PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of psychological empowerment among bank managers in Beijing, China. Specifically, it aims at investigating the impact of transformational leadership, organization structure and job characteristics on psychological empowerment among banking professionals.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were distributed to bank managers in Beijing which were randomly selected through the cluster sampling technique. PLS-SEM was used for analysis to testify the hypotheses.FindingsStatistical results showed; transformational leadership, organization structure and job characteristics were directly and positively related to psychological empowerment.Originality/valueThe proposed model is essential in providing guideline for the development of employees. These recommendations can be adopted by the organizational trainers and human resource personnel for the betterment of their organization.