This conceptual paper highlights the necessity to have a proper workforce and succession planning in place in order to have the right leadership in the right place at the right time. Leaders who are incompetent or exhausted may impose adverse impacts on the effectiveness of succession planning. Nowadays, leaders face complex challenges than those in the past with increasing workloads and responsibilities to ensure that organisational agendas are sustained. Competent and skilled leaders are needed to carry out this task. Therefore, an organisation should be proactive and strategise for future performance through succession planning. This study proposes a model of competency-based succession planning in higher education institutions by reviewing the literature that focuses on the relationship between individual competency, training, personality trait, and organisational culture. The study reveals that developing talent incorporated with competency in higher education instituition is a crucial part of succession planning. Even if the institution has a systematic plan in place, succession planning will not progress smoothly unless that institution has a willing, capable, and well-prepared successor. Competency based succession planning models present a plan to build the necessary competency in the present and future, as well as a criterion for assessing academic leader requirements.

We explore the awareness and practices of Islamic values in the setting of a Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), and how the values have been treated by the Performance Measurement System (PMS). In particular, we are interested in whether the Islamic values existed or were practised by the employees as well as adopted by the management of the SME in measuring the performance of their employees. Furthermore, the information on the importance and possible effects of the Islamic values have been sought after to see whether the values could improve the PMS and eventually the whole organisation. We present evidence from fieldwork conducted in the workplace of one SME in Terengganu, Malaysia, undertaken through participantobservation, casual conversations and interviews with four employees. Our findings suggest that Islamic values do exist and are widely practised, and at the same time, informally adopted by the management to a certain extent in measuring their employees" performance. The management also reveals that there is a high hope in the future to see the practices of Islamic values improved among the employees, raising the possibility that it could eventually be officially adopted in their PMS.Contribution/ Originality: This study is one of the very few studies which have investigated the treatment of Islamic values by the Performance Measurement System (PMS) of a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in measuring the performance of their employees. The findings suggest that Islamic values are widely practised and informally adopted in the PMS of the SME.

This conceptual study aims to explore the evolution of succession planning by focusing on a systematic procedure and highlighting the instrument of success metric that influences succession planning effectiveness. There are several approaches to discuss the succession planning process and the effectiveness of the used methods. However, no single systematic process applies to the entire organization. Besides that, this research includes a literature review, focusing on key success metrics of succession planning. The metrics used to track succession planning effectiveness should be directly related to the organization’s strategic goal. Therefore, the metrics must be clearly defined and articulated as part of the organization’s formal succession plan. This study reveals three key success metrics of succession planning: (1) bench strength, (2) time-to-fill, and (3) talent turnover. A good success metric indication will allow a company to analyze the impact of a succession plan in retaining talent in the pipeline as a proactive strategy.

This study aims to examine the prevalence of overconfidence bias in the decision-making process of Malaysian investors in Ponzi schemes. We explore a well-documented behavior that distorts the investor’s judgment, leading to a future event’s miscalculation — a psychological bias known as overconfidence bias (Kuranchie-Pong & Forson, 2022). Our study offers a novel viewpoint by investigating the hard-to-reach type of investor, the Ponzi scheme investors using the behavioral finance theory and qualitative method. Therefore, this investigation employed qualitative reasoning, which could also be an example of applying thematic analysis using ATLAS.ti. This study’s findings indicate that Ponzi scheme investors exhibit overconfidence bias in investing in the Ponzi investment schemes. We unraveled three types of overconfidence bias that prevail in the Ponzi scheme investors’ decision process. Acknowledging its limitations as a qualitative inquiry, the authors call for a joint effort to explore this field of study further. This emerging area of investor behavior research will afford valuable knowledge that could resolve the mysteries behind the never-ending issue of the Ponzi investment scheme.

Purpose: This paper examines the validity and reliability of an instrument to evaluate employee competency in the context of succession planning using a sample of administrators within the 48 to 54 grades in Malaysian public universities.   Theoretical framework: Shaping the qualities and competencies of university administrators can serve as a model of competent leadership for the sustainability of succession planning for higher education institutions.   Design/methodology/approach: Systematic random sampling was used for data collection using questionnaires, including pilot studies and subsequent field studies. The survey was administered to 430 respondents from the administrators of 20 public universities. The study conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using the pilot study data (n = 102) to identify potential factor structures. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using field study data (n = 328) was conducted to confirm the construct measurement model.   Findings: The EFA and CFA validation processes suggested that only 10 modified items with 4 components remained to achieve a better fit model: Interpersonal (IP), Personal Effectiveness (PE), Teamwork (TW), and Self-Development (SD). All composite reliability (CR) measures for these 4 components exceeded the required value of 0.6. Since the values of these indices fall within the range of their respective cutoff values, the model meets the goodness-of-fit criterion:  RMSEA = 0.070,GFI=0.955, CFI = 0.953, TLI = 0.926, and a normalized chi-square = 2.605. According to the study, the instrument is valid and reliable for assessing the components of the employee competency model.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The scale validated in this study could be used by human resource managers in public universities as a tool to better understand the belief systems of their employees. It could help them make an informed decision that will enable them to provide competent administrators for succession planning.   Originality/value: This study is a catalyst to assess and highlight the current status and impact of employee competency on succession planning in Malaysian higher education institutions.