The impact of employee empowerment on organisational performance: The mediating role of employee engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour

Purpose: This study assesses the mediating role of employee engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour in the relationship between employee empowerment (structural, psychological) and organisational performance in non-commercial banks in Ghana.Design/methodology: A structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypothesis based on 304 employees selected from eight non-commercial banks in the Bono Region, Ghana.Findings: Neither structural nor psychological empowerment are a direct contributor to organisational performance but they positively influence organisational citizenship behaviour and employee engagement. Employee engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour show no effect on organisational performance. Organisational citizenship behaviour was also found to be a significant mediator in the relationship between employee empowerment (structural and psychological) and organisational performance but employee engagement is not a significant mediator.Practical implications: The study offers managers information to help deal with absenteeism, increase employee psychological health, promote better home life, improve employee retention and increase job satisfaction. Practitioners are offered insights to help involve their employees in decision-making and offer them the freedom to act on their own. Finally, practically, the results reveal the need to retain employees who have organisational citizenship behaviour to improve performance.Originality/value: The study serves two purposes: as a confirmatory and as a hypothesised model. The confirmatory model entails goodness of fit and chi-square test. The hypothesised model relies on examining the interactions among structural and psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviour, employee engagement and organisational performance in a developing econom

Effects of mining activities on access to potable water: households’ perception and practices at Konongo and Odumasi communities in Ghana.

This research work adds to the knowledge the academic community and policy makers have about mining activities as not only contributing to socioeconomic development but also capable of causing problems. Specifically, it looks at how mining activities affect water resources and hence water access in the mining communities of Konongo and Odumasi based on the perception, opinions and practices of selected households. Through the use of the fish bowl probability sampling, a total of 107 households were selected from the mining communities of Konongo and Odumasi to respond to interviews. Institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Owere Mines Limited (OML) and Asante Akyem North Municipal Assembly (AANMA) were purposively sampled for relevant information for the study. The study revealed that people’s perception and opinion about the state of the Owere and Agogowa streams as being made dirty by mining activities has caused less utilisation of such streams. Households have coped with mining related problems by resorting to the use of pipe borne and hand dug well waters. With these mechanisms households have coped well with mining activities and mining related problems. It is recommended that the OML and AANMA provide alternative sources of drinking water in the form of bore holes and pipe borne water in abundance. These sources should be made accessible and affordable especially to the poor who cannot afford to dig their own wells and also buy pipe borne water. Keywords: Mining activities, households’ perceptions, practices, water access, and coping strategies

OCCURRENCE OF ESCHERICHIA COLI O157 IN GROUND MEATCOMMERCIALIZED IN LEBANESE URBAN CITIES

Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7) has been recognized as a major cause of diarrhea and hemolytic- uremic syndrome (HS). The consumption of raw or undercooked meat of bovine origin has been the most common mean of transmitting this organism. No screening of E.coli has been performed in the ground meat commercialized in the Lebanese market. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of E. coli serotype O157:H7 recovered from ground fresh raw meat collected from different butcheries in Lebanese Urban cities. A total of 73 samples of fresh ground meat was collected from Sin el fil area (n=23), Hadath (n=16), Ghoubayri (n=16) and Antelias (n=18), and investigated for the presence of E. coli O157: H7. E. coli O157:H7 was isolated in 16 (22%) out of 73 meat samples examined. This high prevalence was variable between the different cities, with the highest one in Ghoubayri (43%), followed by Sin el fil (21%), Hadath (12%) and Antelias (11%). This study revealed the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in retail raw meats reaching consumers, especially in crowded urban city such as Ghoubayri. This result is an indication of the poor hygienic level in the different butcheries localized in the Lebanese urban cities, thus reflecting possible risks of infection to people through the consumption of fresh raw/under-cooked meat

Assessing the impact of employee empowerment on organisational performance in Ghana

The advancement of technology and globalization of human talents have inspired organizations to use employee empowerment as a new human resource management technique to enhance performance. Empowerment is a mechanism through which employees are offered the authority for decision-making and responsibility for their actions. Nonetheless, the contribution of empowerment to firm performance has been an issue of controversy among scholars. The views that have dominated this debate are that empowerment practices contribute significantly to performance. In contrast, others believe that empowerment is just a myth and even does not exist because managers make final decisions in the workplace. This study explores the impact of employee empowerment on firm performance in the banking industry in Ghana, with three specific objectives spread in three articles, thus each objective is digested in one article. Article 1 evaluates the direct effects of employee empowerment on firm performance. Article 2 analyses the direct and the indirect effect of employee empowerment on performance and the mediating role of affective commitment. Finally, article 3 evaluates the mediating function of organisational citizenship behaviour and employee affective engagement on the link between employee empowerment and company performance Through survey, the study drew 879 replies from nine commercial banks and eight non-commercial banks in the Bono and Asante Regions in Ghana. The first study obtained data from 301 employees, the second study gathered data from 274 participants in the commercial banks and the third study obtained data from 304 workers in the non-commercial banks. The structural and measurement models (CFA) were tested with structural equation modeling (SEM) through EQS software and SPSS in all the three articles. The results of first article show that employee access to relevant information provides vital support to firm performance, but access to opportunity to grow in the company hierarchy makes no meaningful contribution to the performance of the banking industry in Ghana. Further, it is revealed that employee access to support makes no significant input into company performance. From the psychological perspective of empowerment, competence cognition and impact cognition play a significant role in company performance. However, the meaning cognition is not a significant factor in determining the performance of the banks. In the second study, it is revealed that structural empowerment makes no direct contribution to firm performance, but performance is directly influenced by psychological empowerment. In addition, affective commitment is found as a significant contributor to company performance. Additionally, structural empowerment presents no significance to affective commitment, but commitment is significantly influenced by psychological empowerment. The assessment of the mediating mechanisms that facilitate empowerment’s influence on operations of the banks provides evidence that the banking industry needs the intervention of affective commitment to experience the significant contribution of structural and psychological empowerment to the operational outcomes of the banks. The third article found that both psychological and structural empowerment has no direct influence on organisational performance, but they are significant contributors to employee affective engagement and organisational citizenship behaviour. Organisational citizenship behaviour and affective engagement show no positive influence on business performance. The mediation analyses indicate that organisational citizenship behaviour bridges the gap between the two aspects of empowerment (structural and psychological) and performance but affect engagement is not a significant mediator, thus provides no significant support to the link between empowerment and performance. The study makes diverse contributions to theory and practice. Theoretically, the study supports the human resources management literature by analyzing the direct and indirect effects of employee empowerment on organisational performance. The study deepens the understanding of the mediating role of affective commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and effective engagement. Finally, the study's outcome raises policy discussion among practitioners in the banking industry in emerging economies. The originality of the thesis relies on a model representing the interplay among employee empowerment, affective commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, affective engagement, and organizational performance in the banking industry in an emerging economy.L'avanç de la tecnologia i la globalització dels talents humans han inspirat a les organitzacions a utilitzar l'apoderament dels empleats com una nova tècnica de gestió de recursos humans per a millorar el rendiment. L’empoderament és un mecanisme a través del qual s'ofereix als empleats l'autoritat per a la presa de decisions i la responsabilitat de les seves accions. No obstant això, la seva contribució al rendiment de les empreses ha estat objecte de controvèrsia. Les opinions que han dominat aquest debat són que les pràctiques de capacitació contribueixen significativament al rendiment. Per contra, altres estudis creuen que l’empoderament és només un mite i fins i tot que no existeix perquè són els directius els qui prenen les decisions finals en el lloc de treball. Aquest estudi explora l'impacte de l’empoderament dels empleats en el rendiment de les empreses del sector bancari de Ghana, amb tres objectius específics repartits en tres articles. L'article 1 avalua els efectes directes de la capacitació dels empleats en el rendiment de les empreses. L'article 2 analitza l'efecte directe i indirecte de la capacitació dels empleats sobre el rendiment i el paper mediador del compromís afectiu. Finalment, l'article 3 avalua la funció mediadora del comportament cívic organitzatiu i el compromís afectiu dels empleats en el vincle entre l'apoderament dels empleats i el rendiment de l'empresa. Mitjançant tres enquesta, l'estudi va obtenir un total de 879 respostes de nou bancs comercials i vuit bancs no comercials de les regions de Bono i Asante, a Ghana. El primer estudi va obtenir dades de 301 empleats, el segon de 274 participants en els bancs comercials i el tercer de 304 treballadors dels bancs no comercials. En els tres articles es van provar els models estructurals i de mesurament (CFA) amb models d'equacions estructurals (SEM) utilitzant els programes EQS i el SPSS. Els resultats del primer article mostren que l'accés dels empleats a la informació pertinent proporciona un suport vital al rendiment de l'empresa, però l'accés a l'oportunitat de créixer en la jerarquia de l'empresa no contribueix de manera significativa al rendiment del sector bancari a Ghana. A més, es revela que l'accés dels empleats al suport no fa cap aportació significativa al rendiment de l'empresa. Des de la perspectiva psicològica de la capacitació, la cognició de competència i la cognició d'impacte exerceixen un paper significatiu en el rendiment de l'empresa. No obstant això, la cognició de significat no és un factor significatiu per a determinar el rendiment dels bancs. En el segon estudi, es revela que l’empoderament estructural no contribueix directament al rendiment de l'empresa, però el rendiment està directament influït per l’empoderament psicològic. A més, es descobreix que el compromís afectiu contribueix significativament al rendiment de l'empresa. Així, l’empoderament estructural no presenta significances per al compromís afectiu, però el compromís es veu influït significativament pel psicològic. L'avaluació dels mecanismes mediadors que faciliten la influència de l’empoderament en les operacions dels bancs aporta proves que el sector bancari necessita la intervenció del compromís afectiu per a experimentar la contribució significativa de l’empoderament estructural i psicològic als resultats operatius dels bancs. El tercer article conclou que tant l’empoderament psicològic com l'estructural no influeixen directament en el rendiment organitzatiu, però contribueixen significativament al compromís afectiu dels empleats i al comportament de ciutadania organitzativa. Aquestes dues no mostren una influència positiva en el rendiment empresarial. Les anàlisis de mediació indiquen que el comportament de ciutadania organitzativa uneix els dos aspectes de l'apoderament (estructural i psicològic) i el rendiment, però el compromís afectiu no és un mediador significatiu, per la qual cosa no proporciona suport al vincle entre apoderament i rendiment. L'estudi aporta diverses contribucions a la teoria i la pràctica. Des del punt de vista teòric, l'estudi dona suport a la literatura sobre gestió de recursos humans en analitzar els efectes directes i indirectes de l'apoderament dels empleats sobre el rendiment organitzatiu. L'estudi aprofundeix en la comprensió del paper mediador del compromís afectiu, el comportament de ciutadania organitzativa i el compromís efectiu. Finalment, el resultat de l'estudi suscita el debat polític entre els professionals del sector bancari en les economies emergents. L'originalitat de la tesi es basa en un model que representa la interacció entre l'apoderament dels empleats, el compromís afectiu, el comportament de ciutadania organitzativa, el compromís afectiu i el rendiment organitzatiu en el sector bancari d'una economia emergent