The Effect of Empowerment on Performance: An Empirical Study in China’s Banking Industry

Chao Ma and Guoxin Weng

Current research has explored that empowerment from managers helps improve employees’ performance through intrinsic motivation at Western context. However, this relationship has not been studied using data from China. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether empowerment from managers contributes to individual job performance of employees through intrinsic motivation of employees in banking industry of Chinese context. Data is collected from 260 employees of three banks, totally 14 branches on low-Yangtze river district of China. Results indicate that empowerment from managers is positively related to job performance of employees, with the partially mediating effect of intrinsic motivation of employees. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Field of Research: Human Resource Management & Managing People and Organization

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.21102/irbrp.2015.09.112.16