Raja Yusof | UPM - Universiti Putra Malaysia (original) (raw)

Papers by Raja Yusof

This article developed and validates the psychometric properties of attributes that influences ed... more This article developed and validates the psychometric properties of attributes that influences edu-tourists from emerging economies to study in emerging country (AISE) in respect to Malaysia. A survey was done on 1000 international edu-tourists from Africa, Asia and Middle-East in 13 Malaysian edu-tourism institutions. The structure of the underlying dimensions of decision to study abroad was framed based on the Push andPull theory and literature. Reliability analysis, exploratory, and confirmatory factor analysis were applied to investigate internal consistency and construct validity of the AISE model using SPSS and Analysis of Moment Structure version 22. The Composite Reliability (CR) and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) were examined to determine the construct reliability and convergent validity. Result of exploratory factor analysis showed that four dimensions emerged with 20 corresponding items. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a three-dimensional model with14 corresponding indicators of a good fit. Dimensions in the final model include: Social-cultural factor, Economic factor, and Career development with valid Cronbach's Alpha values and a good construct reliability. The value of the AVE shows that the AISE model has adequate convergent validity. Since the focus of the Malaysian government is to attract 200, 000 international edu-tourists by the year 2020. Factors capable of determining international edu-tourists from other emerging countries to decide to study abroad in Malaysia need to be identified. This study suggests a three-dimensional AISE model capable of explaining the decision to study abroad behaviour of international edu-tourists from emerging economies.

(Bello Yekinni Ojo), raja_nerina@yahoo.com (Raja Nerina Raja Yusof), anisupm@gmail.com (Yuhanis A... more (Bello Yekinni Ojo), raja_nerina@yahoo.com (Raja Nerina Raja Yusof), anisupm@gmail.com (Yuhanis Ab Aziz), khairilawang@yahoo.com (Khairil W. Awang) ABSTRACT This article examined the underlying dimensions that influence the choice of Malaysia as a preferred edu-tourist destination. About 500 international edu-tourists from Africa, Asia and the Middle East were sampled in 13 public and private Malaysian universities through the use of questionnaires. An Exploratory Factor Analysis was applied. The results of the principal component analysis (PCA) revealed the emergence of five dimensions with eigenvalues > 1. An inspection of the scree plot revealed a clear break in the five dimensions, explained by a variance of 59.04% with Malaysia's edu-tourism image contributing (30.99%), socio-cultural factors (10.60%), economic factors (6.94%), significant others (6.10%), and environmental factors (4.42%). The results of the Varimax rotation revealed that the structure of the five dimensions of Edu-tourism Destination Country of Choice (EDCC) with strong loadings determine the choice of Malaysia as a preferred edu-tourist destination among international edu-tourists from emerging countries. Since the focus of the Malaysian government is on making Malaysia the edu-tourist destination hub of South East Asia, the factors that are capable of attracting international edu-tourists from other emerging countries need to be identified. This will enable the government of Malaysia and managers of the Malaysian edu-tourist industry to develop appropriate feasible policies and strategies that are capable of attracting edu-tourists. This paper provides an extensive block of 25 indicators, split into five dimensions, which are capable of determining the choice of Malaysia as an edu-tourist destination.a.

This article examined the underlying dimensions that influence the choice of Malaysia as a prefer... more This article examined the underlying dimensions that influence the choice of Malaysia as a preferred edu-tourist destination. About 500 international edu-tourists from Africa, Asia and the Middle East were sampled in 13 public and private Malaysian universities through the use of questionnaires. An Exploratory Factor Analysis was applied. The results of the principal component analysis (PCA) revealed the emergence of five dimensions with eigenvalues > 1. An inspection of the scree plot revealed a clear break in the five dimensions, explained by a variance of 59.04% with Malaysia's edu-tourism image contributing (30.99%), socio-cultural factors (10.60%), economic factors (6.94%), significant others (6.10%), and environmental factors (4.42%). The results of the Varimax rotation revealed that the structure of the five dimensions of Edu-tourism Destination Country of Choice (EDCC) with strong loadings determine the choice of Malaysia as a preferred edu-tourist destination among international edu-tourists from emerging countries. Since the focus of the Malaysian government is on making Malaysia the edu-tourist destination hub of South East Asia, the factors that are capable of attracting international edu-tourists from other emerging countries need to be identified. This will enable the government of Malaysia and managers of the Malaysian edu-tourist industry to develop appropriate feasible policies and strategies that are capable of attracting edu-tourists. This paper provides an extensive block of 25 indicators, split into five dimensions, which are capable of determining the choice of Malaysia as an edu-tourist destination.a.

The present study aims to explore the relationship between process quality and outcom quality wit... more The present study aims to explore the relationship between process quality and outcom quality with tourist satisfaction and loyalty in the Malaysian hotel industry. In this study, the population comprised international tourists who stayed in one of the 4 and 5-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur. From 537 self-administered questionnaires were distributed, 417 usable responses were obtained. The relationships between 4 constructs (process quality, outcome quality, tourist satisfaction and tourist loyalty) and 39 indicators were measured using structural equation modeling. The results showed that process quality (with six dimensions) and outcome quality (with three dimensions) affect tourist loyalty through mediating role of tourist satisfaction. The results also demonstrated that process quality and outcome quality affect tourist loyalty indirectly through the mediating role of tourist satisfaction. The results of this study will benefit hoteliers in understanding the factors affecting tourist loyalty.

This study aims to examine the importance of tourism in the economy of Ekiti State, South West Ni... more This study aims to examine the importance of tourism in the economy of Ekiti State, South West Nigeria. A
survey was carried out in 6 local government areas in the state using multi-stage sampling approach. A sample size
of 300 was used in line with recommendations in (Barrett and Kline, 1981; Aleamoni, 1976). 249 questionnaires were
received and about 247 was validated after data clearing. The result reveals that the respondents did not perceive
strongly on the contributions of tourism to employment generation, income provision and infrastructure development
in Ekiti State. Practical and theoretical contributions of the study are discussed, with future research suggested.

s This paper examined edu-tourism policy strategies and instruments of key edu-tourist recruiting... more s This paper examined edu-tourism policy strategies and instruments of key edu-tourist recruiting countries in the SouthEast Asia, and identified its emerging implications on sustainable edu-tourism industry in Malaysia. The article is targeted at Malaysian edu-tourism policymakers both at national and institutional levels, edu-tourism marketing officers and researchers in the area of international edu-tourism management. The methodology adopted involves analyses of national policies strategies and instruments for key international edu-tourist recruitment countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The choice of these four countries is due to their active participation in international edu-tourist recruitment, including their similarity in term of size and edu-tourism system. The findings shows that among the four countries under focus, Singapore is fairly comparable with Malaysia in terms of population and participation in international edu-tourism in the SouthEast Asia sub-region. In terms of policy strategies and instruments of the four countries studied, only Singapore seems to have an edge over Malaysia. The implication of the above information is that Singapore may soon take the leading position as edu-tourism destination of choice in the SouthEast Asia among international edu-tourists if urgent step are not being taken to strengthen and make Malaysian edu-tourism policy strategies and instruments more attractive to international edu-tourists. In terms of edu-tourism competitive index, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia are not comparable with Malaysia, however, Singapore does, hence, full liberalization policy, and provision of incentive schemes are encouraged for Malaysian edu-tourism industry to achieve being an edu-tourism hub of the SouthEast Asia. In respect to quality assurance and assessment development for world-class programmes, all the four countries have unique initiatives capable of strengthening the quality of edu-tourism services offered in the sub-region. The implication of this for Malaysia is urgent adoption of edu-tourism programme quality assurance re-engineering capable of differentiating the country's edu-tourism service offerings in the sub-region.

This paper proposes a theoretical model that explains the relationship between edu-tourist policy... more This paper proposes a theoretical model that explains the relationship between edu-tourist policy strategies, and instruments, including the mediating effect of the attitude of locals on sustainable edu-tourism industry in Malaysia. The design / methodology that was adopted in this article involves presentation of an hypothetical model based on literature which shows sustainable edu-tourism industry as a dependent variable been influence by two sets of independent variables: policy strategies, and instruments, including the mediating effect of attitude of Malaysian towards international edu-tourists on the relationship between edu-tourist policy strategies, instruments, and sustainable edu-tourism industry in Malaysia. These variables, whether consciously or unconsciously determine the choice of Malaysia as a preferred edu-tourist destination country among international edu-tourists. The limitations of this study stem from the nature of the study itself. The study integrate factors identified in existing literature, hence, future research on the subject in Malaysia context will examine the existing relationships among the aforementioned variables. In particular, it will give and analyse the weight of each factor and the relative importance of each element for the factor it belongs. Therefore, determining the relative importance of each element and factors they belong would constitute an important source of information for future work on sustainable edu-tourism industry in Malaysia. Since studies which modelled the relationship between policy strategies, and instruments, including the mediating effects of attitude of Malaysian towards international edu-tourists on sustainable edu-tourism industry had not being reported, this paper contributes to bridging the gap.

This article examined travel and tourism business confidence indices in Nigeria. The study relie... more This article examined travel and tourism business confidence indices in Nigeria. The study relied on 2013
travel and tourism competitiveness index report of 140 countries conducted by the world economic forum
in collaboration with Deloitte, International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the International Union
for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and the World Travel and
Tourism Council (WTTC). Based on the report, the ranking and position of Nigeria among the 140
countries surveyed is subjected to analysis in these key areas: (1) travel and tourism regulatory
framework; (2) travel and tourism business environment and infrastructure; and (3) travel and tourism
human, cultural, and natural resources. The position of Nigeria in the report is subjected to a five-point
Likert scale of: 1-30, excellent; 31-60, good, 61-90, fair 91-120 and 121- above, poor for ease of
interpretation. The findings show that travel and tourism regulatory framework that supports tourism
investment in Nigeria is not encouraging, the current state of the Nigeria travel and tourism business
environment and infrastructure did not encourage tourism investment, and the needed human, cultural,
and natural resources for travel and tourism investment in Nigeria are in a sorry state. In view of the
findings, the study recommended various solutions for enhancing the competitive index of tourism sector
in Nigeria.

This article aim to develop “Contemporary Edu-tourist’s Decision to Study Abroad” (CECDA) scale r... more This article aim to develop “Contemporary Edu-tourist’s Decision to Study Abroad” (CECDA) scale
relevant for explaining the behavior of international edu-tourist from emerging economies to study in an
emerging economy. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied to identify underlying dimensions that
influence the behavior of international edu-tourists from emerging economies to study in Malaysia.
About 300 international edu-tourists from selected emerging economies in Africa, Asia and Middle East
were sampled from 13 Malaysian public and private universities. A structured questionnaire was used
and on analysis, four dimensions with eighteen corresponding indicators emerged as factors that
determined the decision to study abroad among international edu-tourists in Malaysia. The emerged
dimensions include economic factor of edu-tourist’s origin countries (33.24%), social cultural factor of the
edu-tourists’(12.50%), edu-tourist's quest for career development (10.73%), and education / academic
system of the edu-tourist’s origin countries (6.23%). The reliability test of these dimensions meets the
Cronbach alpha threshold of 0.7. This indicate that the CECDA instrument could be used to measure edutourist’s
behavior to choose to study in Malaysia. Since the focus of Malaysian government is to attract
200, 000 international edu-tourists by the year 2020, factors capable of motivating international edu-tourists
from other emerging countries to study in Malaysia need to be identified. This will enable the
government of Malaysia and managers of Malaysian edu-tourist industry to appropriate feasible policy
capable of attracting more edu-tourists. This paper does provide an extensive block of eighteen indicators,
splits into four dimensions that determined decision of international edu-tourists from emerging economies
to choose Malaysia as a preferred edu-tourist destination.

Handbook of Islamic Marketing, 2011

African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Vol. 3 (2), Apr 13, 2014

This article examined travel and tourism business confidence indices in Nigeria. The study relied... more This article examined travel and tourism business confidence indices in Nigeria. The study relied on 2013 travel and tourism competitiveness index report of 140 countries conducted by the world economic forum in collaboration with Deloitte, International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). Based on the report, the ranking and position of Nigeria among the 140 countries surveyed is subjected to analysis in these key areas: (1) travel and tourism regulatory framework; (2) travel and tourism business environment and infrastructure; and (3) travel and tourism human, cultural, and natural resources. The position of Nigeria in the report is subjected to a five-point Likert scale of: 1-30, excellent; 31-60, good, 61-90, fair 91-120 and 121- above, poor for ease of interpretation. The findings show that travel and tourism regulatory framework that supports tourism investment in Nigeria is not encouraging, the current state of the Nigeria travel and tourism business environment and infrastructure did not encourage tourism investment, and the needed human, cultural, and natural resources for travel and tourism investment in Nigeria are in a sorry state. In view of the findings, the study recommended various solutions for enhancing the competitive index of tourism sector in Nigeria.
Keywords: Competitive index, Tourism regulatory framework, Business environment and infrastructure, and Tourist resources

Handbook of Islamic Marketing, 2011

African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Vol. 3 (2), Apr 13, 2014