Purpose This study focusses on the underlying needs of Muslims to adhere to the tenets of their religion and to guide their behaviours accordingly. These requirements, for the purpose of travelling, constitute halal tourism. As Muslim-minority nations, such as Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, began to market their own brands of halal tourism, there are concerns of whether their current practices are able to meet the requirements of Muslim travellers. Thus, this study aims to understand the main needs and concerns of Muslim travellers when they visit Muslim-minority countries. Design/methodology/approach Interviews were conducted on selected Muslim travellers who recently visited one of the following destinations, Japan, South Korea or Taiwan. Applying the process theory of travel, service marketing perspective and Muslim religious needs, the study’s conceptual framework served as the basis for crafting interview questions, selecting the participants and explaining the findings. Findings Muslim travellers are mostly concerned with the need to perform daily prayers and to find halal food at the point of need, and willing to conduct extensive research on the destination prior to their visit. Muslim travellers’ experiences in these Muslim-minority countries are generally met with their expectations, although further socialisation with the locals is needed to induce greater overall satisfaction with the destinations. Practical implications Understanding the current practices of halal tourism is critical so that improvements can be implemented in the industry. Originality/value Key preparations, expectations, actual experiences in the destinations and reflections of Muslim travellers provide in-depth insights into their needs and concerns when travelling in Muslim-minority countries. The emergent religion-based dimensions in service experience, such as availability of social agents and halal food at the point of need, extend the conceptualisation of perishability and heterogeneity in service marketing literature.

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Social entrepreneurship has been a subject of academic interest for more than two decades. However, it is still considered as an emerging field of academic research. Some scholars attribute this to the lack common agreement of what social entrepreneurship is. Concurrently, the issue of the transformative service for improving well-being has been identified as one of the emerging areas of priorities service research. Despite the potential, such research has been under researched. This article thus aims to contribute to the knowledge by conceptualizing social entrepreneurship as a model of transformative service through the integrated theoretical lenses of innovation, entrepreneurship and service research. This conceptual paper maps social entrepreneurship and social innovation in a continuum of transformative service according to the types of change and the values they bring to the organizations and/or to the society. This conceptualization enhances understanding of the social entrepreneurship and innovation constructs in relation to transformative service concept.

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the push and pull factors that influence Thai immigrant entrepreneurs (TIEs) to conduct a business in Malaysia. As a neighbouring country, Malaysia is one of the favourite migration destinations for TIEs, with an influx of them involved in restaurant businesses across the country. This phenomenon offers this study with an unconventional background for immigrant entrepreneurship as it occurs within the context of developing, non-Western countries.   Methodology: Outlined by previous studies on push and pull factors of immigration and immigrant entrepreneurship, this research employed a qualitative approach focusing on the experiences of six TIEs operating Thai/Siamese restaurants in Bandar Baru Bangi, a town located approximately 30 km south of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Data were collected mainly through face-to-face interviews among owners of restaurants in their premises, which ensures richness in the data.   Findings: The findings indicated several categories of business-based emigration factors for TIEs to Malaysia, spanning from economic, political, and social factors.   Contributions: Overall, the present research extends the knowledge of immigrant entrepreneurship especially within the non-Western context. Practice-wise, this study provides implications for policymakers in relation to business activities conducted by migrants in neighbouring countries, which are useful for both Malaysia and Thailand as the host and the origin country respectively.   Keywords: Thai immigrant entrepreneurs, Thailand, Malaysia, restaurant business, push and pull factors.   Cite as: Yanai, L., Che Senik, Z., Muhamad, N. S., Abd Hamid, H., & Jamaludin, N. A. (2020). Push and pull factors influencing Thai immigrant entrepreneurs conducting business in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(2), 19-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss2pp19-47

Past studies have been conducted on the consequences of customer incivility toward frontline employees, but not much is known about the underlying mechanism, that is, what mediates or moderates frontline employee's response towards customer incivility. It has been challenging to perform a systematic review on this research topic because previous studies did not include the review procedures, hence presenting a substantial challenge for other researchers to interpret or replicate. Therefore, the aim of this study is to conduct a systematic literature review of the extant literature focusing on frontline employee's response due to customer incivility. The review was conducted following five key methodological steps, which are guided by ROSES as the review protocol. The process included formulation of research questions, followed by utilizing the systematic searching strategies (identification, screening, and eligibility) on two main and two supporting databases namely Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Dimensions. Next, quality appraisal of the articles was performed and data extraction using thematic analysis approach was conducted on 26 articles that were systematically selected for this review. The analysis generated 44 variables and 15 sub-themes as the underlying mechanisms of the employee's response to customer incivility, which are further grouped into two main themes: 1) personal factors; and (2) situational factors.