Purpose The study aims to develop a hierarchical model based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to enable the ranking of quality dimensions required for achieving business excellence in the hotel industry of Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a sequential mix method approach in which semi-structured interviews with 24 participants were initially conducted during the qualitative stage to identify the quality dimensions. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 40 industry experts to prioritise the identified elements using the relative measurement of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). In total, 32 respondents were further surveyed to evaluate a selected number of hotels in Bangladesh using the absolute measurement of AHP. Findings The study uncovered eight criteria, together with 23 corresponding sub-criteria during the qualitative stage. Quality management emerged as the most crucial criterion, while health and safety-security measures were the most important sub-criteria in addressing the quality management criterion. In Bangladesh, five-star hotels were observed to be performing better than three-star and four-star hotels. Originality/value The developed model is unique and can be used by Bangladeshi practitioners to measure the performance of hotels. Moreover, it can also be applied to measure the performance of hotels in other countries just by incorporating minor modification to the model framework.

returns-to-scale (CRS or VRS) models. In this paper we suggest that these models may sometimes underutilize our knowledge of the underlying production process. For example, in the context of higher education considered in the reported application, individual universities often maintain a certain student-to-staff ratio which points that there should be an approximately proportional relationship between students and staff, at least in the medium to long run. A different example is an observation that the teaching of postgraduate students generally requires more resources than the teaching of the same number of undergraduate students. In order to incorporate such information in a DEA model, we propose a novel approach that combines the recently developed hybrid returns-to-scale DEA model with the use of production trade-offs. The suggested approach leads to a better-informed model of production technology than the conventional DEA models. We illustrate this methodology by an application to Malaysian public universities. This approach results in a tangibly better efficiency discrimination than would be possible with the standard DEA models.

Statistics and a survey of the literature revealed the existence of a massive problem in the financial prudence of Malaysians, including Muslims. One glaringly prominent aspect is the absence of a spiritual/religious interventionist approach in exploring the lack of consumer awareness that led to the present situation. Instead of attempting to solve the problem through brute economic policies, a wasatiyyah-oriented approach is warranted for informing consumers of their religious obligation to avoid profligate spending and adopt moderation in financial matters. Hence, the objective of this study is to examine the practice of moderation (the concept of wasatiyyah) among Muslims consumers in their financial decision-making. Primary data were collected through a self-administrated survey on a selected group of Muslim consumers. A relevant statistical software was employed to perform exploratory-factor analysis (EFA) through principal-component analysis (PCA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) on the collected data. The findings demonstrated that moderation (wasatiyyah) partially mediates the relationship between materialism and financial decisions. Consequently, Muslim consumers who practice moderation while making their financial decisions are more conscious of their credit management and thus spend according to their means.

Housing affordability is important to ensure houses are affordable to everyone across all income categories, whether they are in the low-income, middle-income (M40), or high-income group. Building housing projects on waqf land will help increase the supply of affordable houses, especially targeted at the M40 group, while also addressing the shortage of affordable housing for the M40 cohort. This study analyses public perceptions of house characteristics and relate these factors to affordable housing prices. The independent variables are location, infrastructure, facilities, size, design and quality. By applying a quantitative research design, the study aims to understand the relationship between various demanded housing characteristics vis-a-vis the price of the house. A sample of 261 usable responses was analysed using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results show that house size is not statistically significant in influencing the housing price, while location, infrastructure and design of the house are positively significant factors. These findings are expected to provide important inputs to the relevant authorities on factors that are critical in influencing the prices of housing projects built on waqf land in Malaysia.