Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis

Financial sustainability had become a primary concern among public universities worldwide due to the declining trend of government's funding and the unceasing growth in higher education cost. Hence, public universities are forced to generate alternative income sources. Resource dependency theor...

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Main Authors: Abdullah Jaafar, Johanna, Abdul Latiff, Ahmed Razman, Mat Daud, Zaidi, Osman, Mohammad Noor Hisham
Format: Article
Published: Palgrave Macmillan 2023
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/111633/
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author Abdullah Jaafar, Johanna
Abdul Latiff, Ahmed Razman
Mat Daud, Zaidi
Osman, Mohammad Noor Hisham
author_facet Abdullah Jaafar, Johanna
Abdul Latiff, Ahmed Razman
Mat Daud, Zaidi
Osman, Mohammad Noor Hisham
author_sort Abdullah Jaafar, Johanna
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Financial sustainability had become a primary concern among public universities worldwide due to the declining trend of government's funding and the unceasing growth in higher education cost. Hence, public universities are forced to generate alternative income sources. Resource dependency theory asserts that revenue diversification is a prudent strategy for non-profit organisations to mitigate their financial challenges. However, studies that focused on revenue diversification strategy's potential among public universities are yet to be proven. Thus, this study examined the effect of revenue diversification on the financial sustainability of 20 Malaysian public universities using a panel data approach. Revenue diversification is measured using the Hirschman Herfindahl Index, while financial sustainability was proxied by the Return on Assets (ROA) and Net Profit Margin. The result discovered that revenue diversification had a significant positive relationship with financial sustainability when ROA is used as a proxy. This study contributes to resource dependency theory, whereby the revenue diversification effect was tested and found to be significant in the context of public universities. It also highlighted the importance of revenue diversification to overcome the financial sustainability issue, which became a primary concern of Malaysian public universities in recent years.
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spelling upm-1116332024-07-19T02:23:23Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/111633/ Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis Abdullah Jaafar, Johanna Abdul Latiff, Ahmed Razman Mat Daud, Zaidi Osman, Mohammad Noor Hisham Financial sustainability had become a primary concern among public universities worldwide due to the declining trend of government's funding and the unceasing growth in higher education cost. Hence, public universities are forced to generate alternative income sources. Resource dependency theory asserts that revenue diversification is a prudent strategy for non-profit organisations to mitigate their financial challenges. However, studies that focused on revenue diversification strategy's potential among public universities are yet to be proven. Thus, this study examined the effect of revenue diversification on the financial sustainability of 20 Malaysian public universities using a panel data approach. Revenue diversification is measured using the Hirschman Herfindahl Index, while financial sustainability was proxied by the Return on Assets (ROA) and Net Profit Margin. The result discovered that revenue diversification had a significant positive relationship with financial sustainability when ROA is used as a proxy. This study contributes to resource dependency theory, whereby the revenue diversification effect was tested and found to be significant in the context of public universities. It also highlighted the importance of revenue diversification to overcome the financial sustainability issue, which became a primary concern of Malaysian public universities in recent years. Palgrave Macmillan 2023 Article PeerReviewed Abdullah Jaafar, Johanna and Abdul Latiff, Ahmed Razman and Mat Daud, Zaidi and Osman, Mohammad Noor Hisham (2023) Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis. Higher Education Policy, 36. pp. 116-143. ISSN 0952-8733; ESSN: 1740-3863 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41307-021-00247-9
spellingShingle Abdullah Jaafar, Johanna
Abdul Latiff, Ahmed Razman
Mat Daud, Zaidi
Osman, Mohammad Noor Hisham
Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis
title Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis
title_full Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis
title_fullStr Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis
title_full_unstemmed Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis
title_short Does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of Malaysian Public Universities? a panel data analysis
title_sort does revenue diversification strategy affect the financial sustainability of malaysian public universities? a panel data analysis
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/111633/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/111633/