Abdul Ghaffar, Ahmad Nizam (2023) Stimulating the Malaysian Rural Community Centres through the rural digital economy under the Smart Village Enablement Program. Doctoral thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
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Ahmad Nizam Abdul Ghaffar (2022) DBA Stimulating the Malaysian rural community centres.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (5MB) | Preview |
Abstract
The Malaysian government, through the Ministry of Rural Development, has identified the digital economy as a vehicle for catalysing socioeconomic improvement in the country, with a focus on rural communities. The introduction of the Smart Village Enablement Program would serve as the catalyst for the rural digital connectivity that drives the socio-economic program to reduce the digital division and exclusion issues plaguing the rural communities. The aim of this study was to study the development of the rural digital economy in Malaysia, specifically to identify the determinants of the initiation of the rural digital economy and analyse the impact of initiating the rural digital economy. This study also aims to recommend the framework for the Smart Village Enablement Program. The qualitative grounded theory approach was adopted loosely, adapting the Theory of Social Change to identify the factors and their expected impacts. Cluster sampling was done to select 13 Rural Community Centres(RCCs)for the studies to accurately represent the total of 191 RCCs under the ministry of rural development purview nationwide.The data collected was through semi-structured interviews with the selected 13 RCCs’managers. The findings strongly support RCC as the rural digital hub for rural communities. The RCC will help spread the rural digital economy for rural communities. The RCC would need to be strategically located, have all the required internet connectivity to facilitate the digital platform for the rural digital services, and have full empowerment of the respective RCC Managers. With the full establishment of the RCC, the relevant sustainable programmes and activities could be implemented to drive the effectiveness of the RCC, together with ethnic integration and demographic assimilation of the rural communities. The findings of this study contributed greatly to the academic’s writings on the smart village conception and the rural digital economics program. Industry white papers and case studies were visibly evidenced, but the resources of the academic scholars were limited. On the other hand, there were many apparent practical business applications for the advent of rural digital and smart village enablement programs, with the obvious potential for future revenue by the respective industry players. In short, because the field was considered new and only established in the last decade, there would be many areas for future studies of the subject matter.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management T Technology > T Technology (General) |
| Divisions: | Theses and Dissertations > Doctoral Theses |
| Depositing User: | Natalie Williams |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Feb 2023 10:46 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Feb 2023 10:46 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/2238 |
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