The effect of service employees’ perception of role clarity and psychological empowerment on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and staying intention

Abstract

Background and purpose – This study examines the service-employees perception of role clarity and psychological empowerment in three different industries. Furthermore the study explores how these perceptions influence the employee’s attitude towards their organizations. The aim of the study is to gain a better understanding of how job satisfaction, organizational commitment and staying intention is influenced by service-employees perception of role clarity and psychological empowerment. Design and methods – The study is based on a survey with 406 questionnaire respondents from hotel, IT and bank-industry. Results – The analysis proves that there is a different perception of role clarity and psychological empowerment between the selected industries. A multiple regression-analysis shows that empowerment has a significant effect on the attitudes, whilst role clarity does not have a significant effect. However, we do find that empowerment has a mediating effect (as a mediator variable) in the relationship between role clarity and the attitudes - the outcomes - job satisfaction, organizational commitment and staying intention. Key words – Role clarity, psychological empowerment, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, staying intention, mediator