Date of Award
12-2016
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Educational Leadership, Research and Technology
First Advisor
Dr. Andrea L. Beach
Second Advisor
Dr. Sue Poppink
Third Advisor
Dr. Erika Carr
Keywords
Empowerment, creativity, Saudi universities, academic, women leaders
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the influence of leaders’ sense of psychological empowerment for women leaders on those leaders’ administrative creativity in both established and emerging universities in Saudi Arabia. The five guiding research questions were used at both established and emerging Saudi universities: (1) what are both male and female leaders’ perceptions of women leaders’ psychological empowerment? (2) What are their perceptions of the administrative creativity among women leaders? (3) How do perceptions of both psychological empowerment and administrative creativity differ between male and female leaders and between established and emerging universities? (4) What other characteristics influence their perceptions of psychological empowerment and administrative creativity? And (5) to what extent do women leaders’ senses of psychological empowerment influence their administrative creativity?
The study population consisted of all the academic male and female leaders at six public universities in Saudi Arabia. A stratified random sampling method was utilized to determine the respondents for this study from each university, stratifying the sample by university type and gender. A total of 377 academic male and female leaders participated in this study (for a response rate of 47%). Overall, analysis indicates five significant predictors of the perceptions of administrative creativity for academic female leaders. The significant demographic predictors include gender type of university, while the significant dimensions of psychological empowerment include meaning, competence, and self- determination. Multiple regression analysis showed a high positive influence of psychological empowerment on administrative creativity. This analysis concludes that administrative creativity is strongly affected by psychological empowerment for academic female leaders. Based on these results, it can be concluded that academic female leaders need to be psychologically empowered to reach the desirable administrative creativity at both established and emerging universities in Saudi Arabia.
Access Setting
Dissertation-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Al Ghamdi, Azala M., "The Empowerment of Academic Women Leaders at Saudi Universities and Its Relationship to Their Administrative Creativity" (2016). Dissertations. 2484.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/2484