The purpose of this paper is to identify the key domains of entrepreneurial behaviour among business
owner in food processing industry. The study utilized a deductive research design and quantitative
method. There are twenty-one statements about entrepreneurial behaviour to discover a core action
associated with entrepreneurial behaviour. An entrepreneurial behaviour is defined as small family
business strategic behaviour that captures specific entrepreneurial aspects (Walker and Brown, 2004).
In additions, it is the actions taken by the small business owner to achieve business performance
(Delmar, 1996). According to Kirkley (2015), entrepreneurial behaviour as self determined human
action is based on a specific set of values which the individual uses to make decisions about how to
behave in situations that a meaningful to their business. The questionnaires focused primarily on the
meaning of entrepreneurial behaviour as self-determination to be succeed in business. There were 70
respondents were selected by simple random sampling. The data were analysed by Exploratory Factor
Analysis (EFA) and categorised into relevant domains. The result shows four specific domains of
entrepreneurial behaviour business owner in food processing industry, namely, leadership, proactiveness,
committed and risk taking. The finding items to each of these domains are consistent with
the small family business perspective. The practical implication is the presence of the specific core
action associated with entrepreneurial behaviour. The business owner should employ the four core
action to sustain the business. The result of this study is importance to academician in small business
area, business advisor from government and non government sectors, and small family business owner.
The informal sector is a major part of the Malaysian economy, and there is still insufficient information about the informal economic activities in Malaysia. In the term, 'informal economy' became current as a label for economic activities which take place outside the framework of corporate public and private sector establishments. According to International Labor Organization (ILO), the common characteristics of the informal enterprise includes the ease of entry, reliance on an indigenous resource, family ownership, small scale operations, labour-intensive and adaptive technology, skills acquired outside of the formal sector, unregulated and competitive markets. The objective of this paper is to identify the participation of informal sector among women in Malaysia. How much females participate in the informal sector and why they participate. This paper also discusses the challenges and opportunities of women participating in the informal sector in Malaysia to explain why females participate in the informal sector and the policy implications of their participation. The study found that the major challenges of women involved in informal activities which are financial difficulties, social security protection, low income, and low productivity activities with no rules/regulation. Despite all these challenges, these women are very positive about their employment and business. While informality offers greater labour flexibility, it can also exacerbate economic inefficiency and labour vulnerability. There are separate policy options for formalising workers and firms. To maximise the positive and minimise the negative, indiscriminate formalisation is ill-advised. The importance of local context in policy design is also highlighted.
This paper aims to analyse factors affecting financial stress among the Bottom 40 Percent (B40) group of Malaysian households, reflecting overall financial well-being. Data were collected through questionnaires from 1008 respondents across five major regions in Malaysia. The data were analysed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). This study provides evidence that financial behaviour, financial vulnerability (debt and income), and locus of control (luck and self-confidence) significantly affect financial stress among B40 households. The results show a significantly positive relationship between financial stress with financial vulnerability (debt and income) and locus of control (self-confidence). On the contrary, financial behaviour and locus of control (luck) show a significant negative relationship with financial stress. The result also indicates that financial stress affects financial well-being. Overall, the findings indicate that policy-makers should invent more effective and substantial stimulus packages or other measures to reduce the financial burden on B40 households. The findings could eventually provide insights for future research to delve into the social impact of financial stress. This study also has established a valid and reliable instrument to measure financial stress involving B40 households in Malaysia that eventually reflects the financial well-being of this group of people.