This research article investigates the effects of psychological empowerment on academic staff members’ turnover as mediated by job satisfaction in the higher education sector in an underdeveloped country. Data was collected from 255 academic staff members working at 11 conveniently selected private universities in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. Statistical procedures such as descriptive statistics, reliability, validity, the goodness of fit, and SEM were utilized to analyze the data quantitatively. The analysis results showed that psychological empowerment significantly affected faculty turnover (Beta = -0.448, t = -5.531) and job satisfaction (Beta = 0.718, t = 15.956) in private universities in Afghanistan. In addition, the results indicated that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between psychological empowerment and turnover (Beta = -0.223, t = 3.982).