factor measure) means that if one of these indicators does not have a statistically
significant relationship with the latent variable, then that indicator cannot be
included in the study. With only one remaining indicator variable, that factor is
no longer viable for SEM analysis. NB, although there are procedures for working
with one-item latent variables (see e.g. Hayduk 1987: 121) these techniques are
far from straightforward.
Construct name Empowerment (EM)
Definition Degree of empowerment of employees^
Understanding of
concept
An individual’s perceptions of (i) autonomy in decision making
and (ii) ability to effect process and outcomes at work
Inclusion
rationale
Empowerment is closely related to motivation (Conger and
Kanungo 1988b; Thomas and Velthouse 1990)
Scale source/s Hancer and George (2003), Fulford and Enz (1995)
Scale semantic Agreement
Thinking about your current job, please tick a box to
indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of
the following statements
Level of agreement
Strongly
disagree
Strongly
agree
EM1 I can choose the best way of doing my job 1 2 3 4 5
EM2 I can make my own decisions in my work 1 2 3 4 5
EM3 I have influence over what happens in my work group 1 2 3 4 5
EM4 I have a great deal of control over my job 1 2 3 4 5
EM5 I am given responsibility at work 1 2 3 4 5
EM6 I am confident about my ability to do my job 1 2 3 4 5
EM7 I have mastered the skills to do my job 1 2 3 4 5
EM8 I have the knowledge that I need to make my
own decisions at work 1 2 3 4 5
EM9 I am comfortable/happy to tell my supervisor
and co-workers about my ideas, thoughts and
suggestions about our work
1 2 3 4 5
Figure 5-4 The Empowerment construct
For this reason, the original proposal was to remove the Competence factor from
this model and survey. However, while reviewing a separate article by Lundberg
et al. (2009 - a study of motivation in the hospitality context), one item being
used to measure knowledge aspects of motivation appeared to be closely related