The Relationship Between Administrative Empowerment and Organizational Commitment: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction Amongst Academic Staff in Higher Education

The aim of the study is to examine whether job satisfaction mediates and strengthens the relationship between administrative empowerment and organizational commitment among academic staff in Higher Education - Palestinian universities. A questionnaire was implemented during the data collection process. The study sample consisted of academic staff in Higher Education. Two hundred eighty-seven academic staff from seven different universities participated in the study. Data analysis involved calculating descriptive statistics, t-test, (ANOVA) test, correlation, and regression analysis. The results of the study indicated that administrative empowerment, Organizational commitment, and job satisfaction were statistically significant; moreover, it was found that administrative empowerment through job satisfaction impacts Organizational commitment. Management of universities should appreciate these results as good empowerment practices can increase employee job satisfaction. The current study model that has been developed provides that administrative empowerment through job satisfaction helps universities positively influence the organizational commitment of academic staff in universities. Understanding how the job satisfaction of academic staff affects the relationship between empowerment and their commitmentThe purpose of the study is to examine whether job satisfaction mediates and strengthens the relationship between administrative empowerment and organizational commitment among academic staff in Higher Education - Palestinian universities. Data analysis involved calculating descriptive statistics, t-test, (ANOVA) test, correlation and regression analysis. The results of the study showed that enhancing administrative empowerment will affect the performance of Palestinian universities, and thus may increase the confidence of academic staff in the universities, which means increase level of JS. As a result, academic staff will be show positive behaviors at work, such as their participation in making decisions and developing strategic plans when they have a high level of JS. In addition, a possible implication is that higher education institutions need to have solid academic staff development programs. Academic staff should be rewarded when developing scientific research. Furthermore, they should encourage the teachers to take the initiative and contribute innovative ideas to the organization while appreciating their capabilities and talents. This study is limited to academic staff in higher education working in universities in Palestine. Therefore, the relationship between AE, OC and JS is not the same as in other countries. In addition, the results were obtained through the higher education sector; this means that the results cannot be generalized to a larger population