volume-19-number-3

Editor-in-Chief: Romeo B. Lee

From the Editor

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Pages: 1-15

This paper touches upon the chronological contexts that set the basis for the foundation and development of the Internet—which is considered the blood veins system allowing the existence and operation of online games in Vietnam. These contexts include (1) the reform that allowed Vietnam to transit from a closed, state-centered economy to a market economy with which the development of information technology was considered one of the four primary pillars of the new economic policy system, (2) the lifting of economic embargo and diplomacy the U.S. set after the Vietnam War, and notably (3) the introduction of the Internet which could be observed through the timeline of policy-making process. The focus of this paper is to examine several key policies that made conditions to the establishment and expansion of internet services in Vietnam.

Keywords: entertainment, internet, online gaming, post-doi moi, Vietnam

Pages: 30-41

This study aims to map out the practices of inter-local collaboration in Thailand and understand the conditions that facilitate the formation and sustainability of the existing collaboration. The mixed methods research design was employed by which in-depth interviews of specific cases were adopted to elaborate on the statistical findings. The study found that, for the most part, inter-local collaboration in the largest region of the country was asymmetric. The case study findings undermine resource dependency theory, given that councils with larger resources can become locked-in to disadvantageous relationships with, and be controlled by, smaller councils with fewer resources. This is because asymmetric relationships and vertical forms of inter-local collaboration were facilitated by the strong hierarchical social system prevalent in Thai culture and the Thai local government system, in which the “big brother” council is expected to help smaller “new-born” councils. This influence of socio-cultural conditions on inter-local collaboration, thus, should be taken into account in existing theories of inter-local collaboration so that they move beyond consideration only of legal-institutional perspectives.

Keywords: cross-council collaboration, inter-local collaboration, resource-dependency theory, socio-cultural conditions, Thai local government

Pages: 16-29

This paper describes the level of health literacy among middle school students in the Philippines. It specifically determines their level of knowledge of health as well as their health-related skills, attitudes, and values. This paper assumes that middle school children, being part of the iGeneration, will have a higher level of health literacy owing to their better access to Internet technology. School-age children in the Philippines who were born in the early years of 2000 have grown up with high technology such that they have at their fingertips all sources of knowledge about health. Aside from the Internet, students are also taught different health and nutrition-related knowledge in many school subjects, including science, health, and physical education. The study involved 855 middle school students (grades 6 to 9) selected through purposive sampling. They came from 12 private/public elementary/junior high schools, urban/peri-urban/rural areas, and places in the north and south of the Philippines. The results reveal that the middle school students have low to very low level of health literacy. This presents a bigger challenge to the basic health education in the country. Middle school children may not necessarily consider health as a pressing priority in their daily lives. Instead of familiarizing themselves with health topics, they are preoccupied using the Internet for other purposes. Thus, this necessitates basic education to carefully rethink how best to integrate health literacy in the curriculum using different strategies of learning and teaching.

Keywords: Filipinos, Filipino youth, health, health education, health literacy, iGeneration

Pages: 42-55

This study intends to explore the strategic role of brand equity towards competitive advantage from the customer’s perspective in the context of the smartphone market in Kuching, a city located in Sarawak, Malaysia. Based on the two competitive advantage strategies (cost advantage and differentiation), this study aims to investigate the extent these two strategies affects brand equity prediction towards customer satisfaction. By employing convenience sampling, self-administered questionnaires were distributed among smartphone users. A total of 417 respondents were involved in the process. The data collected were further evaluated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Pearson’s correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and independent sampled t-test were used to perform statistical analysis. The results revealed that elements of Brand Equity (brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty) have a positive relationship with customer’s satisfaction. There is also a significant difference between the two competitive advantage strategies, that is, cost advantage and differentiation. Results showed that when the elements of brand equity increase, customer satisfaction level also increases and the level of increment among two samples of study is different. This study contributes in a twofold manner. Brands can be effective tools for the organizations to gain their competitive advantage, but specific advantage and segment need specific brand treatment.

Keywords: brand associations, brand awareness, brand equity, brand loyalty, perceived quality

Pages: 56-71

Although much of the researches on populism intimately delineates its relationship with democracy, few studies have been done relating it to human rights, which is presently under siege with the rise of populist leaders and groups. This paper seeks to examine the intersectionality of populism and human rights by looking at the case of the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte. The “new” ideational approach of populism analyzes populist ideas as latent demand or disposition that is activated and mobilized by populist actors, and appropriating the notion of “contestation.” This paper argues that Duterte’s populist political attitude is a mere reflection of the country’s authoritarian culture and illiberal values characterized, among others, by the disregard for liberal political institutions, norms, and practices. The failure of the liberal democratic regime to sufficiently respond to basic social ills was harnessed and mobilized by Duterte, the “strongman” from Davao, into political action. In addition, Duterte’s indifference and violative treatment of human rights as a principle and a standard that needs protection transpired in a highly unequal and elitist political system. This implies that turning against this populist challenge to human rights necessitates treating populism as an ideal that is initially hidden but must be surfaced. Also, although there needs to be continual opposition and contestation, there has to be an acknowledgment of populist’s structural contexts. Future studies could venture into quantification and measurement of empirical variables to complement the prevailing methodological vista of populism research in the Philippines.

Keywords: authoritarianism, democracy, human rights, Philippines, populism, Rodrigo Duterte

Pages: 72-87

The foodservice industry is considered to be one of the largest and most profitable sectors in the Philippine economy. Literature reveals that one of the pressing and urgent concerns of foodservice outlets is food waste. Food waste is defined as any food appropriate and intended for human consumption being discarded, whether or not it is kept beyond its expiry date or left to spoil. Economically speaking, it impacts the cost firms incur in disposing food waste and has serious environmental and social implications. This study investigates the out-of-home food waste behavior of young consumers within the context of the Philippine fast-food industry. Given the local, regional, and global presence of the industry, studying food waste behavior contributes to the call for sustainability. It is beneficial to fast-food management and industry by providing insights on food waste behavior of young consumers. Data from a sample of 145 college students were gathered and analyzed using relevant variables from the consumer food waste model and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) algorithm. Analyses reveal that awareness and social norms have a significant influence on ordering fast-food as mediated by the consumer’s motivation to avoid or reduce food waste. Mainly, the results suggest that management can shape the ordering behavior of young consumers by strengthening their motivation through individual consumer awareness campaigns and peer group behavior. None of the paths leading from attitude, awareness, and social norm to food consumption were significant. It can thus be concluded that, per the results of this study, management intervention at the point of consumption may no longer be useful in mitigating food waste. The final and critical point at which management may intervene to influence consumer behavior is the in-store ordering stage. We recommend that future studies explore additional constructs that improve the prediction power and fit of the model. Future research can expound on the social circle of the consumer and local values, beliefs, and practices that contribute to sustainable food consumption.

Keywords: consumers food waste model, fast-food, food waste behavior, young consumers

Pages: 88-107

This study investigates the short-run and long-run effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firms’ financial performance through market-adjusted stock returns from one year to three years holding periods. We analyze the year 2015 CSR data of 958 publicly-listed companies from 11 countries in Asia. This study also reflects on the disaggregated effects of three pillars of CSR, namely: environment, social, and governance. We conjecture that the trade-off does not exist between building corporate citizenship and financial performance, in light of increasing attention of CSR among Asian countries. We also examine the phenomenon in the contexts of country and sector levels. Our main findings reveal that CSR has a cumulative effect, which reinforces better financial performance in the future. This study also shows mixed evidence regarding the disaggregated effect of CSR pillars. Moreover, we find that the impact of CSR and its pillars on market-adjusted stock returns vary per country and per sector. We argue that our results are caused by regulatory compliance, priorities, demand from stakeholders, cultural factors, and macroeconomics considerations. The effect of CSR on market-adjusted stock returns varies over time and create a positive and negative result depending on the period of analysis because this strategy is a long-term process. Lastly, insights into the importance of building corporate citizenship on sustainability and firm performance are elaborated.

Keywords: Asian markets, corporate finance, corporate social responsibility, market-adjusted stock return

Pages: 108-118

The growth of the sex trade is connected with globalization and cross-border migration. There is an increase of young female Laotian sex workers who respond to the demand of Thai male customers. Emotion and sexuality are integrated as an essential part of sexual goods and services, and are essential tools for sex workers to generate business profits and customer satisfaction. The study’s objectives are to study the expression of emotion and sexuality among female Lao migrant sex workers (FLMSWs) who work in one Thai-Lao cross border town, and to analyze the management and negotiation of emotion and sexuality in the commercial sex in karaoke bars by FLMSWs. Content and narrative analyses were conducted from an ethnographic study consisting of participant observations, five focus group discussion, 20 in-depth interviews, and 10 narrative interviews. The research used the concept of emotional labor and emotion management by Arlie Russell Hochschild during the data analysis. The key finding of this study are as follow: 1) the emotion is a tool of management and negotiated in sexual service; 2) emotion management was produced for sexual service as well as strategies of screening and choosing clients, including building zone about body and emotion; and 3) the emotion-related to social identity is manufactured for negotiation during work and everyday life. They are not merely victimized, but they have agency and power to seek life opportunities. These study findings contribute to the revision of migrant worker’s policy and program, especially the destigmatization of migrant sex workers in Thailand and elsewhere.

Keywords: emotion management, emotional labor, female Laotian migrant sex workers, negotiation, transnational commercial sex

Pages: 119-127

Electric passenger vehicles are still in the early stage of research and development in Thailand, but domestic researchers are already keen to know about the variety of factors that would have a potential to influence the intention of Thai drivers to buy the said vehicles. Using structural equation modeling analysis, this study examined the direct and indirect effects of attitude, external environment, marketing mix, subjective norms, and customer perception on purchase intention. Data were obtained from a sample of 650 Thai licensed drivers who were randomly selected and interviewed at 367 car service centers located across Bangkok. Results reveal that 52.3% of the purchase intention of Thai drivers are explained by the five-factor model. However, of the five factors, the most significant is subjective norms, followed by the marketing mix and attitude. Attitude, which lies at the heart of purchase intention, is predicted most significantly by the external environment. The findings suggest that Thailand’s concerted efforts on electric passenger vehicles would have to be carefully designed such that the relevant external environment, subjective norms, marketing mix, and attitude would all be directed to influence the purchase intention of local drivers positively. The model needs further validation among a broader sample of Thai drivers.

Keywords: electric passenger vehicles, purchase intention, structural equation modeling, Thai drivers

Pages: 128-143

Thailand has become one of the world’s most significant production bases and therefore, must rely on international sea transportation to move cargo. The primary goal of this paper is to develop a structural equation model to examine how service quality, relationship quality, and customer satisfaction affect customer loyalty. The study sampled 2,029 subjects— company managers, service users, and freight forwarders—in three specific industries: computer and electronics components, automotive and original equipment, and agricultural products. It deployed quantitative research methods and applied a seven-point rating scale in a structured questionnaire to analyze the relationships among the variables. The findings indicate that service quality affects both customer satisfaction and relationship quality, which ultimately affect customer loyalty.

Keywords: customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, relationship quality, sea freight forwarders in Thailand, service quality, service quality

Pages: 144-154

As Thailand faced rapid demographic changes with economic growth, single-person households (e.g., elderly people living alone) have become emerging types of family. Thus, this study, using single-person and non-single-person household factors, examined the impact of the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) on household catastrophic health expenditure with the national-level health survey data 2015. Specifically, defining household catastrophic health expenditure as out-of-pocket expenditure exceeding 40% of household disposable income, this study analyzed whether the selected factors were related to the catastrophic expenditure by performing binary logistic regression analysis. The study findings indicated that among all households which received the UCS inpatient services, around 2.78% experienced the catastrophic expenditure. Lower- income and single-person households were more likely to encounter catastrophic expenditure. Among the single-person households, those with lower socioeconomic conditions had a higher incidence of the catastrophic expenditure. Specifically, the elderly, female, low-educated, unemployed, or had any chronic diseases were more likely to encounter the catastrophic expenditure. To address the issue, in the short term, the current copayment rate, which is equally levied to beneficiaries, should be adjusted by socioeconomic conditions. Additionally, the UCS should consider a copayment ceiling as a supplementary policy intervention in the situations where the copayment rate adjustment is not sufficient to prevent catastrophic expenditure. In the long-term, the government’s effort to expand the benefits package should be continued by health care needs on the demand side as well as the cost-effectiveness of the policy on the supply side.

Keywords: catastrophic health expenditure, Thailand, Universal Coverage Scheme

Pages: 155-166

Social capital is becoming a well-studied social construct that establishes its relevance in uplifting the well-being and health of diverse social categories. A survey was conducted among 120 individuals aged 60 years and above who were randomly selected from the list of senior citizens in Quezon, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. In this study, the social capital of the elderly population in a rural community and its relation to their health status and health-seeking behaviors is examined. The social capital of the elderly is determined based on the following five domains—general trust, social support, social networks, social participation, and close ties. Their health status is based on a self-rated evaluation of: being free from chronic diseases in the last three months, being capable of performing daily activities, having lucid memory, and having life satisfaction. Their health-seeking behaviors are described in terms of frequency in which they rely on self-care, medical professionals, traditional medicines, familial, and non-familial support system. Results from the correlation and multiple regression analyses suggest that the elderly describe themselves as most healthy in that they are capable of performing daily activities, whereas they describe themselves as least healthy in that they experience chronic diseases in the last three months. Self-care, which includes having a healthy diet, exercise, and fun, is their top health-seeking behavior, but it should be noted that having close ties and social participation tend to determine better self-care among the elderly. Although accessing medical professionals is uncommon among the elderly, the findings indicate that the said health-seeking behavior tends to become more frequent with increasing social support. Results are relevant for identifying social innovations in the context of networks and social support that they may promote better health among the elderly in rural communities.

Keywords: community social capital, elderly, health status, health-seeking behaviors, Philippines

Pages: 167-184

Technology in education has various challenges. However, limited empirical attention has been bestowed to determining whether teachers, who are at the heart of innovation in classroom instruction, have a favorable attitude towards technology. This study describes the attitude of Filipino teachers towards technology, including their determinants and association with technology integration practice. Data were collected from a randomly-selected sample of 150 teachers who responded to a survey instrument adapted from the tools of Ventakesh and Davis (2000) and of Florida’s Center for Instructional Technology (2005). Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21 and AMOS version 20. Results suggest that the teachers surveyed have a favorable attitude towards technology. Moreover, the confirmatory factor analysis reveals that the grade level assignment of the teachers is significantly associated with their attitude towards technology (β=-.12, p=.05). In addition, results of the structural equation model revealed that only the perceived ease of use of technology significantly associates with technology integration practice of the teachers (β=0.75, p<.001 and β=0.59, p<.001). There is a need for large-scale surveys to obtain definitive findings on the topic. However, if the present evidence is an indication, the positive attitude among Filipino teachers will bode well for their application and integration of technology into their teaching activities.

Keywords: attitude towards technology, educational technology, technology-integration skills, technological literacy, technology uses in education

Pages: 185-202

Theoretically, the financial sector fosters economic development of a nation. Weak institutions, poor contract enforcement, and macroeconomic instability are negatively correlated with an underdeveloped financial sector. The global trends have revived the need for the ASEAN to continue to work for further integration among member countries. ASEAN banks serve as the important intermediaries in increasing the connectivity among ASEAN members and supporting the financial integration in the region. The strong growth of ASEAN financial institutions is driven by the development of business fundamental and the increasing competitiveness of financial institutions in this region. Therefore, this study aims to examine the nexus between financial development, competition, and efficiency of ASEAN banks over the period 2011 to 2016. Using dataset of 78 banks across ASEAN countries, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to measure efficiency, Herfindahl-Hirschman index to measure market concentration, and Lerner index to measure market power. The dynamic panel approach, namely the generalized method of moments (GMM), is employed to examine the nexus between financial development, competition, and efficiency of banks. The empirical results of nexus between financial development, competition, and efficiency indicate that competition is positively related to efficiency (technical efficiency and pure technical efficiency). However, competition is negatively related to scale efficiency. The results also show that financial development is negatively related to efficiency (pure technical efficiency) and competition. Nevertheless, GDP is positively related to competition. The results of this study imply that development in the financial sector makes banks inefficient and underutilized resources as banks improve their market power. The results of this study imply that competition in the banking sector must be encouraged to foster efficiency.

Keywords: ASEAN, banking, competition, efficiency, financial development

Pages: 203-216

Factors influencing customer loyalty toward automobile insurance companies in Thailand were examined, and a structural equation model of variables was analyzed. A questionnaire was employed to gather primary data. Survey participants included 549 customers of automobile insurance companies in Thailand derived from multi-stage sampling. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings revealed that service quality, brand image, and customer commitment had a positive impact on customer loyalty, with perceived value and customer trust showing a negative impact. Service quality had a strong impact on customer satisfaction, which had no direct effect on customer loyalty. Perceived value could lead to customer satisfaction. No relationship was found between the brand image and customer satisfaction.

Keywords: automobile insurance, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, Thailand

Author: Shaffa Hameed

Research Brief

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Pages: 217-229

Authors: Lauro Cipriano R. Silapan, Jr. and Divina M. Edralin

Research Brief

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Pages: 230-238

Authors: Dao Thi Thu Hang and Le Huy Bac

Research Brief

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Pages: 239-246

Authors: Mark Kasa, Donald Stephen, and Zaiton Hassan

Research Brief

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Pages: 247-254

Authors: Mark Kasa and Zaiton Hassan

Research Brief

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Pages: 255-261

Authors: Michael Teng, Zaiton Hassan, and Mark Kasa

Research Brief

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Pages: 262-269

Author: Kulkanya Napompech

Research Brief

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Pages: 270-279

Author: APSSR Editorial Team

Data at a Glance

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Page: 280

Author: Wilfred Luis Clamor

Data at a Glance

Year: 2019, Volume 19 Number 3

Page: 281