Does employee empowerment moderate the effect of situational and dispositional variables on emotional exhaustion differently? The COVID-19 crisis context

Purpose Building on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to investigate employee empowerment’s moderation effect on the relationship of situational (job satisfaction, affective commitment) and dispositional (positive affectivity, emotional intelligence) variables toward the emotional exhaustion of service employees amidst the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach In total, 288 service employees from various sectors in Indonesia participate as the study’s respondents. This study applies a two-stage structural equation modeling approach to test the hypotheses. Findings The results show that employee empowerment moderates situational and dispositional variables differently. While employee empowerment significantly influences situational variables, a different situation is found on dispositional variables, that employee empowerment does not significantly influence these variables. This study’s findings portray the COR theory in practice and clarify the importance of employee empowerment for employees with particular attributions. Research limitations/implications The present study bears four limitations: the cross-sectional design; no exploration of dispositional and situational variables’ antecedents; the findings are limited to the service workers; and lastly, this study only takes Indonesian samples. Practical implications From a practical perspective, this study reveals which type of service employees are responsive to empowerment policy and which are prone to experience emotional exhaustion, particularly during a crisis. Social implications By understanding what factors determine employee empowerment’s effectiveness, managers could maximize the impacts of their empowerment policies. Subsequently, it will create better service deliveries which might benefit the broader societal scope. Originality/value This study contributes to both theoretical and practical understanding. Theoretically, this study adds and promotes using a categorical lens to examine the pattern of interactions between organizations and employees.