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Article
Publication date: 14 May 2018

Jamal Ali, Norhafezah Yusof and Fadzli Shah Abd. Aziz

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors believed to influence the behavior of 1,042 rice farmers in Malaysia regarding the overuse of pesticides. Frequent overuse of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors believed to influence the behavior of 1,042 rice farmers in Malaysia regarding the overuse of pesticides. Frequent overuse of pesticide will have an impact on human health and the environment, which lead to greater expenditure on health care.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical models of compliance behavior tested include the basic deterrence model, which focuses on the enforcement of regulation as a key determinant of compliance. The models integrate economic theory with theories of social behavior to account for motivations expected, influencing individuals’ decisions on whether to follow the regulation on using pesticides.

Findings

Significance tests reported that the information regarding the danger of using pesticides, the perception toward the impact on the environment and the expected impact on health influences the compliance behavior of using pesticides.

Research limitations/implications

These findings highlight the necessity for the policy makers to design an effective program which gives more information and provide training related to the risk and the safe handling of pesticides.

Practical implications

The farmers who receive information and training related to handling of pesticides become more cautious in the use of pesticides. Countries involved in agriculture and the use of pesticides widely by their farmers need to emphasize continuous training and periodic information dissemination.

Social implications

The implication drawn is rice farmers should be encouraged to practice new methods in rice planting, especially in the integrated pest management method.

Originality/value

These research findings suggest that the overuse of pesticides in the rice farming continues to be an important problem.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 45 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

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Article
Publication date: 9 November 2015

Noorkartina Mohamad, Hock-Eam Lim, Norhafezah Yusof and Jan-Jan Soon

Previous studies on the effect of entrepreneur education are not comprehensive. Thus, estimating the effect of entrepreneur education is imperative. According to the Malaysian…

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Abstract

Purpose

Previous studies on the effect of entrepreneur education are not comprehensive. Thus, estimating the effect of entrepreneur education is imperative. According to the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MoE), only 1.7 percent (as of 2013) of university graduates are self-employed, that is managing one’s own business or known as graduate entrepreneurs. Consequently, a huge gap exists between what is targeted by the government (5.5 percent by 2015) and the reality (a small number of graduate entrepreneurs). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors influencing a graduate’s choice to be entrepreneur, particularly the effects of different entrepreneur education, either formal or informal.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 2,300 graduates from Universiti Utara Malaysia participated in this study.

Findings

The findings showed that the majority of the respondents are consistent in terms of their intent to become entrepreneurs.

Research limitations/implications

Due to time and resource constraints, the data are limited to only one university in Malaysia. It is suggested that future studies include more universities, especially entrepreneurial universities. Although it is believe that public universities’ undergraduates population are highly homogeneous, it is good that the findings of the present study to be further validated by future studies using larger sample that consists of varies of public universities.

Practical implications

This paper supports government policies in terms of cultivating educated entrepreneur such as promoting the entrepreneurship education among higher institutions of education (MoE, 2007). However, there are negative relationships among higher academic achievement of graduates toward their intention to be entrepreneurs. It is indicated that high academic achievements are negatively related to becoming entrepreneurs. Thus, it is suggested that entrepreneurship education in terms of both formal and informal education be implemented into the curriculum in order to cultivate entrepreneurial intentions.

Originality/value

There is still much more to be learned to fully understand the processes that leading to the decision to become an entrepreneur. Nevertheless, the results presented in this paper provide some understanding of the factors influencing the decision to become an entrepreneur among university students and graduates using a convenience sample. Thus, the results are exploratory and subjected to validation by future studies using more representative samples. Nevertheless, the study makes a contribution to the effort to predict and develop entrepreneurs in the country.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 57 no. 8/9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

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