Research on Consumer Well-Being in Malaysia

This research note provides an overview of consumer well-being research in Malaysia, and highlights a major research study on consumer well-being by Masud et al. (2010). Masud et al.??s data indicate that Malaysian consumers enjoyed their rights as consumers, held some level of acceptable consumer values, possessed reasonable levels of knowledge, and practiced good consumer principles. Nevertheless, some consumers indicated a low level of overall well-being. The data also revealed the need for strong support from government and market sectors to enhance the well-being of consumers in Malaysia. More studies on consumer well-being in Malaysia are suggested and universities and research institutes are urged to intensify their efforts to convince policy makers and grant providers to appropriate funds for research on consumer well-being in Malaysia.     

A consumption model for measuring poverty: An exploratory exercise

The general purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a consumption model to estimate poverty level of paddy farmers in Malaysia. The consumption model was based on four selected domains of life, namely quality of housing and local facilities, durable ownership, health status, and food intake. The data for this study were taken from the Level of Living Study (1986–1990) conducted by the Department of Human Development, Agriculture University of Malaysia. The sample consisted of 600 paddy farmers, selected randomly. Two consumption models — orthogonal and oblique — were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The findings revealed that the oblique model was better fitted to the data than the orthogonal model.