A career success model for academics at Malaysian research universities

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to develop a career success model for academics at the Malaysian research universities. Design/methodology/approach-Self-administered and online surveys were used for data collection among 325 academics from Malaysian research universities. Findings-Based on the analysis of structural equation modeling, the proposed model explained 48 percent of the variance of academics' career success. Specifically, the result shows that there are positive significant effects between organizational support, extraversion personality, person-job fit and academics' career success. A full mediation effect of proactive behavior was established on the relationship between organizational support and career success. Overall, the results confirmed that the proposed model succinctly explains career success among academics in Malaysian research universities. Research limitations/implications-The authors present a career success model for academics at Malaysian research universities. The study represents an important extension of previous research of which it tested the applicability of the career success theories and identified the key factors related to career success of academics based on the context of Malaysian research universities. Most current career success studies were conducted in the context of the Western culture or developed countries; therefore, the results based on the Malaysian sample provide strong evidence of cross-cultural comparability of the career success construct and model. Practical implications-The findings provide implications to both individuals and human resource development practitioners on career success among academics. Practical interventions are suggested to assist individuals and organizations toward achieving career success. This study sheds some light on the effective management of the academics. Originality/value-The authors propose a model of academics' career success based on the context of Malaysian research universities.

Inclusive/exclusive talent management, responsible leadership and organizational downsizing

“…Drucker (2001) and Dube and Ngulube (2013) label academics as golden workers because of the valuable and irreplaceable credentials and experience they have. Abu Said et al (2015) clarify that the main areas academics should contribute to are: supervising students, publishing, consulting and engaging in commercialization activities on behalf of their universities. The same authors elaborate that in academia, job responsibilities generate feelings of work stress more than in any other profession.…”

Modeling Academic Research Collaborator Selection Using an Integrated Model

“…The main concerns for Malaysian research universities are the quantity and quality of researchers and their research, the number and quality of postgraduate enrolments, innovation, professional facilities, and networks. Based on such factors, these universities are prioritised by the government for research grants [114]. Moreover, the ministry of higher education in Malaysia attempts to enhance research and innovation by providing technologies that facilitate research collaboration among academic researchers since the productivity of scientific research is linked with high levels of collaboration [115].…”

“…The process of data collection was conducted using online surveys hosted by SurveyMonkey. The link to the survey was sent through email to 1000 researchers in Malaysian research universities since researchers are typically busy and online survey has a low response rate [114,130]. Data collection was conducted between June 2019 and September 2019.…”

Gestión del Capital Intelectual y Desempeño de Grupos de Investigación Universitarios en un País Emergente. El caso de Colombia

“…En detalle, la gestión de activos intangibles implica que los grupos estén más activos e interesados en procesos enfocados a la generación, adquisición, almacenamiento y diseminación de conocimientos claves, como la construcción de redes interinstitucionales, la participación en eventos científicos y académicos, el intercambio de conocimiento, entre otras actividades (McFadyen y Cannella, 2004;Ramírez et al, 2011;Howell y Annansingh, 2013). Como resultado de la gestión del capital intelectual, el inventario de conocimientos claves robustecido produce una mejora de la producción académica y científica cuantificada en artículos, literatura gris, de los grupos de investigación (Ramírez et al, 2007;Cheng et al, 2009;Ramírez et al, 2014;Said et al, 2015 ;Calderón et al, 2017).…”