A Study on Personal Characteristics of Leadership towards Student’s Innovative Behavior From Extra Curriculums Activity 

Abstract: Higher education institutions must prepare students for future employment and train them to carry out job obligations in order to foster innovation. Higher educational institutions aimed to prepare innovative professionals to develop youthful potential talents, particularly among students, as an important aspect of the higher education agenda. Graduate competencies are the result of university education, and one of the expected graduate outputs is innovation. The purpose of this study is to look at the impact of individual leadership competency on students’ innovative behaviour. This study employed a random stratified sampling method to identify 728 student leaders from three public higher learning institutions in Malaysia’s southern region. Descriptive statistics and SEM-Smart PLS are used to examine the data. Self-confidence, problem-solving, organization and planning, technology, all demonstrate a strong positive relationship towards innovative behaviour. This study is unique as it explores leadership competency and innovative behaviour among students in a non-western academic setting. Future studies should incorporate moderator or mediator variables to get a more holistic view of innovative behaviour, as the current study solely looked at leadership competency in relation to innovative student behaviour.

Key words: higher education institutions, innovative behaviour, interpersonal skills, leadership competency, Malaysia

JEL code: O3