Empowerment and performance of managers and subordinates in elderly care: A longitudinal and multilevel study

Abstract

Aim: To investigate relationships between first-line managers’ ratings of structural and psychological empowerment, and the subordinates’ ratings of structural empowerment, as well as their ratings of the managers’ leadership–management performance. Background: Work situations in elderly care are complex. To date, few studies have used a longitudinal, correlational and multilevel design to study the working life of subordinates and managers. Method: In five Swedish municipalities, questionnaires were answered twice during 2010–12 by 56 first-line managers and 769 subordinates working in nursing homes or home-help services. Results: First-line managers’ empowerment at Time 1 partially predicted subordinate's structural empowerment and ratings of their managers’ leadership–management performance at Time 2. Changes over time partially revealed that the more access managers had to structural empowerment, i.e. increase over time, the higher the ratings were for structural empowerment and managerial leadership–management performance among subordinates. Conclusions: Findings strengthen research and theoretical suggestions linking first-line managers’ structural empowerment to their subordinates’ structural empowerment and ratings of their manager's leadership–management performance. Implications for nursing management: Managers with high access to structural empowerment are more likely to provide subordinates access to structural empowerment.