Chicken meat is widely consumed and it is the most common and popular poultry species in the world.The preference and consumption of chicken meat have been tremendously increasing in Malaysia. About 120 respondents who took part in the study were classified into four groups namely routine chicken eaters, chicken likers, chicken lovers with a health concern and real chicken lovers based on their preference and consumption of chicken meat. It is worthwhile to mention that the taste, price, and easy to cook were statistically significant between the four groups. In addition, race moderates the relationship with Malays dominating the chicken lovers’ category. It is interesting to observe that Malays prefer chicken meat with chilies, Chinese prefer chicken meat with sauce and Indians prefer chicken meat with salad.The findings of the study are useful to the broiler plants and agencies that are responsible in selling chicken meat. Further, the results may be used as a guide to the selection of chicken meat, and also to the restaurant owners in the selection of food to be offered to their consumers.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) has been proved to be an effective tool both for improving operational efficiency and for gaining competitive advantage in the health care industry despite its relatively low-usage rate in hospitals. The sustained use of RFID by health care professionals will promote its development in the long term. This study evaluates the acceptance continuance of RFID among health care professionals through technology continuance theory (TCT). Data were collected from 178 medical professionals in Malaysia and were then analyzed using the partial least squares technique. The analysis showed that the TCT model provided not only a thorough understanding of the continuance behavior of health care professionals toward RFID but also the attitudes, satisfaction, and perceived usefulness of professionals toward it. The results of this study are expected to assist policy makers and managers in the health care industry in implementing the RFID technology in hospitals by understanding the determinants of continuance of RFID usage intention.
With today's highly competitive market in the healthcare industry, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that can be applied by hospitals to improve operational efficiency and to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that may effect RFID adoption in Malaysia's healthcare industry. In addition, the moderating role of occupational level was tested. Data was collected from 223 managers as well as healthcare and supporting staffs. This data was analyzed using the partial least squares technique. The results show that perceived ease of use and usefulness, government policy, top management support, and security and privacy concerns have an effect on the intent to adopt RFID in hospitals. There is a wide gap between managers and healthcare staff in terms of the factors that influence RFID adoption. The results of this study will help decision makers as well as managers in the healthcare industry to better understand the determinants of RFID adoption. Additionally, it will assist in the process of RFID adoption, and therefore, spread the usage of RFID technology in more hospitals.
The purpose of this study is to explore the determinants of telemedicine acceptance in selected public hospitals in Malaysia and to investigate the effect of health culture on the relationship between these determinants and telemedicine acceptance. Data were gathered by means of a survey of physicians and nurses as the main group of users of telemedicine technology from hospitals that are currently using telemedicine technology. The results indicated that government policies, top management support, perception of usefulness and computer self-efficiency have a positive and significant impact on telemedicine acceptance by public hospitals in Malaysia. The results also confirmed the moderating role of health culture on the relationship between government policies as well as perceived usefulness on telemedicine acceptance by Malaysian hospitals. The results are useful for decision-makers as well as managers to recognize the potential role of telemedicine and assist in the process of implementation, adoption and utilization, and, therefore, spread the usage of telemedicine technology in more hospitals in the country.
Electronic medical records (EMRs) have been proven to be effective tools for improving the safety and quality of healthcare despite their relatively low usage rate in hospitals. The long-term development by EMRs depends on the continued use of healthcare professionals. In this study, technology continuance theory (TCT) was used to evaluate the short-term and long-term continuance acceptance of EMRs among healthcare professionals. Data were gathered by surveying 195 medical professionals in Iran. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) technique. The analysis showed that the TCT provided a deep understanding of user continuance intention toward EMRs. In addition, the findings illustrated that the determinants of continuance intention vary between short-term and long-term users. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.
Malaysia is facing an increasing trend in industrial solid waste generation due to industrial development. Thus, there is a paramount need in taking practical actions and measurements to move toward sustainable industrial waste management. The main aim of this study is to assess practicing solid waste minimization by manufacturing firms. Analysis showed that majority of firms (92%) dispose of their wastes rather than utilize other sustainable waste management options. Also, waste minimization methods such as segregation of wastes, on-site recycle and reuse, improved housekeeping, and equipment modification were found to have significant contribution to waste reduction (p M = 3.50), lack of enough information (M = 3.54), lack of equipment modification (M = 3.16), and lack of specific waste minimization guidelines (M = 3.49) have higher mean score comparing with other barriers in different categories. These data were interpreted for elaborating on SWOT and TOWS (strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities) matrix to highlight strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities. Subsequently, ten policies were recommended for improvement of practicing waste minimization by manufacturing firms as the main objective of this research.
This study examined behavioural intention to dispose of unused medicines using a comprehensive model integrating the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), with knowledge as a driver of personal norms; attitudes, personal norms, and perceived busyness as additional drivers of behavioural intention; and perceived convenience as a moderator. The model was tested with data collected from 204 respondents using the partial least squares technique. Knowledge about the proper disposal of unused medicines was recognized as a strong predictor of personal norms and attitudes towards proper disposal of waste medications. The results showed that attitudes, personal norms, perceived busyness, and perceived behavioural control have significant effects on intention to dispose of unused medicines. Furthermore, perceived convenience moderates the impacts of attitude, personal norms, and perceived behavioural control on intention to dispose of unused medicines. The extended TPB explained 55.7% of the variance of intention to dispose of unused medicines properly. Our results indicate the importance of integrating additional variables into the TPB to enhance its explanatory power in predicting behavioural intention. The results suggest to governments that in order to implement planned programs for proper collection and destruction of waste medication, a plan is needed to enhance public knowledge on the impacts of improper medication waste disposal on the environment, and also that collection points should become accessible for anyone.
Eco-industrial parks promise to reduce environmental and social impacts and improve the economic performance of industrial parks. However, the transition from industrial parks to eco-industrial parks is still not well understood. This study contributes to developing valid hierarchical eco-industrial park transition attribute sets with qualitative information, as prior studies lack an exploration of the attributes in the transition of eco-industrial parks in Hungary. In nature, eco-industrial park transition attributes have causal and hierarchical interrelationships and are described with qualitative information. The assessment involves an analysis of the industrial symbiosis principles by using linguistic preferences. However, multiple attributes are involved in the assessment; therefore, this study proposes the Delphi method to develop a valid attribute set and applies fuzzy set theory to translate qualitative information into crisp values. The fuzzy decision-making trial evaluation laboratory method is used to visualize the attributes' causal interrelationships under uncertainties. The results indicate that the policy and regulatory framework leads to collaboration among firms in the eco-industrial park transition model. In practice, price reforms, management commitment, strategic planning, cognitive barriers and the integration of external information are the practical criteria for improvement. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
Food waste has adverse economic, social, and environmental impacts and increases the prevalence of food insecurity. Panic buying at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak raised serious concerns about a potential rise in food waste levels and higher pressure on waste management systems. This article aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on food waste behaviour and the extent to which it occurs using the systematic review method. A total of 38 articles were identified and reviewed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The findings showed that the COVID-19 pandemic led to reductions in household food waste in most countries. Several changes in shopping and cooking behaviours, food consumption, and managing inventory and leftovers have occurred due to COVID-19. Based on these insights, we predicted that some desirable food-management habits would be retained, and others would roll back in the post-COVID-19 world. The review contributes to the food waste literature by offering a comprehensive overview of behavioural changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and future research directions.
Although extant literature has thoroughly investigated the incorporation of cloud computing services, examining their influence on sustainable performance, particularly at the organizational level, is insufficient. Consequently, the present research aims to assess the factors that impact the integration of cloud computing within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and its subsequent effects on environmental, financial, and social performance. The data were collected from 415 SMEs and were analyzed using a hybrid SEM-ANN approach. PLS-SEM results indicate that relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, top management support, cost reduction, and government support significantly affect cloud computing integration. This study also empirically demonstrated that SMEs could improve their financial, environmental, and social performance by integrating cloud computing services. ANN results show that complexity, with a normalized importance (NI) of 89.14%, is ranked the first among other factors affecting cloud computing integration in SMEs. This is followed by cost reduction (NI = 82.67%), government support (NI = 73.37%), compatibility (NI = 70.02%), top management support (NI = 52.43%), and relative advantage (NI = 48.72%). Theoretically, this study goes beyond examining the determinants affecting cloud computing integration by examining their impact on SMEs' environmental, financial, and social performance in a comprehensive manner. The study also provides several practical implications for policymakers, SME managers, and cloud computing service providers.