How Emiratization Policies Influence Innovation and Change Management in UAE Banks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47604/ijsm.3899Keywords:
UAE Banking Sector, Emiratization, Innovation, Institutional Pressures, Change Management, Knowledge-Based ViewAbstract
Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the impact of Emiratization on different organisational constructs. Thus, this study sought to address this conceptual and empirical gap by addressing two main research questions: (i) To what extent does the integration of Emirati talent in strategic roles influence organizational innovation in UAE commercial banks? (ii) How does the level of Emiratization influence organizational change management capability in UAE commercial banks?
Methodology: A cross-sectional quantitative design was used. 48 valid responses were obtained from 50 employees of commercial banks in the UAE through simple random sampling. Structured questionnaires comprising a 5-point Likert scale were used to gather data using Qualtrics. As a result, collected data were analysed in IBM SPSS through descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis to examine the relationships between Emiratization, innovation and change-management capability.
Findings: Emaratization was positively and significantly correlated to both innovation and change-management, accounting for 95.6% of the variance in innovation outcomes and 91.5% of the variance in change management.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: From the findings, it is recommended that UAE banks should make Emiratization a part of their HR strategy and workplace planning systems. Recommendations should be interpreted with caution because only a relatively small sample size was used, indirect measurement of strategic inclusion and evidence of significant common-method variance. The study shows that UAE banks need to work on better Emiratization integration in their HR strategy, workforce planning, leadership development and succession planning processes. Similarly, they should prioritise the quality of Emirati participation in strategically critical roles. Policymakers should consider evaluating role quality and progression, instead of relying on numerical headcount.
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