Motivational Effects of Empowerment on Employees’ Organizational Commitment

BeomCheol (Peter) Kim, Auckland University of Technology, Gyumin Lee, Kyung Hee University, Suzanne K. Murrmann, Virginia Tech, and Thomas R. George, Ohio State University, published “Motivational Effects of Empowerment on Employees’ Organizational Commitment: A Mediating Role of Management Trustworthiness” in the February 2012 issue of Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. To view other articles in this issue, please click here.

Abstract:

Although studies have suggested that employee empowerment has a motivational effect on organizational commitment, the conceptual explanation and the factors that influence this relationship remain unexplored. To fill that gap, this study examines the mediating role of management trustworthiness in the relationship between empowerment and commitment, based on a survey of 330 employees in twenty-nine upscale hotel restaurants in Seoul, South Korea. A test of the model in this study finds that management trustworthiness fully mediates the relationship between influence, a dimension of empowerment, and organizational commitment while it partially mediates between attitude, another dimension of empowerment, and commitment. One implication is that managers can empower employees as a demonstration of the value the firm places its workers. Empowerment can support the notion of management trustworthiness, which is an essential element of organizational commitment.

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