Fits and Misfits: The Impact of Individual Differences on Psychological Empowerment in Healthcare

This paper acknowledges the labor productivity problem in healthcare, and investigates individual differences as determinants of psychological empowerment, which may be a partial solution to the problem. Using data from 363 clinical nurses, two individual differences - aversive personalities and job/organization fit - representing a bipolar division of employees, were examined for their linkage with psychological empowerment. As hypothesized, the aversive personality psychopathy was negatively linked to empowerment. Employees with longer time in healthcare, higher in religiosity, whose job-related needs are satisfied by the hospital, and who believe that their abilities are a good fit with their job demands are more likely to be psychologically empowered. Easy, reliable tests to screen for high psychopathy in hiring and placing individuals in jobs in which empowerment is desired, and managerial interventions to increase need satisfaction and demand-ability fit, may increase empowerment and thus productivity with no increase in wage costs.