Does the Influence of Empowering Leadership Trickle Down? Evidence From Law Enforcement Organizations

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to elucidate mechanisms through which the effects of empowering leadership practices may trickle down across management levels in public organizations. In this effort, we assess whether public managers emulate the behavior of their supervisors when they engage in empowering leadership to influence the behavior of their direct reports. We also examine whether the subordinates of such managers are more likely to exercise voice to improve the performance of their work units. These relationships are assessed with data collected using three separate surveys from 101 managers in law enforcement organizations and 507 of their direct reports. The results show that public managers who are psychologically empowered are more likely to use empowering leadership practices with their subordinates and that managers' perceptions of psychological empowerment stem directly from the empowering leadership practices of their supervisors. We also observe that subordinates of empowering public managers engage in voice more frequently than subordinates of managers who are not empowering. Implications of these findings for public management scholarship are discussed.