The purpose of the study was to examine the predictor effect of two variables related to accountability in the work on employee engagement levels: decision latitude and empowering leadership. A distinction was made between the conceptions of work engagement and organizational commitment, but also between the measurement of each of these concepts or that the data is as complete as possible.
The first concept studied in this research is that of work engagement. The modalization of this concept that has been retained is that of Kahn (1990). He is the first researcher to conceptualize commitment to work, which he describes as “the exploitation of the members of the organization by themselves in their role; in engagement, people use and express themselves physically, cognitively, emotionally, and mentally “(Kahn, 1990). Kahn proposes here that individuals, through their level of engagement, can use varying degrees of themselves, whether physically, cognitively or emotionally, in the functions they perform at work. Therefore, they deploy personal energy (which may be physical, cognitive or emotional) to perform the role assigned to them at work (Kahn, 1992).
The concept of organizational commitment in this study corresponds to that of Meyer and Allen in 1991. The model proposed by these authors refers to a conception that includes three components : desire or emotional commitment ; the need or commitment of continuity (or commitment calculated according to the authors) ; and obligation or normative commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991). The affective component of commitment translates into the will, the desire to share the goals and values of the organization. Employees want to stay in organizations which provide positive work experience and positive job characteristics. The continuity commitment is the assessment of the costs that would be incurred by the departure of the organization, it can be translated as the sum of the employee’s investments in the organization. Finally, the normative commitment corresponds to a feeling of obligation to remain in an organization resulting from the internalization of normative pressure (Wiener, 1982. cited by Meyer & Allen, 1991), so it can refer to a form of loyalty internalized by employees.
Regarding the notions of accountability, the first concept adopted is the decision latitude. This concept corresponds to a term derived from the analysis of psychosocial risk factors developed by Karasek in 1979. The Karasek model is considered as a reference in the field of psychosocial research. Decision latitude refers to one of the components of the Karasek model. He defined it as the potential control of the individual who works on his tasks and the ability to modulate the conduct of these tasks during the workday (Karasek, 1979). It is therefore the flexibility an employee has in his work to deal with situations that are not foreseen.
Finally, the concept of empowering leadership is the establishment of psychological empowerment by a direct supervisor. This empowering leadership is defined as a management style that shares power and responsibility between supervisors and workers (Carmeli, Schaubroeck & Tishler, 2011). Research suggests that it involves the establishment of conditions that increase the sense of self-efficacy and control by employees, eliminating conditions that promote powerlessness by allowing workers the possibility to be as flexible as the situation requires (Arad, Rhoades and Drasgow, 2000. cited by Ahearne, Mathieu & Rapp, 2005).
Thus, this research consisted of studying the potential effect that the level of decisional latitude granted or the establishment of empowering leadership can have on employee engagement. These two variables were considered together, but also separately. We initially expected employee accountability levels to be positively and significantly related to employee engagement levels.
A questionnaire was distributed to 272 adult volunteers who are currently working. The sample consists of participants from various socio-professional categories: farmers, craftsmen, traders, entrepreneurs, managers, etc. In order to answer the hypotheses of this study, we chose to use a single questionnaire grouping together all the scales of measurement relating to the various factors studied as well as their modalities. The different scales chosen were selected for their scientific validity, but also for their relevance to the research project. The versions used are those validated in French. The 1990 Karasek Work Tension Rating Scale (Karasek & Theorell, 1990) is used to study decision latitude ; a measurement scale of managerial practices by Ahmed-Yahia & al. in 2018 for the study of enabling leadership ; a revised version of Meyer, Allen & Smith’s 1993 scales, validated by various authors in French for the study of organizational commitment ; finally, a measurement scale developed by Rich, Lepine & Crawford in 2010 was used to study the commitment to work.
The first statistical tests carried out show that the variables of decisional latitude and empowering leadership are correlated with each other, and thus that the establishment of empowering leadership by an organization is positively related to the presence of decisional latitude in employees. The analyzes carried out later show that the accountability of employees (which corresponds to the establishment of empowering leadership and decision latitude) is significantly explanatory of the work engagement, but also that the statistical model comprising these two variables explains 36.4% of the variance of work engagement (R² = .364, p <.001). Finally, the results also show that the accountability variables studied make it possible to predict and explain 25.9% of the variance in organizational commitment (R² = .259, p <.001).
The results show that the level of employee empowerment in a company is a predictor of their level of engagement. Overall, the establishment of empowering leadership by the management team and high decision latitude for employees increases the level of worker engagement. Differential effects by sex could be highlighted. In the workplace, the implementation of accountability has benefits for businesses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Words Learned :
Work Engagement : the utilisation of themselves by individuals in the functions they perform at work.
Organizational commitment : the engagement of individuals to their organization, their company.
Empowering Leadership : management style that shares power and responsibility between supervisors and workers.
Decision Latitude : the potential control of the individual who works on his tasks and the ability to modulate the conduct of these tasks during the workday.
Hérault François