INVESTIGATING LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR SPAWNING INNOVATION PERFORMANCE IN UAE’S TELECOMMUNICATION AND ICT INDUSTRY

The significance of leadership behaviours comes in creating a climate for innovation to support individual creativity within innovation performance. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between transformational and transactional leadership behaviours, climate for innovation, individual creativity and innovation performance. Additionally, this study explored the mediation role of climate for innovation perceptions to be supportive of individual creativity. Data were collected online from 139 staff and leaders who were working in various ICT and telecommunication industries in UAE, a developing country, and SLP- SEM were used to analyse the data. The results of this study revealed positive and significant relationships between Transactional leadership and climate for innovation and individual creativity and innovation performance. Also, the findings indicated employees’ perceptions of a supportive climate for innovation mediation transformational and transactional leadership, and individual creativity relationships. Organisations should invest in transformational and transactional leadership training and in selecting leaders with this leadership style if their aim is to foster and enhance individual creativity and support innovation performance. They also should invest in organizational climate improvement in order to provide a dynamic platform for being creative and innovative in the workplace. This study is one of the first to investigate the relationships between the ICT and telecommunication organizations in the UAE, such as the associations between transformational and transactional leadership, employees’ sense of creativity, innovation performance and the impact of employees’ perceptions of a supportive climate for innovation