Browsing by Author "Herath, H.M.T.S."

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Analysis of Social Distancing Behaviour during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Sri Lanka
(10th ICME at University of Ruhuna,, 2021) Herath, H.M.T.S.; Shamil, Mohamed M.; Ariff, S.S.
Drawing on the Protection-Motivation Theory (PMT), this study aims to analyze the influence of perceived health risk on social distancing behaviour and the mediating role of attitude towards social distancing among the residents of Colombo and Gampaha districts of the western province of Sri Lanka. A questionnaire was designed and distributed using online means to collect data. A total of 312 complete responses were received and used for analysis. Our findings show that there is a significant and positive relationship between perceived health risk and social distancing behaviour, and attitude towards social distancing mediates the relationship between perceived health risk and social distancing behaviour. Moreover, our findings also reveal that females are more likely to demonstrate social distancing behaviour than males. Also, females are likely to show a strong relationship between perceived health risk and social distancing behaviour compared to males. A shortfall in response rate is a limitation of the study. This study is among the first few studies to emerge from Sri Lanka to examine the predictors of social distancing behaviour amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings of this study have several implications for public health communication in Sri Lanka.
Determinants of Intrapreneurial Behaviour of Employees: A Review of Recent Literature
(10th ICME at University of Ruhuna, 2021) Dilroshan, C.; Herath, H.M.T.S.; Madurapperuma, W.
Intrapreneurial behaviour (IB) of employees is essential to tackle challenges 1and stimulate growth and well-being of organizations. Research on IB remain isolated and scarce preventing scholars from developing a more detailed understanding of the same. Thus, a better understanding of what drives IB and more recent analysis on the same are needed. A review of recent literature into determinants of IB is a timely requirement. The main purpose of this review is to understand the current state of determinants of employee IB in organizations. Journal articles published in English language from January 2010 to February 2021 in reputed on-line data bases of Ebsco, Emerald and in search engines of Google scholar, and Google research gate were set as conditions for selecting articles for this review. By conducting online searches using two search terms, 42 sample articles published online from 27 international journals were selected and reviewed under descriptive, thematic, methodological, and terminological review and analyzed for mediating and moderating factors. 59 intrapreneurial determinants were identified and categorized under three main factors. The analysis of findings reveals that determinants of IB are an emerging field of study. Large diversity was identified in the terminology used to indicate intrapreneurial behaviour. Perspectives, theories, and phenomenon used in the articles were also analyzed for their in-depth meanings and a synthesized view is presented highlighting the importance of reciprocal relationships. Finally, this review describes theoretical and practical implications and suggests areas for future research.
Factors Influencing on Perceived Post-Harvest Wastage of Vegetablesa and Fruit with Special Reference to Dambulla Dedicated Economic Center
(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Herath, H.M.T.S.
Food loss is more serious in developing countries while food waste is more serious in developed countries. On average 30%-50% of what is produced is lost in the postharvest value chain of horticultural crops in developing countries before it reaches consumers, and it is 30%-40% in Sri Lanka. The post-harvest food supply chain, as explained in the theory of food supply chain, is the process of farm to fork, involving production, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of vegetables and fruits. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of food supply chain on perceived post-harvest wastage and in particular it investigated the relationship between transportation, packaging, excess supply, storage facility and perceived post-harvest wastage of vegetables. The study used the crosssectional survey based quantitative research approach and a self-administered structural questionnaire was utilized for the primary data collection purpose. Dambulla Dedicated Economic Centre (DDEC), the largest food supply hub in Sri Lanka in terms of the sales volume and the only Centre opens for 24 hours, was selected as the study location. The sample included 105 respondents representing both farmers and regional collectors and selected using a systematic random sampling technique. All variables of the conceptual model were measured using a five-point Likert scale followed by the standard scales. To test the hypothesized relationships between the constructs, the multiple regression analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 version. Findings of the study supported all proposed hypotheses and thus, it confirmed that there is a significant relationship between transportation, packaging, storage facility, excess supply and perceived post-harvest wastage. It is expected that the model can serve as a support for the policymaking process regarding people keep progress activities in economic centers and affecting increment of additional cost from farm to fork. This problem may affect families who depend on cultivation as well as final consumers who have to pay the additional cost. Therefore, ultimately this affects the development of Sri Lanka by increasing imports of the country.
GSP Plus Scheme and the Industry Competitiveness: Future of Sri Lankan Garment Industry
(University of Kelaniya, 2008) Herath, H.M.T.S.
During the last two decades South Asian countries have been playing a dominant role in export oriented garment industry and experiencing an extra special expansion in creating employment opportunities and in earning foreign exchange. Availability of quotas for exports to the US and EU markets and low wages and ease of entry and exit to the markets of these countries for operating garment manufacturing are the foremost reasons that have caused rapid expansion of garment industry in the last two decades. The Sri Lankan garment industry is not exceptional in the case of playing a crucial role as a key driver of the national economy. The industry rapidly expanded with introducing the open-economy policy and is still continuing as the strongest and dominant contributor to the GDP, exports, foreign earnings and employment creation. Sri Lanka is presently a beneficiary country, out of the 15 countries, in the European Union's tariff references known as the "GSP Plus P rogramme" which so far created a massive advantages to the Sri Lankan garment industry. Under this programme except Mongolia, Sri Lanka is the only Asian country eligible to export sensitive products to EU at '0' rate duty. However, the garment industry in Sri Lanka now is passing off its booming period on account of various reasons. With the "New GSP Plus" scheme applicable only for vulnerable countries with special development needs, Sri Lanka may not get benefits from it due to the current situation in the country. Therefore the garment industry of Sri Lanka will have to face a number of issues along with the industry's present recession after 31st of December 2008 which is date the new GSP scheme will be in force. Since the beneficiaries must meet a number of criteria including ratification and effective application of 27 key international conventions on sustainable development, core are human and labour rights, environment and good governance for obtaining the benefits from this new scheme. In this regard it is doubtful whether Sri Lanka can fulfill these requirements. Therefore, the industry has to address all these challenges and to find solid solutions in order to over come the present situation. This paper provide an investigation into the issues, threats and future challenges that the Sri Lankan garment industry faces and suggests some strategies for coping with new challenges.
Impact of Internal Migration on Rural Development in Sri Lanka
(10th ICME at University of Ruhuna, 2021) Kannangara, S.D.P.P; Herath, H.M.T.S.
Internal migration and rural development are the most debated areas of a development process, which have not been adequately addressed for years in many developing countries, particularly in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the purpose of 1this study is to analyse the relationship between internal migration and rural development. This study used the quantitative approach and secondary data, spanning annually from 1996 to 2019. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was used to test the hypothesized relationship between the constructs using EViews 11 student version. According to the ARDL results, the study reports a significant positive relationship between internal migration and rural development. Further, it revealed that despite the substantial improvement of rural development that happened over 1996 to 2018, internal migration has also increased by 16 per cent. It is expected that the findings of this study help various level policymakers to address the issues relating to rural development and internal migration from a novel and different perspective. This study also gives insights into problems relating to rural development, internal migration, and urbanization. Future studies may investigate urbanization problems in Sri Lanka which were mainly created by the overflow of internal migration. These problems should be considered by the authorities for the continued sustainable development in Sri Lanka as a whole.
The Impact of Market Orientation and Learning Orientation on Firm Performance: A Case of Born-Global Firms in Sri Lanka
(International Conference on Business and Information (ICBI – 2019), [Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management], Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2019) Herath, H.M.T.S.
Despite many previous research on market orientation, learning orientation and international performance of born global firms, some questions are still unanswered. One such appealing question is do market and learning orientations leads to superior international performance of born global firms in more dynamic and complex global environment. This study, therefore, investigates the synergistic impact of Market Orientations (MO), and Learning Orientation (LO) on international performance (IP) of born global firms and seeks to enrich the existing literature with empirical evidences from a growing country context, Sri Lanka, yet an inclusive area of research. Data were analyzed using 225 ICT export entrepreneurs and data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The hypotheses were tested using covariance-based structural equation modelling. The findings revealed that MO and LO significantly influence international performance of born global firms. The study also reports that LO mediates the MO – Performance relationship, confirming the synergistic impact. Finally, to receive the maximum benefit of synergistic effect of market and learning orientations, this paper suggests to managers of born global firms to come up with innovative ways and ideas to respond to changes and to formulate strategies based on implicit learning, creative learning, learning by action and learning by trial and error.
Issues and Challenges of Born Global Entrepreneurs: Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Exporters in Sri Lanka
(2015) Herath, H.M.T.S.; Karunaratne, H.D.
There has been a growing interest in early and rapidly internationalizing firms, known as ‘Born Globals’, in place of a novel phenomenon in International Entrepreneurship (IE) domain. Despite extensive research, the BG phenomenon is still under explained and hence, theory and practice are still developing. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate the nature, characteristics, performance, issues and challenges of BGs in the context of Sri Lanka with special reference to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) exporters, who exhibit those characteristics of born globals. The study uses the descriptive approach and the sample includes ICT exporters in Sri Lanka. The findings of the study reveal that the main challenges and the issues, facing by ICT exporters in Sri Lanka are; the structural composition of the ICT industry, lack of skillful human resources, heavy dependency on US & Europe markets, costly infrastructure facilities & its poor condition and lack of global image as an IT destination.
Research & Development (R&D) spending and Graduates’ Unemployment; Suggestions to gain economic stability through R&D of Public Quoted Companies in Sri Lanka
(University of Kelaniya, 2006) Herath, H.M.T.S.
It is the latest global trend to invest in Research and Development (R&D) activities which is essential for the development of innovative knowledge, leading to greater productivity and economic success. Hence R&D spending in terms of GDP has become a major development indicator and has a significant correlation between economic growth. This trend leads to have a higher demand for graduates, those who are expertise in doing research. The modern trend of the world, especially Developing Countries like Republic of Korea, China, Singapore, India, have gone to invest a vast amount of money on R&D rather than investing in other investment opportunities [Wickramasinghe, 2005]. But most of the South Asian countries, including Sri Lanka (except India) are still not interested in investing in R&D at national level necessity. As per literature, it is the world trend to grant a higher tax relief to the private sector companies, which take a major role in economic growth, to encourage its contribution to R&D spending, Sri Lanka is not exceptional [Inland Revenue business Tax Policy, 2002 and 2004]. In case of applying for the international patents, foreign companies play the major role, but Sri Lankan companies lack in this context [Wickramasinghe, 2005]. Official statistics on R&D in Sri Lanka is not available and this means that Sri Lanka has not so far realized the importance and has not yet encouraged investing on it. Therefore, this has become one of the major reasons for graduates’ unemployment in Sri Lanka, so far has not been discovered. The objective of this study is to evaluate the nature of R&D expenditure of Public Quoted Companies in Sri Lanka, which are considered as the engine of the economic growth and suggest a mechanism to reduce graduates unemployment through improving R&D. This study based on the cluster sampling method and size of the sample was 30%. Data analysis revealed that 2% of companies spend on R&D out of 70 Public Quoted Companies in Sri Lanka. Majority of them belong to the plantation industry category, but it only includes development cost on re-plantation rather than doing scientific researches. If Sri Lankan Public Quoted Companies could remarkably improve their R&D spending more, Sri Lanka will be able to gain sustainable economic growth through graduated youth with low unemployment.