An Interpretive Exploration on Emotional Self-Regulation among Malaysian Academicians

This interpretive study explored how scholars in the higher learning institutions in Malaysia self-regulate their emotions in coping with frustrations due of lack of working environment support. In-line with the government's aspiration to transform Malaysian into a leading international education hub, the Ministry of Higher Education introduced seven key performance indicators for the academicians. This resulted in the emergence of a new academic excellence norm which focused on the scholarship. In the adaption process of the. academic excellence norm, academicians encountered lack of working environment support which resulted in the feeling of frustrations. This study employed qualitative approach and grounded theory as the overarching Methodology in collecting and analyzing data in a case site. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and a total of 24 professors were interviewed over the period of nine months. Findings discovered that academicians self-regulated their emotions through motivating own self, staying focus to achieve personal target, evaluating own self, distinguishing self needs and accepting others' differences in coping with the lack of working environment support.