The Effect of Leadership Development on Leadership Succession Readiness among Public Education Staff in Saudi Arabia: A Human Capital Theory Perspective

This study examined the effect of leadership development, through training and administrative delegation, on leadership succession readiness among public education staff in Saudi Arabia. It draws on human capital theory, which distinguishes formal training from on-the-job learning. A descriptive-analytical design was used. A 30-item questionnaire was completed by a convenience sample of 257 teachers, vice-principals, supervisors and administrators. Leadership development explained 58.1% of the variance in succession readiness. Training was the stronger predictor in the overall model (β = 0.57), while delegation made a smaller but significant unique contribution (β = 0.25). At the dimension level, however, delegation was the stronger predictor of leadership competencies (β = 0.40 versus 0.28 for training). Delegation also had the highest mean of all dimensions despite its smaller unique contribution. Being identified in a succession plan and receiving feedback on readiness were the lowest-rated items. No significant gender differences were found. Small differences emerged by qualification, job level and years of experience, most notably lower readiness among the most experienced staff. Theoretically, the study shows that the two forms of human capital investment build different aspects of readiness, and that the return on on-the-job learning depends on the quality of delegation. Practically, it recommends that the Ministry of Education turn delegation from task distribution into documented developmental assignments within succession pathways.