Digital inclusion has now become not only a matter of technological adoption, but the ability to use technologies where individuals are to possess necessary skills to make effective use of digital technologies. In this regard, digital literacy is seen as a crucial enabler for individuals to take advantage of digital opportunities as well as to engage in digital activities. Building on the importance of digital literacy, this study therefore attempts to assess the role of Internet usage and digital literacy on human development, which is proxied by the Human Development Index (HDI). Using a panel dataset covering 38 countries over a 4-year time span from 2015 to 2018, results of regression analysis indicate that both Internet usage and digital literacy emerge with significant and positive relationships with HDI. This evidence suggests that the high number of Internet users and high level of digital literacy are important means for promoting human development. Additional moderation analysis between Internet usage and digital literacy also produces a positive and significant interaction effect, which subsequently implies that digital literacy is an essential skill in enhancing effective usage of the Internet towards achieving greater socioeconomic well-being.
Continuous evolution of technologies and globalization have enabled international trade to be done via borderless selling and buying activities. This research underlines the relevance of ICT in impacting international trade in early member countries of ASEAN (Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand), in line with the Industry 4.0 Revolution. This study employs the examination of panel data to investigate the access to and use of ICT towards international trade. In accordance to that, the export and import of products and services are used to measure international trade. Mobile cellular subscriptions, Internet users, fixed broadband subscriptions, and fixed telephone subscriptions are all used to quantify ICT access and usage. In addition, control variables include foreign direct investment (FDI), research and development (R&D), real exchange rate, and also inflation. Government policy as the moderating variable on ICT against international trade is also discovered. As a result, this study takes a 10-year period to collect numerical data and analyse it using statistics and mathematical methodologies. Findings from the study are expected to show whether ICT has significant influence in promoting trade activities among the selected ASEAN member countries. Additionally, the study is also expected to bring some clarity on the potential role of government policy in moderating the impacts of ICT towards international trade. Overall, findings from the study would provide some insights to governments and policy makers on the crucial need to adopt ICT in daily operations to sustain trade activities. Future research direction may include expanding the scope of the countries and investigating the impacts of other types of ICT such as ICT skills and adoption.
PurposeInternational assignments are an effective tool to develop employees' cultural competencies, yet expatriate failure rates remain high. This paper aims to examine salient stakeholders' (i.e. organisations, host country nationals (HCNs) and spouses) support as antecedents of expatriates' work adjustment and task performance. It also explores work adjustment as a mediator between support and task performance.Design/methodology/approachAdopting the quantitative approach, survey data were collected from 112 expatriates who were married and based in organisations in Malaysia. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings validate the direct influences of perceived organisational support (POS) on work adjustment, HCN support on work adjustment, and spousal support on task performance. The indirect effect of HCN support on task performance through work adjustment was also established. When expatriates' work adjustment improves as a result of receiving HCN support, their task performance is enhanced.Practical implicationsThis study evidences that expatriate-hiring firms should provide suitable support for expatriates when they work overseas. Local employees and spouses should likewise be tasked to help expatriates maximise their full potential in achieving successful performance in their assignments.Originality/valueThe contribution of this study is the exploration of the relationships between support, work adjustment and task performance among expatriates. It also adds to the limited knowledge on the role of specific stakeholders in the expatriate context.
This paper investigates the asymmetric oil price impact on inflation in Malaysia. The oil price asymmetric effect on inflation is examined using the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) approach. The approach simultaneously tests the short run and long run nonlinearities of the oil price through positive and negative partial sum decompositions. The results showed that there is evidence of long-run and short-run asymmetry indicating that inflation reacts differently during an increase and a decrease in oil prices after the fuel subsidy rationalisation. Furthermore, the impact of an increase in oil prices on inflation is greater than the decrease in oil prices. Thus, understanding the asymmetric oil price inflationary effect will help policymakers in implementing appropriate policies to accommodate the asymmetry. Future research needs to investigate other possible factors with the asymmetric effect such as exchange rates.
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