Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine determinants of an intention to quit a job held by non-managerial staff in the Malaysian fast food industry. It examines issues such as job stress and peer groups. Design/methodology/approach -A quantitative analysis of 806 respondents working in international fast food chains was undertaken following an initial semi-structured interview process with managers. Findings -Of the total sample, 20 percent were found to think frequently about leaving their job, while a further 20 percent were described as being committed to their employment. High intent to leave scorers were found to be influenced by friends, but also feeling job stress and "being burnt out". Research limitations/implications -The findings may relate solely to fast food outlets in Peninsular Malaya due to cultural issues related to the Islamic nature of Malaysian society. Practical implications -Fast food managers need to consider employees as part of a team and not simply as individuals, and it was found that friendship ties emerged as a significant variable in determining intention to leave a job. Social implications -Malaysian fast food outlets near places of worship that make it easier for employees to fulfil religious obligations may find it easier to retain staff. Originality/value -This is thought to be the first study of the Malaysian fast food industry and labour turnover.
Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 (BB-12) was microencapsulated using co-extrusion technology with chitosan coating and the incorporation of mannitol as prebiotic. Optimization of coating material chitosan concentration (0–0.5% w/v) and mannitol concentration (0–5% w/v) as prebiotic were performed to determine the formulation that produces beads with desired properties. The microencapsulation efficiency (MEE) of free and microencapsulated BB-12 (with and without mannitol) were determined. All forms of BB-12 further subjected to sequential digestion in simulated gastric juice (SGJ, pH 2.0) for 2 hours and simulated intestinal juice (SIJ, pH 7.5) for 3 hours. The results indicated that 0.4% (w/v) of chitosan coating and 3% (w/v) of mannitol were the optimum concentrations to produce microencapsulated BB-12 with the highest MEE of 89.15% and the average bead size of 805 µm. The BB-12 beads produced through co-extrusion were spherical with a smooth surface. Throughout the five hours sequential gastrointestinal digestion, both microencapsulated BB-12 with and without mannitol were able to maintain their viable cell count at least 106 CFU/g at the end of the incubation. The presence of prebiotic mannitol showed a significant protective effect on the microencapsulated BB-12 during gastrointestinal transit.
Traditional food is never just about eating and fulfilling our biological needs; nevertheless it preserves the culture and tradition properties of a nation. Traditional food is known as representation of identity and embraces the components of cultural and heritage of a particular group of people in particular region. Malaysia has created distinctively traditional food based on the multi-ethnicity roots that lives together throughout the years such as Malay, Chinese and Indian communities. Presently, in this new and modern environment with economic prosperity of the country, young generation seems unappreciated the traditional food. They had been showered with Western fast food and other foreign foods, whereby traditional food is not their only option. Previous studies found socioeconomic level effects the eating behavior of traditional food, especially in adolescents. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of socioeconomic level on adolescents' eating behavior of traditional food in Malaysia situation by implementing Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a background theory. Self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 655 secondary school students by using cluster sampling technique. Multiple linear regression (MLR) results indicated adolescents belong to lower (B = 0.28) and middle (B = 0.46) socioeconomic level family have the capability to control their intention to eat traditional food; whereas adolescents came from high socioeconomic level proved to rely on their attitudes towards traditional food (B = 0.34) to drive the intention to eat traditional food.
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