Arab Educational Information Network

The study aims to identify the role of human capital in achieving the competitive advantage in light of knowledge economy from the perspective of educational leadership experts in the Saudi universities. The descriptive approach is used as it is suitable for achieving the objectives of the study. The study sample consisted of (72) members of the teaching staff of the specialists in educational leadership or educational administration working in leadership positions in the Saudi government universities during the academic year 1439 h. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the questionnaire was used to collect the necessary data for the study purposes. It consists of (32) paragraphs, divided into two dimensions with five-grade response. The outstanding results of the study are as follows: 1) the overall level of the role of human capital in Saudi universities in the light of knowledge economy was moderate, while the order of dimensions as follows: practical experience, knowledge, skills and capabilities, team work, and finally comes the innovation dimension. 2) The overall level of availability of the competitive advantage in the light of knowledge economy was moderate, while the order of dimensions as follows: efficiency, quality, response, and in last place comes innovation dimension. 3) The results revealed that there is a strong correlation between human capital in Saudi universities and achieving competitive advantage in various dimensions and a statistical function at a level (0.01). 4) The results showed the importance of (skills and abilities dimension) and its impact on competitive advantage in the light of knowledge economy, while (practical experience dimension) was the weakest link in achieving competitive advantage in light of knowledge economy. In light of these findings, the researcher submits a number of recommendations, most notably are as the following: 1) adopting a clear and accurate policy in attracting human capital, as the human resource is capable of activating and investing the rest of the financial and technical resources in the universities, and adopting modern programs in training human capital in response to knowledge, technological and economic transfers. 2) Supporting decentralization and administrative independence; to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of Saudi universities, by creating a competitive environment for the development of the educational process, and to improve the outputs of human capital to suit the labor market. 3) It is necessary to assess the work of academic leaders in Saudi universities from the perspective of knowledge of the transition to the knowledge economy, and the ability to develop human capital. (Published abstract)