Exploring Employed Women’s Perceptions of Leadership in the Light of a Leadership Program in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The present research paper aims at exploring the expectations and perceptions of leadership among Saudi employed women who accomplished a leadership development program “Qiyadat” offered by MiSK Foundation. The author designed a questionnaire of eight domains to examine the participants’ perceptions of the leadership program content, required leadership competencies, leadership challenges, support, program success requirement, as well as understanding and implementing the Saudi Vision 2030. The sample consisted of 60 employed women who have attended a leadership development program offered by Misk Foundation in the academic year 2019/2020. Following a descriptive-analytical research design, the author administered the instrument to collect data and discuss the results. The results showed that the participants have high perceptions of leadership due to the leadership development program offered by Misk Foundation. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between the participants’ perceptions of leadership and the seven variables of the questionnaire (i.e., the leadership program content, leadership competencies, leadership challenges, sources of support, program success requirements, understanding Saudi Vision 2030, and execution of Saudi Vision 2030). There were no statistically significant differences between the participants in their perceptions of leadership in the light of the women’s leadership program offered by Misk Foundation according to the years of experience. Thus, it is highly recommended that public and private sectors support women in the development of leadership, address their needs, and overcome challenges facing their empowerment and gender equity.

Received: 16 December 2020 / Accepted: 8 February 2021 / Published: 5 March 2021