international tourists participated in the survey. The partial least squares structural equation modelling technique was used to test the research framework. Both the measurement model and the structural model were assessed as adequate.

The empirical results demonstrate that tourists’ high risk perception must be complemented by coping ability to produce a motivational response. Further, the adaptive behaviours of international tourists are focussed more on perceived efficacy than on the perception of threats related to behavioural intentions towards health tourism.

The study presents an effective theoretical model intervention applicable to health tourism. Future studies should conduct a more comprehensive assessment to generate strong decision-making effectiveness from the theoretical model.

共有299名国际游客参加了此次调查。使用偏最小二乘结构方程建模技术来测试研究框架。测量模型和结构模型均被评估为足够。

健康旅游业被公认为是最近在海外获得医疗服务时休息的新模式。过去的研究已经探索了这个研究领域, 但是很少有人关注理论观点。应用适当的理论模型来指导计划和程序开发的干预措施至关重要, 特别是当研究的重点是个人行为改变的认知中介过程时。本研究在威胁评估和应对评估的影响下检验了保护动机理论（PMT）的有效性。目的是激发从事国际健康旅游的行为意图。

实证结果表明, 游客的高风险感知必须通过应对能力来补充, 以产生激励反应。此外, 国际游客的适应行为更多地集中在感知的效能上, 而不是感知与针对健康旅游的行为意图有关的威胁。

该研究提出了一种适用于健康旅游的有效理论模型干预措施。未来的研究应进行更全面的评估, 以从理论模型中产生强大的决策效力。

关键词 健康旅游, 行为意图, 保护动机理论, 国际游客, 马来西亚

文章类型： 研究型论文

Un total de 299 turistas internacionales participaron en la encuesta. Se utilizó la técnica de modelización de ecuaciones estructurales por mínimos cuadrados parciales para probar el marco de investigación. Tanto el modelo de medición como el modelo estructural se consideraron adecuados.

El turismo de salud se reconoce como un nuevo modelo reciente de descanso para acceder a los servicios sanitarios en el extranjero. Estudios anteriores han explorado esta área de investigación, pero pocos se han centrado en la perspectiva teórica. La aplicación de un modelo teórico adecuado para guiar las intervenciones en la planificación y el desarrollo de programas es crucial, especialmente cuando el estudio se centra en los procesos de mediación cognitiva del cambio en el comportamiento individual. Este estudio examina la eficacia de la teoría de la motivación de la protección (PMT) con la influencia de la valoración de la amenaza y la valoración del afrontamiento. El objetivo es activar la intención conductual de realizar turismo sanitario internacional.

Los resultados empíricos demuestran que la percepción de alto riesgo de los turistas debe complementarse con la capacidad de afrontamiento para producir una respuesta motivacional. Además, los comportamientos adaptativos de los turistas internacionales se centran más en la eficacia percibida, que en la percepción de las amenazas relacionadas con las intenciones de comportamiento hacia el turismo de salud.

El estudio presenta un modelo teórico de intervención eficaz aplicable al turismo de salud. Futuros estudios deberían realizar una evaluación más exhaustiva para generar mayor eficacia en la toma de decisiones a partir del modelo teórico.

Turismo de salud; Intención de comportamiento; Teoría de la motivación de la protección; Turistas internacionales; Malasia

Trabajo de investigación

Examines the impact of client industry on the use and effectiveness of audit analytical procedures. Segregates audit client firms into two industry categories ‐ new and matured. Posits that the industry category the client firm is operating in will have a substantial effect on the extensiveness, types and effectiveness of analytical procedures employed. In particular, hypothesizes that analytical procedures will be more extensively and effectively used in the audit of firms in matured industries. Further, hypothesizes that trend analysis will be used primarily in the audit of firms in matured industries while visual scanning of data and ratio analyses will be used in the audit of firms in both new and matured industries. The results of a questionnaire survey distributed to one of the Big Six audit firms in Singapore support the above hypotheses.

The discourse aimed to investigate green finance practices under the assumptions of several notable climate advisors and speculators in Asia and particularly in Southeast Asia. The study intrigues by considering financial specialists to vent government spending on green restoration plans leading toward green bankable venture openings for the public and private sector. This section distinguishes a few of the green fund components and approaches that can be joined by national and neighborhood governments, essentially in Southeast Asia, into their post-COVID-19 techniques, but are too valuable inputs for domestic commercial banks and private corporates.

It can be defined as a functional type for Cobb Douglas development. ARDL technology is a way of calculating complex forces at the classification level at long-term and short-term stages. This ARDL approach has many advantages and can be implemented when incorporated in level I (0) and level I first (1) with the original variable. Still, it offers robust ability to the outcomes and standardizes the lag, considering the number and sample size used. Pooled mean group (PMG) method is becoming a convenient technique for monitoring data over the period and a good approach for energy impact panels – growth ties for creating links between energy emissions and environmental sustainability and businesses in the nation.

There is a positive partnership between creativity and a sustainable world. Corporations are recommended to uphold the principles of CSR in the development process by introducing environmentally friendly advanced technologies. The main objectives of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are economic growth, environmental sustainability and social justice. Several programs have been established to expand businesses' responsibilities to improve their confessions in sustainable growth. SMEs are a primary source of production of innovative products and technologies. The key concerns of stakeholders and politicians in the new competitive business climate are the protection of environmental sustainability and social responsibility, recognizing factors driving economic development for SMEs.

During the COVID-19 era, the prime responsibility of pandemic confronting governments is to spend on help activities (that have been started in earlier phase) and recovery endeavors (yet to start in the situation). Therefore, the governments may devise policies to pool resources from commercial, private, public-private partnerships and other capital market sources. With rising hazard recognitions particularly emerging from at-threat income projections, governments ought to make the correct mechanisms and instruments that can perform this catalytic part of derisking and drawing in such capital. This too can be an opportunity for governments to enhance and execute such financial instruments that offer assistance, quicken their commitments to climate alter beneath the Paris Agreement and the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and thus “build back better” is being progressively voiced over the world.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the National Library of Singapore in the life of Singaporeans.

The paper uses historical research. McMillan and Chavis’ theory of sense of community is adopted as the analytical framework to delineate the role of the National Library of Singapore.

The paper finds that the National Library of Singapore plays an important role in fostering a sense of community among Singaporeans. The transformation of the library to a truly public institution in 1950s effectively enlarged its boundaries. Upon joining the community of the library, local Singaporeans underwent a bidirectional process of influencing and being influenced. The library made strenuous efforts to meet the needs of Singaporeans in myriad ways, resulting in reinforcement of the sense of community among Singaporeans. A shared emotional connection in the community was engendered as a result of the frequent contact and high-quality interaction.

While being influenced by various social and cultural frameworks under which it operates, the library actively takes part in and influences the society. The study of the library in the life of the users via the lens of sense of community provides a perspective to further understand the potential and power of libraries and how libraries can positively contribute to the society at large.

Under the fixed exchange rate regime Fiji's currency, which is pegged to a basket of currencies of its major trading partners, has been experiencing severe pressures. The purpose of this paper is to study annual exchange market pressure (EMP) over a 31‐year (1975‐2005) period and attempt to determine the factors behind EMP.

The paper employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing procedure, which is applied to a multivariate model covering four variables, namely EMP in index numbers, and budget deficit, domestic credit to private sector and external debt, all the three expressed as percentages of gross domestic product. Additionally, an uncertainty variable is added to the regression analysis with a view to finding out whether political uncertainty has been responsible for speculative attacks on currency. Existence of a cointegration vector is then investigated. It is then followed by Granger‐causality tests in an error‐correction model with view to exploring the short‐ and long‐term relationships between the variables.

The study findings are: there existed a long‐run relationship between EMP and budget deficit, domestic credit to private sector, external debt and political uncertainty; and EMP was positively related to budget deficit, domestic credit to private sector and external debt as well as speculative pressures exercised by political uncertainty.

The empirical study on EMP in the South Pacific Island countries and in Fiji in particular is the first of its kind. The paper is expected to promote further interest in the studies of currencies of small island countries.