Communication Factors Influencing Academicians Innovative Working Behavior And Its Impact On Their Career Advancement

Abstract

Innovation  has  been  identified  as  a  crucial  drive  that  determines  the  survival,  growth  and sustainability of many modern organizations. In today’s competitive environment, innovation can  be  critical  in  driving  both  individual  and  organizational  successes.  More  importantly, individuals  within  the  organizations  are  the  key  player  in  the  implementation  of innovativeness at work. Hence, this study investigates the antecedents of innovative working behavior and its impact on career advancement. Specifically, this study will take a close look on  how  communication  efficacy,  communication  climate,  mentoring,  and  networking influence  academicians’  innovative  working  behavior.  These  communication  factors  are believed  to  provide  opportunities  for  the  innovation  and  implementation  of  novel  ideas  that will  aid  employees  in  achieving  their  career  goals,  and  thus  become  a  platform  for  their career advancement in the organizations. 

The  study  adopted  a  quantitative  survey  research  design.  Self-administered questionnaires  were  distributed  to  132  lecturers  from  three  major  Islamic  universities  in Malaysia. The findings indicate that there are significant relationships found between all four communication factors with innovative working behavior. Specifically, this study found that innovativeness  is  strongly  correlated  with  communication  efficacy,  communication  climate, networking,  and  moderately  correlated  with  mentoring.  This  study  also  found  that innovativeness  is  strongly  correlated  with  career  advancement.  Furthermore,  regression analysis  found  that  networking  is  the  most  influential  factor  to  predict  innovative  working behavior, followed by efficacy and mentoring.  

Keywords:  Individual  Innovativeness,  Communication  Efficacy,  Communication  Climate, Mentoring, Networking, and Career Advancement.