The antecedents and consequences of psychological empowerment among Singaporean IT employees

Abstract

Purpose - The aim of this study is to examine some of the antecedents and consequences of psychological empowerment among Singaporean IT employees.Design/methodology/approach– Ninety‐nine employees from the Singaporean subsidiary of an American multinational organisation participated in this study. An ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis was used to investigate the role of access to information, employee participation, supervisory social support and job security on predicting psychological empowerment. OLS regression was used also to examine the role of psychological empowerment on organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Moderated multiple regression was used to assess the moderating effect of supervisory social support on the relationship between job satisfaction and psychological empowerment.Findings– The findings of this study have shown that several factors are antecedents of psychological empowerment and that empowerment can increase organisational commitment and job satisfaction. More importantly, the findings reveal that supervisory support is an important determinant of the effects of empowerment on job satisfaction.Practical implications– With many South East Asian countries rapidly becoming centres of technological innovation and Western multinational enterprises developing significant operations in these countries (e.g. Singapore), it is imperative to better understand how Western multinational enterprises can effectively manage a skilled workforce in a South East Asian context.Originality/value– Despite the significant academic interest in psychological empowerment there is a dearth of research investigating the use of psychological empowerment in a South East Asian context.