Psychological Empowerment and Work Effort: A Gender Based Cross-Cultural Comparison

This study explores the relationship between the different dimensions of psychological empowerment and the level of work effort exerted by the employees. It also focuses on the cultural differences between the two diversified Asian nations of China and Pakistan regarding the variables under consideration. Furthermore, the gender differences within these two cultures are also analyzed. The results from a sample of 212 employees from China and 216 employees from Pakistan showed that the dimension of meaning and impact were positively related to work effort while the dimensions of competence and self-determination had not significant relation with work effort for Chinese sample. Whereas the dimensions of meaning, competence and impact had positive significant relation with work effort but the dimension of self-determination was not significantly related to work effort for Pakistani sample. The results also showed that the Chinese employees on average scored higher on all the variables under consideration as compared to Pakistani employees. No gender differences were found for Chinese sample whereas significant gender differences existed for Pakistani sample.