The purpose of the study was to assess the empowerment practices in public higher educationrninstitutions (HEIs) of Ethiopia and its implication to staff commitment. The study was arnquantitatively slanted mixed type (QUANT-Qual). Six HEIs were sampled in a way that ensuresrnnational and generational representations. Quantitative data were gathered from randomlyrnsampled instructors, department heads, and deans & directors using questionnaire. Qualitativerndata were gathered from vice presidents for academic affairs and document analysis. The vicernpresidents were sampled employing purposive techniques. Quantitative data were analyzed usingrnone way ANOVA, Pearson correlation and Regression employing SPSS Version-23; whereasrnqualitative data were narrated. The results indicated encouraging practices of participativernleadership. Similarly, the overall implementation of structural empowerment was found to be at arnstatus of moderate and above. On the contrary, psychological empowerment is almost thernneglected dimension of empowerment. Moreover, the study has identified that institutionalrncommitment of the academic staff is strongly correlated with psychological empowerment, andrnalso has small correlation with structural empowerment and participative leadership. Generally,rnof the three independent variables, psychological empowerment was found to have uniquernpredictive power of commitment. Based on the findings, it would be possible to conclude that thernHEIs are leading inadequately empowered, and thus, inadequately committed academic staffrnwho are performing below their potential. The HEIs are, therefore, suggested to value the role ofrnpsychological empowerment and employ it through intrinsic and material reward among others