The study determined whether psychological empowerment and work–life balance jointly mediate between transformational leadership and in-role performance of employees in Nigerian not-for-profit (NFP) universities using data collected through a 360-degree performance review of employees. Data were collected from the employees, their supervisors, colleagues, and customers. A sample of 360 comprising 36 faculty finance officers (the employees), 36 assistant faculty finance officers (colleagues), 36 deans of faculties (supervisors), 36 finance supervisors (supervisors), 108 undergraduate and 108 postgraduate students (customers) from Nigerian universities were surveyed using Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, employees' in-role performance questionnaire, four dimensions of psychological empowerment questionnaire, and work–life balance questionnaire. The reliabilities of the questionnaires were estimated using Cronbach's α technique. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlations at the preliminary level, while three separate Hierarchical Multiple Regression and 5000 re-samples BC bootstrapping method on PROCESS macro were used to test the hypotheses to determine the total, direct, and indirect effects of the study variables. The study established that psychological empowerment and work–life balance jointly and significantly mediated the high relationship between transformational leadership and the in-role performance of the faculty finance officers. The implications for researchers and organizational practitioners, limitations, and suggestions for future research were discussed.

Although previous research has found that authentic leadership has a negative effect on employee burnout through structural empowerment, lack of psychological empowerment in the research cannot present a complete picture on how authentic leadership influences burnout because employees must experience being psychologically empowered for empowerment to be effective. Drawing on empowerment-related theories, this study integrates the three different perspectives of empowerment (authentic leadership, structural empowerment, and psychological empowerment) to examine their effects on emotional exhaustion, the core component of burnout, at multiple levels of analysis. Using a sample of 378 teachers from 59 primary and secondary schools in China, multilevel structural equation modelling results revealed that: (1) authentic leadership had an indirect effect on psychological empowerment partially through structural empowerment, (2) psychological empowerment played a full mediating role in the relationship between structural empowerment and emotional exhaustion, and (3) structural empowerment and psychological empowerment sequentially mediated the effect of authentic leadership on emotional exhaustion. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The aim of this study is to examine the influence of humble and empowering leader behaviors on the prosocial voice of subordinates. We also investigate subordinate power distance orientation as a possible moderator of this relationship and subordinate psychological empowerment as the underlying mechanism behind this moderated effect. Findings from 306 employees of a Korean business conglomerate indicated that humble and empowering leadership were positively related to the prosocial voice of subordinates, and the moderation effects of subordinates’ power distance orientation between these two types of leader behaviors and subordinates’ prosocial voice were fully mediated by the extent to which they felt psychologically empowered. Our findings indicated that the moderation for the main effect between leadership and voice was caused by the significant moderating effect in the indirect path between two main variables via psychological empowerment. We conclude by highlighting implications for management practice and identifying avenues for future research.

Through two studies, this paper investigates the moderating effects of personality traits (i.e., extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism) and the mediating effect of psychological empowerment on the relationship between perceived transformational leadership and job satisfaction. Study 1 searches whether personality traits moderate the effects of perceived transformational leadership on followers’ job satisfaction. Using a sample of 221 R&D employees employed by information technology organizations, the results of Study 1 indicate that the more conscientious the employee, the stronger the relationship between perceived transformational leadership and job satisfaction. Study 2 explores whether psychological empowerment mediates the effects of perceived transformational leadership on followers’ job satisfaction. Based on data from 348 academics, the results support the mediating role of psychological empowerment on job satisfaction, in that when employees perceive their leader as transformational they feel more psychologically empowered, which in turn increases job satisfaction levels. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Using multi-level analysis, the present study proposes that psychological empowerment and perceived organizational support serve as mediators of the effects of human resource management (HRM) bundle on individual innovative behavior. We tested the model using data from 705 employees of 162 firms in China. The results revealed that both psychological empowerment and perceived organizational support partially mediate the relationship between HRM bundle and individual innovative behavior. This study contributes to the understanding of how HRM bundle impact on individual innovative behavior.

The direct positive relationship between empowering leadership and subordinate empowerment is well established. However, leader–member exchange (LMX) research, which concerns a leader’s relationship-building with subordinates in a work unit, suggests that the direct leader empowering–subordinate empowerment association may be more complex than understood in the current literature. Accordingly, this study examined LMX theory-based mediation and moderation processes occurring between empowering leadership and subordinate empowerment. In a field study employing 132 administrative workers in 26 work groups, as expected, an individual subordinate’s perceived LMX mediated the positive effects of empowering leadership on the subordinate’s psychological empowerment. In addition, LMX differentiation cross-level moderated the linkage between empowering leadership and perceived LMX. Together, study findings suggest that subordinates’ perceived LMX in a dyadic relationship with a leader and in a work group needs to be carefully considered in empowering leadership processes.

In this article we test a model of bounded empowerment: the boundary conditions under which power sharing affects employees' psychological empowerment. Using data from two telecommunication companies, we investigate how management control and power distance orientation moderate the effects of supervisors' power sharing on employees' psychological empowerment. Results show that power sharing improves job performance partly through psychological empowerment. Furthermore, management control enhances rather than impedes the positive effect of power sharing on psychological empowerment. Power distance orientation further enhances management control's positive moderating effect on employee psychological empowerment. Limitations and implications for future research are also discussed.