IMPROVING THE LEVEL OF COMPETENCIES FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN MALAYSIA THROUGH ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF E-TRAINING: A CONCEPTUAL PAPER

This paper intends to study the ways to improve on the level of competencies for Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia through enhancing the effectiveness of e-Training. The study reviews literature on the history of e-Training in Malaysia. The paper will be analysing four main independent variables (motivation factors, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), result demonstrability and perceived behavioural control) that play crucial roles on the behavioural intention to use the e-Training system. Besides, this study also examines the relationships between the trainees’ behaviour with the dependent variables (trainees’ satisfaction, actual knowledge use and their learning performance) through improving the effectiveness of an e-Training system


Introduction
The evolution of technology has changed the society moved towards modern era. People's life was getting easier with those computers and their peripherals. According to Kennedy and Davis (2006), digital technology is of particular when information is gathered, store, retrieved and evaluated. To access the value of information technology to an organization and to appreciate the determinants of that value are the key objectives in IT research. It aims to assists the firms for improvement on deployment and management of their IT resources and enhances the overall effectiveness (Taylor & Todd, 1995).
The invention of technology and strategies towards the information management and usage has been stimulated due to the aggressive growth in information and the challenge of increase users' need. For the last two decades, it has been a concern to study how importance of acceptance of technology in affecting human behaviour (Ramayah, Lo & Mohammad, 2013). Today, both large organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are looking for approaches to strengthen their competitive position and improve their productivity. Regardless of the epidemic growth of IT within SMEs, it has been found that the large organizations have visibly profited more than SMEs in both IT-enabled improved sale and cost-savings.
Providing training by using web-based technology is no longer a new trend. According to Clarke and Hermens (2001), lots of corporations have realized that e-Learning offers the advantages of timeliness, easy access and scalability which allow the training to be delivered to more people in less time and lower cost. Addition, based on the report stated by American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), they mentioned that "high-quality e-Learning creates an economic advantage for both individuals and organizations by improving speed to capability or shortening the amount of time it takes to get workers up to speed on new products and processes" (ASTD, 2001). In the study done by Piskurich (2000), there are just two to three weeks needed for a web-based training to be conducted to every employee instead of traditional classroom training which took corporations six to nine months. These have pledge faster time-to-market with products and greater productivity. Furthermore, this condition creates a strong economic incentive for the business community to grasp e-Learning (Dalston, 2009).
Most of the firms which operating in this modern and increasingly global economies, have already emphasize the training within the workplace as the priority. However, according to Anton (2010), training is costly. How the technology is integrated into instruction and what are the outcomes targeted are determining the effectiveness of e-Training technology on the learners (Mustakerov & Borissova, 2011). In several studies done by the past researchers, effectiveness training is much more depends on mixing the different media tools and identifying the most adequate learning styles combinations. In view that the advantages as it offers, e-Training can be considered as the appropriate tools for workplace training. All of these benefits can be presented from the past literature and current positive implications for organizations, trainees in all levels and also from the society. Furthermore, the changing fast knowledge and skills demand, geographic scattering of workforce and the needs for cutting down costs, call for a justin-time (JIT) and accessible from anywhere, anytime way of learning. From here, what it has shown that e-Training appears to be the one-way solution to overcome these circumstances. All these can leads to the company to be able to cut down a lot of huge investments on the staff training.

E-Training in Malaysia
From the definition from Dalston (2009), e-Training is referred as a computer or technology-mediated experience or process of interventions developed and implemented to economically and ethically address human performance gaps, in an effort to improve workplace practices and meet measurable personal and organizational work-related goals. Furthermore, as the same exploitation convention as e-Learning was used, e-Training should adapt the understanding, abilities, capacities, attitudes and tendency of training participant to allow them to solve or outline open-ended problems in original modes and manage multifaceted activities with others. With the aim of improving both individual and organizational work performance, training also varies from learning in that it is usually associated within a workplace or organization setting.
As far as it is concerned, e-Learning and e-Training are always growing and are filled of new potential for organizations in this ever-changing technologies age with new techniques and strategies continuously rising. According to Athey (2012), she mentioned that there are some very exciting capabilities for online training and information exchange can be gained from the fast moving development in e-Learning. The global impact of e-Learning or e-Training is being aware of by many nations including Malaysia too. Therefore, the country's national information and communications technology (ICT) has included e-Learning as one of its primary activities agenda. Among policy-makers, providers, enablers and receivers in the support of forecast of the prospect, it is crucial that the Malaysian government knew the level of readiness of e-Learning in the country. In Malaysia, the significance of providing training and development is seen through a variety of policies implemented by the government and the huge amount of money invested.
As cited in the Public Service Department Service Circular (2005), the government has set one of its policy is to arrange for a minimum of seven training days per annum for each of their employee in the organization. However, it occurs that training and development has been treated as an event in the private industry within Malaysia. Thus, it is important that to make the training and development to be of value to an organization and it must be elevated to a high status, plus its effectiveness can be measured.
Though, according to Brinkerhoff (2005), the organizations can no longer manage to pay for providing training which has not been evaluated for its contribution to the organization's strategic aims and mission. Additionally, its effectiveness and use on the job to achieve those aims and mission are also not be measured. As we know, effectiveness drives to the heart of what training and development are all about in an organization, by providing employee the knowledge and skills they need to perform their jobs effectively (Noe & Schmitt, 1986).
Before initiate a more effective training, organizations are required to look at how the training and development system is aligned with their set strategy and at what is being done to ensure that all planned training and development activities are effective. With the intention of attain a knowledge-based workforce and knowledge-economy in line with the country's vision 2020, the firms have spent enormous amount of money on employees in the public and private sectors and more expenses will be incurred by the organizations in training its employees. But, presently there are many grievances and complaints have been directed towards the employees for their ineffectiveness and inefficiency. In spite of, the firms' spending on their training and development to improve performance, these complaints and criticisms are still kept on increasing.
There are numerous challenges facing by the firms when it comes to designing and implementing an effectiveness e-Training program. Even though the potential of e-Training seems promising, there is still a growing feeling that focusing only on delivering training content is leading e-Training to be perceived as trainees sitting behind their computers, viewing and turning content pages. This might lead trainees to static, passive, low motivation and isolation (Turani & Al-Shrouf, 2009;Hummel et al., 2004).
According to Turani and Al-Shrouf (2009), several online training programs have reported high failing rates. This could be due to that fact of the current e-Training settings which emphasise memorisation and individual responsibilities (Panitz & Panitz, 1998). Bonk and Wisher (2002) said, psychological and pedagogical theories proven that conventional lectures that provide only to transmit information from instructor to learners are not really effective.
Based on the study did by Zomada in year 2005, the insufficient of face-to-face interaction with peer group can be a major matter in a corporate environment depending on the objectives of the training. This may indicate that e-Learning will only be suitable for bringing certain types of training and classroom-based training will continue to survive as an important forum for corporate learning.
Computer literacy of the workers is one of the major areas for this apprehension. People are still not ready due to lack of skills and confidence with an online approach (Anton, 2010). With an aging workforce it is not unlikely that many senior workers may have very little experiences with technology with which e-Training would be delivered. The senior workers are less savvy in terms of usage of technologies. This can have a major impact on the effectiveness of the training program. The organization will have to make sure that all the workers have at least a minimum requirement of skills to access the e-Training program and work through it. As with any training program, supports upper level management is crucial. The human resource department in the organization must be able to show how an effective e-Training program can affect the bottom line of the organization.
Besides, another challenge is no critical mass of users for e-Training in Malaysia. This concept is still new especially in Malaysia while there is not many organizations have implemented it yet to their employees. They still tend to rely on the conventional training programs which are time-consuming and sometimes not cost-effectiveness as well. The trainees might not able to grab the knowledge during the training programs but yet they have no place to refer after the training session except the distributed hand-outs materials.
Putting together an effective e-Training program so as to increase the learners' job performance is sometimes a huge investment for the organizations if compared to a traditional training program. High training program development cost is also another concern for implementing an effective e-Training program. Time and money needed to maintain and update the contents of the programs (Turban, 2004). The content of the e-Training program also needs to be revised as it has not differentiated from the face-toface approach and it is not sustainable for the current situation. Besides, in terms of infrastructure such as equipment, software and supports available now in Malaysia, there still have some places to improve further to support the e-Training concepts. As we know, there is limited access to the broadband although it is kindly common among us. However, the infrastructure to support the completeness of an effective e-Training program will need to further look up to increase its reliability and stability.
This aim of this study is to investigate the perspectives of employees' perceptions towards the proposed research model, in which the unit of analysis is at the individual level towards the assessment on the e-Training's effectiveness. The acceptance of technology has been widely investigated in order to understand which factors encourage the use of e-Training and, therefore, the use of new technologies (Bonera, 2011). This study is based on Motivational factors (Bandura, 1977), Technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), Ajzen (1988), by examining behavioural factors of these employees affects their satisfaction, actual usage of knowledge and their learning performance after the training. The findings of this study can be served as an index to assist SMEs' management to measure the e-training's effectiveness and efficiency.
The structure of this paper starts with literature review and the development of hypotheses in the next section. Subsequently, the research methods for this analysis are described and followed by potential contribution of this study. The last section is on discussion and conclusion for this study.

Literature Review
For organizations to facilitate employees expand their proper knowledge and skills needed to meet the environmental challenges, training is one of the mainly important strategies to be implemented. (Goldstein & Gilliam, 1990;Rosow & Zager 1988).
The past ten years have witnessed a veritable explosion in training research literature, highlighting significant developments in training methodology, evaluation and theory (Salas 2001), and in defining what training actually means and is designed to achieve. It was once considered quite acceptable to perceive training as one off, independent event. In more recent years, training practice has increasingly been acknowledged as having a strategic focus, as an event that occurs within existing organisational frameworks, and is custom designed to achieve specific organisational goals (Salas 2001, Goldstein, 2002.

Motivation Factors
In the study by Smith (2008), since long time ago in e-Learning, motivation has been seen as a subject of design in terms of its proper instructional design and provision of suitable learning activities which could ensure the engagement of all learners. It is the result of processes, internal or external to the individual, which stimulates eagerness and persistence to pursue a certain course of action. Motivation represents an unsatisfied need which produces a state of tension or disequilibrium, causing the individual to make a goal-oriented guide towards restoring a state of equilibrium by fulfilling the need.
Motivation is primarily concerned with how behaviour is activated and maintained (Bandura, 1977). Many theories of motivation exist throughout the literature. According to Bandura, motivation is sometime acquired through avoiding aversive external stimuli, such as hunger, thirst and pain. A great deal of human motivation, however, is initiated and sustained over long periods in the absence of external stimulation.

Self-efficacy
From the definition from Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is the measure of one's own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. In his seminal articles, he identifies selfefficacy as a construct often used to elucidate one's ability to judge how well he/she can execute a task to achieve a desired goal. Self-efficacy was initially defined as an individual's belief about his or her ability to successfully execute a behaviour required to produce a desired outcome. This was refined in advance in his article in year 1986 where Bandura highlighted the significance of distinguishing between component skills and the ability to perform actions. Different studies by Mathieu et al. (1993), Harrison et al. (1997) and Holladay and Quinones (2003) have found a positive relationship between pertaining self-efficacy and ultimate training mastery.

Locus of Control
Locus of control refers to individual's belief that events are contingent upon his/her behaviour and circumstances. It is a stable personality trait that is likely to affect individual motivation and ability to learn. Based on Rotter's (1966) definition, individuals who are Internals believe that job performance and events that occur in the work setting are contingent on their own behaviour and are, therefore, under personal control.
In the reviews by Spector (1982), he suggested that because locus of control is a personality characteristic that influences beliefs about ability to improve skills, it should be a vital determinant of individual's trainability. A study by Broedling (1975) also sustains the link between locus of control and effort-performance expectancies.

Attribution
Attribution theory (Weiner, 1980) is most likely the most leading contemporary theory with implications for academic motivation. It incorporates behaviour modification in the sense that it emphasizes the idea that learners are strongly motivated by the pleasant outcome of being able to feel good about themselves. It incorporates cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory in the sense that it emphasizes that learners' current selfperceptions will strongly influence the ways in which they will interpret the success or failure of their current efforts and hence their future tendency to perform these same behaviours.

Goal Orientation
Goal orientation is defined as a "disposition toward developing or demonstrating ability in achievement situations". Prior literature has examined goal orientation as a motivation variable useful for recruitment, climate and culture, performance appraisal, and selection. Studies have also used goal orientation to forecast goal setting, learning and adaptive behaviours in training and leadership.
Goal orientation is theorized as an important cognitive process which affects motivation (Schunk, 1991). According to Bandura (1997), it has been stated that perceived negative discrepancies between what they do and what they seek to achieve create dissatisfaction that serve as motivational inducements for changes when individuals commit themselves to explicit goals. On another note, VandeWalle (1997) defines performance prove goal orientation as the "desire to prove one's competence and to gain favourable judgement about it". The performance approach orientation represents a desire to achieve a high level of performance. The results shown in the study that done by Zheng et al. (2010) stated that the positive motivation for agribusiness employee behavioural intentions include intrinsic goal-orientation, extrinsic goal-orientation, task value and self-efficacy.

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
According to the studies from Lai (2011) and Orhan et al. (2011), intrinsic motivation demotes to doing something because it is intrinsically enjoyable or interesting, which is lively by personal enjoyment, interest or pleasure. Extrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it guides to a distinguishable outcome, which is governed by reinforcement contingencies. In one of the literature which discusses about work motivation, Ambrose and Kulik (1999) stated that intrinsic motivation still is perceived to be highly dominant. Alternatively, it is said that both intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are required to examine and identify with motivation and behaviour in organization. In line with Lai (2011), traditionally, educators consider intrinsic motivation to be more desirable and to result in better learning outcomes than extrinsic motivation. Fagan et al. (2008) elucidated that, there is a positive relationship between extrinsic motivation and behavioural intention to use computers. Besides, they also mentioned that there is a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.

Self-regulated Learning
Self-regulated learning is controlled by an interconnected framework of factors that determine its development and sustainability (Bandura, 1993) and motivation is a critical factor in this framework (Kurman, 2001).

Technology Acceptance Model
Different researchers have different ideas on the term technology acceptance. The term 'acceptance' is used from authors with different approaches and background. In fact, acceptance has not a unique definition in the literature. TAM (Davis, 1989) describes acceptance as 'users' decision about how and when they will use technology'. While sustainable success depends on its continued use, Martinez (Martinez-Torres et al., 2003) observes that preliminary use (acceptance) is the first significant step towards elearning. There is great variety of studies focusing on ICT acceptance (Ngai, Poon & Chan, 2007) and a lot of models have been developed to describe the technology acceptance in common and particularly for Information and Communication Technology (ICT). TAM has been validated in a number of contexts and successfully applied for predicting user acceptance of various (computer) technologies as evidenced in the past.
Since the introduction of the TAM model by Davis (1989), it has been generally used for predicting acceptance, adoption, and use of information systems (Halawi and McCarthy, 2007). According to Al-hawari et al. (2010), they use TAM model for a different purpose; rather than predicting the acceptance and use of information systems, they investigate how TAM factors mainly might contribute toward increasing the rate of students' satisfaction and retention towards e-learning. In this area at the moment, the E-learning and the WWW as a basis for learning activities has expanded radically.

Perceived Ease of Use
The perceived ease of use (PEOU) of a system is defined as the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular technology will be free of effort and easy to use. The results of many of the prior empirical studies have demonstrated that PEOU has a positive correlation with behaviour intention, both directly (Davis, 1989) and indirectly, through PU (Davis, 1989). Students' interaction with the e-learning is apparent and understandable (Davis, 1989). PEOU will similarly affect a student's intention to accept the e-learning system directly or indirectly through PU.

Perceived Usefulness
The perceived usefulness (PU) of a system is defined as the degree to which individuals believe that using the new technology will enhance their task performance. Venkatesh and Davis (2000), Mathieson and Chin (2001), Dishaw and Strong (1999), Moon and Kim (2001), Hubona and Geitz (1997), and Taylor and Todd (2001) showed in their research that perceived ease of use had a positive effect on perceived usefulness. Several empirical studies have provided support or the proposition that PU is the key predictor of information technology usage (Davis, 1989;Igbaria et al., 1997;Straub, 1997, 2000;Venkatesh, 2000;Hsu and Lu, 2004;Ong et al., 2004). An e-Training system can be viewed as an information technology tool, and learners will use the knowledge gained from the training only if they perceive that its use will enhance their learning performance. Such performance enhancement may be measured in terms of learning output (or learning efficiency), the effectiveness of training and improvements in job performance. In e-Training, PU refers to the extent to which learners believe that using the e-Training system will enhance their learning performance. Therefore, PU will influence their intention to use and adopt the e-learning system, either directly or indirectly (through perceived ease of use).

Result Demonstrability
The organizations may adopt technology due to relative advantage, complexity, result demonstrability and image. TAM2 theorizes that "result demonstrability", defined by Moore and Benbasat (1991) as the "tangible of the results of using the innovation" will directly influence perceived usefulness. With some exception (Plouffe, Hulland, & Vandenbosch, 2001), the general consensus is that result demonstrability increases the acceptance of technologies (Moore & Benbasat, 1991;Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). Karahanna and Straub (1999) concluded that result demonstrability was more essential for pre-adoption attitude formation as opposed to post-adoption attitude formation.

Perceived Behavioural Control
Perceived behavioural control has been defined as the belief that one has and can exercise control over performing a specific behaviour (Christopher, 2010). According to Ajzen (1988), he mentioned that perceived behavioural control has been defined as an individual's perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behaviour.
According to the concept proposed by Ajzen (1991), the predictive power of the theory of reasoned action can be improved by including perceived behavioural control. .The theory states that attitude towards behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, together shape an individual's behavioural intentions and behaviours. Besides, in the study done by Abadi, Ranjbarian and Zade (2012) stated that perceived behavioural control has the positive effect on the behavioural intention of mobile banking.

Trainees' Satisfaction
Many researchers provide empirical evidence of a positive relationship between trainees' satisfaction and behavioural intention (Ryu, Han and Pearlman, 2009). In the research done by Prystowsky and Bordage (2001), they stated that trainee performance and satisfaction were dominant research topics with relatively little attention paid to the cost of medical education or the quality of care provided to patients by graduates.

Actual Knowledge Use
There is a growing number of research to suggest that attitude towards computer use have a strong link to behavioural intention and thereafter to actual behaviour (Davis, 1989;Wong & Teo, 2009;Sumak et al., 2011). Behavioural intention was used as the dependent variable in the study by Wong et al. (2013) as it is known to be a more practical way to measure technology use among student teachers (Teo & Noyes, 2011).
As stated by Kigongo (2011), in TAM, similar to TRA, an individual's belief determines the attitude toward using the system and, in turn, the attitude develops the intention to use. Finally, this intention influences the decision of actual system usage. These causalities are broadly studied and accepted (Chen et al., 2002).

Learner's Performance
According to Griffin et al. (2000), task performance and contextual performance are two distinctive dimensions of behaviour at work that can contribute independently to effectiveness outcomes for organizations. Their results show that contextual performance does contribute to effectiveness in technical domains and emphasize the importance of assessing situational aspects when accessing performance and effectiveness. Wong et al. (2013) explained TAM by examining a person's performance of specified behaviour and it was determined by his or her behavioural intention to perform certain tasks. There exists a body of literature in computing and teaching-learning settings (Madorin & Iwasiw, 1999;Hansan & Ali, 2004;Hayashi et al., 2004) which indicated that higher levels of self-efficacy lead to better learning performance.
Based upon the discussion above, the following hypotheses are proposed: H1: Self-efficacy has a positive relationship with the behavioural intention to use e-Training. H2: Locus of control has a positive relationship with the behavioural intention to use e-Training. H3: Attribution has a positive relationship with the behavioural intention to use e-Training. H4: Goal orientation has a positive relationship with the behavioural intention to use e-Training. H5: Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has a positive relationship with the behavioural intention to use e-Training. H6: Self-regulated learning has a positive relationship with the behavioural intention to use e-Training. H7: Perceived ease of use is positively related to behavioural intention to use e-Training. H8: Perceived usefulness is positively related on behavioural intention to use e-Training. H9: Result demonstrability is positively related on behavioural intention to use e-Training. H10: Perceived behavioural control is positively related on behavioural intention to use e-Training. H11: Behavioural intention to use e-Training is positively related to trainees' satisfaction. H12: Behavioural intention to use e-Training is positively related to actual knowledge use after training. H13: Behavioural intention to use e-Training is positively related to learner's performance.

Research Methodology
Survey method was used to gather the information that was required in this study to examine the relationship between dependent variables (motivation factors, technology acceptance constructs, result demonstrability and perceived behavioural control) towards the behavioural intention to use e-Training and how this intention affects the independent variables (trainee satisfaction, actual knowledge use and learner's performance) towards the usage of e-Training system among the employees in manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The question items were adapted from past studies (e.g., Lee, Cheung & Chen, 2005;Ndubisi, 2006;Malhotra and Galletta, 1999). A total estimation of 300 questionnaires will be distributed to employees of supervisory level, working at 100 manufacturing firms in Malaysia.
To assess the model developed, SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) which is based path modelling and then the bootstrapping and structural equation modelling (SEM) will be used. In order to assess the measurement model, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the scales will conducted. Subsequently, Global fit measure (GoF) assessment for PLS path modelling which is defined as geometric mean of the average communality and average R 2 will be used to observe the cut-off values for global validation of PLS models as it provides adequate support to validate the PLS model globally.
The proposed research framework for this study is as follows:

Potential Contribution
According to Anton (2010), e-Training has exposed to have an impact on the organization's effectiveness, profitability and competitiveness. The learning gained by each of the individual employee and how they are going to add the value back to their own organization can be the measurement for the training program's effectiveness. E-Training also is shown to be a useful tool in developing the KSA (Knowledge/Skills/Abilities)'s of employees. Self-paced training which such as e-training delivers to them is more preferable by the employees. It is not only allowing them to work and develop their skills over time with their suitable pace, e-training also enables the employees to retain what they have learned and transfer it back onto their job.
As mentioned earlier, e-Training programs do have an impact on profitability for organizations. By implementing e-Training, it can help the organizations to save money and boost up their profit. There is no need to invest a huge amount in the train-thetrainer programs. It can be used continuously over time for the future employee to train and retrain if the organization found that e-Training has proven to be effective than the traditional training programs. If some topics need to be reemphasized, the management can add it to the program instead of starting over again and wasting time and money on trying to develop new and improved programs. Furthermore, the company can save a lot in the travel related expenses by using e-Training and by the same time, it also can increase the productivity among the employees. It can be seen that there is no down time with e-Training as the employee are able to access the training materials at any time, anywhere. Since the employees do not required travelling to other areas for training, it also can reduce the loss of productivity for the employees. They can instantly apply it back onto their job once they went through the training and it can helps them to maintain the knowledge which resulting in higher productivity. E-Training lets the organizations to stay competitive always with the effectiveness and profitability that it provided. E-Training allows for continuous improvement which is a need if organizations are going to continue to succeed in the marketplace. Organizations are standardizing their training practices against other organizations to learn how they are performing in the marketplace. They are comparing their performance measures against the performance of best-in-field organizations and are finding out where they need to improve. Hence, if organizations are trying to stay on competitive with their competitors it is essential that the organization find the most effective way to train the workforce.

Discussion And Conclusions
This study recommended helpful insights to the top management, human resource managers and IT managers to be concern to factors affecting e-Training effectiveness. At the same time as organizations are well conscious of the advantages that e-training provides, namely cost effectiveness, flexibility, convenience, consistency of contents across organizations; many do not recognize the critical factors that influence the success of the implementation. Prospective e-learning benefits obtained by the employees will aids to make sure that organization achieves their return of investments. The findings led the study to draw conclusions about what variables affect the effectiveness of an e-Training system and make recommendation for future research. It can be shown that each of the variables (dependent variables) is also contributing its influence towards the independent variables. Some factors have more influence on the outcomes than the others. 6.0