PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Since the inception of microcredit programmes, various studies have been carried out to assess their impacts. Earlier studies seemed to highlight this on the participants’ income and consequently poverty. However, recent impact studies of microcredit programmes have been looking into participants’ quality of life. Thus, this study attempted to investigate the impact of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia’s microcredit programme on the participants’ quality of life and analyse the differences between the new and old participants. This study took on a different perspective by examining aspects of personal attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, as well as entrepreneurial intention and behaviour. In selecting the samples, a probability sampling (disproportionate stratified) technique was employed. The hypotheses were tested using cross-sectional data of 638 Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia participants. The findings of the study showed that all the hypotheses were significant and supported, where there was significant influence between participants’ personal attitude and entrepreneurial intention, participants’ subjective norm and entrepreneurial intention, participants’ perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial intention, participants’ perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial behaviour, participants’ entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behaviour, including participants’ entrepreneurial behaviour and participants’ quality of life. On the contrary, the findings of the study revealed no difference in the quality of life between new participants and old participants. This study may contribute to the policy implications of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia’s microcredit programme, especially in improving training and guidance.