Faiza Aljarameez
Organizational commitment is a critical element of nurse retention and highly associated with intent to leave and actual turnover. Nurses’ commitment is influenced greatly by nurses’ perceived empowerment in the workplace. In Saudi Arabia, currently there is a gap in the literature regarding staff nurses’ perception of empowerment and organizational commitment. Therefore, it was imperative to conduct a research study to acquire better understanding of perceptions and attitudes of staff nurses regarding empowerment and organizational commitment.The primary purpose of this study was to examine and compare the relationships among structural empowerment, psychological empowerment, and organizational commitment in Saudi and non-Saudi registered staff nurses working in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the study sought to determine the factors that predict organizational commitment among the two study populations. The theoretical framework of this study was based on Kanter’s (1977, 1993) Theory of Structural Empowerment and Spreitzer’s (1995) Theory of Psychological Empowerment. The study employed a descriptive comparative multivariate correlational research design. A self-administered, paper and pencil survey was used to collect data from a convenience sample of full-time Saudi and non-Saudi registered nurses (N = 398) working in inpatient units in three governmental hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression with moderation analyses were performed to analyze data and answer the research questions. Statistically significant positive partial correlations were found among structural empowerment, psychological empowerment and organizational commitment. Non-Saudi nurses perceived higher levels of empowerment and commitment compared to Saudi nurses. Additionally, psychological empowerment was found to have a small moderation effect on the relationship between structural empowerment and continuance commitment. The findings of this study have significant implications for nursing science, research, practice, administration and education. Findings of this study may assist the nursing authority figures understand the relationships between empowerment and organizational commitment among nurses working in Saudi Arabia and facilitate the necessary changes to improve the current working conditions