The Impact of Empowerment Programs on Improving the Productivity of Border Guard Commanders and Staff in Ardabil Province

Border posts of countries play a very vital role in creating and maintaining the security and safety of the borders of countries. Maintaining border security, controlling smuggling of goods and drugs, facilitating trade and border traffic, and maintaining international communications are among the most important duties of border guard employees and commanders, and the need to improve the productivity of these communities is essential. This study aimed to investigate the effect of empowerment programs on improving the productivity of border guard commanders and employees in Ardabil province.

In terms of its objectives, the present study is of an applied research type and in terms of its nature and method of data collection it is considered a quantitative research. The statistical population of this study included all employees and commanders of the border guard of Ardabil province. Using the Cochran formula calculation method and simple random sampling method, 151 samples of employees and commanders were selected and questionnaires were distributed among them. After collecting the data, it was analyzed using Lisrel 8.8 and SPSS-24 software.

The findings of the study showed that there is a significant relationship between the empowerment of employees and commanders and the improvement of their productivity (r=0.25). In examining the relationship between the dimensions of empowerment of employees and commanders on their productivity, it was shown that competence (r=0.14; P<0.05) and the right to choose (r=0.07; P<0.05) do not have a significant relationship on the improvement of the productivity of employees and commanders. However, being effective or influential (r=0.23), being meaningful (r=0.18) and trust (r=0.29) as dimensions of empowerment have a positive and significant relationship with the productivity of employees and commanders in the border guard ranks.

According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that productivity, as one of the key factors in the success of the border guard sector at the national level, can be achieved through training and improving the ability of employees and commanders, and therefore the need for higher-ranking border guard commanders to pay more attention to the issue of empowering employees and commanders is felt more than ever.