The Relationship Between Intrapreneurial Orientation, Job Satisfaction and Job Performance Among Academicians in Malaysian Public Universities

The main objective of the higher education transformation is to improve the performance of higher education institutions in Malaysia and this demand for an emphasis in competitiveness, creativity, and innovations. To initiate this transformation process in the higher education, academicians have very important roles to play and there seem to be a need for them to possess some entrepreneurial values and characteristics. Yet no empirical studies had been conducted on the relationship between intrapreneurial orientation (IO), job satisfaction, and job performance of these academicians. Thus this study was conducted to identify the level of IO and job satisfaction among academicians in Malaysian public universities, to determine the relationship between IO and job performance, to determine the relationship between IO and job satisfaction, and to determine whether job satisfaction mediates the relationship between IO and job performance of these academicians. The study adopted a quantitative approach through survey instruments design and the population of the study was the academicians of 20 Malaysian public universities. Data collection was made through questionnaires, and the constructs used were adapted from prior research and already tested for reliability. Three dimensions of IO (innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness) were examined. Principal components factor analysis was engaged to extract and rotate factors. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) were used to analyse the demography of respondents. Multivariate techniques used were correlation and multiple regressions. The findings showed that innovativeness and risk-taking had significant relationship with job satisfaction, while innovativeness and proactiveness had significant and positive relationship with job performance. Job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between innovativeness and job performance, and partially mediated the relationship between proactiveness and job performance. This study highlights the importance of factors relating to job performance among academicians in the Malaysian public universities.