A review of workplace spirituality: identifying present development and future research agenda

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to identify the present development of workplace spirituality (WPS) by synthesizing the findings from the WPS literature, identifying gaps and proposing a research agenda. Design/methodology/approach This study reviews 72 articles on WPS published in scholarly journals to review their findings on how it has developed over time. Findings This review reveals a dearth of qualitative studies like the phenomenological approach, ethnographic research, mixed methodology and experimental research. Besides, the findings reveal various dimensions of spirituality in regard to the workplace. The synthesis reveals a paucity of research to examine WPS at the level of mesospiritual. The findings reveal the scope for cross-cultural studies in WPS that could support and advance inclusion and diversity in the organization. Also, there is scope to examine the relationship of WPS with mental and behavioral health, mindset, innovative behavior, sustainable behavior and trust. Further, the findings reveal the scope of studying the darker side of spirituality in the workplace. Research limitations/implications This study offers significant implications to researchers, management and human resource management (HRM) practitioners by providing a holistic understanding of WPS. The literature review findings are limited to the analysis performed on seventy-two papers from Web of Science (WoS) and Google Scholar databases. Practical implications This study provides suggestions and future research directions for researchers, HRM and management practitioners for the inclusion of spirituality. The review findings suggest the implications for management and HRM practitioners by understanding the research done in cognitive science and neuroscience related to spirituality to humanize the workplace. HRM practitioners can draw on the insights offered in this analysis to develop learning and development interventions in support of WPS, e.g. training programs for cultivating mindset through spiritual mentoring. Originality/value The study provides WPS development over time. It also provides a comprehensive outlook on WPS that highlights its positive and negative sides. The study contributes to the literature by categorizing the literature and proposing a research agenda to guide future WPS research.

Human capital and legal perspectives on remote work: recommendations for organizations

“…Because our literature review transcends multiple disciplines, we used a semi-systematic review approach, which “is designed for topics that have been […] studied by various groups of researchers within diverse disciplines” (Snyder, 2019). This approach has been used in recent review articles (Mhatre and Mehta, 2023), and it enabled us to reciprocally move between the three different sources of remote work articles while developing recommendations. Our approach also relies on principles from evidence-based management, a technique used to provide practitioners with cumulative scientific knowledge on a topic in an effort to close the research–practice gap (Kepes et al , 2014).…”

“…Second, to gain perspective on issues pertaining to the practice of remote work since the emergence of COVID-19, we reviewed articles published in Harvard Business Review between March 2020 and December 2021. Following Mhatre and Mehta (2023), we also allowed for serendipitous discoveries, such as suggestions from colleagues during research presentations or through friendly reviews. This produced articles from additional practitioner-oriented outlets, including Business Horizons , Forbes , Wall Street Journal and Society for Human Resource Management .…”

“…This involved identifying individual research studies that addressed our specific recommendation topics by searching the reference list of each meta-analysis as well as reverse searching for articles that cited the meta-analyses (Tuli et al , 2023). We also allowed for serendipitous discoveries during this step (Mhatre and Mehta, 2023), including suggestions from colleagues during research presentations as well as recommendations from reviewers. Altogether, this resulted in 12 individual studies that provided further details for explicating our specific recommendations.…”

A System Dynamics Perspective on Workplace Spirituality and Employee Behavior

“…Scholars like Miller and Ewest (2013) have underscored the limited relevance of WPS research, advocating for context-specific investigations that capture the diversity of workplace and individual beliefs. Moreover, recent research has called for more cross-cultural studies to shape the future of the WPS field by incorporating workplace diversity (Mhatre and Mehta 2023). It appears that while WPS has been extensively studied with a focus on positive organizational outcomes, there is a gap in understanding that comprehensively addresses the antecedents and consequences of WPS within an integrated framework.…”

Conference Review: FIIB Research Conference 2023: Humanizing Business for a Better World of Work

“…The conference posed profound and open-ended questions to scholars who study and inform management and management practitioners to facilitate the exchange of ideas and thoughts and collective deliberation on various research insights, ultimately working towards the joint effort of all participants to tackle the challenges of the new world of work. Bridging the gap between academic research and practical applications, the conference engaged scholars, candidates and practitioners in discussions on how to adapt to the evolving world of work, as evidenced in the works of Rotatori et al (2021) and Lazarova et al (2023), while focusing on the critical need for businesses to create more humanized workplaces and adapt to global megatrends, as identified by Guest et al (2022), Mhatre and Mehta (2023) and Bowie (2022). The conference featured various activities, such as workshops, paper presentations, competitions and keynote speeches, providing networking and collaboration opportunities among participants.…”