EMPOWERING LEADERS: THE KEY TO BOOSTING CHANGE IN PUBLIC WORKERS: A DUAL-PHASE MODERATED MEDIATION INVESTIGATION

Abstract

This article focuses on determining ways to encourage change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among public employees, a topic of critical importance in both theoretical and practical fields. Change-oriented OCB refers to voluntary employee behavior seeking to bring about constructive organizational changes. The theoretical framework of this study is based on three theories: job demands-resources (JD-R), leadership, and public service motivation (PSM). The JD-R theory suggests that job resources can reduce job demands and promote personal growth, learning, and development. The leadership theory in this context refers to empowering leadership, where leaders share power with their employees, enhancing their self-efficacy. PSM refers to the belief that individuals have an inherent desire to help others and society through their work. The study proposes a moderated mediation model to investigate how empowering leadership can inspire public employees' change-oriented OCB. This model suggests that empowering leadership can significantly predict change-oriented OCB among employees by promoting job crafting. Job crafting is a process where employees reshape their job design in ways that can foster their job satisfaction, engagement, resilience, and thriving at work. Moreover, the model suggests that PSM moderates the relationship between empowering leadership and job crafting. In other words, the positive impact of empowering leadership on job crafting is stronger for employees who have a high level of PSM. The research was conducted in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the investigation was carried out in two waves among 534 public employees in Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan region. This study provides valuable insights into motivating change-oriented OCB among employees in public organizations. It emphasizes the significant role of empowering leadership in enhancing job crafting, which in turn promotes change-oriented OCB. It also highlights the moderating role of PSM in this process. These findings can guide public organizations in implementing strategies to motivate their employees towards positive change, ultimately enhancing organizational effectiveness and public service quality.