Description

Based on a thorough scale development and validation process, the author presents a multidimensional measure of psychological empowerment in the workplace. It consists of four dimensions: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact.

Definition

Empowerment is defined as increased intrinsic task motivation manifested in a set of four cognitions reflecting an individual's orientation to his or her work role: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990).

The impact dimension of empowerment is defined as the degree to which an individual can influence strategic, administrative, or operating outcomes at work (Ashforth, 1989).

Items

• My impact on what happens in my department is large.
• I have a great deal of control over what happens in my department.
• I have significant influence over what happens in my department.

Source

• Spreitzer (1995): Psychological Empowerment in the Workplace: Dimensions, Measurement, and Validation. Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 1442–1465

Comments

The items might be too similar.

Related Scales

• Power
• Psychological empowerment in the workplace: meaning, competence, self-determination, impact