Leadership Styles and Organizational Learning An Empirical Study on Saudi Banks in Al-Taif Governorate Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This paper investigates how two important research streams, namely Leadership Styles (LS) and Organizational Learning (OL), might be related. In other words, LS and OL represent two rich lines of research: one is about how people lead and the other is about how people learn. Specifically, this contribution addresses two issues (1) the evaluative attitudes of the employees towards LS and OL and (2) the relationship between LS and OL. This study was conducted at Saudi banks in Al-Taif Governorate, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research is practical, according to its purpose, and descriptive according to its data collection method. Three groups of employees at Saudi banks were reviewed. Of the 335 questionnaires that were distributed, 285 usable questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 85%. The finding reveals that there are differences among the three groups of employees regarding their evaluative attitudes towards LS and OL. Also, this study reveals that the aspects of LS have a significantly direct effect on OL. Accordingly, the study provides a set of recommendations that included the need for Transactional Leadership Styles (TALS) in general, and Transformational Leadership Style (TFLS) in particular, in order to achieve the best response to the needs and wishes of the workers at Saudi banks to increase their contribution to the achievement of OL on the one hand, and raise the level of their performance and enhance competitive advantage of these organizations on the other hand.