Human Values and Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Authenticity Among Workers in a Spanish Religious Organization

Abstract

Nowadays religious organizations play a leading role in the third sector, contributing to maintaining the welfare state in a large number of countries in sectors such as health, education or social services, among others. These organizations provide a service to their users, aiming to transmit the predominant values in their mission statement and simultaneously promote both authenticity and work engagement in their employees. Indeed, the purpose of this article is to evaluate the link between human values and work engagement, as well as the mediating role of authenticity in this relationship. To this end, 938 workers of a Catholic religious organization, which constitutes a relatively unexplored context, is employed. To test the research model and hypotheses, this investigation uses PLS (Partial Least Squares). It covers two notable research gaps. First, the results confirm the direct links between human values, authenticity and work engagement within the context of religious organizations. Second, they provide evidence of the mediating role exercised by authenticity in the relationship between human values and work engagement.

Servant Leadership, Innovative Capacity and Performance in Third Sector Entities

“…The way to measure performance in Third Sector entities is not the same as in for-profit organizations. The purpose of Third Sector entities is not to maximize economic benefit, but rather to achieve non-economic objectives linked to their purpose (Ortiz-Gómez et al, 2020). In this sense, we consider performance as a multidimensional measure that takes into account budgetary, social, training and user aspects (Maguregui Urionabarrenechea et al, 2017).…”

Servant Leadership in a Social Religious Organization: An Analysis of Work Engagement, Authenticity, and Spirituality at Work

“…Of the three dimensions of authenticity at work, these authors identify self-alienation as the strongest predictor of work engagement, followed by authentic living and accepting external influence. Using a sample of employees of a religious organization, Ortiz-Gómez et al [ 1 ] confirm that those workers who feel that they can act according to their values and beliefs in their work environment are more engaged in their work. Based on this argument, Hypothesis 3b (H3b) states the following:…”

“…The purpose of these entities does not only lie in the services they carry out, but also in how they provide their activities, which transmits their character and charisma. Conveying the values that prevail in their institutional culture is part of their mission [ 1 ]. Therefore, for social religious organizations, it is necessary to define specific organizational objectives that enable the achievement of their institutional mission while distinguishing them from other entities.…”

“…Religious organizations are currently facing significant challenges, that require them to set themselves apart from other entities working in their field of activity as well as rapid and important changes in the ways of life of society. All this, together with a context of promoting greater collaboration with the laity [ 2 , 3 ], make it crucial to the success of these entities that their employees feel comfortable and identify with the institution and their values so that, in this way, they show engagement in their work [ 1 ].…”

“…Employees often search for the meaning of work and how their jobs meet with their lives [ 17 ]. The fact that religious organizations prioritize social objectives makes many of their employees value their jobs because they feel identified with the mission of the institution and with the impact this entity has in carrying out its activities [ 1 , 18 ]. For this reason, this paper explores the relevance of spirituality at work and authenticity for servant leadership and work engagement from the followers’ perspective.…”