The Roles of Organizational Culture and Innovation in Saudi Arabian Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract

Innovation needs a preparation in terms of arranging resources likewise financial, workforce and materials. However, the technological aspect of innovation would scarcely grow well without a defined organisational culture. Non-profits must be innovative in order to have a competitive edge. Many factors have been identified as predictors of innovation success. Organizational culture is one of them. A lot of academic studies have looked at the link between organisational culture and innovation. The majority of these research have concluded that various factors of organisational culture have an impact on non-profit innovation. However, there is a lack of studies that examine the relationship between organizational culture and innovation in non-profits in the Saudi context. More important to this research is the fact that neither of studies that focus on organizational culture in the Saudi context do not employ Denison’s model to obtain results. Saudi Arabia is important in this case because it is the key global player regarding humanitarian aid outside the West. Furthermore, nonprofit sector is expected to play a key role in the country’s economic goals. The success of nonprofits in this case depends on its organizational culture and innovation. The study purpose to examine and explore the relationship between organizational culture and innovation considering the case of Saudi Arabian non-profits using theoretical support from Denison’s model for organizational culture and Oslo manual for innovation. The explanatory mixed method research design used to collect survey data from 84 respondents and eight in-depth interviews from employees working in the Saudi Arabian non-profits. Structural equation modeling-partial least square (SEM-PLS) approach is used to examine the proposed hypotheses. The results confirmed positive significant relation between organizational culture and innovation in Saudi Arabia non-profits. Further, qualitative insights emphasized on the usage of modern technologies in terms of developing system to render services. The practical and theoretical implications of this finding are discussed.