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NTU Management Review Vol. 33 No. 2 Aug. 2023

through acknowledging employees’ works are meaningful; autonomy through removal of
barriers to performance that gives employees a sense of empowerment; confidence through
supporting abilities to execute tasks well and participation through removal of barriers
to joining in decision making. Prior studies have demonstrated leadership empowerment
behavior can unleash potential, enhance motivation, and increase adaptive and receptive
abilities across various situations (Spreitzer, 1995). Prior studies have also found EML
has positive relationships to individual innovation performance from the perspective of

psychological empowerment (Cheong et al., 2019; Zhang and Bartol, 2010).
A high EML may enhance individual innovation performance through increasing
team member value congruence. Value congruence is the extent to which employees’
values are compatible with the values exuded by their team members (Hoffman, Bynum,
Piccolo, and Sutton, 2011). Meaningfulness is crucial to the congruence between the
behaviors expected by a company and the behaviors that an individual employee values
as a part of his/her own self-image (Rich, Lepine, and Crawford, 2010). Team members

who experience meaningfulness are more likely to perceive that devoting themselves
to their work roles and other team members is worthwhile, useful, and valuable (Kahn,
1990). Under EML, individuals’ feelings of psychological empowerment have been
enhanced by sharing power, where employees are encouraged to participate in decision
making, transmitting values, beliefs, and significance of the work within the team
(Spreitzer, 1995; Zhang and Bartol, 2010). In this way, team members learn to cooperate
and coordinate tasks, facilitating goal clarity and team consensus (Kearney, Shemla, van
Knippenberg, and Scholz, 2019). Lorinkova, Pearsall, and Sims (2013) have also observed
interdependent teams established under the influences of EML exhibit more collaborative

norms and values among members.
Furthermore, the literature on value congruence, particularly the congruence between
individuals and team members, indicates its importance to an organization’s development
(Rich et al., 2010). The basis of value congruence for consistent beliefs, willingness,
and behaviors is linked to experience of psychological meaningfulness (Kahn, 1990).
Once employees discover such congruent behaviors, linked with preferred self-image,
they tend to perceive such behaviors as attractive, valuable, and worthwhile{becoming

more willing to exhibit those behaviors (Rich et al., 2010). While some prior literature on
organizational behavior argues that values can be communicated to organization members
to clarify the role of value congruence (Rich et al., 2010), Edwards and Cable (2009) find
that predictability (derived from value congruence) plays a prominent role in terms of

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