PLS-SEM

Universities require highly qualified and committed instructors to carry out the significant tasks of educating the future generation of the society. The primary interest of this study was to explore the construct of teacher commitment to determine its dimensions and components and finally design EFL Teachers’ Professional Commitment Questionnaire. First, through a thorough analysis of the available literature as well as a semi-structured interview, the core dimensions and components were opted. Then, in the second qualitative phase, the researcher designed the early draft of a structured questionnaire which was handed into 25 experts. Content Validity Ratio was computed to ensure validity. Subsequently, the modified draft of the EFL Teachers’ Professional Commitment Questionnaire was designed and administered to 70 EFL university instructors to investigate the validity and reliability of the instrument employing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. As a result, three dimensions of Commitment to Students, Commitment to Profession, and Commitment to University along with 10 components were confirmed. The practical implication of this study is a validated EFL Teachers’ Professional Commitment Questionnaire performing as an evaluative tool to assess the level of teachers’ commitment with respect to their commitment to students, university, and profession in the EFL academic context of Iran.

Much of what educators address is the overt curriculum; however, there is a hidden curriculum that affects education in a very profound manner. In view of that, the purpose of the present study is to determine the relationship of EFL teachers’ perspectives on hidden curriculum components in the Iranian institutional context with their students’ self-efficacy and national identity. More specifically, the present study surveyed the probable existence of any significant correlation between EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components, their students’ attitudes towards their own national identity, and self-efficacy. For this purpose, a model was suggested and tested using partial least squares variance-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), to examine EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components contributing to their students’ national identity and self-efficacy. A total of 164 institutional EFL teachers in Iran completed the EFL hidden curriculum questionnaire. Besides, 987 students (about eighty percent of their learners) were asked to fill in national identity and self-efficacy questionnaires. Based on this model, all the correlations between the latent variables were significant except for three latent variables including the relationships among EFL teachers’ perspectives on the EFL hidden curriculum components (social atmosphere, organizational structure, and interaction between teachers and learners) and their learners’ self-efficacy. In addition, the results depicted all the relationships between latent variables was positive relations; while, the relationship between EFL learners’ national identity and self-efficacy was proved to be negative.

With the advancement of communication technology, e-hailing services are becoming more widespread in Malaysia. Even though e-hailing services offer relative advantages compared to other types of public transport, research on the service quality aspects and customer satisfaction is essential to ensure customers receive worthwhile service with the money they spend on the services. Therefore, the growth of the e-hailing sector in Malaysia has drawn attention from the government, service providers, passengers, and even academics to the issues of service quality and customer satisfaction. Much research on service quality has been conducted in Malaysia; however, limited research has yet to be done on e-hailing services specifically for the state of Sarawak (East Malaysia) compared to peninsular areas. Thus, this research aims to measure the service quality performance of e-hailing in Sarawak and investigate the factors influencing passenger satisfaction. Three hundred ninety-two e-hailing users voluntarily participated in the survey, which was conducted in 2023. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed to assess the measurement and structural model. The analysis revealed that vehicle condition, customer service, and reliability have a significant one-percent relationship with passenger satisfaction. To ensure e-hailing vehicles are always in good condition, e-hailing companies and government agencies must make it mandatory for e-hailing cars to be maintained periodically. Next, the driver should improve communication skills and show a good attitude to provide excellent customer service. Besides, prompt response to customer orders is a must to ensure e-hailing services are reliable public transportation.