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The purpose of this study was identifying factors that encourage property tax payment among property owners, specifically from the residential property segment within the Malaysian context. This aim is derived from existing evidence which clearly indicates a steady annual increase in property tax arrears from non-complying property owners as reported by the local governments (LGs).

This research was conducted using a survey method where a questionnaire was used as the research instrument in garnering the necessary study data. The collected data was analyzed through quantitative means towards gleaning study findings to fulfil the set objectives. The analyses used within this study were reliability analysis, descriptive analysis and factor analysis.

Research findings indicate that there are five factors that encourage property tax payment, namely, the proactive action capability of LGs; stimulation of payment; quality of staff and service; reliable tax foundation and governance; and smart expenditure. The identification of these factors has the potential to act as a mitigation mechanism for LGs to alleviate the issue of property tax arrears.

The findings of this study may be used by LGs in developing a comprehensive action plan to encourage property owners to pay taxes. The study findings are exploratory in nature, based on the locality of the LG selected in this study, the Penang Island City Council (MBPP). As such, the findings may not be considered as a generalization of the property tax situation throughout Malaysia as study data was only collected from the administrative region of MBPP. However, these findings can still be used as a basis in establishing similar studies within other LGs which demonstrate similar characteristics with MBPP.

In the Malaysian scenario, the focus of the previous studies on property tax arrears revolves around actions that have been taken by LGs to encourage the payment of property tax. However, in this study, the determination of encouraging factors is no longer referred to LG perspectives but was investigated from the taxpayer dimension. This approach allows new mitigating ideas to be developed and adds value in the context of a different perspective towards establishing a more practicable action plan in reducing property tax arrears.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Wikipedians are motivated, or discouraged, to contribute to Farsi (Persian) Wikipedia.

In this grounded theory study, face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 15 active users of Persian Wikipedia. The interviews then were transcribed and coded using Strauss and Corbin's method which included constant comparison of data.

Editing and writing incentives, as well as deterrents, were extracted from the data. Findings indicated that motivating factors can be classified into two categories of internal and external. Internal motivations could be individual or cognitive motivations or be related to Wikipedia structure. Also, some factors such as permanent access to the internet can be considered as external motivations for contribution to Wikipedia. On the other hand, content production and improvement of Wikipedia in local language was the strongest reason for contribution; entertainment was the weakest motivation. Positive feedback from other users can be the strongest factor that encourages users to stay in Wikipedia and continue their contribution.

This is the first study on Persian Wikipedia and one of the few qualitative studies on Wikipedia. It proposes a new categorization of encouraging and discouraging factors for Wikipedians.

Whistleblowing has received increasing attention and support in recent years as a means of detecting and correcting illegal, unethical or illegitimate practices in organizations. This study aims to examine the extent to which accounting students in Saudi Arabia, as prospective accountants, have the courage to blow the whistle.

A questionnaire survey was administered to a sample of final year accounting students in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire contained four groups of questions aimed at exploring the students' reaction to whistleblowing, the whistleblowing channel that students prefer, the encouraging factors for whistleblowing and the factors that discourage whistleblowing from the students' point of view. The instrument questions were developed with reference to previous studies conducted in other countries.

The findings of the study revealed that accounting students have the courage to whistle the wrongdoing. What encourages students to blow the whistle is their perception that fraud and corruption is an unethical behavior which goes against religious values and that the wrongdoer must take appropriate punishment. However, there are some factors that negatively affect the students' courage to blow the whistle, the most important of which is the fear of retaliation, in addition to their feeling that the wrongdoer will not be held accountable.

A sample of accounting students from one university limits generalizing the results to the population of accounting students in Saudi Arabia. Future research could examine this issue using larger samples of students, employees or professional accountants.

This study serves the Saudi vision 2030, which aims to combat fraud and corruption which negatively affect economic development. This study sheds light on the encouraging factors for Whistleblowing, which must be strengthened, as well as the discouraging factors, which must be addressed to mitigate their impact.

This study explores whistleblowing in Saudi Arabia where there is no research on this topic. This study comes at the appropriate time, as Saudi Arabia is currently witnessing an increasing interest in combating corruption, whether in the public or private sectors, and has recently introduced several legislations, as well as initiatives to encourage citizens to whistle the wrongdoing.

This paper aims to explore the phenomenon of impulse buying in the fashion industry. The online and offline channels are compared to determine which is perceived as leading to more impulsive buying.

As the result of the literature review, three research questions are proposed and examined through an online self-administered survey with 212 valid responses.

Results show that the offline channel is slightly more encouraging of impulse buying than the online channel; factors that encourage online impulse buying explain this behaviour to a greater extent than do discouraging factors; social networks can have a big impact on impulse buying.

Findings are limited by the sampling plan, the sample size and the measurement of some of the variables; only one product type is analysed. Further research is needed to confirm that shipping-refund costs and delayed gratification (traditionally, discouraging factors of online buying) encourage online impulse buying; clarify contradictory results regarding the role of online privacy and convenience. This research contributes to the validation of a scale to measure the influence of social media on impulse buying behaviour.

Offline companies can trigger the buying impulse to a greater extent than online retailers. Managers must carefully select social networks to encourage impulse buying, Facebook and Instagram being the most influential; Twitter has the least impact.

This study compares the impulse buying phenomenon in both the physical store and the internet. Moreover, the influence of social networks on impulse buying is also explored.

Este trabajo explora la compra por impulso en el sector de la moda, comparando los canales físico y online para determinar cuál se percibe como más impulsivo.

De la revisión de la literatura se extraen tres preguntas de investigación, examinadas a través de una encuesta auto-administrada online con 212 respuestas válidas.

Los resultados muestran que: el canal offline es ligeramente percibido como más impulsivo que el online; los factores motivadores de la compra impulsiva online explican mejor este comportamiento que los desmotivadores; las redes sociales pueden tener un gran impacto en la compra impulsiva.

Las limitaciones radican en el plan de muestreo, el tamaño muestral, y la medición de algunas variables; sólo una industria es analizada. Futuras investigaciones deberán: confirmar que los gastos de envío-devolución, así como la gratificación retrasada (tradicionalmente considerados como motivadores de la compra online) pueden motivar la compra impulsiva online; clarificar resultados contradictorios sobre la privacidad y la conveniencia de Internet. Esta investigación contribuye a la validación de un instrumento para medir la influencia de las redes sociales en la compra impulsiva.

Las tiendas físicas pueden estimular la compra por impulso más que los vendedores online. Los gestores deben seleccionar cuidadosamente las redes sociales para favorece la compra por impulso, siendo Facebook e Instagram las más influyentes; Twitter tiene el menor impacto.

Este estudio compara el fenómeno de la compra impulsiva tanto en el canal físico como online, y explora la influencia de las redes sociales en la compra impulsiva.

As the revolution of information takes place, industrialized societies are going to become information societies. Developing countries such as Pakistan are going to change due to technology and, in turn, transform the whole structure of libraries. The concept of digital libraries (DL) has emerged due to technological advancements. This study aims to highlight the factors that encourage and discourage the use of the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) National Digital Library (NDL).

A quantitative research approach was selected for the investigation, while the data collection instrument was a questionnaire. Postgraduate research students were the population of the study. A convenient sampling technique was used for sample selection.

The results of the study indicated that the use of HEC (NDL) was frequent monthly. The display of search results, 24/7 access, the authenticity of items, availability of navigational assistance and up-to-date information encourage researchers to use DL. However, their preference for print material over electronic material, slow downloading speed of the internet and non-availability of older and archival publications were the common reasons for the low use of DL. Furthermore, there are significant differences in terms of using the NDL based on gender, the program of study and the stage of the study.

This study will contribute significantly to the literature from the developing countries and would also helpful for HEC (NDL) authorities and university libraries to design information services.

This paper aims to test the differences in the consumer complaint behaviour of Asian and non‐Asian hotel guests in terms of culture dimensions. It also aims to examine the relationship between demographic factors (age, gender and education level) and complaint behaviour.

The paper adopts the Hofstede's typology of culture as a framework to investigate cultural differences and demographic characteristics in the complaint behaviour of hotel guests. A face‐to‐face interview survey is conducted to collect data in this research. Data are then analyzed by various statistical methods such as two‐way contingency table analysis, non‐parametric Mann‐Whitney U and Chi‐square tests.

The survey reveals that older complainants tend to resort to “public actions,” but people with a higher level of education tend not to complain publicly. In addition, Asian guests are less likely to complain to the hotel for fear of “losing face” and are less familiar with the channels for complaint than non‐Asian guests. They are more likely than non‐Asian guests to take private complaint action, such as making negative word‐of‐mouth comments. The findings also indicate that there is a significant relationship between “complaint encouraging factor” and respondents' nationality and between “effective complaint handling method” and respondents' nationality.

Few studies have focused on the cultural differences in complaint behaviour of Asians and non‐Asian hotel guests in the hotel industry. The result will be most valuable in assisting hotel managers and marketers to better understand the customer complaint behaviour and intentions both from the Asian and non‐Asian contexts, and help formulate strategies and tactics to effectively manage the customer complaint.

This study aims to explore and analyze the extrinsic environmental factors that influence the development of culinary creativity.

This study uses in‐depth interviews and content analysis. A total of 13 internationally famous and/or award‐winning culinary artists and contest judges from the USA, Singapore, and Taiwan were interviewed to provide the data for the project.

There is a close relationship between the creativity of culinary artists and the quality of their environment. Therefore it is important to develop and maintain a physical, social, cultural and educational environment that is conducive to culinary creativity.

The findings of this study can serve as a basis and frame of reference for the future planning of culinary education, the purpose of which is to cultivate a more creative mode of culinary thinking in students.

This is the first research project to focus primarily on identifying specific factors in the environment which have a positive impact on individual, creative, culinary artists. Having identified those factors and described the ideal “culinary environment”, some specific suggestions for the culinary industry are made, indicating how to create such a potentially stimulating environment and thereby cultivate more, and more creative, culinary artists.

Malta has long been a tourist destination with visitors totaling 2.6 million in 2018. A 2013 survey by the Malta Tourism Authority found that 22% of tourists opted for a rental car during their stay, whereas 76% chose public transport to meet their travel needs. In recent years, the modernization of the bus fleet, improved information provision, and the introduction of a ferry service in the Valletta harbors, have contributed to the increased appeal of public transport. However, the increase in independent tourists might give rise to an increase in the rentals of individual cars. This is a concern given Malta’s high car ownership, and its ever-increasing congestion problem. As part of the CIVITAS DESTINATIONS Project, focused on tourist sustainable mobility, the University of Malta developed a Tourist Mobility smartphone application: MyMaltaPlan. The app enables tourists to plan trips and schedule itineraries between touristic sites. The app, which was launched in the summer of 2019, aims to encourage a shift toward greener travel behavior. A survey was conducted with tourists to understand current tourist travel behavior, and tourists’ use of smartphone or web applications for trip planning. The vast majority of visitors own a smartphone and use it on holiday to plan, access, or book transport. To test the app’s functionalities, a focus group was held with a group of volunteers who shared their experiences in a group discussion. Participants appreciated the automatically created itinerary but noted that to truly promote sustainable mobility, the app should be able to provide the full picture of available alternatives.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the external cues on apparel web sites that encourage impulse buying.

Focus group interviews were first conducted to identify potential external cues on apparel web sites. The findings from the focus group interviews were then used to create an appropriate coding guide. A content analysis of 60 apparel web sites was then conducted to assess the extent to which external trigger cues of impulse buying are available on apparel web sites.

From the focus group interviews, four mutually exclusive thematic categories, consisting of 20 external trigger cues of impulse buying, were identified; sales, promotions, ideas, and suggestions. A content analysis of these external impulse buying cues was presented. A correlation analysis indicated a positive relationship between retailers' web sales and the amount of external cues present on their web sites.

The findings from the study suggest that the amount of external trigger cues of impulse buying may be a factor that affects a retailer's profitable success by encouraging online impulse purchases. Not so successful online retailers therefore should consider offering more external impulse trigger cues (e.g. sales, promotions, purchase ideas, and suggested items) on their web sites to increase potential impulse purchases.

A coding guide developed in the study can be used by online apparel retailers to assess their marketing strategies. For consumers, the findings of the study inform consumers of factors that may encourage impulse purchases.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the personal/situational and business factors that encourage or discourage pro bono service of professionals based on the theory of institutional logics framework and the extended purchase behavior model.

This paper collected the data using a mixed-method approach: 30 qualitative interviews and 443 cross-sectional surveys from professional service providers across industries. The constructs of interest were measured with the scales compiled from the literature, industry reports and the preliminary interviews.

The results highlight emotional value derived from personal/situational factors (intrinsic motivation, personal recognition, philanthropic disposition and lack of appreciation) drove professionals’ intentions to continue to undertake pro bono work. While employer encouragement motivated professionals to engage in pro bono service, the prospect of gaining business opportunities and time constraints discouraged this important practice.

While there has been considerable empirical study undertaken on charitable behavior, little attention has been given to this form of giving (pro bono work by service professionals). Overall, the results show that personal satisfaction with and feeling good about the study undertaken are required for continuation. Professionals who are intrinsically motivated, philanthropic-natured and properly-acknowledged through positive feedback and recognition tend to experience positive feelings that engender their good intentions to help the underprivileged, those in need and society more generally. The findings thus complement and extend the academic and industry literature on charitable giving.

This research identifies the drivers of service professionals’ continuation of pro bono work that the third sector relies heavily on its sustainability. As the study findings suggesting the importance of personal recognition, nonprofit organizations should demonstrate genuine gratitude and recognition of these professionals so that they continue to give their services pro bono.

The research is the first empirical study to develop a conceptual model that delineates the drivers and/or barriers to professionals continuing pro bono service. Unlike the previous study lacking a theoretical basis, this paper proposed and tested the conceptual model derived from the institutional logics framework and the extended purchase behavior model.