What drives professionals’ innovative behaviour? An examination of university educators in Malaysia

The majority of the micro studies on innovation focus on the contextual antecedents of innovative behaviour, using samples from developed countries and R&D specialists. Our study aimed to identify the individual-level drivers of innovation of university lecturers in a developing country, Malaysia. Compared to that in developed countries, the tertiary education sector in Malaysia is unique as it is led by for-profit higher education institutions, both quantitatively and qualitatively. In a hyper competitive environment, higher education institutions are keen on identifying and adopting innovative ways to educate their students. This qualitative study was conducted in two phases. The first phase comprised of an online student survey (n = 38) with two open-ended questions to understand the meaning of innovative teaching in the eyes of students. The findings in the first phase were then used in drafting questions for the interviews in the second phase. Results showed that student tended to associate innovative teaching methods with effective methods. Besides, the usage of technology in teaching did not define innovative teaching. The second phase involved 15 semi-structured interviews with lecturers from four private universities. The results indicated that lecturers were motivated by their perceived professional role and the associated obligations toward students, and their passion in education. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the individual-level determinants of innovative behaviour, which have been found under-studied. Further research could focus on the effect of professional identification and passion as individual-level antecedents of innovative behaviour.