The Mediating Role of Career Readiness in the Relationship between Leadership Training and Omanization: Evidence from Oman's Private Sector (2025)

Abstract

Despite sustained national investment in leadership development, Oman’s private sector continues to experience a structural gap between training provision and effective leadership localization. This study develops and empirically tests an integrated model examining how leadership training enhances national participation through the mediating mechanism of career readiness. Drawing on Human Capital Theory and Structural Theory, the framework conceptualizes leadership Omanization as the interaction between individual capability development and institutional absorption capacity.
Using a stratified random sample of 387 Omani leaders, data were analyzed through PLS-SEM. Results indicate that leadership training exerts a significant direct effect on Omanization (β = 0.29, p < 0.01), while its indirect effect through career readiness is substantially stronger (β = 0.47, p < 0.001). These findings demonstrate that readiness functions as the critical operational mechanism transforming training investment into sustainable leadership employment outcomes.
Despite growing GCC localization literature, no prior empirical study has explicitly tested career readiness as a mediating mechanism linking leadership training to Omanization within Oman’s private sector. By introducing the Integrated Leadership–Readiness Omanization Model (ILRLM), this research advances a predictive, policy-oriented framework aligned with Oman Vision 2040, offering both theoretical integration and practical guidance for strengthening national leadership participation.