Abstract

Saudi Arabia faces many challenges, including the political instability of the Middle East as well as currently decreased oil prices. However, Saudi is ranked 83rd in the global creativity index. Thus, Saudi has developed Vision 2013 to promote innovation that includes increasing tourism. The Mecca Region is a center of tourism and the police directors will need to demonstrate creative ways to maintain safety of an increasing influx of international tourists. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the perceptions of leadership behaviors by directors of police force in Mecca as measured by Leaders Behavior Descriptive Questionnaire (LBDQ) and their perceptions on innovative behaviors as measured by Magley and Birdi’s instrument. These two instruments in Arabic were personally distributed to 120 directors; 103 (86%) completed survey sets were returned. Of these, 95 were sufficiently complete for data analysis. Demographic findings indicated that the median age of these directors was 30.5 years, median years of experience was 11, and median educational experience was Bachelors’ degree. Correlational and multiple regression analyses revealed that these leaders had moderate leadership scores and similar perceptions of innovation. The three largest correlations were between the total leadership on LBDQ and total innovation score, creativity self-efficacy, and team support for innovation. The fourth largest correction was between team support and innovation. Thus, the alternative hypotheses were accepted that these leaders’ perceptions of their leadership skills would predict their perception of innovations. From the study, we concluded that the participating leaders believe they possess good leadership skills and have creative ideas, which are supported by their supervisors. Out of the 4 subscales of LBDQ, consideration has the strongest correlations with innovation. Thus, these leaders feel safe to try something new without fear of negative repercussions or others criticizing them if their idea or product. In addition, these leaders expressed that they work well in teams. A four-step model to promote innovation in any organization was developed from the finding. Saudi support of education for these young leaders should assist in their realization of innovation in police work in the Mecca Region.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Dissertations (EdD) -- Organizational leadership; Tourism -- Saudi Arabia; Leadership -- Case studies; Organizational leadership

Date of Award

2016

School Affiliation

Graduate School of Education and Psychology

Department/Program

Education

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate

Faculty Advisor

Hiatt-Michael, Diana B.;

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