Meetings as a positive boost? How and when meeting satisfaction impacts employee empowerment

Sep 13, 2026

Meetings constitute a key context for organizational behavior, shaping employee attitudes while consuming substantial work time. Employees often report dissatisfaction with meetings, yet this study examines the positive side by testing whether satisfying meetings empower individuals rather than drain them. Using time-lagged data from working adults in the U.S., meeting satisfaction predicted psychological empowerment, partly through information availability. Effects intensified when meeting load was higher, moderated by meeting demands.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Meetings as an organizational context

Study focus: positive effects of satisfying meetings

Research approach and tested relationships

VU Research Portal Meetings as a positive boost? How and when meeting satisfaction impacts employee empowerment Allen, J.A. ; Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. K. ; Sands, S. published in Journal of Business Research 2016 DOI (link to publisher) 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.011 document version Peer reviewed version Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Allen, J. A. , Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. K. , & Sands, S. (2016) . Meetings as a positive boost? How and when meeting satisfaction impacts employee empowerment. Journal of Business Research, 69 , 4340-4347. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.011](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.011) General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [vuresearchportal.ub@vu.nl](vuresearchportal.ub@vu.nl) [Download date: 13](Download date: 13) . Sep. 2026 JBR-08968; No of Pages 8 Journal of Business Research xxx (2016) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Business Research | Meetings as a positive boost? How and when meeting satisfaction impacts employee empowerment
Joseph A. Allen a,⁎, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock b, Stephanie J. Sands a
a Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Omaha, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182, United States
b Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, Netherlands | | | | --- | --- | --- | | a r t i c l e i n f o | | a b s t r a c t | | Article history:
Received 10 September 2014
Received in revised form 9 April 2016 Accepted 11 April 2016
Available online xxxx | | Meetings constitute an important context for understanding organizational behavior and employee attitudes. Employees spend ever-increasing time in meetings and often complain about their meetings. In contrast, we explore the positive side of meetings and argue that satisfying meetings can empower rather than deplete individual employees. We gathered time-lagged data from an online sample of working adults in the U. S. As hypothesized, meeting satisfaction predicted employee empowerment, and information availability partially mediated this effect. Moreover, we found that these effects were stronger when employees participated in more meetings: Meeting demands moderated the link between meeting satisfaction and information availability as well as the positive, indirect effect of meeting satisfaction (through information availability) on psychological empowerment. Our ﬁndings underscore the relevance of workplace meetings for managing and promoting positive employee attitudes. We discuss implications for meeting science and the value of satisfying meetings as a managerial tool for promoting empowerment.
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | | Keywords:
Meetings
Meeting satisfaction
Meeting load
Psychological empowerment | | | 1. Introduction Meetings are an important context for understanding organizational behavior and employee attitudes. They provide a window into social dynamics in the workplace (Meinecke & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2015) and take up substantial work time for employees of contemporary organizations: a

FAQs

What does the study examine about meetings and employees?

It investigates how satisfying meetings can empower employees, shifting attention from the common view of meetings as hassles.

How does meeting satisfaction influence empowerment in the study?

Meeting satisfaction predicts employee empowerment, with information availability partially mediating this relationship.

When are the positive effects of meeting satisfaction strongest?

The effects are stronger when employees participate in more meetings; meeting demands moderate links involving information availability and the indirect empowerment effect.

Sep 13, 2026

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