Senior Citizen Activity Centre E-commerce and Cybersecurity: The Way Ahead to IR 4.0

Introduction

Malaysia will reach an ageing nation status by 2030. This means that more than 14% of the population will be 60 years of age or older (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2021). The Malaysian government reported that in 2020, “there are 3.7 million senior citizens in the country, and it is expected to increase by 15.3%, to 5.3 million senior citizens in 2030” (New Straits Times, 2021). Malaysia has less than nine years as of writing this article to ensure the infrastructure, programs, and services for the ageing population are ready. Under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development’s (KPWKM) Department of Social Welfare (JKM), with other government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Malaysia currently has 148 Senior Citizen Activity Centres/ Pusat Aktiviti Warga Emas (PAWE). These centres were developed for senior citizens to carry out daily activities in the community. Joining PAWE is free of charge to Malaysians and activities include but are not limited to: religious, recreational, therapy and rehabilitation, health seminars, and training courses. To alleviate the burden on the government, this study explored a self-sustainable solution for PAWE, which includes social innovation, technological innovation, and cybersecurity awareness to achieve Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 (IR 4.0) refers to the fourth phase of the Industrial Revolution. In IR 4.0, cyber-physical systems are emphasised, and focusing on interconnectivity, automation, and machine learning. However, while social media and the internet are vital to daily life, this is the extent of Malaysian senior citizens’ IT aptitude in PAWE. This limitation in PAWE member’s technology use and technical know-how are key factors preventing older Malaysians from successfully entering Industry 4.0, which is contrary to the Malaysian government’s initiatives as stated in the National Industry 4.0 Policy Framework. Furthermore, while the country currently has Cybersecurity laws, awareness of cybersecurity and cyber resilience among the Malaysian ageing population is also limited. Cybersecurity is another key element in the IR 4.0 transformation, which is to ensure information systems and manufacturing lines are protected from ubiquitous cybercrime threats.

Methods

Data collection

Data was collected through face-to-face focus group discussions led by the corresponding author, a PhD holder in gender and socio-legal studies. Data was also collected through observations and field note taking. The focus group consisted of 6 people and lasted for one hour. Questions asked during the focus group were:

• 1. How are you currently running your business?

• 2. Who are your customers?

• 3. How do you receive your orders or reservations?

• 4. Are you comfortable using technology to run your business?

• 5. What do you know about cybersecurity?

• 6. Do you know how to protect your data?

The first phase of PAR required ‘diagnosing’ the problem of concern for the PAWE community, as seen in Figure 1. In this phase, the PAWE members conveyed their concerns for not knowing how to sell their handcrafted goods and services in an online platform. Once identified, the next phase ‘action planning’ required the participants and researchers to devise a solution to the problem. In this phase, the researchers and PAWE members agreed that a website was necessary for them to sell their products.

Figure 1. Action Research Model (Susman,1983).

However, hands on training and cybersecurity training were a necessary part of ensuring the PAWE members understood the how to use the website and safely use the e-commerce platform. The next phase ‘taking action’ required implementing the proposed solution. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), social innovation is “the design and implementation of new solutions that imply conceptual, process, product, or organisational change, which ultimately aim to improve the well being of individuals and communities.” For the purpose of this study, social innovation facilitated as part of the solution to PAWE’s difficulty in connecting small business products to an online platform. In this case, a website tied to an e-commerce platform and social media to help the PAWE community sell their products online was developed by a private Malaysian IT services company. The dissemination of e-commerce training and cybersecurity awareness was also conducted as part of the mitigation to prevent online fraud relating to online transactions. Following this phase, ‘evaluating’ the solution implemented was observed. The last phase ‘specify learning’ was to identify general findings.

Results

The results of the focus group discussions show that PAWE members did not have the experience to conduct e-commerce on their own. The participants in the study owned and operated smart phones. However, they requested that their children or younger person in PAWE assist them for anything technical. Their use of technology was limited to using social media in their smart phones and its basic features i.e. messaging, watching and downloading videos and files. The participants pursued entrepreneurship in a traditional way. They sold their handmade products or services face-to-face. When asked to use an e-commerce platform such as Amazon, Shopee or Lazada, they were not certain how to do it and were overwhelmed by the idea of creating a website for their community. Once the researchers clarified that the PAWE members were not expected to create their own website and that a private company was engaged to develop a website as a social innovation product, the PAWE members were relieved and were more accepting of the idea of using an online platform connected to their social media apps. The participants during the first phase of diagnosing the problem mentioned they will ask their children to help them with technical issues regarding the e-commerce platform. The researchers engaged a private Malaysian IT services company as part of the ‘taking action’ phase to develop a website as a social innovation product for the PAWE community to sell their products/services online. The website linked purchases to the PAWE community’s social media to help track and fulfil orders, since the community is well versed on using social media apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook. As part of implementing the solution, training on cybersecurity awareness, cybersecurity threats while using social media and e-commerce were also conducted.

As observed in the first phase of the PAR study, the PAWE members were ready to give the responsibility of handling the website and administrative duties to the younger member assigned to the centre. The IT company and researchers trained this representative and all six of the main PAWE members in the focus group on how the website works and key features for the IT administrator.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a web-based solution to assist PAWE members sell their products/services is ideal. Malaysia is still limiting the opening of the economy and online businesses are often sought after in the new normal.

Discussion

The participants for this study have previously used traditional methods in selling their products/services such as face-to-face retail services i.e., food and beverage, hospitality, health and wellness, and handicrafts. Moving their business to an online e-commerce platform was novel for them and a challenge to the participants due to their limited technical knowledge and know how. Although, they had traditional views on selling their products initially, they were open to learning more about the e-commerce platform the researchers proposed for them to use. The participants were also open to learning more about cybersecurity, since they were planning to move their business to the e-commerce platform. This is a step forward for the PAWE participants in achieving IR 4.0 and becoming more self-sustainable entrepreneurs in the digital age. The results of this study are contrary to previous results such as Corrado et al. (2020), which showed that older persons “are rarely positioned as equitable partners, co-learners, or agents for change” in PAR. In the case of our study however, the PAWE senior citizens were motivated to adopt a technology, provided that they have a younger person close to them to assist with the technical aspects of the project. The PAWE members’ interest in expanding their business by moving it to an online platform was positive. Although, while some of the PAWE members showed interest in using the online platform themselves, it was for the benefit of their own business and separate from the proposed one-stop-shop platform for the entire PAWE community.

Conclusions

The Malaysian government is preparing well before it reaches ageing nation status in 2030. The current government’s programs and services are in line with this goal of preparing the nation. However, in order for the senior citizens in PAWE to become self-reliant and self-sustainable, the researchers suggest that PAWE continue to stay active in learning about new technologies to support their small businesses, which is supported by social innovations, technological innovation and cybersecurity awareness. This leads to healthy ageing and achieving IR 4.0 whereby the Malaysian senior citizens meet the economic, social, and sustainable environment goals.

The study shows that PAWE has active entrepreneurs. However, the technology innovation aspect was previously not there. Their IT aptitude was limited to using basic smart phone functions and social media. Combining Technological Innovation, Social Innovation and Cybersecurity Awareness helps improve the senior citizen entrepreneurs in PAWE to reach IR 4.0 as seen in this study.

The PAWE members were introduced to an e-commerce platform to advance their business digitally. Although some of the members were reluctant at first, they embraced the technology with the assistance of their children. An inter-generational factor is significant and should be explored in future studies, since the younger generations can assist senior citizens having IT technical issues.

Ethical approval

Ethical Approval was granted by the Research Ethics Committee of Multimedia University (approval number EA0312021).

Participant consent

Consent was obtained from all participants written (signed) and verbally.

Data availability