Papers by Geetha Subramaniam
INTRODUCTION Female participation in the labour force increased to 54.1% in 2015 compared to only... more INTRODUCTION Female participation in the labour force increased to 54.1% in 2015 compared to only 46.8% in 2010 (Department of Statistics, 2015). As Malaysia moves towards becoming an industrialised nation, the expansion of the financial and services sectors have created new job opportunities for all Malaysians including women in the urban economic areas. In recent years, the issue is no longer about female labour force participation but about more about women's positions at the management level and at decision-making level. They are still under-represented in top management and decision making posts in both the public and private sectors (Grant Thornton International Business Report, 2015). As women are empowered, due to better access to education, better potential for their career advancement is expected, but the number of women at top management level is still very low. Malaysia has the most organisations without any women in senior management roles within ASEAN, with a study showing that almost one in three was bereft of women in such positions. According to a survey by Grant Thornton (2015), "The number of businesses without women holding senior leadership positions in Malaysia has been on an increase ever since year 2012 (21 per cent to 31 per cent)." The same survey also showed that only 26 percent of people in the senior management in Malaysia consist of women which is still the lowest among other ASEAN countries. Despite the encouragement by the government and the prime minister's call to see women making up 30 per cent of the boards of all public companies, and also initiatives such as the launch of the 30 per cent Club in 2015, the results of the survey clearly shows that lack of women in leadership is still an issue this year. (Malay Mail, 7 March 2016). The low representation at top management posts could be caused by barriers due to personal reasons such as family responsibilities, family support or demographic factors such as age, education and marital status. Besides, the barriers could also be due to work challenges such as organisational culture and career advancement opportunities such as promotion opportunities, training, selection and recruitment methods. This phenomenon has been termed as the "Glass Ceiling" (GC) refers to barriers women face as they try to climb the corporate ladder. The Glass Ceiling sometimes refers to invisible barriers or artificial barriers women face that hinders them from progressing past a certain level. (Federal GC Commission [FGCC], 1997). According to Ellen Teo the CEO of Union Energy in Singapore, "Asian culture hasn't matured enough to accept the fact that women can hold a job and also have a family." (Grant Thornton International Business Report, 2015). This study attempts to understand the low number of women at management level in the public and private sector in Malaysia by examining whether there is a link between the challenges women face and their career progression to top management posts. Using descriptive analysis, this exploratory study tries to examine whether the Glass Ceiling phenomenon exists in the country. And if the phenomenon does exist, whether it is due to personal challenges or work challenges. LITERATURE REVIEW Labour market discrimination exists if individual workers who have identical productive characteristics are treated differently because of the demographic groups to which they belong. Smith (2006) said that gender discrimination in the labour market is alleged to take two prominent forms. First, women sometimes are suspected to earn less by the employers although they have the same experience, and work under the same conditions in the same occupations and this is labeled as wage discrimination. Second, women with the same education and productive potential are seen as shunted into lower-paying occupations or levels of responsibility by employers who reserve the higher paying jobs for men and this type of discrimination is called occupational discrimination. …
Advanced Science Letters, Jul 1, 2018
Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal
The number of female teachers in higher education institutions in China has exceeded half of the ... more The number of female teachers in higher education institutions in China has exceeded half of the total number of teachers. However, their work and quality of life are far from reaching the ideal level, with many facing an identity dilemma. Based on the two-factor theory, using purposive sampling,125 female teachers in higher education institutions were given a questionnaire. Independent t-test and correlation analysis was used to examine the factors affecting the female teachers’ identity in China’s higher education institutions. This study suggests solutions to improve female teachers' identity dilemmas and their quality of life.
Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal
Many organizations are increasingly providing flexible work arrangements (FWA) to fulfil employee... more Many organizations are increasingly providing flexible work arrangements (FWA) to fulfil employees’ work-life balance (WLB), needs of happiness, well-being and productivity. This further affects WLB via a high sense of work autonomy observed. This study examines whether autonomy mediates the relationship between FWA and WLB. Using purposive sampling procedure, 302 usable online survey data were collected from university academics. Data analyses were carried out using SPSS and Smart PLS software. Results revealed a significant indirect influence of FWA on WLB, integrating well-being, happiness, and productivity through autonomy. Implementing FWA increases autonomy, which then increases the respective WLB. Discussions are elaborated.
Information Management and Business Review
The manufacturing industry is the focus of this study, in which the proportion of its contributio... more The manufacturing industry is the focus of this study, in which the proportion of its contribution to economic growth is experiencing a decreasing trend recently. Does it involve factors such as the input of capital, health, or workers that give significant impacts on labor productivity in the Malaysian manufacturing industry? This paper discovered the relationship between capital, health, and workers that consist of foreign and local labor with the labor productivity in the Malaysian manufacturing industry from 1986 to 2020. The Cobb-Douglas production function was used to derive the model specification in this study. The results showed that all variables are significant, in which capital and health have a positive relationship, whilst the factor of labor including local and foreign labor has a negative relationship with labor productivity. These findings may provide some insights into the improvement of manufacturing industries’ performance in Malaysia. It would be useful in deter...
Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Journal
ASEAN's strength stems from its diversity, which generates a plethora of diverse market oppor... more ASEAN's strength stems from its diversity, which generates a plethora of diverse market opportunities. Over the last few decades, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has risen significantly as a major source of international capital transfer, but the COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental effect on FDI flows, with the outlook for ASEAN remaining highly unpredictable and contingent on the length of the crisis, the efficacy of policy efforts to encourage investment and to mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic. This study examines the long-run relationships and short-run dynamic interactions between FDI and its determinants comprising of market size, trade openness, stock market capitalisation and financial development over the period 1970 to 2019. The study applies the dynamic heterogeneous panel estimation techniques of Mean Group (MG), Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and Dynamic Fixed Effects (DFE) to analyse a set of macro panel data of the ASEAN-5 countries, to establish the pos...
Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal
Malaysian millennials are reported to be struggling with stress and well-being issues at the work... more Malaysian millennials are reported to be struggling with stress and well-being issues at the workplace during the last decade. Drawing from the Self-Determination Theory, this study examines whether flexible working arrangements (FWAs) could impact millennials' mental health, well-being and productivity at the workplace. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 400 millennials in the services sector during the COVID-19 period. Findings revealed that FWAs influenced millennials' mental health, well-being, and productivity as millennials value job autonomy and a friendly work ecosystem as an ideal workplace. This sees a compelling case for Malaysian businesses to adopt FWAs in a more structured way in line with Sustainable Development Goal -3.
Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal
Academics need better workplace flexibility as their brains can never wholly switch off from work... more Academics need better workplace flexibility as their brains can never wholly switch off from work. Therefore, flexible working arrangements (FWA) are linked with enhanced productivity. This research proposes a self-monitoring tool using a mobile application. FlexiWork App is a self-monitoring application designed for an academic to self-measure the impact of workplace flexibility on productivity; and secondly, for the institution to monitor the academic's key performance indicator (KPI) achievement. Hence, this application will benefit both the academics and the university in monitoring the KPI of the staff. Keywords: Flexible Working, Productivity, Academic, Mobile Apps eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behavi...
Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 2020
The objective of this paper is to present an insight on the women at management level in the port... more The objective of this paper is to present an insight on the women at management level in the port sector of the maritime industry of Malaysia. While women in Malaysia form 54.7 percent out of 15 million total labour forces in 2017, the overall percentage of women in the top management level is only 15.4 percent in third quarter 2018 of top 100 Public Listed companies. These women at the top management level are mainly in the accounting and legal professions. Their involvement in the logistics and transport service sector are relatively small. The industry carries over 90 percent of the world goods need to access the entire talent pool, regardless of gender. Malaysia by virtue of its extended jurisdiction of the Economic Exclusive Zone has a maritime area which is larger than its land mass. It is the 17th largest trading nation in the world. Hence this paper discusses on whether there is gender imbalance in the sector and the challenges faced by women in the management of the port se...
Purpose: This paper examines the nexus between Intellectual Capital and Value of Information Tech... more Purpose: This paper examines the nexus between Intellectual Capital and Value of Information Technology Firms in the Indian Information Technology Industry. Forty-five companies, listed on BSE S&P IT Sector, were taken as a sample, for the purpose of this study. Methodology: Value Added Intellectual Co-efficient (VAIC) method, as developed by Pulic (1998) and Granger Causality, was used for the evaluation of intellectual capital and its relationship with the value of sample companies. Findings: The result of the study supports the hypothesis that the value of firms could be explained by the intellectual capital. It is found that there was significant association between intellectual capital and the value of sample firms. Practical Implication: The corporate are to be suggested to concentrate more on human capital efficiency. Besides, the Government officials, policy makers and other stake holders are advised to urge the corporate disclosure practices
International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 2018
Global warming is one of the greatest threats to mankind, as it adversely affects Mother Earth an... more Global warming is one of the greatest threats to mankind, as it adversely affects Mother Earth and its ecosystem, human health, the greater economy and is considered a threat to national security. There has been an exponential growth in the number of environmental studies carried out over the past few decades as scholars, climate researchers and governments search for the various factor causing global warming and the feasible solutions to address this potentially catastrophic problem. This paper will contribute further to the existing body of knowledge on the underlying causes of global warming, with the specific aim of investigating the long-run relationships between carbon emissions and its regressors comprising of per capita income, energy use, trade openness, and financial development in Malaysia over the period from 1970 to 2016. The econometric time series analysis of multivariate cointegration is applied in this study to establish the possible causal relations between the var...
Journal of International Business, Economics and Entrepreneurship, 2016
This exploratory research investigates the entrepreneurial orientation among migrant Bangladeshi ... more This exploratory research investigates the entrepreneurial orientation among migrant Bangladeshi women in New Zealand. There have been many studies of higher degrees of entrepreneurship among the migrant communities in the western world but this research studies the role and trends among the Bangladeshi migrant women using a mixed method of study. The descriptive statistics show unique trends among this group of women entrepreneurs. The women face various challenges but they also deal with these challenges in their unique ways. The striking trend that was established was that the limited expectations are limiting the growth of the businesses among these group of entrepreneurs in New Zealand. The findings of this research may be of interest among various policy makers both at the national and international levels. This may also be of interest for researchers who study women empowerment concepts around the world.
International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 2021
This study attempts to examine the water pollution-economic growth relationship by using the envi... more This study attempts to examine the water pollution-economic growth relationship by using the environmental Kuznets curve analysis for the situation in Malaysia. This study estimates a simultaneous equation that is related to the level of pollution, the gross domestic product per capita, and other covariates. Water pollution is measured in terms of Biochemical oxygen demand, Cadmium and Arsenic. The per capita Gross Domestic Product was measured quarterly for the period 1996-2018. The study output supports the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for all measures of water pollutants examined here. The income equation revealed the negative significant impact of pollution, BOD and physical capital's favorable influence on income. From these expected outcomes it is clear that Malaysia's relevant policies should aim primarily to overcome the pollution problems but should not neglect economic growth sustainability. This would include the implementation of policies that do not disregard the needs of economic growth and development; execute strategies that will contribute to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions; improve public awareness on environmental issues in Malaysia; give additional incentives to industries that comply with policy requirements; implement advanced and tertiary pollution control measures to decrease pollution; implementation of financial incentives to encourage invest in appropriate technology especially sewerage systems; and development of a solid monitoring and inventory system to be implemented by the relevant government authorities.
Asian Journal of University Education, 2020
Universities around the world have been directly and indirectly affected due to the Covid-19 pand... more Universities around the world have been directly and indirectly affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Within the span of less than one month, the traditional face-to-face learning has been replaced by online learning to ensure education continuity. This paper sets out to examine online learning readiness among university students who have been thrown in at the deep end. It aims to investigate if demographic factors make any difference in their readiness to learn, online learning experiences and intention to continue using online learning. It also examines their preferred methods of online learning and challenges they face. Data collected from 399 students in two different online learning courses in Malaysia showed that respondents are generally ready for online learning. However, females are found to be more ready than male, degree students are more ready than diploma students while female students and degree students are more satisfied with online learning and have better learning...
TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF DESIGN ART AND COMMUNICATION, Sep 1, 2018
Hydraulic fracturing plays a significant role in the United States oil and natural gas developmen... more Hydraulic fracturing plays a significant role in the United States oil and natural gas development. Fracturing has not only improved the United States economy but strengthened its national security and created a positive change to the environment. The United States has become the top producer of oil and natural gas, maintaining low natural gas price for U.S. consumers and stabilizing global crude oil prices from the world market. Despite the gains, there are environmental and public health concerns from extracting these valuable natural resources. As a result, there are federal environmental laws and state regulations aiming to protect the public and environment from the hydraulic fracturing process ensuring the United States continued success in producing oil and natural gas.
Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 2020
Sharing economy, a relatively new type of business has become very popular with the rise of techn... more Sharing economy, a relatively new type of business has become very popular with the rise of technology and where businesses are willing to share their assets and services in the current travel and accommodation sphere. Using the Social Exchange Theory to understand the behavioural intention of service providers, this study tries to examine whether exchange factors such as economic benefits, moral motives, social-Hedonic motives, sustainability and sharing attitudes influence the service provider’s motives to participate in Airbnb, Uber and Grabcar services in Malaysia. Using a questionnaire, a survey was done among 100 service providers in Malaysia who provide Grabcar, Uber and Airbnb services. Bivariate analysis was used. Findings show that all the exchange factors have a positive correlation with the behavioural intention. Even though the sharing economy might pose a challenge to the regular taxi drivers and hotels, government regulation should look at a win-win situation that can...
Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal
In China, the number of private higher education institutions (HEIs) has been increasing rapidly ... more In China, the number of private higher education institutions (HEIs) has been increasing rapidly in recent times. However, an upward trend is noticed among teachers leaving the HEIs. As teachers’ life constitutes both personal and work life, this micro-level study paper examines 100 teacher turnover decisions by examining personal and institution factors based on the Two-Factor Theory. Using ANOVA and independent-t-test, it examines how teacher’s demographic factors affect their decision to leave the institution. The study hopes to contribute to policymakers understanding on teacher turnover so as to mitigate this phenomenon by improving their job satisfaction and quality of life.
Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal
The Movement Control Order (MCO) was imposed in Malaysia in March 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandem... more The Movement Control Order (MCO) was imposed in Malaysia in March 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This six-month control led to a substantial psychological impact among Malaysians. Using a quantitative survey based on the DASS-21 instrument, 400 Malaysians answered a questionnaire to examine whether demographic factors, risk perception, individual behaviour, mental health and media usage affected the psychological impact of Malaysians during COVID-19. Findings indicate that COVID-19 did impact Malaysians more due to the movement constraint. Besides contributing to the body of knowledge, this study shows that workplace policies that affect quality of life need immediate attention.
Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal
In the digital era, smart cities are a potential solution as cities get more crowded and complex.... more In the digital era, smart cities are a potential solution as cities get more crowded and complex. This study investigates and assesses whether citizens' well-being is promoted by developing a smart city, consistent with Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 11. Online questionnaires were distributed to 105 and 134 citizens residing in Malaysia and China's smart cities respectively. Data was analysed using a structural equation modelling technique (SEM). This research supports the theoretical underpinnings of how smart cities are considered to be developed and the importance of citizen satisfaction as a mediator when evaluating citizens' well-being. Keywords: smart cities; well-being; citizen satisfaction; SDG 3 & 11 eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2023. The Authors. Published for AMER & cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of...
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Papers by Geetha Subramaniam