The Impact of Psychological Empowerment on Lecturers’ Innovative Behaviour in Malaysian Private Higher Education Institutions

Psychological empowerment comprising four cognitive dimensions i.e meaning, competence, autonomy and impact in the context of private higher education institutions was validated. The behavioral outcome of psychological empowerment was operationalized as innovative behavior. This study examined on a sample of 312 lecturers from 25 private higher education institutions in three states (Penang, Kedah and Kelantan) in Malaysia. The study verified the validity of the psychological empowerment scale of comprising four dimensions whereas innovative behaviour scale was unidimensional. Survey data was analyzed using correlation and regression analyses to assess the relationship between psychological empowerment and innovative behaviour as well as the impact of psychological empowerment on the behavioral outcome. The results indicate that psychological empowerment has significant relationship with innovative behaviour. Psychological empowerment is also found to be a significant predictor of innovative behavior (adjusted R2 = .109). Key words: Academia; Psychological empowerment; innovative behaviour; Private Higher Education; Malaysia Resume: L’habilitation psychologique qui comprend quatre dimensions cognitives, c'est-a-dire le sens, la competence, l'autonomie et l'impact dans le contexte des etablissements de l'enseignement superieur prives a ete validee. Le resultat comportemental de l'habilitation psychologique a ete operationnalisee en tant qu’un comportement innovateur. Cette etude a examine un echantillon de 312 enseignants de 25 etablissements de l'enseignement superieur prives dans trois provinces (Penang, Kedah et Kelantan) en Malaisie. L'etude a verifie la validite de l'echelle de l’habilitation psychologique comportant quatre dimensions alors que l'echelle des comportements innovateurs est unidimensionnelle. Les donnindiquent qu’il y a une relation significative entre l'habilitation psychologique et les comportements innovateurs. L’habilitation est egalement un facteur predictif important de comportements innovateurs. Mots-Cles: academie; habilitation psychologique; comportements innovateurs; enseignement superieur prive ; Malaisie