The objective of this study is to determine the distribution of entrepreneurial orientation across districts, gender, education level, occupation, and experience levels in Kelantan, Malaysia. This study employs the crosssectional approach and quantitative data were collected from 800 low-income household heads in Kelantan, Malaysia. It was found that the distribution of entrepreneurial orientation is the same across gender. However, findings reported a significant difference in the distribution of entrepreneurial orientation across districts, education level, occupation, and experience level. Policy makers should therefore focus on interactive programs in order to increase the level of entrepreneurial orientation among low-income household heads in the district of Jeli, those who never attended school, the unemployed, and those who reported to have no experience as they scored the lowest mean rank.Entrepreneurial orientation and antecedents of low-income household heads in Kelantan, … 141

Over the years, the government business support services (GBSS) have worked closely along the government
policies and experienced a number of transformations to suit the current needs of the SMEs and business
environment. In order to understand the philosophy and the very nature of the GBSS in the present context it is
paramount to study the development of the services in the country over time. Hence this paper explores the
evolution of the GBSS, starting from prior independence period to the New Economic Policy era and in the
contemporary period. The study shows the government business involvement formerly started a few years back
before the independence. A humble beginning with the objectives to bring close ties between the rural folks and
the government had acted as a stepping stone to the glorious achievement of the GBSS. The quantum leap begun
in the NEP era as the current government had recognised the roles of entrepreneurship as a catalyst to the social
restructuring process. While understanding the evolution of the GBSS provides a background of the study, it is
paramount important to look at the challenges faced by GBSS in current situation. The new economic model
which was launched by the Prime Minister recently is aimed at moving the country towards high income
economy in ten years times. Coherently, the move is a big challenge to the GBSS as to better equip the
Malaysian SMEs with innovation, creativity and value-added activities. An important question is, do they ready
for the big game? The present paper is structured according to the following lines. First, a brief reviews the
establishment, roles and present functions of the GBSSs’ main players namely Majlis Amanah Rakyat (People
Council of Trust), SME Bank, GCG, SME Corporation and National SMEs Development Council. Second,
discusses the current issues and challenges that need to be addressed by the GBSS, and lastly discusses and
suggests viable strategies should be taken by the GBSS to remain relevant and successfully contribute to the new
economic model

This study seeks to investigate the business advisory awareness among some micro-sized SMEs in Kelantan, Malaysia, focusing on the advisory services supplied by various government agencies. Micro-sized SMEs were the centre of the study because they represent a large number of SMEs in the country. Notwithstanding with the various advisory services provided by the government agencies in the state, result of the study showed the majority of respondents was not fully aware of and assured on the existence of business advisory services. Furthermore, the results of the study indicated no significant relationship between all the demographic factors of businesses and the level of awareness of business advisory among micro-sized SMEs. The key findings of the study are instructive. Actions should be taken by the government and its relevant agencies to enhance the level of awareness and knowledge of the importance of advisory among micro-sized SMEs. It seemed that the information pertaining to the business advisory services are not well disseminated to the targeted group. This failure distorts the government plan to efficiently support SMEs, thus leading to waste of scarce resources. Suggestions were also made to significantly address these issues.

This study identifies the effect of government financial support services (GFSS) on the relationship between two dimensions of psychological factors in business ventures. As such, the study uses small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of various Malaysian sectors as samples, with two constructs used to represent the dimensions of psychological factors, namely, risk-taking (RT) propensity and self-confidence (SC). The study results revealed that both constructs had a significant influence on the propensity to venture into business (PVB). However, GFSS had an insignificant moderating effect on the relationship between the two dimensions and provided input for policy makers to enhance GFSS efficiency in order to positively affect the growth rate of new businesses in Malaysia. Hence, this study bridged the research gap by identifying the influence of GFSS on PVB. As GFSS are an important tool for stimulating growth of the new business venture, the findings of this study have implications for policy makers to improve the quality and effectiveness, especially the delivery of GFSS to the targeted group.

This study was set out to chiefly examine the influence of psychological traits—need of achievement (“N of Ach”) and risk-taking propensity (RTP)—on perceived usefulness (PUF) and perceived ease of use (PercEU), as well as their effects on the intention to use e-commerce among rural micro-entrepreneurs. This study exploited the psychological traits theories and the technology acceptance model (TAM) by utilizing samples represented by rural micro-entrepreneurs. The results of the study found that the N of Ach and RTP significantly influence PUF and PercEU. The two original TAM constructs and PercEU have significant relationships with PUF and intention. At the same time, it was also found that there exists a significant relationship between PUF and intention. This study therefore serves to fill the gaps where N of Ach and RTP of rural micro-entrepreneurs are seldom tested to examine the effects of perceptions of benefits and ease of use on the adoption of e-commerce. On top of that, this study provides vital input to policy makers and stakeholders of rural development in their efforts to increase the adoption of e-commerce among rural micro-entrepreneurs.