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The impact of perceived control and desire to be empowered: an analysis of perception and reality

Karen Honegger (Nurse Manager and Quality Coordinator, Catherine Booth Hospital Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Steven H. Appelbaum (Professor of Management, Faculty of Commerce and Administration, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal

ISSN: 0960-4529

Article publication date: 1 December 1998

1922

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

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited

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