Discovering important criteria for national culture towards Harmony in Malaysia based on Rank Order Centroid Weighting method

Abstract

National culture varies across the country where the social norms of individual would shape the individuals behaviour as well as the whole society. This study adopts the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach in determining the important criteria of national culture which contribute to the harmonious living in the context of Malaysian diverse population. One of the MCDM approach is Rank Order Centroid (ROC) methods. In particular, the ROC method was used to determine the weight of each ranked criteria. There are two phases involved. At first, to determine the weight of criteria that portray national culture and then, the weight of national culture criteria that contribute toward harmony in society. The finding reveal that the top priority criteria culture in society are respect, tolerance and collectivist. These criteria are the most desired in society in order to maintain the harmony in Malaysia.