Understanding the indigenous mindsets in Malaysia: a future research agenda

Abstract

Much research was conducted in many parts of the world to help the indigenous community, either to increase their well-being, to maintain their cultural richness, to introduce entrepreneurial minds to the community, etc. Different approaches were used to understand the community. In some cases, the indigenous community received a continuous influx from groups of researchers into their community, with the aim to further upgrade their well-being, but the outcome of the research is minimal. The question that arises is what causes the inconsistencies between the efforts and the result; is there an unexplored and unearthed fissure that could be suggested and implemented? Should there be a more comprehensive sequential studies that could enlighten researchers about the community? A comprehensive and inclusive studies need to be carried out to scrutinize every possible angle to identify the underpinning reasons. This paper aims to conduct a fundamental study on the indigenous community and to outline future research agenda and directions based on the elementary findings through a 2-phase study: Phase 1- a phenomenology study on the indigenous communities to understand the fundamental mindsets and what welfare means to them. Phase 2- to examine the life satisfaction scale towards the living conditions of the indigenous community.  All these phases are hoped to provide a better idea to governmental bodies or agencies on how to support the indigenous leading them to accept the initiatives offered to them. This study provides some fundamental findings on the indigenous community and the living conditions. Recommendations on how to further enhance the understanding of the indigenous community were also proposed.

Keywords: indigenous, mindsets, satisfaction, welfare, wellbeing, voluntaristic