However, many of these studies have not examined how individual components of
each of these two constructs are associated with job satisfaction.
Also, prior research for the association among these variables has focused only on
one level of management (e.g. Carson et al., 1999). For organisations to enhance job
satisfaction levels, it is important to have not only a deeper understanding of how
empowerment and commitment affect job satisfaction, but also of how empowerment
and commitment within different managerial levels of the organisation will lead
to increased job satisfaction. This knowledge should enable organisations to target
specific components of empowerment and commitment for different managerial levels
to increase job satisfaction.
Therefore, the objectives of this study are to identify which of the four components
of psychological empowerment and which of the two components of organisational
commitment affect job satisfaction and whether these associations vary depending on
the managerial level of the employee. If managerial level moderates the association
between empowerment, commitment and job satisfaction, then organisations will
be able to focus specifically on the components that lead to job satisfaction for each
managerial level.