The mediating effect of empowerment strategies on the relationship between motivation factors and sustainable competitive advantage of Iraqi private banks
Abstract
The rapid changes in the business environment have made organizations consider the implementation of various strategies to face fierce worldwide market competition. Such a competitive situation has become increasingly challenging for many organizations, in general, and banks, in particular. In Iraqi private banks, most bank managers embrace the
traditional management styles to motivate bank employees. This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of empowerment strategies (ES) on the relationship between motivation factors (MF) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) of Iraqi private
banks. The results of partial least squares (PLS) path analysis support some variables in
their hypothesized direct relationships with sustainable competitive advantage (SCA).
The relationships between motivation factors (MF), teamwork (TW) and organizational
trust (OT) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) are supported. However, the
relationships between motivation factors (MF), participative leadership (PL), sharing
information (SI) and freedom and autonomy (FA) and sustainable competitive advantage
(SCA) are not supported. Moreover, the analysis results suggest that empowerment
strategies (ES) fully mediate the relationship between motivation factors (MF),
participative leadership (PL), sharing information (SI) and freedom and autonomy (FA)
and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). empowerment strategies (ES) partially
mediate the relationship between motivation factors (MF), teamwork (TW) and
organizational trust (OT) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) The study
advances several recommendations that can be beneficial for researchers to conduct
further studies in this area as well as policymakers and managers in their efforts to
enhance the competitive edge of organizations in the future.