B. Wilson et Hks. Laschinger, STAFF NURSE PERCEPTION OF JOB EMPOWERMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT - A TEST OF KANTER THEORY OF STRUCTURAL POWER IN ORGANIZATIONS, The Journal of nursing administration, 24(4), 1994, pp. 39-47
In this study, Rosabeth Kanter's1 structural theory of organizational
behavior was tested in a nursing population by examining the relations
hip between 161 staff nurses' perceived job empowerment and their comm
itment to the organization. Data were collected using the Organization
al Description Opinionnaire,2 the Organizational Commitment Questionna
ire,3 a modified version of the Conditions for Work Effectiveness Ques
tionnaire,4 and a demographic questionnaire. Consistent with Kanter's
theory, a strong positive relationship was found between nurses' perce
ptions of power and opportunity and their commitment to the organizati
on. In addition, overall empowerment was correlated positively with nu
rses' perceptions of their immediate managers' power. The results sugg
est that nurse administrators can empower their staff and improve orga
nizational commitment by manipulating the structures in the work envir
onment to allow greater access to the power and opportunity structures
that Kanter maintains are important to overall work effectiveness.