The Relationship between Motivational and Participatory Dimensions of Management Empowerment in Directors of Mazandaran Azad Universities

The present study means to investigate the relationship between motivational and participatory dimensions of management empowerment in the directors of Islamic Azad Universities in Mazandaran province. The study adopted a descriptive method and a survey design. The population of the study consisted of all chancellors and vice chancellors, deans and deputy deans, head of departments, and directors of campus offices (administrative, educational and research offices) in Islamic Azad University branches of Mazandaran province in 2012-2013 academic year (N=750). The sample size was calculated to be 253 people in the six branches of Chalus, Sari, Noor, Neka, Behshahr and Mahmood Abad using Cochran formula. The participants were selected using stratified random sampling. Both library and field studies were conducted to collect the data. In order to collect field data, a researcher-made questionnaire was developed that included 50 items on a 5-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was developed to address empowerment components in the directors. The results showed that the components of motivational and participatory dimensions influenced directors’ empowerment. In other words, directors reported that there was a significant correlation of motivational and participatory dimensions with management empowerment components. Motivational dimension had the highest variance. From among the components of motivational and participatory dimensions, a number of factors such as self-belief, self-actualization, power sharing and delegation of authority, the payment and reward system, professional ethics and behavior had the highest mean factor loading, respectively. This suggests that these factors exerted more significant effects on directors’ empowerment.