The Relationship Between UAE Advanced National Skills and The Future Innovation Skills in The Public Sector

ABSTRACT

Governments around the world are finding innovative ways to serve their citizens and stay competitive. The United Arab Emirates has introduced a number of initiatives to develop its workforce to be the most innovative in the delivery of public services to its citizens and expatriates alike. However, it is unclear to what extent the national advanced skills may have contributed to improving core innovation skills among public sector employees. The underlying study surveyed public sector employees to investigate the relationship between the UAE national advanced skills strategy and core innovation skills for public sector employees as identified by the OECD. The UAE advanced national skills are divided into foundational literacies, competencies, and character qualities. The six core skills identified by OECD consisted of iteration, data literacy, user-centricity, curiosity, storytelling, and insurgency. Data were collected from 369 employees working in the public sector in various positions in Dubai government entities. The findings revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between the national advanced skills of the UAE and future innovation skills as perceived by the public sector employees. National advanced skills scored a mean of 3.65 indicating that employees have a medium to a high perception that they possess these skills. In addition, among the six core innovation skills, the employees rated their level of curiosity with a mean score of 3.77. It may be concluded that national advanced skills have significantly and positively impacted and will continue to impact the core innovation skills of the public sector workforce in the UAE.

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