Explaining the Role of Integrating the Behavioral, Social, and Cognitive Dimensions of Peer Coaching in Enhancing the Psychological and Job Empowerment of Tehran Municipality Employees
Keywords:
peer coaching, behavioral, social, and cognitive dimensions, psychological empowerment, job empowerment, Tehran Municipality, structural equation modelingAbstract
The increasing complexity of tasks in public organizations and the requirements of modern service delivery have intensified the need for the psychological and job empowerment of human resources. The present study aimed to explain the role of integrating the three dimensions of peer coaching—behavioral, social, and cognitive—in enhancing the job and psychological empowerment of Tehran Municipality employees. In terms of purpose, this study was applied, and in terms of the nature of the data, it employed an exploratory mixed-methods design (qualitative–quantitative). In the qualitative phase, thematic analysis and semi-structured interviews with 18 managers and experts in human resource management and urban management, selected through purposive sampling until theoretical saturation was achieved, were used to extract the components and indicators of the model. The validity and reliability of the qualitative phase were confirmed using Cohen’s kappa coefficient (0.833) and Krippendorff’s alpha (0.877). In the quantitative phase, the developed model was validated using a researcher-made questionnaire administered to a sample of 210 Tehran Municipality employees, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Qualitative data analysis resulted in the extraction of 151 initial codes, 27 basic themes, and 11 final components organized within three dimensions: behavioral, including role modeling, experience sharing, and constructive feedback; social, including interpersonal trust, psychological safety, and peer networking; and cognitive, including interactive learning, collaborative problem solving, and belief revision. The quantitative findings and structural model assessment indicated that integration of the three dimensions of peer coaching had a positive and significant effect on job empowerment and the enhancement of employees’ psychological competencies (β = 0.580, t > 1.96). Based on structural modeling, employee job empowerment (C06) was identified as an outcome construct influenced by the synergy of the behavioral and social dimensions through cognitive mechanisms, and the research model demonstrated satisfactory fit and a strong coefficient of determination. The results indicate that peer coaching extends beyond a unidimensional intervention and constitutes an integrated mechanism through which behavioral interactions and social facilitation, by activating cognitive processing mechanisms, contribute to the release of employees’ internal capacities, enhanced self-efficacy, a stronger sense of autonomy, and ultimately comprehensive job empowerment within the urban management system. This model provides valuable practical strategies for establishing a workplace peer-support system and redesigning mechanisms for human capital development within the municipality.
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