Empowerment Potential: Big-Five Personality Traits and Psychological Empowerment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between big-five personality traits and psychological empowerment to answer the question: who is empowered? The main sample consisted of 384 frontline service-workers, from which data was collected using self-reported measures within their natural work setting. The result indicated that extraverts are more empowered because they tend to find more meaning from their work, and also because they believe in their work-related competencies as service workers. In addition, conscientious employees were found to be more empowered since, like extraverts, they believed that they are capable in handling their work-related tasks. Agreeableness was related to psychological empowerment partially through leader-member exchange, customer supportiveness, and affect-based trust. By identifying empowerment-related personality traits, this study enables service-organizations to identify and select more empowered individuals, who can make a significant difference in the level of customer satisfaction.