Psychological Empowerment as a Predictor of Work Engagement among Officers of Nigerian Immigration Services

Abstract

This study examines the influence of psychological empowerment on work engagement among officers of Nigerian immigration services. A survey research design was adopted and data were collected from two hundred and Twenty-five (225) participants (M= 147, F=78) using a battery of psychological test consisting of Psychological Empowerment Scale (PES) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9). The data were analysed using percentages and multiple regression analysis to test the hypothesis. The results show that all the dimensions of psychological empowerment jointly accounted for 25% of the variance in employees' work engagement. Furthermore, the various dimensions of psychological empowerment contributed differently to the variance in employees' work engagement. The Beta calculations showed that the highest variation was explained by self-determination (β=0.36), followed by meaningfulness (β= 0.20), Competence (β= 0.16) and the lowest was explained by impact (β= -0.01). The findings confirm the benefits of psychologically empowering workers to enhance positive work behaviour such as work engagement.