Driving Job Satisfaction in the Evolving Digital Banking Workplace through Employee Empowerment

Abstract

This study examines the influence of employee empowerment practices on job satisfaction in the evolving digital banking industry in Sri Lanka. It considers five aspects of employee empowerment: empowering mission and strategy (EMS), employee autonomy (EA), role accountability (RA), effective cooperation and communication (ECC), and standardised work activity (SWA). Labour Process Theory (LPT) provides a useful lens for examining the influence of employee empowerment practices on job satisfaction in evolving digital banks. This study adopted a quantitative methodology with an explanatory research design. The target population comprised permanent employees in commercial banks in Sri Lanka who are directly engaged in digitalised work environments, such as mobile banking platforms, online services, AI-driven tools and devices, digital payment systems, or other fintech integrations. A convenience sampling technique, supplemented by snowball sampling, was used to select 191 respondents. Data were collected using a self-administered online questionnaire distributed through internal emails. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the study hypotheses. Regression analysis (R² = 0.463) revealed that the strong positive drivers of job satisfaction were SWA (β = 0.503), ECC (β = 0.201), EA (β = 0.198), and EMS (β = 0.123), all of which were significant at p < 0.05. However, RA did not have a significant impact (β = 0.006, p = 0.845). Employees’ perceptions of the technological environment were ambivalent, emphasising improvements, technostress and adaptation difficulties. Theoretically, the study advances Labour Process Theory by confirming its applicability in digital environments. At a practical level, the findings are useful for organisations, policymakers, and educational institutions seeking to enhance job satisfaction through empowerment interventions in the digitalised banking sector. Future research could consider longitudinal studies to monitor the long-term effects of emerging technologies, such as the Metaverse and generative AI; comparative research across countries or industry sectors; qualitative research to investigate technostress; and experimental approaches to measuring empowerment using AI.