Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on audit quality. This research uses a qualitative methodology with an interview approach to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on six indicators relating to audit quality, including audit procedures, audit fees, and auditor performance. This study obtains data from six professional auditors from both Big 4 and non-Big 4 public accounting firms who worked before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the increase in uncertainties during the pandemic and regulations that have forced auditors to conduct audit remotely, the findings have shown that the six indicators related to audit quality were indeed been affected by the pandemic; however, the result shows that audit quality is still maintained during the pandemic due to the efforts made by the auditors, regulations and standards that have been issued during the pandemic. To date and to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, there have been limited qualitative studies that discuss the impact of COVID-19 in Indonesia. Therefore, this research fills this gap by discussing and reviewing the impacts of the pandemic on various indicators of audit quality in Indonesia.

Keywords: audit quality, COVID-19, audit fee, audit procedures, auditor’s performance, audit human capital, auditor’s salaries, auditor’s motivation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.62.32

The high uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic makes it challenging for policy makers to design suitable solutions in response to it, especially in the education sector. The education sector is highly affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. The outbreak of COVID-19 is hindering education globally and hence has forced some high institutions to switch to online classes with the aim of mitigating the spread of the disease. This study’s major objective was to determine factors influencing online learning of private university students under the COVID-19 pandemic in Selangor. The analysis was conducted through a quantitative approach using SPSS Version 20.0. From 217 participants given the questionnaire through online method with use of a Google link and social media such as WhatsApp and Facebook, the research obtained 206 responses. The analysis conducted, which included the linearity test, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple regression, revealed relationship between independent variables (technical skills, course content and methodology, online connectivity and availability, student engagement) and the dependent variable (online learning under the COVID-19 pandemic). Hence, multiple regression showed that all the hypotheses were accepted. However, the research faced limitations relating to the approach used, such as convenience sampling, as the researchers focused only on a quantitative approach. Hence, future studies can focus on simple random sampling and missed approaches to further enhance the reliability and validity.

Keywords: online learning, social media, Covid-19 pandemic.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.62.31

In recent years, customer experience has become a primary concern for several multinational corporations, with very senior roles committed to it in their hierarchy. Research on the nature, determinants, and consequences of customer experience is widely presented in the literature and, however, often divergent in many aspects. The advent of the sharing economy where the customer can also be a producer of value and a service provider has made certain concepts of the customer experience very controversial, starting with the notion of the customer itself. This literature review aims to explore to what extent certain notions of customer experience remain valid and could adapt well to this new booming economy. The analysis we conducted covered 104 articles. This literature review has shown the existence of certain determinants of the customer experience and the customer journey that are specific to the collaborative economy and has identified avenues for future research on the measurement, determinants, and quality of customer experience and journey in this new economy.

Keywords: sharing economy, customer experience, customer journey, quality of customer experience.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.62.30

The National Entrepreneurship Policy (NEP) 2030 creates a holistic and conducive entrepreneurial ecosystem to support an inclusive, balanced, and sustainable socioeconomic agenda. However, the issue of competence of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) Bumiputera entrepreneurs in the business sector has yet to be resolved holistically. Accordingly, a pilot study was conducted to determine the level of competence of MSME bumiputra entrepreneurs in Malaysia. The design of a quantitative study with a survey method approach was conducted on Bumiputera MSME entrepreneurs around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. The competency study instrument has high reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.967. The resource-based view (RBV) theory is used as the basis for the formation of research instruments. Questionnaires were distributed to the respondents face-to-face. The study data were analyzed descriptively using SPSS Version 28.0 software. The results of the study show that most of the respondents are between 31 and 40 years old with an income of 10,000 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) and above and are involved in the business sector. The level of competence of entrepreneurs in terms of skills through the strategic management dimension shows the highest mean value (4.41). Meanwhile, the level of knowledge competence through the dimension of foresight and the system of thinking showed the lowest mean value (4.17). The findings of this study have implications for the government to design training programs, seminars, and courses to strengthen the knowledge of Bumiputera entrepreneurs in Malaysia.

Keywords: competence, entrepreneur, pilot study, Malaysia.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.62.29

In Thailand, people were affected by the COVID-19 epidemic every day from multiple clusters, increasing the number of cases in the thousands per day and also affecting the economy. Most of the infected were young, between the ages of 20-40. Young infected had mild or no severe symptoms, making them unaware that they were infected, which complicated significantly the spread control. The number of daily cases of COVID-19 soared due to the severity of the virus and its easy spread so quickly which led to a difficult situation in Thailand. Mistakes in solving the problem of the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the economy and society. The number of new cases and deaths was rising, affecting the capacity of Thailand’s public health system beyond its ability to cope and reflecting the inefficiency of the leadership in managing the COVID-19 pandemic situation. This article proposes a guideline for solving this crisis. However, in the recent situation, the people also urged those in charge to expedite the resolution of the COVID-19 crisis to control the pandemic and the death of the people from serious contagious diseases in time, whether it is epidemic control, subsidies for entrepreneurs and people, stimulation of the economy, or recovery of Thailand. These are considered urgent approaches and the keys to effectively solving the COVID-19 pandemic at this time. The goal of this article is to serve as a guideline for leaders to apply it in effectively solving problems with the outbreak of new strains of germs and being ready to deal with various disaster problems that will occur in the future.

Keywords: leadership, management, pandemic, virus, COVID-19.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.62.28