Organisational Culture and Innovation in Public Universities in Ghana: The Mediating Role of Leadership Emotional Intelligence

Abstract

This study was about investigating the extent to which the influence of organisational culture on innovation is mediated by leadership emotional intelligence in Public Universities in Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to; investigate the influence that organisational culture has on innovation, assess the relationship between innovation and leadership emotional intelligence, and finally, determine the mediating effect of leadership emotional intelligence on the relationship between organisational culture and innovation in the Public Universities in Ghana. The study was quantitative, with explanatory design. With a population of 3095 staff from the three selected Public Universities from three geographical zones in Ghana, 341 respondents were randomly sampled based on Krejcie and Morgan (1970) Table. In total, out of the 341 questionnaires, 255 valid responses were obtained from the three selected universities. In analysing the three main objectives of this study, partial least squares structural equation modeling techniques, with the aid of the SMART PLS version 3.0, were employed, while the descriptive statistics were processed with the SPSS Version 24. The main findings of the study indicated that with the exception of clan culture, the rest of organisational cultural dimensions such as adhocracy culture, market culture and hierarchical culture had a positive significant influence on innovation. Secondly, it was found that there was a positive relationship between innovation and leadership emotional intelligence. Finally, the study outcomes showed that leadership emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between organisational culture and innovation, particularly when there were adhocracy, market and hierarchical cultures. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that Public Universities in Ghana, in enhancing innovation, should pay more attention to their organisational culture with special interest in their leaders who are endowed with high emotional intelligence as it can be a key enabler or a major barrier against innovation.