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Int. J. Economics and Business Research, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2018

Psychological empowerment as a stimulus of
organisational commitment and quality of work-life:
a comparative study between Egypt and India
Tarek A. El Badawy*
Department of Business Administration,
College of Business,
Auburn University,
Montgomery Alabama, USA
Email: tarek.elbadawy@aum.edu
Email: Tarek.elbadawy@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

Shalini Srivastava
Department of OB and HR,
Jaipuria Institute of Management,
Noida, India
Email: shalini.srivastava@jaipuria.ac.in

Mariam M. Magdy
Faculty of Management Technology,
German University in Cairo,
Cairo, Egypt
Email: Mariam.mohamed-magdy@outlook.com
Abstract: Psychological empowerment is how employees view themselves
relative to their superiors and work environments. Successfully influencing the
construction of a positive perception will allow employers to reap
organisational rewards from their employees. Statistic results are hardly
generalisable as they depend on the work environment studied, the prevailing
cultures and individual characteristics. The aim of this study was to conduct
comparative analyses between two samples extracted from Egypt and India on
the constructs psychological empowerment, organisational commitment and
quality of work-life. Data were collected from several MBA classes to achieve
the objective of diversity. Insightful results, practical implications and future
research directions are provided.
Keywords: psychological empowerment; organisational commitment; quality
of work-life; QWL; organisational psychology; comparative study; Egypt;
India.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: El Badawy, T.A.,
Srivastava, S. and Magdy, M.M. (2018) ‘Psychological empowerment as a
stimulus of organisational commitment and quality of work-life: a comparative
study between Egypt and India’, Int. J. Economics and Business Research,
Vol. 16, No. 2, pp.232–249.
Biographical notes: Tarek A. El Badawy is an Associate Professor of
Management, in the College of Business at the Auburn University at
Montgomery, Alabama, USA. He has been involved in teaching in various
universities for more than 15 years. His current research fields of interest
include conceptualising models that describe and test the importance of public
and private investment in human resources, international human resource
management, multi-culturism, and managing organisational change in
developing countries.
Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Psychological empowerment as a stimulus of organisational commitment

233

Shalini Srivastava is an academician, consultant, researcher, and trainer with
more than 20 years of experience in the field of organisational behaviour. At
present, she is working as an Assistant Dean-Research and Publications and
Associate Professor (OB and HR) at the Jaipuria Institute of Management,
Noida. She is the Co-editor of the Jaipuria International Journal of
Management Research (JIJMR) and Verbajim (a bi-annual magazine). She is a
reviewer of refereed journals like Human Resource Development Quarterly an
International Journal of School of Economics and Management, and South
Asian Journal of Management (SAJM), Sage. Her paper entitled, ‘Leader
effectiveness in emerging markets’ has been awarded as a Highly
Commendable Paper of year 2014 by Emerald Publishing Group. She worked
on consulting assignments and imparted training programs in organisations like
Fortis, IFFCO, NTPC, and ONGC in the areas of conflict management,
enhancing sales productivity and efficiency, leadership, team building,
motivation, among others.
Mariam M. Magdy is currently a PhD candidate at the Telfer School of
Management, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She has assisted in more
than 20 published studies. She worked as an Assistant Lecturer of Human
Resource Management in the Faculty of Management Technology at the
German University in Cairo, Egypt (2011–2014). She is a graduate of the
German University in the Cairo majoring in Human Resource Management and
Strategic Management. She completed her Master degree in Management in
2014. Current research interests include stigmatisations against marginalised
and underrepresented groups, impression management and multicultural
comparisons.

1

Introduction

Organisations can be rich with monetary and non-monetary resources, however, people
are the ones who operate on those resources and have the capabilities to turn them into
tangible and intangible organisational rewards. It is no doubt that, worldwide, people
have become the number one reason behind having, and sustaining, a competitive edge.
Hence, scholars and practitioners alike are highly concerned with identifying the
mechanisms of acquiring and maintaining quality workforce. Nevertheless, it is not an
easy task with many challenges hindering the smooth achievement of it.
Nowadays, the business environment, in any field and any territory, is very
ambiguous. For example, in Egypt, the economy is characterised as having high inflation
rate, lack of adequate foreign currency, rising costs of raw materials and others. Hence,
individuals are not happy with their jobs. They suffer from job insecurity, obstacles in
performing their tasks, low salaries and consequently less job satisfaction, among others.
However, in India, the economy is witnessing robust changes as the government is
liberalising the economy and privatising institutions. Gains will be realised on the
long-run. However, in the short term, employees are facing uncertainty and lack of
adequate information about the future.
Therefore, as scholars, we are interested in studying the different dispositional and
organisational variables that affect the psychological states of employees. We aim to shed
the light on several variables and provide managers and human resource practitioners
with insights and recommendations on how to pave a better working environment for

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employees. For the organisation, it will enable it to reach its goals and objectives, and
sustain an acceptable position in the market. For the individual, this will improve his/her
well-being, and enable him/her to perform better.
Carless (2004) focused on studying the concept of psychological climate. She referred
to it as employees’ subjective, and psychological, evaluation of their work environments
according to their frames of reference. No doubt that empowerment is part of the
psychological climate. Although psychological empowerment (PE) is considered recent
in the literature, it has gained wide attention due to its potential impact on the individual
performance, and organisational outcomes.
PE depends on perception. It is how individual employees view themselves relative to
their superiors and work environments. Hence, its results are hardly generalisable as they
depend on the work environment studied, the prevailing cultures and individual
characteristics. In addition, successfully influencing the construction of a positive
perception will allow employers to reap organisational rewards from their employees.
The researchers’ approach to investigate PE was centred on the three assumptions put
forward by Zimmerman in 1995. First, populations have different characteristics.
Accordingly, we chose specific populations and provided adequate information about
their backgrounds as these characteristics affect the form of PE and the outcomes of the
individual and organisation. Second, the empowerment form is dependent upon the
context (national culture, organisation type…). Third, PE changes over time for an
individual. This study was not longitudinal, however, it only presents one segment of
time characterised by perplexing circumstances.
Typically, PE is studied as an intermediary variable with antecedents and outcomes.
Previous researches have mapped the way to develop hypotheses and test them in
different cultures. While organisational commitment was touched upon before, to the
researchers’ knowledge, no study has analysed the interaction of quality of work-life
(QWL) and PE despite the positive potential of PE in improving the QWL for the
individual.
The aim of the current study was twofold. First, conducting comparative analysis
between two different samples, from Egypt and India, was integral to learn if differences
exist. Second, recommendations for managers on how to improve the psychological
climate of the organisation are provided.
The article starts with an overview on the previous studies conducted on the three
variables with specific focus on studies conducted in the two countries investigated. This
is to be followed by hypotheses and the methodology charted in conducting this study.
Results and discussion are then put forward. Finally, the paper concludes with
recommendations and practical implications.

2

Literature review

2.1 Empowerment in the organisation
From the literature, three types of empowerment were revealed; structural, team and PE.
For PE, scholars are mostly interested in understanding whether it is merely a support
variable that helps other organisational behaviour aspects or it is a standalone aspect that
is worthy of principal investigations. Herzberg et al. (1959) argued that empowerment is
one of the factors that achieves satisfaction for the individual. Empowerment is one way

Psychological empowerment as a stimulus of organisational commitment

235

to motivate employees as it mainly concentrates on decentralising authority and giving
employees more autonomy and control to take actions and make decisions. Accordingly,
employees become intrinsically motivated to remain with the organisation, exert efforts
in completing their tasks and participate in making decisions that will enhance the
position of the organisation.

2.1.1 Psychological empowerment
Wilkinson (1998) noted that empowerment consists of information sharing, upward
problem solving, task autonomy, attitudinal shaping, and self-management. Siegall and
Gardner (2000) stated that “empowered employees have a high sense of self-efficacy, are
given significant responsibility and authority over their jobs, engage in upward influence,
and see themselves as innovative (Quinn and Spreitzer, 1997). Empowered individuals
view themselves as more effective in their work and are evaluated as more effective by
their co-workers [Quinn and Spreitzer, (1997), p.704].
Thomas and Velthouse (1990) were among the first to develop a theoretical
framework for PE consisting of meaning (value-added from one’s work according to the
individual’s value system), choice (autonomy in making decisions related to one’s work),
competence (viewing one-self as capable of performing tasks and duties) and impact
(ability to affect outcomes on the organisational level).
Spreitzer (1995) tested the aforementioned framework empirically and adjusted the
four dimensions to impact, competence, self-determination and meaning. The same
scholar argued that empowerment is rather a multi-dimensional construct comprising of
antecedents, processes and outcomes. In his model, the addressed antecedents were
self-esteem, and locus of control on the individual level, and on the organisational level,
sharing of information and reward system. As for the consequences, both managerial
effectiveness and innovation were addressed. Nonetheless, consequences on the
individual level were overlooked.
Using the same four-factor taxonomy of empowerment, the construct displayed
strong internal consistency. This indicates that the four factors measure empowerment to
a great extent but in different proportions. In a later study by Spreitzer et al. (1997), the
scholars concluded that all dimensions of empowerment must be fulfilled in order to
realise positive individual and organisational outcomes.
Seibert et al. (2011) demonstrated strongly significant factor loadings of the four
dimensions on PE: meaning (.65), competence (.63), self-determination (.81), and impact
(.73) at p < 0.01 which further validates the model. Zimmerman (1995) also offered
another close theoretical framework for understanding and measuring empowerment.
Jain and Jain (2014) investigated the perceived level of empowerment of Indian
employees in the banking sector. Nevertheless, the results have questionable validity as
the study falls short on two dimensions. First, only the perception of managers was
elicited; the perceptions of their subordinates were not explored. Second, the study only
analysed self-efficacy as a reflective variable of PE.

2.1.2 PE and contextual variables
Testing Spreitzer’s model in a sample of employees from a manufacturing organisation,
Siegall and Gardner (2000) assessed the correlation between the model and contextual
aspects of supervisor communication, general relation with the organisation, teamwork

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and attention for performance. Results indicated positive, yet weak, associations between
the four contextual aspects and meaning; competence had no significant correlations;
self-determination showed weak significant correlations with all contextual aspects but
teamwork and finally, impact had positive associations with all but attention for
performance.
Seibert et al. (2011, p.982) combined all variables studied in relation to empowerment
in a framework consisting of antecedents, assessments and consequences, on three levels,
individual, team and organisational. Figure 1 presents the individual-level variables.
Figure 1

Individual-level variables in relation to PE

Seibert et al. (2011) argued that they were the first to perform a meta-analysis on PE after
almost three decades of its introduction. With respect to the antecedents, all displayed
significant moderate, and positive, correlations with empowerment. However, with
regard to the consequences, the meta-analysis showed positive strong correlations with
job satisfaction and commitment (p < 0.05) and negative weak associations with strain
and intention to turnover only.
Aspects of meaning and competence were associated with job satisfaction (Carless,
2004). In addition, in the same aforementioned study, the analysis revealed that PE
mediated the relationship between psychological climate and job satisfaction. Lin and
Tseng (2013) proved that PE has a stronger effect than leadership on employee job
satisfaction.
Leadership is extensively studied in the literature with relation to PE. Scholars
studied the relationship from different angles and provided several frameworks and
contingency models (Houghton and Yoho, 2005; Spreitzer et al., 1999; Wilson, 2011). In
another study in China, Kuo et al. (2010) reported that PE was positively related to
empowering leadership, intrinsic motivation and engagement in creative processing.
Çekmecelioğlu and Özbağ (2014) found positive significant associations between
individual creativity and meaning, and competence and impact; Meaning, selfdetermination and impact also were positively associated with organisational innovation.
Quiñones et al. (2013) found moderate positive correlation between PE and work
engagement. Same results were reached by Stander and Rothmann (2010). In addition,
the latter scholars found that PE was significantly negatively associated with job
insecurity, with its two types. However, the correlations were very weak almost

Psychological empowerment as a stimulus of organisational commitment

237

unrecognisable. Finally, they concluded that job insecurity moderated the PE-employee
engagement relationship.
Bhatnagar (2012) investigated work engagement between Indian managers and the
effect of PE on it. The results confirmed that PE was negatively associated with turnover
intention. Moreover, PE predicted work engagement. Finally, the structural equation
modelling proved that work engagement mediated the PE-innovation relationship.

2.1.3 PE and organisational commitment
It is logically assumed that a direct and positive association between commitment and
empowerment exists. Nevertheless, breaking commitment into its three types provides
different results; affective and normative commitment had positive associations (Ambad
and Bahron, 2012; Hashmi and Naqvi, 2012), continuance commitment was in the
opposite direction (Kuo et al., 2010; Clercq and Rius, 2013). Chan et al. (2015) results
revealed positive relationships with affective (R2 was 12%) and normative (R2 was 14%)
commitment, and negative correlation with continuance commitment (R2 was 5%) as
well. In addition, affective and normative commitment mediated the PE-organisational
citizenship behaviours (OCB) relationship.
Joo and Shim (2010) proved that the four dimensions of empowerment explained
almost 38% of changes in employee commitment. In addition, they concluded that the
relationship was indirect as a learning culture moderated the relationship in a sample of
Korean employees working in public organisations. Chen and Chen (2008) found
significant positive relationships for all dimensions but self-determination in a sample
from Taiwan’s public organisations. Same results were reached by Kebriaei et al. (2015),
Bhatnagar (2005), and Castro et al. (2008). The latter reported strong correlation
coefficients between empowerment and organisational commitment (r = 0.72).

2.2 Quality of work-life
In his article, Erdem (2014) referred to QWL as “the physical and psychological welfare
in the work environment with regard to an employee’s integration in their total area of
life” [Bilgin, (1995), p.535]. Hence, it was concluded that QWL stems from theory
X/theory Y introduced by McGregor in the 1960s. QWL is referred to in the literature as
egalitarianism in making decisions (Cummings, 1977), humane working conditions
(House, 1974), work-life balance (Alfonso et al., 2016), satisfaction with work (Babu and
Ramesh, 2013) and lack of stress (Hans et al., 2015). QWL is also studied in the
academic sector extensively and in different cultures; Oman (Hans et al., 2015), China
(Liu et al., 2015) and Australia (Winter et al., 2000).
From reviewing the literature, it was inherent to conceptualise QWL in this study in
order to provide an adequate operational definition to be measured. Zin (2004) agreed
with the same notion and put forward in his study that QWL is the perception of
employees about their work environment and the HR conditions. He conceptualised
QWL as supervision (quality of communication channels between employees),
participation (degree of voicing opinions with relation to job tasks), in addition to other
five dimensions adopted from another scholar.
Zin (2004) studied the correlation between QWL and commitment in a sample from
Asia. His study suggested that supervision, pay and integration (elements of QWL) were
positively associated with affective commitment. Supervision, pay and social relevance

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were positively associated with normative commitment. Finally, pay and social relevance
had positive associations with continuance commitment (lack of other jobs to apply for).
QWL was also studied in relation to emotional intelligence and OCB. Alfonso et al.
(2016) found positive correlations between sportsmanship, civic virtue and QWL.
Moreover, the same scholars proved that QWL is a significant moderator/mediator for
OCB towards the organisation only (i.e., sportsmanship).
Taştan (2013, p.141) discussed QWL through the lenses of employee well-being. He
believed that well-being is a multi-dimensional construct consisting of “subjective
well-being (happiness, relaxation and a relative absence of problems) and psychological
well-being (taking on challenges and making efforts for personal development and
growth)”. In addition, the same scholar argued that all aspects of PE is linked to the
psychological well-being of employees. The study’s results proved positive significant
associations between empowerment and psychological well-being (r = 0.79).
Self-efficacy fully mediated the aforementioned relationship while perceived social
support moderated the relationship as was evident by the slight increase in the correlation
coefficient. To the researchers’ knowledge, no study explicitly investigated the
relationship between PE and QWL.

2.3 Evidence from Egypt and India
Searching for studies conducted on the three variables under investigation in Egypt and
India did not yield a sufficient number of studies. With respect to India, Neelam et al.
(2015) argued that organisational cultures are often overlooked when investigating
organisational variables, specifically commitment. Nevertheless, a handful of scholars
tended to study PE in relationship to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of power distance
and individualism (Robert et al., 2000; Eylon and Au, 1999). In addition, most of the
research on India focused on the IT sector due to the sector’s importance to the local
economy. Not enough studies investigated the organisational variables in other types of
organisations. Neelam et al. (2015) found significant associations between affective
commitment and dimensions of organisational culture in a sample from Indian IT field.
Srivastava and Pathak (2016) investigated the relationships between PE, QWL and
organisational commitment in a sample from the Indian IT sector. Their analysis revealed
positive associations between the three variables. In addition, the researchers were
successful in proving a mediation effect; PE, and its components, partially mediated the
QWL-organisational commitment relationship.
Bhatnagar (2007) aimed to investigate the predecessors of commitment in a sample
from India. The study confirmed that not only are strategic HR, PE and OLC positively
associated with commitment, but also are predictors of it. The scholar argued that the
three predictors reflect the main practices of Indian managers in today’s working
environment. Bhatnagar (2007) found significant positive association between
commitment and PE. However, by looking at the sub-variables, results were mixed.
Competence had significant positive associations with affective and continuance
commitment while self-determination had insignificant correlation with affective
commitment. Jha (2011) found positive associations, in a sample from IT Indian
managers, between PE and normative and affective commitment while no association
was found with continuance commitment.
In a sample from the Indian service industry, Guchait and Cho (2010) found
significant correlations between HRM practices such as training, benefits and others and

Psychological empowerment as a stimulus of organisational commitment

239

organisational commitment. In addition, their analysis revealed that commitment
mediated the HRM practices-intention to leave relationship.
In yet another Indian IT sample, Chhabra (2013) proved significant positive
association between organisational commitment, and the variables job satisfaction and
internal locus of control. Individuals with internality had higher levels of job satisfaction
(Chhabra, 2013). Moreover, internal locus of control was proved as a positive moderator
in the organisational commitment-job satisfaction relationship.
Studies on Egypt were rather rare. Unfortunately, the practicality of gathering the data
and reliability of it are questioned. For example, in their investigation of locus of control,
Smith et al. (1995, p.384) gathered data from Egypt but eventually, they excluded the
data due to ‘deficiencies in data collection’.
Only one study was found on Egypt. The scholars investigated the interactions
between PE and four different organisational variables. Their results proved the
following:
1

Positive association between motivation (two types) and PE (overall and
disaggregated). However, intrinsic motivation had stronger correlation coefficients.

2

Moderate-strong associations were found between leadership support and PE.

3

Communication had very strong association with PE; specifically meaningfulness
with coefficient of 0.99, p < 0.01).

4

Positive association was found between job satisfaction and PE.

5

Finally, PE was proved to be a positive moderator between all the other variables.

The scholars concluded that it is highly important for managers to demonstrate leadership
support to their employees as it positively affects the perceived level of empowerment
and consequently, it is linked to higher job satisfaction (Abd-El-Salam et al., 2013).

2.3.1 Research questions and hypotheses
Accordingly, three research questions were developed (Figure 2):
RQ1 Are there significant differences between the two samples with respect to the
reported average scores on overall PE and its four dimensions?
RQ2 Are there significant differences between the two samples with respect to the
reported average scores on overall organisational commitment and its three types?
RQ3 Are there significant difference in the reported average score on QWL between the
two samples?
Figure 2

Framework of the study
Psychological empowerment:

Quality of work-life

•
•
•
•

Meaning
Self-determination
Competence
Impact

Organisational commitment:
• Affective commitment
• Normative commitment
• Continuance commitment

To answer the three research questions, the following hypotheses were formulated:

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T.A. El Badawy et al.

H1 There is a significant difference between the means of the Egyptian and Indian
samples with respect to overall PE.
H1a There is a significant difference between the means of the Egyptian and Indian
samples with respect to meaning.
H1b There is a significant difference between the means of the Egyptian and Indian
samples with respect to self-determination.
H1c There is a significant difference between the means of the Egyptian and Indian
samples with respect to competence.
H1d There is a significant difference between the means of the Egyptian and Indian
samples with respect to impact.
H2 There is a significant difference between the means of the two samples with respect
to overall organisational commitment.
H2a There is a significant difference between the means of the two samples with
respect to affective commitment.
H2b There is a significant difference between the means of the two samples with
respect to normative commitment.
H2c There is a significant difference between the means of the two samples with
respect to continuance commitment.
H3 There is a significant difference between the means of both samples with respect to
QWL.

3

Methodology

3.1 Participants
To serve the aim of the study, employees participating in MBA classes were chosen.
MBA classes guaranteed that participants came from different backgrounds,
organisations and working fields altogether achieving sufficient diversity. 170
questionnaires were distributed in three private universities situated in Cairo, Egypt. The
collected questionnaires were 117 (100 and 17) fulfilling a response rate of 69%.
152 (100 and 52) correctly filled questionnaires were collected from India.
With regard to the Egyptian sample, 66% of the participants were males as opposed
to 34% females. The majority of the sample (65%) were between 25–35 years old; 17%
were 36–40 years old; 12% were more than forty years old while the rest of participants
were less 25 years. 40% of participants were single, 54% were married, and the
remaining were divorced. 72.6% were bachelor degree holders, 25.6% were master
degree holders and the rest had other types of certificates.
Almost all participants were full-time employees with 21.4% working in
manufacturing organisations and 56.4% in service organisations. Years of experience
ranged from five to ten years (43%), less than five years (26.5%), 11–15 years (18%) and
the rest had more than fifteen years of experience in their current organisations. 9.4%
were from the top management, 41% were middle managers, 21.4% were first-line
managers and the remaining were employees holding non-managerial positions.

Psychological empowerment as a stimulus of organisational commitment

241

With regard to the Indian sample, 58% were females and 42% were males. The
majority were between 36–40 years old (23.7%), 21.7% were between 31–35 years old,
18.4% were 30 years old or less, 30.9% were between 41–50 years old and the rest were
older than 50 years. 57.9% were single, 21.7% married and 13.8% divorced.
51.3% were master degree holders and 16.4% were bachelor degree holders. 87.5%
were employed full-time with 42.1% working in manufacturing organisations and 47.4%
working in service organisations. Years of experience ranged from five to ten years
(41.4%), less than five years (11.8%), 11–15 years (38.2%) and the rest had more than
fifteen years of experience in their current organisations. 33.6% were middle-level
managers, 32.9% were first-line managers, 18.4% held non-managerial positions and the
remaining were from the top management.

3.2 Measurement tools
•

PE was measured using Spreitzer’s (1995) questionnaire. The twelve items were
distributed on the four aspects: meaning, competence, self-determination and impact.
Items were measured on five-point Likert scale. Cronbach’s alpha for the Egyptian
sample was 0.93 and 0.65 for the sample from India.

•

QWL was measured using Zin’s (2004) developed questionnaire. The items covered
seven dimensions: growth and development, participation, physical environment,
supervision, pay and benefits, social relevance and workplace integration. The
reported Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was 0.93. Items were measured on five-point
Likert scale. Cronbach’s alpha for the Egyptian sample was 0.86 and 0.94 for the
Indian sample.

•

Organisational commitment was measured using Meyer et al.’s (1993) questionnaire.
The eighteen items covered the three types of commitment: affective, normative and
continuance commitment. Items were measured on five-point Likert scale. The
reported reliability coefficients were 0.83 and 0.97 for Egypt and India respectively.

3.3 Procedure
Participants were chosen from different MBA classes in three private universities in
Cairo, Egypt and India. Participants were approached at the start of their classes, briefly
familiarised with the study and the questionnaire. They were assured of anonymity and
the optional participation. At the end of the class, completed questionnaires were
collected.

3.4 Data analysis
SPSS was used in analysing the collected data. Cronbach’s alphas were calculated for the
three measurements. Spearman’s test was used to analyse the correlations between the
three studied variables.

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T.A. El Badawy et al.

Results

4.1 Correlations
Table 1 presents the correlations between the three main variables, PE, organisational
commitment and QWL. For the sample from Egypt, Spearman’s rho coefficient showed
significant positive and moderate correlation between PE and organisational commitment
(r = 0.4, p < 0.01) while the relationship was insignificant in the Indian sample. Egyptian
employees who perceived that they are empowered by their organisations demonstrated
higher commitment towards the organisation. However, by looking at the subdimensions, results differed. Affective commitment correlated significantly, in the
positive direction, with all four aspects of PE. Normative commitment correlated with all
but competence significantly positive. Finally, no significant correlation was found
between continuance commitment and PE. Nevertheless, data from India failed to capture
such relationships.
Table 1

Correlations between variables

Egypt
Organisational
commitment

Quality of work-life

Psychological empowerment

Spearman’s rho

.690**

.391**

Probability

0.0000

0.0000

Quality of work-life
India
Organisational
commitment
Quality of work-life

Spearman’s rho

.531**

Probability

0.0000

Quality of work-life

Psychological empowerment

Spearman’s rho

.733**

.099

Probability

0.0000

0.2255

Spearman’s rho

.226**

The relationship between PE and QWL was significant and positive in both samples from
Egypt (r = 0.50, p < 0.01) and India (r = 0.23, p < 0.01). Employees who are empowered
in their organisations reported higher QWL. In addition, all four aspects of empowerment
had significant positive correlations with the QWL scale in the Egyptian sample. As for
the Indian sample, only competence showed significant correlation with QWL.
The relationship between QWL and organisational commitment was strong and
positive (r = 0.7, p < 0.01) and (r = 0.73, p < 0.01) for Egypt and India respectively.
Employees who are comfortable with their organisational conditions exhibited higher
levels of commitment. Both affective and normative commitment had significant
correlations with QWL for the Egyptian sample. However, the data from India showed
significantly strong associations between QWL and continuance and normative
commitment. The relationship between QWL and organisational commitment was strong
and positive (r = 0.7, p< 0.001) and (r = 73, p< 0.001) for Egypt and India respectively.
Employees who are comfortable with their organisational conditions exhibit higher levels
of commitment. Both affective and normative commitment had significant correlations
with QWL in the sample from Egypt. However, Indian participants showed significant
strong relationships between continuance and normative commitment and QWL.

Psychological empowerment

Meaning

Impact

Self determination

Competence

Quality of work-life

Organizational commitment

Normative commitment

Continuance commitment

Affective commitment

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

India

Egypt

-0.17

–0.17

–0.45

–0.32

0.25

0.02

0.25

0.21

0.20

0.36

Mean difference

0.05

0.08

0.08

0.06

0.08

0.09

0.07

0.08

0.11

0.07

–0.28

–0.33

–0.61

–0.44

0.09

-0.15

0.12

0.04

-0.02

0.23

Lower

–0.07

–0.02

–0.28

–0.20

0.40

0.20

0.39

0.37

0.42

0.50

Upper

95% confidence interval of the difference
Std. error difference

t

–3.32

–2.15

–5.35

–5.21

3.20

0.23

3.78

2.48

1.75

5.46

df

267

267

267

267

267

267

267

267

267

267

P-value

0.00103

0.03211

0.00000

0.00000

0.00154

0.81639

0.00019

0.01369

0.08177

0.00000

P < 0.01 HS

P < 0.05 S

P < 0.001 HS

P < 0.001 HS

P < 0.01 HS

P > 0.05 NS

P < 0.001 HS

P < 0.05 significant

P > 0.05 not significant

P < 0.001 highly significant

Table 2

Country

Psychological empowerment as a stimulus of organisational commitment
Comparisons between the two samples

243

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T.A. El Badawy et al.

4.2 Testing differences in means
The independent t-test was used to compare the studied variables from our two
independent samples, from Egypt and India. Participants from India reported higher
average scores on overall PE. The difference between the reported means was highly
significant for overall PE, Egypt (M = 3.9, SD = 0.5) and India (M = 4.07, SD = 0.4);
t (267) = –3.3, p < 0.01. Hence, the authors failed to reject the first hypothesis.
The components of PE revealed the same results. Differences in means between both
samples were highly significant with India having the higher averages on all components
except competence. Accordingly, H1a, H1b, H1c, and H1d could not be rejected.
For the overall organisational commitment, the difference between the reported
means was highly significant, Egypt (M = 3.27, SD = 0.6) and India (M = 3.01,
SD = 0.6); t (267) = 3.78, p < 0.01. The second hypothesis was not rejected. Egyptian
participants reported higher average level of organisational commitment.
The types of organisational commitment revealed mixed results. Differences in means
were significant for affective and normative commitment only. Hence, H2a and H2c
could not be rejected while the authors failed to accept H2b.
Finally, for QWL, the difference between the reported means was not significant,
Egypt (M = 3.33, SD = 0.7) and India (M = 3.31, SD = 0.8); t (267) = 0.23,
p > 0.05. Hypothesis three was rejected. Table 2 provides full details on differences in
means for the studied variables and their sub-dimensions. Following is the discussion of
the implications of the study’s results.

5

Discussion

Preliminary results reveal that employees from Egypt perceive having intermediate levels
of PE and QWL; in addition, they report medium to high levels of organisational
commitment. Moreover, strong positive interactions are found between the three
constructs paving the path for further validation of the results through testing new
samples with different characteristics.
The aim of this study was to conduct comparative analyses on the three constructs
between two samples extracted from Egypt and India. Data was collected from several
MBA classes to achieve the objective of diversity.
Comparing India and Egypt culturally through the lenses of Hostede’s dimensions
reflected that both cultures differ; specifically on dimensions of uncertainty avoidance,
long-term orientation and indulgence. Figure 3 explains the differences between both
cultures. The analysis is indicative of both cultures. However, it should be approached
with caution as data on Egypt was not directly collected and analysed by Hofstede et al.
(2010). Results of the current study reveal positive association between PE and QWL in
both samples. However, the interaction between PE and organisational commitment is
weak in Egypt and insignificant altogether in India. These results contradict the findings
of Bhatnagar (2007) and Jha (2011) that reported positive association between, and
prediction, of PE and commitment.
As expected, the comparisons between Egypt and India reflect that employees exhibit
different levels of empowerment, perceived QWL and commitment. With respect to
empowerment, Indian employees believe that they are more empowered in their
organisations specifically on the aspects of self-determination, impact and meaning.

Psychological empowerment as a stimulus of organisational commitment
Figure 3

245

Cultural differences between Egypt and India (see online version for colours)

Employees from Egypt reported the higher levels of commitment specifically affective
and normative types of commitment. Nevertheless, both samples reported the same level
of perceived QWL. One of the main contributions of this study is shedding the light on
the dynamics of organisations in Egypt since studies are rarely found on its employees.

6

Conclusions and managerial implications

The results of this study contribute to the literature in three ways. First, it explored the
context in Egyptian organisations which is rare in the academic literature. Second, it
integrated different types of industries from India rather than the norm of focusing on the
IT sector only. Third, it provided a comparative analysis that proved that there are
cultural differences to be taken into consideration by managers. It is believed that the
results of this study provide managers with important insights on how to improve
employee performance through focusing on their psychological well-being. To reach PE,
managers should exhibit strong leadership support to their employees. Managers should
ensure their employees’ adequate access to information on organisation’s mission,
performance levels, goals and others. This will provide employees with confidence when
they work and make decisions. Performance-based reward systems are recommended to
motivate employees to contribute significantly to their work unit. Discussing the
conditions of the working environment with employees is also a must to ensure their
well-being that will result in better perceived empowerment and commitment. Finally,

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T.A. El Badawy et al.

managers are advised to study the cultural backgrounds of their employees to understand
their stimulus and how best to retain them.

7

Limitations and research implications

This study had several limitations. First, the samples’ sizes are small relative to the
population. Second, the demographic variables’ effect was out of the scope of this study.
Third, the data were gathered in only one point in time. No examination of the long-term
effect of empowerment on commitment and other dispositional and organisational
variables. Forth, only two variables (QWL and commitment) were studied in relation to
PE. Fifth, the underlying assumptions behind the lack of associations between certain
variables were not deeply investigated as they were out of the scope of this study’s
objectives. Finally, the self-administrated questionnaires may provide inaccurate results
when participants report perceived favoured responses rather than actual ones.
Longitudinal studies are highly recommended to analyse the effect of empowerment
on the long-run for employees and organisations. Additionally, respected scholars call for
building nomological networks that accurately capture the essence of PE which puts
emphasis on the need to integrate several variables in one model. Moreover, it is believed
that the interactions between the variables is context-dependent. Hence, adequate
explanation of the sample characteristics and organisational conditions is important to
understand the logic behind the results. “The context and population-specific
characteristic of PE means that a nomological network must be broad enough to
encompass diversity, yet specific enough to inform assessment of the construct for a
particular population and setting” [Zimmerman, (1995), p.585].
Scholars should pay attention to possible intervening variables that can affect the
developed relationships in this study. Different methods of collecting data are
recommended to decrease the possible effect of self-serving biases and to provide
in-depth information that justifies the results.

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