The role of empowering leadership and psychological empowerment on nurses’ work engagement and affective commitment
International Journal of Organizational Analysis
ISSN: 1934-8835
Article publication date: 27 April 2022
Issue publication date: 7 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate to role of empowering leadership and psychological empowerment on nurses' work engagement and affective commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
Self-administered questionnaire data from 231 nurses working in a university hospital in Saudi Arabia were analysed using a cross-sectional research design using structural equation modelling (SEM) to assess the relationship between empowering leadership (EL), affective commitment (AC) and work engagement (WE) while testing for the mediating role of psychological empowerment (PE).
Findings
SEM analysis demonstrated that EL significantly relates to AC. AC similarly significantly relates to WE. Further, the results showed that PE substantially mediates the relationship between EL and WE. There is no significant direct relationship found between EL and WE.
Practical implications
The study findings are essential for nursing managers. They illustrate that nurses become more committed to their organisation and, in return, more engaged with their work when they receive EL. Therefore, nursing managers could train their leaders to practice EL as increased WE has been found to result in other positive work attitudes such as reduced turnover intention.
Originality/value
This study corroborates the relationships between EL, AC and WE, as well as the mediating role of PE. However, this research is unique as the long-established relationship between EL and WE was not supported. It shows that the propositions of leader-member exchange theory may not hold for unique non-Western contexts, in this case, Saudi Arabia.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University and the Research Center at the College of Business Administration for supporting this work.
Citation
Al Otaibi, S.M., Amin, M., Winterton, J., Bolt, E.E.T. and Cafferkey, K. (2023), "The role of empowering leadership and psychological empowerment on nurses’ work engagement and affective commitment", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 31 No. 6, pp. 2536-2560. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-11-2021-3049
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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