Workplace empowerment and organizational commitment among nurses working at the Main University Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt

BACKGROUND: High-quality patient care depends on a nursing workforce that is empowered to provide care according to professional nursing standards. Numerous studies have established positive relationships between empowerment and important nursing outcomes such as work effectiveness, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the relationships between structural and psychological empowerment and their effects on hospital nurses' organizational commitment at the Main University Hospital in Alexandria governorate. The total number of nurses who participated in the study was 150 nurses, and four interview questionnaires were used to measure the study variables. RESULTS: The mean score percentage was higher for overall psychological empowerment (68.75%) than for overall structural empowerment (46.25%). There was a significant direct intermediate correlation between nurses' perceptions of overall structural and psychological work empowerment and their overall organizational commitment. There was no significant relationship between structural and psychological empowerment, organizational commitment and sociodemographic characteristics of nurses except for the overall organizational commitment with age (r=0.260), overall structural empowerment in the working department (P=0.031), and overall organizational commitment with nursing experience (significance=0.025). CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Overall psychological empowerment achieved a higher mean score percentage compared with overall structural empowerment. Changing workplace structures is within the mandate of nurses' managers in their roles as advocates for and facilitators of high-quality care. The most significant opportunity for improvement is in the area of formal power, including flexibility, adaptability, creativity associated with discretionary decision-making, visibility, and centrality to organizational purpose and goals. © 2013 Egyptian Public Health Association.