Structural relationship model of social factors impacting the community’s psychology in The Iskandar Malaysia Development

• Main Author: Ismail, Mohd. Firdaus
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: T Technology (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/11042/1/24p%20MOHD.%20FIRDAUS%20ISMAIL.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/11042/2/MOHD.%20FIRDAUS%20ISMAIL%20COPYRIGHT%20DECLARATION.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/11042/3/MOHD.%20FIRDAUS%20ISMAIL%20WATERMARK.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/11042/
• Institution: Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

In 2021, a total of 57,855 patients in Iskandar Malaysia were identified as experiencing mental health and emotional disorders. This represented an increase from 21% in 2020 to 28% in 2021 of the total population, making it a significant contributor to other health issues. The rapid development in the area has had profound psychological consequences, impacting the community in various ways. Thus, it is crucial to conduct a comprehensive study on the social impact of these psychological consequences resulting from the development in Iskandar Malaysia. To address this, specific objectives were established, and a diverse approach was adopted. The first objective aimed to identify the social factors that contribute to the psychological consequences within the community. This involved engaging with five community leaders and conducting in-depth interviews to gather their insights on the critical social factors. Thematic analysis was then employed to organize and extract themes or domains from the collected data, resulting in 25 social factors categorized into five domains. The second and third objectives, which focused on establishing the ranking of social factors based on the community's perspectives and assessing their psychological consequences, were accomplished by surveying 368 members of the Iskandar Malaysia community using questionnaires. The community members were asked to rank the social factors affecting their psychological consequences, and the data were descriptively analysed using SPSS. The analysis revealed that the employment group had the highest ranking with a mean value score of 3.401, and 50% of the community members does experience psychological consequences from the development. The fourth objective aimed to develop a structural model illustrating the relationships, was achieved by applying a quantitative approach using multivariate analysis with the SmartPLS software. The results which are the main contribution of this findings are the structural relationship model showed that employment domain had the highest influence in the model, aligning with the findings from the descriptive analysis that employment had the most significant psychological consequences for the community