The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, together with globalization and advanced technologies, has drastically changed the business environment and forced companies to become more innovative and agile in the way they run their business and respond to the needs and wants of customers. Survival highly depends on the adaptability of SMEs to this ever-changing complex dynamic environment by taking steps in implementing Big Data Analytics as the next frontier for innovation, competition, productivity, and value creation. Based on the grounded theory, this study employed a qualitative method via focus group discussion. Focus groups were conducted with 14 government agencies, SMEs associations, business owners, Chief Operating Officers (CEOs), academic and industrial experts and directors of SMEs in Malaysia. The study revealed the challenges of Malaysian SMEs in adopting Big Data Analytics Capability, presents the criticality of Big Data Analytics Capability to overcome the identified challenges, and develops a BDA Capability Ecosystem Model that integrates the internal enablers, external barriers and support to explain the adoption of BDA Capability for value creation and support the decision-making process. This paper is followed by some policy suggestions for companies’ owners, policymakers, government agencies, universities, and SMEs. This study directly impacts Malaysia’s economy as a whole by addressing Malaysia’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030. This research contributes to industries that are still in the low value added category with low adoption of technology. Furthermore, it will ultimately lead to the realization of SMEs as ‘game changers’ to transition the economy to a high-income nation. This study proposes a model that could help SMEs improve their value creation performance, directly influencing the country’s GDP and employability.

Previous studies had identified the potential link between achievement goal and students’ technology use. However, the literature on this topic is extremely scarce. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antecedents to technology use among undergraduates via an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model with achievement goal as an external variable. Data were collected from 599 undergraduates using a 38-item self-report questionnaire and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results of this study showed that the extended UTAUT model had a good fit to the data of this study, with 35% of the variance in behavioral intention and 32% of the variance in use behavior explained by their antecedents. This study found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and achievement goal had significant influences on undergraduates’ technology behavioral intention to use technology, while social influence and facilitating conditions from the original UTAUT model did not. It was also found that achievement goal and behavioral intention were significant antecedents that influenced undergraduates’ technology use behavior. The findings of this study contribute to both theory, practice, and policy that enhance our understanding of students’ learning and technology use.

Purpose: This article offers a tri-national comparison between Malaysia, England and Wales and the United States of AmericaDesign/methodology/approach: It is based on reviewing, collating, comparing and contrasting previous research findings and official reports on the topic with a view to identify recurrent commonalities in the three countries studied.Findings: Three key common themes are identified and presented in the article: (1) The relevance of the cultural positioning of volunteers in policing; (2) the importance of understanding the roles and capability of police volunteers; (3) recognizing prerequisites for recruitment of volunteers and the nature of their subsequent training.Research limitations/implications: We suggest that more detailed comparative studies of volunteer policing structures and officer roles would be valuable.Practical implications: The practice implications of these findings are discussed, and the potential value of and major challenges in carrying out cross-national national comparative study in the field of volunteer policing shown.Social implications: The paper discusses important issues in the role and value of police volunteerism to criminal justice and society.Originality/value: There are few international comparisons of volunteer policing and even fewer that compare approaches between Western and Eastern countries. This is the first study to do so.

This study aims to enhance the understanding of how servant leadership (SL) influences organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the specific context of Chinese private enterprises. Applying social exchange theory, social identity theory, and psychological contract theory, this study examines not only the mediating roles of relational identification and perceived organizational support (POS) but also how workplace loneliness negatively moderates the sequential mediating effect of SL on OCB. The analyzed survey included 335 employees from private enterprises in Zhejiang Province, China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling results show that relational identification and POS sequentially mediate the relationship between SL and OCB. Moreover, workplace loneliness significantly moderated these relationships. By presenting a framework that captures sequence mediation and includes a moderator, this study not only contributes methodologically to its field of study but also extends the literature by providing critical theoretical and practical insights for leadership and organizational behavior studies.

Volunteer corps serve as vital components of law enforcement agencies worldwide, significantly contributing to community safety and well-being. This study probes the experiences of police volunteers from Malaysia and the United States of America serving as sworn officers vested with a defined sphere of legal policing authority. A rich, descriptive qualitative approach underpinned our exploration, with semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 volunteer officers – nine from each country. Three salient themes were generated: rewarding, challenging, and empowering. This study unveils a blend of shared and unique experiences in law enforcement work among volunteer officers across the two countries, shedding light on the transformative personal impact of volunteer policing. Unearthing a seldom explored dimension of volunteer law enforcement, this study offers a novel, comparative insight into the experiences of volunteer police officers. It thereby provides valuable input on an international scale to enhance our understanding of this crucial aspect of community safety.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the work roles of the Royal Malaysia Police Volunteer Reserve officers. Design/methodology/approach: A grounded theory approach was utilized for the generation and analysis of the data. Data were collected through interviews, observations and follow-ups. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 male and female volunteer reserve officers and 5 regular police officers aged between 24 and 58 years of mixed socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities and ranking in the Royal Malaysia Police force. Two civilian respondents (spouses of the Police Volunteer Reserve officers) were also interviewed for this study for the purpose of theory sampling. Findings: The data were analyzed qualitatively resulting in a model of Royal Malaysia Police Volunteer Reserve officer roles consisting of four orientations. Research limitations/implications: Study outcomes are discussed theoretically and administratively. The four role orientations identified will assist researchers studying police reserve volunteerism. Practical implications: Study outcomes allow administrators to utilize and deploy police reservists in consonance with the four role orientations identified. Social implications: This study provides insight into how police reservists conceive of and execute their roles as they negotiate them in relation to the regular police officers they work with and the public from which they are drawn. Originality/value: This is the first study of police volunteerism in Malaysia.