The impact of the entrepreneurial leadership attribute of innovation on the level of faculty research output in Saudi

Abstract

Abstract: The objective of this study is to empirically investigate impact of the entrepreneurial attribute innovation on the level of faculty research output in Higher Education, Saudi Arabia. The study adheres to ‎the quantitative paradigm and follows ‎a typical survey research design. The study in this fashion complements the extant educational leadership literature by documenting empirical evidence extent to which entrepreneurial leadership attributes are present in Saudi higher education system. In particular, the study employs a two-stage model approach where a preliminary model is estimated to document the impact of entrepreneurial leadership on faculty innovative behavior followed by a study model that uncovers the impact of faculty innovative behavior on the level of research output. The study collects data at 1020 faculty respondents at three major Saudi universities based on the validated item pool scale measurement of innovation advanced in Lukes and Stephans (2017). The results of the study support that the innovation attribute of entrepreneurial leadership is evident of Saudi faculty responses. The results are strongly consistent with the maintained hypothesis that entrepreneurial leadership which has a positive impact on individual innovative behavior owing to the innovation orientation of entrepreneurial leadership style. The study further strongly supports the theoretic prediction underlying the relationship between innovative behavior and performance by showing that faculty members who exhibit innovative behavior tend to perform much better and produce on average greater than three more papers relative to their counterparts who don’t exhibit innovative behavior on the individual level. Throughout, the study has a socio-cultural relevance to Saudi Arabia with respect to the 2030 vision of the kingdom that stresses innovation, valuable leadership, and competitive higher education.