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The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness among tourism and business scholars and professionals to avoid using socially constructed academic artifacts (such as “Silaturrahim”), which do not describe their real meanings but reflect false realities constructed by scholars over a period of time. In the last decade, academic research on identifying false information has played a significant role to raise awareness among electronic and social media users so that they may distinguish between false and true reality. In contrast, studies on misleading devices, such as false information reporting and citations in published academic literature, and their pejorative consequences are rare and scant. This paper, therefore, viewed the underexamined and relatively obscure issues of false information reporting and citations in published business and tourism research by highlighting a wrongly perceived concept “Silaturrahim” from the theoretical lens of social constructionism. It has been established that factors like false information, false information citation chains and falsely attributed meanings of academic artifacts pave the way for myths and urban legends which in turn formulate socially constructed academic artifacts. These artifacts are impulsively entrusted by the academic community but, in reality, their meanings are socially constructed, therefore, represent false realities. This paper calls the experts to invest their time and efforts to further explore the proposed concepts of “academic social construction” and “academic social artifacts.” Lastly, it is suggested to develop strategies to minimize or eradicate the dreadful psychological impacts of “academic social construction” on academic communities.

This study aims to investigate the opinion of a group of informants in Seoul – South Korea’s foremost destination – on the possibility of developing a halal tourism policy that is closer to the wishes of Muslim customers, which is also in line with Islamic principles.

This research investigated the perceptions of 17 key informants. The data was conducted through interview about the possibility of developing an industry that is more in line with the lifestyle of Muslim tourists and more in line with halal criteria.

This study shows that the idea is quite attractive, especially among Seoul tourism industry players and even the South Korean Government itself. Although the potential for halal tourism is recognized, its development is currently divided into three groups, namely, groups that support the development of the policy, groups that reject and groups who do not care about it.

The research in this paper shows further developments from the studies that have been conducted in Djerba, Tunisia, that halal tourism carried out in Seoul, South Korea, has become a priority for the government through agencies/institutions/communities related to the halal industry.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of job embeddedness (JE) theory to employees in manufacturing SMEs in Central Java, Indonesia, and to qualitatively assess the transferability of the JE framework and its measure to these distinctive contexts.

Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 42 employees from 13 SMEs. The JE framework informed development of the interview questions, which focussed on participants’ lived experiences. Thematic analysis of the textual data was conducted.

Distinctive characteristics of SMEs, such as resource constraints and managerial informality, and cultural factors influenced employees’ perceptions of the forces that embedded them in their jobs. For example, participants perceived the psychological costs associated with severing ties with co-workers as a more salient embedding force than the material costs associated with leaving a job. Additionally, lack of job fit was not an important turnover determinant, because work was perceived as a duty or obligation, rather than a personal choice.

The findings imply that the JE framework and its measure only partially explain why employees stay in manufacturing SMEs in Central Java. Accordingly, the original JE scale items would need to be significantly modified to accurately assess employees’ levels of embeddedness in Indonesian manufacturing SMEs.

Limited research has examined how SME owner-managers can retain key employees, particularly in Indonesia. This study contributes to an understanding of factors that embed employees in the cultural context of Indonesia and enhances our understanding of how JE theory operates in SMEs.

This paper argues that the film Gema Dari Menara produced in 1968 reflects Brunei’s attempt towards constructing a Brunei Malayness as a national identity. During the early twentieth century, the colonial powers particularly in the Peninsula, tried to help establish a sense of unity among the Malays. Although it was not clear whether this was entirely successful, it is possible that the presence of colonial powers had some influence towards fuelling Malays to be more proactive in their own identity construction. After the British began to leave Brunei, the nation-state can be perceived to have intensified its efforts in creating a national identity as a way to unify its people, including the preservation and reconstruction of its Malayness. A close analysis of the characters in the film will reveal portrayals of ideals of Malayness and how Islamic values penetrate Malayness in the Bruneian context. The main character Azman is arguably the epitome of ideal Malayness, as his behaviour, his way of thinking as well as the way he dresses complement what Brunei aspires to for its people, whereas his younger siblings’ partying and wild behaviour are a cautionary tale. These findings will hopefully provide insights for further studies on the impact of the British administration on the Brunei Malay culture or identity formation in Brunei as a postcolonial state.