Exploring Global Motivation Among College Students in Sabah, Malaysia: A Quantitative Study

This study aimed to explore 70 students’ global motivation; they were enrolled in three private colleges in Sabah, Malaysia. The objectives were to assess (1) if any significant age, gender, and ethnic differences existed in college students’ global motivation, (2) if any significant differences existed in college students’ global motivation based on a hypothesized value of 3.5, and (3) the percentages of agreement on college students’ global motivation. To collect data, the Global Motivation Scale was administered online; responses were then transferred onto a spreadsheet to be analyzed using SPSS 26.0. First, based on Kruskal-Wallis H test, no significant age and ethnic differences existed in college students’ global motivation; based on Mann-Whitney U test, no significant gender differences existed in the construct. Based on Wilcoxon signed rank test and a hypothesized value of 3.5, seven of the items were significant at p < 0.001. The same test indicated that six of the items were significant at p < 0.05. Third, low percentages (37.2 to 68.6 percent) of college students strongly agreed/agreed on 23 of the items; only an average (70.0 to 84.3 percent) strongly agreed/agreed on five of the items. Overall results showed that college students tend to have low to average levels of global motivation. In light of the findings, several recommendations were made on ways to enhance college students’ global motivation in Sabah, Malaysia.