E-Proceedings

Conference on Management & Muamalah 2014

The First Conference on Management and Muamalah (CoMM) 2014 was successfully organized by Faculty of Management and Muamalah on 26 and 27 May 2014. Please click on the title/ abstract to download the full paper.

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INTERFERENCE IN LEARNING ENGLISH: OMISSION OF COPULA BE IN ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN SELANGOR INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

Farahnaz binti Mohd Khalib & Nur Shafiqah binti Abdullah (pp.9-19)

Acquiring English grammar is often treated as a ‘meticulous’ process for ESL learners. Direct translation in their second language is the result from language transfer from their first language. Some ESL learners found it difficult to grab even the most basic English grammar after spending years in school. Applying Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis together with the Error Analysis Hypothesis as a method of explaining why some features of a Target Language were more difficult to acquire than others, this study aims to identify the students’ errors in essay writing in regards to the omission of the copula be; and to analyze the learner’s production of data to see the relationship between omission of the copula be in English essay writing and their native language grammar. The results showed that learners produced sentences that seem to have interference from their L1. They directly translated English sentences according to the syntactic structure in their L1. This agrees with Selinker (1979) and Dulay et al (1982) that when learners fail to understand the syntactic structure of L2, they resort to L1 in order to produce sentences in L2.

IMPACT OF ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS ON BUDGETARY SLACK

Noor Raudhiah binti Abu Bakar, Rozita Amiruddin & Sofiah Md Auzair (pp.20-35)

This study examines the impact of organisational factors on budgetary slack among managers in Malaysia. The organisational factors as identified in prior research are budget participation, budget emphasis, information asymmetry and power distance. Specifically, this paper focuses on the influence of these factors either individually or interactively on the occurrence of the budgetary slack. Data are collected using questionnaire from 83 managers randomly selected from companies listed in Bursa Saham excluding finance, warrant and loan sector. Factor analysis results show that there are two dimensions of power distance i.e. supervisor style and management style. Individual relationships were tested using multiple regression and interaction relationships used moderated regression. Multiple regression results indicate a negative and significant relationship between management style and budgetary slack. Moderated regression results show a significant positive relationship between two way interaction of budget participation and budget emphasis with budgetary slack, and three way interaction of budget participation, budget emphasis and information asymmetry with budgetary slack. As a whole, the results imply that high power distance (management style) decreases the budgetary slack, while high interaction of budget participation, budget emphasis, and information asymmetry increases the budgetary slack. These results indicate that management should choose the right combination of budget participation, budget emphasis, and information asymmetry, and management style to control budgetary slack. The findings of this study could assist management of companies to understand the important factors that influence budgetary slack, which in turn may lead to effective management.

MULTIPLE SELF-IDENTITIES ISSUE IN LLOYD FERNANDO’S GREEN IS THE COLOUR (1993): A POSTMODERN INTERPRETATION

Siti Hawa Muhamad & Zamila Abdul Rani (pp.36-45)

This paper seeks to investigate the concept of multiple self-identities and its materialization within a Malay woman character in Lloyd Fernando’s novel Green is The Colour (1993), by employing postmodern theory to support the discussion. It also intends to analyse how Malay women who are bound by their religion and cultural tenets, move away from the norm. This character does not conform to the typical, predetermined, traditional notion of Malay women’s self-identity. She has instead, moved away from the traditional notion of Malay self-identity, which is based on the Malay culture and Islamic values. On the contrary, she has acquired new trends for her self-identity. This self-identity is portrayed in the postmodern condition. Sara is, borrowing a term in Rick Wade’s 2002 article, “socially constructed”. She is created and defined by her unsightly and unstable circumstances, which she has little or no control of at all. Her self-identity changes when her circumstances change. Her self-identity then becomes fragmented and, as a result, exists in multiplicity. This character becomes postmodernist character which does not have inner, stable self-values. This female character, although her presence in Fernando’s novel is limited in comparison to the male characters, is still very important to the work. Through this character, readers get a glimpse of the silenced but not forgotten Malaysia’s past. Through her presence too, readers can view the various positions of the Malay women during the turbulent period of Malaysia’s history.

OVERVIEW OF THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AS A FORM OF ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY IN THE FDI-GROWTH NEXUS 

Nor Hakimah Haji Mohd Nor (pp.46-56)

This study provides extensive review of the literature that encompasses two broad underlying frameworks namely the FDI-growth nexus and the financial development-growth nexus. The discussion is extended to the literature on the FDI-financial development-growth nexus where the role of financial development is shown to be crucial in the FDI-growth link. The importance of absorptive capacity has been recognized by past studies to enhance the relationship of FDI and economic growth that so far empirically resulted in mixed findings. In serving the absorptive capacity, higher level of financial development is identified as one of the significant channels that would fulfill the purpose.