http://e-journal.unair.ac.id/JNERS | 47 

 

Jurnal Ners 
Vol. 14, No. 1, April 2019 
http://dx.doi.org/10.20473/jn.v14i1.15056 

This is an Open Access article distributed 
under the terms of the Creative Commons 

Attribution 4.0 International License  

Original Research 

Leader Empowering Behaviors and Psychological Empowerment as Perceived by Young 
Hospital Staff Nurses: A Pilot Study 

Ryan Michael Flores Oducado 

West Visayas State University, College of Nursing, Philippines 

ABSTRACT 

Introduction: Empowerment has become an important concept in nursing that has 
gained acknowledgment in theories and practice of leadership and management. A 
positive organization espouses empowerment to attract and retain employees. 
While it is not new to nursing, there is little published research on empowerment 
among nurses in the Philippines. This study aimed to measure young staff nurses’ 
perception of leader empowering behaviors and psychological empowerment. 

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional survey design participated by 44 
conveniently chosen staff nurses in a private teaching and training hospital in Iloilo 
City, Philippines. The participants were asked to answer 5-point Likert scale 
questions utilizing adopted instruments. Descriptive and non-parametric statistical 
stools were used with Mann-Whitney U test to determine differences and 
Spearman’s rank correlation to establish relationship between variables. 

Results: Overall, young staff nurses perceived their leaders’ behaviors to be highly 
empowering (M=3.89). Staff nurses also had a high level of psychological 
empowerment (M=4.07). Leader empowering behaviors was significantly related 
to staff nurses’ perception of psychological empowerment (p=.001). Staff nurses’ 
level of psychological empowerment were significantly different in terms of 
employment status (p=.020) and years of work experience (p=.014). 

Conclusion: This study highlights the positive influence of the empowering 
behaviors of leaders in enhancing staff nurses’ level of psychological 
empowerment. It is vital for nurse managers to continually demonstrate leadership 
behaviors that empower staff nurses at the unit level.  

ARTICLE HISTORY 

Received: August 29, 2019 
Accepted: October 09, 2019 

KEYWORDS 

empowerment; leadership; 
psychological empowerment; 
leader empowering behaviors; 
nursing empowerment 

 
CONTACT 

Ryan Michael Flores Oducado 
 rmoducado@wvsu.edu.ph 
 West Visayas State 
University, College of Nursing, 
Philippines 

Cite this as:  Oducado, R. M.F. (2019). Leader Empowering Behaviors and Psychological Empowerment as Perceived 
by Young Hospital Staff Nurses: A Pilot Study. Jurnal Ners, 14(1), 47-54. 
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.20473/jn.v14i1.15056 

INTRODUCTION  

Empowerment has become a focal concept in nursing. 
Nursing empowerment is regarded as essential in 
ensuring professional success and in developing the 
professional image of nurses (Lockhart, 2017). 
Historically, nurses were viewed as submissive and 
dependent on the patriarchal medical hierarchy 
having little involvement in decisions affecting their 
practice standards (Okuyama, Wagner, & Bijnen, 
2014; Lockhart, 2017). However, the nursing 
profession has changed over the past decades. 
Today’s healthcare environment calls for a more 
empowered nursing profession. In a multidisciplinary 
healthcare setting, even staff nurses are now 
encouraged to get involved in clinical and 
organizational decision-making processes (Van 

Bogaert, Peremans, de Wit, Van Heusden, Franck, 
Timmermans, & Havens, 2015). With the growing 
demands in the nurse manager’s role in today’s 
healthcare environment, the manager’s ability to 
engage in empowering leadership behavior becomes 
a challenge (Greco, Laschinger, & Wong, 2006; Lee & 
Kim, 2013). 

The nursing literature flourishes with studies on 
empowerment indicating that nursing empowerment 
is associated with less burnout, higher workplace 
satisfaction, commitment, increased autonomy, 
positive work behaviors and environment, better 
performance and patient health outcomes (Greco, 
Laschinger, & Wong, 2006; Laschinger, Gilbert, Smith 
& Leslie, 2010; Leggat, Bartram, Casimir & Stanton, 
2010; Jordan & Davis 2013; Oyeleye, Hanson, 

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O’Connor & Dunn, 2013; Asiri, Rohrer, Al-Surimi, 
Da’ar,  & Ahmed, 2016; Goedhart, van Oostveen, 
& Vermeulen, 2017). Empowered nurses are more 
likely to subscribe to more positive work practices 
resulting in positive patient outcomes (Donahue, 
Piazza, Griffin, Dykes & Fitzpatrick, 2008). 
Correspondingly, the empowerment of nurses 
appears essential in the delivery of high-quality 
patient care (Goedhart, van Oostveen, & Vermeulen, 
2017). On the other hand, disempowered or 
powerless nurses are ineffective, unproductive and 
dissatisfied nurses (Manojlovich, 2007; Lee & Kim, 
2013; Mariano, Javier, Fauni, & De Vera, 2014). In 
other words, powerless nurses are less likely to 
deliver the best possible care for their patients. 

Despite the numerous positive benefits of 
empowerment, surveys reveal that nurses are still not 
sufficiently empowered. For instance, only a 
moderate level of empowerment was disclosed 
among staff nurses in the Philippines (Mariano, Javier, 
Fauni, & De Vera, 2014) and Canada (Greco, 
Laschinger, & Wong, 2006). Even among the nurse 
managers cohort in the United States, many were not 
fully empowered (Regan & Rodriguez, 2011; Oliver, 
Gallo, Griffin, White, & Fitzpatrick, 2014). This is 
critical because a leader must be empowered so that 
they can empower others (Regan & Rodriguez, 2011). 
The nurse leader's empowering behaviors can be 
pivotal on how nurses perceive and respond to their 
work environment (Greco, Laschinger, & Wong, 
2006). 

In this sense, nurse supervisors and managers 
have an essential role in empowering staff (Regan & 
Rodriguez, 2011). Empowering staff is a vital nursing 
leadership function to cultivate a culture of 
productive work environment that encourages and 
sustains quality and safe patient care (Kramer, 
Schmalenberg & Maguire, 2010; Asiri, Rohrer, Al-
Surimi, Da’ar, & Ahmed, 2016).   Nevertheless, nurses 
may feel powerless relative to organizational 
administrators and medical staff (Manojlovich, 2007). 
As empowerment of staff nurses can emerge from 
nursing leadership (Wilson and Laschinger, 1994), it 
is necessary to assess leadership behaviors that 
promote empowerment among staff. According to 
Kanter’s (1993) theory of structural empowerment, 
opportunity, and power in organizations are essential 
to empowerment that contributes to getting the work 
done. Kanter (1993) described access to information, 
resources, support, and having a chance for 
advancement or opportunity to be involved in 
activities beyond one’s job description as the main 
components of structural empowerment. Although 
not explicitly mentioned, the essence of structural 
empowerment or behaviors that lead an individual to 
act in an empowered manner has also been linked 
with nursing leadership, participative management 
and staff involvement in decision making (Kramer & 
Schmalenberg, 1993; Upenieks, 2003; Linnen & 
Rowley, 2014). This proposes that leadership 
behaviors can be sources of power in the work setting 
that enable staff to act or feel empowered. Given the 

ability of managers to affect the job responsibilities of 
their workforce, managers are likely to influence the 
task perceptions of their staff (Konczak, Stelly, & 
Trusty, 2000). Konczak, Stelly, & Trusty (2000) 
identified six dimensions of leader empowering 
behaviors: delegation of authority, accountability, 
self-directed decision-making, information sharing, 
skills development, and coaching for innovative 
performance. The leader's ability to exhibit and 
showcase these empowering actions will have an 
impact on the way staff will perceive the tasks given 
to them by their leader (Mendes & Stander, 2011). 

Meanwhile, empowerment also being both a 
process and an outcome must be facilitated 
(Kettunen, Poskiparta, & Liimatainen (2001). With 
the call for a multidisciplinary approach in healthcare, 
nurse managers must acquire leadership 
competencies that can generate an empowered 
workplace (Asiri, Rohrer, Al-Surimi, Da’ar, & Ahmed, 
2016). Having the necessary structures that promote 
empowerment, such as empowering leader 
behaviors, may result in a psychologically 
empowering experience among staff. Conger and 
Kanungo (1988) and furthered by Spreitzer (1995) 
viewed empowerment as an enabling process 
implying motivation through enhancing personal 
efficacy manifesting as a set of four cognitions: 
meaning, competence, self-determination, and 
impact, that are shaped by a work environment. 
Conger and Kanungo (1988) also characterized 
empowerment as a process that involves a manager 
sharing power with subordinates. 

While empowerment is not a new concept to 
nursing, limited published studies are available 
regarding the topic of nurses’ empowerment in the 
local setting. Moreover, with the current nurse 
staffing challenges experienced by hospital 
organizations, fostering elements of a positive 
organization (Mendes & Stander, 2011), in this case 
an empowered workplace, is needed if hospitals want 
to attract and retain their staff nurses (Bester, 
Stander, & van Zyl, 2015). The role of leadership is a 
dynamic one between the leader and followers 
(Peachey, 2002). Continuous assessment of nurses’ 
empowerment levels at every stage of their nursing 
career is henceforth essential (Al-Dweik,  Al-Daken, 
Abu-Snieneh, & Ahmad, 2016). This study is an 
attempt to investigate the young staff nurses’ 
perceptions of leader empowering behaviors and 
psychological empowerment within the Philippine 
context and whether there is a significant relationship 
between the two major variables. 

MATERIALS AND METHODS  

This study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional 
research survey design. The study was conducted in a 
private tertiary hospital categorized as training and 
teaching hospital in Iloilo City, Philippines. In 
coordination with the Nursing Service Office of the 
hospital, administrative and ethical clearances were 
sought before the actual survey.  Data were gathered 



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during the monthly In-service training activity of the 
Nursing Service Office. Those who attended the 
activity, available, and willing to participate during 
the conduct of the survey were included in the study. 
Forty-four (44) conveniently chosen young staff 
nurses, with age ranging from 21 to 38 years old with 
an average age of 27 (Median = 28), consented and 
participated in the study. All staff nurses were with 
Bachelor’s degree, with a mean year of work 
experience equal to 2.9 (Median = 1.5) ranging from 
less than one year to 12 years. Informed consent was 
secured prior to the administration of questionnaires. 
The participants were ensured of their voluntary 
participation, including their rights to anonymity and 
confidentiality. A sealed envelope containing the self-
administered questionnaires and a demographic and 
work-related profile sheet was distributed to the 
participants. Participants were asked to return the 
sealed envelope without any identifiable information. 

Data for this study were gathered using two 
adopted research instruments that have been found 
valid in healthcare: Spreitzer’s (1995) Psychological 
Empowerment Scale and Konczak, Stelly & Trusty’s 
(2003) Leader Empowering Behavior Questionnaire. 
The Psychological Empowerment Scale is a 12-item 
scale with four dimensions: meaning, competence, 
self-determination, and impact having three items 
measuring each dimension. According to Spreitzer’s 
(1995), these subscales combined create 
psychological empowerment. 

The Leader Empowering Behavior Questionnaire 
is a 19-item scale, consisting of six subscales: 
delegation of authority, accountability, self-directed 
decision-making, information sharing, skill 
development, and coaching for innovative 
performance. Each dimension has three items except 
for information sharing having four items. The 
original instrument consisted of 17 items, but two 
items on information sharing were added by Bester, 
Stander, & van Zyl (2015). 

All items of both instruments were answerable 
using a 5-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly 
disagree, 5=strongly agree). Higher scores indicate a 
higher level of empowerment. Moreover, authors of 
both scales disclosed an acceptable reliability level 
(α>.70). Permission to adopt the scales were secured 
from authors prior to use. 

Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, 
mean, median, mean rank, rank) were utilized in 
describing the demographic and work-related profile 
of the participants.  Means were employed to 
determine the level of empowerment. Scale items 
were summed and averaged to yield scores ranging 
from 1 to 5 wherein 1.00 – 2.33 was considered low, 
2.34 – 3.66 was moderate, and 3.67 – 5.00 was high 
level.  Mann-Whitney U test was performed to test for 
differences while Spearman rho tested for the 
correlation between leader empowering behaviors 
and psychological empowerment. The result was 
significant if alpha was less than .05. The data were 
computed with the aid of SPSS version 23. 
 

RESULTS  

Table 1 shows that majority of nurses were female 
(68.2%), single (86.6%), with permanent status of 
employment (68.2%), with more than one year of 
work experience in the hospital setting (68.2%) and 
were assigned in Medical and Surgical Units (68.2%). 

Table 2 shows that overall, staff nurses perceive 
their leaders’ behaviors to be highly empowering 
(M=3.89; SD=.43). Among the six (6) subscales, 
ensuring accountability (M=4.05, Rank 1), skills 
development (M=4.03, Rank 2), information sharing 
(M=3.95, Rank 3) were the most used empowering 
leadership behaviors. These were followed by 
decision-making (M=3.80, Rank 4) and delegation 
(M=3.77, Rank 5) and coaching for innovative 
performance (M=3.69, Rank 6).  

It can also be gleaned in Table 2 that staff nurses 
generally had high perceptions of psychological 
empowerment (M=4.07; SD=.44). Meaning (M=4.36, 
Rank 1) had the highest mean score among the 
subscales followed by competence (M=4.07, Rank 2), 
self-determination (M=4.01, Rank 3) with impact 
(M=3.83, Rank 4) having the lowest mean score.  

Statistical analysis using Spearman rho 
correlation revealed a significant positive 
relationship (r=.472; p=.001) between staff nurses’ 
perception of leader empowering behaviors and 
psychological empowerment.  

Table 3 shows that leader empowering behaviors 
did not vary significantly according to sex (p=.350), 
employment status (p=.919), marital status (p=.394); 
years of work experience (.622), and area of work 
assignment (.061). Likewise, there were no 
significant differences in the staff nurses’ perception 
of psychological empowerment classified as to sex 
(p=.899); marital status (p=.481); area of assignment 
(p=.098). There were, however significant differences 
in the psychological empowerment of staff nurses 
when grouped according to employment status (p 
=.020) and years of experience (p=.014). Staff nurses 
with permanent employment status (Mean rank = 
25.57) had a significantly higher level of 
psychological empowerment over those with 

Table 1. Demographic and work-related profile of 
staff nurses 

Variables n % 
Sex   
     Male 14 31.8 
     Female 30 68.2 
Marital status   
     Single 39 86.6 
     Married 5 11.4 
Employment status   
     Permanent 30 68.2 
     Contractual 14 31.8 
Years of work experience   
     1 year or less 14 31.8 
     More than 1 year 30 68.2 
Area of assignment   
     Medical-Surgical Units 30 68.2 
     Specialty Units (ER, ICU, DR) 14 31.8 

 



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contractual employment status (Mean rank = 15.93). 
Also, staff nurses with more than 1 year of work 
experience in the hospital (Mean rank = 26.73) had a 
significantly higher level of psychological 
empowerment compared to those with at least one 
year or less work experience. 

DISCUSSION 

This study attempted to determine the level of leader 
empowering behaviors and psychological 
empowerment among young staff nurses in a private 
hospital in the Philippines. Nursing scholars view 
empowerment as either arising from the 
environment or developing from one’s psychological 
state (Manojlovich, 2007). In this study, leadership 
behaviors exhibiting empowerment were considered 
a structure within the environment wherein these 
leader empowering behaviors serve as the basis of 
power or source of the sense of being empowered. On 
the other hand, psychological empowerment is the 
intrinsic or personal factor of one’s sense of 
empowerment. Empowerment is viewed as a process 
by which a leader enables staff members to act 
(Ibrahim, Abo El-Magd, & Sayed, 2014). Laschinger, 
Gilbert, Smith, and Leslie (2010) emphasized the role 
of nurse managers in providing conditions or 
appropriate structures to enable staff nurses to 
perform effectively within their work environments, 
thereby contributing to the achievement of goals of 
the organization.  This study supports Kanter’s 
(1993) theoretical propositions that when leaders are 
effective in using empowering behaviors, staff nurses 
feel empowered to take on the tasks in their 
workplace. Kanter (1993) argued that organizational 
structures within the workplace are a precursor in 
shaping the work experiences of staff members.   

Consistent with prior studies, leader empowering 
behaviors was significantly related to staff nurses’ 
psychological empowerment. This means that the 
higher is the nurse leader’s empowering behaviors, 
the higher is the level of psychological empowerment 
experienced by staff nurses. In other words, staff 
nurses who believe that their nurse managers are 
providing them with the necessary information to get 
their work done, involving them in decision-making 
affecting their practice, sharing with them unit 
governance, developing their skills continually and 
making them accountable for their practice, are more 
likely than those who do not believe in their 
manager's abilities, to come together to as a high 
functioning team in the workplace.  Konczak, Stelly & 
Trusty’s (2003) disclosed that psychological 
empowerment was significantly related to leader 
empowering behaviors and was found to mediate 
between two outcome variables: job satisfaction and 
organizational commitment. Similarly, Peachey 
(2002) also found a significant correlation between 
leader empowering behaviors and psychological 
empowerment in a study conducted in Canada.  A 
similar result was obtained in an Asian country where 
nurse managers’ leadership behaviors were directly 
related to psychological empowerment among nurses 
working in acute care hospitals in Japan (Kanai-Pak, 
2009). Staff nurses’ perceptions of empowerment in 
their work setting are magnified by their leaders’ 
empowering behaviors.  In this study, nurse 
managers’ leadership behaviors were essential for 
staff nurses to feel supported and empowered (Greco, 
Laschinger, & Wong, 2006).  

 This study also demonstrated a high level of 
leader empowering behaviors as perceived by young 
staff nurses. While all empowering behaviors of 
leaders in this study were rated high, the dimensions 
of decision-making, delegation, and coaching for 

Table 2. Level of leader empowering behaviors and psychological empowerment and relationship between 
variables 

Variables Mean SD Interpretation Rank 
Leader Empowering Behaviors (Overall) 3.89 0.43 High  
     Accountability 4.05 0.57 High 1 
     Skills Development 4.03 0.55 High 2 
     Information Sharing 3.95 0.53 High 3 
     Decision-making 3.80 0.54 High 4 
     Delegation 3.77 0.56 High 5 
     Coaching for Innovative Performance 3.69 0.64 High 6 
Psychological Empowerment (Overall) 4.07 0.44 High  
     Meaning 4.36 0.61 High 1 
     Competence 4.07 0.52 High 2 
     Self-determination 4.01 0.51 High 3 
     Impact 3.83 0.55 High 4 

Spearman r = .472               p-value = .001 

Table 3. Differences in leader empowering behaviors and psychological empowerment 

Variables 
Leader Empowering Behaviors Psychological Empowerment 

p-value p-value 
Sex 0.350 0.899 
Employment status 0.919 0.020 
Marital status 0.394 0.481 
Years of experience 0.622 0.014 
Area of assignment 0.061 0.098 

 



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innovative performance fell below the composite 
mean. In contrast, researchers in Canada revealed 
that staff nurses perceived their leaders' behaviors to 
be only somewhat empowering (Greco, Laschinger, & 
Wong, 2006). Nurses in the study of Peachey (2002) 
also perceived their leaders were exhibiting low to 
moderate empowering behaviors. Compared to the 
two studies conducted abroad, a higher level of leader 
empowering behaviors was demonstrated in this 
study. With the appreciation of the positive effects of 
empowerment in the nursing profession, nurse 
managers may have started to recognize and 
showcase empowering leadership behaviors. 
Although Asiri, Rohrer, Al-Surimi, Da’ar, & Ahmed 
(2016) found that most nurses in their study believed 
that their immediate nursing managers were not 
displaying the ideal level of transformational 
leadership behaviors wherein empowerment is 
central, local studies provide support of the 
empowering leadership style or behaviors among 
Filipino nurse managers. For example, Lamasan & 
Oducado (2018) found that Filipino millennial nurse 
administrators consider their leadership to be 
empowering. Correspondingly, Filipino nurses in a 
tertiary hospital in the Philippines agreed that their 
nurse managers utilized transformational leadership 
styles (Lapeña, Tuppal, Loo, Abe, 2017). Even in a 
neighboring Asian country, transformational 
leadership was said to enhance employee 
empowerment among nursing staff in Malaysia (Choi, 
Goh, Adam & Tan, 2016).  

This study also found that young staff nurses have 
a high level of psychological empowerment. This is 
congruent with the findings of researchers in Egypt 
(Hashish, All, & Mousa, 2018), revealing nurses with a 
high level of psychological empowerment. However, 
in contrast to what was demonstrated in this study, 
most of the literature suggests that registered nurses’ 
psychological empowerment is only at a moderate 
level. These studies  include nurses in the Philippines 
(Mariano, Javier, Fauni, & De Vera 2014), Canada 
(Peachey, 2002), New Zealand (Connolly, Jacobs, & 
Scott, 2018), Iran (Royan , Alikhani, Mohseni, 
Alirezaei, Khosravizadeh, & Moosavi, 2017), China 
(Ouyang, Zhou, & Qu, 2015), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 
(Asiri, Rohrer, Al-Surimi, Da’ar, & Ahmed, 2016) and 
even also in Egypt (Ibrahim, Abo El-Magd, & Sayed, 
2014). It is still noteworthy that nurses’ psychological 
empowerment was relatively moderate to high level. 

As to each subscale, the result of this study is 
similar to findings reported in prior studies 
conducted elsewhere, wherein meaning had the 
highest and impact had the lowest mean score among 
the four dimensions. The meaning dimension was 
reported to have the highest mean in earlier 
researches (Peachey, 2002; Lee, 2012; Mariano, 
Javier, Fauni, & De Vera, 2014; Asiri, Rohrer, Al-
Surimi, Da’ar, & Ahmed, 2016). The meaning 
dimension is the value of a work goal or purpose, 
judged in relation to an individual's ideals or 
standards (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990). The result of 
the study indicates that leader empowering behaviors 

influence staff nurses’ perception of the value that 
they put in their job. Moreover, the result may 
indicate that staff nurses form a satisfying connection 
with their job (Mariano, Javier, Fauni, & De Vera, 
2014).  

On the other hand, the impact dimension was 
consistently noted to have the lowest mean score 
among the four aspects of psychological 
empowerment (Peachey, 2002; Lee, 2012; Asiri, 
Rohrer, Al-Surimi, Da’ar, & Ahmed, 2016, Hashish, All, 
& Mousa, 2018). The dimension of impact refers to 
the degree to which an individual can influence 
strategic, administrative, or operating outcomes at 
work (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990). While this was 
found to be high, staff nurses may still have 
hesitations over the degree of control or impact they 
have on certain strategic, administrative, and 
operating outcomes of their work attributed to their 
level in the organization. Younger staff nurses have 
less degree of official power and influence within the 
hierarchal structure of the organization. For instance, 
staff nurses were not highly involved in decision 
making when unit managers made resolutions in the 
areas of professional practice governance and 
leadership, support staff practice, and recruitment 
(Gatbonton, 2019). Though there are varying mean 
scores in the four dimensions of psychological 
empowerment, Sprietzer (1995) maintains that the 
interplay of these components produces an overall 
feeling of being psychologically empowered. 

It is also significant to note that in this study, 
variation in staff nurses’ perception of psychological 
empowerment was noted according to employment 
status. Staff nurses with permanent status in their 
workplace may feel more psychologically empowered 
compared to those whose employment status is not 
permanent. Insecurity in one’s job can exist when 
nurses experience uncertainty or danger of job loss 
(Hashish, All, & Mousa, 2018). Employment status 
was found to be a good predictor of employment 
security among nurses in the Philippines (Egcas, 
2017). Having a permanent work employment status 
may give staff nurses a sense of security. It was earlier 
studied that psychological empowerment was 
negatively correlated with job insecurity (Hashish, 
All, & Mousa, 2018). 

Also, this study discovered that years of work 
experience was significantly related to psychological 
empowerment.  This suggests that staff nurses having 
longer years of working in the hospital may have 
better access to empowering structures within the 
hospital work setting.  Nurses may have learned to 
navigate themselves at assessing empowerment 
structures to accomplish their work goals over time 
(Peachey, 2002).  In China, nurses’ psychological 
empowerment was found to be significantly different 
in terms of age and length of service (Ouyang, Zhou, & 
Qu, 2015). Contrastingly, findings in Egypt disclosed 
no relationship between years of experience and 
psychological empowerment (Ibrahim, Abo El-Magd, 
& Sayed, 2014). 



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While there was a small sample size, this study 
provides additional evidence of nurses’ 
empowerment and addresses the dearth of scientific 
knowledge on empowerment in the Philippine 
setting. Also, this study contributes to the literature 
regarding the positive effects of empowerment 
among staff nurses by having empowering leaders. 
Despite its input to the body of knowledge, this study 
has its limitations opening doors for future inquiry. 
The small sample size limited the generalization of 
findings hence, conclusions are considered 
preliminary.  The use of self-administered 
questionnaires in data collection constrained findings 
to the danger of self-report bias. The researcher 
recommends the need for further study to address 
methodological issues experienced in this study. 
Studies involving larger samples may be conducted in 
the future to validate the findings of the present 
investigation.  

CONCLUSION 

Empowerment has gained recognition and 
acceptance among nurses both in the nursing leader 
and staff role. In this study, leader empowering 
behaviors is significantly related to psychological 
empowerment. Young staff nurses perceived the 
behaviors of their leaders as highly empowering, 
enabling them to feel highly empowered. Nursing 
leaders play a substantial part in creating positive 
work environments influencing how staff nurses 
respond to their work. When nurse managers give 
staff nurses the opportunity to take more 
responsibility, provide access to relevant information 
to get their job done, delegate tasks, develop their 
skills to enhance staff performance, and when 
decision making is shared in the hands of those who 
practice at the bedside, positive outcome among staff 
is likely realized. The empowering actions of the 
leader build staff nurses’ confidence that permits 
them to act autonomously. Likewise, these 
empowering practices increase staff nurses’ chance of 
finding meaning and impact in their work. Nurse 
managers and leaders should continuously develop 
strategies that enhance staff nurses’ perceptions of 
feeling empowered. They should foster the elements 
of a positive organization to ensure empowering 
conditions at work. Besides, cultivating 
empowerment in the nursing profession is vital and 
imperative. 

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