Employee empowerment in a technology advanced work environment

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to elicit the determinants of information technology (IT) professional work change and investigates the impact of such changes on IT professionals. Specifically, this paper investigates the effect of work redesign on two personal outcomes: self-perceived psychological empowerment and organizational commitment.Design methodology approach - An empirical study is conducted in the field of high-tech industrial organizations in Taiwan. Data collected from 40 technological companies, located in the Taipei and Hsinchu Science Parks (n=428), are analyzed using structural equation modeling.Findings - The results confirm that both work redesign and empowerment generate positive and direct influence on employees' commitment. Specially, the effect of work redesign is amplified on employee commitment through the implementation of employee empowerment.Practical implications - The conceptual structural equation model provides useful information for managers to improve employees' commitment towards their work and the organizations through the proper employee empowerment policies.Originality value - As technology continues to change at a rapid pace, IT professionals are required to adapt to new tasks and enhanced roles. The paper demonstrates how work redesign indirectly but positively influences employees' work commitment and illustrates the mediate effect of employee empowerment on employee commitment.