Psychological Empowerment and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-analytic Review

Studies in the area of psychological empowerment have been on the rise since early 1990s. Given the large amount of information available, the researchers aim to consolidate findings, in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of the concept and its relation to job satisfaction of employees in organizations. The researchers have identified 50 studies, set in varied cultural and organizational settings. The data from these studies form the basis of the analysis in this paper. A meta-analysis of the findings of the chosen studies was conducted. This is followed by a systematic review of literature, to identify a few probable intervening variables that modify the relationship. The findings of the analysis suggest that the direct relation between psychological empowerment and job satisfaction is positive, strong and statistically significant. The study supports the validity of one of the earliest models explaining the relation. The paper establishes that the direct relation between psychological empowerment and job satisfaction is strong, positive and significant. The variations in the strength of the relationship is due to the presence of certain intervening variables like culture, age, educational qualification and experience.