Abstract
Objective: Empowerment is an important construct because it offers the potential to positively influence outcomes that benefit individuals and organisations. The purpose of the study was to examine the characteristics of individual perceptions of empowerment among part-time nursing students in their work.
Methods: The study involved 57 part-time nursing students of the Faculty of Health Science. Survey measures used included the modified Spreitzer empowerment instrument. A questionnaire was used to collect data on the variables of the Psychological Empowerment Instrument. Friedman's test and Spearman's test were used to analyse the data collected. The data was analysed using the statistical package SPSS v. 17.0 for Windows.
Results: The results show that the participants expressed a high level of mean score in the areas of competence and meaning. Friedman's test showed a statistically significant difference in the perceived area of meaning, selfdetermination and impact. In the area of competence, there were no significant differences. Spearman's test showed that the scales of competence and self-determination had more correlation rankings between the psychological empowerment items.
Conclusion: Employee empowerment is an important organisational issue. The results showed that participants have the capability to perform work activities with the necessary skills and knowledge, as well as valuing the work goals or purposes highly when judged by an individual's perception relative to his or her own personal mission or expectations. The findings also suggest that the participants in the study did not put much emphasis on the importance of impact.