The Impact of Psychological Empowerment of Nurses on their Job Involvement: A Descriptive Correlational Study

Abstract

Background Psychological empowerment and job involvement of employees are critical indicators of healthcare organizational performance. These two factors are essential when managing workplace changes, enhancing individual and overall organizational performance, and increasing the job security of nurses. Objective This study explored how nurses perceive their psychological empowerment and job involvement and the relationship between these two factors. Methods This descriptive-correlational research was conducted on nurses working in 3 hospitals affiliated with Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in 2023. The sampling method used was quota-random sampling. The data related to the study were collected from valid questionnaires related to Spreitzer's developed Psychological Empowerment and Kanungo's Job Involvement. The data analysis was also conducted at the descriptive and inferential statistics level using SPSS version 16 software. Results In this study, 65.9% (N=128) of the participants were female and 34.1% (N=66) were male. The results showed that the level of nurses' perception of psychological empowerment and job involvement was at an average level. Also, the results showed a significant relationship between the total psychological empowerment score and nurses' job involvement (P-value<0.001, r=0.587). Conclusions Based on the results, increasing each dimension of PE among nurses can significantly enhance their job involvement, subsequently improving the quality of patient care and reducing additional costs. Job involvement has been tied to nurse health and quality of care. Given the significant positive relationship between job involvement and psychological empowerment, attention must be given to empowering nurses psychologically.