EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT AND EMPLOYEE JOB SATISFACTION: A STUDY OF ADMINISTRATORS OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

The paper attempts to investigate the diverse influence of empowering leadership, psychological empowerment, and overall empowerment on employee job satisfaction using self-determination theory. The analysis was conducted using primary data collected from cadre-based employees working as frontline administrators in different government departments in the civil administration of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.330 questionnaires were distributed 319were returned, and 302 of them were deemed suitable for analysis. Fordata analysis, multiple regression was used. The results revealed both empowering leadership and psychological empowerment have significant individual influences on job satisfaction, but more significant when empowering leadership and psychological empowerment is combined. Most of the previous studies were conducted in western economies and little in South Asia generally and India in particular. This research contributes to the literature by including both dimensions of empowerment where previous scholars used only one. This research suggests that contemporary organizations should implement empowering leadership style as their human resource management strategy to boost employee morale and job satisfaction.