Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques  
2020, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages: 202-206  
J. Environ. Treat. Tech.  
ISSN: 2309-1185  
Journal weblink: http://www.jett.dormaj.com  
The Factors Financial Institutions Rejected  
Malaysian SMEs Loan Application  
1
1,2  
1
Raihayu Mustafa , Mohd Fazli B Mohd Sam , Albert Feisal B Ismail  
1
Faculty of Technology Management and Technopreneurship, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, 75450 Melaka, Malaysia  
Centre for Robotics and Industrial Automation (CeRIA), Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik (FKE), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,  
2
7
5450 Melaka, Malaysia  
Received: 24/06/2019  
Accepted: 02/10/2019  
Published: 30/02/2020  
Abstract  
SMEs companies can be considered as a back bone of national economy. Same goes to SMEs companies in Malaysia where the  
SMEs companies play an important role in the economic development of Malaysia. Finance is one of the important aspects for the  
growth of SMEs companies and has always been an obstacle for SME companies to continue growing. To date various studies have  
been conducted about SMEs challenges with extensive perspective and examines different factors that may be responsible for the  
unstable and limited growth of SMEs. Malaysian government has provided numerous schemes for training to boost up SMEs  
companies. Most financial institution hardly approves SMEs loan application because SMEs companies are considered risky. Besides  
that, most of SMEs incapable fulfill requirement asked by financial institution such as the collateral, good business banking history,  
the complete support document and etc. By analyzing previous literature review on the topic of SMEs challenges found that one of  
main challenges to Malaysian SME is accessing credit.  
Keywords: SME Challenges, SME financing, Financial Institutions  
1
SMEs sector in Malaysia can do better regarding their  
1
Introduction  
contribution toward the national GDP growth and the  
increasing number of employments but because of some  
constraints they become stunted. One of the major problems  
faced by SMEs is the financial constraint. There are  
difficulties for them in having access to credits from the  
financial institutions (4).  
Malaysia SMEs companies play an important role for the  
national economy because they have exerted much influence  
on social-economic development based on its outstanding  
contribution to employment and GDP growth. In 2015 the  
number of employment is 64.5% and increasing in 2016 by  
6
5.3% while for GDP growth increase by 36.6% in 2016  
The aims of this study are 1) to identify the challenges  
faced by SMEs in obtaining credit in Malaysia, 2) to find out  
the solution that limits the SMEs in obtaining credit from  
financial institution.  
where in 2015 the GDP is 36.3%. Besides that, the numbers  
of exporting our product also increase from 2015 by 17.7% to  
2
016 by 18.6% (5, 8, 9).  
A search of Malaysia's SME literature reveals a gap in the  
study that examines the factors affecting the performance of  
SMEs in Malaysia. Furthermore, although there is successful  
historical evidence about the development of SMEs in  
Malaysia, the development of SMEs in eastern Malaysia such  
as Sabah is slower compared to Malaysia's peninsula.  
According to Zindiye, 2008, a study was conducted in  
Zimbabwe's industry but this may not be generalized directly  
to SMEs in Malaysia because the culture, standard may be  
different from others countries (2, 11,15).  
2 Literature Review  
2.1 Research Model  
Figure 1 showed the research model which have been  
adopt and adapt. There are numerous previous studies  
regarding this research topic but most of it discuss only on  
the surface. There are four independent variables that give  
impact toward the Malaysian Sme’s performance. The  
independent variables are credit access, administration, bank  
charges and fees, and package facilities. Most of financial  
institutions rejected the Malaysian Sme’s loan application  
because of these independent variables.  
Corresponding author: Raihayu Mustafa, Faculty of  
Technology Management And Technopreneurship. Email:  
Raihayu_mustafa@yahoo.com.my.  
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Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques  
2020, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages: 202-206  
H3: There is a positive relationship between bank  
charges and fees and performance of SMEs in the  
manufacturing industry in Malaysia.  
2
.6 Package Facilities ( IV 4 )  
According to Nurbani, 2011, mention that SME’s  
financial problem still occur due to the facilities packaged by  
the financial institution are limited. It is difficult for SME’s  
industry whenever they plan to do the loan application.  
H4: There is a positive relationship between the package  
fasilities and performance of SMEs in the manufacturing  
industry in Malaysia.  
Source: Waari and Mwangi (2015)  
Figure 1: Research Model of SMEs Performance  
2
.2 Electric and Electrical Industry  
Since the 2010s, in Malaysia the electrical and electronic  
industry has become the leading manufacturing sector. This  
industry has a part of distribution to the production output,  
exports, and employment of the country. In 2016, Malaysia  
generated 156,665 GWh of gross electricity which coal is the  
main source of energy used for electricity generation. In  
2.7 Theory Of Constraint  
According to Rahman 1998, in the mid 1980s the theory  
of constraint first been presented in a books of Eli Goldratt’s.  
The purpose of this theory can be considered as the  
opportunity for improvement in a system. Management  
attention and awareness on the constraint occur are important  
because the constraint may lead the organizational to achieve  
its goal (3, 7,10, 11, 16,17).  
2
016, Malaysia's installed capacity increased to 33,023 MW  
from 30,439 MW in 2015 by 8.5 percent and the annual  
increase in electricity sales in 2016 amounted to RM49.4  
billion, up 6.7 per cent. (1)  
3
Methodology  
2
.3 Credit Access ( IV 1 )  
Nurulhasanah (2016), mentioned that the challenge for  
3
.1 Research Design  
The research applied the quantitative method as it  
small and medium-sized enterprises is not a new discussion  
in the literature review, especially since 1983 until now. Lack  
of access to credit is one of the most discussed challenges.  
According to Teoh and Chong (2008), it argued that lack of  
access to credit is the major obstacles to the development of  
entrepreneurship.  
H1: There is a positive relationship between the credit  
access and performance of SMEs in the manufacturing  
industry in Malaysia.  
approach. Numbers of respondent were selected as the  
resemblance of the authority of the SMEs manufacturing in  
electrical industry. For the primary data the survey will be  
conducted by using questionnaire method in order to generate  
data for this study. The questionnaire consists of 4 sections  
and using the likert scale.  
Besides that, secondary data also had been used such as  
the journal, books, article and so forth. The validity and  
reliability of data will be concerned as it will show the quality  
of the study. The total number of respondent will be 150,  
which consist of 4 states Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor and  
Pulau Pinang. These four states are among the highest  
number of SMEs manufacturing in electrical industry. The  
result were then be analyzed using the SPSS.  
2
.4 Administration ( IV 2 )  
John (2011) mentioned that problem related to finance  
includes the lack of track record required by the bank. Bank  
difficult to reflect either the company is doing well or not in  
the business. According to Asma (2015) showed that SMEs  
in most countries have very limited access to formal funding.  
Building and sustaining small and medium-sized enterprises  
is difficult because the majority of financial institutions felt  
that SMEs are risky being offered the capital.  
H2: There is a positive relationship between the  
administration and performance of SMEs in the  
manufacturing industry in Malaysia.  
4
Data Analysis  
4
.1 Normality Test  
Table 1 displays skew and kurtosis values for all  
independent and dependent research variables. First, the  
results show that the value of skewness ranges from 0.036 to  
0
.813 for all independent variables. In contrast, the kurtosis  
ranges from -0.189 to 0.819 for all variables. According to  
West, Finch & Curran, 1995, based on the result, all  
independent variables and dependent variables are clearly  
shown to be acceptable in terms of normality. This is because  
the skew and kurtosis value for all variables is consistent with  
the thumb rule where the value is less than two and seven  
respectively.  
2
.5 Bank Charges and Fees ( IV 3 )  
High bank charges and fees, high borrowing cost and  
other charges will be faced by the SME if they manage to  
obtained loan from the financial institutions (6). According to  
Wanjohi et al 2008, SME’s in Kenya rather seek other  
alternatives which low interest rate loan such as the pyramid  
scheme because of the high borrowing cost from the financial  
institutions.  
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Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques  
2020, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages: 202-206  
Table 1: Summary of Skewness and Kurtosis  
N
Skewness  
Std. Error of Skewness  
Kurtosis  
Std. Error of Kurtosis  
Valid  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
Missing  
IV1(1)  
IV1(2)  
IV1(3)  
IV1(4)  
IV2(1)  
IV2(2)  
IV2(3)  
IV2(4)  
IV3(1)  
IV3(2)  
IV3(3)  
IV3(4)  
IV4(1)  
IV4(2)  
IV4(3)  
IV4(4)  
DV1(1)  
DV1(2)  
DV1(3)  
DV1(4)  
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.235  
.190  
.235  
.280  
.723  
.813  
.603  
.723  
.077  
.036  
.097  
.193  
.456  
.519  
.477  
.477  
.524  
.309  
.498  
.539  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
0.198  
-.312  
-.406  
-.312  
-.204  
.054  
.372  
.136  
.054  
-.349  
-.423  
-.307  
-.230  
.391  
.702  
.488  
.488  
.277  
-.364  
-.189  
.819  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
0.394  
Table 2: Results of Reliability Test: Cronbach’s Alpha  
Variables  
Construct  
Cronbach's Alpha  
Number Of Items  
DEPENDENT VARIABLE  
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE 1  
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE 2  
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE 3  
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE 4  
SME PERFORMANCE  
CREDIT ACESS  
ADINISTRATION  
0.879  
4
4
4
4
4
0.968  
0.957  
0.971  
0.987  
BANK CHARGES AND FEES  
PACKAGE FACILITIES  
4
.2 Reliability Test  
4.3 Pearson’s Correlation Analysis  
Nunnally et al. (1994) stated that a value greater than  
.60 is considered acceptable for Cronbach's alpha  
The correlation coefficient in the Pearson correlation  
between each pair of independent variables should not exceed  
0.90 (Hair, Black, Anderson and Tatham, 2006). According  
to Hair et al, 2006, this is because if the correlation value  
exceeds 0.90, the data may be suspected of having serious  
collinearity problem. In Table 3, the highest coefficient of  
correlation between credit access and performance of SMEs  
is 0.840 and is still below 0.90. It is therefore assumed that in  
this research there is no multicollinearity problem.  
0
coefficient. The closer the alpha of Cronbach is to 1.00, the  
more reliable the scale will be (Armstrong and Foley, 2003).  
This indicates, therefore, that the items used in the build are  
reliable and consistent. As been showed in the table, all the  
cronbach’s alpha are closed towards 1.00 which indicates that  
all variables are reliable.  
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Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques  
2020, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages: 202-206  
Table 3: Pearson Correlation Matrix  
PE  
1
CA  
.840  
1
AD  
.713  
.476  
1
BC  
.774  
.666  
.503  
1
PF  
PE  
CA  
.818  
.615  
.541  
.605  
1
.000  
.000  
.000  
.000  
Pearson  
AD  
Correlation  
BC  
PF  
PE  
CA  
AD  
BC  
PF  
.000  
.000  
.000  
.000  
.000  
.000  
Sig. (2-tailed)  
N
PE  
150  
150  
150  
150  
150  
Table 4: Coefficients  
Model  
Constant)  
Unstandardized Coefficients  
Standardized Coefficients  
Beta  
t
Sig.  
B
Std. Error  
(
-.052  
.351  
.200  
.177  
.261  
.087  
.031  
.023  
.032  
.028  
-.603  
11.455  
8.527  
5.550  
9.429  
.548  
.000  
.000  
.000  
.000  
CA  
AD  
BC  
PF  
.395  
.248  
.184  
.312  
1
4
.4 Multiple Linear Regression Analysis  
Table 6 shows that all the independent variables are  
organization can growth and expand well. As a result, it will  
lead to a better performance.  
significant related to the dependent variable as all the four  
independent variables met the rule of thumb where the p-  
value is less than 0.05. Then, an unstandardized coefficient  
linear equation is formulated: Performance of SMEs = -.052+  
Lastly, the result shows that there is a significant positive  
relationship between package facilities offer by financial  
institution with performance of SMEs. This is consistent with  
the findings of past researches in the context of package  
facilities affect the performance of SMEs such as Nurbani  
(2011) and Anthony (2015).  
In conclusion, the research goals of this study have been  
achieved. Development of hypotheses, theoretical framework  
and design of research were designed to achieve the research  
goals. There are four determinants in this study that have a  
significant impact on small and medium-sized enterprises  
0
.351CA + 0.200AD + 0.177BC + 0.261PF Where, N = 150  
CA = Credit Access AD = Administration BC = Bank  
Charges And Fees PF = Package Facilities by evaluating the  
unstandardized coefficients linear equation formed above, it  
is found that each independent variable has varied relative  
importance of association with the dependent variable.  
(
SMEs) performance.  
5
Discussion and Conclusion  
According to this research study, there is a significant  
Based on the results, credit access, administration, bank  
charges and fees and package facilities by financial  
institutions are significantly linked to the company's  
performance. The independent variable that have the  
strongest positive relationship with SME performance are the  
credit access and package facilities by financial institutions,  
followed by administration and bank charges and fees.  
Recommendations for the academia, they could study in  
deep more about these topics and should find another gap to  
be solve. As for the industry which is the Malaysian Sme’s,  
they should improve on the gap that had been discusses and  
the financial institution should educate the sme companies,  
what is the correct way for they to do the loan application in  
future. The government also should play their roles which  
provides scheme that are suitable for the sme industries, send  
them to training or make an exhibition to make the sme  
companies exposed about this matters.  
negative relationship between credit access and performance  
of SMEs in Malaysia's manufacturing industry. This study  
found out that with sufficient credit access will lead to the  
increasing of business performance of SMEs, and an  
insufficient credit access will lead to bad performance of  
SMEs. This result supports prior researches such as Siti  
(2009), Abdul (2016) and Anthony (2015).  
The result also indicates that there is a significant positive  
relationship between the administration and performance of  
SMEs. This result is supported by studies carried out by  
Hasnah (2013) and Nurbani (2011), where they found that the  
good administration works by the organization can lead to a  
higher organization performance.  
In the research, bank charges and fees is found to have a  
significant positive relationship with increased performance  
of SMEs in Malaysia. This result is consistent with the prior  
researches' findings (Henry, 2016) where lower bank charges  
and fees for loan application will enhance the overall  
performance of SMEs in Malaysia. With the decrease of bank  
charges and fees, the SMEs will easier to obtain the loan and  
they could pay the loan as schedule without problem and the  
Acknowledgement  
This study supported by Universiti Teknikal Malaysia  
Melaka (UTeM), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE),  
Malaysia. All errors and omissions are the responsibility of  
the authors.  
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Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques  
2020, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages: 202-206  
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