Faculty of Administrative Science

& Policy Studies

Universiti Teknologi MARA

Bachelor of Administrative Science

The effectiveness of using WhatsApp application for

formal communication among employees at Klinik
Pergigian Daerah Kuala Lipis

SITI NOR SHAFIQAH BINTI SAHARRUDIN

2019632094

October 2022
 Acknowledgement
Alhamdulillah with the permission of Allah S.W.T. I have been given the
opportunity to complete a proposal for the effectiveness of using WhatsApp application
for formal communication among employees at Klinik Pergigian Daerah Kuala Lipis.
During completing my research, I would like to express my appreciation to my
colleagues at Klinik Pergigian Daerah Kuala Lipis for their help in taking part for
questionnaire. Their cooperation in providing information needed is really appreciate
because without their help I cannot complete my research.
Next, I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my
lecturer Dr. Azma Asnawi Shah Bin Abd Hakim, who gave me a lot of guidance when I
was working on with this proposal. I really appreciate his patience when giving advice
and guidance so that this assignment was successfully carried out. I would like to say
thank you also, for giving me a lot of additional notes. In addition, the experience and
knowledge I have gained is very meaningful.
Finally, I would like to express my infinite gratitude to my parents, other parties
and my friends for their good service in providing ideas and moral support.
May Allah S.W.T reward all good deeds.
Thank you.

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 Declaration

I hereby declare that the work contained in this research proposal is my own
except those which have been duly identified and acknowledged. If I am later
found to have plagiarized or to have committed other forms of academic
dishonesty, action can be taken against me under the Academic Regulations of
UiTM’s.

Signed

------------------------------------------
Name:

Matric No.:

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 Table of contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction 2
1.2 Problem statement 3
1.3 Research objectives
1.4 Scope of the study
1.5 Significance of the study
1.6 Definition of terms/concepts

Chapter 2 : Literature Review & Conceptual Framework

2.1 Introduction
2.2
2.3 [ headings as needed to organize the review]
2.4 Conceptual framework
2.5 Hypothesis (If any)

Chapter 3 : Research Method

3.1 Research design

3.2 Unit of analysis
3.3 Sample size
3.4 Sampling technique
3.5 Measurement/Instrumentation
3.6 Data collection
3.7 Data analysis

References [following the prescribed format]

Appendix A [questionnaire, interview guide,
sampling frame etc)
Appendix B

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Communication is defined as the process of transmission of the information

between two or more people and the information have to be understood to ensure that it
is an effective communication. According to (Fatimayin, 2018) communication is an
interaction within social context, and it involve a sender which is the source of the
information and a receiver, which the person who received the information that has been
sent. An effective communication is important to coordinate work activities and also to
ensure employee well-being. During transmitting the information, it can be by verbal or
non-verbal. There is also various of channel to transfer information for example face-to-
face, e-mail, telephone, and video conference. This study will be conducted at the Klinik
Pergigian Daerah Kuala Lipis because working at the dental clinic will cause the
employee to communicate with employees and patients. Usually, the information comes
from top management, and it will be delivered to low management. In Klinik Pergigian
Daerah Kuala Lipis, WhatsApp application is use by every employee when transmitting
the information. Besides that, even though it is a formal communication, using WhatsApp
as a medium to transmit information seems to be a fastest way compared to using email.
However, sometimes the information that reached is inaccurate or incomplete. Hence it
causes, employees to follow different instruction. Thus, this research will show how
effective is the formal communication by using WhatsApp application to communicate
among employees in Klinik Pergigian Daerah Kuala Lipis.

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1.2 Problem statement

Whatsapp communication is various use by everyone. In Klinik Pergigian Daerah

Lipis, everyone uses whatsapp even for formal communication. However, sometimes
there is a miscommunication when giving instruction or sharing information. This study is
about the problems encountered when using Whatsapp as an intermediary medium in
communication. At the Klinik Pergigian Kuala Lipis, every staff will use the Whatsapp
application when communicating and conveying information. According to Begoña Urien
et al. (2019), Whatsapp makes it easier for users to connect if they are at a distance.
This shows the importance of Whatsapp application in life to make it easy for everyone
to connect regardless of distance. According to Normazaini Saleh et al. (2018),
information can be conveyed quickly through Whatsapp and it helps to send messages
in the form of text, image, video, audio, etc. In addition, the Whatsapp application allows
users to create whatsapp groups to ensure that information can be delivered according
to the designated group. Hence, it shows that WhatsApp application has many features
to use.by everyone.
Next, although there are many studies that have been done, there are still some
problems left unanswered. Firstly, there is no investigation about the effectiveness of
using WhatsApp application for formal communication. This question arises because
sometimes there might be misunderstanding if having conversation in chat box.
According to Tak Jie Chan et al. (2020), interpersonal communication skills are needed
by students during discussions and WhatsApp applications that go through cyberspace
can cause misunderstandings because readers cannot see the presenter's facial
expressions, and vice versa. Thus, it shows that, although WhatsApp is a widely used,
the effectiveness cannot be proven and there is a negative impact of using it.
Secondly, there is also another problem which is that the information failed to be
delivered because the receiver did not read or overlooked the notification on Whatsapp.
Employees at Klinik Pergigian Kuala Lipis consist of various ages and most of them are
married and have children. The potential to overlook important information is quite high
because sometimes their children are playing with the phone if they are at home. This
causes their child to delete the information that is being conveyed or may even overlook
the information if there are many incoming messages on WhatsApp. In addition, the
middle age group does not like to use the phone. According to Mohd Zuwairi Mat Saad

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and Nurul Fatin Azizi (2019), middle-aged people use WhatsApp less in their free time
because they have house chores to manage. This shows that the information conveyed
through WhatsApp will fail if the employee is at home because they use the phone less
when they are at home or they are busy with other house chores and tend to overlook
the incoming messages.
Thirdly, even though there is many studies has been done, there is also a
problem arises regarding the layout of information on WhatsApp. According to
Normazaini Saleh et al. (2018), WhatsApp is a communication medium that has
information management that is not very effective because messages and information
are not organized and do not have folders. This is because it is mixed with personal
conversation. Although it is possible to create a WhatsApp group, sometimes when there
are too many groups and personal chats on WhatsApp, it is difficult to find important
information. It is different from email. If using email, the email can be labelled and
classified according to folder. Hence, when using email, the information is easy to find.
In a nutshell, the unsolved matter that can be raised in the effectiveness of using
WhatsApp application for formal communication among employees at Klinik Pergigian
Daerah Kuala Lipis are, the misunderstanding among reader and sender in WhatsApp
application, the information failed to delivered to the receiver because of overlook or
deleted by the employee’s children and the layout of information in WhatsApp
application that can cause the user to hardly find the information given.
.

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1.3 Research Questions

1. Why can the reader misunderstanding with the information conveyed by the
sender using WhatsApp application?
2. Why the information in WhatsApp application can be overlooked or deleted by
employee?
3. Is the layout of WhatsApp being user friendly to find information?

1.4 Research Objectives

1. To identify the factor that causes the reader to misunderstand the information
conveyed by the sender in the WhatsApp application.
2. To explore the factor of the information in WhatsApp application can be
overlooked or deleted by employee.
3. To examine the layout of WhatsApp whether it is user friendly for effective formal
communication.

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1.5 Scope of Study

This study is conducted to find out the effectiveness of using WhatsApp

application for formal communication among employees at Klinik Pergigian Daerah
Kuala Lipis. This study will be conducted for three months, starting from February 2023
until April 2023. A total of 100 employees from the Klinik Pergigian Daerah Kuala Lipis
will be given a questionnaire. They have to answer this questionnaire according to the
set time. This questionnaire will be given through google form. The selected respondents
are aged from 18 to 60 years old. Each respondent will be given a google form link and
must answer all the questions given.

1.6 Significance of the proposed study

[How will this study help to solve problems or be useful? A good guide is to
categorise the significance section in terms of theory, practice, policy etc.]

1.7 Definition of terms, terminology and concepts

[Provide a dictionary type definition of the terms and concepts to enable readers
to follow the dissertation. Definition, unless is yours, must come with a reference.
Don’t rely on Wikipedia too much for this. Find more serious sources from your
literature]

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 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW & CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 Literature review

[Review of related and recent articles on the issues of interest. You should
organise the review of the studies according to the concepts/variables in the
conceptual framework. The studies reviewed should the basis for the definition
and also the relationship of the variables with others. The review can also
provide pointers on the new aspects that could be researched].

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2.2 Conceptual Framework

Based on the review of literature and also observation and insight into the
problem you should develop a conceptual framework of the proposed study.
What are my IVs? What is my DV? Are there mediating or moderating variables?
What is the relationship between these variables? Are there hypotheses? Are
there directional or non-directional hypotheses? How are the variables related?
What is the evidence or basis of making these claims of relationship?

Remember models describe the relationship but theories explain the relationship.
What is overall theory can be used to justify the relationship? Input-output model,
Skinner’s Behavioral Theory, Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, Fishbein &
Azjen’s Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior Theory, Becker’s Human Capital
Theory, Lawler’s Expectancy Theory, Blau’s Social Exchange Theory,
Contingency Theory etc.

2.3 Summary

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 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Introduction

Provide a brief statement of what this chapter will do

3.2 Research design

Correlational, causal, cross-sectional, experimental, quasi-experimental,

longitudinal, factorial etc.

3.3 Unit/level of analysis

Who or what will be studied?

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3.4 Sample size

How many respondents, case or units needed for the study? This number must
be determined on the basis of sampling error, statistical requirement, statistical
power etc.

3.5 Sampling technique

What is the sampling frame to be used? What sampling technique to be used

and why?

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3.6 Measurement/Instrumentation

3.6.1 Variable A: what is the definition? What is the operational definition? Will
you use an existing measurement of the variable or develop a new one?
Will you adapt the existing measures? Are they several options? Why did
you choose this one? Do you have evidence of it reliability, validity,
suitability, appropriateness, simplicity, conceptual relevance etc.
3.6.2 Repeat for every variable in the conceptual framework.
3.6.3 Summarise the measurement issues in a tabular format [optional]

3.7 Data collection

Explain all the procedures to be followed in collecting the data. Don’t simplify it.
Add as much detail as you can. Include the process, time, people etc.

3.8 Data analysis

How will you analysis the data to draw conclusions?

3.8.1 Descriptive analysis

How will you profile or describe your the data? Frequency, counts, distributions,
means, standard deviations.

3.8.2 Testing of the hypotheses

What statistics will you use to test the relationships and test the hypotheses? Is
statistical tool adequate for the job?

3.8.3 Summarize these decisions in tabular format as illustrated below.

REFERENCES

[ Arranged in alphabetical order with a ½ inch handing indent]

Make sure all the references cited are listed here.

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APPENDICES

Relevant and related materials (i.e. questionnaire)

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