AMIRA Firdaus | Universiti Malaya (original) (raw)

Papers by AMIRA Firdaus

Online Information Review

PurposeThe unstoppable and exponential growth of social media use has given rise to concerns abou... more PurposeThe unstoppable and exponential growth of social media use has given rise to concerns about the consequent effects on users. Among the major concerns are the psychological consequences, which have received considerable academic attention. The current mixed-methods research aims to examine women's social media use and its effects on their psychological well-being in a patriarchal culture, namely Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a mixed-method research methodology. The quantitative section collected data from 240 women and used structural equation modelling to test the proposed hypotheses. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the in-depth interviews with ten women.FindingsThe integration of the findings revealed increased use of social media by women and its beneficial effects (communication and socialisation, escapism and self-presentation), though qualitative findings revealed the cultural implications and obstacles that women face (online anonymity...

Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia, Nov 23, 2021

This research paper examines new mothers' dependency on parenting social networking sites particu... more This research paper examines new mothers' dependency on parenting social networking sites particularly Facebook in Malaysia by adopting the Individual Media Dependency theory. Due to the ambiguity of the phenomena of transitioning into parenting for new mothers, it is apparent that new mothers rely on parenting social networking sites for support and information. This research is based on parenting social networking sites in Malaysia namely The Breastfeeding Advocates Network and The Parenting Network. Findings from this research suggests that social environment, media systems activity and interpersonal network activity are fundamental intervening conditions in today's new media environment to fulfil an audience's goal-oriented needs of orientation, understanding and play.

Platform: Journal of Media and Communication, 2010

Social media and society, 2022

During prolonged social isolation, media exposure is often intensified increases as individuals t... more During prolonged social isolation, media exposure is often intensified increases as individuals turn to the Internet, social media, television, and newspapers for information, communication, entertainment, and more. This exploratory study explores the correlations among media use, anxiety, and wellbeing in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey questionnaire was designed to measure the following five constructs: media dependency, media attention, anxiety, wellbeing, and collectivism. A total of 722 respondents in China participated in the survey from November 2020 to December 2020. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. Our findings indicate that respondents who report collectivist norms tend to experience higher levels of wellbeing (and lower levels of anxiety), regardless of their scores for media use, media attention, or media dependency. Conversely, those respondents who record low collectivism tend to have higher levels of anxiety (and lower wellbeing), even if they report lower media use, attention and dependency during the pandemic. Study results also found that anxiety mediates the relationship between media use and wellbeing. Our introduction of collectivism as a possible moderating variable represents a significant contribution to current academic debates and suggests the inclusion of cultural factors for future studies on media use and anxiety/wellbeing during public health crises.

Journal of Human Behavior in The Social Environment, Jun 2, 2021

ABSTRACT This study investigated the correlation between social media usage and psychological wel... more ABSTRACT This study investigated the correlation between social media usage and psychological wellbeing among university students as well as the moderating role of gender between this relationship. A conceptual model was developed to empirically test and explore the effects of five social media needs derived from the Uses and Gratification theory on Ryff’s six dimensions of psychological wellbeing. Structural equation modeling analysis results revealed that social media needs vary between males and females. The significant moderating effect of gender was thus found on the relationship between social media needs and psychological wellbeing.

SHS web of conferences, 2017

Foreign nationals in Malaysia come from all corners of the world. They are here as migrant labour... more Foreign nationals in Malaysia come from all corners of the world. They are here as migrant labour, highly skilled and professional migrants (expatriates), illegal migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers (Burmese asylum seekers with UNHCR card), forced migrants (human trafficking victims), students, and tourists. The influx of foreign nationals residing in Malaysia coincides with greater number of crime news featuring foreign nationals. This study explores the social construction of foreign nationals as the 'other' in the local crime news published by Malaysian newspapers. 94 news headlines and lead sentences of local crime news involving foreign nationals were identified and analysed for this study. Findings suggest that Malaysian newspapers magnify foreign nationals' migration status in each crime news.

Journalism Practice, Feb 25, 2022

Digital journalism, Feb 15, 2022

Drawing upon a transnational study addressing the implication of social media sources on the dail... more Drawing upon a transnational study addressing the implication of social media sources on the daily routines of global and local mainstream journalists based in Malaysia, this conceptual paper explores the relevance of Malaysia as a site for global media research, and proposes a non-critical, non-status quo research agenda for Malaysian media research. Situated within the chasm between these twooppositional approaches, is a gap in Malaysia-based media scholarship, wherein there is a lack of ‘objective’ (value-free, interest-free scholarship that is not aligned to either state-centric nor opposition political ideologies), that simultaneously promotes ‘subjective’ phenomenological interpretative inquiry.

© 2012 Dr. Amira Sariyati FirdausBeyond global media reporting of natural disasters (e.g. Fukushi... more © 2012 Dr. Amira Sariyati FirdausBeyond global media reporting of natural disasters (e.g. Fukushima earthquake/tsunami); terrorist attacks (e.g. 2005 London and 2004 Madrid bombings); and political uprisings (e.g. Arab Spring) and local spot news emergencies (e.g. traffic accidents, fires), we know little regarding the journalistic integration of user-driven networked media within conventional news settings (i.e. institutional, mainstream news media). This thesis proposes ‘network newswork’ as an emerging practice of news production which allows journalism to capture the complex journalistic space which integrates user-driven networked informational sources into various stages of news production. The thesis asks: Within traditional, institutionally-driven journalistic settings, how is ‘network newswork’ integrated into routine newswork? Drawing upon a recent global-comparative turn in journalism studies, this thesis suggests a ‘glocal’ comparative approach to the research question by focusing its empirical analysis on expatriate and local journalists all based in the same ‘locality’ of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but working for news outlets that operate in distinctly different news spheres. Thus the thesis explores how globalized informational flows are used within different ‘glocal’ journalistic settings, represented by global channel Al Jazeera English with its Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre and the newsroom of Malaysian national channel Bernama TV, as well as four other ‘transnational’ outlets. Based on semi-structured interviews with journalists recruited via a chain of referrals within professional networks of journalists, study findings are structured along a ‘hierarchy of influences’ model. Across global, local and ‘glocal’ news spheres, commonalities are found in microsociological news practices. However, ideological macrosociological differences give rise to divergent rationales in journalistic evaluation of social media sources. Both commonalities and divergences across news spheres are explained by ideological-institutional and ‘professional’-journalistic-routines ‘structuration’ of individual journalists’ agency in appropriating user-driven networked media as tools of newswork. The thesis discusses the implications of ‘network newswork’ on the wider global journalistic sphere, elucidating a ‘tiered model’ of networked sources and expounding upon journalism’s deepening of the digital divide in its inadvertent ‘muting’ of the voices of non-networked communities that are ‘switched off’ from the global news sphere and its ‘network society’

Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, Dec 10, 2022

One primary concern in researching journalistic practice and media production is the difficulty o... more One primary concern in researching journalistic practice and media production is the difficulty of gaining research access to media organizations and their media professionals. This paper theorizes Small World Sampling method for identifying and recruiting participants for qualitative research. Based on an ethnographic interview study involving 32 journalists at six different international news organizations, our Small World Sampling method created a direct research path into journalists’ professional occupational networks without having to negotiate indirect access through their non-journalist organizational gatekeepers (e.g. PR executives, HR department, managers). Small World Sampling allows the participant selection process to be guided by media practitioners’ expert and in-group knowledge of their professional network of media colleagues and acquaintances. More methodologically important, our Small World Sampling protocol offers a novel technique for demonstrating the qualitative reliability of the sampling process and for establishing the qualitative validity of the sample under study. Additionally, the paper introduces the concept of ‘contextual case studies’ offering additional nuance and insights enriching the conclusions drawn from the project’s main case studies. Beyond media and journalism research, we propose that Small World Sampling may also prove useful for other fields to facilitate research access into closed organizations, elite networks, and hidden communities.

Journalism

As one of the major venues for articulating and disseminating national agendas and opinion discou... more As one of the major venues for articulating and disseminating national agendas and opinion discourse, national newspapers play a critical role in promulgating ideology. Underpinned by Intertextuality and Social Actor Theory, this study explores intertextual aspects of China Daily’s reporting of COVID-19 to unearth hidden ideology behind texts. The analysis reveals diversified voices from multiple actors around the globe, with China’s official leaders appearing most frequently. In the portrayal of social actors, some strategies like impersonalisation, and genericisation are utilised to add impersonal authority or power to an actor’s activity, actant’s engagement, and increase the trustworthiness of news. These reprsentational strategies belies a transformation in Chinese media discourse with a softer approach is used in wielding ideological intentions through journalistic practices of intertextuality. Our findings help to unravel how news texts draw on, echo, and bring together multi...

Current Psychology

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to unprecedented transformations in consumer behaviour. Less... more The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to unprecedented transformations in consumer behaviour. Less is known about how consumers react to privacy stress while being compelled to continuously purchase online during the pandemic. Therefore, underpinned by the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, this paper aims to examine the impacts of perceived Internet risk, self-efficacy, privacy stress, and trust on consumers' continuous purchasing intention in China. Few studies have examined the mediating roles of privacy stress and brand trust in continuous purchasing intention. This research thus adds value by exploring the underlying mechanisms that explain how these factors affect purchasing intention where consumers have little choice but to make purchase online continuously. It employs a quantitative research design and uses a survey questionnaire to collect data. A total of 535 consumers responded and the data were analysed via PLS-SEM. We found mixed results for the direct and indirect paths. Perceived Internet risk, platform trust, and self-efficacy showed significant impacts on privacy stress and brand trust. While brand trust had a significant impact on continuous online purchase intention, contrary to previous literature, privacy stress did not. Moreover, while brand trust was found to be a significant mediator, privacy stress exerted no mediating effect. The results assist marketing practitioners, organizations, and policymakers in improving consumers' online shopping experience in uncertain times by addressing the issues of trust and privacy. Specifically, we provide the foundation for future policies and strategies that build consumers' trust and secure consumers' privacy, especially in highly uncertain contexts.

Journal of Communication Inquiry

The presentation and performance of women's selfhood and identity in Pakistan, in both the re... more The presentation and performance of women's selfhood and identity in Pakistan, in both the real and the virtual world, is dictated and shaped by the male-dominated cultural mores of Pakistan. Therefore, drawing upon Goffman's notion of self-presentation and everyday performance of selfhood, this paper explores digitally active Pakistani women's selfhood and identity presentation through qualitative interviews with ten Pakistani women from diverse backgrounds. Participants’ narratives revealed identity conflicts between their offline and online identities due to the control exhibited by the prevalent cultural norms and values. Similarly, offline cultural mores of the veil seeping into the online world operate as a patriarchal means of controlling women online akin to the male-protected family and home as a sacred sanctuary providing security to the family women. Pakistani women's experience of the online world is also defined in terms of “digital veil” and “digital sa...

Online Information Review

PurposeThe unstoppable and exponential growth of social media use has given rise to concerns abou... more PurposeThe unstoppable and exponential growth of social media use has given rise to concerns about the consequent effects on users. Among the major concerns are the psychological consequences, which have received considerable academic attention. The current mixed-methods research aims to examine women's social media use and its effects on their psychological well-being in a patriarchal culture, namely Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a mixed-method research methodology. The quantitative section collected data from 240 women and used structural equation modelling to test the proposed hypotheses. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the in-depth interviews with ten women.FindingsThe integration of the findings revealed increased use of social media by women and its beneficial effects (communication and socialisation, escapism and self-presentation), though qualitative findings revealed the cultural implications and obstacles that women face (online anonymity...

Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia, Nov 23, 2021

This research paper examines new mothers' dependency on parenting social networking sites particu... more This research paper examines new mothers' dependency on parenting social networking sites particularly Facebook in Malaysia by adopting the Individual Media Dependency theory. Due to the ambiguity of the phenomena of transitioning into parenting for new mothers, it is apparent that new mothers rely on parenting social networking sites for support and information. This research is based on parenting social networking sites in Malaysia namely The Breastfeeding Advocates Network and The Parenting Network. Findings from this research suggests that social environment, media systems activity and interpersonal network activity are fundamental intervening conditions in today's new media environment to fulfil an audience's goal-oriented needs of orientation, understanding and play.

Platform: Journal of Media and Communication, 2010

Social media and society, 2022

During prolonged social isolation, media exposure is often intensified increases as individuals t... more During prolonged social isolation, media exposure is often intensified increases as individuals turn to the Internet, social media, television, and newspapers for information, communication, entertainment, and more. This exploratory study explores the correlations among media use, anxiety, and wellbeing in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey questionnaire was designed to measure the following five constructs: media dependency, media attention, anxiety, wellbeing, and collectivism. A total of 722 respondents in China participated in the survey from November 2020 to December 2020. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. Our findings indicate that respondents who report collectivist norms tend to experience higher levels of wellbeing (and lower levels of anxiety), regardless of their scores for media use, media attention, or media dependency. Conversely, those respondents who record low collectivism tend to have higher levels of anxiety (and lower wellbeing), even if they report lower media use, attention and dependency during the pandemic. Study results also found that anxiety mediates the relationship between media use and wellbeing. Our introduction of collectivism as a possible moderating variable represents a significant contribution to current academic debates and suggests the inclusion of cultural factors for future studies on media use and anxiety/wellbeing during public health crises.

Journal of Human Behavior in The Social Environment, Jun 2, 2021

ABSTRACT This study investigated the correlation between social media usage and psychological wel... more ABSTRACT This study investigated the correlation between social media usage and psychological wellbeing among university students as well as the moderating role of gender between this relationship. A conceptual model was developed to empirically test and explore the effects of five social media needs derived from the Uses and Gratification theory on Ryff’s six dimensions of psychological wellbeing. Structural equation modeling analysis results revealed that social media needs vary between males and females. The significant moderating effect of gender was thus found on the relationship between social media needs and psychological wellbeing.

SHS web of conferences, 2017

Foreign nationals in Malaysia come from all corners of the world. They are here as migrant labour... more Foreign nationals in Malaysia come from all corners of the world. They are here as migrant labour, highly skilled and professional migrants (expatriates), illegal migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers (Burmese asylum seekers with UNHCR card), forced migrants (human trafficking victims), students, and tourists. The influx of foreign nationals residing in Malaysia coincides with greater number of crime news featuring foreign nationals. This study explores the social construction of foreign nationals as the 'other' in the local crime news published by Malaysian newspapers. 94 news headlines and lead sentences of local crime news involving foreign nationals were identified and analysed for this study. Findings suggest that Malaysian newspapers magnify foreign nationals' migration status in each crime news.

Journalism Practice, Feb 25, 2022

Digital journalism, Feb 15, 2022

Drawing upon a transnational study addressing the implication of social media sources on the dail... more Drawing upon a transnational study addressing the implication of social media sources on the daily routines of global and local mainstream journalists based in Malaysia, this conceptual paper explores the relevance of Malaysia as a site for global media research, and proposes a non-critical, non-status quo research agenda for Malaysian media research. Situated within the chasm between these twooppositional approaches, is a gap in Malaysia-based media scholarship, wherein there is a lack of ‘objective’ (value-free, interest-free scholarship that is not aligned to either state-centric nor opposition political ideologies), that simultaneously promotes ‘subjective’ phenomenological interpretative inquiry.

© 2012 Dr. Amira Sariyati FirdausBeyond global media reporting of natural disasters (e.g. Fukushi... more © 2012 Dr. Amira Sariyati FirdausBeyond global media reporting of natural disasters (e.g. Fukushima earthquake/tsunami); terrorist attacks (e.g. 2005 London and 2004 Madrid bombings); and political uprisings (e.g. Arab Spring) and local spot news emergencies (e.g. traffic accidents, fires), we know little regarding the journalistic integration of user-driven networked media within conventional news settings (i.e. institutional, mainstream news media). This thesis proposes ‘network newswork’ as an emerging practice of news production which allows journalism to capture the complex journalistic space which integrates user-driven networked informational sources into various stages of news production. The thesis asks: Within traditional, institutionally-driven journalistic settings, how is ‘network newswork’ integrated into routine newswork? Drawing upon a recent global-comparative turn in journalism studies, this thesis suggests a ‘glocal’ comparative approach to the research question by focusing its empirical analysis on expatriate and local journalists all based in the same ‘locality’ of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but working for news outlets that operate in distinctly different news spheres. Thus the thesis explores how globalized informational flows are used within different ‘glocal’ journalistic settings, represented by global channel Al Jazeera English with its Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre and the newsroom of Malaysian national channel Bernama TV, as well as four other ‘transnational’ outlets. Based on semi-structured interviews with journalists recruited via a chain of referrals within professional networks of journalists, study findings are structured along a ‘hierarchy of influences’ model. Across global, local and ‘glocal’ news spheres, commonalities are found in microsociological news practices. However, ideological macrosociological differences give rise to divergent rationales in journalistic evaluation of social media sources. Both commonalities and divergences across news spheres are explained by ideological-institutional and ‘professional’-journalistic-routines ‘structuration’ of individual journalists’ agency in appropriating user-driven networked media as tools of newswork. The thesis discusses the implications of ‘network newswork’ on the wider global journalistic sphere, elucidating a ‘tiered model’ of networked sources and expounding upon journalism’s deepening of the digital divide in its inadvertent ‘muting’ of the voices of non-networked communities that are ‘switched off’ from the global news sphere and its ‘network society’

Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, Dec 10, 2022

One primary concern in researching journalistic practice and media production is the difficulty o... more One primary concern in researching journalistic practice and media production is the difficulty of gaining research access to media organizations and their media professionals. This paper theorizes Small World Sampling method for identifying and recruiting participants for qualitative research. Based on an ethnographic interview study involving 32 journalists at six different international news organizations, our Small World Sampling method created a direct research path into journalists’ professional occupational networks without having to negotiate indirect access through their non-journalist organizational gatekeepers (e.g. PR executives, HR department, managers). Small World Sampling allows the participant selection process to be guided by media practitioners’ expert and in-group knowledge of their professional network of media colleagues and acquaintances. More methodologically important, our Small World Sampling protocol offers a novel technique for demonstrating the qualitative reliability of the sampling process and for establishing the qualitative validity of the sample under study. Additionally, the paper introduces the concept of ‘contextual case studies’ offering additional nuance and insights enriching the conclusions drawn from the project’s main case studies. Beyond media and journalism research, we propose that Small World Sampling may also prove useful for other fields to facilitate research access into closed organizations, elite networks, and hidden communities.

Journalism

As one of the major venues for articulating and disseminating national agendas and opinion discou... more As one of the major venues for articulating and disseminating national agendas and opinion discourse, national newspapers play a critical role in promulgating ideology. Underpinned by Intertextuality and Social Actor Theory, this study explores intertextual aspects of China Daily’s reporting of COVID-19 to unearth hidden ideology behind texts. The analysis reveals diversified voices from multiple actors around the globe, with China’s official leaders appearing most frequently. In the portrayal of social actors, some strategies like impersonalisation, and genericisation are utilised to add impersonal authority or power to an actor’s activity, actant’s engagement, and increase the trustworthiness of news. These reprsentational strategies belies a transformation in Chinese media discourse with a softer approach is used in wielding ideological intentions through journalistic practices of intertextuality. Our findings help to unravel how news texts draw on, echo, and bring together multi...

Current Psychology

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to unprecedented transformations in consumer behaviour. Less... more The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to unprecedented transformations in consumer behaviour. Less is known about how consumers react to privacy stress while being compelled to continuously purchase online during the pandemic. Therefore, underpinned by the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, this paper aims to examine the impacts of perceived Internet risk, self-efficacy, privacy stress, and trust on consumers' continuous purchasing intention in China. Few studies have examined the mediating roles of privacy stress and brand trust in continuous purchasing intention. This research thus adds value by exploring the underlying mechanisms that explain how these factors affect purchasing intention where consumers have little choice but to make purchase online continuously. It employs a quantitative research design and uses a survey questionnaire to collect data. A total of 535 consumers responded and the data were analysed via PLS-SEM. We found mixed results for the direct and indirect paths. Perceived Internet risk, platform trust, and self-efficacy showed significant impacts on privacy stress and brand trust. While brand trust had a significant impact on continuous online purchase intention, contrary to previous literature, privacy stress did not. Moreover, while brand trust was found to be a significant mediator, privacy stress exerted no mediating effect. The results assist marketing practitioners, organizations, and policymakers in improving consumers' online shopping experience in uncertain times by addressing the issues of trust and privacy. Specifically, we provide the foundation for future policies and strategies that build consumers' trust and secure consumers' privacy, especially in highly uncertain contexts.

Journal of Communication Inquiry

The presentation and performance of women's selfhood and identity in Pakistan, in both the re... more The presentation and performance of women's selfhood and identity in Pakistan, in both the real and the virtual world, is dictated and shaped by the male-dominated cultural mores of Pakistan. Therefore, drawing upon Goffman's notion of self-presentation and everyday performance of selfhood, this paper explores digitally active Pakistani women's selfhood and identity presentation through qualitative interviews with ten Pakistani women from diverse backgrounds. Participants’ narratives revealed identity conflicts between their offline and online identities due to the control exhibited by the prevalent cultural norms and values. Similarly, offline cultural mores of the veil seeping into the online world operate as a patriarchal means of controlling women online akin to the male-protected family and home as a sacred sanctuary providing security to the family women. Pakistani women's experience of the online world is also defined in terms of “digital veil” and “digital sa...

2018, 2018

This book analyses networked forms of journalistic production at traditional news organizations a... more This book analyses networked forms of journalistic production at traditional news organizations and their conventional news channels. Focusing on case studies from Malaysia, it examines current transformations to the norms, practices and values of conventional news production. Drawing upon a recent global-comparative turn in journalism studies and parallel efforts to de-Westernize communication theory, this book suggests an innovative ‘glocal’ comparative approach to analyse ‘network newswork’ among global, transnational, and local news organizations, including Al Jazeera and Bernama TV, located within the same geographical locality, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This author uses an empirically-grounded conceptual framework for exploring and understanding recent transformations that user-driven networked resources bring to professional journalists’ daily work of producing news. Discussing the implications of network newswork on the wider global journalistic sphere, the book elucidates a tiered model of networked sources and expounds upon journalism’s deepening of the digital divide in its inadvertent muting of the voices of non-networked communities that are switched off from the global news sphere and its network society.
A fresh perspective on the analysis of globalization in the media and a useful guide for gaining access into media organizations and securing cooperation of organizational members for research, this book will be of interest to researchers in the field of Asian Media and Communication Studies, Journalism Studies, Political Communication and Sociology of Journalism.