Abstract

Employee empowerment is critical in today’s globalised era because it helps employees make rapid decisions and adapt swiftly to workplace changes and boosts both employee and organisational performance. However, it remains a commonly misunderstood term in the workplace, as many managers view empowerment practices as a threat to their control. Many managers fail to recognise the importance of employee empowerment and how it affects satisfaction, commitment, learning, and organisational performance, believing that empowering subordinates would weaken their authority and influence. Using social exchange theory, this study examined the mediating roles of job satisfaction and organisational commitment, and the moderating role of organisational learning, in the relationship between employee empowerment and organisational performance. The study gathered data from 362 employees working in five-, four-, and three-star hotels in the Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar regions. Using Smart-PLS, structural equation modelling was applied to analyse the data. Employee empowerment is positively associated with job satisfaction, organisational commitment, learning, and performance. Similarly, job satisfaction and organisational commitment mediate the relationship between employee empowerment and organisational performance. Finally, organisational learning moderates the same relationship. This study contributes significantly to the literature by being one of the few studies on the hotel industry in Bangladesh that provides a comprehensive overview of employee empowerment and its impact on organisational performance, particularly emphasising the mediating roles of job satisfaction and organisational commitment and the moderating role of organisational learning.

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