Effects of empowerment on student educational satisfaction and commitment to continue studies: A study among Indian commerce students

The trends of “for-profit organizations” in the education sector have started taking place in India. It is important to improve the student retention because it has a negative impact on the revenues and the bottom lines of the educational institutions. Empowerment holds a great promise for colleges and universities because it can be used to improve students’ perceived educational satisfaction and commitment to continue their studies at the same college/university. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of empowerment on students’ educational satisfaction and commitment to continue their studies at the same college/university. This study consists of a population of undergraduate students enrolled in the business management programs at colleges and universities in Punjab and Delhi areas of India. A survey research (a non-experimental field study design) was utilized. A convenience sampling method was applied to select and recruit the research participants. Data were collected using questionnaires. To test the hypotheses, p <. 05 significance level was used to accept or reject a null hypothesis. Positive relationships between i) students’ perceived empowerment and students’ perceived educational satisfaction and ii) students’ perceived empowerment and students’ perceived commitment to continue their studies at the same college/university were found. This study contributes to the literature on the factors that affect students’ educational satisfaction and commitment to continue their studies at the same college/university. The findings may be useful for the colleges/universities and instructors/professors.