Mediating effect of psychological capital on the relationship between spiritual leadership and performance

Abstract

The challenging and changing business life of the 21st century has resulted in a stressful and negative work atmosphere that negatively charges and demoralizes people. Accordingly, nowadays business life necessitates a more positive approach in handling issues regarding leadership and management. This change in focus has contributed to the fame of spiritual leadership which is a holistic leadership approach that can integrate the minds and souls of people and integrates the four main components of human existence: body, mind, heart, and spirit. Spiritual leadership draws from an inner life nourished by spiritual practices that contribute to the development of values, attitudes, and behaviors that are necessary to intrinsically motivate one's self and result in a sense of spiritual well-being. Spiritual leadership creates the sense that life is purposeful and meaningful; thus, under spiritual leaders, followers feel themselves to be more capable and they show continuous growth and self-realization. In our study, we proposed that spiritual leadership would have a positive effect on the psychological capital of followers, which is a human capacity focusing on the strengths of humans rather than weaknesses; i.e., positivity rather than negativity. Also, we supported the idea that spiritual leadership has a positive effect on performance due to its positive effects on cognitive capabilities of leaders' followers and due to the meaningful and alluring vision that entices followers to perform at their best. We expected that the psychological capacity of followers may have a mediator effect in this relationship. We conducted face-to-face and online surveys with 736 white-collar workers in Turkey and we analyzed our data using SEM. Results of the study confi rmed our expectations.

Compassion and Job Performance: Dual-Paths through Positive Work-Related Identity, Collective Self Esteem, and Positive Psychological Capital

“…Williams and Anderson [43] suggests the two dimensions of employee performance (i.e., in-role and extra-role performance). Of the two dimensions of employee performance, similar to the past studies on job performance focusing on task-related performance, such as Hsu et al [44], we used the 10 items for in-role performance to measure job performance. Sample items read "I adequately complete assigned duties" and "I meet formal performance requirements of the job."…”

Mediator Role of Organizational Commitment to Performance

“…Research conducted by Fry et al (2016) which states that higher spiritual leadership will have a positive effect on employee performance. However, research conducted by Baykal and Zehir (2018) obtained different results which stated that spiritual leadership has no positive effect on employee performance.…”

Boosting Resilience through Spiritual Well-being: COVID-19 Example

“…Spirituality is a psychological pattern in which a meaningfulness, integrity, and interconnectedness are combined giving way to a more fruitful life (Baykal and Zehir, 2018). Spirituality is a highly individual and intensely personal awareness creating a state of existence leading to greater connectedness with both the external world and with one's own self .…”