Strategic drivers to promote employee suggestion schemes in GCC organizations

Purpose - This study applies a decision support tool to prioritize the various drivers that influence employee suggestion schemes (ESSs) in both public and private organizations based in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries for better organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach - Using theories of organizational creativity, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model was developed with 5 criteria and 24 sub-criteria. Data were collected from executives (n = 48) from both public and private organizations in the GCC. Later, the data were interpreted with a priority vector assigned to each criterion and sub-criterion. Findings - The results indicate that leaders/management support, individual traits and organization culture are the key drivers that influence employees' involvement in an ESS. Research limitations/implications - The study is limited to a small sample size, and data were collected only in three GCC countries. The study provides insights into ESS in the context of developing countries and is a relevant contribution to both theory and practice. The results will be of interest to businesses and academics for improving understanding on the various enablers of successful employee participation programme implementation and subsequent increase in organizational performance in the GCC. Originality/value - The novelty of this study is that it resolves the lack of empirical research in the Middle East countries/GCC. The transition phase of knowledge-based economies highlights the significance of innovation and creativity through active employee participation to improve business results. The study attempts to prioritise both individual- and organizational-level drivers for promoting ESS by leveraging theories of creativity in alignment with the GCC National Innovation Agenda. This study can be generalized from the GCC context due to homogeneity in organizational governance and cultural aspects.