Psychological Empowerment and public services innovation; with emphasise employee engagement

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Public organizations as an important element in the provision of basic public services for citizens and as policy makers and implemente agents of have an important role in every society’s economy (It is characterized by being a service-oriented) including Iran. Playing such a role requires an innovative approach to public services and using appropriate strategies to accomplish this. The present study was to examine the relationship between the employees’ empowerment and Public Service Innovation through work engagement. The statistical community in this research is the premier organizations of Tehran in Shahid Rajaei Festival in the year 1392. And we used the questionnaire in order to collecting data. Also, in order to perform the test descriptive statistics SPSS software and for analyzing data, the LISREL software conducting path analysis was used. The results showed that the realization of the four dimensions of psychological employees empowerment (Meaningful job, Competence, Impact, Trust In Others) with public services innovation have a significant relationship. As well, work engagement is a moderator variable and moderate the relationship between employees empowerment and innovation public service.

Keywords

Main Subjects


  1. Abtahi, S. & Abbasi, S. (2007). Empowering employers, Karaj. Institute of management researches and educations. (In Persian)
  2. Agarwal, V. (2013). Investigating the convergent validity of organizational trust. Journal of Communication Management, 17(1): 24–39.
  3. Babayi Khalaji, M., Ahmadi, S.A.A. & Shahbazi, M. (2013). Factors affecting on nurses work engagement in Farabi Hospital. Public management journal, 4(5): 29-56. (In Persian)
  4. Barton, H. & Barton, L. C. (2011). Trust and psychological empowerment in The Russian work context. Human Resource Management Review, 21: 201–208.
    1. Bloch, C. & Bugg, M. M. (2013). Public sector innovation—From theory to measurement. Structural change and economic dynamics, 27: 133– 145.
  5. Chughtai, A. & Buckley, F. (2011). Work engagement antecedents, the mediating role of learninggoal orientation and job performance. Career Development International, 16(7): 684-705.
  6. Danesh Jafari, D. (2015). Service economy in Iran’s legal documents, The first conference of service management, Management faculty of Tehran University.
    1. Den Hertog, P., Van der Aa, W. & de Jong, M. W. (2010). Capabilities for managing service innovation: towards a conceptual framework. Journal of Service Management, 21(4): 490-514.
  7. Fernandez, S. & Moldogaziev, T. (2009). Forthcoming empowering public sector employees to improve performance: Does it work? American review of public administration.
  8. Fernandez, S. & Moldogaziev, T. (2011). Empowering public sector employees to improve performance: Does it work. American review of public administration, 41: 23-47.
  9. Fernandez, S. & Moldogaziev, T. (2012). Employee empowerment, self-determination and job satisfaction: An empirical analysis of employee empowerment practices in the U.S. Federal Bureaucracy. Paper presented at the Converging and Conflicting Trends in the Public Administration of the US, Europe, and Germany Conference, Speyer, Germany.
  10. Ghani, N. A. A., Bin Raja, T. A. B. S. & Jusoff, K. (2009). The impact of psychological empowerment on lecturers’ innovative behaviour in Malaysian private higher education institutions. Canadian Social Science, 5(4): 54-62.
  11. Gonzalez, R., Llopis, J. & Gasco, J. (2013). Innovation in public services: The case of Spanish local government. Journal of Business Research, 66(10): 2024-2033.
  12. Greasley, K., Bryman, A., Dainty, A., Price, A., et al. (2005). Employee perceptions of empowerment. Employee relations, 27(4): 354-368.
  13. Hill, F. & Hug, R. (2004). Employee empowerment: Conceptualization, aims and outcomes. Total Quality Management Journal, 15(8): 1025-1041.
  14. Isakhani, A. (2013). Explaining the role of occupational and personal resources in employee engagement, Public management journal, 2(5): 73-96. (In Persian)
  15. Johannessen, J. (2013). Innovation: A systemic perspective–developing a systemic innovation theory. Kybernetes, 42(8): 1195-1217.
  16. Kennedy, E. & Daim, T. U. (2010). A strategy to assist management in workforce engagement and employee retention in the high tech engineering environment. Evaluation and program planning, 33(4): 468-476.
  17. Khan, M. & Khan. M. A. (2009). How technological
    innovations extend services outreach to customers (the changing shape of hospitality services taxonomy). International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 21(5): 509-522.
  18. Kim, S. (2002). Participative management and job satisfaction: Lessons for management leadership. Public Administration Review, 62(2): 231-241.
    1. King Kauanui, S. & Kevin D. T. (2007). Entrepreneurship and spiritual leadership an exploration using grounded Theory. Journal of managerial psychology, 6(9): 8-5.
    2. Knol, J. & Van Linge, R. (2009). Innovative behaviour: The effect of structural and psychological empowerment on nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 65(2): 359-370.
    3. Koyuncu, M., Burke, R. J. & Fiksenbaum, L., (2006). Work engagement among women managers and professionals in a Turkish bank: Potential antecedents and consequences, Equal opportunities international, 25(4): 299–310.
    4. Kuo, T.H., Ho, L.A., Lin, C. & Lai, K.K. (2009). Employee empowerment in a technology advanced environment. Industrial management and data systems, 110(1): 24-42.
  19. Lee, H., Cayer, N.J. & Lan, G.Z. (2006). Changing federal government employee attitudes since the civil service reform act of 1978. Review of public personnel administration, 26(1): 21-51.
  20. Lekhi, R., (2007). Public service innovation: A research report for the work foundation‘s knowledge economy programme, Research Republic LLP.
  21. Macey, W. H., Schneider, B., Barbera, K. & Young, S. A. (2009). Employee Engagement. London, UK: Wiley/Blackwell.
  22. Mauno, S., Kinnunen, U. & Ruokolainen, M. (2007). Job demandsand resources as antecedents of work engagement: A longitudinalstudy. Journal of vocational behavior, 70(1): 149–171.
  23. Mishra, A.K, & Spreitzer, G.M. (1997). Explaining how survivors respond to downsizing: The roles of trust, empowerment, Justice and Work Redesign, Working Paper. Michigan State University.
  24. Mosazadeh, M. R. (2008). Administrative law, general and Iran. Tehran: Mizan Press. (In Persian)
  25. Mulgan, G. & Albury, D., (2003), Innovation in the public sector, Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office, October.
  26. Osborne, S. (1998). Naming the beast: Delivering and classifying service innovations in social policy. Human Relations, 51(9): 1133-1154.
    1. O'Sullivan, D. (2008). Applying Innovation: Sage Publishing, Thousand Oaks, California.
    2. Park, S.M. and Rainey, H.G. (2007). Antecedents, mediators and consequences of affective, normative, and continuance commitment: Empirical tests of commitment effects in Federal agencies. Review of public personnel administration, 27: 197-226.
  27. Robbins, S. (1996). Organizational behavior management, Translated by: Parsaeian, A. & Arabi, M., Tehran: Institute of Business Studies and Research. (In Persian)
  28. Schaufeli, W.B. & Bakker, A.B. (2003). UWES Utrecht work engagement scale: Test manual. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, Utrecht University.
  29. Schaufeli, W.B. & Bakker, A.B. )2010(. The conceptualization and measurement of work engagement. In: Bakker, A.B. & Leiter, M.P. (Eds.), Work Engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research. Psychology Press, New York, NY: 10–24.
  30. Schaufeli, W.B., Salanova, M., González-Roma, V. & Bakker, A.B., )2002(. The measurement of engagement and Burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of happiness studies, 3:71–92.
  31. Schaufeli, W.B., Taris, T.W. & Van Rhenen, W. )2008(. Workaholism, Burnout and Engagement three of a kind or three different kinds of employee well-Being. Applied psychology—an international review, 57(2): 173–203.
  32. Shokley-Zalabak, P., Ellis, K. & Winograd, G. (2000). Organizational Trust: What It Means, Why It Matters. Organizational development journal, 78(18): 35-48.
    1. Spreitzer, G.M. (1995), Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation”, Academy of management Journal, 38(5): 1442-1465.
  33. Spreitzer, G.M. (1996). Social structural characteristics of psychological empowerment. Academy of management journal, 39(2): 483-504.
  34. Sun, L., Zhang, Z., Qi, J. & Xiong Chen, Z., (2012). Empowerment and creativity: A cross-level investigation. The leadership quarterly,23(1): 55–65.
  35. Taheri, Y., Jebran, Mohammad and Jafariniya, Said. (2014). Examining The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior, According To The Role Of People Empowerment. Public management journal, 4(6): 769-789. (In Persian)
  36. Thomas, K. & Velthouse, B. (1990). Cognitive elements of empowerment: An interpretive model of Intrinsic task motivation. Academy of management review, 23(5): 666-681.
  37. Walker, R. M. & Jeanes, E. (2001). Innovation in a regulated service: The case of English housing associations. Public Management Review, 3(4): 525-550.
  38. Windrum, P. (2008). Innovation and entrepreneurship in public services, In Windrum, P. & Koch, P. M. (2008). Innovation in public sector services: entrepreneurship, Creativity and management, North Hampton, MA: Edward Elgar. PP: 3-21.
  39. Wright, B. E. and Kim, S. (2004). Participation‘s influence on job satisfaction: The importance of job characteristics. Review of public personnel administration, 24: 18-40.
  40. Yukl, Gary A. And Becker, Wendy S. (2006). Effective Empowerment in Organisations. Organisations management journal, 3(3): 210-231.
  41. Ziyaee, M. S., Nargesyan, A. & Aybaghi, S. (2009). The survey of role of spiritual leadership in employee empowerment in Tehran University. Public management journal, 1(1): 67-86. (In Persian)
  1. Brunetto, Y. & Farr-Wharton, R. (2007). The moderating role of trust in SME owner/managers‟ decision-making about collaboration. Journal of Small Business Management, 45(3): 362-387.
  2. Chen, J., Tsou, H. T., & Huang, A. Y. (2009). Service delivery innovation antecedents and impact on firm performance. Journal of Service Research, 12(1): 36-55.
  1. Deci, E. L., Connell, J. P. & Ryan, R. M. (1989). Self-determination in a work organization. Journal of applied psychology, 74(4): 580.
  1. Ergeneli, A., Saglam, G. & Metin, S. (2007). Psychological empowerment and its relationship to trust in immediate managers. Journal of business research, 60: 4-49.
  2. Ertürk, A. (2012). Linking psychological empowerment to innovation capability: Investigating the moderating effect of supervisory trust. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(14): 153-165.
  3. Fawcett, S. E.,  Jones. S. L. & Fawcett. A. M. (2012). Supply Chain trust: The catalyst for collaborative innovation. Business Horizons, 55(2): 163–178.