Does workplace spirituality lead to raising employee performance? The role of citizenship behavior and emotional intelligence

Abstract

Purpose

For businesses today, employee performance is most important. Therefore, this paper aims to the greater purpose of ‘ideal workplace’; focusing on determining the effect of workplace spirituality on employee performance because organizations tend to neglect employees’ spiritual and/or mental wellness but well-maintain the output. This paper also shines light on the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior and the moderating nature of employee’s emotional intelligence.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted with a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical approach. Data were collected in two rounds. In total, 761 responses (416 offline and 345 online) were analyzed for all four hypotheses using statistical data package for social sciences and analysis of moments structure; imploring correlation, regression and mediation and moderation analysis.

Findings

The study found that workplace spirituality is indeed positively linked with employees’ performance. Organizational citizenship behavior is positively associated with workplace spirituality and employee performance. Mediation analysis indicated that organizational citizenship behavior significantly enhances the relationship of workplace spirituality and employee performance. Moderation analysis suggested that employee’s emotional intelligence significantly boosts employee performance.

Originality/value

This research offers deep and critical insights for curating future research and managerial practices, strengthening the concept of workplace spirituality as a promising area in the fields of human resource management and organizational psychology. The study uses a unique approach and provides exclusive findings regarding Indian service and manufacturing professionals.

Citation

Jena, L.K. (2022), "Does workplace spirituality lead to raising employee performance? The role of citizenship behavior and emotional intelligence", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 1309-1334. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-06-2020-2279