Employee Spirituality and Job Engagement A Correlational Study Across Organizational Hierarchy

International Journal of Human Resource Management and Development (IJHRMRD) ISSN 2248-
9401 (Print), ISSN 2248-941X (Online) Volume 4, Number 1, January - March (2014)
70

EMPLOYEE SPIRITUALITY AND JOB ENGAGEMENT: A
CORRELATIONAL STUDY ACROSS ORGANIZATIONAL
HIERARCHY

Sumita Srivastava
1
, Smriti Caprihan
2
, Rupali Misra Nigam
3
and Anushka Khemani
3

1
Asstt. Professor, Dept. of Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, Dayalbagh Educational
Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra, India.

2
MBA Student, Dept. of Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, Dayalbagh Educational

3
Research Scholar, Dept. of Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, Dayalbagh Educational

ABSTRACT

Todays businesses require not only intellectually gifted and emotionally steady
individuals but go one step ahead by demanding the finer qualities of moral behavior and job
fulfillment in their present and potential employees. These qualities of the soul are
addressed through a high spiritual quotient. This research, based on Abraham Maslows
model of hierarchy of needs, aims at a hierarchy wise study of employee engagement to the
relationship of an employees spirituality. Employee engagement and employee spirituality at
the workplace have been analyzed as standalone variables. The present study measures the
spiritual levels of the employees, recorded on an independent Spirituality Assessment Scale
(iSAS) developed by Rojas (2002). It comprises of the Intrapersonal, Interpersonal,
Suprapersonal and Ideopraxis aspect of organizational spirituality. The engagement score has
been measured using Galops Q-12 scale.
An attempt is made to correlate employees spirituality with the employees work
engagement levels in order to study if heightened spiritual quotients impact work engagement
at different hierarchical levels in the organization. The study empirically validates that the
regression coefficients indicating the impact of spirituality on an employees work
engagement increases for employees at higher hierarchical levels. Additionally, demographic
data collected on each employees years of service discloses that employees with a higher
spirituality have low job turnover.

Key words: Employee Spirituality, Spirituality in the Workplace, Employee Engagement
IJHRMRD
PRJ PUBLICATION
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
(IJHRMRD)

ISSN 2248 9401 (Print)
ISSN 2248 941X (Online)
Volume 4, Number 1, January - March (2014), pp. 70-88
PRJ Publication, http://www.prjpublication.com/Ijhrmrd.asp
71

1. INTRODUCTION

There has been a paradigm shift in organizational sciences, management theory and
practice in the past two decades (Capra 1996; Giacalone and Dafna 2000; Harman and
Hormann 1990; Ray and Rinzler 1993 and Wheatley 1992). It seems this paradigm shift is
complex and includes multiple dimensions such as moving from a predictable outlook to
chaos (Gleick 1987), from command and control or fear-based approaches to trust and
empowerment (Conger and Kanungo 1988), from simplicity to complexity (Lewin 1992),
from transactional leadership to transformational leadership (House and Shamir 1993), and
from closed systems to complex adaptive systems (Dooley 1997). These changes in
management include a shift from an economic focus to a balance of profits, quality of life,
spirituality, and social responsibility concerns (Walsh, Weber, and Margolis 2003; DeFoore
and Renesch 1995), a shift from self-centeredness to interconnectedness (Capra 1993), a shift
from self-interest to service and stewardship (Block 1993; Neck and Milliman 1994), and a
change from materialistic to a spiritual orientation (Fox 1994; Neal 1997; DeFoore and
Renesch 1995).
This new paradigm that is emerging in organizations has also been called as the
spirituality movement. Ashmos and Duchon (2000) have described the spirituality movement
by organization as a major transformation where organizations are trying to find a meaning,
purpose and a sense of community. This new spiritual dimension embodies employees
search for simplicity, meaning, self-expression, and interconnectedness to something higher
(Marques, Dhiman and King 2007).
There are evidences in literature that many large organizations have incorporated
spirituality in their strategy and culture (Burack 1999). Spirituality at workplace asserts that
employees bring unique and individual spirits to the workplace and are highly motivated by
the spiritual need to experience a sense of transcendence and community in their work (Fry
and Matherly 2006). A workplace which is spiritually expressed by its employees provides a
competitive edge in the business. The guiding force or the higher power intertwines with
work and influences behavior. There are several consequents of employee spirituality as
discussed in literature. Higher job satisfaction (Reave 2005, Paloutzian, Emmons & Keortge
2003, Fry 2005, and Churchill, Ford & walker 1979), reduced job stress (Frew 2000),
creativity (Mitroff & Denton 1999, Gull & Doh 2004 and Leigh 1997), job engagement
(Pfeffer 2010 and Saks 2011) are a few outcomes of employee spirituality at workplace.
These reflections in literature are conceptual in nature. Hence, empirical validation is lacking.
This paper is an attempt to empirically validate the interaction between employee spirituality
and job engagement using data from a manufacturing organization in India. The paper is
divided into eight sections. In the subsequent section, background literature is discussed
followed by the need and objectives of the study. In the next section, research methodology
of the study is explained. Subsequently, conceptual framework and hypotheses are discussed.
Data analysis and findings are discussed afterwards. In the final sections, conclusions,
managerial implications of the study and future research directions are discussed.

2. BACKGROUND LITERATURE

Spirituality has been considered in literature in a variety of ways. Some management
thinkers restrict their work to the term individual spirituality, while others evaluate
spirituality. Under this section, we discuss perspective of past researchers on the topic under
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three heads. They are i) concept and definition of spirituality, ii) concept of employee
spirituality and iii) impact of employee spirituality at workplace.

2.1 Concept and definition of Spirituality
Mitroff and Denton (1999) define spirituality as the basic feeling of being connected
with one's complete self, others, and the entire universe. If a single word best captures the
meaning of spirituality and the vital role that it plays in peoples lives that word is
interconnectedness.
McCormick (1994) defines spirituality as an inner experience an individual has and
this can be evidenced by his or her behavior. Gibbons (2000) discusses spirituality in the
context of deeply held values. Neck and Milliman (1994) define spirituality as expressing
ones desire to find meaning and purpose in life and is a process of living out ones set of
deeply held personal values. Dehler and Welsh (1994) explain that spirituality is an
individuals inner source of inspiration. The basic feeling of being connected with ones
complete self, others, and the entire universe, is how Mitroff and Denton (1999) further
define spirituality. Spirituality is also viewed as some internal substance, a value, belief,
attitude, or emotion that affects peoples behavior (Moore & Casper, 2006).
Bosch (2009) divides the concept of spirituality into two types: pure and applied.
According to him, pure spirituality refers to silent, unbounded and inner experience of pure
self awareness. It is devoid of customary content of perception, thoughts and feelings (Heaton
et al. 2004). On the other hand, applied spirituality refers to the domain of practical
applications and measurable outcomes that automatically arise from the inner experience of
pure spirituality. Emmons (2000) describes spirituality as spiritual intelligence. According to
him, spirituality refers to the search for the experiential elements of the sacred and ultimate
meaning of life. It means a higher consciousness and transcendence. He further discusses that
spiritual intelligence emphasizes the abilities that draw on such themes to predict functioning
and adaptation. Amram (2007) also defines spiritual intelligence as the ability to apply and
embody spiritual resources and qualities to enhance daily functioning and wellbeing.
According to Snyder and Lopez (2008), spirituality is a positive psychological concept. They
describe it as love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, personal
responsibility, and a sense of harmony with ones environment. Spirituality is the pursuit of a
vision of service to others through humility, charity and veracity. It goes beyond basic truth-
telling to engage ones capacity for seeing things exactly as they are, thus limiting subjective
distortions.
Furthermore, two of the most popular viewpoints of spirituality include the intrinsic
origin view, and the existentialist perspective. As Krishnakumar and Neck (2002) noted, the
intrinsic-origin view of spirituality is the one which argues that spirituality is a concept or a
principle that originates from the inside of an individual. Guillory's (2000) definition falls
within this perspective. He defines spirituality as the inner consciousness. According to him,
spirituality comes from within-beyond programmed beliefs and values. Like Guillory, Brandt
(1996) agrees that the goal of spirituality is greater personal awareness of universal values,
helping an individual live and work better and more joyfully. Further to this, he believes that
spirituality is beyond the rules of religion. Graber (2001) argues that spirituality avoids the
formal and ceremonial connotations of religion; it is non-denominational, non-hierarchical,
and non ecclesiastical. Spirituality implies an inner search for meaning or fulfillment that
may be undertaken by anyone regardless of religion.

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2.2 Concept of Employee Spirituality
Some researchers use the term spirituality at workplace and others as employees
spirituality. For the purpose of the present study, we use both the terms inter-changeably.
Mitroff and Denton (1999) describe individual spirituality as finding the sacredness in
the ordinariness of everyday life, feeling interconnected with everything, having inner peace
and calm, having an infinite source of faith and willpower (Mitroff and Denton 1999b).
Spirituality at workplace therefore is defined as the degree to which individual spirituality is
expressed in the behaviors, policies, values and principles of an organization (Dehler and
Welsh 1994). Ashmos and Duchon (2000) describe spirituality at workplace as involving
three levels, individual, work-unit and organization-wide. The individual level describes how
much an employee can obtain a satisfying internal and external life by finding individual
meaning and purpose through their work. The work-unit dimension entails how much
employees have a sense of connection and community with their colleagues; as well as
assessing the extent to which those colleagues are caring and encouraging. It is further stated
by Ashmos and Duchon (2000) that organization-wide Spirituality entails the extent to which
an employee perceives of them as having good relationship with their organization, and how
well they consider that their own values and goals align with their organizations.
Corrine McLaughlin (2009) describes spirituality at business as simply embodying
personal values of honesty, integrity, and good quality work. Its treating the co-workers and
employees in a responsible, caring way. As well as, its participating in spiritual study
groups or using prayer, meditation, or intuitive guidance at work.
According to Ashmos and Duchon (2000) spirituality at work has three components:
the inner life, meaningful work and community. They further note that a workplace in which
people see themselves as part of a trusting community, where they experience personal
growth as part of their work community, where they feel valued and supported, would be a
workplace in which spirituality thrives.
Further, Kinjerski and Skrypnek (2004) define this as spirit at work. They describe
this as the experience of employees who are passionate about and energized by their work,
find meaning and purpose in their work, feel that they can express their complete selves at
work, and feel connected to those with whom they work. They argue that spirit at work is a
distinct state that involves physiological arousal, positive effect, a belief that ones work
makes a contribution, a sense of connection to others and common purpose, a sense of
connection to something larger than self, and a sense of perfection and transcendence.

2.3 Impact of employee spirituality at workplace
Researchers discuss numerous outcome of employee spirituality at workplace.
Meaningfulness at work is one of the most discussed outcomes of employee spirituality in the
literature. This dimension of employee spirituality represents how employees interact with
their day to day work at an individual level. The expression of spirituality involves the
assumptions that each person has his/her own inner motives and desires to be involved in
activities that give greater meaning to his/her life and the lives of others. Researchers discuss
that meaningfulness at work can be measured through facets like team spirit, job engagement
and satisfaction, job turnover and creativity.
Team work is based on the belief that people see themselves as connected to each
other and that there is some type of relationship between ones inner self and the inner self of
others (Maynard 1992 and Miller 1992). It involves the mental, emotional and spiritual
connections among employees in teams or groups in the organization (Neal and Bennelt
2000). The essence of deeper sense of connection involves support, freedom of expression
74

and genuine caring. And all this leads to better performance as a team. Several researchers
report a significant correlation between spirituality and mental health indices of satisfaction,
happiness, self esteem, hope and optimism (Reave 2005; Paloutzian, Emmons and Keortge
2003, Fry 2005). There is growing evidence that employee spirituality results in positive
individual level outcomes for employees (Churchill, Ford and walker 1979). Spirituality leads
to engagement of hearts and minds of their employees towards the workplace (Pfeffer 2010).
It has an impact over job attitudes and behavior because of its potential to promote and create
high levels of employee engagement. It generates positive, fulfilling work related state of
mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption towards workplace (Saks
2011). Mitroff and Denton (1999) found that organization that have a stronger sense of
spirituality enable employees to exercise stronger values and ethical beliefs in their
workplace and empower them to show more creativity and flexibility at work. Gull and Doh
(2004) has reviewed that spiritual consciousness makes employees to be more engaged and
can work more responsibly, ethically, collaboratively and creatively when they find meaning
in their work activities. Leigh (1997) states spirituality starts with the acknowledgement that
employees do not bring only their bodies and minds to work, but also their hearts, souls
creativity, talents and unique spirits.

3. NEED OF THE STUDY

Spirituality at workplace and employees individual spirituality have begun to attract
the attention of business leaders, top managers and management thinkers. Several researchers
have started working in this area. There are lots of conceptual contributions made by
researchers in the literature. Very few studies provide empirical evidences of the concerned
subject. Past researches indicate that to survive in the current century in the face of economic
downturn and global competition, it is imperative for leaders and managers to tap into their
spiritual resources. There is a gap in literature in examining the possible interaction between
individual spirituality and his job engagement level. Testing this relationship would lead to
further growth in employee development, increased job performance, lower turnover rates,
higher profits and employee retention as they relate to organizational goals and strategies.

4. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

This research study addresses the following key questions:
1. Is the spirituality of an employee related to his engagement levels?
2. Does the effect of employee spirituality on work engagement increase with higher
hierarchical level?
Therefore, the prime objective of the study is hierarchy wise measurement of the
spirituality and employee engagement levels of the employees across a manufacturing
organization to measure their interaction in order to detect a directional relationship.

5. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES

A key component of spirituality is the ability to bring ones whole self to work and to
express one completely. Engagement also involves bringing all aspects of oneself, the
cognitive, emotional, and physical dimensions in the performance of ones role (Kahn 1990).
Rich et al. (2010) conceptualize engagement as the investment of ones complete self into a
role. As indicated earlier, to be fully engaged means that one displays the self within their
75

role, while disengagement involves the decoupling of the self from ones work role (Kahn
1990). And like spirituality, being authentic at work is also associated with engagement
(Kahn 1992).Figure 1 provides the conceptual framework developed for the study.

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of the Study

The conceptual framework indicates the possible association between employee
spirituality and employee engagement. Organizational hierarchy has been identified as a
moderator of this relationship. Introducing organizational hierarchy into the conceptual
framework is based on Abraham Maslows model of hierarchy of needs. Maslow's hierarchy
of needs is portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the most fundamental levels of needs at
the bottom (d-needs), and the need for self-actualization at the top (b-needs). The most
fundamental and basic four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called deficiency
needs or d-needs: esteem, friendship and love, security, and physical needs (Maslow 1971). If
these deficiency needs are not met, the body gives no physical indication but the individual
feels anxious and tensed. Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be
met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or
higher level needs. Maslow also coined the term Meta- motivation to describe the motivation
of people who go beyond the scope of the basic needs and strive for constant betterment.
Meta-motivated people are driven by b-needs (being needs), instead of deficiency needs (d-
needs). Maslow understood that when man was at his best, man had b-values. These values
include truth, goodness beauty, unity, transcendence, aliveness, uniqueness, perfection,
justice, order and simplicity. Through these b-values, researchers believe that Maslow
introduced spirituality to psychology.
This research paper splits Maslows hierarchy model into three parts emphasizing on
the belief that the spiritual consciousness of a person increases as he moves up in this
hierarchy. It attempts to measure the spirituality of employees at three different managerial
levels-top, middle and entry level management, across a manufacturing organization. An
employees spirituality is assumed to correspond to the models stage of self-actualization.
Thus, the conceptual framework developed by the researchers, suggest that workplace
spirituality might be an important driver or antecedent for employee engagement and
organizational hierarchy as a significant moderator of this relationship. Based on the
theoretical background given earlier, the hypotheses of the study are:

H
1
: There is a correlation between the spirituality of an employee and his engagement levels.
H
2
: Higher the level of employee in organizational hierarchy, stronger the relationship
between employee spirituality and his engagement.

6. METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted on 48 employees of a manufacturing organization across
different hierarchical levels. The respondents were chosen on random basis across different
Employee Spirituality

Employee Engagement
Organizational Hierarchy
76

hierarchical level in the organization. The hierarchical breakup of the respondents across the
organization is given below:

Table 1: Hierarchical Breakup of the Respondents of the Manufacturing Organization
Hierarchy Number of Respondents
Entry Level Management 17 (Male=7; Female =10)
Middle Level Management 21 (Male=11 ; Female = 10)
Senior Level Management 10 (Male=7; Female =3)
Total Responses 48(Male=35 ; Female =23 )

Two measuring instruments were used to collect data from the respondents. Employee
spirituality was measured using the Independent Spirituality Assessment Scale (iSAS)
developed by Rojas (2002).While employee engagement was measured using Gallup Q12
survey.
The Independent Spirituality Assessment Scale (iSAS), demonstrated normality (p =
0.09, n = 234), homogeneity (a = 0.88, n = 508), and stability (r = 0.92, n = 40), with an
improved a = 0.91. The Independent Spiritual Assessment Scale (iSAS) uses the PRISM
model of spirituality as a measurement construct. It consists of 3 aspects of spirituality based
divided into 13 parameters. These three aspects of spirituality are Intrapersonal, Interpersonal
and Suprapersonal. Parameters of Intrapersonal aspect are fulfillment of self, self
determination, self control, and discovery of self and enrichment of self. Parameters of
Interpersonal aspect are partnership dynamics, team dynamics, organizational dynamics and
movement dynamics. And parameters of Suprapersonal aspect are transaction level,
transformational level and transfigurational level (Rojas, 2005). A 7-point Likert scale from
1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) was used to record the responses.
The Gallup Q12 survey is composed of 12 items that measure employee perceptions
of work characteristics on a 5 point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree). Since the development of the Q12, Gallup has collected descriptive data on more than
7 million respondents, 6 million business units or workgroups, and 500 companies and the
relationship between engagement and performance at the business unit level is substantial and
highly generalized across companies. The Gallup Workplace Audit or Q12 survey has a
Cronbachs alpha reliability score of 0.91.
The self-administrated questionnaires both iSAS and Gallop Q12 were distributed
directly as well as by mail among the employees, with compact description of the study, to
have a precise and unbiased opinion regarding job engagement and spirituality attributes. The
respondents were given ample time to complete their questionnaires

7. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

Various statistical techniques have been used to analyze the responses. Correlation
and regression analysis is conducted to test the hypotheses of the study. Other descriptive
statistical tools to interpret data used in the study are line graphs.
The respondents (n=48) were categorized on the basis of their managerial levels as
entry (n=17), middle (n=21) and top (n=10) level. The individual scores of iSAS and Gallop
Q12 was computed for each respondent using prescribed evaluation techniques. The
77

hypothesis was then tested by applying simple regression analysis in order to measure the
effect that the independent variable, spirituality of the employees, had on the dependent
variable, the work engagement levels. Subsequent to descriptive and correlation statistical
analysis, regression analysis was conducted to measure the predicting power of research
variables, i.e. employee spirituality and employee engagement. Succeeding section discusses
the findings for the three hierarchical levels separately.

7.1 Senior Level Management
Table 2 provides the regression statistics of senior level management employees (n=9)
evaluated on the two research variables - employee spirituality (predictor variable) and
employee engagement (criterion variable). High Multiple R (=0.767) and high correlation
coefficient r (=0.715) indicate strong positive and significant relationship between employee
spirituality and employee engagement. This demonstrates strong influence of spirituality
studied as a whole on intrapersonal, interpersonal and supranatural aspects on employee
engagement at senior level management. High Multiple R (=0.767) also indicates strong
linear relationship between the criterion variable and the part of a predictor variable that is
independent of all other predictor variables.
Coefficient of multiple determinations for multiple regression or R Square value of
0.589 indicates that 58.9% of the criterion variable (employee spirituality) is explained by the
predictor variable through the regression model; i.e. 58.9% of variances are explained. R
square is a measure of deviation of dependent variable from its mean. Adjusted R square
measures the proportion of variation in the dependent variable due to variation in the
predictor variable. Lower Adjusted R Square (=0.53) indicates that employee spirituality
improves the model by less than expected. Or, 53% of the variation in employee engagement
is measured by the predictor variable or employee spirituality

Table 2 - Regression Statistics for Senior Level Management

Linear regression equation between employee spirituality (predictor variable referred
as X
senior
) and employee engagement (criterion variable referred as ) is presented in Table
3. Y-intercept is 9.695 and regression coefficient for spirituality of Senior Level Management
is 0.123, which indicates a unit change in the spirituality would correspondingly lead to a
0.123 change in employee engagement. Table 3 also shows the values and reliability of the
coefficient. The value of individual coefficient explains how much the individual variable
impacts the dependent variable. The t-Stat and significance P-value provides the confidence
level with which regression model can be supported statistically. The reliability of the
coefficient and intercept can be validated by the significance level or P-value in the table at
95%. The lower/upper bound explains the flexibility in values of the coefficient in the model.
Table 2 provides the range for both intercept (from 1.845 to 17.546) and regression
coefficient (from 0.031 to 0.215). Figure 2 also depicts the values pictorially through a scatter
plot.

Regression Statistics
Multiple R 0.768
R Square 0.590
Adjusted R Square 0.531
Standard Error 2.026
Observations 9
78

Table 3: Regression coefficient for senior level management

Unstandardized
Coefficients
t Stat P-value
95% Confidence Interval
Coefficients
Standard
Error
Lower Bound
Upper
Bound
Intercept 9.695 3.320 2.920 0.022 1.845 17.546
Spiritual
Consciousness
0.123 0.039 3.170 0.015 0.031 0.215
Regression Equation : = 9.695 +0.123 X
senior

Predictor : Employee Spirituality
Dependent Variable : Employee Engagement

Figure 2: Scatter Plot of Employee Engagement and Spiritual Consciousness for Senior Level Managers

The extent of goodness of fit of the results can be checked with ANOVA in table 3.
The percentage of variation in dependent variable (employee engagement) is explained by the
variation in the predictor (employee spirituality) variable. The goodness of results through p
and F can also be checked from table 3. F value (df 1, df 7) is 10.04 and p>0.015 ensures
goodness of fit.

14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
E
m
p
l
o
y
e
e

E
n
g
a
g
e
m
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n
t
Spiritual Consciousness
Spiritual Consciousness Line Fit Plot
Employee Engagement
Predicted Employee Engagement
79

Table 4: ANOVA for senior level management
df SS MS F Significance F
Regression 1 41.259 41.259 10.049 0.0157
Residual 7 28.741 4.106
Total 8 70
df: Degrees of Freedom; SS : Sum of Squares; MS : Mean Square

7.2 Middle Level Management
Table 5 provides the regression statistics of middle level management employees
(n=21) evaluated on the same research variables - employee spirituality (predictor variable)
and employee engagement (criterion variable). Multiple R (=0.428) and correlation
coefficient r (=0.428) indicate positive relationship between employee spirituality and
employee engagement. However, this is not as strong as in the case of senior level managers.
This demonstrates moderate influence of spiritual consciousness (intrapersonal, interpersonal
and suprapersonal aspects) on employee engagement at middle level management. Multiple R
(=0.428) also indicates moderate linear relationship between the criterion variable and the
part of a predictor variable that is independent of all other predictor variables.
Coefficient of multiple determinations for multiple regression or R Square value of
0.183 indicates that 18.3% of the criterion variable (employee spirituality) is explained by the
predictor variable through the regression model; i.e. only 18.3% of variances are explained.
As mentioned before, R square is a measure of deviation of dependent variable from its
mean. Adjusted R square measures the proportion of variation in the dependent variable due
to variation in the predictor variable. Lower Adjusted R Square (=0.139) indicates that
employee spirituality improves the model by less than expected. Or, only 13.9% of the
variation in employee engagement is measured by the predictor variable or employee
spirituality.
Table 5: Regression Statistics for Middle Level Management
Multiple R 0.428
R Square 0.183
Adjusted R Square 0.139
Observations 21

Linear regression equation between employee spirituality (predictor variable referred
as X
middle
) and employee engagement (criterion variable referred as ) is presented in Table
6. Y-intercept is 11.799 and regression coefficient for spirituality of middle level
management is 0.094, which indicates a unit change in the spirituality would correspondingly
lead to a 0.094 change in employee engagement. Table 6 also shows the values and reliability
of the coefficient for Middle level management. The value of individual coefficient explains
how much the individual variable impacts the dependent variable. As states earlier, t-Stat and
significance P-value provides the confidence level with which regression model can be
supported statistically. The reliability of the coefficient and intercept can be validated by the
significance level or P-value in the table at 95%. The lower/upper bound explains the
flexibility in values of the coefficient in the model. Table 6 provides the range for both
80

intercept (from 4.120 to 19.477) and regression coefficient (from -0.001 to 0.188). Figure 3
provides scatter plot of the two variables studies employee engagement and spiritual
consciousness.

Table 6: Regression coefficient for Middle Level Management

Unstandardized
Coefficients
t Stat P-value
Coefficients
Standard
Error
Lower Bound
Upper
Bound
Intercept 11.798 3.668 3.216 0.0045 4.120 19.477
Spiritual
Consciousness
0.093 0.0452 2.062 0.053 -0.001 0.188
Regression Equation : = 11.798 +0.093 X
middle


Figure 3: Scatter Plot of Employee Engagement and Spiritual Consciousness for Middle
Level Managers

variation in the predictor (employee spirituality) variable. The goodness of results through p
and F can also be checked from table 7. F value (df 1, df19) is 4.256 and p>0.053 ensures
goodness of fit at 95% confidence.

9
11
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15
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21
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25
40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
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Employee Engagement Predicted Employee Engagement Linear (Employee Engagement)
81

Table 7: ANOVA for Middle Level Management
df SS MS F Significance F
Regression 1 40.59047 40.59047 4.255728 0.053056
Residual 19 181.2191 9.537845

Total 20 221.8095

7.3 Entry Level Management
Table 8 provides the regression statistics of entry level management employees
(n=17) with employee spirituality (predictor variable) and employee engagement (criterion
variable). Karl Pearsons coefficient of correlation r (=0.248) shows weak positive
correlation. Also, Multiple R (=0.249) also shows weak positive relationship between
employees spiritual consciousness and employee engagement. Therefore, employees
spiritual consciousness (intrapersonal, interpersonal and suprapersonal aspects) has less
bearing on his engagement at entry level management. Coefficient of multiple determination
for multiple regression or R Square value of 0.062 indicates that only 6.2% of the criterion
variable (employee spirituality) is explained by the predictor variable through the regression
model; i.e. only 6.2% of variances are explained. As mentioned before, R square is a measure
of deviation of dependent variable from its mean. Adjusted R square measures the proportion
of variation in the dependent variable due to variation in the predictor variable. Lower
negative Adjusted R Square (-0.00054) indicates that employee spirituality improves the
model by less than expected.

Table 8: Regression Statistics for Entry Level Management
Multiple R 0.249
R Square 0.062
Adjusted R Square -0.00054
Observations 17

Linear regression equation between employee spirituality at entry level management
(predictor variable referred as X
entry
) and employee engagement (criterion variable referred
as ) is presented in Table 9. Y-intercept is 6.249 and regression coefficient for spirituality of
Entry Level Management is 0.081, which indicates a unit change in the spirituality would
correspondingly lead to a 0.081 change in employee engagement.
Table 9 also shows the values and reliability of the coefficient for Entry level
management. The value of individual coefficient explains how much the individual variable
impacts the dependent variable. As stated earlier, t-Stat (0.996) and significance P-value
(0.335) provides the confidence level with which regression model can be supported
statistically. The reliability of the coefficient and intercept can be validated by the
significance level or P-value in the table at 95%. The lower/upper bound explains the
flexibility in values of the coefficient in the model. Table 9 provides the range for both
intercept (from -5.902 to 18.401) and regression coefficient (from --0.093 to 0.256). Figure 4
82

provides scatter plot of the two variables studies employee engagement and spiritual
consciousness for entry level management.

Table 9: Regression coefficient for Entry Level Management

Unstandardized
Coefficients
t Stat P-value
Coefficients
Standard
Error
Lower Bound
Upper
Bound
Intercept 6.249 5.701 1.096 0.290 -5.902 18.401
Spiritual
Consciousness
0.081 0.082 0.996 0.335 -0.093 0.256
Regression Equation: = 6.2493 + 0.081X
entry


Figure 4: Scatter Plot of Employee Engagement and Spiritual Consciousness for Entry Level
Managers

variation in the predictor (employee spirituality) variable. Table 10 shows the results of
ANOVA or the goodness of results through p and F. F value (df 1, df 15) is 0.991 and
p>0.335, showing that the confidence level is low for this category.

0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
39 49 59 69 79 89 99
E
m
p
l
o
y
e
e

E
n
g
a
g
e
m
e
n
t
Employee Engagement Predicted Employee Engagement Linear (Employee Engagement)
83

Table 10: ANOVA for Entry Level Management
Df SS MS F Significance F
Regression 1 19.493 19.493 0.991 0.335
Residual 15 294.978 19.665

Total 16 314.471

7.4 Overall Responses
Karl Pearsons coefficient of correlation (=0.537) computed of the all the subjects
(n=48; male=25; female =23) irrespective of the hierarchy level indicates positive correlation
between spiritual consciousness of the employee and his engagement level in the
organization. Therefore, we accept hypothesis H
1.
Table 11 sums up the correlation coefficients for the subjects on various hierarchical
levels. Here, correlation is progressively improving with hierarchy 0.249 for entry level,
0.428 for middle level and 0.715 for senior level managers. Therefore, we accept hypothesis
H
2.

Table 11: Karl Pearsons Coefficient of Correlation
Hierarchy Level Karl Pearsons Coefficient
of Correlation
Senior Level Managers (n=10) 0.715
Middle Level Managers (n=21) 0.428
Entry Level Managers (n=17) 0.249
Overall Responses (n=48) 0.537

Does the Spirituality of an Employee impact his longitivity with a single company?
The responses were also analyzed on the basis of employees years of service at the
company and his spiritual consciousness score. Employees with a higher spirituality tend to
stay longer with their company. This has been proven to be true in the case of the Senior
Level Management Employees (higher spirituality) at the organization.

Figure 5: Relationship of Spiritual Consciousness and Years of Service at One Company

0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
1 2 3 4 5
S
p
i
r
i
t
u
a
l

C
o
n
s
c
i
o
u
s
s
n
e
s
s

S
c
o
r
e
s
Years of Service
Relationship of Spiritual Conscioussness and
Years of Service at One Company
Senior Management Spiritual Conscioussness Service Duration
84

As evident from the empirical relationship provided in the illustration above, the
duration of service of those persons with a higher spirituality does seem to impact their
longitivity with their company. An increase in the spirituality has caused a corresponding rise
in the employees years of stay with one company.

8. CONCLUSIONS

In the 21st century, corporate organizations must seek to develop options that will
result in a competitive advantage. Developing a spiritual vision can bind an employee to the
company and enhance job performance (Neck and Milliman, 1994). Unfortunately, many
employees perceive their job and their work engagement negatively due to their lack of
purpose or spirituality in their work. The interest in spirituality in the workplace is here to
stay, as reflected by the rising number of publications on the topic, and the many reasons for
this call on a global level. There is still a broad divergence in interpretations for the word
spirituality as well as for the phenomenon of spirituality in the workplace. The literature
demonstrates that applying the spiritual mindset in a workplace will encourage the creativity
and innovativeness of employees, which, in turn, enhances their productivity, leading to
better overall performance for and by the organization as it relates to job satisfaction and
organizational commitment. According to Markow (2005) there is a need for the role of
qualitative methodologies in building a theory of spiritual leadership. Currently, it remains
largely unexplored and the qualitative methods potentially could have further insight to the
future of spirituality in the workplace as it relates to organizational commitment.
The results in this research are congruent with other studies of spirituality in the
workplace (Rego, 2007, Giacolone and Jurkiewicz, 2003, Moore and Casper, 2006,
Kolodinsky and Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2008) suggesting that when people find meaning
in their work activities and feel involved in a spiritual organizational climate, they become
happier and healthy employees engaged in a collaborative manner, to apply the full potential
to work and bring their entire selves to the organization. They, thus become more productive
over the long run compared with employees in organizations where spirituality is ignored or
disrespected (Gotsis & Kortezi, 2008). Spirituality exists in corporations, simply because all
employees are spiritual beings. However, there are many difficulties to address if a company
wishes to acknowledge officially what already exists, and to erect a framework by which the
individuals spirituality will have a positive, work-enhancing expression. The potentially
groundbreaking nature of this research leaves no doubt that the intuitively positive
relationships between spirituality in the workplace and organizational commitment have a
relationship to transform individual and organizational life in ways unrestricted by natural
laws. In the years to come, organizations must seek to develop any option possible that can
result in a competitive advantage. Developing a spiritual vision will bind an employee to the
company and enhance job performance. However, the results of the study can be examined
by taking a higher sample size and covering more sectors of the economy. Also, the
possibility of existence of non-linear relationship between employees spiritual consciousness
and his engagement can be explored.

9. MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

The research study examined here represents an intense effort to offer human resource
personnel, professional organizational developers, management consultants and researchers
with a spirituality construct and measurement tool congenial to the business environment.
85

With this measurement tool, human resource managers have a way to assess spirituality as a
recruiting and retention factor, as stress and a substance abuse preventive measure, and
spirituality as a quality of life at work factor.

10. FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Professionals and consultants dedicated to organizational development may find this
instrument useful in assessing spirituality as a factor of organizational wellness, a method to
transform the workplace into a true sense of community, a tool to discern a corporate spiritual
identity, or as the next topic in the evolution of corporate culture. Researchers may be
interested in using this instrument to discover the relationship of spirituality with other
variables, such as resilience, tolerance to ambiguity, organizational loyalty, healing and
recovery, to mention a few. In other words, now that a relational anatomy of spirituality is
available, professionals are encouraged to exploit this field and to continue the discovery of
spirituality as a contributing factor in management theory.
However the applicability of the results would be enhanced if data is collected from
multiple sectors through multiple sampling techniques and if the data is collected on a time
series (longitudinal) basis. Also the spiritual values and the needs of subordinates and
followers should be considered for future study. The economic status of the employees
should also be investigated and considered for future research.
As a final note to the present study, the researcher is encouraged by what has been
and is being accomplished within the discipline of spirituality and management. It remains
the researchers hope that the present study on spirituality as a relational-ideopraxis construct,
help crystallize the drive to foster a spirituality movement and assist the disciplines of
management shift more towards a relationally dominant paradigm.

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