- The effect of empowerment
Empowerment has been shown to foster employee motivation as well as attitudinal and performance outcomes at both the individual (e.g., Zhang & Bartol, 2010) and the team level of analysis (e.g., Kirkman & Rosen, 1999).
- Complex：Current knowledge of the effects of empowering leadership in organizations is still incomplete and many important issues remain unresolved (Lorinkova et al., 2013).
依赖环境： Although on average empowering leadership has positive effects on satisfaction and performance, the strength of these relationships seems to strongly depend on the context (e.g., Stewart, 2006).
正面效果不显著：Some studies have been unable to confirm positive effects of empowering lead- ership (e.g., Mathieu, Gilson, & Ruddy, 2006),
正面效果有量的差异：and others have yielded surprising findings regarding which employees benefit more and which employees benefit less from empowering leadership behaviors (e.g., Ahearne et al., 2005).
Researchers have identified positive effects of empowering leadership on different performance out- comes at the individual level (e.g., Zhang & Bartol, 2010), the team level (e.g., Srivastava et al., 2006), and the organizational level of analysis (e.g., Carmeli, Schaubroeck, & Tishler, 2011).
Empowerment leadership VS psychology empowerment
However, most studies on empowerment have examined the effects of psychological empowerment itself, rather than the effects of empowering leadership (Seibert, Silver, & Randolph, 2004; Seibert, Wang, & Courtright, 2011; Spreitzer, 2008). Scholars have identified different antecedents of psychological empowerment such as organizational structure, organizational culture, task characteristics, and work design (Maynard, Gilson, & Mathieu, 2012; Maynard, Mathieu, Gilson, O'Boyle & Cigularov, 2013; Seibert et al., 2011). Nevertheless, in recent years there has been a surge of interest in the effects of empowering leadership behaviors (e.g., Ahearne, Mathieu, & Rapp, 2005; Chen et al., 2011; Lorinkova et al., 2013; Martin et al., 2013).Empowerment leadership VS other leadership styles
Empowering leadership (EL) differs from other related leadership theories (e.g., transformational leadership) in its specific focus on power sharing and the facilitation of self-leadership, autonomy, and independence among employees (Amundsen & Martinsen, 2014; Houghton & Yoho, 2005; Manz & Sims, 2001).
变革型领导，领导规划未来，而无成员参与。
For example, Liu, Lepak, Takeuchi, and Sims (2003, p. 143) cited Sims and Manz (1996) who claimed that while transformational leaders provide a vision for the future, power still resides in the leader and employees are not allowed to participate in creating the vision itself. In line with this assertion, Kark, Shamir, and Chen (2003) found that transformational leadership was positively related to follower dependence as mediated by personal identification with the leader.对比研究列举：The distinctiveness of EL compared with other leadership approaches has been investigated in a number of studies, including Amundsen and Martinsen (2014), Arnold, Arad, Rhoades, and Drasgow (2000), Pearce et al. (2003), and Tekleab, Sims, Yun, Tesluk, and Cox (2008).
对比研究结果：These studies indicated that EL is a distinct form of leadership from aversive, directive, transactional, and transformational leadership, and from leader–member exchange (LMX), consideration and initiating of structure.
Empowerment leadership 后果变量
Previous research has identified a positive association between EL and **leader effectiveness (Tekleab et al., 2008) **and favorable employee outcomes including performance (Vecchio, Justin, & Pearce, 2010), self-leadership (Amundsen & Martinsen, 2014), psychological empowerment (Randolph & Kemery, 2011), job satisfaction (Konczak, Stelly, & Trusty, 2000), affective commitment (Dewettinck & van Ameijde, 2011), and **creativity (Zhang & Bartol, 2010). **
- Empowerment definition
Lorinkova et al. (2013) have defined empowering leadership as “sharing power with subordinates and raising their level of auton- omy and responsibility” (p. 573).
