THE INFLUENCES OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN HOMESTAY PROGRAMME

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1 THE INFLUENCES OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN HOMESTAY PROGRAMME Yusof Yusnita 1, Aziz Amin 2, Shaladdin Muda 1 1 Faculty of Management and Economic, University Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia. 2 Faculty of Social Development, University Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia Yusof Yusnita gsk0982@pps.umt.edu.my ABSTRACT Tourism industry is one of the main sectors which are contributed to the national income. Homestay programme is a rural tourism programme that increasingly grows in our country. Total tourist arrivals increasing by 21.6% in 2010 compared to 2009 show the need for homestay programme services increase every year. Thus, the commitment of each individual or member of the community is essential to ensure the success of activities. One of the main factors contributing to the increasing of the commitment is through leadership. This study aims to examine the influences of transformational leadership towards organizational commitment among homestay operators in Malaysia. Four dimensions of transformational leadership has been used such as individual influences, motivation inspiration, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Bass & Avolio in Abdullah (2010) was adapted to measure transformational leadership and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) developed by Mowday et al. (1979) and modified by Sharifah Noraida (2009) was used to measure organizational commitment. This study involved 304 respondents from the homestay programme in Malaysia. Result from correlation analysis showed that all the dimensions of transformational leadership has significant relationship with organizational commitment. Keywords: Transformational Leadership, Organizational Commitment, Homestay Programme INTRODUCTION The tourism sector is an important sector and has great potential to grow. Over the past six decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and diversification to become one of the largest and most economies in most countries around the world (Tourism Malaysia, 2011). However, unlike western countries, the development of the tourism industry in developing countries has always been slow due to the weakness in the administration and planning approach (Kadir and Jabil, 2010). Now, tourism is the second largest sector contributing to national income after the manufacturing sector (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2010). One of the tourism programme which also contribute to the national income is through a homestay programme. Homestay programme was launched in 1995 by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism Malaysia in Temerloh, Pahang. Until May 2010, there were a total of 227 villages and 2,984 operators were involved in register with the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2010). Merriam Webster Dictionary (2012) defines a homestay as "a stay at a residence by a traveler and especially by a visiting foreign student who is hosted by a local family." The homestay programme is one of the community-based tourism that offers the experience of nature and the local countryside lifestyle to tourists (Jabil et. al, 2011). Through this programme, tourists will not only be exposed to the way of life in the village but

2 they also have the opportunity to have a close relationship with a friendly host families and treated them as one of the family members. They will also be able to enjoy the rich experiences of life in the village, learn how to cook traditional dishes, expose to the customs of the Malay community and various games and also traditional activities of the Malay community (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2011). In general, the main concept of this product is emphasized more on tourism nature lifestyle products or experience (Jabil et. al, 2011). The homestay programme is a unique tourism product to tourists due emphasis on the relationship between host and guest. Total tourist arrivals increasing by 21.6% in 2010 compared to 2009 show the need for homestay programme services increase every year. Therefore, the government should focus on sustain the success and the quality of homestay programme. All activities require voluntary participation of community members. However, participation alone is not enough to ensure the success of the activities and success of this programme. Therefore, the commitment of each individual or member of the community is crucial to the successful activities and programmes which require voluntary participation of its members (Benny, 2007). However, Liu (2006) found that the lack of commitment among the rural community, primarily because they are not familiar with tourism activities. One of the key success factors of the homestay programme is through the leadership and commitment given by the local community who implement the programme (Amran & Zainab, 2009; Yahaya & Abdul Rasid, 2010). Coinciding with this, every registered homestay has a coordinator or a coordinator who will organize all activities in the programme. In addition, there are three ministries appointed and directly involved in the planning and implementation of the homestay programme in Malaysia such as Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Rural and Regional Development and Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia (Yahaya and Abdul Rashid, 2010). The concept of commitment in the workplace is still one of the most challenging and researched concepts in the fields of management, organizational behavior, and human resource management (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005). This concept was taken by Howard Becker's in 1960 that relate the commitment to theory 'side-bet' where employees are committed when they have hidden or relatively hidden investment, which causes them to continue in an organization. Porter et al. (1974) has been defined organizational commitment as an attachment to the organization through three main components; a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization s goals and values, a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization and a strong desire to maintain membership in the organization. Based on the concept of commitment has been expressed by earlier researchers, in 1991, Meyer and Allen have been classified into three dimensions of organizational commitment, namely affective commitment, continuous commitment and normative commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991). Affective commitment refers to the employee s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization. Employees with a strong affective commitment continue employment with the organization because they want to do so. Continuance commitment refers to an awareness of the costs associated with leaving the organization. Employees whose primary link to the organization is based on continuance commitment remain because they need to do so. Finally, normative commitment reflects a feeling of obligation to continue employment. Employees with a high level of normative commitment feel that they ought to remain with the organization (Meyer & Allen, 1991). A factor contributing to increase commitment is through leadership. This statement is supported by Yahaya and Abdul Rasid (2010) by saying that key success factors in a homestay programme is through the leadership and the commitment given by the local community to implement the programme. One of the familiar style of leadership is transformational leadership. In this study, transformational leadership is measured by four dimensions: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual

3 stimulation and individual consideration (Bass & Avolio in Abdullah, 2010). Idealized influence is defined as the capability to act as a role model whereby the leader becomes admired, respected and trusted. Inspirational motivation pertains to the ability of the transformational leader to create an inspiring, motivating, convincing and attractive future vision. By the use of symbols and the display of optimism and power, leaders are able to encourage followers belief in their ability to perform (Bass & Avolio in Abdullah, 2010). Intellectual stimulation thrives within a supportive climate where creativity and innovation are crucial for the leader s ability to arouse within followers an awareness of problems and recognition of their own beliefs and values. Individual consideration is a trait whereby the leader gives personal attention to his followers, taking into consideration their differences (Bass & Avolio in Abdullah, 2010). The objectives of this study were: 1) To identify the level of organizational commitment among homestay operators based on demographic factors. 2) To determine the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment among operators in homestay program RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A total of 304 operators in homestay program in Malaysia except Labuan were involved in this study. The questionnaires have contained of 3 parts; Part A: Demographic Information Questionnaire This part is contains of 7 items that related to demographic profile. Items that are included in this section were gender, race, age, marital status, education level, income and year of service. Part B: Leadership Questionnaire Transformation (MLQ) This part is contains of 33 questions related to leadership. This questionnaire was design by Bass and Avolio in Abdullah (2010) in his study on transformation's leadership communication style in Malaysia. The constructs include idealized influence (10 questions), inspiration motivation (9 questions), intellect stimulation (7 questions) and individual consideration (7 questions). Respondents were asked questions based on scale of 1 to 5, with a sequence of never, seldom, sometimes, frequently and always respectively. Part C: Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) This part is contains of 22 questions that was developed by Mowday et al. (1979) and has been modified by Sharifah Noraida (2009) in her study on employee s commitment in public sector. The scale used to measure of 1 to 5 to represent most disagreed, disagreed, neutral, agreed and most agreed. Dimension Table 1 Alpha Reliability Total Item Alpha (N=304) Transformational Leadership Idealized Influence Inspiration Motivation Intellectual Stimulation Individual Consideration Commitment Based on Table 1, the alpha coefficient values for every variable were quite high and exceed the value of 0.8, which according to Sekaran (2003), is considered suitable and acceptable. RESULT AND DISCUSSION Based on Table 2, among the respondent were 33.9% male (103 respondents) and 66.1% female (201 respondents). The majority of respondents were middle age, where 34.9% (106 respondents) were within 50 to 59, 3.3% (10 respondents) were aged between 20 to 29, 7.9% (24 respondents) were aged between 30 to 39, 28% (85 respondents) were aged between 40 to 49, and 26% (79 respondents) were aged 60 and above. Majority respondents (63.8%) have income RM2000 and below, 76 respondents (25%) have income between RM2001 to RM4000, 8.6% (26 respondents) have income between RM4001 to RM6000 and the rest 8 respondents (2.6%) have income RM6001 and above. From the year of service, majority of

4 respondents (180 respondents) served 60 month and below, 28.9% consist of 88 respondents served from 61 month to 120 month, 10.5% consist of 32 respondents served from 121 month to 180 month and the rest 1.3% of respondents served for 181 month and above. Table 2 Demographic Profile of Respondent Profile Frequency (N=29) Percentage ( % ) Gender Male Female Age years old years old years old years old years old and above Marital Status Single Married Widow Income RM2000 and below RM2001- RM RM4001-RM RM6001 and above Year of service 1 month -60 month month -120 month month -180 month month and above Table 2 shows the analysis of organizational commitment based on selected demographic factors using T-Test and ANOVA analysis. T- Test was used to analyze gender, while the ANOVA is used to analyze other demographic factors such as age, marital status, income and duration of involvement. For gender factor, the analysis shows no significant difference between males and females commitment in the homestay program. These findings supported a study conducted by the Ti-Lin and Jia (2008) found that gender does not have a significant relationship with organizational commitment. However, the study by Balay (2007) showed that male teachers are more committed to the organization than the female. For age factor, the study showed no significant differences in organizational commitment among operators in homestay program. However, the study conducted by Balay (2007) showed that older teachers are more committed than younger teachers. Furthermore, the results showed that there was a positive correlation between age and organizational commitment (Ti-Lin and Jia, 2008; Magoshi & Chang, 2009). However, by using ANOVA, age does not affect the commitment of the employees towards the organization (Asri & Hamrila, 2007; Gurses & Demiray, 2009). The results showed no significant differences between the marital status factor with homestay operator s commitment. These findings support the results of a study conducted by Asri & Hamrila (2007) who found that there was no significant relationship between marital status and organizational commitment. However, the study Gurses and Demiray (2009) found that in terms of marital status, married employees are more committed to work than employees bachelor. This was because financial factors and responsibilities that must be taken into account. However, the study of Ti-Lin and Jia (2008) shows that there is a negative relationship between marital status and commitment to the organization. The results showed a significant difference between the income factor with homestay operator s commitment. This showed that income plays an important role in enhancing organizational commitment among stakeholders in the homestay program. However, studies by Asri and Hamrila (2007) showed that the income does not affect employees' commitment to the organization.

5 Table 2: Organizational Commitment Based on Demographic Factors Gender N Mean Std. Deviation df t value Sig. (P) T-Test Male Female ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. (P) Age Between Groups Within Groups Marriage Between Groups Status Within Groups Income Between Groups Within Groups Duration of Involvement Between Groups Within Groups For the duration of involvement factor, the results showed there are significant differences between the duration of involvement with the homestay operator s commitment. Organizational commitment among operators who were involved between 121 months to 180 months lower than the operators who were involved less than 120 month. This indicates that the operators are new more committed and satisfied with the leadership applied in the program. These findings supported a study conducted by Al-Emadi and Marquart (2007) by using regression analysis found that the service has a significant and positive relationship with all three affective commitment, continuous and normative. Results of the study by Magoshi and Chang (2009) also found that there was a significant correlation between involvement and organizational commitment among employees. Table 3 Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Commitment Leadership r Sig Transformational Leadership.423 **.00 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). From the Table 3, the findings showed that there is a significant positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment among operators in homestay program where r=0.423, p<0.05. Woodcock (2010) found that transformational leadership will be positively related to employee commitment (organizational commitment and customer commitment). Table 4 Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Commitment Transformational Leadership r Sig Idealized Influences.406 **.00 Inspiration Motivation.402 **.00 Intellectual Stimulation.436 **.00 Individual Consideration.358 **.00 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). However, the Table 4 showed that all the dimensions of transformational leadership consist of individual influence (r=0.406, p< 0.05), inspirational motivation (r=0.402, p<0.01), intellectual stimulation (r=0.436, p<0.01) and individual consideration (r=0.358, p<0.01) have positive correlation with organization commitment among operators in homestay program. This research also supported by Alias (2002) found that there are significant relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment among lecturers.

6 CONCLUSION Leadership is a responsibility of a leader in achieving organizational goals and be a determinant of the success of an organization. Leaders need to shape the appropriate leadership style to be applied in an organization to ensure that followers can keep pace in achieving a success. One of the leadership style that should be practiced in the organization is the transformational leadership style. This study proved that commitment homestay operators in the organization is affected by transformational leadership. It showed that transformational leadership is suitable to be applied in this program. REFERENCE Abdullah Derahman (2010). Impak Gaya Komunikasi Kepimpinan Transformasi Dan Kesediaan Kognitif Terhadap Perubahan Budaya Kerja Organisasi. Unpublished phd s thesis, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. Terengganu Al-Emadi, M.A.S & Marquardt, M.J. (2007). Relationship between employees, beliefs regarding training benefits and employees, organizational commitment in a petroleum company in the state of Qatar. International Journal of Training and Development, 11(1), Amran Hamzah & Zainab Khalifah (2009). Handbook on community based tourism: How to develop and sustain CBT. Singapore. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat. Asri Marsidi, & Hamrila Abdul Latip. (2007). Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi komitmen pekerja di organisasi awam. Jurnal Kemanusiaan, 10, Balay, R. (2007). Predicting conflict management based on organizational commitment and selected demographic variables. Asia Pacific Education Review, 8 (2), Bass & Avolio in Abdullah Derahman. (2010). Impak gaya komunikasi kepimpinan transformasi dan kesediaan kognitif terhadap perubahan budaya kerja organisasi. Disertasi Ph.D tidak diterbitkan, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu. Benny, T.V. (2007). Pengaruh sikap dan motivasi terhadap komitmen ahli dalam pelbagai aktiviti rukun tetangga di kawasan rukun tetangga Taman Sri Jelok, Kajang, Selangor. Unpublished master s thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Cooper-Hakim, A., & Viswesvaran, C. (2005). The construct of work commitment: Testing an integrative framework. Psychological Bulletin, 131, Gurses, N. & Demiray, E. (2009). Organizational commitment of employees of TV production center (Educational television ETV) for Open Education Faculty, Anadolu University. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology- TOJET, 8(1), Article 5. Jabil mapjabil, Siti Asma Mohd Rosdi, Munir Shuib & Sharmini Abdullah, Pembanguan homestay di Wilayah Utara Semenanjung Malaysia: Profil, produk dan prospek. Malaysia Journal of Society and Space, 7(2), Kadir Din & Jabil Mapjabil (2010). Tourism research in Malaysia: What, which way and so what? Sintok, Kedah. Universiti Utara Malaysia Press. Liu, A. (2006). Tourism in rural areas: Kedah, Malaysia. Tourism Management, 27, Magoshi, E. & Chang, E. (2009). Diversity management and the effects on employees organizational commitment: Evidence from Japan and Korea. Journal of World Business, 44,

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