Empowering leadership: balancing self-determination and accountability for motivation

Purpose This study set out to investigate the role of self-determination and accountability in the relationship between empowering leadership, motivation and performance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 172 participants working in an international software development organization. Hypotheses were tested in PROCESS using the Preacher and Hayes (2008) bootstrapping method. Findings Results indicate that empowering leadership played a significant role satisfying basic psychological needs. As expected, the satisfaction of needs is related to autonomous motivation. Crucially, perceived accountability was also positively related to autonomous motivation. Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional design of this study limits the ability to rule out the possibility of reverse causation. Practical implications The results suggest that traditional management practices such as accountability can be successfully utilized in conjunction with self-determination theory without undermining autonomous motivation. This study highlights two key opportunities for human resources (HR) professionals. Specifically, by equipping managers with the skills to display empowering leadership behaviors, and by communicating organizational values and individual job meaning to enhance identified forms of motivation, HR can fully realize the benefits of autonomous employee motivation. Originality/value This paper offers valuable insight into how leaders can balance the satisfaction of basic psychological needs with accountability to influence autonomous motivation in employees. The model presented demonstrates the potential of empowering leadership in achieving this balance and highlights the importance of identified motivation as a powerful correlate of work performance.