CEO COMMITMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATIVENESS: A STUDY OF PAKISTAN’S EXPORT ORGANIZATIONS

The paper is a first ever contribution to literature in organizational change quoting evidence from export sector of Pakistan. It determines the role of CEO commitment in developing organizational potential for innovation and change. It is based on data acquired from 351 respondents from top managerial positions, representing 21 manufacturing organizations and spread over 8 industrial sectors of export-oriented organizations from Pakistan. Results indicate that CEO commitment has a positive relationship with all the 9 factors of innovation potential. Five items used as indicators measuring CEO commitment showed that four items are significantly associated to innovation potential of the organization. Budget and time commitment, patience for change, and monitoring of change results are highly significantly associated while equipment committed is not a proper indicator of CEO commitment. The results have implications for CEOs of export organization in making their firms more innovative while creating more meaningfulness of work, maintaining open communication and keeping business intelligence of competitor actions. This study confirms that managerial choice in developing economies does not account for more than 30% of organizational variations. This finding is in line with other replication studies conducted in developed economies, thus expanding the application of structural contingency theorists’ debate.