Innovation management systems for public organizations in the UAE

Public and private organizations are striving to achieve excellence in their performance and services provided. Innovation has been at the forefront to provide new and creative ways to help public organizations achieve this. Despite the reported success, there are wide discrepancies in the planning and management of innovative programs in developing countries such as United Arab Emirates (UAE) public sector. The purpose of this study is to investigate the status of innovation management systems (IMS) in UAE public organizations and provide recommendations for improvement. The main research tools used are interviews and surveys targeting innovation subject matter experts and practitioners to identify challenges and opportunities of innovation management. Based on the response of 200 respondents involved in innovation management, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, and a structural equation model was developed. The results of the model suggest that infrastructure, process owners, and employee participation have significant direct impact on innovation management system (IMS) performance. However, other factors such as innovation have a significant indirect impact through ideation and infrastructure on IMS performance. In addition, management support has a significant indirect impact through infrastructure on performance. This implies that investing in innovation infrastructure, empowering process owners, and encouraging employees to participate to maximize the benefits of innovation systems.