Shaping and changing the attitude of academic staff in private higher education institutions is critical in enhancing their commitment for the overall improvement of organizational performance. This will enable private universities to compete with other institutions as well as to produce high quality and competitive graduates. The first objective of this research is to examine the relationship between psychological empowerment and organizational commitment. The second objective is to explore the influence of the four cognitions of psychological empowerment: meaning cognition, competence cognition, self-determination cognition and impact cognition on organizational commitment. The study employed a stratified proportionate sampling design. A total of 247 academicians from four private universities participated in the survey. The result indicated that the overall psychological empowerment is significantly related to organizational commitment. Further analysis also revealed that of the four cognitions of psychological empowerment, only impact cognition significantly contributes to organization commitment. Managers who empower their employees by giving them opportunities to make decisions about their work methods, pace and efforts will subsequently increase their subordinates’ commitment.

Keywords:Organizational Commitment, Psychological Empowerment, Economic Transformation Programme, High-Income Nation and Malaysian Private Universities