Linking empowering leadership and job attitudes: the role of psychological empowerment

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of empowering leadership (EL) on work attitudes [job satisfaction (JS) and organizational commitment (OCOM)]. The effects of EL on these work attitudes were also analysed in terms of the mediating effects of psychological empowerment (PE).

A survey research methodology was adopted where responses were collected on relevant measures of the constructs from 431 middle-level executives from 12 Indian organizations.

Results implied that EL enhanced the levels of JS and OCOM of employees. The results further indicated that EL was positively related to PE at the workplace. The findings also revealed that PE was positively related to these positive work attitudes. Moreover, strong indirect effects of EL were observed on these work attitudes through PE, implying that PE partially mediated the impact of between EL on JS and OCOM.

The findings of this study affirm the efficacy of EL and PE in predicting positive work attitudes in a different cultural milieu than the West –the Indian work context. Especially, by establishing a strong positive relationship between empowerment and JS, it contributes to the existing literature underlining inconsistent findings with regard to this relationship.