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

Abstract

PurposeUpholding 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/approachThe 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.FindingsThe 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/implicationsFuture 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 implicationsThe 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/valueThe study explores the relationship between SL and HAW which has neither been explored theoretically nor tested empirically.

Neuroleadership: a new way for happiness management

“…Neuroleadership for happiness management. From the beginning of the 21st century to the present day, a significant body of researchers has been devoted to exploring happiness at work as one of the most important means for corporate governance to increase productivity, innovation, competitiveness, or the creative skills of their internal customers in today's digital society (e.g., Aboramadan and Kundi, 2022;Galván Vela et al, 2022;Srivastava et al, 2022).…”

“…An analysis of the main papers found in Scopus and WoS on leadership and happiness has been carried out to establish the framework of study for the application of the new form of (Semedo et al, 2017;, spiritual leadership (Srivastava et al, 2022), ethical leadership (Yang, 2014), or servant leadership (Alahbabi and Al-shami, 2021; Salas-Vallina and Fernández-Guerrero, 2018). But one of the most studied is transformational leadership, which has been considered an antecedent of happiness at work (Salas-Vallina et al, 2017;Setiawan et al, 2020).…”

“…Previous literature in recent years has analysed different effects of leadership and its types on employee well-being and happiness in the workplace. Positive effects on happiness at work have been found for different types of leadership such as virtuous leadership (Wang and Hackett, 2022 ), inspirational leadership (Salas-Vallina et al, 2020 ), altruistic leadership (Salas-Vallina and Alegre, 2018 ), authentic leadership (Semedo et al, 2017 ; 2019 ), spiritual leadership (Srivastava et al, 2022 ), ethical leadership (Yang, 2014 ), or servant leadership (Alahbabi and Al-shami, 2021 ; Salas-Vallina and Fernández-Guerrero, 2018 ). But one of the most studied is transformational leadership, which has been considered an antecedent of happiness at work (Salas-Vallina et al, 2017 ; Setiawan et al, 2020 ).…”

Linking high-performance work systems and happiness at work: role of career aspiration and thriving

“…Happiness at work is a tri-dimensional construct that includes job satisfaction, engagement and affective commitment (Salas-Vallina and Alegre, 2021). Given its emerging significance in organizational spheres, studies suggest various antecedents to workplace happiness, such as internal communication (Ravina-Ripoll et al, 2023), emotional culture of joy (Aboramandan and Kundi, 2022) and spiritual leadership (Srivastava et al, 2022). CDI 28,5…”

“…Given its emerging significance in organizational spheres, studies suggest various antecedents to workplace happiness, such as internal communication (Ravina-Ripoll et al. , 2023), emotional culture of joy (Aboramandan and Kundi, 2022) and spiritual leadership (Srivastava et al. , 2022).…”