ICAM-2021

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Real Scenario of CSR Status in Era of Covid-19: Revealing the Truth of Indian Corporate Sector
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2019) Bhargava, Akshay
The major contribution of the present study is to streamline the various discourses and the representation of CSR status during the times of corona pandemic. Besides, it also focuses on examining the scope of CSR instrumentalities in India over the last decade. Furthermore, the paper also attempts to explore the scale of ethics, legality and corporate responsibility under the guise of CSR practices undertaken by the companies. Crosssectional is the structure of present research which involves the analytical study of CSR norms and patterns followed by the corporate entities functional in India. The major findings of the present research are that the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility has deepen its very roots in a way that it's extent is limited to the business strategy to make the latter a flourished one and it's been actualized on papers owing to the stakeholders pressures. But apart from this, there has also been a slight shift in corona pandemic era which lifts the veil of the pre- strategized framework of corporate social responsibility. The traditional trend has shifted towards imbibing the spirit of doing good for the community by collectively launching their fight against corona virus. The foremost significance of the present study lies in deeply grasping the fallibility (of) and the novel occasions on the part of corporate sector during the pathetic times of Coronavirus pandemic.
Macroeconomic Determinants of Youth Unemployment: Evidence from the Philippines (2012-2016)
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Hermosilla, Althea Carmel; Nasrodin, Jamaliah; Omongos, Bon Winston; Panaob, Wedad
Youth is one of the most powerful forces and tools a nation can possess in order to advance its social and economic growth. However, youth unemployment remains a major problem in every country around the world and could be considered as a global challenge. Considering the significant impact of youth on social and economic development, addressing the urgent issues regarding youth unemployment is a recurring dilemma faced by most 3rd-world countries, including the Philippines. This study used Panel-Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) Regression Analysis to examine the macroeconomic determinants of youth unemployment using secondary data by each specific region in the Philippines from 2012-2016. Based on the regression results of this study, Regional Gross Domestic Product and Minimum Wage in the Agricultural sector significantly affects youth unemployment and shows a positive relationship. On the other hand, Inflation and Minimum Wage in the Non-Agricultural sector significantly affects youth unemployment and has a negative relationship. The study concludes that Regional Gross Domestic Product, Inflation, and Minimum Wage on both sectors are significant determinants that could affect youth unemployment in the Philippines. The study suggests that decisionmakers should encourage job-creating, long-term growth strategies and impose effective fiscal and monetary policies in order to reduce youth unemployment across different regions in the country.
Factors Influencing Career Choice Amongst Undergraduate Students in Selangor
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Alif, Zulhaiqal; Othman, Manisah
Undergraduate students remain as a major source of the labour market in Malaysia. Nevertheless, failures in workforce planning could jeopardise Malaysia's development and progress. Hence, the main objective of this study was to investigate factors influencing career choice amongst undergraduate students. Besides, this research paper helps as a stepping stone for developing a career guidance model that would assist higher education institutions lecturers in their endeavours to educate undergraduate students to make career choices from a well-informed perspective. Survey research which was mainly quantitative studies in nature was used in this research paper. The cross-sectional survey design was adopted whereby questionnaires with several 28 questions including demographic information and a sample of 159 undergraduate students were used for further analysis in this study. Furthermore, only higher education institutions of university status were included in this study because the university runs their own programmes. To sum up, the target population of this study consists of undergraduate students from 4 public higher education institutions and 2 private higher education institutions which are the National University of Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Multimedia University, and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. This study's conceptual framework is made up of five independent variables which are Salary and Benefits, Personal Interest, Parents, Social Media, and Selfefficacy based on literature review. On the other hand, the dependent variable is career choice'. The Statistical Package for the Social Science Window software Version 21 was used to assist in analysing the data that were collected. Reliability Analysis was carried out first to assess the reliability and consistency of the constructs where Cronbach alpha was used as the indicator. A Descriptive Research strategy was then applied to obtain primary data from the target research population, which were undergraduate university students, through the use of a questionnaire survey. Therefore, it can be concluded that the values in skewness and kurtosis were important in identifying any outliers from the normality. Finally, Multiple Regression Analysis was also conducted, and the model summary was discussed in the study. The results indicated that Social Media is not supported in the relationship with the Career Choice while Salary and Benefits, Personal Interest, Parents, and Self-efficacy are supported in the relationship with the Career Choice. In a nutshell, the findings are considered inputs to the university's management in the development of career guidance and counselling services for undergraduate students as a way to assist them in making the right choice for their desired career. This study might also reckon Ministry of Human Resource Malaysia in understanding how undergraduate students perceive the various factors that may influence their career choice so that new policies regarding hiring and recruitment systems can be constructed and regulated accordingly.
Assessing the Perception of the Illness in Women with Urinary Incontinence
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Fakari, Fahimeh Rashidi; Hajian, Sepideh; Darvish, Soodabeh; Majd, Hamid Alavi
Background and Aim: Urinary incontinence is a chronic disease that most women tolerate it with self-control strategies and do not seek treatment. Perception of illness can affect people's health-related behaviors because based on their beliefs and information. Therefore, by achieving the status of perceptions of illness of urinary incontinence, it is possible to understand the challenges affecting patients' seek treatment in order to make appropriate interventions that leading to promotion utilization of people from the services of medical centers. So we designed a study to assess the perception of illness of women with urinary incontinence. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 150 women with urinary incontinence referred to teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran, were purposefully selected by convenience sampling method. Data collection tools included demographic questionnaire and brief illness perception questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 18. Results: The mean age of participants in this study was (46/36 ±12/48) and the duration of the disease was (5/6 ±3/9) years. The mean total score of perception of the illness was (48/06 ±7/00). Mean perception of the dimensions were as follows, dimension of outcome (4/83 ±1/87) duration of the disease (6/79 ±2/02), personal control (5/38 ±2/1), treatment control (6/59 ±2/07), nature of the disease (5/89 ±2/00), worry (6/49 ±2/08), cognition of the disease (5/88 ±2/29) and emotional response (6/22 ±2/1). The lowest dimension was related to the perception of outcome and the highest dimension was related to the perception of the duration of incontinence. Conclusion: The emergence of the lowest scores of perception in the dimensions of outcome and personal control indicates adaptation to the disease instead of seeking treatment, which can be due to the use of most women selfcontrol strategies in this disease. Also, obtaining the highest score in dimension of the duration of the disease can be related to the belief that there is no solution to eliminate incontinence and thus the assume that it stays for a long time. In general, according to the obtained scores, it seems that there is a need to strengthen the perception of incontinence in women, which results in facilitating seeking for treatment.
Building a Technology Transfer Community in Malaysia
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Mohamad, Ahmad Razif; Vinayan, Gowrie; Macintosh, Robert; Nauman, Shazia
While there is a prevailing rich body of studies on the technology transfer ecosystem and different models (i.e. Triple Helix and Quadruple Helix) that supports the commercialisation process, but what is essential is the outcome and output of the commercialised products that is being measured. In the Malaysian context, the commercialisation output from the public university has not been successful for the past five years. Many literature has explored the pain points, different perspective of stakeholders and different models for solutions. The objective of the paper is to explore the birth of the technology transfer community which existed in the liminal space. Drawing from the Quadruple Helix Model, which represents different stakeholders and becomes the building blocks of the technology transfer community. Preliminary literature review indicates that there is no known research that explores technology transfer community as a whole. This research hopes to provide an alternative solution on how the stakeholders can work better to increase the rate of commercialization of Malaysian products from public universities.
The Impact of E-Brand Trust on E-Loyalty Towards Online Fashion Clothing Industry in Sri Lanka
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Kodithuwakku, Madumalki Thashmila
The dynamic consumer preferences have pushed the fashion industry for innovative solutions and as a result, online platforms for shopping emerged. In the meantime, the fashion industry has developed a strong position in online platforms where consumers tend to purchase more often from online platforms. However, consumer behavior in the online fashion industry hasn't been tested under E Brand Trust and E Brand Loyalty in literature. Hence researching on this area will broaden the knowledge of the concepts and the industry as well. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of e-brand trust on e-loyalty towards the online fashion clothing industry in Sri Lanka. This study employed a quantitative research design with a deductive approach. The population of this study was fashion-conscious and active online shopping customers within the western and central provinces of Sri Lanka. The convenience sampling method was used to select the sample of this study and 410 respondents were selected as the sample. Through conducting an online survey, data was gathered under a structured questionnaire to measure the main concepts of the study which are e-brand trust and e-loyalty. The researcher has used ebrand trust as the independent variable and e-loyalty as the dependent variable of this study to identify the relationship between these variables. The results state that; there is a significant positive relationship between e-brand trust and e- loyalty. The research was carried out with a sample size of 410, which was small to generalize the result into the entire population. The study is limited to the online fashion clothing industry hence, further investigations on the other contexts are required to generalize the findings. The results of the study state that the managers should pay a lot of attention to all dimensions of e-brand trust which are security, privacy, brand name, word of mouth, quality of information and good online experience. This study is the first to explore the impact of e-brand trust on eloyalty towards the online fashion clothing industry in Sri Lanka. Hence, this study contributes as a source of literature for future researchers.
Covid-19 and Pregnancy-Related Anxiety in Iranian Pregnant Women: a Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Firouzbakht, Mojgan; Omidvar, Shabnam; Hamzegardeshi, Zinab; Amoli, Arman Asadi
Pregnancy-related anxiety (PRA) is defined as concerns, preoccupations, and fears related to pregnancy, delivery, neonatal health, and childrearing. Severe PRA can negatively affect women's physical and mental health and their children's cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. A major source of PRA is affliction by infectious diseases, particularly during epidemics and pandemics. Pandemics affect people and communities at different levels and cause disturbances in communities. They challenge psychological resilience and are usually associated with horror, stress, anxiety, sleep disorders, and negative attitudes towards health. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an international crisis. Pregnancy is a risk factor for COVID-19. In a systematic review study, a prevalence rate of anxiety was reported 3.8 to 17.5 % in Asian countries. This study aimed to assess PRA and its associated factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iranian women. This web-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April to March 2020 (in the first peak of corona disease) on 300 pregnant women purposively recruited from primary healthcare centers in Mazandaran, Iran. Data were collected using questionnaires (Pregnancy-Related Anxiety (PRA-Q), Edinburg, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) of COVID-19, Corona Disease Anxiety (CDA-Q), and Demographic questionnaire), which were provided to participants through social media. Data were analyzed with the linear regression and the logistic regression analysis, at the significance level of 0.05 using the SPSS software (v. 21). Around 21% of participants had PRA, 42.1% had depression, and 4.4% had COVID-19 anxiety. The significant predictors of PRA were number of pregnancies (P = 0.008), practice regarding COVID-19 (P < 0.001), COVID-19 anxiety (P < 0.001), depression (P < 0.001), and social support (P = 0.025) which explained 19% of the total variance. Depression and COVID-19 anxiety increased the odds of PRA by four times and 13%, while good practice regarding COVID-19 decreased PRA odds by 62%. The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced pregnant women's access to routine prenatal care services due to factors such as the rapid spread of the disease, lack of an effective treatment or vaccine, the necessity of quarantining and its subsequent loneliness during affliction, stigmatization, and despair, and concerns over contamination with the virus in healthcare settings. Moreover, limited access to specialized care services for women with suspected COVID-19 and requests for pregnancy termination or elective Cesarean section surgery. Findings showed that pregnancy-related anxiety (PRA) in Iranian women was more than in other Asian countries. The significant predictors of PRA include gravida, practice regarding COVID-19, COVID-19 anxiety, depression, and social support. Implication: These findings can be used to accurately identify pregnant women at higher risk for PRA and develop appropriate strategies for managing mental health problems during pregnancy in the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Longitudinal Empirical Investigation of How the Sustainability Performance of Indian Listed Companies Influences their Market Performance
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Jyoti, Gaurav; Khanna, Ashu
Over the years, numerous empirical studies have been conducted, showing how corporate sustainability practices significantly affect financial performance. More specifically, firms actively engaging and continuously improving their environmental and social issues seem to outperform financially better; thus, their market performance also improved. This study tries to empirically examine the long-run effect and relationship between corporate sustainability performance (CSP) using ESG scores and market performance indicators. The dependent variables used for the study are Price-earnings ratio, Earnings per share, Dividend per share, and Tobin's Q ratios as measures of market performance of S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed mid-large cap firms. A separate investigation of all three E, S, G, and ESG combined scores with the market performance indicators can provide intriguing insights into the area and helps to understand better the association between corporate sustainability performance and market performance, especially in the Indian context. We have applied panel data regression models to analyze time series and cross-sectional data for 168 firms from different industries. The results exhibit that, E score explicates an insignificant negative association with the P/E ratio, EPS, and Tobin's Q; moreover, E score is found statistically negatively significant with Tobin's Q. In all the models, except DPS, the S score is found statistically significant, having a positive association with the market performance indicators. G score is inversely associated with EPS and DPS but still statistically insignificant for all the dependent variables. ESG combined score is positively associated with all the dependent variables but found statistically significant only with the P/E ratio. One exciting finding that came out of this study is that the firms' size has more influence on the EPS and DPS of the firms than sustainability performance. This study will be a pacemaker in academia and provide insights to the corporate world and policymakers to understand which aspects of sustainability provide the most advantages to businesses and which areas require further attention.
Investigating Marital Satisfaction in Iranian Working Women: a Meta-Analytical Study
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Abadian, Khadige
Due to the increase in the employment of married women and its effect on marital satisfaction, this study was conducted to investigate marital satisfaction in working Iranian women. In this study, marital satisfaction in Iranian working women in domestic published articles was evaluated. Information bases such as Iranmedex, IranDoc SID, Magiran and PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science were used to find related studies. The Persian Keywords Women, Working Women, Marital Satisfaction, Sexual Function, Sexual Distress, Iran, and its English equivalent were used to access the articles. Finally, ten articles were selected and reviewed. The data show that the average size of employment effect on marital satisfaction in the samples is 0.063. The estimated point score (0.063) based on Cohen's criterion indicates the effect is minimal. From the articles' findings, it seems that being employed at a low level can affect marital satisfaction.
The Moderating Role of Perceived Organizational Support on the Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention among Academic Staff of Private Universities in Malaysia
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Orpina, Septriyan; Jalil, Nurul Iman Binti Abdul; Ting, T'Ng Soo
This current study aims to examine the predictive role of job satisfaction on turnover intention and to identify the moderating role of perceived organizational support on the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention among academic staff for private universities in Malaysia. This research adopted a quantitative method, and the population of this study was the academic staff of private universities in Malaysia, private universities selected in this current study are 65 private universities from 4 (four) major states there are Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and Perak. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires by using the adapted scale of Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6), Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), and Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS). A total of 415 cases were collected and 327 cases were used in actual study analyses. The collected data examined through SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 25 and PROCESS Macro version 3.5 by Hayes. The results showed that job satisfaction negatively predicts turnover intention. Furthermore, from moderation analysis using PROCESS macro version 3.5 by Hayes (2018), it was found that perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. This finding further validated the phenomenon that perceived organizational support would moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention and concludes that academic staff who perceiving their organization to be caring and supportive for their welfare, will tend to be effectively satisfied with their organization and despite their intention to leave their organizational setting. This study provides valuable information for new understanding and offered references for future researchers who focus on turnover intention which involved perceived organizational support as a moderator in private universities context.
Driving Forces of Purchase Intention through Instagram
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Jesrina, Manimekalai Jambulingam; Xavier, Ann; Dorasamy, Magiswary
The purpose of the study is to understand the driving forces that motivate consumers to purchase products from the virtual store on Instagram among millennials. Instagram is one of the popular social media networks for online shopping platforms for the present generation. Day by day, purchases from Instagram virtual stores have been increasing tremendously. The study adopted a quantitative method and 133 Instagram users have taken part in the study. The findings revealed that Influencers, peer customer endorsement, and perceived benevolence are associated with consumer's trust and that influences the customers to the purchaser through an Instagram virtual store. The study also adds value to academic literature for future researchers. The study contributes insights into customer purchasing behavior and it provides practical recommendations, to digital entrepreneurs on how to attract Instagram customers to purchase their product from the virtual stores in Instagram.
Social Media Usage and its Influence on Consumer Purchase Behavior During Covid-19 Pandemic
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Ganesan, Geetha Krishnan P.; Moovendhan, V.
As the world begins its slow turn from managing the COVID-19 crisis to recovering and reopening economies, it is clear that the lockdown has had a profound impact on people's way of life. New consumer behaviours span all areas of life, from how we work to how we shop to how we entertain ourselves. Previous literature shows an extensive number of studies attempt to reveal the role and impact of social media on aspects of consumer purchase behaviour under normal circumstances. The use of social media and the exchange of information have increased during Covid-19 pandemic because people are secluded. The present study attempts to analyse the relationship between COVID-19 pandemic and consumer purchase behaviour and to determine the impact of frequency of media usage and Media pattern usage on consumer purchase intention across age, gender and income during COVID-19. A survey will be conducted using questionnaire from X and Y generation from the selected cities of using convenience sampling method to know their purchase intention during pandemic crisis in relation to social media usage.
Good Village Governance: Evidence in Indonesia
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Sumarmi, Saptaningsih
Government good governance is the most essentials performance measure that must be achieved. This is critical because, as a public servant, the government must hold itself accountable to the public. In a village government setting in the Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Indonesia, this study attempts to investigate the relationship between community culture and the implementation of good governance at the village level. As a mediation variable, the performance of the village apparatus is used. Not many researchers have used village governance as an object of research, even though the village is also the smallest government unit in Indonesia. The data for this study were collected through a questionnaire (five-point Likert Scale), using 269 village apparatus in the province of DIY as the research sample. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that there is a direct positive relationship between community culture and the implementation of good governance, but the performance of the village apparatus cannot be a mediating variable. The main purpose of the government in providing public services to the community is to realize good governance.
A Review of Various Psychological and Non-Pharmacological Interventions at High-Risk Pregnancies (Miscarriage and Stillbirth): A Narrative Review
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Mohammadi, Kosar Miraei
Background and the objectives of the study: A review of the evidence concerning the types of psychological and non-pharmaceutical interventions to prevent or reduce complications in women undergoing miscarriage and stillbirthMethods of the study: The search in this comprehensive narrative review was conducted in electronic databases, such as the Cochrane Library, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Tripdatabase, SID. After the screening, 23 articles were selected.Findings of the study if applicable: Evidence was presented in two general categories. which includes, psychological interventions based on counseling and education (9 studies), 1 Systematic review, 5 RCT, 2 Quasi-experimental, 1 Prospective. Also Variables such as anxiety, grief, depression, and contraception use were evaluated. And, psychological interventions based on therapy (14 studies), 2 Systematic review, 6 RCT, 3 Quasi-experimental, 2 single-case experimental, 1 mixed method. Interventions include cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, hypnosis, interpersonal psychotherapy, supportive psychotherapy, group therapy, and yoga. Variables such as worry, grief, anxiety, depression, distress, post-traumatic stress and stigma were examined. Interventions in this group, especially Internet-based interventions, were effective in most cases.Conclusions: Despite the different design of interventions, the results showed the effectiveness of psychological and non-pharmacological interventions in most cases, but judging the definite effect of interventions requires further research and larger sample size. It was reported that psychotherapy-based interventions were effective in post-abortion grief treatment, especially in long-term grief, mindfulness intervention in improving mental health, and support group intervention in improving physical health after stillbirth.
Designing Social Media Brand Communication Strategies to Enhance Brand Equity of an Electronic Components Retailer
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Chin, Thoo Ai; Syapri, Fitri Nurliza; Sulaiman, Zuraidah; Shan, Lom Hui
Social media is booming massively, and it has become part of billions of people's daily live around the world. Hence, many firm use social media platform to reach out to bigger audience and increase brand equity. In Malaysia, many companies take the opportunities of leveraging social media communication into their business model. However, some businesses like electronics component retailers rarely use social media for marketing. For instance, a small company selling electronics parts is facing a problem to promote their brand to local and online community. Thus, this study aims to investigate factors to increase its brand equity (brand awareness and perceived quality) via social media brand communication, then design marketing strategies for the company. The quantitative method is used in this research, and a questionnaire instrument is used to gather primary data from respondents online using Google Forms. The target population for this study is 150. This study is expected to be a guideline for the company to use firm and user generated content communication on social media to improve the brand equity.
Covid-19 and Waste Management: A Critical Review and Research Agenda
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2021) Shakil, Mohammad Hassan; Kabir, Mohammad Rokibul; Lepee, Nusrat Jahan; Kawser, Sakia; Mostafiz, Md. Imtiaz
Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has caused severe challenges to achieve sustainable development goals in waste management. Several countries have proposed and implemented new policies to encourage the waste-to-energy (WTE) and waste-to-material (WTM) industry, which was affected highly due to COVID-19. Although a number of studies have been published on the topic already, there has not been a critical review of studies on the impacts of COVID-19 and waste management. This study will explore the current research of CO VID-19 and waste management and identify the issues and challenges faced by the waste management industry. This study systematically reviews 97 studies on COVID-19 and waste management published in ten journals up to March 2021 and identify five research clusters based on systematic content analysis: (1) COVID-19 and food waste, (2) COVID-19 and medical waste, (3) COVID-19 and waste-to-energy, (4) COVID-19 and waste-to-material and (5) COVID-19 and recycling. Besides a critical analysis of the studies in each cluster, we propose research questions to guide future research on the relationship between COVID-19 and waste management.
The Effect of Acupressure on Intestinal Function in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction under Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Kamali, Mahsa; Bagheri-Nesami, Masoumeh; Ghaemian, Ali; Moosazadeh, Mahmood; Esmaeili-Ahangarkelai, Nadali; Ghasemi, Fahimeh; Haghighat, Sahar
Background and the objectives: Acute Myocardial Infarction patients are at risk for constipation, following the admission to intensive care units due to inactivity, use of drugs such as calcium channel blockers, diuretics and narcotics. So, the purpose of the study was to determine the effect of acupressure on intestinal function in patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction under Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Methods: The present randomized clinical trial was conducted in heart center affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. 90 Acute Myocardial Infarction patients (30 patients in each group) were random allocated based on inclusion criteria. The data collection tools used included a socio-demographic questionnaire, Rome IV scale, Bristol stool scale and patient control checklist. Intervention was carried out among the Acute Myocardial Infarction patients two times a day (10 am and 6pm) for three sequences days. In the intervention group, the intervention was conducted on the acupressure points SJ6, LI4, ST25 and SP6 in both parts of body symmetrically, so that 1 minute vertical pressure with the thumb, then 5 seconds stop to rest and after that 1 minute rotational massage had been applied. Each session lasted for 9 min approximately. In the sham group, the intervention was carried out with 1.5 cm distance from the above-mentioned acupressure points. All three groups received 30 cc magnesium hydroxide a day. Results: The mean (SD) of the participants' age in the intervention, sham and control groups were 49.90 (10.26), 51.47 (10.19) and 52.53 (10.84) years, respectively. On the first and second days of the study, all of the Acute Myocardial Infarction patients had no defecation. In the intervention group 93.3% and 96.7% had normal defecation on the third and fourth days of the study, respectively. In the sham group 46.7% participants had normal defecation on the both third and fourth of the study. In the control group 50.0% and 63.3% had normal defecation on the third and fourth days of the study, respectively. The results of chi-square test revealed significant different among three groups (P-value<0.001). Conclusion: The results of present study showed normal defecation based on Bristol scale was significant different among three groups, so that the frequency of normal defecation in the interventional group was higher than sham and control groups. So, an acupressure as noninvasive and safe procedure can be used in clinical setting as nursing intervention.
The Need for Enhanced Coverage of Sustainability Reporting in Tertiary Education: Perceptions of Accounting Students from Private Universities in Malaysia
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Dhifallah, Alaa Nabil Abdulatif
In the traditional system of reporting, only the financial results are discussed without focusing on the environmental and social impacts of organizational practices. However, this stance is changing with climate change and sustainability key themes in society and finance which in turn fuel the need for financial reporting to cover the environmental, societal, and economic impacts of a business. Several organizations tend to implement sustainability reporting (SR) due to the reason that those kinds of reports are expected to improve the perceptions of their stakeholders as they provide information about an organization's performance together with its sustainability efforts. This results in increasing the customers' and the employees' loyalty, as well as enhancing the investors' goodwill and their readiness in providing funds. Based on previous research, it is observed that the level of the corporate sustainability disclosures differs significantly across countries in the AsiaPacific region, with some countries having the highest rates of sustainability disclosures while others remain in their infancy. One of the Asian countries which has limited observed uses of corporate sustainability disclosures is Malaysia, which combined with a lack of research in the area. This has highlighted the need for research to explore how accountant students perceive sustainability reporting. As future accountants, their understanding of these issues will impact the implementation and the development of SR. This research aims to explore accounting students' perspectives of SR and investigate the role of tertiary education providers in developing graduates' attitudes and knowledge regarding SR. Using semi-structured interviews with 20 final year undergraduate and postgraduate accounting students from three different private universities, the research revealed that accounting students lacked the knowledge regarding sustainable development (SD) and SR, and that the accountants' role in SR was dependent on the decisions of organization's management and/or the pressure from stakeholders. A majority of the respondents were aware of the importance of SR with the universities identified as not necessarily embedding sufficient coverage of sustainability issues in the curriculum, which in turn affected the students' knowledge of SR. The accounting students believed that universities, industry, and the government have individual and collective responsibility to ensure students had a deeper and more fundamental knowledge base of SD and SR. Based on the findings, this research suggests that more effort should be placed to focus on increasing the awareness regarding SR in order to ensure that graduate accountants have the knowledge necessary to compete in the labour market, a market which is increasingly emphasizing the importance of the environment and sustainability when they graduate. The research contributes to the existing literature in the field of accounting, and it takes research forward with regards a better understanding of accounting students' perceptions of sustainability, SD and SR in Malaysia.
Exploring the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Tourism Destination Marketing and Revisit Intention: An Empirical Study of Rural Tourism Sectors
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Hua, Chin Chee; Ming, Winnie Wong Poh
Tourism is widely regarded as one of the largest and fastest growing industries on the world. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on international visitor arrivals and receipts for countries worldwide. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasing trend toward rural tourism, owing to the attractive natural and cultural components. The pandemic's impact on tourism sectors has been severe, with travel restrictions imposed. In this regard, Tourism Malaysia encouraged tourism industry players to transition from a physical to a virtual mode of operation by marketing their products and services online. Recognizing the need for tourism destinations to develop entirely new marketing strategies in the post-COVID-19 era, the establishment of travel brands for tourism destinations is critical to facilitating more effective marketing campaigns. As a result, social media marketing has been recognized as a viable marketing technique for promoting products, services, and information via social networking sites (SNSs). This study aims to fill gaps in the literature and theory by examining the impact of social media marketing activities (SMMA) on tourism destination marketing in the context of rural tourism in Asia, specifically Sarawak, Malaysia. This is perhaps the first study to use the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to examine how SMMA affect tourism destination marketing and, subsequently, revisit intention for rural tourism destinations in Sarawak, Malaysia.The two-step procedure of partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) estimation was carried out using the WarpPLS software. A total of 239 valid questionnaires were used to assess the fitness of the measurement (inner) and structural (outer) models. Interestingly, the empirical findings indicate that SMMA (i.e., entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization, and word-of-mouth) all contribute significantly to the success of rural tourism destination marketing efforts. Additionally, it was discovered that a well-developed tourism destination marketing strategy is critical for increasing tourists' intention to revisit, particularly to rural tourism destinations in Sarawak. In conclusion, this empirical study demonstrated that SMMA do contribute to the development of a successful rural tourism destination marketing strategy from a tourist perspective. Eventually, the research provided some useful guidelines for scholars and practitioners (e.g., destination marketing organizations, local communities, industry stakeholders, and tourism-related government departments) interested in rural tourism destination marketing.
Development of Augmented Reality Application for Mute and Deaf Children Based on Sign Language
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Azman, Nur Atifah
There are deaf and mute disabilities not only in adults, but also in children between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Most of them have hearing issues. Hearing loss in children can be divided into two groups, where it occurs before language is developed and post-lingual after language is developed, which are prelingual. The aim of sign language is to provide a brief and thorough understanding of sign language linguistics. The existence of sign language has made it possible for deaf and mute individuals to use their environment in spoken languages. To provide some context, it uses a hand gesture with facial expression and body language. Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology which makes it possible to combine digital content with real-world information in real time. With the help of Augmented Reality application for Mute and Deaf Children with Virtual Reality Learning Experience is used as a teaching aid to enhance communication between deaf and mute children. It will view 3D animation from the sign language pattern and become a more interesting interactive learning device for mute and deaf children to learn sign language. It also improves the understanding of the natural world. The goal of this project was to build an AR framework based on sign language in mobile applications. The pattern of the hand gesture will be spotted by the application when the camera is fixed on a sign language pattern flashcard and an animated 3D of animals will be shown in real time. This project is also intended to test the usability of AR in hand gesture learning. The approach used in this project is to use not only a psychomotor but also a cognitive domain. The outcome shows that the best ways for mute and deaf children to learn and understand the hand gesture better are through the combination of picture and movement.