Happiness at work through spiritual leadership: a self-determination perspective

Abstract

Purpose

Upholding congruency with self-determination theory (SDT), the study intends to analyze the impact of spiritual leadership (SL) on happiness at work (HAW) via affective commitment (AC) and prosocial behavior (PSB) in the Indian service sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 324 employees belonging to the service sector of north India. The study utilized AMOS and PROCESS (Hayes, 2013) to test the hypothesized model.

Findings

The findings provided considerable support for the hypothesized relationships between SL, AC, PSB and HAW. The findings advocate the positive association between SL and HAW routing through mediators such as AC and PSB.

Research limitations/implications

Future research studies have the potential to dwell on the topic from a leader's perspective, i.e. the benefits derived through practicing spirituality. The present work in this field is focused on quantitative tools; more studies can be conducted through qualitative analysis. Future works can attempt to compare the differences amongst cultures and sectors concerning SL and its outcomes.

Practical implications

The paper provides some relevant inputs for the Indian service sector to comprehend the criticality of SL in building long-lasting relationships amongst peers leading to creating sustainable and happy workplaces.

Originality/value

The study explores the relationship between SL and HAW which has neither been explored theoretically nor tested empirically.

Citation

Srivastava, S., Mendiratta, A., Pankaj, P., Misra, R. and Mendiratta, R. (2022), "Happiness at work through spiritual leadership: a self-determination perspective", Employee Relations, Vol. 44 No. 4, pp. 972-992. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-08-2021-0342