The impact of perceived control and desire to be empowered: an analysis of perception and reality
Managing Service Quality: An International Journal
ISSN: 0960-4529
Article publication date: 1 December 1998
Abstract
Examines the relationship between empowerment, desire to be empowered and perceived control among professional nursing staff in a small healthcare institution where recent attempts at empowerment have had limited success. A sample of 31 nurses and nursing assistants was used to test hypotheses that there is a positive relationship between perceived control and empowerment and that this relationship is moderated in a positive direction by desire to be empowered. Questionnaires measuring the four dimensions (meaning, competence, self‐determination, impact) of empowerment and desire to be empowered as well as work locus of control were administered to subjects. Results support the hypothesized relationship between perceived control and empowerment. However, that between desire to be empowered and empowerment was not supported. Implications of these findings are discussed including several possible ways of increasing perceived control in specific situations. These include changing some organizational, supervisory style, reward system and job design factors.
Keywords
Citation
Honegger, K. and Appelbaum, S.H. (1998), "The impact of perceived control and desire to be empowered: an analysis of perception and reality", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 8 No. 6, pp. 426-438. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604529810235141
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited