STUDY OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT AND JOB SATISFACTION OF UNIVERSITY STAFF IN A TQM PERSPECTIVE: IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION MANAGERS

Employee empowerment and job satisfaction have recently been progressively presumed as aspects of quality management and a competitive advantage of organizations. However, they have scarcely been studied in a higher education leadership context. The purpose of the research was to a) explore the correlation between employee empowerment in management practices and job satisfaction in a higher education institution's context, by applying perspectives of organizational psychology and higher education leadership and b) determining their implications for higher education leadership at the institutional level. The study tested the hypothesis that there should be a correlation between employee empowerment and job satisfaction of university employees. Data were obtained using an on-line survey method from a sample of 158 administrative and academic staff at the selected public university in Georgia. Correlation analysis was made for the purpose of analysing correlation between employee empowerment and job satisfaction. For ensuring the validity, criterion validity has been applied. The data were interpreted based on the Total Quality Management conceptual framework. The results of the research showed that there is a positive correlation between employee empowerment and job satisfaction in general and a high degree of empowerment is more correlated with job satisfaction in case of academic staff than in case of administrative. The research outcomes offer meaningful implications to individuals involved in quality assurance practices and leadership roles at universities. The findings of the research will allow higher education managers to maximize organizational strategies and improve overall organizational quality culture at universities, by considering the topics explored in the present research. Finally, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.