Exploring the Innovativeness Among Early Childhood Education Students in Sabah, Malaysia: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

Student innovativeness is the capacity of learners to generate, promote, and implement new ideas, while adapting to challenges through experimentation and creative problem-solving. It is critical for long-term academic and professional success, besides fostering resilience and turning creative thinking into tangible solutions. The main purpose of this study was to investigate early childhood education students’ innovativeness in Sabah, Malaysia. The sample consisted of 84 respondents who completed the Innovation Attitude Survey on Google Forms. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0. Kruskal-Wallis H test showed no significant differences in innovativeness by way of ethnicity, while Mann-Whitney U test indicated no significant differences by way of gender and age. Additionally, Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that 11 of the items significantly differed from the hypothesized value of 3.5 at p < .001; only two of the items were significantly different from the same hypothesized value at p < .05. About 40.4 to 57.2 percent of the students strongly agreed/agreed on four of the items, while 67.9 to 70.3 percent of them strongly agreed/agreed on six of the items. Besides that, 76.2 to 78.6 percent strongly agreed/agreed on three of the items, while 83.3 to 84.5 percent strongly agreed/agreed on only two of the items. Findings imply that early childhood education students tend to possess an average level of innovativeness. In light of the findings, several recommendations were made on ways to increase the innovativeness among college students in Sabah.