^aUniversiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

Malaysia, among other countries around the world is investing an immense sum of money to improve social welfare systems by offering a social safety net for the deserving ones that are exposed to global uncertainties due to an economic slowdown. As part of the government initiative to boost well-being, this study focusses on BR1M (1Malaysia Peoples’ Aid), KR1M (1Malaysia People’s Grocery Store), BB1M (1Malaysia Book Voucher) and K1M (1Malaysia Clinics) under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP). Specifically, the motivation of this study is to identify the most effective and preferred welfare incentives as well as the most significant incentive together with socio-demographic determinants using self-rated well-being by employing logistic regression analysis. Findings show that K1M has the highest mean (4.94) while the most preferred welfare incentive is BR1M (42%). As for the logistic regression analysis, the finding shows that BR1M, KR1M and K1M were significant in influencing the well-being of people. As a comparison, the most significant welfare incentive is BR1M as it has the most significant value at a p-value of .004 and the highest odds ratio at 4.689. Overall, these results suggest that people perceived BR1M as an instant relief towards the high cost of living and can affect their wellbeing without considering their socio-demographic backgrounds.

Keywords: welfare, self-rated, well-being, government programme, quality of life