Empowerment Climate Research Articles

Fuelling perceived employability through Leader's expert power: Role of empowerment climate and thriving

After COVID-19, pre-existing perceptions of employability have dramatically changed. Consequently, challenges of workforce sustainability prompt managers to develop non-traditional survival strategies. However, there is limited understanding of how these strategies impact employability perceptions. This study applies self-determination theory and aims to address this gap by investigating how a leader's expert power enhances followers' perceived employability through serial mediation of empowerment climate and thriving at work. Findings reveal a positive relationship between a leader's expert power and follower perceptions of employability. Empowerment climate is positively linked with thriving at work, which in turn is positively linked with perceived employability. Findings indicate that empowerment climate and thriving at work serve as mediators for the relationship between leader's expert power and followers' perceived employability. Support for serial mediation signifies that empowerment climate and thriving at work serially mediate between a leader's expert power and followers' perceived employability. These findings have significant theoretical and managerial implications. Managers should leverage expert power to foster employees' sense of employability by creating an empowering workplace. This enhances employees' thriving and subsequently improves their perceived employability.

The role of team cohesion and ambidexterity in enhancing employee adaptive performance: an examination of a multilevel model

PurposeDrawing on social learning theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between team cohesion and employee adaptive performance directly and through employee ambidexterity. The study also investigates the moderating role of team empowerment climate in the relationship between team cohesion and employee adaptive performance.Design/methodology/approachTime-lagged data were collected in two waves from a sample of 212 employees from 43 teams working in software houses in Pakistan. R (lavaan package) was used to analyze the multilevel framework.FindingsThe findings reveal that both team cohesion and employee ambidexterity positively relate to employee adaptive performance. Moreover, employee ambidexterity mediates the cross-level relationship between team cohesion and employee adaptive performance. The results also support that team empowerment climate (a contextual boundary condition) moderates the direct relationship between team cohesion and employee adaptive performance.Originality/valueThe primary novelty of this study lies in developing and examining a holistic conceptual framework for a multilevel model in the software industry that incorporates team cohesion (level 2) as an antecedent, employee ambidexterity (level 1) as an underlying mechanism, employee adaptive performance (level 1) as an outcome and team empowerment climate as a boundary condition (level 2).

Vicarious Empowerment as a Novel Mechanism for Empowering High Power Distance Employees

Prior research has questioned the utility of empowerment for high power distance employees. Rather than abandon empowerment in these contexts, we test the plausibility of empowering high power distance employees vicariously through observation, normalization and legitimization of empowered behavior. Extending theories of empowerment and social cognition to account for cultural norms, we provide evidence for the effectiveness of vicarious empowerment among those with high power distance. From a sample of 3,383 employees in 10 companies across six countries, we find a positive association between vicarious empowerment and subjective unit performance, that this relationship is mediated by empowerment climate, and that the indirect effect is moderated by power distance orientation. These relationships contrast with prior research which examines more traditional forms of empowerment across cultures. We explain how our findings inform theory on cross-cultural organizational psychology and workplace empowerment.

Employees as decision-makers: coordinating empowerment at all levels

PurposeThis paper aims to address an important question of what makes companies succeed or not in their attempt to empower employees. As this study answers this question, the arguments suggest that coordination is essential to creation of employee empowerment climate in organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis is conceptual paper rooted in extensive research on both – empowerment (culture, climate and organizational structure) and coordination (formal and informal).FindingsTo help managers to be effective in their roles, this study presents four insights to creating empowerment climate. The arguments conclude that coordination provides a vessel for successful realization of empowerment. Specifically, only informal coordination (vs formal) will fully realize empowerment’s benefits. Given that the topic of empowerment is highly germane to managers in today’s context of the increasing number of employees working remotely, this work presents an important and actionable advance for managers.Originality/valueThis study represents original research that has not been published and is not currently under review at any other journal.

External information seeking and organizational ambidexterity in SMEs: Does empowerment climate matter?

AbstractAccess to external information is considered crucial to achieving organizational ambidexterity (OA) while presenting specific challenges for SMEs due to their limited resources. However, little is known about how SMEs can best benefit from their external information‐seeking activities for OA purposes, given specific organizational practices. Our paper addresses this research gap by analyzing the effects of external information seeking (i.e., environmental scanning and external managerial networking) on OA while considering the moderating role of empowerment climate in SMEs. Based on a survey administered to CEOs of 1439 French manufacturing SMEs, our main results indicate that empowerment climate positively moderates the effect of scanning breadth on OA but negatively moderates the effect of networking depth. This suggests that SMEs should emphasize external information‐seeking activities that are appropriate to their level of empowerment climate so that the positive effects on OA can be fully realized.

Salesmanship: the influence of social networks on sales-service ambidexterity

PurposeAlthough social networks play an important role in individual ambidexterity, few studies have examined the impact of salespeople's social networks on sales-service ambidexterity. The purpose of this paper is to explore how salespeople's internal and external social networks affect sales-service ambidexterity.Design/methodology/approachThe unique data of 331 salespeople from 39 units in retail banking industry and insurance industry were collected, and the hierarchical linear model was adopted to test the hypotheses. Finally, the alternative measure of the dependent variable and the alternative estimation method were adopted for robustness test.FindingsThe results show that the strength of salespeople's internal social networks and the extensiveness of salespeople's external social networks could facilitate sales-service ambidexterity of salespeople separately and synergistically. Salespeople's role breadth self-efficacy partially mediates the influences of internal and external social networks on sales-service ambidexterity, while empowerment climate and transformational leadership positively moderate the aforementioned mediational process by strengthening the relationship between salespeople's role breadth self-efficacy and sales-service ambidexterity.Practical implicationsPractical guidelines are provided for managers to shape ambidextrous salespeople by facilitating salespeople's internal and external social networks, promoting transformational leadership and creating empowerment climate within the unit.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, this paper is the first to systematically examine the impact of salespeople's social network on sales-service ambidexterity. Drawing from social cognitive theory and the ambidexterity literature, this research reveals the mechanism of how salespeople's internal and external social networks contribute to sales-service ambidexterity.

Developing and Testing an Instrument to Measure the Culture for Psychological Empowerment in Organizations (IMPEC)

Abstract: Psychological empowerment – the experience of competence, meaning, self-determination and impact at work – has become very popular in organizational research. Meta-analytic results show many positive consequences of psychological empowerment and many different antecedents such as positive leadership, high performance practices, and work design characteristics. However, scarce research is available on how organizational culture influences psychological empowerment. We believe a missing instrument is one reason for the underdevelopment in this field. For this reason, we developed IMPEC (Instrument Measuring Psychological Empowerment Culture) for measuring specific cultural values for psychological empowerment. IMPEC was tested in four studies. In the first study ( n = 208 German employees), the reliability, factor structure, and its relationship with psychological empowerment and affective variables were analyzed. The second study had two waves ( n = 182 German employees) in which the predictive and incremental value of the IMPEC for performance-oriented variables were evaluated. In the third study, the instrument was translated into English and validated in a US sample ( n = 346). Finally, a multi-wave study was conducted in a German setting ( n = 210) to test if the IMPEC could predict critical constructs better than the empowerment climate questionnaire.

The Relationships among Employee Empowerment, Corporate Repututation, and Firm Performance: Research in the Turkish Manufacturing Industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the mutual relationships among an empowerment climate, psychological empowerment, corporate repututation, and firm performance. Theoretical framework – This paper builds on the literature on empowerment and corporate reputation to propose a comprehensive research model to examine how corporate repututation and firm performance are shaped by empowerment practices. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the objective of the study, the partial least squares approach and bootstrapping re-sampling method were used to test the hypotheses. A survey was carried out to collect data from 225 employees of the manufacturing industry in Turkey. Findings – The findings support the positive impact of an empowerment climate on psychological empowerment. In addition, an empowerment climate appears to be a variable that strongly increases both corporate reputation and firm performance. Furthermore, the results reveal that perceived corporate reputation is positively associated with both financial and non-financial performance. Practical & social implications of the research – This research provides an important contribution by showing how macro-level empowerment practices such as an empowerment climate influence micro-level feelings of empowerment such as psychological empowerment and that both, in turn, are related to corporate reputation and firm performance. Originality/value – This research provides an important contribution by showing how macro-level empowerment practices such as an empowerment climate influence micro-level feelings of empowerment such as psychological empowerment and that both, in turn, are related to perceived corporate reputation and firm performance.     Keywords: empowerment climate, psychological empowerment, corporate reputation, firm performance.

Enhancing the impact of transformational leadership and team-building on project success: the moderating role of empowerment climate

PurposeThis study examines the mechanisms and conditions that influence how transformational leadership affects project success through the lens of social information processing theory.Design/methodology/approachA dual-stage moderated mediation model was proposed wherein the effect of transformational leadership on project success is mediated by team building, and empowering climate moderates the direct and indirect effects at both the first and second stages. The model was tested based on 370 survey responses of project management practitioners from Pakistan's IT industry. The measurement model was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Moderated mediation analyses were conducted using Hayes' PROCESS macro.FindingsThe findings suggest that team-building partially mediates the effect of transformational leadership on project success. Furthermore, the conditional indirect effect of transformational leadership on project success via team-building is strengthened at both the first and second stages at higher levels of empowerment climate.Practical implicationsIt is recommended that project managers and project-intensive organizations should strive to cultivate an empowerment climate to fully realize the beneficial effects of transformational leadership behaviors in enhancing positive team outcomes and, consequently, overall project performance.Originality/valueThis study broadly contributes to the literature on the influence of project managers' leadership styles on project outcomes. Specifically, we elucidate the role of empowerment climate as an important boundary condition that enhances the beneficial effects of transformational leadership. Furthermore, we extend the application of social information processing theory to the context of projects.

Leaders' positive and implicit followership theory and team creativity in a university scientific research team

The promotion of team creativity has recently become a focus in leadership research. From the perspectives of the input–process–output model and social cognitive theory, we explored leaders' positive and implicit followership theory (LPIFT) and examined team creativity, with 417 paired postgraduate and supervisor participants from a university scientific research team. Results show that LPIFT had a significant positive impact on team creativity, and that team trust (cognitive and emotional) mediated this relationship. Further, team empowerment climate positively moderated both the relationship between LPIFT and team trust (cognitive and emotional) and the mediating role of team trust (cognitive and emotional). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Developmental Human Resource Configuration, Unique Human Capital, and Employee Innovative Work Behavior: A Multilevel Moderated Mediation Model

Drawing on social exchange theory (SET), the purposes of this research are to investigate the effect that developmental human resource configuration (DHRC) has on employee innovative work behavior (IWB) and to examine the role that an empowerment climate plays in the relationship. The study assumes that knowledge workers perform IWB if they perceive the application of DHRC and the empowerment climate to support autonomy, information sharing, and team accountability. The data were collected from 37 R&D managers and 370 full-time R&D engineers, constituting 37 different high-tech companies in Guangdong province, China. Results show that a positive relationship between DHRC and IWB was found and was partially mediated by unique human capital. Findings also demonstrate that empowerment climates strengthen this relationship. The implications of the findings and future directions for research are further discussed.

Understanding Organisational Effectiveness Through Sustainable Human Relations Approach

Organisational effectiveness undoubtedly depends on well-designed human resource practices which embrace vibrant industrial relations. The relations that exist between superior and subordinates in industrial establishments are mostly contingent upon the degree of autonomy in the decision-making process. As autonomous decision making is an integral part overall empowerment strategy, the climate that fosters trust, creativity, competitiveness, and proactive problem-solving intention tend to influence the employee perception towards improved organisational effectiveness. Earlier studies have established the direct relationship between psychological empowerment and to a certain extent in combination with structural empowerment variables and organisational effectiveness in a specific context. But the present research seeks to study the role of empowerment climate as a moderating variable for the aforesaid relationship which would ultimately bring about the effectiveness in the selected industrial establishments.

Does Inclusive Leadership Reduce Emotional Dissonance Among Teachers? – Investigating the Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment Climate and Organizational Justice

The role of teachers is of utmost significance in the education system. The emotions of teachers play a vital role in determining their development and wellbeing. Emotional dissonance leads to several negative consequences for both the teachers and the institution and will affect their commitment and overall well-being. Several factors affect the emotions of teachers in the institution. This emotional exhaustion of the teachers can be reduced if the organization has inclusive leaders, provides them a climate of empowerment and follows justice. The present study focuses on the importance of inclusive leadership, psychological empowerment climate and organizational justice in reducing the emotional dissonance of teachers. The study was conducted among 510 school teachers. The result of the study proved that inclusive leadership has a significant role in reducing emotional dissonance of teachers.

Narcissism and Empowerment: How Narcissism Influences the Trickle‐Down Effects of Organizational Empowerment Climate on Performance

AbstractThe present study proposes a trickle‐down model of employee empowerment in which empowerment climate at the organization level is positively related to the empowering leadership of team leaders and ultimately to individual task performance. Importantly, we hypothesize that team leaders’ and members’ narcissism can respectively inhibit and enable the cross‐level empowerment process by affecting the intended distribution of decision‐making authority and resources between team leaders and members. The analysis of data from 834 team members of 189 teams in 46 organizations reveals that organizational empowerment climate is positively related to team leaders’ empowering leadership when they are less narcissistic. Empowering leadership is positively related to individual task performance when team members are highly narcissistic. Finally, we observe that the combination of less narcissistic leaders and more narcissistic members is a condition under which the indirect effect of organizational empowerment climate on individual task performance through empowering leadership is positive.

How Empowerment and Innovation Climates Influence Employees' Innovative IS Use

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of empowerment and innovation climates on employees' innovative use of information systems (IS) and the mechanisms through which the climates affect employees' innovative IS use. Drawing on the thriving theory, this study proposes a hierarchical research model that links team-level climates, individual-level thriving, and employees' innovative IS use in an integral model. In total, 174 copies of questionnaires from 38 teams were collected from ERP users of nine firms in China. The empirical results suggest that team innovation climate and team empowerment climate are positively related to innovative IS use. Thriving plays a fully mediating role between team empowerment climate and innovative IS use and a partially mediating role between the team innovation climate and innovative IS use. The findings of this study could provide guidelines for managers on how to promote IS users' innovative use from the perspectives of team climates.

Contextualizing Senior Executive Advice Seeking: The Role of Decision Process Comprehensiveness and Empowerment Climate

Senior executives can seek advice both inside and outside the boundaries of the organization and that can affect the choices made and the overall direction of the organization. Perceived environmental dynamism is a primary antecedent of this behaviour as it substantially increases the information-processing demands when solving strategic decision problems. We drew on two ‘fit’ perspectives to theorize about the organizational contingencies of this relationship. First, fit as mediation develops when executive advice seeking takes place after a comprehensive decision process has been used in response to an increase in perceived environmental dynamism. Decision process comprehensiveness fully mediates the relationship between perceived environmental dynamism and internal advice seeking and partially mediates the relationship between perceived environmental dynamism and external advice seeking. Second, fit as moderation develops when empowerment climate weakens this indirect relationship. Decision process comprehensiveness and empowerment climate function as Edgeworth–Pareto substitutes showing that, with regard to senior executive advice seeking, there is negative synergy between decision process comprehensiveness and empowerment climate. The results of our study support the notion that there is a link between information processing at the individual and organizational level, and, more importantly, suggest that power sharing within organizations can reduce the need for senior executive advice seeking when there is decision process comprehensiveness. By elaborating the information-processing perspective on advice seeking and introducing theory on organizational structural power interdependencies, we take the first steps towards a more contextualized and realistic understanding of this phenomenon.

상업스포츠센터 강사의 고객지향성과 임파워먼트가 서비스분위기, 조직동일시, 조직갈등 및 이직의도에 미치는 영향

상업스포츠센터 강사의 고객지향성과 임파워먼트가 서비스분위기, 조직동일시, 조직갈등 및 이직의도에 미치는 영향

Transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how transformational leadership may relate to corporate entrepreneurship by adopting a multilevel approach. The authors also theorized and tested the top-down and bottom-up intermediate process linking transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachMultisource data across different timeframes were collected from 129 managers and 244 employees from 55 units of 27 firms.FindingsThe results showed that transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship were positively related at the unit level. Furthermore, unit-level collective efficacy mediated the relationship between unit-level transformational leadership and unit-level corporate entrepreneurship. The authors also found that the firm-level empowerment climate moderated the indirect effect of unit-level collective efficacy on the relationship between unit transformational leadership and unit-level corporate entrepreneurship.Originality/valueFirst, the goal of this study is to extend the single focus of transformational leadership on corporate entrepreneurship (e.g. Ling et al., 2008) and develop a more thoughtful approach on determining how transformational leaders influence corporate entrepreneurship across levels. This study responds to calls for research to look at the impact of unit-level transformational leaders, such as middle managers, across levels (Ren and Guo, 2011) and creates a multilevel framework in which transformational leaders at the unit level influence the appearance of corporate entrepreneurship at the unit level.

Assessing the effectiveness of empowerment on service quality: A multi-level study of Chinese tourism firms

This study tests relationships among three levels of empowerment—organizational, departmental, and individual—and simultaneously their cascading effects on frontline employees' service quality. Drawing on data from 1566 employee-supervisor pairs from 123 departments in 53 Chinese hospitality and tourism enterprises, results reveal a cascading mechanism across three levels of empowerment. Organizational empowerment climate influences employees' psychological empowerment through department psychological empowerment, and department psychological empowerment influences employees' service quality through individual psychological empowerment. Cross-level moderation analysis suggests that only within a high degree of organizational empowerment climate and service behavior-based evaluation does employees' psychological empowerment have positive effects on service quality. In response to the debate on the merits of empowerment programs in organizations, this study supports the usefulness of a cascading, contingency model of empowerment, and demonstrates full delineation of how and when empowerment across three levels influence frontline employees’ service quality.

The effect of psychological empowerment climate on restaurant food safety, food quality, and financial performance

ABSTRACTConsumer food safety incidences that result from employee accidents and behaviors can be detrimental and costly to a restaurant organization. Restaurant organizations and hospitality researchers have sought multiple methods of increasing food safety performance through training and intervention, but this study suggests that shared agreement of psychological empowerment may be a key factor in improving food safety performance, and in turn, food quality and store revenues. Using data from a national chain of quick service restaurants, this study used groups of restaurant employees’ psychological empowerment as an antecedent to food safety performance, measured in a food safety audit, and found significant support. Moreover, using consumer evaluations of food quality and the organization's store revenue records, indirect and direct relationships among psychological empowerment, food safety performance, food quality, and revenues were found. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.