The mediating role of positive affect on the relationship between psychological empowerment and employee outcomes. A longitudinal study
| Date | 04 December 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-07-2016-0015 |
| Published date | 04 December 2017 |
| Pages | 266-282 |
| Author | Ahmed Mohammed Sayed Mostafa |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
The mediating role of positive
affect on the relationship between
psychological empowerment and
employee outcomes
A longitudinal study
Ahmed Mohammed Sayed Mostafa
Faculty of Commerce, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
Abstract
Purpose –Even though the relationship between psychological empowerment and employee outcomes is
well established, less is known about the mechanisms that underlie this relationship. Drawing on affective
events theory and broaden-and-build theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine a mediation model
in which psychological empowerment influences positive affect which in turn affects job satisfaction and
work stress.
Design/methodology/approach –Two-wave longitudinal data from a sample of Welsh local government
workers (n¼362) were used to test the hypothesized relationships by using structural equation modeling.
Findings –The results indicate that psychological empowerment has a positive influence on positive affect.
Furthermore, positive affect mediates the relationship between psychological empowerment and job
satisfaction. However, it does not mediate the relationship between psychological empowerment and stress.
Originality/value –This study is among the first to empirically examine the mediating role of positive
affect on the relationship between psychological empowerment and both job satisfaction and work stress.
Keywords Job satisfaction, Psychological empowerment, Positive affect, Work stress,
Welsh local government
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Over the past few decades, the concept of psychological empowerment has gained
considerable attention from both practitioners and scholars (Seibert et al., 2011; Wang and
Lee, 2009; Harris et al., 2009). In general, empowerment is a term used to describe the
“on-the-job experiences”of employees (Gagne et al., 1997, p. 1222). More specifically, it refers
to a set of personal beliefs that an employee has about his role in relation to the organization
(Spreitzer, 2008). It incorporates perceptions of personal control with behaviors to exercise
control (Zimmerman, 2000). The relationship between psychological empowerment and
employee outcomes is well established (Seibert et al., 2011). However, less is known about
the mechanisms that underlie this relationship (Bhatnagar, 2012; Maynard et al., 2012).
In the present study, this limitation will be tackled by focusing on the role of positive
affect in the psychological empowerment –employee outcomes relationship.
Using affective events theory (AET) (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996) and broaden-and-
build theory (Fredrickson, 1998), this study proposes that psychological empowerment will
result in positive affective reactions which, in turn, will result in increased levels of job
satisfaction and reduced levels of work stress. AET posits that specific work experiences
have an influence on the arousal of certain affective reactions, such as positive affect, which,
in turn, determines how employees evaluate their workplace (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996).
Broaden-and-build theory, on the other hand, postulates that positive affect helps broaden a
person’s momentary thought-action repertoire and build that person’s personal resources
(Fredrickson, 1998).
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 5 No. 3, 2017
pp. 266-282
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-07-2016-0015
Received 29 July 2016
Revised 19 November 2016
Accepted 9 January 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
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EBHRM
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The outcome variables in this study were chosen based on three considerations. First,
job satisfaction and work stress were specifically identified by AET and broaden-and-
build theory as outcomes that result from an employee’s affective experiences. Second,
the two are considered as key outcome variables that have been frequently studied in the
empowerment literature and have been found to be significantly related to psychological
empowerment (Spreitzer et al., 1997; Liden et al., 2000; Park and Rainey, 2007; Wang and
Lee, 2009; Seibert et al., 2011). Finally, these outcomes are of crucial importance to both
managers and employees. As previous research demonstrates, they are strongly related to
work-related performance, which is of primary interest from a management point of view
(AbuAlRub, 2004; Ritz, 2009). They are also associated with employee health, which is an
important outcome variable from an employees’perspective (Clarke and Cooper, 2000;
Wegge et al., 2007).
Besides casting light upon positive affect as a potential mechanism through which
psychologicalempowerment affects jobsatisfaction and work stress,this study seeks to make
three other contributions to the literature. First, even thoughpositive affect has been found to
be positivelyrelated to a similar range of employeeoutcomes as those noted for psychological
empowerment (e.g. Thoresen et al., 2003; Sharma and Levy, 2003; Tombaugh et al., 2011),
less is known about how positive affect can be established in work settings (Fisher, 2002;
Wegge et al., 2006; Barsade and Gibson, 2007). Empowerment is viewed as a resource that
helps facilitateoptimism and hopefulness (Sutcliffeand Vogus, 2003). Therefore, it is believed
to nurture and sustain positive affective experiences (Spreitzer, 2008). Hence, this study
investigates the influence and importance of psychological empowerment on positive affect.
By so doing, this study also responds to calls for research on the relationship between
psychological empowerment and positive affective reactions (Saavedra and Kwun, 2000;
Spreitzer, 2008; Maynard et al., 2012).
Second, despite the unique characteristics of public sector organizations, such as high
levels of formalization and goal ambiguity, that may neutralize the beneficial effects of
empowerment, employee empowerment has gained currency among government reformers
and became one of the main principles of the New Public Management reforms in countries
such as the UK, France and Australia (Park and Rainey, 2007; Fernandez and Moldogaziev,
2011, 2013). This, in turn, has led to calls for research on the effectiveness of empowerment
in the public sector (Fernandez and Moldogaziev, 2011). This study responds to these calls
by examining the proposed relationships using data collected from Welsh local government
workers. Finally, most of the previous research on the relationship between psychological
empowerment and employee outcomes has relied on cross-sectional designs which limit any
causal inferences (Maynard et al., 2012, 2014). To address this issue and lower concerns for
causality, this study uses two-wave longitudinal data, with a time lag of six months.
Psychological empowerment and employee outcomes
Psychological empowerment is the “process of enhancing feelings of self-efficacy among
organizational members through the identification of conditions that foster powerlessness
and through their removal by both formal organizational practices and informal techniques
of providing efficacy information”(Conger and Kanungo, 1988, p. 474). Psychological
empowerment is composed of four dimensions: meaning, competence, self-determination and
impact (Spreitzer,1995). Meaning refers to the extent to which an individual believes that his
work is important. Competence is a belief in one’s capability to perform work activities
successfully. Self-determination represents a sense of autonomy or choice over the initiation
and accomplishment of work-related tasks. Impact represents the extent to which an
individual believes that he can influence outcomes at work (Spreitzer, 2008). Spreitzer (1995)
presented evidence that these four dimensions are additive; that is,the absence of any one of
them limits the experience of empowerment. Accordingly, psychological empowerment is
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Mediating role
of positive
affect
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