Abstract: Previous studies have pointed out that transformational leadership is an important factor affecting innovation in an organization. However, there is a lack of models linking transformational leadership and innovation at universities within developing countries, particularly Syria. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of transformational leadership on innovation in Syrian universities. The quantitative method was used in data collection. A stratified random sampling technique was conducted which comprised of 368 valid responses to test the causal relationship between transformational leadership and innovation. PLS-SEM technique was used to analyze the relationship between the variables in this study. The results show that there was a significant relationship between transformational leadership and innovation.

Keywords: Transformational leadership, Innovation, Syrian universities

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2019.6610