IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v130y2015i3p585-599.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Association of Individual Spirituality on Employee Engagement: The Spirit at Work

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Roof

Abstract

Employee engagement and spirituality have both been the focus of increasing interest by researchers and practitioners, and both are still early stage theories with ill-defined constructs and definitions. Emergent empirical work related to engagement and spirituality has supported the promise of improving both organizational performance and employee conditions. Responding to the call by theorists to examine engagement antecedents and specifically, the relationship between spirituality and employee engagement, a cross-sectional study was performed to examine self-reported individual spirituality as measured by the DSES and employee engagement measured using the UWES-9 including the dimensions of vigor, dedication, and absorption. 124 usable surveys were collected from a snowballing convenience sample and after confirming demographic representativeness and identifying the individual’s organizational role as a potential influential variable, analyses of the relationships between individual spirituality, overall engagement, and three individual engagement dimensions were performed using multiple regression controlling for organizational role. Empirical support was found for relationships between individual spirituality and engagement, vigor, and dedication but not for the engagement dimension of absorption. The findings should encourage further future exploration of the relationship between spirituality and engagement and inquiry into why results differ across engagement’s dimensions; specifically, why the relationship was not supported for absorption. The empirical support for spirituality as a predictor of engagement informs practical decisions for addressing workplace spirituality and concerns with the potential to assist in countering the declining engagement trend. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Roof, 2015. "The Association of Individual Spirituality on Employee Engagement: The Spirit at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 585-599, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:130:y:2015:i:3:p:585-599
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2246-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-014-2246-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2246-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joan Marques, 2010. "Spiritual Considerations for Managers: What Matters Most to Workforce Members in Challenging Times," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 381-390, December.
    2. Fernando, Mario & Jackson, Brad, 2006. "The influence of religion-based workplace spirituality on business leaders' decision-making: An inter-faith study," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 23-39, June.
    3. Wilmar Schaufeli & Marisa Salanova & Vicente González-romá & Arnold Bakker, 2002. "The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout: A Two Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 71-92, March.
    4. Macey, William H. & Schneider, Benjamin, 2008. "The Meaning of Employee Engagement," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 3-30, March.
    5. Fahri Karakas, 2010. "Spirituality and Performance in Organizations: A Literature Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 89-106, June.
    6. Sea-Jin Chang & Arjen van Witteloostuijn & Lorraine Eden, 2010. "From the Editors: Common method variance in international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(2), pages 178-184, February.
    7. Amal Altaf & Mohammad Awan, 2011. "Moderating Affect of Workplace Spirituality on the Relationship of Job Overload and Job Satisfaction," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(1), pages 93-99, November.
    8. Eve Poole, 2009. "Organisational Spirituality – A Literature Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(4), pages 577-588, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Florence Karaba, 2024. "‘I Can Only Do My Best and Leave the Rest to God”: Religious/Spiritual Coping Strategies of African Nurses in the UK," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(4), pages 789-808, November.
    2. Mohammad A. Nabil & Mennatallah Elbitar, 2017. "The effect of Job Resources on Employees’ Work Engagement in Five-star Hotels in Egypt," Tourism Research Institute, Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 16(1), pages 59-81, June.
    3. Wan Rahim Wan Yunan & Aminah Ahmad & Zoharah Omar, 2017. "The Experience of Workplace Spirituality: Do Age and Educational Attainment Matter?," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(7), pages 61-69, July.
    4. Anadi Saran Pande & Neerja Pande, 2024. "Enriching the Construct of Workplace Spirituality with Insights from Indian Philosophy and its Empirical Validation in Indian Context," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 13(2), pages 210-227, July.
    5. Richelito P. Maagad & Nestor C. Nabe, 2022. "Workplace Spirituality and Work Values of Philippine National Police Personnel in Davao City," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(3), pages 123-131, March.
    6. Ahmed M. El-Sherbeeny & Bassam Samir Al-Romeedy & Mohamed Hani Abd elhady & Samar Sheikhelsouk & Omar Alsetoohy & Sijun Liu & Hazem Ahmed Khairy, 2023. "How Is Job Performance Affected by Ergonomics in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry? Mediating Roles of Work Engagement and Talent Retention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-24, October.
    7. Sean R. Valentine & Sheila K. Hanson & Gary M. Fleischman, 2019. "The Presence of Ethics Codes and Employees’ Internal Locus of Control, Social Aversion/Malevolence, and Ethical Judgment of Incivility: A Study of Smaller Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 657-674, December.
    8. Brian Shane M. Cortes, 2024. "Motivation and Work Engagement of Preneed Life Insurance Sales Agents in Davao City," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(2), pages 32-63, February.
    9. Sandra Leonara Obregon & Luis Felipe Dias Lopes & Fabiola Kaczam & Claudimar Pereira Veiga & Wesley Vieira Silva, 2022. "Religiosity, Spirituality and Work: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 573-595, August.
    10. Li, Changhong & Li, Jialong & Wu, Zhenyu, 2017. "Dark side of investment in employee education in privately-held companies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 190-196.
    11. Connie Zheng & Asanka Gunasekara, 2022. "Sustaining Workforce Engagement: From Mindfulness to Psychological Flourishing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-14, November.
    12. Fahri Karakas & Emine Sarigollu, 2019. "Spirals of Spirituality: A Qualitative Study Exploring Dynamic Patterns of Spirituality in Turkish Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 799-821, May.
    13. Lilian Otaye-Ebede & Samah Shaffakat & Scott Foster, 2020. "A Multilevel Model Examining the Relationships Between Workplace Spirituality, Ethical Climate and Outcomes: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 611-626, October.
    14. Vimansha R. Ranasinghe & Samantha M. Samarasinghe, 2019. "The Effect of Workplace Spirituality on Innovative Work Behavior," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 1-29, November.
    15. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2021. "Deep-Level Religious Diversity and Work-Life Balance Satisfaction in Canada," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 315-350, February.
    16. Edward P. O’Connor & Marian Crowley-Henry, 2019. "Exploring the Relationship Between Exclusive Talent Management, Perceived Organizational Justice and Employee Engagement: Bridging the Literature," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 903-917, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ricardo Luiz Fernandes Bella & Osvaldo Luiz Gonçalves Quelhas & Fernando Toledo Ferraz & Marlene Jesus Soares Bezerra, 2018. "Workplace Spirituality: Sustainable Work Experience from a Human Factors Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-13, June.
    2. Priyanka Vallabh & Gourav Vallabh, 2016. "Role of Workplace Spirituality in Relationship between Organizational Culture and Effectiveness," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 41(3), pages 236-243, August.
    3. Edward N. Gamble & Haley A. Beer, 2017. "Spiritually Informed Not-for-profit Performance Measurement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 451-468, March.
    4. Lise A. Oortmerssen & Marjolein C. J. Caniëls & Marcel F. Assen, 2020. "Coping with Work Stressors and Paving the Way for Flow: Challenge and Hindrance Demands, Humor, and Cynicism," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(6), pages 2257-2277, August.
    5. Francoise Contreras & Juan C. Espinosa & Gustavo A. Esguerra, 2020. "Could Personal Resources Influence Work Engagement and Burnout? A Study in a Group of Nursing Staff," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440199, January.
    6. Nina Pološki Vokić & Tomislav Hernaus, 2015. "The triad of job satisfaction, work engagement and employee loyalty – The interplay among the concepts," EFZG Working Papers Series 1507, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.
    7. Maria Luisa Giancaspro & Antonino Callea & Amelia Manuti, 2022. "“I Like It like That”: A Study on the Relationship between Psychological Capital, Work Engagement and Extra-Role Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    8. Urmila Rani Srivastava & Vandana Maurya, 2017. "Organizational and Individual Level Antecedents of Psychological Capital and its Associated Outcomes: Development of a Conceptual Framework," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 42(3), pages 205-236, August.
    9. Widdy Muhammad Sabar Wibawa & Yoshi Takahashi, 2021. "The Effect of Ethical Leadership on Work Engagement and Workaholism: Examining Self-Efficacy as a Moderator," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-12, May.
    10. Neha Gupta & Vandna Sharma, 2016. "Exploring Employee Engagement—A Way to Better Business Performance," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 17(3_suppl), pages 45-63, June.
    11. Fu Yang & Jun Liu & Zhen Wang & Yucheng Zhang, 2019. "Feeling Energized: A Multilevel Model of Spiritual Leadership, Leader Integrity, Relational Energy, and Job Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 983-997, September.
    12. Rawan Alafeshat & Cem Tanova, 2019. "Servant Leadership Style and High-Performance Work System Practices: Pathway to a Sustainable Jordanian Airline Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-21, November.
    13. Vandana Tamta & M. K. Rao, 2017. "Linking Emotional Intelligence to Knowledge Sharing Behaviour: Organizational Justice and Work Engagement as Mediators," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 18(6), pages 1580-1596, December.
    14. Indy Wijngaards & Owen C. King & Martijn J. Burger & Job Exel, 2022. "Worker Well-Being: What it Is, and how it Should Be Measured," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 795-832, April.
    15. Barbara Sypniewska & Małgorzata Baran & Monika Kłos, 2023. "Work engagement and employee satisfaction in the practice of sustainable human resource management – based on the study of Polish employees," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 1069-1100, September.
    16. Simon L. Albrecht & Camille R. Green & Andrew Marty, 2021. "Meaningful Work, Job Resources, and Employee Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, April.
    17. Or Shkoler & Aharon Tziner, 2020. "Leadership Styles as Predictors of Work Attitudes: A Moderated–Mediation Link," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 22(53), pages 164-164, February.
    18. Jacob Wood & Woocheol Kim & Gohar Feroz Khan, 2016. "Work engagement in organizations: a social network analysis of the domain," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(1), pages 317-336, October.
    19. Katou, Anastasia A. & Budhwar, Pawan S. & Patel, Charmi, 2021. "A trilogy of organizational ambidexterity: Leader’s social intelligence, employee work engagement and environmental changes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 688-700.
    20. Richa Goyal & Himani Sharma, 2024. "Does Well-being Mediate Between Mindfulness and Knowledge Workers’ Work Engagement Relationship?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 4004-4023, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:130:y:2015:i:3:p:585-599. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.