Abstract

Various antecedents support the adoption of organizational innovation. Despite the extensive research on innovations, research focusing on how these antecedents affect psychological empowerment has remained thin. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of six antecedents supporting organizational innovation (employee participation, training and development, organizational culture, incentives, leadership pattern, and teamwork) on the four constructs of psychological empowerment (meaningfulness, competence, self-determination, and impact). Based on prior research, the study develops a number of testable hypotheses. It examines how employee participation, training and development, organizational culture, incentives, leadership pattern, and teamwork influence employees' psychological empowerment. The paper uses multiple regressions analyses and empirically tests these hypotheses using a sample of 249 employees working at Jordanian and Saudi industrial corporations. The result shows that all six antecedents of organizational innovation are positively related to psychological empowerment. In addition, 67.2% of the variation in employees’ psychological empowerment is explained by the six antecedents of organizational innovation. This empirical study reflects the need to strengthen different organizational innovation's antecedents’ capabilities to achieve an adequate level of employees' psychological empowerment and thus improve performance and foster innovation.

Key words: Organizational innovation, physiological empowerment, industrial corporations, Jordan, Saudi Arabia.