Empowering Leadership and Psychological Health: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment

The present study explored the impact of empowering leadership (EL) on two employee psychological health outcomes, perceived stress and general mental health. The influencing effects of EL on these psychological health outcomes were also analyzed in terms of the mediating effects of psychological empowerment (PE). Responses were collected from twelve organizations through survey method (N = 431). Results implied that EL mitigated the levels of perceived stress and positively impacted the general mental health of employees. The results further indicated that EL was positively related to PE at workplace. The findings also revealed that PE had a negative effect on perceived stress and was positively related to general mental health. Moreover, strong indirect effect of EL was observed on general mental health through PE. These findings suggest that PE partially mediated the relationship between EL and general mental health of employees. The findings of this study establish the efficacy of EL and PE in predicting positive health outcomes in a non-western cultural milieu, such as India.