The Predictors of Employee Mindset towards Employee Innovativeness: A Comparative Study between Two Government-Linked Companies in Malaysia

Abstract

This pilot study was conducted to identify the predictors of employee mindset towards employee innovativeness at two government-linked companies in Malaysia which were Tabung Haji and Felda Berhad. The main purpose is to investigate the effects of employee mindset on employee innovativeness. In addition, it also seeks to have a deeper understanding on one of the main issues of GLCs performance in Malaysia which is the deficiency in innovativeness among their employees. The study found that all seven dimensions of employee mindset which were cosmopolitanism, cognitive complexity, creative thinking, work culture, entrepreneurial mindset, boundary spanning and adaptability were related to employee innovativeness, while four of these variables were the predictors towards employee innovativeness. Two sub-variables were found to be the positive predictors (cosmopolitanism and work culture) while two others (entrepreneurial mindset and work culture) were found to be the negative predictors towards employee innovativeness. It was also found that Tabung Haji employees were significantly influenced by cosmopolitism and work culture traits while entrepreneurial mindset trait had negative influenced toward their employee innovativeness. Meanwhile for Felda Berhad’s employees, only cosmopolitanism attribute had significantly influenced innovativeness while creative thinking and work culture traits had negative influence toward employee innovation. Employee innovativeness is critical for GLCs’ success; cosmopolitanism and work culture appeared to be the important orientation for management and employees to foster. To assist managers to deliver superior products and services, they must be courageous enough to enhance cosmopolitanism and work culture attributes to their employees as a means to increase profits for the GLCs.