Impact of an enabling performance measurement system on task performance and job satisfaction

Abstract

This study analyzes the impact of a Performance Measurement System (PMS) with enabling characteristics, mediated by psychological empowerment, on task performance and job satisfaction in a Shared Services Center (SSC). The literature on management controls has sought to identify elements that are capable of improving performance, and the enabling controls associated with psychological empowerment may bring new clues to this discussion. Given the ability of the context to affect individuals’ perceptions, it is important to understand the impacts of controls on satisfaction, which can lead to practices that are more aligned with their expectations and favorable results for the organization. The results of the study indicate that the characteristics of a PMS affect the motivation of individuals, so that implementing systems with enabling characteristics can contribute to employees’ perceptions regarding their control over and autonomy in their work. In the mechanistic structure of the SSC, the way in which PMSs are shaped can avoid potential adverse results from less organic structures in employees’ perceptions of psychological empowerment. A survey was conducted at a SSC located in southern Brazil, which provides administrative, financial, and accounting services. Eighty-eight of the 125 operational employees participated, corresponding to 70% of the total. The research tool used was based on the assertions of the studies conducted by Mahama and Cheng (2013), Spreitzer (1995), Tarrant and Sabo (2010), and Van Der Hauwaert and Bruggeman (2015). Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Evidence drawn from the research indicates that the use of an enabling PMS can contribute to the balance needed in companies between levels of formal controls and psychological empowerment to obtain employee job satisfaction and task performance.