Empowering Leadership: Psychological Empowerment Dimensions Role in Openness Towards Change
Abstract
In this master thesis we researched the relationship between the four dimensions of
psychological empowerment and followers' openness towards change during the
COVID-19 pandemic. By collecting data from a municipality in Norway we
received responses from individuals without personnel responsibilities, hence the
followers. As well as individuals with personnel responsibilities, hence the leaders,
that have been in a situation with radical change and uncertainty. Thus, responses
that reflected the reality of everyday work life in an organization that was a key
player in dealing with the pandemic in several different sectors (e.g., schools and
kindergartens, health- and social services in the municipality).
To understand the relationship between the four dimensions of
psychological empowerment and openness toward change, we applied a regression
analysis to look at each variable. Our findings indicate that self-determination and
meaningfulness both have a positive relation with openness toward change. In
addition, did the results indicate that the followers reported the most with openness
towards change. However, as our measures for this study were not created with
enough precision and only have similarities to the scales created by Spreitzer
(1995), there are several limitations and a significant reduction in the reliability
related to the results.
Keywords: empowering leadership, the dimensions of psychological
empowerment, organizational change management, openness towards change.
Description
Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Leadership and Organizational Psychology - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2022