https://ptsldigital.ukm.my/jspui/handle/123456789/388911 2026-06-14T10:07:30Z https://ptsldigital.ukm.my/jspui/handle/123456789/783420 Title: Macroeconomic drivers of housing affordability in Malaysia Authors: Genesh Kumar Subramaniam Abstract: Approximately 1.7 million households in Malaysia, constituting around 23.1 percent of the population, were without their own homes in 2019. If the situation is not controlled, it may jeopardize the future of Malaysians who need a place to call home. As a result, countries such as Malaysia must devise a strong policy to provide acceptable housing affordability. To develop the right policy, first, the government must grasp the level of housing affordability that people own. Currently, Malaysia uses the median multiple to measure the housing affordability index, but it is not a precise indicator. Therefore, the first objective of this research is to ascertain the right amount of affordability by adopting a simple and usable housing affordability index. The Housing Affordability Index is applicable and useful to ascertain the level of housing affordability among income earners in the top 20 percent, middle 40 percent, bottom 40 percent (T20, M40, B40), and various states of Malaysia. In Malaysia, there is a lot of effort put into providing affordable homes by the federal and state governments as well as the private sector. However, there is evidence suggesting fewer takers of affordable homes due to affordability issues. Therefore, the second objective of the research is to discover macroeconomic factors that could affect housing affordability in the long run and the short run. Thus, by knowing these factors, policymakers would be able to identify the right elements to focus on as they design policies to improve housing affordability, be it for the B40 group or an impoverished state in Malaysia. This study employs the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag – Error Correction Model (ARDL-ECM) model using quarterly data to describe the short and long-run effects of significant macroeconomic variables on home affordability in Malaysia. Additionally, the Nonlinear Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model is utilized to examine the potential asymmetric relationship between real Gross Domestic Product and the Housing Affordability Index. Data for this analysis were sourced from the National Property Information Centre, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Department of Statistics, Malaysia. The estimated regression results revealed the existence of a valid long-term relationship between home affordability and key macroeconomic variables such as real Gross Domestic Product, consumer price index, consumer sentiment index, business confidence index, and exchange rate. Furthermore, with the exception of the exchange rate, all of these macroeconomic variables have a significant short-term impact on housing affordability. There is also evidence of a nonlinear link between real Gross Domestic Product and housing affordability in the long run. Considering these findings, policymakers are advised to leverage the Housing Affordability Index, particularly tailored for the B40 income group, to foster more effective housing affordability strategies in Malaysia. Importantly, this research represents a pioneering effort to provide quantitative estimates of macroeconomic drivers impacting Malaysian housing affordability over an extensive period, facilitated by the creation of the Housing Affordability Index. 2024-11-03T00:00:00Z https://ptsldigital.ukm.my/jspui/handle/123456789/783419 Title: Digital stock trading behavioural intention in Indonesia: moderating effect of risk perception, financial literacy, digital literacy, and trust Authors: Fitriasari, Fika Abstract: The rapid development in digitisation and cellular technology has been changing the stock trading landscape. However, the emergence of digital stock trading platforms (DSTP) in Indonesia has not increased the involvement of individual investors in its stock market, which remain low at 1.6% of the total population. Many Indonesians are unfamiliar with the DSTP despite its technology-wide development. Thus, this study is essential to determine the factors that can increase the participation of potential investors in the stock market by focusing on the factors that influence behavioural intentions (BI) in adopting DSTP. This study relies on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2), which is augmented with four additional dimensions, namely, risk perception, financial literacy, digital literacy, and trust (henceforth, UTAUT2 augmenters), to explain behavioural intentions of potential investors to adopt DSTP. In addition, this study also focuses on the role of UTAUT2 augmenters as moderators in the relationship between UTAUT2 dimensions and behavioural intention. This study utilised survey data from 666 potential investor respondents and employed the Structural Equation Modeling-Analysis of Moment Structures (SEM-AMOS) for data analysis. The results of this study confirm the existence of a significant and positive effect of the UTAUT2 dimension on behavioural intention, except for two factors that are facilitating conditions and habits. For the UTAUT2 augmenters, the findings are: 1) risk perception has a negative impact on BI and moderates the relationships between effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, habits, and BI; 2) financial literacy has a positive effect on BI but also strengthens the relationship between effort expectancy, price values, facilitating conditions, and BI; 3) digital literacy has positive effect on BI and moderates the relationship between the significant effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, price value, and BI; and 4) trust has positive effect on BI and also strengthens the relationship between hedonic motivation, habits, and BI. The findings of this study have an academic contribution, namely to information management knowledge and behavioural finance literature. These findings emphasise the importance of the UTAUT2 dimension in determining behavioural intentions. More importantly, these findings confirm that UTAUT2 augmenters influence behavioural intentions directly and as moderators. The research findings have management and policy implications. First, the government's aim at optimising digitalisation to increase the involvement of retail investors in the stock market would require financial institutions' cooperation to improve the community's financial and digital literacy, especially potential investors. Indonesian authorities should integrate financial and digital literacy into the National education curriculum. DSTP platform providers must implement policies that protect investors, maintain user trust, and comply with regulations to make users feel safe investing in DSTP. 2024-11-18T00:00:00Z https://ptsldigital.ukm.my/jspui/handle/123456789/783418 Title: Effects of institutional pressure on environmental management accounting for sustainable competitive advantage: organisational resources and capabilities as moderators Authors: Salim, Khaled M.A. Abstract: This study investigates the primary role of institutional pressure specifically (coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures) to implement environmental management accounting (EMA) among SMEs in Kenya, and how such influences are affected by organisational resources and capabilities, with a focus on the function of EMA, on sustainable competitive advantage. To achieve this objective, thirteen hypotheses were formulated, with information from previous research and the institutional theory model and natural resource-based view model. In order to examine these hypotheses, data were collected from CEOs or managers or directors in small and medium enterprises operating in the Kenyan Exporters Association membership as well as the Union of Chambers of Commerce, and the industry partners database, who constituted the sample of this research, by using an web-based survey. A total of 206 usable questionnaires out of 350 were collected and the data were subjected to tests of variances, factor analysis, correlations and correlation coefficient. The empirical findings indicate that normative and coercive forces have a substantial and direct relationship with EMA adoption. However, there was no correlation between mimetic pressure and the adoption of EMA. In addition, the results revealed that only environmental innovation capability positively and substantially mitigated the effect of coercive and normative pressure on EMA adoption. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique via Smart PLS version 4 software was utilised and analysed the data. The analysis discovered a significant and direct relationship between EMA and SCA. This study has made useful contributions to current knowledge by providing more explanations on EMA adoption in an unexplored context, and providing further insights into factors that facilitate and impede the adoption of EMA practices. The present study has also filled the gap in the EMA literature by developing a theoretical framework to assess the relationships between the factors within the institutional pressures, tangible resources, intangible resources and capability contexts resulted from EMA adoption. In conclusion, the current thesis provides empirical and theoretical evidence and expands our understanding of how firms adopt EMA through the interaction of institutional forces (i.e., coercive and normative constraints) and environmental innovation capabilities. Furthermore, this study highlights the relevance EMA usage in giving information to Kenyan SMEs to conduct superior sustainability competitive advantage. 2024-11-27T00:00:00Z https://ptsldigital.ukm.my/jspui/handle/123456789/783417 Title: Institutional and shariah governance: a comparision between sukuk and bond performance in GCC and Asian region Authors: Alyamani, Ghalib Mohammed G. Abstract: Sukuk and bond are two different financial instruments for financing projects by organizations and governments. Majority of previous studies focused on the sovereign sukuk or bond while few examined the organizational sukuk or bond performance. At the organizational level, most of studies focused on corporate governance of financial institutions while few examined the shariah governance and institutional governance. This study investigates the effect of institutional and Shariah governance on the performance of sukuk and bonds in the two largest issuing regions, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Saudi Arabia, United Arab of Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain) and Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Indonesia). The motivation for this research stems from the limited understanding of how governance mechanisms, particularly institutional and Shariah governance, impact sukuk and bond performance. This gap is critical, given the rapid growth of sukuk as a financial instrument in Islamic finance markets, with little exploration into the governance structures that influence its performance. The study also seeks to understand the differences in sukuk and bond performance. Data were collected from 87 financial and non-financial institutions in these regions over the period of 2011-2021. Using panel data analysis, fixed effect model was applied to determine the effects of governance indicators on sukuk and bond issuance and returns. Institutional governance was measured through World Bank indicators (voice and accountability, political stability, regulatory quality, rule of law, government effectiveness, and control of corruption), while a newly developed Shariah governance index was used to assess compliance with Islamic principles. The findings revealed that institutional and Shariah governance positively affect sukuk performance, while institutional governance significantly influences bond performance. Shariah governance played a particularly critical role in sukuk issuance and returns, indicating that compliance with Islamic law strengthens market confidence. Regional differences were also identified, with stronger governance effects in the GCC compared to Southeast Asia. These results offer practical insights for policymakers, suggesting that enhancing governance structures could improve both sukuk and bond performance. The study contributes to the theoretical literature by addressing the gap between governance structures and sukuk and bond performance, an area underexplored in existing research. Future research should examine additional governance mechanisms or explore other financial instruments within different economic contexts. 2024-12-18T00:00:00Z