which included age, race, gender, marital status, work location, and length of work. For these
descriptive questions, you can use bar graphs or tables to tabulate the results, because it is
convenient and time-saving.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The main objective of this research study is to investigate the relationship between the
independent variables (awareness for quality of product, awareness for quality of services and
awareness for advertising strategies) and the dependent variable (Islamic bank profitability) in
Northern Region, Peninsular Malaysia. Based on the result, there is a positive relationship
between awareness of quality of product and Islamic bank profitability because of the positive
value for correlation coefficient. Thus, when the awareness of the quality of product, Islamic
bank profitability is high. The results obtained indicate that the relationship between the
awareness of quality of product and Islamic bank profitability is moderate. The Islamic banks
in Malaysia have always been their main preference as most Malaysians are Muslims and
thus, interest-free banking has become their focus. This further proves that there is a
relationship between customer awareness on banking products and bank profitability. There
is a significant relationship between awareness of quality of services and Islamic bank
profitability. Customer satisfaction is related to customer loyalty, whereby highly satisfied
customers tend to repeatedly use the services offered by Islamic banking. In this light,
customer loyalty can be affected by many factors. A study done by Akhtar, N; Shouqat, Raza,
Akhtar, Ijaz, Maqsood (2016) found that customer satisfaction is positively related with
customer loyalty, in which the findings showed that there is a significant result between
customer satisfaction and service quality. This further proves that quality of service can
influence the loyalty among customers in using the Islamic banking system. Awareness for
advertising strategies has a significant relationship between awareness for advertising
strategies and Islamic bank profitability.
Implication of the study explains that all the three independent variables (awareness for
quality of product, awareness for quality of services and awareness for advertising strategies)
have a definite relationship with the dependent variable, Islamic bank profitability. Established
on the research’s outcome, researchers are able to collect the data required and give
recommendations so that the researchers have a clear understanding for the effect of Islamic
bank profitability and find appropriate answers and approaches to overcome or minimize the
issues.
In conclusion, this study has achieved the purpose of examining the factors that
influence Islamic bank profitability for the Northern Region in Peninsula Malaysia. However,
there are still other elements that have been added in this study such as awareness for quality
of product, awareness for quality of services and awareness for advertising strategies.
Therefore, further study can be done on the other issues to investigate the relationship
between the other factors contributing to Islamic banking profitability. With the awareness of
the relationship between the issues with Islamic banking profitability in this study, the
organization will be able to make a right decision and increase more profit to the banking
sector in order to increase their profit. This research will be able to serve as a parameter to all
Islamic banking sectors in Malaysia to indicate their profitable cause or factors.
To add on, numerous numbers of limitations had been discovered in this research. This
signifies that the outcomes from the findings may not be precise. To explain this problem,
some suggestions must be taken into consideration to avoid the limitations that are
encountered in this research. These recommendations can be taken into attention by other
researchers who desire to study further into this field. First, they should expand their sample
size for their study. This is because the higher the sample size, the results will be more
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accurate. Other than that, having more sample size will enable them to widen their research
coverage.
This study was only focused in one region only, which was in Northern of Peninsula
Malaysia. Therefore, the future study should be considered across Malaysia in order to
increase the accuracy and reliability of the data collected. To increase the sample size by
obtaining more respondents to participate, there are ways to do it such as interactive online
surveys. Questionnaires can be sent widely to all people in all states in Malaysia.
Questionnaires distributed online will save time and cost from going around to obtain
respondents for the questionnaire. It is also encouraged to increase the response rates by
adding cover page, interesting questions, and gift voucher (e-voucher) upon completing
answering questionnaires and follow up.
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146
Raising Intercultural Awareness via Short Stories – A
Conceptual Understanding
Norlizawati Md Tahir
Academy of Language Studies
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch
[email protected]
Syazliyati Ibrahim
Academy of Language Studies
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch
[email protected]
Sharina Saad
Academy of Language Studies
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch
[email protected]
Rafidah Amat
Academy of Language Studies
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch
[email protected]
Muhammad Aiman Afiq Mohd Noor
Faculty of Art and Design
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
In second language acquisition, linguistic competence as well as intercultural competence are
the two vital components in language learning. Intercultural competence not only elevate learners’
linguistic varieties but also foster their critical thinking skills and widen their opportunities to explore
the complexity of different cultures around the world. Exposure to various literary works to language
learners including poetry, short stories and drama can enrich their cultural understanding; the
differences and similarities of values and beliefs shared among society globally. Numerous studies
have further strengthened the relevance of including literature texts in language learning and
highlighted the positive impacts towards learners. Thus, this paper aims to propose selected literary
texts that raise intercultural awareness among learners to be used in the classroom. In Malaysia,
the use of poems, short stories and novels in the different level of education is prevalent. For learners
in higher institutions, short stories are used due to their appropriateness and contents that spark
intercultural-related discussion in classroom. The target population in this proposed study is higher
education students who undergo diploma courses in various disciplines. These students have to
undertake proficiency English language courses as a graduation requirement. One of the syllabus
components in this English language course is Personal Reading Log (PRL) which requires them to
read short stories and record their understanding and responses two times throughout the semester.
Hence, the objective of this paper is to propose selected short stories which are considered as
encompassing the elements which are appropriate to increase the students’ level of intercultural
awareness.
Keywords: intercultural competence, intercultural awareness, short stories.
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INTRODUCTION
Malaysia is a multiracial country due to its history of migration and colonisation. The main
make-up of the country’s demography consists mainly of Malays, Chinese and Indians which
comprise 29.4 million people altogether in 2019 (Department of Statistics, Malaysia, 2019). However,
a rather interesting facet in the latest demographic report is that the number of non-citizens in
Malaysia is now recorded at 3.2 million people (Department of Statistics, Malaysia, 2019). This latest
development strongly suggests that Malaysia has a rather significant number of non-citizens from a
variety of backgrounds living together with the citizens. In fact, it was recorded that 10.7% of the total
population in Malaysia in 2018 consists of international migrants from various countries (Department
of Statistics, Malaysia, 2019). Not restricted to documented migrants, between 2010 and 2017, the
number of documented foreign workers in Malaysia increased from 1.7 million to 2.2 million and as
of the end of 2018, there are an estimated 2 to 4 million additional undocumented migrant worker s
in Malaysia (International Organization for Migration, iom.int, 2021). Major countries of origin of these
foreign workers are Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar, among smaller numbers
from other Asian countries. On top of these, there are 163,000 refugees and asylum seekers
registered with UNHCR including 142,000 from Myanmar and the remaining 21,890 from other
countries and areas, including Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq and
the Palestinian Territories (International Organization for Migration, iom.int, 2021). All these hard
facts point to the notion that Malaysia has to deal with its people of various backgrounds, citizens
and non-citizens.
Moreover, coupled with the fact that technology grows rapidly daily providing seamless
experiences of connecting with anyone anywhere in the world, Malaysia and its population also has
to deal with a myriad of issues and information from all over the world. Subsequently, intercultural
understanding is of utmost importance so that Malaysians can communicate well with other citizens
and non-citizens in Malaysia, as well as with other people all over the globe. Concomitantly, the best
way to produce Malaysians who are interculturally sensitive will be via education. In this pape r, the
level of education that will be discussed is the tertiary level. As stated in the Malaysian Educational
Blueprint for Higher Education 2015-2025, there are six attributes outlined for the type of students
the Ministry of Higher Education should produce which are students who possess ethics and
spirituality, leadership skills, national identity, language proficiency, thinking skills, and knowledge
(MOHE, n.d.). Intercultural awareness amongst students is directly related to the leadership aspect
of the blueprint which focuses on creating students who are good communicators, emotionally
intelligent and able to work across cultures; are socially responsible, competitive, resilient, and
confident (MOHE, n.d.).
Intercultural awareness is imperative because a person who is equipped with intercultural
understanding will treat other people better in terms of respect and tolerance. In a polyglot like
Malaysia, respect and tolerance are keys to ensuring peace and harmony in the country. According
to Byram (1997), intercultural knowledge can be divided into two categories. The first category
hinges on knowledge regarding social groups and their cultures in a person’s own country. The
second category involves knowledge regarding processes and interaction at individual and societal
level. Byram’s (1997) concept of intercultural knowledge is known as procedural knowledge that
involves linguistics and behaviour aspects. This notion requires a person not only to know about
other cultures, but simultaneously knowing how to manage different intercultural situations based on
their knowledge. Concomitantly, a Malaysian student who is educated with intercultural
understanding should be expected to treat other people, citizens, non-citizens and other people all
over the world with respect and tolerance.
One of the ways to inculcate intercultural awareness amongst higher education students in
Malaysia is by literature. This is because literature is a reflection of the actual society and contains
life lessons which can benefit its readers. In addition, literature contains prose, poetry and drama
which can be entertaining. In second language acquisition, linguistic competence as well as
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intercultural competence are the two vital components in language learning. Intercultural
competence not only elevate learners’ linguistic varieties but also foster their critical thinking skills
and widen their opportunities to explore the complexity of different cultures around the world.
Exposure to various literary works to language learners including poetry, short stories and drama
can enrich their cultural understanding; the differences and similarities of values and beliefs shared
among society globally. Numerous studies have further strengthened the relevance of including
literature texts in language learning and highlighted the positive impacts towards learners. Thus, this
paper aims to propose selected literary texts that raise intercultural awareness among learners to
be used in the ESL classroom. Short stories are chosen as the medium for this proposed study
because they are short, direct and can be finished in one-sitting. Other than these, short stories are
also normally written based on specific issues, making the students able to focus better on the
intercultural themes contained in the stories. The target population in this proposed study is higher
education students who undergo diploma courses in various disciplines. These students have to
undertake proficiency English language courses as a graduation requirement. One of the syllabus
components in this English language course is Personal Reading Log (PRL) which requires them to
read short stories and record their understanding and responses two times throughout the semester.
Hence, the objective of this paper is to propose selected short stories which are considered as
encompassing the relevant elements which are appropriate to increase the students’ level of
intercultural awareness.
PERSONAL READING LOG
Personal Reading Log (PRL) is part of the assessments for diploma students taking the course
Integrated Language Skills II (ELC151) in UiTM. The assessment requires students to complete two
PRL submitted in Week 6 and Week 9 of the 14-week semester. Students are to read two selected
short stories provided by the lecturers and respond to one or more questions related to the selected
short stories in about 200-250 words. The aim of this assessment is to gauge students’
understanding and evaluate their interpretation of the short stories. Moreover, this assessment not
only encourages students to respond and reflect critically but also provides them the opportunity to
express logical thoughts, background knowledge as well as their personal experience into writing.
Although there are other literary materials available, short stories are chosen as the materials for
this assessment due to reasonable factors. Short stories are more practical in term of the length and
complexity where it is suitable to be used for limited time class hours and also easy for students to
work with them on their own without much guidance from the lecturers. Furthermore, short stories
are good options for students with different background level and they offer various linguistic and
cultural elements for students to learn. A study conducted by Pardede (2010) revealed that most
respondents agreed using short stories in language classroom as they are not only interesting for
self-enjoyment but also, they comprise the components in language skills.
Previous research has highlighted the benefits of utilising short stories in achieving linguistic
and intercultural competency among students. Ceylan (2016) found that studying using short stories
shows a number of positive impacts on students as they teach them to think reasonably, widen their
perspectives, expose them to their own as well as other cultures, elevate their appreciation towards
literature and increase their interests to read more short stories. This proves that by incorporating
short stories in language learning, it benefits students both linguistically and culturally. Students are
not just reading short stories for language acquisition, but they are also learning cultural elements
from different societies all around the world. According to Adam and Harper (2016), literary materials
that encompass intercultural elements aid students in making them exposed and learn other people’s
heritages and values. Magos (2015) further promotes that with the appropriate selection of stories
and texts used, students develop skills related to intercultural values.
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Thus, PRL is a relevant platform for students to gain different aspects of language skills and
personal growth as students will get more mature in thinking by widening their knowledge about
other people’s beliefs, values, cultures and ways of life. However, proper selection of short stories
being used is a vital aspect to be taken into careful consideration. As Pardede (2011) emphasized
short stories selection that benefits the students should be based on the course objectives, the
learners’ profile and the story content. Therefore, the next part of this paper will present a list of short
stories selection suitable to be used for PRL assessment.
SUGGESTED SHORT STORIES
1. In a Vegas Bar by Jasmine Reyes
This short story depicts a life of a Filipino woman who worked as a bartender in a Las Vegas
bar. Sylvia – a single mother from Davao, Philipines; who left her family in order to support them.
The story narrates Sylvia’s daily routines in a bar which she has worked for almost 17 months. She
entertains customers by attending their orders and also drinks. The story revolves around the
interaction Sylvia has with her customers. Dealing with different people with different background
puts Sylvia in a challenging position which she has to face every day.
“In a Vegas Bar” denotes intercultural elements of social supremacy which can be seen
displayed by a group of Pinays women over a lower-class Pinays woman. These women treat a
lower-class woman by giving her a snarky remark. The American Filipino woman disparages her
fellow Filipino who works as a waiter in a bar. Social supremacy happens as one belittles another
due to their social class. Although the characters are from the same country yet, they are separated
by their social class. Another theme that relates to this short story is the struggle of a single-parent
in order to afford her family’s expenses. This theme relates to the scenario of a single-parent that
occurs in Philippines. There are a lot of Filipinos who migrate to America in order to seek a better
job and a better life. Being a single-parent is already a demanding course and dealing with people’s
negative perception is more exhausting. Another intercultural element presents in this short story is
the American bar life where ones send money to gamble and also to get drunk. Sylvia baffles over
people who spend their money for gambling and drinking booze as narrated in the short story. She
cannot comprehend that some people would pay for getting drunk which for her is not be beneficial
at all. This shows the life of Americans who spend on gambling and also drinks for self- satisfaction.
Malaysians may not be able to relate the American culture but a bar is considered as a place to
releasing mental stress and also a place where they socialise. Such portrayals will teach the students
be more open-minded and treat the practices of other cultures with more tolerance.
2. The Driver by Elaine Barnard
The Driver retells a story of a trishaw driver in Hanoi, Vietnam. He has been working as a
trishaw driver since he was very young and it was inherited from his fathers before him. He
mentioned about his shack where he spends his night at the end of the day – it is located near Truc
Bach lake. However, he has been given a warning from the authority that his shack will be gone
soon as they are developing the area. One day, after waiting for a while, a couple approached his
trishaw and bargained for a ride to Hanoi Luxury Hotel. The driver agreed with the deal and cycled
the couple to their destination. They were blocked by an accident where a woman lied on the ground
as she collided with a motorist. This scene is a frequent view as described by the driver. He narrated
that accidents occur like the changes of weather in Hanoi. As they finally reached the hotel, the
driver decided to rest in his shack. However, his shack was nowhere to be found.
There are a lot of intercultural elements depicted in this short story. Reading “The Driver”
resonates with the themes of gratitude or thankfulness to the God. The narrator is seen several times
mentioning his prayer towards his God whom he believes will protect him. Although he has gone
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through a lot of troubles throughout his life, never once he fails to rely upon The God. The narrator
mentions in the short story that he feels safe whenever he is near The God of enlightenment- The
Buddha. The gratitude and also thankfulness show that one could live and face hardships when they
put their trust in God. It is the acceptance of fate that strengthen ones’ soul. Another theme that
relates to intercultural element is when the man’s explanation is related to the National Museum
Building and also the exhibition. The architecture mentioned by the narrator symbolises the history
of colonisation that affected Vietnam. Many colonisers’ remnants remained as a historic identity to
the nation. Thus, the building in the short story reminisces the history of past occupation by the
colonisers in Vietnam. When tourists bargained for trishaw ride back to the hotel, this emphasises
the intercultural elements of trishaw ride in Vietnam. It is common for tourists to bargain in Vietnam
while travelling. There are not many places in the world that accept bargaining as a trade tradition
yet many developing countries comply with this method. This short story also depicts the reality
views in Hanoi, Vietnam where some people live by the lake with only with cardboard shack to sleep
in. Poverty is still a never-ending problem to this country. This theme relates to the irony of the
“monster” symbol. Although development takes place nearby, poverty remains untangled. Instead
of developing for the needs of the people, the country is developed for other unnecessary wants.
3. Langkawi by Hartley Pool
The story of a family of expatriates living in Malaysia as they have their first family vacation in
Langkawi Island. The conversation between the narrator and his surroundings seems very amusing,
annoying but also witty. The narrator is portrayed as a person who enjoys to play jokes on his family
as well as strangers. The story narrates his play on words and jokes. His story begins with his
sarcasm when his wife wittingly forced him to hail a taxi during heavy rain. He mockingly excused
himself by giving pneumonia as a way to avoid the situation. However, he explained that his wife's
beautiful gaze might signal a warning which could result in a despair. Their funny stories continued
until they reached Langkawi.
Many intercultural elements were presented in this mischievous short story. The narrator
narrates his story in a comical way which drives the readers to continue reading the story. One of
the most obvious themes is the convergence of intercultural elements between Western and Asian
countries. The narrator seemingly finds English language as a means for him to stimulate his funny
joke; which others may disagree. He takes for granted the language that he acquires probably since
birth and plays around with people who uses the language for communication. Language barriers
play an important role in engaging the narrator with his jokes as most of the time he uses pun to
deliver his jokes. When they reach the Monkey Feeding Area and meet with a headless monkey, he
casually jokes that the area is a place to feed dead monkey to another monkey instead of a place to
feed monkeys with food. However, this is not a clever pun as his wife explains to him; not even funny.
English language does not only contain communication but it includes cultures, manners, history
and so on. Non-native speakers may not be able to grasp the whole ingredients of the English
language as it is not their mother tongue. Thus, the narrator should be careful when engages with a
non-native speaker as his intended pun may not have the effect as as he desires. Another
intercultural theme that can be identified in “Langkawi” is the common sense which differs from one
culture to another. As depicted in the story, the narrator asks the Burmese Guard “can you do
something about it?” where he is hoping the other party would understand that he means the guard
could at least help him by giving him an umbrella while looking for the taxi. However, the guard
replies he cannot do anything about the rain since he is not God. This is the only joke that is returned
to him when the guard fails to understand his context. To the narrator, it is a common sense for
someone in the rain to be offered an umbrella, whereas, it is otherwise to the guard. It shows that
people from other countries do not share the same views as what other people claim as common
sense. Growing up in different cultures may mean different understanding even when ne is faced
with similar issues. Hence, the pragmatic misunderstanding which occurs in this particular scene
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should teach the students not to take things for granted because people from different background
may have dissimilar interpretations of the same issue.
4. The Eyes Have it by Ruskin Bond
The story traces an ironic encounter between two people who are blind but are unaware of
each other's blindness. The narrator, himself a young man, meets a young girl in a train
compartment. The narrator finds the young girl to be attractive and strikes up a conversation with
her. They both try to pretend that they are unaware of each other’s disability. The man is already
aboard when the girl steps on the train at Rohana. She is escorted by her parents who advises her
not to talk to strangers. As she enters, she does not even notice the narrator who is pretending to
be sighted. He gradually finds enough courage to start a conversation. She is travelling till
Saharanpur where she would be received by her aunt. She enquires the same from the narrator who
tells her about his visit to Dehradun and Mussoorie. She sighs as she also loves the hilly tracts of
Mussoorie in October. The narrator describes the beauty of the hills, rain and flowers as the
conversation continues. Pretending to have his sight, he asks the girl to describe the scene outside
the train. She quickly retorts that he should have to look outside himself. He praises her by claiming
that her face is interesting. She smiles at the words as she is bored by the usual compliments about
her pretty looks. She claims that she does not like long train journeys and is glad that her station is
getting near. The narrator, however, is heartbroken as he wants the journey with the girl to never
end.
Soon, the train arrives at the station and as the girl prepares to exit, the narrator gets a whiff
of the fragrance she is wearing. He is intoxicated and perversely tries to touch her hair, but the girl
says her goodbye and disembarks before he can. The new passenger enters and the narrator sits
back in his seat, heartbroken and disappointed. Dejected, the narrator pushes himself toward the
window again. The new passenger is a male and he does not realise the narrator’s lack of vision,
much like the girl. He breaks the ice and offers his consolation for not being as pretty as the last
passenger (the girl). The narrator sticks to his assessment and calls her interesting. He asks about
her hair but the man says he does not notice her hair. However, the man dedicates another
compliment to her by saying that she is very pretty with beautiful eyes, even though she is blind. This
revelation surprises the narrator who thinks about the futility of his attempts to hide his blindness in
front of another blind person. This story shows firstly how important train is a means of transportation
in India. In Malaysia, trains are available but are normally used by people are used to it especially
those who live on the western coast of the peninsular. Trains are not available on the east coast and
in East Malaysia. Other than that, learning the yearning of the blind characters to see and how they
live out their fantasies should evoke the feelings of sympathy for those having special needs. Such
awareness will surely benefit the students because it will be able inculcate the sense of sympathy
and ultimately, empathy amongst them.
5. All's Fair in Vietnam by Noah Klinger
This story tells about a girl who first arrived in Vietnam and took a small room in the backpacker
quarter with the aim of becoming an English teacher. She realised that she needed some more
formal attire with which to maintain her respectability. So, she walked over to Ben Thanh Market in
search of some cheap clothes. However, what shocked her during the shopping expedition was how
the Vietnamese women reacted to her fair skin. Some who did not speak, simply grabbed her arm
and holding it up to their own for the sake of comparison. Other than that, one woman demanded to
know what kind of special diet she took to maintain such a complexion.
The girl then learnt more about the Vietnamese’s preoccupation with fair skin. Sunscreen is
expensive in the country. So Vietnamese girls solved the problem of protecting themselves from UV
rays by wearing an assortment of coverings including hats, gloves and face-masks that made them
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look like motorbike-driving, cell phone-chatting ninjas. On the sands of Vung Tau local tourists
dressed more like they were going to the office than the beach. Rather than going for tanning,
Vietnamese girls go to spas for whitening. Occasionally, there would be women who had slathered
themselves a bit too liberally with these products and the result was always lamentable. They looked
deathly ill more than anything else.
The main theme that has been discussed in this short story is about people in Vietnam who
are obsessed with beauty or more specifically, fair skin. This was especially obvious when the
narrator arrived in Vietnam, everyone looked at her face and there were some who even asked her,
“how much for your skin”. She was asked that question because her skin was really beautiful. Many
Vietnamese love the writer's beautiful skin and really adore her skin. The phrase “beauty is in the
eye of the beholder” in the story means the beauty of someone does not depend on her face only.
It also includes how pretty someone’s heart is. If there is someone who love us only because of our
beauty, it means that he/she is not sincere. This story may allow the students to learn that the
standard of beauty in certain countries are different based on how they are socialised to accept the
definition of beauty. Again, the intercultural understanding here will teach the students to be tolerant
and respectful of other people’s culture and practices.
6. Mango Moods by Reeta Mani
This story is about a strong and very patient woman named Chitra who had been tortured by
her own mother-in-law, Narayani Amma, all these years because of her barren womb. This story
tells how Chitra was comparing her journey of life since her childhood until she found herself
pregnant with the process of a mango before it ripens and can be eaten. At first, she was reminiscing
about her childhood life that has always been hard. Chitra came from a poor family. She was tortured
and hated by her mother-in-law just because she could not get pregnant and was accused of being
barren although she went for check-ups and the result showed there was no problem with her. When
Chitra discovered that she was pregnant after eight years of marriage, she recalled her torture as
Narayani Amma used to pressure her as she wanted a boy for a grandson. She wanted a grandson
who could become a family heir because she wanted her own blood to continue the family lineage.
Upon her long-awaited pregnancy, Narayani Amma her mother-in-law changed her behaviour from
a cruel mother-in-law to a really caring person when she knew Chitra was pregnant. Other than that,
Prasad, Chitra's husband was also happy when he knew Chitra was pregnant. Before this, Chitra
and her husband always fought because Chitra could not conceive a child. She also recalled about
her two best friends that she could not contact to share her happiness about her pregnancy. Then,
Chitra felt sad as she recalled the wonderful childhood years spent in their comfortable village. Their
house was placed in a mango orchard. So, in this story, Chitra recounted how her mother treated
her with mango, how her mother prepared mango for her and she really missed those time. Since
childhood, mangoes were a way of life for Chitra. Although she had suffered a lot from her mother-
in-law, she still dedicated her life to her in-law’s family. Prasad, her husband, was not really
supportive of her. He just seemed to agree with all of his mother’s sayings. Lastly when Chitra was
pregnant, finally she had all the attention from the world. Everyone seemed happy when Chitra
finally delivered a baby boy. Chitra was very thankful because she would get the chance to lead a
happy life without being tortured anymore by her mother-in-law. However, the hint that the “baby boy
has the dark mop of unruly curls thick eyebrows mingled into each other-like a whirlpool” similar to
the description of Jason, a peon whom Chitra personally coached for his graduate degree raises the
question about the paternity of the boy. This plot twist at the end which is only hinted at provides an
irony to the story and also indicates who Chitra is in actuality. She is patient, filial, obedient but in
the end, her suffering drives her to bear another man’s child just so that she can finally live properly
as a respected wife and daughter-in-law.
There are several intercultural elements presented in the short story. Firstly, mother in law’s
dominance in an Indian marriage. In this story, Narayani Amma controls the household. She also
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decides on the gender of a grandchild and tortures her daughter in law for her inability to produce
an heir for the family. The story also presents the background of a typical Asian community and
especially in an Indian household, a son is loyal to the mother. Prasad, even though he is a married
man, he is obedient to his mother and never criticises his mother’s behaviour toward his wife.
Meanwhile, Chitra is the typical Indian wife who will obey the husband and mother-in-law and will
never go against them to protect the good name of the family. In Indian culture, a son is more
respectable and honourable in a family and this is a pressure for Chitra to produce an heir for the
family. In this story a mango is used as a personification of life because in Asian countries, mango
is a popular fruit. Almost every house in the village has mango trees nearby which are laden heavily
with fruits. Most pregnant women like to eat mango with salt and shocking-hot red chili powder. Since
childhood, mangoes have been a way of life for Chitra. Her Grandma used to tell her that the Mangai
pachadi symbolises our life-a blend of sweet, sour, spicy and bitter. Ironically, Chitra’s desperation
in bearing a child drives her to get pregnant with another man’s child just so that she can be properly
accepted by the in-law’s family. Hence, learning all these will allow the students to gain a deeper
insight into the Indian culture and take valuable lessons which they can then adapt into their own
lives.
CONCLUSION
Conclusively, these stories bearing diverse backgrounds from the Philippines, India,
Vietnam, India and characters from an English-speaking country have multifaceted elements which
can be learnt by Malaysian students. Each story brings with it issues and conflicts which may not be
that familiar to the students. However, it is this unfamiliarity which will then raise questions and trigger
discussions amongst the students. When students exchange ideas and discuss the elements in the
stories from plot, theme, characters, conflict and setting, they will be able to see the differences
these stories offer when contrasted to their local experiences. As Reazei (2018) pointed out in his
study on gauging intercultural understanding using literature, generally, students developed
intercultural understanding and respect for both their local and Western culture but at the same time
were critical of some aspects. When students are able to show understanding of one’s own culture
and compare it with others and at the same time, able to be critical about the cultural practices, only
then the students are showing true appreciation of the texts. In the end, a literary text will only be
meaningful when it is read and appreciated through deeper understanding, not when it is read simply
to answer exam questions. Hence, literary texts, in this case, short stories with intercultural elements
should be strongly considered for the diploma students pursuing the English proficiency course so
that their horizons in thinking can be widened.
REFERENCES
Adam, H. & Harper, L. (2016). Assessing and selecting culturally diverse literature for the
classroom. Practical Literacy: The Early & Primary Years, 21(2), 10-14.
Barnard, E. (26, October 2014). The Driver. Anak Sastra, 17. Retrieved from
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https://Anaksastra.Com/Uploads/3/5/2/6/35260529/17th_Issue_Pdf.Pdf
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters.
Ceylan, N.O. (2016). Using short stories in reading skills class. Procedia – Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 311-315.
Department Of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal (Dosm.Gov.My) https://www.dosm.gov.my/
Magos, K. (2015). What the polar bear wanted in Africa: Promoting empathy through reading and
writing intercultural stories for young children. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the
International Conference of International Association of Intercultural Education and
University of Ioannina: Cultural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Ioannina: University of
Ioannina.
Ministry of Education Malaysia. (2015). Malaysia education blueprint 2015 – 2025. Putrajaya,
Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.
Pardede, P. (2010). Short stories used in language skills classes: students’ interests and perceptions
[Paper presentation]. 4th Annual International Seminar Faculty of Language and Literature
Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga, Indonesia.
Pardede, P. (2011). Using short stories to teach language skills. Journal of English Teaching, 1(1),
15-27.
Pool, H. (30, July 2012). Langkawi. Anak Sastra, 8. Retrieved from
https://Anaksastra.Com/Uploads/3/5/2/6/35260529/8th_Issue_Pdf.Pdf
Reeta Mani (2013). Mango moods. New Asian Writing. Retrieved from http://www.new-asian-
writing.com/mango-moods/
Reyes, J. (31, October 2017). In A Vegas. Anak Sastra, 29. Retrieved from
http://Anaksastra.Com/Uploads/3/5/2/6/35260529/29th_Issue_Pdf.Pdf
Rezaie, S. (2018). Developing intercultural communicative competence through short stories: a
qualitative inquiry. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 6 (2), 77-96.
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Students' Satisfaction on Open and Distance Learning (ODL):
An Investigation on ICT Infrastructure and Household Income
Inequality
Zaidatulhusna Binti Mohd Isnani
Faculty of Business and Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Negeri Sembilan
[email protected]
Haslinda Noradzan
Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Negeri Sembilan
[email protected]
Wan Aryati Wan Ghani
Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Negeri Sembilan
[email protected]
Sri Yusmawati binti Mohd Yunus
Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Negeri Sembilan
[email protected]
Saliza binti Ramly
Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Negeri Sembilan
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
The implementation of Online and Distance Learning (ODL) has become a new norm for most
higher education institutions globally. In Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in particular,
has been taking this approach to mitigate the COVID-19 infection. Students are getting used to
teaching and learning processes via various suitable platforms chosen by their lecturers. Prior to
commencing a new semester in the academic year, students will be briefed about tools and platforms
to be used in each lecture or class. Lecturers must ensure that students get equal access to quality
education. Consequently, students that come from various family income categories namely B40
(Bottom 40%), M40 (Middle 40%) and Top 20% (T20) will eventually accomplish courses’ goals
satisfactorily. The lack of physical and digital infrastructure such as the use of devices and the
Internet services versus income disparities between students would indirectly impede overall ODL
process. Nevertheless, lecturers are advised to take proactive measures to ensure the success of
ODL implementation. Therefore, this study has been carried out to investigate students’
demographic profile seeking their background information, subsequently to compare the family
income classification, and the provision of Internet service towards students’ satisfaction that
contribute to the overall success of ODL implementation. A quantitative method is used for this
study. Data were collected using Google form online surveys from science and technology clusters,
as well as social science cluster students. From the analysis, it can be concluded that students utilise
decent devices during online class and they have been receiving good Internet connection that leads
to satisfaction towards the quality of ODL implementation. Even though most of the students came
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from a B40 household income level, they have shown a positive learning experience. Overall, the
students are satisfied with the quality of the overall ODL session.
Keywords: Online Distance Learning (ODL), family income, student satisfaction, teaching and
learning, digital infrastructure.
INTRODUCTION
Malaysia is currently transforming and elevating its economy by revising digital economy in
almost all aspects of daily activities, aligned with the national digitisation agenda focusing on
knowledge-based and innovation-based activities.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive changes disrupting economic
activities as well as affecting various areas in human activities including education. Following this
pandemic crisis, most tertiary institutions in Malaysia are gradually switching to fully online teaching
and learning using various online tools and platforms. One of the government strategies in the
national digitisation agenda is improving and strengthening the Internet connection throughout the
country, alas, this online and distance learning (ODL) approach would not be possible and may
appear futile. The fact that students come from many different family backgrounds namely B40
(Bottom 40%), M40 (Middle 40%) and Top 20% (T20), it is crucial to ensure that they get equal
access to teaching materials, and no one is left behind. When ODL was first announced, (Noradzan,
H, Wan Ghani, WA, Mohd Isnani, Z, Mohd Yunus, SY and Ramly, S, 2020) received feedback from
students regarding poor connections during teaching and learning sessions. This change has
impacted all parties including lecturers, students as well as parents. The issues and challenges do
not seem to be the same for all parties, meaning that they are facing and experiencing ODL
differently. Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) is the higher education institution in Malaysia kno wn
for helping underprivileged university candidates to pursue tertiary level of education. There are
many initiatives and strategies that UiTM provides to ensure that all students get equal access to
ODL. Universities all over the world are taking steps in providing the best distance education
programs to their students considering suitable and accessible platforms, education and
environmental conditions as well as psychology and emotional attitude among students (Ismaili,
Y.,2020).
Therefore, this research is intended to investigate students’ demographic profile seeking their
background information, subsequently to compare the family income classification, and the provision
of Internet service towards students’ satisfaction that contributes to the overall success of ODL
implementation.
Online and Distance Learning (ODL)
The changes for new norms of education in learning activities during the COVID-19 pandemic
requires substantial learning adjustment and a greater responsibility and engagement of all
participants including university leaders, academics, technologists, students, and government
(Webb, A., McQuaid, R.W. & Webster, C.W.R 2021). Noradzan, H et al. (2020) presents factors
such as accessibility towards subject contents and responsiveness of lecturers contributed to the
success of ODL implementation. The factors are somewhat alike in concluding the effectiveness of
this new approach.
According to Al-Hariri & Al-Hattami (2016), the technology usage was significant in academic
achievement and shows that most students used devices such as laptops (50%) and phones (42%)
as their main devices for the students’ achievements. In addition, this study also reported that there
is a significant relationship between students’ use of technology devices and the academic
performance will create a good learning environment that can help instructors become more efficient
in improving students’ abilities and understanding of learning. Similarly, Rahman (2014) found that
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the information and communication technologies (ICT) are strongly powerful in enabling education
reform especially in e-Learning.
Provision of the Internet Services and Connection
Students' performance and reliable internet connection along with adequate technical
knowledge and skills of relevant technological devices are relatively significant and it becomes one
of the success factors in implementing ODL (Hassan, A., Alazzeh, D., Leung, D., Sidhva, D. and
Obasi, C., 2020). The Internet can be a powerful tool in education as a potential support for producing
effective education programs Volery, T. & Lord, D. (2015). Having a stable internet connection with
proper devices shows a strong relationship towards students' performance (Marie, C.C.V & Jayrome.
N., 2020). Similarly, Dutta, S., & Smita, M. K. (2020) highlighted several challenges faced by students
which would significantly affect their performance if they do not have access to ICT, poor internet
service and improper devices. According to Woo, T.K., Lim, T.M. & Md Yusof, S. (2010), technology
has limitations that may undermine the effectiveness of the learning, for instance, slow or delayed
input due to inadequate broadband width, the frustrations learners feel when they fall behind.
The limitations of online teaching and learning include lack of internet access, lack of computer
knowledge among educators and learners, and inaccessibility of online materials and resources
(Tubaishat, A. & Lansari, A., 2011). Learning Management System is one of the technologies used
to provide online materials and assessment to students (Islam, A. N. , 2012). On top of that, many
higher education institutions have developed online resources by using electronic learning
technologies to overcome these issues (Deng, L., & Tavares, N. , 2013; Moore, M. G., 2013).
The above studies have discussed at great length that the Internet connection is crucial in
materialising open and distance learning. The urge of online and distance learning implementation
in most higher institutions during this pandemic has given most educators and learners no other
options but to move on with online classes that require good and reliable internet
connection. Students with poor connections are unable to participate in video conferences, they
tend to get left behind if they are not equipped with good Internet connections (Abu Karim, M., 2020;
Ag-Ahmad, N., 2020; Luz, M. R. M. P., Rolando, L. G. R., Salvador, D. F., & Souza, A. H. S. ,
2018). Therefore, Mathew, V.N. & Chung, E. (2020) has recommended that students need to
consider getting some aid for better internet services as ODL would consume a lot of their mobile
data. In order to ease students’ participation during ODL exercises, students are hoping to get more
support from the government to curb the internet connection problems in their areas.
Disparity of Income Level
According to Jeffrey W.A & Nicholas. F.B (2004), certain demographic factors including income
level are more influential in predicting the interest of students towards online and distance learning.
However, income inequality may clearly show some performance gaps between students who come
from high- and low-income backgrounds (Thongsari, N., Shen, L., Bao, Y. and Alharbi, I.M., 2018).
There are approximately 360 millions of young people in poorest families with no internet access are
more likely to deny education (Nature, 2020). The study by Hijazi, S.T. and Raza -Naqvi, S.M.M.
(2006) states that there is a positive relationship between a student's performance and household
family income. Generally, students’ academic achievements are measured regardless of their family
income background. Nevertheless, well-behaved students with a strong sense of responsibility
who come from strong family financial backgrounds get highly motivated with a better learning
process towards achieving better academic performance but are not limited to students that come
from low-income categories (Reindolf. Y. N, Oliver.E, Emmanuel. A & Onesimus. K, 2016).
A previous study by Marie, C.C.V & Jayrome. N. (2021) states that socio-economic factors
such as financial support, and parent participation and involvement may affect the performance of
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students in e-Learning experience. Li, Z., & Qiu, Z. (2018) strongly agreed that students’ academic
performance is derived from factors of family economic resources.
Typically, there are available funding sources offered by universities in helping students from
low- income family backgrounds pursue their higher education. These under-privileged students
could engage themselves with learning and get access to learning resources and experience online
learning without any problems. Aristovnik, A., Keržiˇc, D., Ravšelj, D., Tomaževiˇc, N. and Umek, L.
(2020) found that globally, in a 62-country online survey, students appeared to be generally satisfied
with support from teaching staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, although there were issues in
deficiencies in digital skills and infrastructure, as well as social, emotional and financial factors that
impacted on their studies. Overall, 47.2% of students appeared satisfied with their university’s
response to the pandemic. With the right support, students who come from a low-income
background would be highly motivated and experience the learning process comfortably.
Learning from Home
The Malaysian government has allocated funding and support for low-income families to
ensure a safe and conducive learning environment. Online distance learning or a flexible-learning
can be understood as learning mode where teaching and learning are independent from any
geographical location, time or pace that would support the usefulness of online distance learning
during the Covid-19 pandemic (Khan, M.A., Vivek, Nabi, M.K.; Khojah, M.; Tahir, M., 2021). Study
conducted by Mathew, V.N. & Chung, E. (2020) found that learning from home is another interesting
factor that emerged from its responses. 36 responses from both diploma and degree students in
Malaysia universities mentioned that they are happy to attend online classes from home as they do
not have to get out of bed and avoid the morning rush to attend classes.
A factor of geographical perspective was revealed as an important factor for explaining the
variation in overall students’ satisfaction and performance during online distance learning
(Aleksander. A, Damijana. K, Dejan. R, Nina. T and Lan.U, 2020). However, Ag-Ahmad, N. (2020)
mentioned that some students felt stressed and unmotivated because there are a lot of distractions
at home. The respondents had other responsibilities as their parents or guardian had to go to work,
and they had to look after their siblings. This shows that some students could not adapt with ODL
due to the distractions they had to face and the responsibilities that they had to carry at home. They
were struggling to understand the learning content while trying to balance out the situation at home.
Article in NST online by Abu Karim, M. (2020) did an interview with UiTM students on how they
experienced on ODL. From the interview, it can be concluded that some of the students have bad
experiences because it is quite challenging for them to adapt and learn at home. This could be due
to the fact that the ODL was new during that time and was abruptly implemented as a result of the
pandemic. Factors such as poor internet connections, low mobile data and unconducive
environment might contribute to this disappointment. Moreover, most of the students were not
mentally and physically ready for the online classes. Students are learning from experience and
today they are getting used to this new norm plus there are many initiatives and funding allocated
by the government that could ease their problems. One of the initiatives provided by the government
is looking into wealth and income disparities, where these issues can be addressed at many levels
of income category such as B40 (Bottom 40%), M40 (Middle 40%) and Top 20% (T20). The
government has formulated an initiative to meet the needs and demands of the people towards a
digital-based society by providing a quality initiative for home-based learning specifically in the
education system, named JENDELA (Prime Minister Office, 2019). This initiative helps promote
successful online and distance learning and would indirectly contribute to students' academic
achievements.
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METHODOLOGY
This study consists of vital steps to discover the most relevant technique in order to get efficient
outcomes in responding to the problem statement of the research (Kothari, 2004). The research
instrument comprises students’ demographic profile by seeking their background information, related
to family income, types of devices and Internet services towards the students’ satisfaction that
contribute to the ODL implementation. This study was aligned with the ‘National Aspiration’ to ensure
that all Malaysian get quality access to digital connectivity.
The primary data were obtained through an online survey using Google Form distributed to
the diploma and degree students of the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FSKM)
and Faculty Administrative Science & Policy Studies (FSPPP) in UiTM Negeri Sembilan, Seremban
Campus. The sample size for this study was taken from 353 students altogether from the science
and technology cluster as well as social science cluster.
FINDINGS
A total of 353 students who participated in this study are from seven different undergraduate
programs offered at Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FSKM) and Faculty of
Administrative Science and Policy Studies (FSPPP) in UiTM Negeri Sembilan, Seremban Campus.
This study was conducted by giving a self-examined survey using Google Form to students in the
middle of the semester to measure the satisfaction of equal access to quality education regardless
of their family income background. Figure 1 shows the demographic profiles of respondents.
Figure 1 The Demographic Profiles of Respondents
Students need to choose their household income category based on three levels which are
B40 (income less than RM4,849), M40 (income between RM4,850 and RM10,959) and T20 (income
RM10,960 or more). Figure 2 depicts the percentage of overall household income of total
respondents.
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Figure 2 Percentage of Overall Household Income
Students also were asked about the devices; the types of Internet connection being used
during ODL sessions and the category of household income level of their family. The following tables
show the score for devices used, types of Internet connection being used, and the category of
household income level respectively. The data are sorted according to the Likert scale values based
on respondents’ satisfaction towards the quality of ODL sessions. The satisfaction was measured
by using a 4-point Likert scale namely Very Dissatisfied, Dissatisfied, Satisfied and Very Satisfied.
Students were forced to give their specific responses as there is no “neutral” option available.
The analysed results in Table 1 shows 87% respondents are mostly satisfied with the quality
of ODL sessions regardless of what devices were used by the students during the ODL session. The
result was calculated based on the percentage of each type of device that was used with the
satisfaction scale given by the respondents. Among four types of devices, most of the students were
using laptops for the ODL session.
Table 1 Students’ Satisfaction on the Quality of ODL Session Based on the Devices Used
Scale Desktop Laptop Smartphone Tablet PC Percentage
Very Dissatisfied 0 5 4 0 2.46%
0 10.54%
Dissatisfied 4 31 8 3 71.68%
0 15.32%
Satisfied 17 185 28
Very Satisfied 6 52 10
Result in Table 2 also shows positive feedback where 81.19% of respondents are satisfied
with the quality of ODL. The results indicate that students were using fixed line, mobile data, public
wifi or other Internet connection. However, the majority of them were using fixed line and mobile data
during the ODL session.
Table 2 Students’ Satisfaction on the Quality of ODL Session Based on the Internet Connection Used
Scale Fixed Line Mobile Data Public Wi-Fi Others Percentage
Very Dissatisfied 4 5 0 0 1.35%
Dissatisfied 17 22 1 3 17.46%
Satisfied 117 104 2 10 63.31%
35 31 1 1 17.88%
Very Satisfied
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Table 3 summarises results for assessing satisfaction on the quality of ODL sessions based
on the category of household income level. 88.16% of the responses are mostly satisfied with the
quality of ODL sessions. Even though most of the students came from the B40 category, they still
get the best quality of the ODL session.
Table 3 Students’ Satisfaction on the Quality of ODL Session Based on the Household Income Level
Scale B40 M40 T20 Percentage
Very Dissatisfied 7 1 1 6.13%
Dissatisfied 23 20 0 9.26%
Satisfied 128 87 18 65.58%
44 14 10 22.58%
Very Satisfied
By looking at the positive responses, it can be concluded that students have reasonably good
devices and good Internet connection that leads to the satisfaction towards the quality of ODL
sessions. Even though most of the students came from a B40 household income level, they
managed to prepare a good laptop as a device to be used for ODL sessions. They also manage to
use a good Internet connection which are fixed line and mobile data. Therefore, the students have
good experience and are satisfied with the quality of the overall ODL session.
DISCUSSION
Previous studies conducted by researchers in investigating online learning experience with
various levels of household income concluded that financial and motivation from the parents lead to
better academic performance. This comprises the facilities to support proper online learning
environments such as devices and Internet access. So, this study explored whether or not the
disparity of household income affects the ODL learning experience since it is a new approach in
teaching and learning implemented in UiTM.
Through the findings discussed above, students are mostly satisfied with the execution of ODL
in the current semester despite their family household income, types of devices used and Internet
connection they had during the teaching and learning duration. However, the open-ended question
at the last section of the questionnaire allowed students to give their comments or suggestions
regarding the implementation of ODL for the current semester. There are few comments to be
highlighted so that ODL can benefit students inclusively in future. Below are some comments
excerpts from the students’ feedbacks:
1 In my opinion, there is no need to do live meetings every week since not everyone has good
Internet connections.
2 In my suggestion, nothing to improve, just keep doing well and it is just a problem with the
Internet data.
3 ODL might be flexible but it always makes me stressed when Internet problems occur.
4 Internet connection is the problem.
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5 Poor connection during rainy days.
6 Pre-recorded video teaching is the best step for ODL because some areas have line
interruptions for live video meetings which can cause lagging during class, but I am thankful
there are still opportunities to learn despite the limitations.
7 During ODL, it takes a lot of time to do all the tasks given by lecturers due to Internet connection
and sometimes the environment of the student is not in a good condition so both students and
lecturers need to tolerate each other.
8 My Internet connection is a bit slow although I live in an urban area, but so far everything is
okay and I really enjoy ODL because the lecturers were so helpful and kind.
The study was conducted during the second semester of the implementation of ODL in
UiTM. The percentage of the satisfaction towards ODL was high as the students are getting used
to this new approach compared to the first implementation in May 2020. Government incentives and
proactive programmes launched such as MyDIGITAL and JENDELA would advantage the education
industry in such a way that digital technology would help replace typical physical and face-to-face
activities before the pandemic strikes.
Lecturers and students get these opportunities to use the latest education and communication
tools in accommodating the needs of online teaching and learning activities thus enabling everyone
to get sufficient and better Internet connection compared to the previous practices.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS
The implementation of ODL in UiTM during the Covid19 pandemic and Movement Control
Order (MCO) in Malaysia provide an avenue for lecturers and students to experience and explore
new approaches in teaching and learning processes. During the first semester of ODL
implementation, there are some issues in creating a conducive online environment as not all
lecturers and students get equal Internet access as well as the devices to support the ODL. However,
the facilities and processes are getting improved in the second semester as both lecturers and
students are gradually adapting to the new approach. The infrastructure and the provision of Internet
services have been improved so that all parties could engage with the ODL session without any
issues. Factors contributing to this improvement are the encouragement and collaboration of all
parties involved; students, lecturers, university and the incentive by the government in enhancing
the digital technology and Internet access for all citizens thus giving major benefit to the education
field.
In this study, we found that students in all categories of household income level are mostly
satisfied with the quality of ODL sessions no matter what devices and internet access they used in
fulfilling the ODL requirements. To continuously pertain to the result of these issues, further study
involving more students as respondents will be conducted to corroborate the result conclusively for
UiTM Negeri Sembilan, Seremban Campus. New perspectives such as students’ experience in using
different platforms for different courses and learning from home experience can be explored even
further. Other factors such as students’ computer and Internet skills, time management during ODL
and measuring Students Happiness Index to determine the satisfaction, will bring new insights to
this matter. This would be a fruitful area for further work which new findings will potentially unleash
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other factors that would greatly improve ODL implementation and significantly provide optimal
learning experiences to the students.
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The Application of Social Innovation Economic Transfer
Model in Generating Income of Community: A Case Study
in Malaysia Through Marketing of Eco-friendly Traditional
Cookies
Marzlin Marzuki
Faculty of Accountancy
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch, Malaysia
[email protected]
Syazliyati Ibrahim
Academy of Language Studies
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch, Malaysia
[email protected]
Maznah Wan Omar
Faculty of Business and Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch, Malaysia
[email protected]
Asrol Hasan
Faculty of Art and Design
Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah Branch, Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Understanding how social innovation has helped the community to generate a
sustainable income is an interesting topic of discussion. The aim of this study is to explain the
application of social innovation economic transfer model that a community has applied to
generate a sustainable income through marketing of eco-friendly traditional cookies. In
executing this project, academic researchers have helped the community to improve their
standard of living through education and guidance which apply the concept of social innovation
resourcefulness; together with technopreneurship initiatives embedded in community
development. This project principally has the knowledge transfer agenda which encapsulates
the social innovation agenda which forms the important tenets of the Malaysian Innovation
agenda. Academicians transferred knowledge to the community through technopreneurship
system. Environmental knowledge was later gained through interaction between the
academicians and community which further became the seed to the production of eco-friendly
traditional cookies. Concomitantly, a win-win situation which brings a myriad of benefits to the
community, academicians, and the nation at large has been achieved. This initiative is now
ready to be shared with the larger public, particularly the global community so that this model
can be replicated by other stakeholders who harbour similar aspiration of improving the
economy of rural community.
Keywords: social innovation, economic transfer model,technopreneurship, traditional
cookies, eco-friendly.
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INTRODUCTION
The notion of social innovation has been practised as old as mankind (Cui et al. 2016,
Eichler & Schwarz, 2019), even though it has only obtained the attention and interest in the
21st century. The earlier social innovation practices as charted in Europe for instance, has
been recorded as early as the first third of the 20th century until 1980s even though the
innovation at the time was mostly considered tantamount to technological innovation
(European Union, 2017). Innovations during that period of time generally involved using
existing technology but then they evolved to include knowledge in new techniques to meet
social goals, or using existing knowledge or new technologies in different ways to improve
social condition by addressing domestic, infrastructural or environmental goals (Dawson &
Daniel, 2010).
Andrew & Klein (2010) further purport social innovation as social changes, either
through social and economic or social and cultural interrelations. Hence, understanding social
innovation is an imperative step to better espouse its expansion in society (Andrew & Klein,
2019). Social innovation endeavours must largely involve a few key players including shared
governance and institutionalised partnerships to ensure responsibility and accountability for
services meant for the common good society (Andrew & Klein, 2019).
Social innovation cannot be reduced to a field of work, nor to a limited sector of the
economy (European Union, 2017). It is a way of understanding a multitude of activities and
practices aimed at addressing social problems or meeting human needs (European Union,
2017). Social innovations are expected to improve long term opportunities for individuals
and/or communities, or produce more efficient, effective and/or sustainable revenues for
society to deal with its challenges (European Union, 2017). Consequently, social innovation
necessitates an alliance between different social groups, and leverages both internal and
external resources (Cui et al. 2016).
SOCIAL INNOVATION IN MALAYSIA
Social innovation agenda in Malaysia is generally initiated and maintained by the
government. Social innovation efforts have been outlined in the public policies and strategic
plans such as National Policy on Science Technology and Innovation (NPSTI), the Eleventh
Malaysia Plan, 2016 - 2020 (11MP), Malaysian Social Enterprise Blueprint, 2015-2018
(MSEB), Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development’s (KPWKM) Strategic Plan
2013-2017 and KPWKM’s Transformation Plan 2014-2018 (Rizawati & Mustafa, 2017).
Malaysia’s government also acknowledges innovation as a way in dealing with the challenges
by driving the efforts to inculcate an innovative culture in the society by establishing several
agencies that are mandated to carry out initiatives focused on improving societal well-being
through innovation and creativity (Noor Rizawati & Mustafa, 2017). Generally, there are four
classifications of social innovation initiatives in Malaysia which are microfinancing, social
entrepreneurship, public service delivery and grassroots innovation (science- and technology-
based) (Noor Rizawati & Mustafa, 2017).
As specified in the Eleventh Malaysia Plan, the Malaysian Government is devoted to
ensuring equitable chances for all sections of society, in particular the B40 households (which
means the bottom 40 percent of households with monthly income of RM3,900.00 and below)
(Economic Planning Unit, 2015). All Malaysians, and in particular vulnerable groups will gain
better access to quality education and training, efficient infrastructure and social amenities,
better employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, and also wealth ownership (Economic
Planning Unit, 2015). Rural areas will be converted by having better improved connectivity,
mobility, and provided a conducive business environment (Economic Planning Unit, 2015).
According to Numiere (2017), within rural development, social innovation is connected to the
materialisation of new collective learning, coordination and communication processes. As in
168
Malaysia, there are four main actors that pose vital roles in the implementation of social
innovation initiatives which are i) the government including the academic institutions ii) private
sector/private firms; iii) non-profit organisations, including NGOs and iv) private individuals
(Noor Rizawati & Mustafa, 2017).
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Social innovation can ensue at different levels of society, broad communities and
regions, the nation state, regional areas within countries, local communities, organisations,
and even within families and groups (Dawson & Daniel, 2010). In Malaysia, various social
innovation agendas are targeted at the B40 groups either in the urban or rural areas. The
particular case study described in this paper is meant to address a social innovation in a rural
area. This is because, compared with urban residents, people who live in rural areas have
rarer choices in the social and economic terms (Ellfrelstren, 2018). Rural people also face
various problems such as low income, unemployment, low quality of social services such as
education and healthcare (Ellfrelstren, 2018). As one of the main actors in the social innovation
agenda in Malaysia, the role of universities is indispensable. This is mainly because
universities provide the most relevant sites of fundamental research and interdisciplinary
research (Arocena & Sultz, 2021) that can definitely benefit social innovation activities.
Furthermore, since universities possess a significant degree of autonomy for accommodating
its activities with multiple connections with different institutions, all these actors can contribute
in their own ways to the social innovation agenda (Arocena & Sultz, 2021).
The main aim of this social innovation programme is to improve the marketing,
packaging, branding, documenting accounting records and providing business knowledge
regarding the eco-friendly traditional cookies produced by the villagers of a rural area. At
present, the community has sufficient knowledge and skills to produce the eco-friendly
traditional cookies but they face problems to market and sustain their production. This project
may help to minimise the level of poverty of these villagers by commercialising the eco-friendly
traditional cookies made from natural resources to a larger market particularly to local or
international customers. In achieving this objective, a group of multi-disciplinary academicians
assisted the community in terms of designing the branding, labelling, packaging, marketing
and maintaining related accounting documentations. This is vital to create a niche for this
village by promoting eco-friendly traditional cookies which is the signature of this village. The
community in Merbok feels that there should be a vigorous force for change, in order to
minimise poverty through education, to help environmental conservation efforts and to identify
any potential economic activities.
The rationale for focusing on marketing and documentation of business records are
due to the prior research that have identified several reasons for business failure, such as
poor marketing and lack of managerial skills, namely the inability to keep accurate and current
financial records (Bergsman, 1992), product or market problem, financial difficulties and
managerial problems (Bruno, Leideiker and Harder (1987), lack of organising capability,
inadequate technology and efficiency as well as great knowledge gap (Rahman and Kumar,
2018). As such, it is imperative for businesses to have effective marketing and sufficient
documentations to excel in business. Moreover, Hirokawa and Wu (2012) noted that marketing
strategy needs to seek ways to connect technology to the culture. Social media are the
medium of information dissemination which has gained a wide acceptance by consumers
around the world and the trend is expected to continue in the future. More individuals and
companies are also moving towards online marketing to reap the benefits it offers. Kaplan and
Haenlein (2010) reported that as of January 2009 online social networking such as Facebook
has recorded 179 million active users. In 2015, eMarketer has reported that 196 million users
worldwide were recorded on social networking sites (SNS), constituting 27.1% of the global
population. Also, approximately 88.2% of enterprises have used social media as a marketing
169
tool since 2015. This figure is expected to grow to 89.4% by 2017. The users are not only
limited to teenagers but growing in numbers for members of the Generation-X too. As such, it
is reasonable to say that social media represents a revolutionary new trend in doing business
and thus business owners should grab this opportunity to reach their potential customers. For
example, there are several companies which have successfully used social networking sites
to support the creation of brand communities (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001) and Warner Brothers
created a Facebook profile via which visitors could watch trailers, download graphics, and play
games to promote the movie ‘‘Fred Claus,’’ a 2007 Christmas comedy film. Thus, producing
products using natural resources and to apply social media marketing are both timely and
warranted. Also, the knowledge on marketing and keeping proper documentation will be an
added value for business operators to be successful. As posited by Elffrelstren (2018),
knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship can be the medium for leveraging existing
community strengths and diversifying local economies, while at the same time challenging
existing business to be more efficient and innovative.
All these knowledge and skills would be of immense help to the community around the
northern area of West Malaysia where one of the public universities is located. The community
may benefit from its existence where academicians could share their expertise and knowledge
to the surrounding community who is in dire need of hands-on information to improve their
current economic state.
METHODOLOGY
This is a case study based approach on the progress of a consultancy project for a
duration of 20 months. The data gathered was based on the observation and documentations
of this project. The participants of this project were the low-income group of people including
the single mothers’ community in KH, a village. The location of KH is around 10 kilometres
away from a public university in the northern area of West Malaysia. The partner of this social
innovation research project is the Development and Security Committee (JKKK) of KH, an
area in the state of Kedah, representing the residents of KH with a population of about 400
residents. KH was selected as the partner for this project to benefit the community as it is
within close proximity to the local public university near their village. This project focused on
five (5) types of traditional cookies which are putu kacang, putu beras, kuih bakar, bahulu and
karas n
170
Future potential social innovation projects may replicate a similar model for other rural
communities in other states of Malaysia or other countries with a high chance of success rate.
Also, it encourages technopreneur initiatives to be undertaken in the rural areas.
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174
The Effectiveness of Instagram as a Marketing
Communication Tool for Naelofar Hijab
Nornatasya Farina Binti Jasman
Faculty of Art & Design
Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Malaysia
[email protected]
Mohamed Razeef Bin Abdul Razak
Faculty of Art & Design
Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Malaysia
[email protected]
Azahar Bin Harun
Faculty of Art & Design
Universiti Teknologi MARA Melaka, Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
The hijab industry is a very lucrative business in Malaysia and is expected to generate
US 5.9 billion by year 2024 according to a report by Malaysia eCommerce Industry. Hence
study aims to look at the successful marketing strategy of Naelofar Hijab brand portrayed on
the Instagram platform to engage with the audience. This is most important as a successful
brand than others in marketing strategy through Instagram. The method of AIDA Model was
applied to analyze the ten of campaign Naelofar Hijab Brand through the Instagram platform
that most successful in marketing strategy tools. Naelofar Hijab was the most successful brand
that is utilizing a platform Instagram to market the Brand as a marketing strategy tool.
Preliminary results show that Naelofar Hijab marketing communication research is mainly
described based on viral marketing tools as a strategy on Instagram to draw the audience’s
attention toward the Brand itself. This is because the Instagram platform has been used by
other competitors to market products as well. However, the marketing strategy that Naelofar
Hijab brand employed is more unique in creating loyalty, trust, inspiration, and motivation in
the Brand that the founder conveyed of Noor Neelofa on Instagram as one marketing strategy.
It is hoped that the finding of this study is beneficial to society by enhancing the knowledge
and improving the entrepreneurial skill in developing the marketing strategy in business.
Keywords: Instagram, marketing strategy, AIDA Model, viral marketing Naelofar Hijab.
INTRODUCTION
Naelofar Hijab is one of the leading hijab brands and competes with several well-known
brands in Malaysia. Based on preliminary data, the demand in the marketing of the fashion
hijab industry is increasing because the Malaysian Muslim population reached 61.3%.
(Amanda, 2020). As stated in the 2018 report, the accumulated profit is at least RM 1 billion,
equivalent to 245 million USD. The economy of the fashion industry is also growing based on
the demand and needs of Muslim women who wear hijab (Atiqah, 2019). Naelofar Hijab is a
crucial market segment of the Hijab brand in Malaysia as the most successful marketing brand
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in marketing campaigns that create a connection between audience and brand engagement.
Naelofar Hijab focuses on the Instagram platform as one of the marketing strategies tools to
manage audience traffic towards the Brand. This study also explains that Naelofar Hijab
marketing communication was based on a viral marketing channel strategy disseminated
through social media platforms, such as Instagram. According to (Beckmann & Bell, May
2001) (Mersid & Merve, 2018) viral marketing is an element tool of a marketing strategy in the
form used of an idea or other slogan combined to deliver a message related to the brand as
quickly and as widely as possible among the target audience. The preliminary research,
Naelofar Hijab used this strategy tool as a quick information and to convey a message to the
audience. This is because rumours spread about the founder herself impacting the Brand.
Previous research on the new collection by Naelofar Hijab launched at Zouk Club, Kuala
Lumpur, revealed controversy about the Brand, but it reflects in a positive direction (Bazlin,
Teh, & Gan, 2019). Based on this controversy, Naelofar Hijab brand took the easy step by
letting the issue pass on its own and as a positive thing to grow the business further. In fact,
from the controversy, the Naelofar Hijab business is more successful among other
competitors, while most of it is popular among hijabista and fashionable women.
Naelofar Hijab brand does not merely use traditional mainstream mass media, which is
a direct channel marketing for promoting the product to consumers. This marketing changes
the strategy into a new media, which is Instagram, to create online marketing tools. By offering
a marketing strategy on the Brand, which enhances the Brand in generating the best value
and increasing promotional activities on Instagram to increase the audience attraction to the
Naelofar Hijab brand (Rafiq & Fulford, 2005) (Victoria & Helen, 2013). The platform can also
target widely exposed brands to new target audiences and users through the Instagram
platform. Other competitors mainly use the Instagram platform in the hijab fashion industry in
promoting their brand to the audience. This is because social networking platforms play one
of the essential roles in building relationships to attract the audience to a brand by allowing
fashion trends to publicize products widely (Goldsmith & Clark, 2008) (Luis, Carlos, & Sergio,
2020). According to (Aragoncillo & Orús, 2018) social media can also play a role in inspiring
as well (Brandäo, Pinho, & Rodrigues, 2019) this can be the platform to interact widely with
society (Luis, Carlos, & Sergio, 2020). Based on the data according (Socialbakers, 2019)
(Luis, Carlos, & Sergio, 2020) fashion brand revenue grabbed higher on Instagram. The
primary specific role played on Instagram to engage users is creativity (Casaló, Flavián, &
Ibáñez-Sánchez, Antecedents of consumer intention to follow and recommend an Instagram
account. , 2017b) on brand visual display broadcasting by attracting content value in the
audience to lead interactions (Luis, Carlos, & Sergio, 2020). This is because creativity is
essential in a brand campaign that engages new target audiences and followers to the
Instagram account. Instagram is particularly influential in the fashion industry for expanding
brand publishing in promoting a campaign. The expansion of a brand campaign through the
Instagram platform will indirectly affect the audience's relationship and attract their interest
toward the brand. Instagram allows users to explore the features that can be in Instagram,
which were used to develop additional creative content for broadcast on platforms that include
IGTV, IG Live, Share Stories, Repost, Video and Visual.
In 2021, there is a new function in Instagram that has been renewed that is Instagram
reels. It is a short video that displays the creative content, and it is very similar to the video
post format in TikTok, but it is effortless for users to use by producing a content idea. This reel
is another tool on Instagram that provides content creators to develop creativity on the platform
as it further reaches out to viewers to watch videos. Apart from being just simple video
production, it is also a tool available on Instagram to attract a wider audience and interact with
users faster.
176
This paper also examined the relationship between Brand and audience engagement in
developing interactions on the Naelofar Hijab brand through the Instagram platform. The
Instagram platform as the primary strategy tool for Naelofar Hijab is to unite the audience with
the Brand, developing the credibility of the relationship with the audience in creating trust and
loyalty to the Brand. Naelofar Hijab brand have their own loyal follower on Instagram that
leading to other hijab brand in Malaysia based on the latest number of increased followers in
2018 by Naelofar official Instagram which is 595K followers (Nurfatin, Shantiny, & Komathy,
2018). The potential of the Instagram platform is to elevate the Brand by stepping to the next
level into the business strategically. The platform is similar to the eWOM marketing tool, an
electronic Word of Mouth marketing channel tool that is a strategy in disseminating knowledge
about the Brand by obtaining information based on experience to the Brand in influencing
audience actions purchase or ignore online (Cheung & Lee, 2012). The marketing strategy
tool through the Instagram platform is to create appropriate interactions between businesses
and consumers according to (Dahan & Hauser, 2002) (Ana & Natascha, 2016). This is due to
several influencing elements: the interactive, creative and social processes that play a role in
the marketing strategy that needs to be implemented to develop the relationship between the
Brand and the audience. According to (Eroglu, Machleit, & Devis, 2003) (Roschk, Loureiro S.,
& Brietsohl, 2017), proposed by (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) other key stimulus roles in
marketing strategy elements in developing relationships with Brands are information content,
viewing products through design visuals, product promotion and appropriate consumer
interaction in influencing audience emotions towards brand engagement. These elements
need to focus on expansion and create a relationship between audience and brand
engagement through the Instagram platform. This plays an essential role in influencing the
emotions of the Instagram platform’s audience and creating a relationship with the brand itself.
Instagram is generally used for entrepreneurs to promote and market their brand among
new audiences and target markets using display product visualization techniques with
valuable content. (Casaló, Flavián, & Ibáñez-Sánchez, Antecedents of consumer intention to
follow and recommend an Instagram account. , 2017b). This is based on the format and
features on the Instagram platform that attracts viewers to use the creative posts uploaded on
Insta Stories and various filter options to attract viewers to Insta profiles. The result of the post
is more attractive to the audience than posting on other social media platforms. This is
because the tools available on Instagram are more attractive to other viewers to use Instagram
more by scrolling daily than other social media platforms. On Instagram, posts will attract more
viewers because of other aspects that bring the brand to the stage by trusted sellers and
develop loyal customers. This is because commenting on brand posts develops customer trust
and loyalty. Being commented on an Instagram profile by customers and audiences is more
critical because past positive customer experiences will influence other consumers or
customers in helping them make easy decisions to purchase and evaluate the brand while
getting accurate information (Cheung & Lee, 2012) (Mersid & Merve, 2018). Viewers are most
likely to rely on other customer reviews and comments to purchase the product or brand. Their
findings through surveys and comments are more concerned with feedback on services, items,
processes and even procedures in delivery.
Therefore, the audience's emotions enhancing their satisfied and pleasant experience
with the brand will also tell their friends about the brand (Mersid & Merve, 2018). Comments
and reviews by customers will influence the next decision by others, that is because the
feedback and information they get from the comments is valuable to them in making the right
decision to purchase. According to (Cheung & Lee, 2012) The most important thing that plays
a role in influencing the audience of Instagram to make a decision is the frequency of
comments that have different opinions, especially on quality brands. That was an impact on
the confidentiality of the audience to purchase it by the information they get (Chang, Lee, &
Huang, 2010) (Mersid & Merve, 2018). The experience of the customer plays a vital role in
177
deciding by other audiences to purchase it (Mersid & Merve, 2018). The other element tools
in Instagram that were influenced in increasing the traffic audience toward the brand is the
sharing and tagging posts. This is the technique to engage with the new audience because of
the sharing posts to other friends and users of Instagram that most easily bring the new
audience to the Instagram profile, and from that, the users will explore more on the page.
Influencers or ambassadors of the brand are playing an essential role in the success of
marketing strategy tools. Naelofar Hijab uses Noor Neelofar Mohd Noor, the founder of the
brand himself, to influence the brand to other audiences, especially among its fans. She is a
celebrity and also an ambassador to several other international brands approaching as an
influence to his brand. As such, he continues to carry the brand wherever he goes to expand
the brand market. Famous artist, Noor Neelofa often introduces the latest products or
collections of new hijab designs that can meet the demands of every woman, as well as a
variety of unique but straightforward and attractive styles. (Nurfatin, Shantiny, & Komathy,
2018). Naelofar Hijab uses the advantage of publicity to attract the audience through Noor
Neelofa as the leading influencer in the styling of this fashion because the appearance she
wears can give inspiration and ideas for other women. Noor Neelofa brings the brand as part
of her image while at the same time promoting it in every appearance in TV Commercial as a
support as well as a collection promoting strategy in general. This is because it will develop
the credibility of the relationship of the brand with the users of Instagram, which is trusted as
the reliable source (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017) (Daniel, Marta, & Sergio, 2019). Based on
this role, that was leading to bring the audience to the stage of trustworthiness. The influencer
brings the traffic audience from their followers toward the brand as the action by influencing in
created the interest. The influencers are central to influencing the audience because they are
the icon or idols to others, which brings a good image, positive aura, and inspiration. Most of
the influencers consist of celebrities and well-known individuals who can promote the brand
or product to the audience. This is because they have their followers and fans who are loyal
to them. Influencers used their own Instagram account to post or review the product and brand
among their followers, encouraging the increase of traffic audience. Based on this method,
the traffic audience and the new target audience will be increasing widely because of the
interaction through the posts or reviews that the influencers have done. According to (Blazevic,
Wiertz, Cotte , de Ruyter, & Keeling, 2014) (Daniel, Marta, & Sergio, 2019) the primary point
influencing the successful development of increase the audience's interaction through social
media is approaching by the influencers on their account. That is based on the contents and
posts that the influencers uploaded on their account to promote (Casaló, Flavián, & Ibáñez-
Sánchez, 2017) (Daniel, Marta, & Sergio, 2019). The objective of the research is to identify
the strategies used in the Naelofar Hijab Brand. However, this research also will determine
the effectiveness of the Marketing Communication strategy tools through the Instagram
platform.
ANALYSIS
In research, observations on the Naelofar Hijab marketing strategy tool adopted the
contemporary method of the AIDA model to analyze campaigns through the Instagram
platform. The AIDA method was used in analyzing ten successful Naelofar Hijab campaigns
in the brand marketing strategy through the social media platform Instagram. This research
aims to determine the successful Naelofar Hijab campaign process in marketing and develop
relationships and loyalty between the audience and branding. Empirical research was
conducted through interviews to obtain accurate and valid information to support data analysis
from the AIDA model. Based on the findings, the researcher was able to archive the objectives
to determine, explore, identify, and develop level strategies for campaigns to succeed in
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marketing. This stream of strategies will help increase knowledge and enhance skills in
entrepreneurship by developing marketing tools for brand campaigns.
AWARENESS INTEREST DESIRES ACTION
FINDING & DISCUSSION
Figure 1 Creative Visual Posting on Naelofar Hijab Brand Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_d-lDIJwPO/
Instagram Naelofar Hijab is the central platform to analyze brand campaigns using the
AIDA Model method. This method was used on the Naelofar Hijab Brand to analyze ten
successful campaigns through the Instagram platform in a marketing tool that successfully
brought audience traffic to the brand. Based on the hierarchy, the AIDA Model is explaining
on the process of the followers Instagram that direction of to making purchasing on the Brand
interest. Based on the hierarchy, the AIDA model describes the process of Instagram followers
in making purchases against a brand. Therefore, the process will increase followers'
interaction towards the brand and evoke emotions to enhance their satisfied and pleasant
experience with the brand. The experience can develop a new target audience based on
reviews by buyers' experience telling their friends about the brand. Based on the process, the
brand can be developed widely because the brand interaction can make the audience group
interested in the brand.
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The followers become aware of the Brand based on advertising
A approach through Instagram and influencers approaches using the Brand.
Instagram will interest in the brand because of the uniqueness of the product
itself based on the characteristic brand, which is design, color, pattern and
I others perspective that visualized on the Instagram platform.
The followers develop the desires toward the Brand and will gain information
D on the finding of Brand through the Instagram to lookup of the Brand in detail.
The finding can develop the intention of followers Instagram to make the
A next decision in engages the trial or purchase the brand items.
CONCLUSION
To conclude this study, the researchers gained a lot of new knowledge and information
about the marketing communication strategy tools applied in business nowadays. The results
of this case study are helpful and can be used as a practical guide for entrepreneurs and the
community because by increasing knowledge and improving entrepreneurial skills in
developing marketing strategies. This research is shown to guide entrepreneurs to understand
better the marketing strategy tools in developing their successful campaigns by attracting
traffic on the Instagram platform as a strategy game used. Through the above process, the
production of the above results can form a marketing strategy process that can help the
business in a more strategic and practical direction. In addition, the use of the AIDA Model
method can also be used as an advertising marketing tool that can attract audience traffic and
develop a relationship with the brand.
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The Impact of Knowledge Sharing to Employee Engagement: A Case
Study in XYZ Company
Azfahanee Zakaria
Faculty of Business and Management
Uiniversiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Kedah, Malaysia
[email protected]
Syed Mohammed Alhady Bin Syed Ahmad Alhady
Faculty of Information Management
Uiniversiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Kedah, Malaysia
[email protected]
Sarah Sabir Ahmad
Faculty of Business and Management
Uiniversiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Kedah, Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Knowledge is regarded as one of the most wanted mechanisms needed by society or
organization. This is because it is a means for competitiveness. Nevertheless, should the
knowledge obtained is not used, it will not bring any benefits to the organization or the society.
In addition to that, engaged employees are now much sought in organization as they are said
as key indicators to an organization success. Therefore, this study wishes to understand
further on the impact of knowledge and how it affects employee engagement in an
organization. This study adopts a qualitative method and data would be collected from six
employees in the organization. Data triangulation would be used and later would be analyzed
using hermeneutic approach. The result of the study would address the importance of
knowledge sharing and employee engagement and how organizations can later enrich
methods on how to instill both in the organizational daily activities.
Keywords: employee engagement, knowledge transfer and qualitative study.
INTRODUCTION
All business owners build and create their business with the intention to make profits.
Therefore, all business owners strategize and focus on achieving the profits with the
assistance of their employees. In the process of creating it, several decisions, processes and
other matters need to be held, however it was discovered that wise effective decisions can
only be achieved if the employees have sufficient knowledge. Besides that, having engaged
employees is also said as one of the factors which would assist the organization to sustain the
knowledge and later share it in the circulation of the organization.
KNOWLEDGE
Definition of what knowledge is varies from one author to another. As written and
published in Canvas network, the definition from the two well-known English dictionaries are
as follows:
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"Facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or
practical understanding of a subject."
- Oxford Dictionary
"The fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or
association; acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique."
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
According to Mc. Shane S.L & Von Glinow M.A., (2015) knowledge is very crucial in
the modern world, therefore, leaders play a vital role in ensuring that knowledge is shared,
stored and retained in the organization (Mc Shane S.L & Von Glinow M.A, 2015). This is
supported by Micić (2015) where he mentioned that an organization needs to have knowledge
as it is sought as the utmost required resource. Knowledge is indeed a source for competitive
advantage competitors (Muthuveloo R., Shanmugam N. & Teoh A.P., 2017). In addition to
that, managers and leaders of an organization hold a significant function in managing all
activities in identifying, acquiring and using knowledge aimed at providing the organization
with a competitive advantage (Siemieniak P & Rembiasz M, 2019).
It is also said that the accumulation of knowledge available in the organization for the
employees’ use would increase the value of the said organization. With adequate knowledge
and full access to the expertise in the organization, employees would be able to make effective
decisions and the ability and confidence to innovate would be high.
This is supported by Omotayo, F O. (2015) indicating that with the emergence of
knowledge-based economy, effective management of knowledge has been categorized as a
vital factor for organization to ensure sustainable strategic competitive advantage.
According to Bierly (2000), knowledge is an understanding of information, and it
involves both knowing how, which is generally more tacit knowledge, and knowing about,
which is more explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is the knowledge which resides in mental
models, values, beliefs, perceptions, insights and assumptions. Tacit knowledge is largely
experience based and it is considered to be the most valuable source of knowledge.
In addition to that, Smith, (2001) states that technical tacit knowledge is demonstrated
when people master a specific body of knowledge or use skills like those gradually developed
by master craftsmen. And should employees be given the opportunity to use tacit knowledge
in their daily activities at work, it would be a prime factor in attracting and maintaining a
talented, loyal and productive workforce (Smith, 2000). Conversely, explicit knowledge is
described in formal language, like manuals, books, procedures, copyright and patents.
Likewise, knowledge is also known as intellectual capital (Mc. Shane S.L & Von Glinow
M.A., 2015). Intellectual capital exists in three forms which are human capital, structural capital
and relationship capital. Human Capital refers to the knowledge, skills and abilities which
employees carry in their head and structural capital are knowledge which are kept in the
structure of the organization itself such as the documented work procedures, physical layout
of the workspace and also the finished product of a process. In addition, relationship capital is
the knowledge which gives value to the organization through the relationship with its
customers, suppliers and other counterparts which have mutual interest in the organization.
This includes the goodwill and the brand image of the organization itself.
OBTAINING AND RETAINING KNOWLEDGE
Acknowledging that knowledge is a significant factor which would makes the
organization be above its competitors, organization would find ways on how to increase the
number of knowledge and information for the use of the employees. Among the ways are by
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hiring skilled, knowledgeable experience employees to the organization. This would
automatically increase the knowledge which the organization has. Next method of acquiring
knowledge would be through knowledge grafting. This is done by purchasing another business
with the team of employees inclusive. The same is supported by Martin Johanson, Pao T.
Kao, Heléne Lundberg, (2020), where they mentioned that acquiring a business and
employees who have a different set of knowledge to the current business they are in.
In addition to that, knowledge can also be acquired when employees are involved with
experimentation on new ideas and products through creativity and testing (Mcshane S.L &
Von Glinow M.A., 2015). Nevertheless, this can only be done if the organization practices a
learning culture and the leaders do encourage employees to be creative and think outside the
box.
Conceding the above, it is important to ensure that all knowledge are being stored and
kept in and used by employees of the organization only. The process of retaining knowledge
in the organization is known as organizational memory. And as mentioned above, knowledge
in an organization is in the form of intellectual capital as well as structural capital, therefore
both need to be kept and retained in the organization.
At this point, the intellectual capital are the employees, therefore organizations need
to ensure that employees are motivated and remain working in the organization. Besides,
organization leaders need to allow and create a platform for employees to share the
knowledge which they have with the rest in the organization. It can be held either in a formal
setting or an informal setting Mc. Shane S.L & Von Glinow M.A., (2015). Additionally, this
practice would create the feeling of ownership and pride in the employees, and this would also
allow for the tacit knowledge which is carried around in the head of the employees to be shared
and used by other employees in the organization. This would be another platform where
knowledge can be stored and remain in an organization. By doing so, the knowledge would
be put to use and later can be turned to explicit knowledge as well.
Besides, employees are encouraged to document all activities or work procedures
which they are involved in which later can be viewed and referred to by many. Nevertheless,
rewards need to be tied up to the effort as this would encourage and motivate employees to
share more in the future.
KNOWLEDGE AND EMPLOYEES
Having employees who are knowledgeable would allow higher efficiency, higher
satisfaction as well as safety of the workforce (Hunt, 2003). Knowledge would also allow an
employee to predict and forecast on what are the next coming events or needs which either
the organization or the external environments would face. Therefore, by having
knowledgeable employees, organizations would face lower risk in making decisions for the
organization.
However, the process and the willingness to share knowledge and to retain the
knowledge in the organization can be made true, if employees are engaged with the
organization. So, this leads to the discussion of employee engagement.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
As mentioned by Robbins S.P. & Judge T.A., (2019) employee engagement is an
employee's involvement, satisfaction and enthusiasm for the work which he or she is involved
in. Highly engaged employees have deep passion and connection to the organization.
However, it was also reported that most employees are not engaged in their work (Robbins
S.P. & Judge T.A., 2019) and the same was mentioned by Brook, (2019). According to an
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article in SHRM, Better Workplace and Better World, (n.d.) employees’ engagement and
productivity can be affected by several factors such as social cohesion, feeling supported by
one's supervisor, information sharing, common goals and vision, communication, and trust. In
other words, employees want to be valued and respected and they want the management to
acknowledge their work and contribution to the organization.
IMPORTANCE OF HAVING ENGAGED EMPLOYEES
Engaged employees are identified as one of the factors which will push an
organization's productivity. These set of employees would go the extra mile to ensure that all
work entrusted to them ate being carried out to the most optimum level. Having engaged
employees would also create and lead to a strong work culture, better communication at all
levels, high retention, better knowledge sharing ability which will consequently improve
organizational performance.
METHODOLOGY
For this study, the researcher would use a qualitative method and data which would
be collected from six employees in XYZ company. XYZ company is a multinational company
which operates and focuses on manufacturing computer and electronic devices. All data would
be gathered through interview, observation as well as studying the documents in the
organization. Interviews would be held on a one-to-one basis and all discussion would be
recorded. Discussion would also be based on open ended questions as to allow for elaboration
of ideas without biasness.
Later all data obtained will be analyzed using the hermeneutic approach. The result
of the study would further emphasize on how an organization can create a knowledge sharing
culture to instill employee engagement in the organization.
CONCLUSION
Knowledge and employee engagement are seen as two significant factors which will
lead to organization success and organization competitiveness. Through knowledge, decision
making would be less risky, better products would be able to be created and better services
would be rendered to customers. Nevertheless, some knowledge is not being shared,
especially the tacit knowledge which is stored only in the employee’s mind. What worries us
most is should the employee leave the organization, the knowledge would not be reachable
by other employees. Consequently, employee engagement would be high when knowledge
sharing activity is active in the organization. Therefore, this study would assist the
management to understand further on knowledge sharing culture, its impact to employee
engagement and organizations productivity and how to create one.
REFERENCES
Bierly, P. I. (2000). Organizational learning, knowledge and wisdom’. Journal of Organizational
Change Management. 13, 595-618.
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Brook, J. (2019, December 4). Why employee engagement is key to company success.
Retrieved from Socialchorus: https://socialchorus.com/blog/employee-engagement-
key-to-company-success/
Hunt, D. P. (2003). The concept of knowledge and how to measure it. Journal of Intellectual
Capital, 4(1).
Martin Johanson, Pao T. Kao, Heléne Lundberg. (2020). Knowledge grafting during
internationalization: utilizing localized professionals in the foreign market. Journal of
Knowledge Management, 24(9), 2009-2033. doi: doi.org/10.1108/JKM-12-2018-0747
Mc. Shane S.L & Von Glinow M.A. (2015). Organizational Behavior Emerging Knowledge,
Global Reality (Asia). Singapore: McGraw Hill Education.
Micić, R. (2015). Leadership Role in Certain Phases of Knowledge Management Processes.
Scientific Review Article, 61.
Muthuveloo R., Shanmugam N. & Teoh A.P. (2017, December). The impact of tacit knowledge
management on organizational performance: Evidence from Malaysia. Asia Pacific
Management Review, 22(4), 192-201. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2017.07.010
Omotayo, F O, (2015). Knowledge Management as an important tool in Organizational
Management: A Review of Literature. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). doi:
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1238
Robbins S.P. & Judge T.A. (2019). Organizational Behavior Global Edition. United States:
Pearson Education Limited.
SHRM, Better Workplace and Better World. (n.d.). doi:
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-andsamples/toolkits/pages/sustaining
employeeengagement. aspx
Siemieniak P & Rembiasz M. (2019). Importance of knowledge in the process of shaping the
entrepreneurial attitudes of young entrepreneurs. MATEC Web of Conferences 290.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf /20192901
Smith, E. A. (2001). The role of tacit and explicit knowledge in the workplace. Journal of
Knowledge Management, 5, 311-321.
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The Impact on a Seamless Application Development in a
Cloud Environment
Mohd Norafizal Abd Aziz
Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics
Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang, Malaysia
[email protected]
Siti Aishah Mohamad
Faculty of Business Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang, Malaysia
[email protected]
Eily Azer
Students Affairs Department
Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang, Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the impact of seamless application development in the time of
pandemic in the organization’s operation. During the pandemic, most of the organization’s
operations have been retarded due to a movement control order restriction. To maintain the
organization’s sustainability, all the operations must be conducted as usual using digitalization or
seamless technology, which is applicable as required during the pandemic. As in higher education
institutions, we select one process to be developed as a seamless application known as a student
letter application in most student’s operations. Even if the restriction is ongoing, the daily operation
has to be continued. The development of Student’s Letter Application in Cloud, also known as
StALIC, has penetrated the implication of this seamless initiative to the organization. The
development consists of the Google cloud platform and merging techniques to produce the letter
efficiently at a minimal cost. This boundary becomes the objective of the StALIC development and
currently has been implemented at UiTM Pahang. The acceptance and satisfaction tests among the
users of StALIC have been conducted. The findings show that StALIC was accepted, and most of
the users are very satisfied. In conclusion, as Malaysia is still fighting against pandemics, the usual
operation shall remain. This study will benefit the researchers and practitioners in advocating the
importance of seamless application development as we used in StALIC and other new digital
application innovation implementation such as ReRS, AKLiMA and SPARK. Besides, the study’s
impact may empower seamless development to be adopted in the government and private
organizations’ physical operations for continual improvement.
Keywords: cloud computing, impact, seamless application.
INTRODUCTION
The pandemic of COVID -19 has changed Malaysia's organizations’ operations landscape.
The drastic action of the government has implemented the movement control order (MCO), forcing
almost all organizations to shut down. The effects of the epidemic have been extended to institutions
of higher learning (HL). The main customer of HL is the student. The students’ interests must be
taken care of and given priority. In addition to providing educational services to students, HL should
provide efficient support services and complete infrastructures. The academic and non-academic
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departments have to make a drastic change in their operations to sustain. To maintain the
organization’s sustainability, all the operations must be conducted as usual but in different methods.
Digitalization or seamless technology might help the organization, specifically the HL, to increase
productivity and efficiency. In Universiti Teknologi MARA, Pahang branch, the students’ letter
application (StALIC) has been invented as one of the digital templates in a seamless environment
with cloud computing support for producing student letter applications for sponsorship more quickly
and economically by reducing turnaround time, lowering printing costs, and promoting green
technology.
This paper will describe the objectives of implementing cloud computing and seamless
technology into the current application development with adopting those technologies into the higher
learning environments and navigate the importance of cloud computing and seamless technology to
support the application developments in a pandemic situation. The development of StALIC, also
known as Student’s Application Letter in Cloud, has been developed using the proposed
development of cloud and seamless technology and will be discussed in the second section of this
paper. The following section will discover the satisfaction of having the StALIC from the user’s point
of view and satisfaction, which determines the overall satisfaction of the application implementation
as StALIC has been used and implemented in UiTM Pahang. The final section will discuss the further
suggestions and current developments of using the cloud and seamless technology currently being
implemented in UiTM Pahang before the operation during the ongoing pandemic situation, which
will adhere to the continual operation of higher learning institutions as needed.
CLOUD COMPUTING AND SEAMLESS TECHNOLOGY
Cloud computing technology describes the adoption of virtual applications to empower the user
to determine systematic processes or operations for the organization. The various domains of cloud
computing adoption in medical, education, and many relevant others had improvised the process to
be more systematic and efficient. The definition of cloud computing is an evolving paradigm that is
ubiquitous in managing and sharing resources, which results in minimal effort or services (Asadi et
al., 2020; Mell & Grace, 2011). The current studies have shown the significance of cloud computing
adoption in education and innovation practices with various initiatives in application development in
a virtual environment (Nataraj et al., 2020; Qasem et al., 2020), showing the ramification and
importance of virtual and seamless technology adoption in the application development that supports
the various processes available with significantly positive towards the implementations. With the
acceptable capabilities of the cloud computing technology to be adopted with various practices in
learning, education, intention to use, attitudes, and many other perceived factors that will determine
the success of cloud computing adoption. Cloud computing plays essential choices in the
educational perspective to effectively and efficiently access information management systems
(Nataraj et al., 2020; Scalera et al., 2020). This justification will empower cloud computing technology
as the technology has empowered users, organizations, and services into different dimensions of
changes. The current pandemic situation point of view will significantly allocate the higher learning
operation's beneficial investment to discover better resources digitally remarkable improvements on
the infrastructure. Therefore, the opportunity to enhance the current manual management of
operations using cloud computing is crucial. This technology will navigate such benefits as a simple
sharing of information and reduce cost in implementing the organization during the pandemic
situation (Vaidya et al., 2020).
The most critical aspect of the various cloud-based applications is their availability and
scalability. Among the benefits provided by cloud computing, there is a significant benefit for HL IT
staff in that it relieves them of the responsibility for the university's maintenance burden. Cloud
computing enables instant global platforms, eliminating hardware and software capacities and
licenses, cost savings, and simplified scalability (Ercan, 2010; Vaishali 2014; Yousef, Rusli, Yusmadi
& Rodziah, 2020). Cloud computing has been identified as a transformative technological
189
development in HL (Sultan, 2010). Through the central provision of data storage, virtualization, and
other facilities, cloud computing technology, as an alternative to developing electronic learning
platforms, infrastructure, and educational services (Sasikala & Prema, 2011). With these
considerations in mind, cloud computing is critical for certain HL, and many other institutions rely on
technology to cut costs, remain competitive, and meet the needs of users (García-Peñalvo, Johnson,
Alves, Minovi´c, & Conde-González, 2014; Guimaraes & Paranjape, 2014).
Cloud computing is a new technology adopted in seamless connectivity with wireless networks
and virtual storage support. Google, Amazon, and HTML5 have provided these cloud opportunities
that empower user storage in a virtual environment. This will navigate mobile technology and
wireless connectivity to secure the minimum cost in managing the system and application via the
cloud environments. Previous research on cloud computing and seamless technology has
penetrated digitalization in various organizations, including higher learning institutions.
As in UiTM, the introduction of the Education 5.0 framework, Google platform implementation
has been introduced to support cloud computing and seamless technology. Therefore, with that
impact on having the application with the support by the clod computing and seamless technology,
and due to the ongoing pandemic situation worldwide, which also reflect the operation of the higher
learning institutions due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) and lockdown, the organization shall
deliver the continuous operation through this hard time of the pandemic. With the opportunities
provided by cloud computing and seamless technology (Asadi et al.,2020; Qasem et al., 2020;
Vaidya et al., 2020), the introduction and implementation of the application developments by using
and support by this platform have brightened the new ideas and development of the application and
operation as it is.
One of the reasons why organizations are using cloud computing is that the growth of
applications and customers requires information security, fast processing, dynamic access, and,
most importantly, cost savings (Nazanin, Abbas & Maryam, 2013). This drives organizations to look
for ways to scale up to massive capacity and increase demands without investing in new
infrastructure or hiring new staff. In simple words, cloud computing can be defined as providing
online computer service (Nazanin, et al., 2013). The information technology to retain data and
software is installed rather than paying for a manufacturer (Pilevari & Arbabioon, 2011). However,
storage and data online processing are done with cloud providers, and the result is provided to
clients: software, data, and computing resources. Users can therefore store, back up, and use data
in cloud computing.
THE DEVELOPMENT
The main objectives of StALIC are basically to improvise the current manual approach in
managing the sponsorship letter in the Student Affairs Department in UiTM Pahang. We had
conducted a preliminary investigation regarding the manual operation before the pandemic and
movement control order, limiting the department's operation and declining the operations in higher
learning institutions due to the pandemic and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). The
sponsorship letters are compulsory for the students in preparing their sponsorship as required by
the individual sponsorship as part of the application purposes. Therefore, the manual operation will
decline the student's sponsorship letter application and tedious the process as required. There are
several letter applications managed by the department. However, the most manual and highest
applications from the students are related to the sponsorship. Therefore, we had agreed to select
the sponsorship application for this innovation to test the cloud environment development to manage
the application. Besides, we had also seen that the manual approach would increase printing costing
with total numbers of non-collected letters in the previous operation, increasing the department's
total cost. Therefore, we have tried to innovate the StALIC to overcome the highest cost contribution
with a minimal zero percent cost in managing the student's application letter for sponsorship by using
StALIC.
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StALIC has been developed in a cloud computing environment using the Google Sheet
template, including the AutoCRAT, which improves the merging techniques to produce students'
letters effectively. The implementation of StALIC started with students having to scan the QR-Code
provided by the department or access the StALIC link provided on the UiTM Pahang website.
Students should fill up the form digitally and submit the form for verification by the Students' Affairs
staff before the letter producing. The successful application with complete details and verification will
produce a sponsorship letter and send it to the respective applicants using emails for their copy and
references. The process's duration is targeted to complete in one (1) day than the previous manual
approach with 5-7 days overall. At the same time, no cost will be incurred by the department, which
contributed to almost 0% of reducing the budget for printing cost, supporting the sustainability
program in a green technology environment, reducing the workforce, and using the proposed
innovation StALIC. Figure 1 illustrates the overall process of StALIC implementation.
Figure 1: The overall workflow operation of StALIC
METHODOLOGY
To collect and understand the StALIC performance from the users' perspectives through the
satisfaction, we had conducted a preliminary investigation during the trial-run period of using StALIC,
which provides the StALIC template to the real users and gathers their overall satisfaction level
towards the process. The following section will discuss the results of the targeted objectives.
A second trial run test was conducted to measure StALIC performance in processing student’s
application letters. A survey questionnaire was also distributed to get students' feedback. A
purposive sampling method was applied on 114 students of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
Pahang branch. These respondents were chosen because they applied for the students’ declaration
letter in the previous semester using the manual system and applied for the sponsorship letter to
ask for the external source of study funds. The questionnaires are divided into two sections: Section
A contains information about the respondents' demographic profile, and Section B contains
information about users’ perception and satisfaction level in using StALIC. Section B items were
rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." The data were
analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 26.0. The questions on
students’s satisfaction level were adopted from Małgorzata, Krzysztof & Artur (2020).
191
DATA ANALYSIS
To measure the students’ perception and satisfaction level using StALIC, we have conducted
a descriptive analysis. The 114 students are among the Bachelor of Office Management System
from UiTM Pahang Branch. The majority of respondents are female (91%). Table 1 shows the result
of the descriptive analysis. The finding shows that most of the respondents agreed (86.8%) that
StALIC is a user-friendly system. The balance of 3.5% of them has the contra perception. This
minority negative feedback may be due to the poor internet network because StALIC needs an
internet connection. About 98.3% of respondents agreed that StALIC saves their time applying
letters from the Students' Affairs Department. This result contributes to the use of QR-Code and URL
link to access the StALIC System. This tool saves students time to come to the office and can
maintain the social distance recommended by the Ministry of Health of Malaysia during the
pandemic. One of the StALIC objectives is to save the cost as 90.3% of users agreed that StALIC
could save the cost, specifically the printing cost. Only 0.9% of users disagreed on that. The
respondents also give positive feedback on the perceptions of the fast process of the StALIC system.
The remainder, 16.8%, give neutral feedback.
Table 2 indicates the measured users’ satisfaction level. The finding indicated that the
satisfaction level is at a high level because the mean values of all the items are more than 4.00. The
students are delighted with StALIC because of the features stated in Table 1. Then, as a result, they
are willing to continue to use it. This item has the highest mean score, which is 4.7544.
Table 1. Students’ Perception on StALIC
StALIC Perception Level Level of Agreeing Frequency
(factors) Percentage (%)
Strongly Agree 41.2 47
User Friendly Agree 45.6 52
Neutral 9.7 11
Disagree 3.5 4
Strongly Disagree 0 0
Strongly Agree 77.2 88
Time Savings Agree 21.1 24
Neutral 1.8 2
Disagree 00
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Cost Savings Strongly Disagree 0 0
Fast Process Strongly Agree 45.6 52
Agree 44.7 51
Neutral 8.8 10
Disagree 0.9 1
Strongly Disagree 0
Strongly Agree 0 54
Agree 46.9 41
Neutral 36.3 19
Disagree 16.8 0
Strongly Disagree 0
0
0
Table 2. Satisfaction Level
Questions Mean Std. Deviation
I am ready to use StALIC 4.2456 .77072
4.3509 .72847
I recommend my friend use StALIC 4.2895 .76104
I recommend other departments at UiTM to 4.3509 .67813
apply an online system 4.7544 .47151
I am happy to use StALIC
I will continue to use StALIC
CONCLUSION
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of cloud computing technology on the
operation of the organization, specifically the HL, during a pandemic. The development of StALIC,
which is based on cloud computing technology, shows the positive impact in contributing to the
sustainability of the HL. Based on the users’ perception, StALIC is seen to save time and cost of
the HL and increase productivity by providing a fast processing and user-friendly system. This finding
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