The empowering potential of intergroup leadership: How intergroup leadership predicts psychological empowerment through intergroup relational identification and resources. Issue 12 (29th August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: van der Stoep, Joost; Sleebos, Ed; van Knippenberg, Daan; van de Bunt, Gerhard
• Is Part Of: Journal of applied social psychology. Volume 50:Issue 12(2020)
• Page Start: 709
• Page End: 719
• Publication Date: 2020-08-29
• Subjects: Social psychology -- Periodicals; Behavior -- Periodicals; Psychology, Social -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12707
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-9029

Abstract

Abstract: As work increasingly transcends organizational boundaries, employee psychological empowerment benefits from resources provided by others outside of the employee's own team, department, or organization. These intergroup collaborations, however, may be inhibited by social identity and social categorization processes, so that the empowerment potential of these relations remains largely untapped. In this study ( N = 213), we demonstrate that intergroup leadership is linked to employee psychological empowerment via intergroup relational identification and access to resources. In this way, this study demonstrates the empowering potential of intergroup leadership and intergroup relational identification for employees who collaborate across group barriers. We finish this paper by discussing the main implications for both empowerment and intergroup leadership theory, suggesting fruitful avenues for future research and highlighting the practical value for those who are motivated to increase psychological empowerment among boundary‐spanning employees.