Psychological Attributes and Growth Mind Set of Psychology University Students as Factors of Competitiveness

Abstract

One of the main challenges faced by most higher learning institurions is to produce graduates who are competent, wholistic and competitive. Particularly for countries like Malaysia, that is striving to become a fully industrialized country. It needs competent and effective human resources. Consequently, universities have a huge responsibility to cultivate graduates who will mostly become the required competent and competitive human resources.  Therefore, the current study sought to find the main factors that are associated with competitiveness among university students.  Specifically, the current study measured the differences between students from public and private universities in terms of their personality traits, self-esteem, growth mind set and competitiveness. The study also aimed to examined the relationships between the variables with competitiveness among these students. 294 psychology students from both public and private universities participated in the survey study. The questionnaires used were the Big Five Inventory (BFI) (John & Srivastava 1999), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (Rosenberg 1965), Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scales (ITIS; Dweck 2000) and Revised Competitiveness Index (RCI)(Houston et al. 2002).  The results showed few significant differences between public and privated university students. Particularly, there were significant differences in personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism) between students from the different types of universities. Furthermore, there was also a significant difference in students’ self-esteem. The findings implied significant factors in solving the issue of producing competitive graduates who will enter the work force. Relevant parties including university top management, can benefit from the results to be incorporated into their strategic planning.