Relationships between Workplace

Spirituality, Empowering Leadership

and Work Motivation
Sanjeeb Kafle
Master by Research (Business)
Excelsia College, Sydney
 Background
• Understanding of what motivates employees is crucial for
the success of organisational objectives (Guillen, Ferrero
& Hoffman, 2015; Conrad, Ghosh & Isaacson, 2015).
• Despite immense work in the filed of motivation, it is
surprising that prior studies have paid scant attention to
the spiritual side of employee motivation.
• The reason for paying attention to the spiritual dimension
of work is bolstered by employees’ search for “mind-
enriching, heart-fulfilling, soul-satisfying, and financially
rewarding” (Marques, Dhiman & King, 2005, p.82) work
experience.
Background (cont.)
• As employees come to the workplace with their body,
mind and soul (Milliman, Czaplewski & Ferguson, 2003)
the nourishment of soul is equally as important as the
nourishment of body and mind.
• Moreover, employees spend much of their time at work,
and there is also a gradual decline in the family
composition, neighbourhood, community and other social
structures (Dent, Higgins & Whaff, 2005), the workplace
should function as a community.
• In light of these organisational contexts, integration of
workplace spirituality holds the potential for addressing
these issues.
Significance of the study
• The study contributes to the nascent study of
workplace spirituality by identifying workplace
spirituality as an antecedent to work motivation.
• Calls for studies exploring mediators or moderators
between workplace spirituality and organisational
variables abound (Otaye-Ebede, Shaffakat & Foster,
2019; Zhang, 2018) that by including empowering
leadership as a mediating variable, the study unpacks
how workplace spirituality influences work motivation.
• Workplace spirituality and organisational leadership
relationship is in its infancy (Dent, Higgins and Wharff,
2005) and this is still evident that the study contributes
to a body of knowledge.
Significance of the study
• In the field of workplace spirituality ‘‘theory
conceptualization appears to be stronger than
empirical evidence’’ (de Klerk 2005, p. 65) and this
limitation is still evident (Otaye-Ebede, Shaffakat &
Foster, 2019).
• Moreover, extension, development and application of
workplace spirituality is still limited due to the paucity
of research (Otaye-Ebede, Shaffakat & Foster, 2019;
Pawar, 2014) that empirical studies (e.g. the present
study) will help to render the recognition of the
scientific legitimacy of workplace spirituality
(Giacalone et al., 2005).
 Literature
• Though spirituality is new to the workplace, it is certainly
not in other domains of human experience (Ashmos &
Duchon, 2000).
• Workplace spirituality refers to employees “experiencing
deeply personal meaning and fulfilment at work, a strong
sense of community with others at work and of being
closely aligned with values of one’s employer” (Gatling,
Kim & Milliman, 2016, p 473).
• Otaye-Ebede, Shaffakat and Foster (2019) report prior
studies have shown positive outcomes of workplace
spirituality on job satisfaction, employee engagement,
organisational commitment, reduced intention to quit and
decline in deviant behaviours.
Literature (cont.)
• Workplace spirituality is also positively related to work
attitudes (Gatling, Kim & Milliman, 2016; Milliman,
Czaplewski & Ferguson, 2003). As such, workplace
spirituality might positively influence work motivation
because attitudes have an activating function by
disposing action either in support of or opposition to the
object, such as a job, occupation, or organization (Katzell
& Thompson, 2009).
• Studies have also indicated that workplace spirituality
may influence an individual's intrinsic motivation (Sharma
& Hussain, 2012).
Literature (cont.)
• The mechanism for the influence of workplace spirituality
on motivation may work through empowering leadership
behaviours because:
• The Whitaker and Westerman (2014) study reported that
psychological empowerment mediated the relationship
between spirituality and personal initiative and the
relationship between organizational spiritual values
alignment and personal initiative.
• Empowering leadership behaviours are aimed at
enhancing employee autonomy and motivation at work
(Lee, Willis & Tian, 2017).
• Relationship between workplace spirituality and
empowering leadership is likely (Houghton, Neck and
Conceptual Framework
 Theoretical
• Gatling,Framework
Kim and Milliman (2016) propose that self-
determination theory (SDT) provides an explanation for
why individuals seek fulfillment through workplace
spirituality
• SDT posits that individuals are driven to act in
accordance with three fundamental needs: autonomy,
competence and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
• When these three needs are satisfied, humans are
optimally motivated and experience wellbeing (Van den
Broeck, Ferris, Chang & Rosen, 2016).
Theoretical Framework (cont.)
• SDT, furthermore, offers multidimensional
conceptualization of motivation allowing for both the
level and quality of motivation: amotivation, intrinsic
motivation and extrinsic motivation (Gagne et al. 2014).
• Workplace spirituality satisfies three psychological
needs of employees, and, hence, motivates them at
work.
• Furthermore, workplace spirituality by fulfilling three
needs as outlined by SDT, psychologically empowers
employees, a condition for empowering leadership
behavior, and this leadership behavior leads to work
motivation.
 Hypotheses
• Based on the above observations:

• H1: Workplace spirituality is positively associated with

work motivation.

• H2: Empowering leadership mediates the relationship

between workplace spirituality and work motivation.
 Methodology
• A quantitative research design, specifically a cross
sectional web-based survey protocol, was utilised.
• Research participants were employees over 18 years,
and working either in the educational consultancy
industry in Nepal or in the general private sector in
Sydney, Australia.
• After obtaining ethical clearance from Excelsia College,
emails with the link to the survey created on Google
Forms were sent to educational consultancies in Nepal.
Hence, a convenience sampling methods used.
• In order to recruit participants working in Sydney of
Australia, a snowball sampling methods was utilised.
 Methodology (cont.)
Instruments
• Workplace Spirituality was measured by adapting the
Spirituality at Work (SAW) scale by Ashmos and Duchon
(2000) and the sample item is:
I experience joy in my work.
• Work Motivation was measured by Multidimensional Work
Motivation Scale (MWMS) by Gagne et al. (2014) and the
sample item is:
Why do you or would you put efforts in your work?
…Because others will reward me financially only if I put
enough efforts in my job.
 Methodology (cont.)
Instruments
• Empowering leadership was measured by the Empowering
Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ) by Arnold, Arad, Rhoades,
and Drasgow (2000) and the sample item is: Examples of the
items:
My leader/manager involves employees in making
decisions.
 Methodology (cont.)
Data Analyses

• A total of 182 usable responses were recorded on the web-

based survey.
• IBM SPSS Statistics Windows, Version 25.0 was utilised to
analyse the data.
• Descriptive and inferential statistical tests were performed:
t-test, correlation analyses, linear regression, multiple
regression, the Baron and Kenny (1986) approach to
mediation analyses.
 Results
• A t-test was carried out to test whether the two samples differed on the mean score for
workplace spirituality, empowering leadership and work motivation, respectively. The
results showed that the samples did not statistically differ, the two samples were
combined and further tests were conducted.
 Result
• Workplace spirituality, involving meaningful work, community,
organisational value alignment, had significant and positive
effect on work motivation (b=0.42), confirming the first
hypothesis.
• Since, motivation was measured on a continuum ranging from
amotivation to extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation,
further tests showed:
The significant and positive effect of workplace spirituality is
greater on intrinsic motivation than on extrinsic motivation (b=
0.76 vs 0.36).
However, workplace spirituality did not statistically
significantly affect amotivation, one forms of motivation (b= -
0.09, n.s.).
 Result
• Empowering leadership partially mediated the relationship
between workplace spirituality and work motivation (workplace
spirituality b= 0.28)
 Contributions conclusions
• Research Contribution
This research provides empirical support for the argument that
workplace spirituality is significantly positively related with
organisational outcomes in the form of motivation of employees
at work.
• Managerial Contribution
Organisational leaders and managers could utilise workplace
spirituality as an intrinsic motivating factor.
Theoretical contribution
• As stated above, more empirical studies are needed in the
field of workplace spirituality to establish scientific legitimacy of
the construct and to address the issue of lack of theory
development in workplace spirituality.
• Grounded on Self Determination Theory, the study provided
empirical evidence to show the benefits of integrating
workplace spirituality particularly in motivating employees.
• Next, the study added to the workplace spirituality research by
showing that employees perceive the integration of workplace
spirituality as empowering leadership behaviours which, in
turn, motivate them at work.
 References
d conclusions
• Arnold, J. A., Arad, S., Rhoades, J. A., & Drasgow, F. (2000).
The empowering leadership questionnaire: The construction
and validation of a new scale for measuring leader
behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(3), 249-269.
• Ashmos, D. P., & Duchon, D. (2000). Spirituality at work: A
conceptualization and measure. Journal of Management
Inquiry, 9(2), 134-145.
 Baron, R.M. & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator
variable distinction in social psychological research:
conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6),1173–1182.
 References (cont.)
• d conclusions
Gagné, M., Forest, J., Vansteenkiste, M., Crevier-Braud,
L.,van den Broeck, A., Aspeli, A. K., Bellerose, J., … Westbye,
C. (2014). The Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale:
Validation evidence in seven languages and nine countries.
European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology,
24(2), 178-196.
• Hassan, M., Bin Nadeem, A., & Akhter, A. (2016). Impact of
workplace spirituality on job satisfaction: Mediating effect of
trust. Cogent Business & Management, 3(1).
• Houghton, J. D., Neck, C., & Krishnakumar, S. (2016). The
what, why, and how of spirituality in the workplace revisited: a
14-year update and extension. Journal of Management,
Spirituality and Religion, 1-29.
 References (cont.)
• Katzell, R. A. &dThompson,
conclusions
D. E. (1990). An Integrative Model
of Work Attitudes, Motivation, and Performance. Human
Performance, 3(2), 63-85.
• Mat Desa, N. & Koh Pin Pin, D. (2011). The Workplace
Spirituality and Affective Commitment Among Auditors In Big
Four Public Accounting Firms: Does It Matter? Journal of
Global Management, 2(2), 216-226.
• Mitroff, I. I., & Denton, E. A. (1999). A study of spirituality in the
workplace. Sloan Management Review, 40(4), 83-92.
• Sharma, M., & Hussain, A. (2012). Workplace spirituality and
engagement among employees in public and private sector
organizations. International Journal of Social and Allied
Research 1(1), 5-9.
Thank you
Q&A
?