Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the applicability of theory of planned behavior (TPB) with special emphasis on measuring the direct and moderating effects of subjective norms on attitude, perceived behavioral control and buying intention in context of buying organic food. Design/methodology/approach – Structured questionnaires were randomly distributed among academic staffs and students of two universities in southern Punjab, Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model fit. Findings – Results of the study showed that subjective norms significantly moderate the relationship between attitudes and buying intention as well as between perceived behavior control and buying intention. Furthermore, subjective norms significantly influence attitude toward buying intention. Practical implications – The paper provides useful insights for the academics and marketers. Academics may further explore the role of subjective norms in order to have a better understanding of their effects on TPB components. Whereas, marketers can target the opinion leaders and reference groups to increase the demand of organic food. Originality/value – Majority of previous studies overlooked the role of subjective norms in determining the buying intentions with respect to organic food. The striking feature of this study is an in-depth emphasis on exploring the direct and moderating effects of subjective norms on the elements of TPB. Moreover, to the best of authors’ knowledge, this is a pioneer study that comprehensively examines the linkage of components of TPB with organic food purchasing in Pakistan.

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An attitude approach to the prediction of entrepreneurship has been the subject of extensive research in the developed world. However, this approach especially entrepreneurship attitude among students in the institutions of higher learning has not been conducted extensively in Malaysia and is ripe for research. This paper reports the findings on the entrepreneurship attitude perspective of the final year business management undergraduate students in one of the Institutions of Higher Learning in Malaysia. Fifty-eight undergraduates minored in entrepreneurship courses and sixty-five non-minored undergraduates from the Faculty of Business Management were tested and validated using the Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation (EAO) scale instrument. Discriminant validity was used to test the known groups. There was a significance difference between known groups for two of the four EAO subscales (self-esteem and personal control); all subscales were entered into a stepwise discriminant function. The classification results showed that the overall number of cases classified correctly was 104 or 84.6 percent of the sample.

Governments across the globe are increasingly utilizing credit guarantee schemes to support SMEs. This article fills a gap in the academic literature for developing countries by reviewing the effectiveness of the New Principal Guarantee Scheme (NPGS) offered by the Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) in Malaysia. Using a variety of research methods, the authors investigate whether the CGC has achieved its objectives of generating finance and economic additionality without placing its financial resources under undue strain or jeopardizing its relationships with participating financial institutions. It is almost impossible to establish 'definitive' measures of additionality yet our findings provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the CGC is not meeting all of its objectives. The authors put forward an integrated package of measures designed to enhance the effectiveness of the NPGS.KEYWORDS: credit rationing; economic additionality; finance additionality; guarantee schemes; SMEs; sustainability IntroductionSmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered to be an engine for growth in both developed and developing countries. The benefits of a vibrant SME sector include: the creation of employment opportunities; the strengthening of industrial linkages; the promotion of flexibility and innovation; and, the generation of export revenues (Harvie and Lee, 2001;Lerner, 2002;Mensah, 1996). In addition, there is growing acceptance of the role that SMEs play in wider social and economic restructuring (Smallbone and Welter, 2001). In order to capture these economic and social benefits, virtually all governments offer soft business support to this sector (Wren and Storey, 2002). There has also been increasing utilization of more traditional forms of hard support, notably credit guarantee schemes (Levitsky, 1997a), whereby financial institutions are encouraged to make loans available to smaller enterprises, on the understanding that a government or quasi-government body will reimburse a percentage of the loan should the firm default.The contribution of SMEs in Malaysia has been acknowledged since the early 1980s (Chee, 1992), and the Government has introduced a variety of agencies and schemes to promote the development of this sector. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNMthe Central Bank) confirmed (BNM, 2001a: 8) that SMEs 'represent a potential source of dynamism and driving force within the economy' and stressed that the Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) forms a vital cog in the nation's SME support network. Despite this high profile, the CGC's operations had never been subject to independent empirical review until the authors conducted a pilot study (Boocock and Mohd Shariff, 1996) that formed the starting point of an ongoing research programme.Meyer and Nagarajan (1997: 2) observed that 'no comprehensive evaluation of loan guarantees in developing countries has been conducted in recent years'. The literature in this field has continued to focus on developed countries, for example: Camino and Cardone (1999) examined t...

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