The Impact of Workplace Spirituality on Employee Performance: Evidence from Abu Dhabi University

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to argue that workplace spirituality may have an impact on enhancing the performance of employees. Hence, it focuses on the ways through which workplace spirituality can boost performance. 
 
 The paper proposes a theoretical model regarding the links between five elements of workplace spirituality (team’s sense of community, alignment between organizational and individual values, sense of contribution to the community, sense of enjoyment at work and opportunities for the inner life) and employee performance. The theoretic model is then tested empirically using a spiritual modelling partial least squares analysis of a survey data set of 145 observations, collected from members of the Abu Dhabi University community. 
 
 The presence of workplace spirituality in an organisational environment is considerably connected to employee performance. An interesting observation made from this study is that there is a significant variance in employee performance as a function of an employee position.

Interrelation of Spirituality, Religiosity, and Competence with Madrasah Teachers’ Performance

“…This positive relationship is illustrated by the higher the spirituality of the teacher, the better the performance produced, on the contrary, the lower the spirituality of the teacher, the worse the performance carried out. In this case, spirituality is manifested in the form of feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors that arise from the pursuit of the sacred; Sacred here refers to the essence of truth that is felt by the individual, therefore spirituality is reflected as an individual's effort to obtain the meaning of life ( Moon, Youn, Hur & Kim, 2020;Mousa, 2020;Sapra, Khosla & Dungrakoti, 2022). Thus, the role of spirituality in this research is to improve the welfare and quality of life of teachers, to give teachers the purpose of working as a worship not just to fulfill the needs of life, and to foster a sense of connectedness among members of the organization or community to help and remind each other in terms of virtue; when the role runs optimally, it may have an impact on improving teacher performance.…”

Impact of Organizational Virtuousness on Workplace Spirituality with the Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support

“…Workplace spirituality is very fruitful for the organization; the businesses that promote a spiritual culture induce their employees to put their heart and soul in their work (Jehan, Gull, Khan, & Hussain, 2020). Employees develop a substantial work identity and they add meaning and purpose to their assigned tasks (Zhang, 2020;Mousa, 2020). According to the results of the study, organizational virtuousness strongly influences workplace spirituality as employees develop positive perceptions about their respective organization's ethics and they return it by working with full spirit for their respective organization (Delam et al, 2019).…”

Bibliometric Study on Spirituality in Organizations: An Overview of the Field

“…Spirituality can be considered a central element in humanity and in the constitution of work, as a means to achieve harmony, motivation, balance, enthusiasm, and coping strategies for the different daily situations in an organization. e construct of spirituality in the workplace has recently become a significant research topic in the field of organizational behavior (Benefiel et al 2014;Dreyer & Hermans, 2014;Mousa, 2020;Kuchinka, 2021)). Although spiritual ideas and beliefs have existed for centuries, acting as centerpieces in shaping social value systems around the world, they are still considered alternative paradigms, especially when discussing organizational behavior (Rupcic, 2017).…”

“…Meaningful work, the first dimension of spirituality in the workplace, regards the belief that people seek meaning at work. It explains the spirituality of the workplace at the individual level and is described as the experience of employees that their work is an important and significant part of their life (Duchon & Plowman, 2005;Mousa, 2020;Ortiz-Gómez, Ariza-Montes, & Molina-Sánchez, 2020). In other words, it refers to the extent to which employees enjoy their work, feel energized by it, and sense that it gives them personal meaning and purpose (Milliman et al 2003).…”

“…Due to the social and technological changes that recently have taken place, as well as public health difficulties (such as the pandemic of Covid-19), spirituality has become a more widely accepted topic in academia, whether within health-related fields or within industrial and economic-financial organizations. us, spirituality in the workplace has become a topic of significant investigation in the field of organizational behavior (Benefiel, Fry, & Geigle, 2014;Dreyer & Hermans, 2014;Mousa, 2020;Rocha & Pinheiro, 2021). Although the workplace spirituality movement started in the early 1920s, it has gained momentum from the late 1990s onwards, with the spread of a growing desire among employees to find meaning and purpose at work (sensemaking, not just financial rewards).…”