EDITORIAL BOARD
MARA INNOVATION JOURNAL
Volume 4 Issue 02
Dec 2015
ISSN: 2289-2818
Patron
Datuk Ibrahim bin Ahmad
Director General
Majlis Amanah Rakyat
Ketua Editor
Amir Hassan Abdul Wahid
Editor
Hanirus Osman
Khairiah Abdullah
Dr. Sarinah Sulaiman
Sharida Hashim
Sundarambal Gengatharan
Pewasit
Prof. Madya Dr. Azila Abd. Aziz, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Dr. Jainabee Kassim
Dr. Fatimah Ehsan, Bhg Dasar dan Perancangan Strategik MARA
MARA Innovation Journal
Volume 4 Issue 02, Dec 2015
Welcome to MARA Innovation Journal
The MARA Innovation Journal (MIJ) is an independent, peer-reviewed journal
devoted to sharing ideas and discussing issues related to innovation. The MIJ is
also a forum for exchange of imaginative ideas readers wish to share.
Invitation to Submit Papers
The editorial board in Innovation and Research Unit, Majlis Amanah Rakyat invites
researchers and writers to contribute articles to MARA Innovation Journal in the
field of research and innovation.
For further information, please visit
http://uni.mara.gov.my
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Content
Pages
TWITTER AS A MEDIUM FOR PROFESSIONAL
NETWORKING
1 - 19
Bazilah A. Talip
COMPARISON OF ORTHOSIPHON STAMINEUS LEAF
FROM DIFFERENT ORIGINS BY USING CHROMATOGRAPHIC
ANALYSIS AND CHEMOMETRICS – ASSISTED
INTERPRETATION OF FTIR SPECTRA
20 - 29
Nur Farah Amalina Mughni
Fatin Fathiah Yusop
Zhari Ismail
THE VIENNA CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE
INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS 1980 (CISG) AND
MALAYSIAN CONTRACT ACT 1950 (ACT 136): A
COMPARISON ON THE FORMATION OF CONTRACT
Ahmad Shahriman Ahamad Tekmezi
iii
30 - 42
MARA Innovation Journal
ISSN : 2289-2818, Volume 4, Issue 2, December 2015
www.uni.mara.gov.my
TWITTER AS A MEDIUM FOR PROFESSIONAL
NETWORKING
Bazilah A. Talip1&2
1Malaysian
Institute of Information Technology (MIIT), Universiti Kuala Lumpur
University of Technology (QUT), Australia
2Queensland
Abstract
This study aims to explore the use of Twitter for professional purposes. The researcher discovered that
Twitter is widely perceived as an information ground in online spaces. Information grounds are social
settings where information, people, and places come together to create an information flow within a
physical environment. Twitter provides a sense of place as well as a sense of belonging that enables IT
professionals to use Twitter for professional development. The data for this study were collected using
online observations and interviews. The online observations helped the researcher to distinguish the
‘information behaviours’ (the objective and observable actions) of the participants. The interviews were
used to understand the way IT professionals use Twitter for professional purposes through their own
individual perspectives. The data were analysed using a constructive grounded theory. The findings
show that building professional networking is extremely important to IT professionals; rather than the
information-seeking and information-sharing aspects of Twitter. Building professional networking in microblogging has a significant influence on an individual’s professional development. The results also
demonstrate that IT professionals are more likely to exploit their weak-ties rather than their strong-ties
on Twitter. In short, these users experience Twitter as a real place or ‘information grounds’ where they
meet and socialise with experts.
Keywords: Information Grounds, Microblogging, Professionals, Twitter
I.
Introduction
Information grounds are social settings where people meet on an unplanned basis at any physical location and serendipitously exchange information. It is, however, restricted to a physical
space and hence to the number of participants that can be part of the communication at any
physical information grounds venue such as an office tearoom or café (Karen Fisher, Durrance,
& Hinton, 2004). Instead, social media can create a sense of belonging and a sense of place,
as well as develop communities of practice dynamically. In this ambient, the serendipity of
information discovery and the dynamics of the information flow emerge significantly from within
online spaces (Williamson & Roberts, 2010). This is due to the proliferation of the Internet and
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the manner in which it is embedded in our daily activities, hence aiding the productivity and
interactivity within online interactions in social media (Wellman, 2004). The qualities of openness, transparency, and availability in social media have also helped users to share, disseminate, and find information in online spaces (Campbell, Ellis, & Adebonojo, 2012). This concept
of information grounds is valuable for this study in order to understand the transition process
between physical and online interactions for professional purposes.
Information grounds initiate information flow and behaviour within physical and virtual environments (Fisher, Landry, & Naumer, 2007). This information flow perspective focuses on the
information and the processes it undergoes, but does not throw light on the ‘experiences’ of
the people creating, sharing, and receiving that information. The findings of this study are consistent with the conclusions of Fisher et al. (2004), namely, that the people-place-information
trichotomy is the key that influences the manner in which information grounds are dynamically
created in certain spaces. A key difference between physical information grounds and social
media is that, in social media, people are not bound by any sense of physical space or even
time. In contrast, with traditional information grounds, people are bound by their physical environment more or less simultaneously (Fisher et al., 2007). This research hypothesises that
Twitter shares many of the characteristics of information grounds except that information, people, and online platforms (space) come together to create an information flow in a much less
restrictive way. As a result, this enables effective information-sharing geographically across
any number of physical spaces and results in significant influences on professional development (Power, 2015).
Twitter provides a sense of belonging and a sense of place – or information grounds – and
uses it for professional purposes such as forming communities of practice (Narayan, Talip,
Watson, & Edwards, 2013). Although information exchanges via Twitter are limited to only
140-characters per message, it nevertheless creates brevity of communication among collaborators (Miller, 2008). In fact, this limitation has succeeded in influencing the creative and effective use of Twitter messages; hence Jansen, Zhang, Sobel, and Chowdury (2009) posited
that Twitter is a powerful online word-of-mouth marketing tool. The limitation does not impact
on the conduct of inter-disciplinary collaboration; instead, it changes the research collaboration
spectrum and has a significant impact on the development of communities of practice. The
literature reveals no existing empirical study which investigates the notion of microblogging as
a ‘place’ that is similar to the physical space described in the information grounds theory
(Counts & Fisher, 2010). This study aims to fill that research gap. The main research question
that this study will address is: how the concept of information grounds in microblogging
changes within an individual’s life.
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II.
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Background
Social media for professional use
Previously, websites were used simply to display information digitally or just to enable users
to interact with an information system without much user-to-user interaction. They had no
three-way communication features to allow users to engage with other users, provide feedback and comments on particular topics or also to see others’ input. Web 2.0 technologies,
such as Twitter, provide space for such social interactions and aid community formation; such
collaborative projects are termed collectively as social media (Lave & Wenger, 2000). Examples of social media include: blogs, wikis, Google documents, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and
microblogs such as Twitter. Social media applications have influenced the ways in which professionals communicate in general. It has transformed the conservative approaches towards
professional networking (Power, 2015) and enabled collaboration from linear to more dynamic
and innovative ways (Bruns & Bahnisch, 2009). Deborah Lupton, a professional researcher
has described how microblogging through Twitter has helped her engage and provide feedback and comments on particular topics and career development (Dlupton, 2012). Schirmer
(2011) states that Twitter enables education professionals to announce and brainstorm new
work virtually and find a community of experts, as well as using it as a launching pad to other
online spaces, such as blogs and other social working sites. All these examples illustrate that
social media has impacted the way in which professionals interact online, without restrictions
being imposed upon the availability of location, time, resources, and people.
The social media phenomenon has radically changed the way in which IT professionals seek,
share, communicate, collaborate, and disseminate information. For example, previously, email
was the primary way to communicate with fellow professionals around the world outside of
professional conferences. However, due to delays in getting responses in this asynchronous
method of communication, email is no longer the preferred method for frequent communications (Schirmer, 2011). This asynchronous method is similar to face-to-face communication at
any physical space. Face-to-face communication has limitations due to reasons of both time
and space – professionals from across the world cannot meet as often in-person as they can
do on social media. Counts and Fisher (2010) proposed that mobile-device social networking
acts as an online ‘place’ for information-sharing in a more dynamic manner with the information
flow coming from many directions. Thus, online spaces help make the conversation among
users occur dynamically and more conveniently, thus significantly impacting the manner of
social interactions.
To date, social media has been widely used for networking within professional conferences;
not only for information-sharing about conference activities to the people who cannot attend,
but also between people who are already present at the conference – almost every conference
now publishes its own official hashtag that people can use (Campbell et al., 2012). Microblogs
enable users to participate in and access conference resources conveniently (Ross, Terras,
Warwick, & Welsh, 2012) and the participants’ online interactions also influence the information
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flow within the online spaces (McNely, 2009). However, the social network relationship between such online and offline interactions has not yet been investigated – that is, how physical
place and cyberspace influence the social interactions and serendipity of information discovery
and information-sharing in different ways, and how this can impact on professional networking.
The current study aims to fill this research gap.
Pierson and Heyman (2011) highlighted that a weak-tie relationship has a significant influence
on information diffusion and information portability, in addition to online community organisations in online spaces. They found that individual relationships impact the growth of collaboration in virtual spaces as social media facilitates ‘phatic communication’. Phatic communication
is a type of communication – small talk – whose main purpose is a social one and not one of
communicating any information. Such communication helps people develop their online communities through seemingly personal but inconsequential small conversation (Jansen et al.,
2009). This notion of phatic communication or ‘small talk’ plays an important role for professional development in Twitter. Skågeby (2012) stated that social media relationships differ between strong-tie and weak-tie type users as described by Granovetter (1973). This relationship
has significantly influenced the way in which professionals use social media for professional
purposes. Strong-tie type users consider their online social networks as ‘real’ and just as interactive as their offline interactions, where the networks are carefully selected. For the weaktie users “the online network can be something qualitatively different, where privacy is virtually
non-existent” (Skågeby, 2012, p. 332). Skågeby (2012) examined three other studies that used
ethnographic studies of Facebook, Flickr, and a music-sharing site in order to arrive at these
findings, and the people examined were not part of a professional network. This study will also
explore the relationships between strong and weak-ties relationships and their implications on
IT professionals’ use of Twitter.
Microblogs can be considered one example of social media that enables professionals to collaborate and interact with experts around the globe. Twitter provides a sense of place and a
sense of belonging that allows professionals to develop professional networks and share their
knowledge in online spaces (Power, 2015). Twitter also helps professionals to present themselves and be acknowledged as experts in their fields. Consequently, this has significantly
influenced the way they use Twitter for professional purposes. The sense of place and the
sense of belonging in Twitter facilitate an information ground in online spaces as it maps well
with an information grounds theory. This is consistent with the findings of Pettigrew et al. (1998)
who explored information-sharing within an online library community, while Fisher et al. (2004)
investigated the use of the Internet by immigrants for fulfilling their information needs. They
found that the engagement they have created initiates information flow. The information flow
has a significant influence in the development of information grounds in both physical and
online spaces. Counts and Fisher (2010) proposed that mobile-based social networking can
be perceived as information grounds, with the information flow facilitating interactive information-sharing and overcoming the limitation that occurs in physical information grounds (e.g.
availability of information, and geographical barriers). Mobile-based social networking has similar characteristics with Twitter (e.g. mobility, accessibility and availability to information).
Therefore, this study aims to investigate Twitter as an information ground and the manner in
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which it influences IT professionals’ information behaviour while using Twitter for professional
purposes.
Twitter for professional use
Twitter allows anyone to follow anyone unlike Facebook where one cannot follow a person
who does not permit you or add you as a friend. Twitter provides high usability through a simple
inter-face and easy navigability. Twitter enables users to repurpose the tool so as to meet their
needs; hence, it is quite easy for professionals to build a social presence on Twitter over a
relatively short time with some judicious effort (Kwon, Park, & Kim, 2014; Power, 2015). Twitter
functions as an electronic word-of-mouth tool that can increase the scope and breadth of one’s
reach within any given professional context (Dunlap & Lowenthal, 2009). The attributes of
Twitter mentioned above, such as presence, usability, navigability, and word-of-mouth communication, combined with the immediacy and ubiquity of social media provide a valuable ‘affordance’ for users of Twitter. Affordances are “attributes of something in the environment to
an interactive activity by an agent who has some ability, and an ability relates attributes of an
agent to an inter-active activity with something in the environment that has some affordance”
(Greeno, 1994, p. 338). This affordance has influenced the way Twitter is perceived as an
information ground since it enables professionals to create their own community of practice
and use it for professional purposes.
Twitter has been widely used for collaboration, information sharing, and as a digital backchannel during conferences. It is also evident that Twitter has been used during scientific conferences (Reinhardt, Ebner, Beham, & Costa, 2009) and digital humanities conferences as a
digital backchannel (Ross et al., 2012). Twitter is a useful tool during conferences as a digital
backchannel that helps professionals to promote scholarly discussion and debate. In addition,
it is helpful for engaging with others so as to propagate information to a wider audience than
those who actually attended the conferences (Ferguson et al., 2014). Collectively, it is evident
that Twitter is a useful tool for conferences, however, the ability of the medium to promote
scientific knowledge development remains underexplored (Murthy & Lewis, 2015). Twitter has
the potential to be used more for professional purposes rather than merely being limited to
personal usage. Recently, Power (2015) proposed the theory of Twitter’s potential to enhance
professional networking. He suggests that it is vital for professionals to carefully create their
profile on Twitter as it encourages people to follow because of their expertise and knowledge.
For example, Power (2015) highlights that “live tweeting at conferences is revolutionising professional networking and information-sharing” (p. 44), as it encourages “proficient ‘tweeters’ to
share their expertise with novices so as to empower and encourage them to engage” (Power,
2015, p. 45). This situation demonstrates that Twitter is no longer useful for personal purposes
but instead provides a place for professionals to enhance their professional networks in online
spaces. There is as yet no indicator that demonstrates how professionals form and establish
their professional networks on Twitter. Thus, this study aims to investigate the manner in which
Twitter influences IT professionals’ use of Twitter for professional purposes.
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To date, research into Twitter use for professional purposes has examined a diverse range of
foci. However, up to this point, there have been no prior studies that have explored the information behaviour of IT professionals while using Twitter for professional purposes. This study
seeks to fill that gap.
III. Research Design
Twitter was chosen over Facebook and other social media, since it is more wide reaching than
Facebook. Facebook generally connects friends or people who already know each other,
whereas Twitter connects friends and strangers with common topical interests. Twitter does
not require mutual sharing; rather, it enables the participant to follow person A, while person A
is not required to follow the participant (Al-Hadidi, 2011). This research also studied Twitter in
order to learn if this phenomenon is different from traditional methods of professional communication in the context of IT professionals. Eleven recognised IT professionals who self-identified as IT professionals were recruited for this study (each participant was given an identifying
code from P1 to P11). Each of them was followed online for two weeks between 1 September
2013 and 31 December 2013 and their tweets were downloaded with their permission.
A total of 734 tweets were downloaded and analysed using the constructivist grounded theory
approach. The tweets were coded, categorised and constantly compared between participants
and between codes. This enabled the emergent findings from the data to arise organically. In
addition to categorising and analysing, the participants’ information behaviours were documented explicitly. The connection between the participants’ tweets and information behaviours
enabled us to develop effective interview questions so as to better understand their personal
experiences. It also aided us to examine the extent to which they used Twitter for professional
networking rather than just as a part of their job description (e.g. social media policy-maker,
social media manager). After following the participants on Twitter for two weeks, each participant was contacted for a one-on-one interview. Each of the interviews was conducted within a
timeframe of 30-60 minutes.
Online observations and interviews were used in this study and the data were analysed using
a constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006). The online observations were used to map
the structure and content of the online social media interactions. These observations helped
the researcher to discern the information behaviours or the objectives and observable actions
of the participants. This was followed up by the interviews in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the participants’ thoughts, feelings and motivations. The interviews were coded
until the emergent categories were saturated (Dick, 2005). The downloaded tweets and the
interview transcripts were manually coded by the researcher using the constructive grounded
theory until saturation was reached based on grounded theory methods. This approach did not
only help to identify existing themes in the literature, but it also helped to discover new emergent themes from the data. In the grounded theory method, saturation is achieved when no
new findings emerge from the data and the same codes begin to appear over and over again.
However, not all aspects of constructive grounded theory were appropriate for this study. For
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example, we did not conduct co-construction of the data with the participants, as it would not
have been practical – or in most cases even possible – to schedule additional time with the IT
professionals to ask them to code their own data.
IV. Findings
Microblogging is perceived as online information grounds
Microblogging sites such as Twitter are perceived as information grounds that provide a sense
of place and a sense of belonging thus enabling IT professionals to build their professional
networks and create their own communities of practice. Microblogging also allows IT professionals to use it as a digital backchannel that allows the “spontaneous co-construction of digital
artefacts” by involving note-taking, information-sharing and real-time engagement in events,
including conference presentations and social activities (Ross et al., 2012). Traditionally, information sharing is one of the main activities in physical information grounds, where it is limited
and restricted to a certain number of people. This study found that the participants regularly
attended conferences or professional networks. As Participant 7 (P7) said in the interview:
I have always done a lot of things like going to events and networking at, you know,
professional events and conferences and things like that. (P7)
This was similar for Participant 2 who attended professional events, in which he said “just
shows up at network events for networking” (P2) and followed by Participant 4 (P4) who
went to trainings, conferences, or library events for professional networking:
“I guess we go to a lot of training sessions, we go to conferences, and we go to
events, sort of library events, so you do meet people there.” (P4)
They found that sometimes it was difficult to engage with people during professional events
because the time maybe wasn’t right for making conversation. As Participant 4 (P4) stated in
the interview:
“Often when you meet people, you don’t get the chance to talk even if you do see
them. It’s a professional event and it’s not the right place and you don’t think of the
right questions.”(P4)
In contrast, microblogging provides a sense of place that enables IT professionals to share
their knowledge with a wider audience as “I think when you have microblogs it encourages
you to just say it out.”(P4) Further, it allows the participant to create and engage with their
communities of practice or professional networks “because you can sort of see what’s happening in a lot of people’s lives to some extent and [engage with them] professionally to
some extent.” (P4)
The participant pointed out that, in his experience of attending conferences or networking
events, communicating or engaging with many people was difficult. As Participant 10 (P10)
indicated:
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“I go to a conference, you know, over 3 or 4-days. I really can talk to maybe 20 different
people. You know, although you interact with hundreds of them, the real conversation is down to 20 people and the real message gets only to about 20.” (P10)
Twitter, however, has successfully overcome the limitation of physical information grounds,
“I find that [Twitter] is useful and it actually is quite a good way of networking with
other people in the conference as well.” (P4)
This scenario demonstrates that social media (in particular, microblogging) helped the participants to extend their professional connections as it can reach wider audiences. Over time, the
use of microblogging has changed in that it is no longer primarily about sharing information or
being present online; rather, the use of microblogging is more focused on the networks themselves that are built on the microblogging site. As Participant 3 (P3) said in the interview:
“I started the Twitter account four or five years ago as a way to connect with professionals like in the BPM, in the process base, to follow-up their work and to share
articles. I think in a couple of years I was using it actively to build that professional
network and connections to academics and industry departments.” (P3)
The diagram in Figure 1 illustrates the way in which physical information grounds focus on
information behaviours; whereas, over time, the information ground in microblogging sites has
transformed information-related behaviour to a people-based network.
Figure 1. Transition of information-related behaviours to people-based networks
In physical information grounds, IT professionals go to places where they already have an
agenda or something to do prior to their visit to particular places. However, in microblogging
(specifically Twitter), it is not required for them to be present all the time since they can catch
up on what they have missed at any time. As Participant 1 described: “Twitter is not important
if you missed things, it is just an option.”(P1) They can trace back the information they have
missed, and also easily contact their connections on Twitter. The outcomes of this study have
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shown that Twitter provides temporal settings that influence the way IT professionals use this
medium as a place for communication.
Microblogging provides temporal settings that are not limited to the Twitter stream or Twitter
feeds but also includes hashtags. This study revealed that the participants did not fully utilise
the use of hashtags; however, the use of hashtags did impact on broadcasting information to
wider audiences. The reason for this is because the participants did not really understand the
way hashtags work for disseminating information to wider audiences. As Participant 2 (P2)
said in the interview,
“It was confusing for me to begin with because I didn’t understand what the term
“hashtag” meant. If I want to go to broader audiences, I use hashtag; sometimes it
is the correct one and sometimes it is not and sometimes I create a new hashtag without thinking about it.” (P2)
Further, it was found that the participants use hashtags for emphasising a word that can be a
keyword for their tweets thus enabling the tweets to be discovered. As Participant 6 (P6)
pointed out:
“I use hashtag in sentences where I think that a particular word is worth emphasising so anyone who would like or who is interested in that particular word might
see my tweet.” (P6)
The participant also pointed out that they use the hashtag function to promote their work “like
#angelahighlight that I publish every week. I put a hashtag on it, but Angela Js. community
created the hashtag. So, it means that other people who are interested in it can find those
tweets.” (P1)
The results indicate that information acts as a catalyst in microblogging sites rather than as a
currency. This scenario occurred because Twitter enables the participants to use hashtag for
a specific word or keyword to which people can go to retrieve particular information. In this
way, the required information is directly available rather than simply looking at the conversation
within a temporal setting or directly seeking the information. The following excerpt from the
interview with Participant 4 illustrates how information acts as a catalyst in microblogging:
“I will follow a hashtag and see what other people are saying. So I might retweet if
I think what they’ve said is good.” (P4)
The outcomes of this study demonstrate that Twitter provides a temporal setting as proposed
by information grounds. However, the significant difference is that the temporal setting is not
just a place; rather, in Twitter, the information itself can act as a temporal setting. The fact that
the information acts as a temporal setting has had a significant influence on the development
of professional networks.
“I’ve experienced the benefits of putting hashtags in tweets and getting more followers because of that.” (P3)
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Gaining more followers substantially expands the professional networks of IT professionals as
well as enhancing the general perception of their being experts in their fields of expertise.
Moreover, the information flows facilitate interaction between IT professionals who access
Twitter to keep in touch with information which subsequently leads to the establishment of
human net-works. Participant 4 emphasises that: “it actually is quite a good way of networking with other people in the conference as well.” (P4)
Over time, the IT professionals develop their networks with experts who share valuable workrelated information. The credibility of the information has a significant influence on their online
presence and helps IT professionals to be acknowledged in their fields. As Participant 3 stated
in the interview:
“I’m trying to get a presence or a profile within Twitter. I actively use it to connect
with people and share information. If I hadn’t followed a few people or gotten into
followers per day or per week, I would have used it a lot to actually try to boost up my
networking.” (P3)
This study yielded interesting results indicating that IT professionals use microblogging sites
for the purpose of establishing professional networks rather than merely gathering or sharing
information. Information sharing via microblogging occurs more dynamically compared to conventional information sharing. Participant 6 explained the reason behind the decision to follow
experts on microblogging sites because of their knowledge:
“Most of them I never met. I just follow them because of their work and their contribution. I don’t like just following people. I normally filter it out.” (P6)
The findings highlight that microblogging is beneficial for networking and knowledge sharing.
According to Participant 5:
“Twitter is very popular with the library community and with the humanity community. So, it was a way to kind of keep in touch with people who I met at conferences.”(P5)
The networking that begins on microblogging sites remains intact and the relationships continue in a closed network platform to further the discussion due to issues of privacy and confidentiality. Participant 11 described this as follows:
“The communication that we put on Twitter is more about general information. But,
if we need more information about the details, we will use direct message on Twitter or we will use Skype or email. Then, we will continue the conversation using email
because we don’t want that information to be published publicly on the Internet.”
(P11)
In summary, the connection started by the IT professionals on microblogging sites remains
intact and the relationship is continued in a closed network platform and also endures in physical information grounds. Information grounds in microblogs overcome the restrictions encountered by traditional information grounds. First, limited access to geo-location has a significant
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impact on the smoothness of information sharing in physical-based information grounds. Second, the restriction on the number of people who can gain access to information influences the
success and effectiveness of communities of practice in mobile-based social networking. This
can be attributed to microblogging being a public space that impacts on the way in which IT
professionals further their conversations or collaboration with their own community of practice.
Moreover, the results of this study provide fundamental understanding as to how Twitter is
perceived as an online information ground and show the differences and similarities between
physical information grounds and online information grounds.
Professional networking
Microblogging provides places for IT professionals to communicate, collaborate and engage
with experts in different research fields around the globe. In addition, it influences users’ information behaviour and information experience thereby having a significant impact on the way
they use Twitter for purposes of information sharing (Bunce, Partridge, & Davis, 2012). Microblogging sites such as Twitter are perceived as an information ground providing a sense of
place – “a place to be in, a place to go, a place to gather, or a place to be seen in” (Narayan
et al., 2013, p. 127) and eliminate restrictions as to the number of participants and geographical
barriers. In relation to the investigation into the use of Twitter in the present study, Participant
7 stated:
“I guess I’m forming those relationships online with these people as much as I’m
forming them in person - probably more actually forming them online than forming them in person and replicating them online. So, they kind of tend to grow in
social media but also I follow a whole bunch of people who are just interesting and don’t
have any idea who I am and I don’t know them personally but they tweet interesting
stuff.” (P7)
Ease of use, availability of and accessibility to information influences IT professionals’ use of
microblogging for engagement purposes. Participant 11 pointed out that the main reason he
used Twitter was to be part of the community in his field.
“Nowadays, IT professionals prefer to use online tools to communicate with their
communities. […] Twitter enabled me to communicate with the other security practitioners.” (P11)
Moreover, IT professionals use microblogging because of their job demands, often having had
collaboration projects with experts from around the world.
“I would be happy to join them online for code submitting and also code discussion, but for meetings or annual planning, I would prefer a physical meeting as it is
the best way so far rather than an online meeting.” (P11)
The literature confirms that microblogging is useful for work-related purposes and this is also
evident in the present study. For example, Twitter encourages users to actively participate in
online discussions far more than face-to-face discussions (Rankin, 2009). Subsequently, the
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usefulness of Twitter successfully helps information professionals form Socratic circles (The
Unquiet Librarian, 2014). However, this study highlights that information flows initiate research
networks and the nature of microblogging – freely available, easy to use, and having accessibility to information – has a significant influence on its use by IT professionals more often for
professional networking purposes. Participant 3 described this situation as follows:
“I find that I create online connections with individuals first normally because I
follow their work or we share a common interest. Then, as happened today, sometimes they are physically, geographically located close by and you can make that faceto-face connection. So, in a way, it’s almost turned itself on its head because I actively
seek those online connections and create that relationship. Then, when possible,
you have that physical face-to-face connection as well, whereas in the past you
only had face-to-face connection. I’m finding the good thing with this is that you can
create a profile and an understanding of individuals online and then use that as information as to whether you want to also talk to this person face-to-face and continue
to develop that relationship with that network. That’s powerful.” (P3)
In short, microblogging is a tool that is comparatively adaptable enabling IT professionals to
modify the tool by which to meet their information needs by “modifying Twitter API to integrate my Twitter feeds with my database.” (P11) Accordingly, the participant is able to refer
back to their tweets for references to be used for his/her work. Twitter also allows the participant to create their own communities of practice and to share their knowledge. As one participant stated:
“I’m doing my Masters in Information Security and at the same time I’m working in the
computer security industry. So, I create two communities in my Twitter that I can channel all conversations or discussions. [...] I use Twitter to share something related
with my work or something that is within my interest, [which] like computer security
related stuff.” (P6)
This can be attributed to Twitter providing a sense of place and a sense of belonging that
enables IT professionals “to keep in-touch with experts around the globe” (P6) and “to
keep them up-to-date with news.” (P2) It also facilitates obtaining research opportunities
(such as research grants, research data, or scholarships) in their research areas. As Participant 10 pointed out in the interview,
“It’s really helping in that sense to both, you know, advertise my research and get
access to researchers more effectively. You also get to know about [research] data
available and, if some-body is tweeting about the data, I decide that ‘I’ll have a look at
it.’ (P10)
IT professionals also tend to treat their connections on microblogging sites like a real-life relationship despite being busy with work. As Participant 7 said in the interview:
“I used to be really constantly connected and I probably will be when I finish writing my
thesis as well. It’s kind of harder to tweet all day when you’re writing but, yeah, it’s like
I have real relationships in there and I have to maintain those relationships.” (P7)
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This study discovered that knowledge sharing happens in real time much easier than with
physical knowledge sharing and has the ability to reach wider audiences. This is evident in the
current research, as shown in the following description by Participant 10:
“I think [Twitter] is becoming more useful in disseminating my research. But it
has also be-come more useful in finding opportunities, because people are promoting their papers and especially, they’re promoting camera pre-print papers. So,
supposing the notification for a conference comes today, people will tweet about it.
They put in the title and you read it and say ‘Sure, that’s interesting’. Then you ping
them and say ‘Can you give me the paper?’ Instead, if you didn’t have Twitter, you
would only have found it out when you were at the conference [physical location] or
maybe a few days before when they put up the program.” (P10)
Previously, knowledge sharing and research networking activities were limited to a certain
number of researchers and restricted within four walls. Microblogging has transformed research networking from physical to online collaboration and from interdisciplinary to multidisciplinary research. The findings of this study not only show what microblogging sites such as
Twitter can do for professional purposes, but also highlight that an information ground in a
microblogging site is not about the information but rather the network itself. One of the participants pointed out that Twitter is such a powerful tool because it provides an informative place
for networking, as follows:
“It’ll tell me that you might also like to follow these two or three people as well. So that
association I find really powerful because I often find that I didn’t realise that one
person was connected to this individual and I often will also follow two or three
other people at the same time. Instead of targeting one person, I might pick other
people as well. It’s an interesting thing to me because of that social network of
who is connected to whom. So, if I know that a certain person has published a paper
or a certain article, I can see who else has received that tweet. Who else is interested
perhaps in that person’s publications? I think that’s informative from a professional aspect.” (P3)
This indicates that the network in Twitter is complex and rich subsequently helping the participant to create and establish his/her professional networking within Twitter. The findings highlight that Twitter is not intended simply for information sharing but involves the development of
professional networks. Participant 3 also emphasised that the use of hashtags has influenced
the ability to gain followers.
“I’ve experienced the benefits of putting hashtags in tweets and getting more followers because of that.” (P3)
This indicates that the Twitter environment is complex and the content is extremely rich, suggesting that sooner or later one of the followers will become a closed network. Participant 9
stated that he knows “very few of them and if I know them I’ve only met them through
Twitter” (P9). This example demonstrates that Twitter can assist IT professionals to expand
their professional connections. Participant 7 also emphasised that an expert she has followed
is now becoming her colleague and that their collaboration actually started on Twitter.
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“Some of the people I only know [initially] through social media. I have developed a
relationship with them there [Twitter]. For example, before [Person A] came to work
with us, about probably two years before that we started connecting on social media and we wrote papers together but we’d never actually met in person.” (P7)
In summary, the findings of this study map well to the strong-weak ties framework (Granovetter,
1973) that has a significant impact on collaboration and knowledge sharing. In essence, the
participants used microblogging sites to self-promote their expertise and extend their professional connections in their fields with experts worldwide. The weak-tie connection overshadows the strong-tie relationships on microblogging sites, as the participants engaged with experts and created mutual relationships with them. This phenomenon occurred when they stumbled upon information that led to mutual relationships with experts in their fields. The participants used Facebook more often to communicate and interact with their strong-tie connections. However, this current study does not investigate the participants’ engagement on Facebook. This study aims to understand the information behaviour and information experience of
IT professionals on microblogging sites only, with a particular focus on Twitter.
V.
Discussion
The study yielded some interesting results, namely, that over time, IT professionals’ perceptions of Twitter significantly change the way in which they use this forum. The use of Twitter is
not limited to information sharing but has also evolved to formation of human networks. The
connection the IT professional has started on Twitter remains intact and the relationship is
continued in physical information grounds and also endures in a closed network platform. Information grounds in microblogs overcome the restrictions that traditional information grounds
encounter. First, limited access to geo-location has a significant impact on the smoothness of
information sharing in physical-based information grounds. Second, the restriction on the number of people who can gain access to information influences the success and effectiveness of
communities of practice in mobile-based social networking. In contrast, information on Twitter
lasts longer and there is no limitation on the number of people who can access the information
and communities of practice as well as there being no restriction due to geographical barriers.
While the availability of and accessibility to information and people are not a constraint of an
information ground in Twitter, the privacy and confidentiality issues have a significant impact
on the IT professionals’ establishment of communities of practice.
Twitter provides a sense of place and a sense of belonging that enables IT professionals to
access both physical and online information grounds. This is consistent with the findings of
the existing study as stated by Counts and Fisher (2010), that Twitter is perceived as an information ground in microblogging, where IT professionals engage with information and subsequently establish human networks. The IT professionals in the present study reported that they
did not feel any obligation to be present on Twitter all the time. They can go to Twitter and
commit to their collaborative works there at any time, at the same time having a mutual agreement with their collaborators. The social interaction that occurs in an online information ground
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is a key to the successful creation of communities of practice. Information sharing is no longer
the main priority for IT professionals; rather, they use Twitter to keep up-to-date on information
and experts from around the world. The important thing for them is be present online and to
be acknowledged as an expert in their respective areas. IT professionals tend to use Twitter
as a tool to develop and establish their professional connections where information simply
plays the role of a catalyst. In other words, the information flow is simply facilitating the interaction between IT professionals and, at the same time, helping them to expand their networks
and facilitate communities of practice of their own. Twitter is more about creating connections
with others who may not be real friends (Miners, 2010). Previously, casual communication and
information sharing were the main activities on Twitter (Huberman, Romero, & Wu, 2009).
However, the current study highlights that this perspective has changed in that IT professionals
now use Twitter more for professional networking rather than merely for information sharing.
IT professionals access Twitter to keep in touch with colleagues and also for professional development rather than simply to gather or share information. This finding is consistent with
traditional information grounds where people go to carry out everyday activities such as eating
and having their hair cut (Karen Fisher et al., 2004), but ultimately result in seeking and sharing
information because its public spaces (and physical) provide social settings.
Twitter enables IT professionals to engage and communicate with experts around the world,
thereby making it a powerful tool for professional networking (Power, 2015). This study revealed that IT professionals utilise Twitter to establish their networks because they value the
information from experts and want to be acknowledged as experts in their areas. Moreover, IT
professionals are quite particular concerning the way they represent themselves in online
spaces. Hence, this significantly influences the way they use Twitter for professional purposes.
They can ensure the information they share is validated and they also learn and gain insights
on Twitter from experts in their fields. The information acts as a trigger in creating human
networks in microblogging because the acts of encountering and sharing information are more
likely to help them to unexpectedly result in contact with experts. This scenario occurs due to
the complexity of the networks, with the information that has been shared on Twitter reaching
wider audiences. This serendipity of information sharing is consistent with Erdelez (1999) who
suggested that this feature often occurs when people encounter information and share information. People often find information unexpectedly as they engage in other activities, with
some of it being “information they did not know they needed until they heard or read it”
(Williamson, 1998, p. 24). This study aids theoretical understanding of the incidental information acquisition that is not restricted to discovery of new information but rather, involves
serendipitous human networks on Twitter. The findings also point to the validity of an information behaviour framework called the information grounds theory (Pettigrew, 1998), which
posits that a space becomes conducive to rich information exchange wherever people, place,
and information meet and where information is generated dynamically and also in a serendipitous manner. This coming together of an information ground and the serendipity of information
exchanges are evident within Twitter. But more importantly, this serendipity is not simply concerned with information. It is about making connections with experts in their field whose tweets
happen to appear in their feeds, or more excitingly, when an expert re-tweets something that
one has previously posted.
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Re-tweeting is a form of conversation in Twitter that has transformed the way in which people
communicate in online spaces. The information that has been re-tweeted can trigger significant
social interactions with weak-tie connections. Weak-tie users are qualitatively different to
strong-tie users within the online network, and privacy is virtually non-existent for the weak-tie
users (Skågeby, 2012). Weak-ties are more useful sources of new information because individuals with strong-ties usually possess the same information. Pan and Saramaki (2012) argue
that strong-ties are important by which to connect and enhance the information flow across
scientific collaboration networks within a closed network. Although strong-ties have a significant impact on collaboration, this study investigated IT professionals’ information behaviour in
the context of Twitter only. The significant difference is that those strong-tie users considered
their online social networks to be as ‘real’ and interactive as their offline interactions, where
their networks are carefully selected. IT professionals engage more with weak-tie than strongtie connections on Twitter as they use Twitter heavily for professional purposes rather than for
personal usage.
This study highlighted the way in which the complexity of the networks has subsequently
helped IT professionals expand their professional networks. The act of following experts on
Twitter will be fruitful sooner or later since the more IT professionals share information related
to his/her expertise, the higher will be the chances of being noticed or acknowledged as an
expert on Twitter. This scenario shows that Twitter is a seemingly valuable microblogging application for professional networking. IT professionals also tend to establish their professional
networks by authenticating the experts who they unexpectedly discover on Twitter. This is
usually performed by a background check via Google search engine and LinkedIn before following them. In short, the findings from this study have the potential to inform our understanding of microblogging in various ways. It provides a foundational understanding of the ways in
which microblogging can be used for professional purposes. Not only does this understanding
help researchers, but can also assist IT professionals who are not yet using social media. The
findings can help organisations understand and provide for this emerging channel of professional information sharing for its staff and its stakeholders.
VI.
Conclusion
Twitter provides a ‘place’ where IT professionals can engage and communicate with experts
around the world. It also creates virtual information grounds, which have a more significant
impact on users than do physical information grounds. Previously, information grounds focusing on information exchange and currency of information were the key; they had a significant
focus on serendipitous discovery of information, and information sharing was the main activity.
On Twitter though, the focus is not merely on information, but also about the network itself.
This is because information on Twitter simply acts as a catalyst that triggers the formation of
human networks. However, the human networks created on Twitter are broader and less
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strong compared to that of other collaborative platforms that are more private; for instance,
Facebook. The findings of this research establish that IT professionals are concerned with their
online image in order to avoid personal reputation damage, and this has influenced the way in
which they use Twitter. This finding maps well to Goffman’s theory of representation of self in
everyday life (Goffman, 1971) wherein IT professionals present themselves online on Twitter
in order to be acknowledged in their fields and project their self-image using text-based communication in a computer-mediated environment. As a result, IT professionals carefully choose
what information they share and are selective when connecting with people.
To adopt a new technology for a traditional function is a challenging concept for any professional. However, Twitter is an adaptable tool and it enables users to repurpose or modify the
tool in order to meet their needs (Straumsheim, 2014). Twitter is also easy to use, as it does
not take too long for the users to understand how Twitter works as a back channel for the
Socratic circle (Rankin, 2009). Miners (2010) proposed that organisations should use services
like Twitter, blogs, or E-mail newsletters for better service delivery. This research highlights
that Twitter is also more useful for the purpose of building networks in the professional world
compared to other social networking sites, since Twitter is more concerned with creating connections with others who may not be real friends. These findings offered a foundational understanding of the ways in which microblogging is used for professional purposes. Not only does
this understanding assist researchers, but it also helps IT professionals who are not using
social media. It also could help organisations understand and use this emerging channel of
professional information by sharing issues over social media with its staffs and its stakeholders.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Majlis Amanah Rakyat, Malaysia (MARA) for sponsoring my PhD research at QUT,
Brisbane, Australia. I also would like to convey my sincere thanks to my supervisors – Dr. Bhuva Narayan, Dr. Jason Watson, and Prof. Sylvia L. Edwards for their support and the encouragement that they
have given to me to achieve success in both my personal and professional life.
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ISSN : 2289-2818, Volume 4, Issue 2, December 2015
www.uni.mara.gov.my
COMPARISON OF ORTHOSIPHON STAMINEUS LEAF
FROM DIFFERENT ORIGINS BY USING
CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AND CHEMOMETRICS –
ASSISTED INTERPRETATION OF FTIR SPECTRA
Nur Farah Amalina Mughni1, Fatin Fathiah Yusop1, Zhari Ismail1
1School
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
amalina@kktmlenggong.edu.my
Abstract
A flavonoid compound was isolated from the leaf water extract of Orthosiphon stamineus. The
compound was characterized as 5-hydroxy-6,7,3’,4’-tetrametoxyflavone by using ultraviolet, infrared
and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies. The plant chemical profiles of methanolic leaf
extracts from 10 different locations were determined qualitatively by using IR spectroscopic, high
performance liquid chromatography and high performance thin layer chromatography analysis. The
marker compounds rosmarinic acid, sinensetin, eupatorin and 5-hydroxy-6,7,3’,4’-tetrametoxyflavone
were analyzed quantitatively by using HPLC and the content were in the range between 2.12% - 14.01%,
0.25% - 1.04%, 0.23% - 1.00% and 0.17% - 0.6%, respectively. The principal component analysis (PCA)
was done as a tool for extracting relevant chemical information from the obtained infrared data. The
result showed the samples were separated in different regions in PCA plot due to the significant
difference in the concentration of markers compounds between extracts from different locations.
Keywords: Orthosiphon stamineus, 5-hydroxy-6,7,3’,4’-tetramethoxyflavone, High performance liquid
chromatography, High performance thin layer chromatography, Principle component analysis
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1.
Volume 4, Issue 2, December 2015
Introduction
Orthosiphon stamineus Benth. is locally known as Misai kucing. All part of this plant contributes
to therapeutic properties. The leaf is believed to contain antioxidant activity (Akowuah et al.,
2005; Khamsah et al.,2006), anti-inflammatory activity (Masuda et al.,1992; Yam et al., 2008)
and diuretic activity (Arafat et al., 2008).
Flavanoids are a diverse group of phytochemicals which produced by various plants in high
quantities. More than 800 compounds of flavonoid structure have been identified (Hossain and
Ismail, 2003). The large number of compounds ascends from many combinations of multiple
hydroxyl and methoxyl groups substituting the basic flavonoids skeleton (Hossain et al., 2008)
Chemometrics is the field of extracting information from multivariate chemical data using
statistics and mathematics tools and is a growing field with pertinent applications in analytical
chemistry. Chemometrics study and model data gained from complex chemical systems,
improve the accuracy of current data interpretation methods, and provide an easier and more
efficient way to perform the vast calculations that results from the analyses of large data sets.
An unsupervised pattern recognition technique such as Principle Components Analysis (PCA)
is the most often used method for handling multivariate data without prior knowledge about the
studied samples (Miller, 2000).
This study proved the potential relationship between the complex chemical constituents and
geographical origin of the samples. The study also aimed to extend the used of FTIR
spectroscopy combined with the appropriate chemometric methods (PCA) to classify
Orthosiphon stamineus Benth. based on its geographical origin from the obtained
characteristic infrared spectrum.
2.
Methods
2.1
Plant Materials
The raw material of Orthosiphon stamineus leaf were collected from Pulau Pinang (KBPP),
Perak (CJPK), Johor (DSJM), Melaka (SUMM), Terengganu (SKTM), Selangor (HLSM),
Kelantan (PPKM), Perak (TPPM), Negeri Sembilan (PNSM) and Negeri Sembilan (SNSM).
The leaf was collected in September 2012.
2.2
Extraction and isolation
For preparation of water extract, the dried powdered leaf (800g) of Orthosiphon stamineus was
extracted by reflux with distilled water for 8 hrs. The filtrate was evaporated to yield 20g
residue. The water extract was partitioned into a chloroform and water mixture (1:1). The
chloroform phase was evaporated to yield 1.9g chloroform extract and the aqueous phase
yielded 18.1g of water extract.
The dried chloroform extract was subjected to column chromatography using hexane and
increasing proportions of ethyl acetate as eluents. Fractions of 25 mL were collected, and those
displaying similar R f values on thin layer chromatograpgy were pooled. Fraction eluted from
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Volume 4, Issue 2, December 2015
hexane and ethyl acetate (6:4) were again subjected to column chromatography using
chloroform and hexane (6:4) to yield a yellow powder, 6 mg (compound F1). The structure of
F1 was characterized and elucidated by UV, IR and NMR spectra and confirmed by the
comparison of its spectra data with those reported previously1 (Okuno and Miyazawa, 2004;
Hossain and Rahman, 2011).
2.3
Chemical profiling
2.3.1 Chromatographic condition
The HPLC analysis was carried out according to the method described by Siddiqui and Zhari
(2011). The HPTLC analysis was carried out on HPTLC plates (10 x 20 cm) silica gel 60 F 254
(Merck). The test extracts (5µL) were applied to HPTLC plates. Solvent mixture of chloroform:
ethyl acetate (7:3 v/v) was used to develop test spotted methanol extract of Orthosiphon
stamineus for different locations.
2.4
Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy
The extracts were analyzed by single-bounce Attenuated Total Reflection FT-IR (ATR-FT-IT)
scan technique. The extracts (3mg) were placed directly onto the diamond crystal for data
acquisition. Samples data were recorded in the Mid IR range of 4000-650 cm-1.
2.5 Data Preprocessing and Chemometric Data Analysis (Principle Component
Analysis, PCA)
Prior to data analysis, each spectrum was baseline corrected and the absorbance was
normalized so that peak absorbance of the most intense band is set to unity. The spectra were
transferred into statistical software program The Unscrambler®10.0.
3.
Results and Discussions
Compound F1: Yellowish powder, m.p. 195oC; Key 1H NMR (CDCl 3 ) ppm: δ 3.93 (s, H-6), 3.97
(s, H-4’), 3.98 (s, H-7), 3.99 (s, H-5’), 6.60 (s, H-3), 6.55 (s, H-8), 7.53 (dd, J1=2, J2=8.5 Hz,
H-6’), 6.98 (d,J-8.5 Hz, H-5’), 7.34 (d,J=2Hz, H-2’), 12.76 (OH). Key 13C-NMR (CDCl 3 ) ppm: δ
163.98 (C-2), 106.19 (C-3), 182.62 (C-4), 152.34 (C-5), 149.39 (C-6), 158.76 (C-7), 90.61 (C8), 153.24 (C-9), 111.21 (C-10), 123.84 (C-1’), 108.86 (C-2’), 149.6 (C-3’), 153.11 (C-4’), 109
(C-5’), 120.09 (C’6), 60.87 (C-6), 56.34 (C-7), 56.13 (C-3’) and 56.16 (C-4’). From all the above
date together with literature comparison, compound F1 was unambiguously assigned as 5hydroxy-6,7,3’,4’-tetramethoxyflavone (Figure 1).
The presence of marker compounds in methanolic leaf extracts of Orthosiphon stamineus were
confirmed by the HPTLC analysis. Methanolic extracts from different origin were analyzed for
the presence of spots of the same colour and the same R f values as the marker compounds.
Figure 2A & Figure 2B showed sinensetin can be seen under UV 254nm and UV 366nm while
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compound F1 can be seen under UV 254nm. . The presentation of HPTLC spectrum in 3-D at
330nm (Fig. 2C) further enhanced the visualization of the standards location in the extracts.
HPLC analysis was carried out to determine the concentration of selected marker compounds
in the leaf of Orthosiphon stamineus from different locations in Malaysia. Polyphenols are the
main components present in the leaf extracts of O. stamineus. In the present study, two
methoxylated flavones: sinensetin (SIN) and eupatorin (EUP) and a caffeic acid derivative:
rosmarinic acid (RA) were used as the marker compounds. The identification of the main
polyphenols was performed by the comparison of retention times with the reference standards
(Figure 3). The order of elution is based on the compounds polarity which the most polar
compound will elute first before the less polar compounds on the non-polar stationary phase.
The chromatograms showed a good separation of the main components. O. stamineus leaf
extracts showed a wide range in the concentrations of the marker compounds in the samples
from the different locations. The concentration of RA was in the range from 5.76% to 14.61%
of total dry leaf weight. Concentrations of SIN, EUP and compound F1 ranged from 0.34% to
1.04%, 0.29% to 1.00% and 0.17% - 0.6%, respectively. The variation obtained may be
ascribed to environmental factors and variation in sample sourcing. The chemical composition
of the leaf could be affected by the soil, fertility levels, climatic effect and the age of the plants.
Comparison of spectra was conducted using infrared (IR) spectroscopy because it is a simple
and rapid instrumental technique that can provide evidence for the presence of various
functional groups. In this study, IR was used to comparing spectrum with the other IR spectrum
of the same plant but in different locations due to the fingerprint features as a fingerprint rule
is distinguishing different substances, as no molecules can have the same absorption unless
they are identical (Akowuah et al., 2005; Khamsah et al., 2006). The hydroxyl groups of
phenols are identified and it can be proved in IR spectra by their broad band O-H stretching
absorption at 3200-3500 cm-1 region. The presence of sharp peak at 2925 cm-1 and narrow
peak at 2853 cm-1 indicates the presence of aliphatic hydrocarbon (C-H) and methoxy
compound (C-H). Aromatic hydrocarbons showed absorptions in the regions of 1634-1500 cm1
. The sharp absorption was detected and was assigned as C=O, which is known as carbonyl
group is one of important group that give a prominent absorption peak in IR spectra. The
presence of carboxylic C-O band of triterpenoids and phenolic acid constituents were effected
a strong band at 1400 cm-1.
The similarities of certain main chemical components observed among all samples from
different location of Orthosiphon stamineus leaf. However, the intensity of the peaks absorption
at certain wavelength between the spectra did differ from each other which were not visible to
the naked eyes. So, incorporating appropriate chemometric method is needed for the aid of
interpreting the obtained measurement results from spectroscopic analysis. Hence, Principle
Component Analysis (PCA) was carried out as tools for extracting relevant chemical
information from the obtained infrared data.
PCA was applied in this study to identify the similarities and differences between sample
spectra and therefore to view the interrelationship among the locations and to detect and
interpret sample patterns and groupings (classification). Principle Component Analysis (PCA)
was carried out using 10 data with six replicates of each in the range of the selected spectral
region 4000-650cm-1. Natural grouping of O. stamineus from ten different locations (ten
samples) were visualized in the two-dimensional scores plot as Figure 4. The most commonly
used plot in PCA is the score plot for PC1 versus PC2 since these are the two directions along
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which the data swarm exhibits the largest and the second largest variances. Figure 4 shows
the scatter plot of the standardized frequency data in two dimensions two dimensional score
plot defined by PC1 and PC2 and shows a good separation of the samples between different
regions. PC1 explains 80% of the original variance while PC2 explains 14%. This shows that
PC1 and PC2 together describe 94% of the total variation. Each number in the PCA scores
plot stands for a particular sample from different locations. Four groups (I, II, III and IV) of
spectra were clearly separated from negatives to positives values of the first score PC1. The
loading plot indicated the corresponding possible variables that differentiated each group. The
loading plot indicated the corresponding possible variables that differentiated each group. The
samples with relative high IR intensity at ~1600 cm -1, which was due to the carbonyl group
(C=O) and also indicated high concentration of marker compound content (eupatorin and
sinensetin), were clustered into group 1V (Figure 4). In contrast, Group III and Group I showed
the lowest IR intensity at ~1600 cm -1 and also indicated low concentration of sinensetin and
eupatorin content in the samples respectively. The results indicate that the plant materials of
four groups were metabolically different from each other. It is a fact that metabolic content of
the plants are influenced by a number of factors like environmental variations. The variations
in these conditions lead to the inconsistency in efficacy, a main problem associated with natural
products. By controlling these factors, industry can produce standardized products.
4.
Conclusion
The compound isolated from the water extract of Orthosiphon stamineus leaf was determined
as 5-hydroxyl-6,7,3’,4’-tetramethoxyflavone. A characteristics plant fingerprinting for all
analysis indicates the same identity for all methanol extracts of Orthosiphon stamineus leaf
from different geographical locations. This study revealed that the superimposed
chromatograms and spectrum of all samples were almost qualitatively identical.
Acknowledgement
The author is grateful to University Sains Malaysia, especially School of Pharmacy for providing facilities.
The author is also grateful to MARA for providing a scholarship.
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Refferences
Akowuah, G., Ismail, Z., Norhayati, I., Sadikun, A. (2005). The effects of different extraction
solvents of varying polarities on polyphenols of Orthosiphon stamineus and
evaluation of the free radical-scavenging activity. Food Chemistry, 93(2), 311-317.
Arafat, O., Tham, S., Sadikun, A., Zhari, I., Haughton, P., Asmawi, M. (2008). Studies on
diuretic and hypouricemic effects of Orthosiphon stamineus methanol extracts in rats.
Journal of ethnopharmacology, 118(3), 354-360.
Hossain, M., Ismail, Z. (2003). Hydroxy betulinic acid from the leaves of Orthosiphon
stamineus. ACGC Chemical Research Communications, 16, 69-73.
Hossain, M. A., Ismail, Z., Rahman, A., Kang, S. C. (2008). Chemical composition and antifungal properties of the essential oils and crude extracts of Orthosiphon stamineus
Benth. Industrial crops and Products, 27(3), 328-334.
Hossain, M. A., Mizanur Rahman, S. (2011). Isolation and characterisation of flavonoids from
the leaves of medicinal plant Orthosiphon stamineus. Arabian Journal of Chemistry.
Khamsah, S., Akowah, G., Zhari, I. (2006). Antioxidant activity and phenolic content of
Orthosiphon stamineus benth from different geographical origin. Journal of
Sustainability Science and Management, 1(2), 14-20.
Masuda, T., Masuda, K., Shiragami, S., Jitoe, A., Nakatani, N. (1992). Orthosiphol A and B,
novel diterpenoid inhibitors of TPA (12- O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate)-induced
inflammation, from Orthosiphon stamineus. Tetrahedron, 48(33), 6787-6792.
Miller, C. E. (2000). Chemometrics for on‐line spectroscopy applications—theory and
practice. Journal of Chemometrics, 14(5‐6), 513-528.
Okuno, Y., Miyazawa, M. (2004). Biotransformation of sinesetin by the larvae of the common
cutworm (Spodoptera litura). Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 27(8), 12891292.
Siddiqui, M. J. A., Ismail, Z. (2011). Simultaneous Analysis of Bioactive Markers from
Orthosiphon Stamineus Benth Leaves Extracts by Reverse Phase High Performance
Liquid Chromatography. Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 10(1).
Yam, M. F., Asmawi, M. Z., & Basir, R. (2008). An investigation of the antiinflammatory and analgesic effects of Orthosiphon stamineus leaf extract. Journal of
medicinal food, 11(2), 362-368.
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FIGURE 1
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FIGURE 2
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MARA Innovation Journal
ISSN : 2289-2818, Volume 4, Issue 2, December 2015
www.uni.mara.gov.my
THE VIENNA CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE
INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS 1980 (CISG) AND
MALAYSIAN CONTRACT ACT 1950 (ACT 136): A
COMPARISON ON THE FORMATION OF CONTRACT
Ahmad Shahriman Ahamad Tekmezi
Accounting Department, Kolej Profesional MARA Seri Iskandar
ashahriman@kpmsi.edu.my
Abstract
This article intends to make a comparison between two legislations which are related to contract; CISG
and Malaysian Contracts Act 1950. The main focus is on the formation of contract. Since Malaysia, as
of today, does not ratify the CISG, this article will look at the similarities and differences between the
two laws which is highlighted through two fundamental elements; offer and acceptance. Based on
document analysis, the author found that there are slight differences between these laws as regards to
both elements which will not significantly impact any parties to the contract, especially if contracting with
another entity from CISG member states. In fact, it is good for Malaysia if it ratifies the CISG because
most of the main principles of making a contract are the same.
Keywords: CISG, Contracts Act, contracts formation, offer, acceptance
I.
INTRODUCTION
Before the 21st century, since international laws, specifically international trade law were not
developed, domestic national laws were applied in solving most legal issues in international
trade at that time. The law of merchants or lex mercatoria were only emerged at the beginning
of the 21st century, which governs cross border or international business transactions. One of
the laws is the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
1980 (CISG) which was signed in Vienna on 11th April 1980 by the United Nations and enforced
on 1st January 1988. The CISG has marked a milestone in the development of the governing
law of most export and import of goods transactions. Since globalization of trade is emphasized
for cross border transaction, The CISG provides a modern, uniform and fair regime for
contracts for the international sale of goods.
As of 26th September 2014, there are 83 countries which have adopted the CISG (Kritzer,
2014). Most of them are the great trading countries of the world such as United States of
America (USA), Russia, China and most of the European Union (EU) member states. Even
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though United Kingdom (UK) is an active member of the EU, it does not, until now, ratify the
law.
Malaysia is one of the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1st January
1995. WTO acts as a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements; a place for them
to settle trade disputes and operates a system of trade rules. However, as far as the CISG is
concerned, Malaysia has never ratified the CISG. Since the British occupation, most Malaysian
laws are based on the English law, one of them includes Malaysian Contract Act 1950 (Act
136), which in itself is a codification of English contract law concepts. It is not surprising to find
judges, in reading a Malaysian case, refer to English law for precedents and case principles
(Trakic, et al., 2014). Hence, it can be assumed that Malaysia will only ratify the CISG if the
British do the same. However, Malaysia can rely on the CISG if it chooses to opt for the law in
their cross-border commercial transaction by applying “choice-of-law” clause in the contract.
CISG, which is characterized as lingua franca of international trade, eliminates legal barriers
to cross border transactions (Sono, 2007). As this applies when both parties to the contract of
sale have their places of business in different States that are both Contracting States (CISG) 1,
only then the states will enjoy benefits of harmonization of contract law. If a company from any
of the contracting states enters into a contract with a Malaysian company (Malaysia is not a
member of CISG as of today), CISG cannot be applied because one of the parties has its place
of business in non-contracting state. The purpose of this article is to highlight the similarities
and differences between CISG and Malaysian Contract Act 1950 in the formation of contract
so as Malaysian companies can anticipate the possible barriers and take appropriate action
before entering into contract with contracting states’ companies.
II.
THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF CONTRACT FORMATION
It is a clear statement in the CISG that:
“A contract of sale need not to be concluded in or evidenced by writing and is not subject
to any other requirements as to form. It may be proved by any means, including witnesses.”
(CISG) 2
Based on the above-mentioned article, international sale of goods contract can be concluded
in or evidenced by writing, oral and any other forms such as by conduct. It is not necessary for
the parties involved in the transaction to put in writing for what have been agreed by them. The
CISG was drafted to meet the want of the parties who wish to carry out their business without
restrictions imposed by formalistic requirements. Hence, all documentations, correspondence
or action in accordance with the contract can be admissible to prove a contract. The usage
and practices of the parties are automatically incorporated into any agreement governed by
the CISG, unless expressly excluded by the parties (Butler, 2007).
For an international and cross-border transaction, a written document is very important. In fact,
the reality is that formal documentation is a must in order to make a smooth transaction. It can
avoid misunderstanding between the parties and reduce legal dispute. Even though the CISG
1
2
See Article 1(1)(a)
See Article 11
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does not make written agreement as compulsory in forming the agreement, all parties are
ready to take into account the importance of having it in their transaction. In addition, if a state
does not agree to the article, the state can choose not to be bound by the article and its content
related to the article.
For example, the People’s Republic of China declared not to be bound by the article when they
ratified the CISG. It is because the Law of the People's Republic of China on Economic
Contracts Involving Foreign Interest applicable in international trade requires contracts to be
concluded in writing form, which was inconsistent with the Article 11 of the Convention.
However, China promulgated the Contract Law, and abolished the Law of the People's
Republic of China on Economic Contracts Involving Foreign Interest in 1999. The new
applicable Contract Law does not requires contract forms. In other words, a contract can be
concluded in any forms, which has been consistent with the content of Article 11 of the
Convention. In consequence, the government of China has officially notified the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations to withdraw the declaration that "The People's Republic of China
does not consider itself to be bound by article 11 as well as the provisions in the Convention
relating to the content of article 11” concerning the CISG.
The Malaysian Contract Act 1950 does not mention clearly the method of forming a contract.
To support the statement, we can refer to the relevant section of the Act which states:
“So far as the proposal or acceptance of any promise is made in words, the promise is
said to be express. So far as the proposal or acceptance is made otherwise than in word, the
promise is said to be implied” (Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 3
Unlike the CISG, this section tries to divide the form of contract into two, which are express
and implied. Without doubt, by referring to the above section, we can say that the Act is similar
to the CISG with regards to the forms of contract and its applicability. The Act does not make
it compulsory for all parties to form a written agreement. The contract can also be made
verbally and by conduct or performance of an act. In the case of any dispute between the
parties, they can prove it by any means including the witnesses. It is important to note here
that, despite not being a requirement, all the written documents will act as conclusive evidence
in the court of law.
We can refer to the case of Syed Jaafar bin Syed Ibrahim v Maju Mehar Singh Travel & Tours
Sdn Bhd 4. In this case, Plaintiff entered into an oral agreement with the defendant’s Managing
Director that he would provide the passengers and the defendant would provide tickets and
visas. There were no documentary evidences to prove their transaction because the offer as
well as the acceptance have been made verbally. The contract was held as a valid contract,
despite the agreement was made verbally, by the High Court Judge, Kamalanathan Ratnam,
J. and both parties were bound by the contract.
3
4
Section 9
See Syed Jaafar bin Syed Ibrahim v Maju Mehar Singh Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd [1999] 4 MLJ 413
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Formation of Contract
According to Treitel, 5 a contract is an agreement giving rise to obligations which are enforced
or recognized by the law. The factor which distinguishes contractual obligation from other legal
obligations is that they are based on the agreement of the contracting parties. In order to form
a contract, all the parties involved must agree to the contents, terms, conditions and every
related matter that are important for their transaction. They should have the same
understanding and intention in the first place before concluding the contract. After a contract
is formed, no party cannot deny the rights, duties, responsibilities and liabilities which have
been set up in the contract. Normally, a lawful contract will act as a primary source of law in
case of any dispute between the parties.
To form a valid contract, there are a few elements that need to be fulfilled. As far as the CISG
is concerned, it adopts the traditional theory, using “offer” and “acceptance” as the elements
that are important in forming a contract. To make it detail, the Contract Act 1950 states other
elements such as “consideration”, “capacity” and “consent of parties”. For the purpose of this
article, only two fundamental elements are highlighted, which are “offer” and “acceptance”.
III.
OFFER
In forming a contract, there is no doubt that, offer is always and must be the first element to be
fulfilled by any party involved in the transaction. An attractive offer will influence another party
to accept it before a valid contract between the parties is formed. It is obvious that the word
“offer” and “proposal” are being used interchangeably to bring the same meaning and impact.
Instead of using “offer”, the Contract Act prefers to use “proposal” which could have a wider
meaning as compared to “offer” (Adnan Trakic, 2012).
Definition of offer
Basically, an offer is made by the offeror to the offeree. It can be defined as an expression of
willingness to contract on certain terms, made by the offeror with the intention that it shall
become binding as soon as it is accepted by the person to whom it is addressed, which is the
offeree.
The CISG states that, “a proposal for concluding a contract addressed to one or more specific
persons constitute an offer, if it is sufficiently definite and indicates of the intention of the offeror
to be bound in the case of acceptance”. 6
On the other hand, the Contract Act 1950 explains offer as “when one person signifies to
another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the
assent of that other to the act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal”. 7
5
Sir Guenter Heinz Treitel, QC, MA, DCL, FBA, is a German-born English academic and retired Vinerian Professor of English Law.
Article 14 (1)
7
Section 2 (a)
6
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We will compare the formation of contract under both the CISG and the Contract Act 1950 by
looking at the three basic criteria that has been set up in the definition under Article 14 (1) of
the CISG and Section 2 (a) of the Contract Act 1950.
a)
Addressed to one or more specific person
In order to convert a statement into an offer, it must be communicated to the specific offeree.
An offeror can make a statement to a public at large but it will not be considered as a valid
offer. For example, the offer can be made to the public by displaying goods with prices,
advertisement or make a public offer. In the same article, it further states that, “a proposal
other than one addressed to one or more specific persons is to be considered merely as an
invitation to make offers” (CISG) 8. The offeror tries to invite other people to come and make
an offer to buy, instead of making an offer to sell.
In this point, the CISG and the Contract Act have, again, a similar approach. Even though
Section 2 (a) of the Contract Act does not mention the word “specific person”, the wording “with
a view to obtaining the assent of that other” indicates that the need to convey the offer to
specific person. The offeror will be hopeful of getting the agreement of the other person only if
the other is known to the offeror. Imagine that an offer is made to the public at large, such as
an advertisement in a newspaper; we do not know with whom we will deal in future.
Furthermore, not all people reading the advertisement are ready to make an arrangement for
the transaction. Legally speaking, invitation to make offers is not a valid offer as what had been
decided in the case of Fischer v. Bell 9. In this case, the defendant was charged with offering
for a sale of flick-knife in his shop window which was contrary to the law. The court held that,
the display of goods in a shop window is an invitation to make offers, and not an offer to sell.
However, there are certain states which recognize that an offer made to public is a valid offer.
For example, in Turkey, one of the states which had ratified the CISG, the Turkish Code of
Obligations (TCO) mentions that, “the display of goods with price quotation is considered as
an offer”10. Of course, it will bring a great impact as to the formation of contract especially when
the other party wants to accept the offer (Zorlu, 2011).
This can be illustrated in the leading French case of Deme Dehen’s exploding lemonade
bottle 11. A bottle of lemonade exploded at the cashier counter before it was paid. The court
ruled that, the sale was complete when the customer, having chosen from the shelf an article
offered for sale at a posted price when he accepted, placeed it in the basket which was
provided and which was bound to be used until the goods were checked out at the cash-desk
(Offers and Acceptance in shops , 2010). If the judges were to decide the case according to
the CISG, it would never have been a contract since display of goods was a mere invitation to
make an offer. The customer was the one who would pick up the goods and make an offer to
buy.
Here, we can say that, a proposal may be an offer under the CISG as well as the Malaysia
Contract Act only if it is addressed to one or more specific persons. While, an offer made to
8
Article 14 (2)
9
[1961] 1 QB 394 CA
10
11
Article 7 (3) of the Turkish Code of Obligation (TCO)
Deme Dehen v. Soc. des Eaux de Vittel (1961) et Cass. Civ. (1)
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public at large cannot be considered as a valid offer, but only as an invitation to make an offer.
Accepting the invitation to make an offer will not bring any legal impacts as to the formation of
contract (Md Abdul Jalil, 2011). For this reason, no contract is formed under both the CISG
and the Contract Act 1950.
b)
Sufficiently definite
Instead of addressing the offer to one or more specific persons, the offer made by the offeror
must be definite. For an offer to be considered definite, a reasonable person must be capable
of readily understand the terms.
In determining whether the terms are definite, we need to review the clarity which has been
stated in Article 14 (1) (CISG), “a proposal is sufficiently definite if it indicates the goods and
expressly or implicitly fixes or makes provision for determining the quantity and the price”. As
a rule, under the sale contract, determining the price and the quantity of the goods which are
related to the transaction is always considered as an essential terms to make a real offer.
In contrast to the CISG, the Contract Act does not mention and identify clearly the essential
terms of the contract. However, we can say that, impliedly both terms are stated under the
other element, which is consideration. In the Contract Act, it states that, “when at the desire of
the promisor, the promisee or any other person has done or abstained from doing, or does or
abstains from doing, or promises to do or to abstain from doing something, such act or
abstinence or promise is called a consideration” (Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 12. In short,
consideration is something given, promised or done in exchange of something else. The
offeree or the promisee must give something in return for the promise made by the offeror or
the promisor. The exchange of the promises must have some value in the eyes of the law
which includes the price paid for the certain goods or services.
For example, John promises Michael RM50 if Michael agrees to sell his book to John. If
Michael agrees and sells the book, John is contractually bound to pay Michael RM50.
Therefore, John’s promise is enforceable because it has been ‘bought’ for a ‘price’ required by
him.
Based on Article 14 of the CISG, a contract cannot be concluded if the price is undeterminable.
It shows that the indication of the price is very important which acts as an essential terms of
the offer, before a contract can be formed.
To illustrate this, we can refer to the case of Malev Hungarian Airlines case 13. The seller, an
American manufacturer of aircraft engines, further to extensive negotiations with the buyer, a
Hungarian manufacturer of Tupolev aircraft, made two alternative offers of different types of
aircraft engines without quoting an exact price. The buyer chose the type of engine from the
ones offered and placed an order. At issue was whether a valid contract was concluded. The
court of first instance held that a valid contract had been concluded on the ground that the offer
indicated the goods and made provision for determining the quantity and the price.
12
Section 2(d)
United Technologies International Inc. Pratt and Whitney Commercial Engine Business v. Magyar Légi Közlekedési Vállalat (Málev
Hungarian Airlines), 13 Journal of Law & Commerce (1993) 31-47
Available at http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/920925h1.html
13
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The Supreme Court found that the offer and the acceptance were vague and, as such,
ineffective since they failed to explicitly or implicitly fix or make provision for determining the
price of the engines ordered (Article 14(1) of the CISG). The Supreme Court considered that
the acceptance was a mere expression of the intentions of the buyer to conclude a contract
for the purchase of the engines chosen and, as such, the acceptance could not operate as a
counter-offer. The Supreme Court therefore overturned the decision of the first instance and
held that there was no valid contract concluded (László Szlávnits, 2007). In short, the offer
made was not sufficiently definite because there were no market prices for the aircraft engines.
The main issue to be questioned here is how the price is fixed. Definitely, the Contract Act is
silent on the determination of the price. We can only presumed it impliedly exists by referring
to the other element, which is consideration. If the parties do not fix the price, there are no
provisions in the Act which determine the price of the goods.
However, in the CISG, it provides a guideline in determining the price of the goods. According
to Article 55, “the price generally charged at the time of the conclusion of the contract for such
goods sold under comparable circumstances in the trade concerned”. (CISG) 14
According to Professor Honnold 15, these two Articles (Article 14 and 55 of the CISG) should
be read together as the latter provides a gap-filling reference to the price. Incidentally, it is
parallel with the aims of the CISG which intend to unify the rules and provide quickest and
safest trade for the international sale of goods.
Based on the above, in order to make a real offer, it must be sufficiently definite. The CISG
expressly mentions this requirement by referring to Article 14 and 55. Even though in Malaysia
Contract Act does not have specific provision which clearly touch on this, we can imply Section
2 (d) of the Act to show this requirement exists.
c)
Indication of intent to be bound.
In order to form a valid contract, an offer must be made with a real intention of the offeror to
be bound in case of acceptance made by the offeree. Once the proposal constitutes an offer,
the offeror must be ready to fulfil his duties and responsibilities that have been set up if the
offeree agrees to that offer.
Sometimes, the offeror is not serious about his offer. For example, making a joke, mere
statement of intention or mere supply of information. In these circumstances, it would not be
construed as an offer and it would be as an invitation to make an offer.
It is related with the state of mind of the offeror and of course, it is subjective in nature. Due to
that, it often cannot be fully ascertained as we cannot read and will never know the state of the
mind of the others. It can only be determined by the interpretation of the parties’ intention.
Under this, both the Contract Act and the CISG have similar provision regarding this subject.
The offer must be made with real intention of the offeror.
14
Article 55
From the years 1969-1975, Professor Honnold was Chief of the United Nations Trade Law Branch, in charge of legal work for the
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
15
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Communication of offer
An offer must be communicated from the offeror to the offeree. Even though the previous article
states that an offer needs to be addressed to a specific person, the person is not necessarily
be the offeree. Therefore, once the offeror made the proposal, the offer only exists if it comes
to the knowledge of the offeree. The offer is only effective if it reaches the offeree (CISG) 16.
This article is similar to what has been stated in the Contract Act, the communication of a
proposal is complete when it comes to the knowledge to whom it is made (Contracts Act 1950,
2014) 17. If the offeror uses a third party to convey his proposal, or uses post as a medium of
communication, the offer only exists when the offeree receives or has the knowledge about
the offer.
Withdrawal, Revocation and Termination of Offer
The CISG provides that the offeror can withdraw the offer made if the withdrawal reaches the
offeree before or at the same time as the offer (CISG) 18. As the offer has not yet in existence,
it can be withdrawn even if it is irrevocable. In another article, the CISG states that the offeror
can revoke the offer after such offer has been received by the offeree as long as the revocation
made before the offeree dispatches his acceptance (CISG) 19.
Here, there are two different words which bring different meanings; “withdrawal” in Article 15
(2) and “revocation” in Article 16 (1). Basically, both withdrawal and revocation refer to the act
of taking back the offer by the offeror such that it can no longer be accepted by the offeree
(Morrisey & Graves, 2008). If we read both articles carefully, the major difference between
them lies in timing. As for withdrawal, it can only be done before the offer is effective because
no expectations have been created in the offeree. So, the act of withdrawing at this stage will
bring no harm towards both parties. By contrast, revocation can be made even after the offeree
receives the offer made by the offeror with condition that the acceptance has never been made.
In other words, an offeror can revoke the offer before the offeree dispatches his acceptance.
Despite the difference, both withdrawal and revocation will bring the same result which the
offeree can no longer accept the offer. Due to the types of offer set up by the CISG, which are
revocable and irrevocable, the withdrawal is applied in the case of irrevocable offer, as long as
the offeree has not received yet the offer.
If we refer to another article in the CISG, an offer even if it is irrevocable, is terminated when
rejection reaches the offeror (CISG) 20. Once the offer has been rejected, the offer is no longer
in existence and the offeror is free to contract with someone else without fear. Even if the
offeree changes his mind and makes an attempt to accept the offer, there is no contract
between them because the offeree accepts something which is no longer in existence.
In the Contracts Act, it is much simpler as the Act does not categorize the offer into revocable
and irrevocable. An offer can be revoked at any time before the communication of acceptance
is complete (Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 21. Even though the Act only uses the word “revocation”
16
Article 15 (1)
Section 4 (1)
18
Article 15 (2)
19
Article 16 (1)
20
Article 17
21
Section 5 (1)
17
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to show the act of taking back the offer, people always use the words “withdrawal”, “revocation”
and “termination” interchangeably. It is presumed that all the three words bring the same
meaning, unlike the CISG which are used in three different situations.
Based on the Contract Act 22, the offer can be revoked by the notice of revocation or by lapse
of time or reasonable time or failures of the acceptor to fulfil condition precedent to acceptance
or by the death of the offeror but it must be in accordance with Section 5 which states that
revocation must be made before the acceptance. However, there are no provisions in the CISG
which discuss the matter. In such situations domestic law continues to govern the effects of
such events if the parties choose to apply it.
IV.
ACCEPTANCE
A contract is not formed until the offer is accepted by the offeree. The acceptance is the
offeree’s manifestation of the intention to be bound to the terms of the offer (Schaffer, Agusti,
& Earle, 2010). There is no difference between the CISG and the Contract Act as how they
define acceptance. In the CISG, a statement made by or other conduct of the offeree indicating
assent to an offer is an acceptance (CISG) 23. While the Contract Act states that “when a person
to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted”
(Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 24. Both indicate that approval or agreement of the offeree to the
terms of the offer is considered as an acceptance. The assent by the offeree is very important
before an acceptance is concluded.
Communication of Acceptance
Under the CISG, an acceptance can be made in the form of a statement, whether it is written
or verbal, and by conduct of the offeree indicating assent to the offer made. In some situations,
the offeree will respond to the offer, not in written or verbal form but simply by doing some acts
which are related to their transaction. For example, the offeree can do this by shipping the
goods or make the payment for the price provided that the parties have established it as a
common practice between them and the act must be within the fixed time or within reasonable
time (CISG) 25. In order to make an effective acceptance, the offeree must be aware of the time
to accept the offer.
Again, there are no differences between the CISG and the Contract Act. If the acceptance is
made in words, the Act considers it as expressed acceptance and if it is made other than that,
it is called implied acceptance (Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 26. Based on this section, the
Malaysian Contract Law does recognize all forms of acceptance, be it in written statement,
verbally or by performing some acts which are related to the transaction. As mentioned in the
previous discussion in revocation of offer, an offer will be terminated by the lapse of time. In
other words, the offeree must respond to the proposal made by the offeror within the time
22
Section 6
Article 18 (1)
24
Section 2 (b)
25
Article 18 (2)
26
Section 9
23
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specified. If no time is given, the response must be within reasonable time, depending on the
nature of the transaction.
In the Contract Act, acceptance must be expressed in some usual and reasonable manner
(Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 27. Sometimes, the act done is usual but it is unreasonable. For
example, the offeror, who lives in a two storey terrace house which is next to the offeree,
proposes to sell his house to the offeree. In his response, the offeree agrees and sends the
letter of acceptance by mail. Even though sending a letter of acceptance by post is usual,
looking at the fact that they live next to each other, the acceptance made is unreasonable.
It is important to note here that acceptance must involve some positive acts. The absence of
response or just total disregard of the proposal is not an acceptance as there is no positive act
that can be related to the proposal. The offeror cannot place the burden on the offeree to a
positive act of acceptance by saying for instance: “if I do not hear from you within a week, I
shall assume that you have accepted my proposal”. It is in accordance with the law which says
that silence or inactivity does not in itself amount to acceptance (CISG) 28. Furthermore, silent
does not amount to usual manner in accepting something because there is no confirmation
made on whether the offeree takes the offer or not.
However, there is an exception to this, where the parties can agree that silence does amount
to acceptance. If the offeror makes the offer and the offeree replies, “If you do not hear anything
from me by tomorrow evening, deliver the goods to my office”, then the offeree has made the
silence an acceptance.
Counter-offer
In the CISG, a reply to an offer which purports to be an acceptance but contains additions,
limitations or other modifications is a rejection of the offer and constitutes a counteroffer
(CISG) 29. This provision is known as “mirror image” rule. Under this rule, the offeree must
accept the offer as it is without any additions, limitations or modifications which are considered
as a counter-offer, thus automatically rejects the original offer. If the additions, limitations or
modifications do not change the terms of the offer materially, then it is allowed.
The question is, how do we know whether the modification is material. The CISG provides that
lists. If the additional or different terms relating, inter alia, to the price, payment, quality and
quantity of the goods, place and time of delivery, extent of one party's liability to the other or
the settlement of disputes are considered to alter the terms of the offer materially (CISG) 30. If
the modifications are only related to unessential terms of the contract, the contract is presumed
to be binding.
This mirror image rule is similar to what has been stated in the Contract Act. In order to convert
a proposal into a promise, the acceptance must be absolute and unqualified (Contracts Act
27
Section 7 (b)
Article 18 (1)
Article 19 (1)
30
Article 19 (3)
28
29
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1950, 2014) 31. The acceptance must be made on exactly the same terms as proposed without
modifications or variations. However, the Act does not provide any guidelines to determine the
essential terms of the contract. It may be determined according to the nature of the transaction
or general practices and usages which parties have established between them. Perhaps we
can say that the CISG has adopted a much more detailed provisions regarding the counter
offer as compared to Malaysia.
Withdrawal of Acceptance
Can an offeree withdraw the acceptance made? Basically, both the CISG and the Contract Act
have the answer for this issue. In the CISG, the withdrawal of an acceptance is effective if it
reaches the offeror before or at the time as the acceptance would have become effective
(CISG) 32. While in the Contract Act, a person can withdraw his acceptance before or at the
same time the communication of the acceptance is complete (Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 33.
Both discuss the same method of withdrawing an acceptance.
In order to apply both provisions, there must be some time for the acceptance to reach the
offeror. This can be done if the parties involved use the medium of communication which takes
time before the communication reaches the other party. If they apply direct communication
such as face to face, phone call or video conference, it is impossible for the offeree to withdraw
his acceptance as it is effectively communicated. According to our previous discussion,
acceptance is effective the moment the indication of assent reaches the offeror. Therefore,
before his intention reaches the offeror, the offeree may withdraw the acceptance.
To make it clear, we can refer to this illustration (Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 34. A proposes by
a letter sent by post to sell his house to B. B accepts the proposal by a letter sent by post. B
may revoke his acceptance at any time before or at the moment when the letter communicating
it reaches A, but not afterwards.
There is not much discussion on the withdrawal of acceptance as compared to withdrawal of
offer whereby the CISG tries to differentiate between withdrawal, revocation and termination
of offer.
Effect of Acceptance
It can be said that, the CISG and the Contract Act have adopted the same approach regarding
the above matter. In the CISG, the contract is concluded at the time when an acceptance
becomes effective (CISG) 35. Again, the acceptance is effective once the offeror has the
knowledge about the acceptance.
31
Section 7 (a)
Article 22
33
Section 5 (2)
34
Illustration to the Section 5 (2)
35
Article 23
32
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For Malaysian Contract Act, the effect of acceptance has been mentioned in the definition
section. When a person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal
is said to be accepted, a proposal when accepted becomes a promise (Contracts Act 1950,
2014) 36. This provision needs to be read carefully because the wording “a proposal when
accepted becomes a promise” is too general.
There are two things here; a proposal when accepted and becomes a promise. The Contract
Act mentions the word “accepted”, whereas in the CISG, it uses the word “when an acceptance
becomes effective”. If we read literally, the time of the conclusion of the contract is different
between the CISG and the Contract Act. For the latter, once the offeree accepts the offer, the
contract is concluded even though the offeror does not know about the acceptance yet.
This statement can be related to the common law rule which is called postal rule (Contracts
Act 1950, 2014). 37
Where the parties have contemplated the used of the post as means of communication: The
communication of an acceptance is complete:
a) As against the proposer, when it is put in a course of transmission him, so as to be out
of the power of the acceptor;
b) As against the acceptor, when it comes to the knowledge of the proposer.
To make it clear, we can refer to this illustration. (Contracts Act 1950, 2014) 38
B accepts A’s proposal by a letter sent by post. The communication of the acceptance
is complete:
As against A, when the letter is posted;
As against B, when the letter is received by A.
Based on the above illustration, when B accepts the proposal made by A and uses post as the
medium of communication, the acceptance is complete once B puts the letter into the post box.
It does not matter even if A does not know about the acceptance or if the letter is lost due to
the mistake of the postal authority. That is why the Contract Act mentions a proposal becomes
a promise once it is accepted, not once it is effectively reached the offeror.
We can further refer to the judgment made by Lord Denning 39. When an acceptance is made
by post it is a clear law throughout the common law countries that the acceptance is complete
as soon as the letter is put into the post box, and that is the place where the contract is made.
Secondly, the Contract Act prefers to use the word “promise” instead of using “contract”. The
word “promise” is commonly used, which brings the same meaning as “contract”. In fact, if we
look at the definition of contract, it is defined as a legally binding promise. Hence, there is no
issue here as regard to the wording used in the Contract Act.
In general, we can say that the effect of acceptance is the same between the CISG and the
Malaysian Contract Act which leads to the conclusion of the contract. However, it is just a
matter of time as to the conclusion of the contract. Under the CISG, a contract is complete
36
Section 2 (b)
Section 4 (2)
Illustration (b) to the Section 4
39
See Judgment in the case of Entores Ltd v Far East Corporation (1955) 2 All E.R. 493
37
38
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when acceptance becomes effective while the Contract Act, which applies the postal rule,
states that a contract is concluded once it is accepted, even though the offeror does not know
about the acceptance.
V.
CONCLUSION
As a principle, international trade is a cross border transaction and it should be free from any
barriers. That is why we need an international law which has no border. Due to that, unifying
and harmonizing the rules governing the international trade transaction are the main purposes
of the CISG. In order to achieve the aim, the drafters of the CISG have considered a few
relevant laws especially the common law and the civil law, which are commonly used by many
countries.
In conclusion, the CISG and the Malaysian Contract Act have many similarities regarding to
the formation of the contract. It may be presumed that the similarities arise because Malaysia
is a common law country like the United Kingdom and most of the laws in Malaysia were
adopted from British law including the Contract Act 1950. To have such similarities is good for
Malaysia. Consequently, it will not be a major problem if the government chooses to ratify the
CISG in the future.
References
Adnan Trakic, D. (2012). Offer and Its Significance for Formation of Contracts: The
Malaysian Perspective. MLJ, cxlvii.
Butler, A. (2007). A Practical Guide to the CISG: Negotiations through Litigation. USA: Aspen
Publisher.
CISG. (n.d.). Retrieved from United Nations Commission on International Trade Law:
http://www.uncitral.org/pdf/english/texts/sales/cisg/V1056997-CISG-e-book.pdf.
Contracts Act 1950. (2014). Petaling Jaya: International Law Book Services.
Kritzer, A. H. (2014, October 2). CISG: Table of Contracting States. Retrieved from Pace
Law School Institute of International Commercial Law:
http://www.cisg.law.pace.edu/cisg/countries/cntries.html
László Szlávnits, D. (2007, February 15). CISG Case Presentation. Retrieved from Pace Law
School Institute of International Commercial Law:
http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/920925h1.html
Md Abdul Jalil, D. (2011). Adoption of the Principle of the Invitation to Treat in Islamic Law of
Contracts. International Journal on Management and Technology, 1(1).
Morrisey, J., & Graves, J. (2008). International Sales Law and Arbitration: Problems, Cases
and Commentary. The Netherland: Kluwer Law International.
Offers and Acceptance in shops . (2010, November 2). Retrieved from Jame's Blog:
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/jnetto/entry/offers_and_acceptance
Schaffer, R., Agusti, F., & Earle, B. (2010). International Business Law and Its Environment
(7th Ed.). USA: South-Western Legal Studies in Business.
Sono, H. (2007). Contract Law Harmonization and Non-Contracting States: The Case of
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Trakic, A., Ramasamy, N., Sum, C. Y., Andrews, P. L., Murugan, S. B., Vijayganesh, P., &
Chandran, K. (2014). Law for Business. Selangor: Sweet & Maxwell.
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Zorlu, S. A. (2011). CISG and Turkish Code of Obligation. Retrieved from Zorlu Law:
http://zorluhukuk.com/dosyalar/cisg.pdf
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