Creative Leadership and its Relationship to Thinking Styles among Saudi University Leaders

Abstract

The present research paper aims to identify the level of creative leadership among university leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and its relationship to their thinking styles. It also reveals the differences between the level of creative leadership and thinking styles according to university type (public or private) and gender. Moreover, it adopted the analytical descriptive method. The sample comprised (60) university leaders. The field data was collected using the creative leadership scale and thinking styles scale. The results indicated a high level of creative leadership among educational university leaders in Riyadh. In terms of the thinking styles, the realist, pragmatist, idealistic, analyst, and synthesis were ranked first, second, third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. Moreover, there were statistically significant differences between the mean ranks of the participants on the flexibility domain according to university type (public or private) favoring educational leaders in public universities. There were no statistically significant differences among the other domains and total score of the creative leadership scale, as well as among the total score and domains of thinking styles scale according to university type (public or private) and gender.