Relationship of Spirituality in Workplace, Internal Motivation and Work Engagement with Task Performance

Subject Areas : Educational

Maryam Molaey ¹ , Ali Mehdad ² , Mohsen Golparvar ³

1 - کارشناس ارشد روان‌شناسی صنعتی و سازمانی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی اصفهان
2 - عضو هیأت علمی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی اصفهان
3 - عضو هیأت علمی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی اصفهان

Received: 2017-10-17 Accepted : 2017-10-17 Published : 2014-09-23

Keywords: internal motivation, Task performance, work engagement, spirituality in workplace,

Abstract :

  The main purpose of this research was to study the relationship of spirituality in workplace ( spiritual craving, spiritual and mystical experience, spiritual connection, sense of community ), internal motivation and work engagement (strength, devotion, attraction), with task performance. The type of study was descriptive and the method was correlation. Statistical population included all employees of a healthcare center in the city of Isfahan, from whom, 200 persons were selected via simple random sampling. The research instruments were Spirituality in Workplace (Kinjerski & Skrypnek, 2006), Internal Motivation (Amabile, Hill, Hennessey & Tighe, 1994), Work Engagement (Utrecht, 2002), and Task Performance (Patterson, 1963) questionnaires. Data were analyzed with the use of Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis showed that there are significant positive relationships between spirituality in workplace, internal motivation and work engagement with task performance (P≤0.01). Moreover, results of regression analysis showed that the spiritual and mystical experience and the spiritual connection from the components of spirituality at work, the strength from the dimensions of work engagement, and the internal motivation, were able to predict significantly (P≤0.01) task performance. Therefore, based on the results it may be concluded that task performance in organizations could be increased by increasing spirituality in workplace, internal motivation and work engagement.

References:

Amabile, T.M., Hill, K.G., Hennessey, B.A., & Tighe, E.M. (1994). The Work Preference Inventory: Assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 950–967.
Bakker, A.B., & Leiter, M.P. (Eds.). (2010). Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research. New York: Psychology Press.
Benefiel, M. (2003). Mapping the Terrain of Spirituality in Organizations Research. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 16(4), 367-84.
Calder B.J., & Staw B.M. (1975). Self-perception of intrinsic andextrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 599-605.
Cash K.C., Gray G.R., & Rood S.A. (2000). A framework for accommodating religion and spirituality in the workplace. The Academy of Management Executive, 14(3), 124-134.
Chen, Z.X., & Francesco, A.M. (2003). The relationship between the three components of commitment and employee performance in China. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62, 490-510.
Claude, J., & Zamor G. (2003). Workplace spirituality and organizational performance. Public Administration Review, 63(3), 355- 364.
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A.B., De Jonge, J., Janssen, P.P.M., & Schaufeli, W.B. (2001). Burnout and engagement atwork as a function of demands and control. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Environment and Heath, 27, 279-286.
Gagne´, M., & Deci, E.L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 331–362.
Geh, ZY. (2009). Study of the Effect of Mediators between Spirituality at Work and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Singapor Management Univercity.
Gibbons, P. (2001). Spirituality at work: A pre – theoretical overview, MSC. Thesis–Brinbeck College, University of London, Aug.
Golparvar, M. & Abedini, H. (2014). A comprehensive study on the relationship between meaning and spirituality at work with job happiness, positive affect and job satisfaction. Management Science Letters, 4, 255–268.
Hallberg, E.U., Schaufeli, B.W. (2006). Same but different? Can work engagement be discriminated from job involvement and organizational commitment? Journal of Psychology, 11(2), 119-127.
Hawkins, G., & Tiffany, A. (2008), \"An Exploration of the Relationship Between Spirituality snd Social Justice Work of Counselors and Counselor Educator\", A Dissertation Presented to the faculty of the College of Education of Ohio University.
Hobfoll, S.E., & Shirom, A. (2001). Conservation of resources theory: Applications to stress and management in the workplace. In R.T. Golembiewski (Ed.), Handbook of organization behavior (2nd Revised edition, 57–81). New York: Marcel Dekker.
Jessica, P.J. (2010). Happiness at work, maximizing your psychology capital for success. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.
Kahn, W.A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692–724.
Kanfer, R. (1990). Motivation theory and industrial and organizational psychology. In Dunnette, M.D. & Hough, L.M. (eds.). Hand book of indusfrial and organizational psychology, Vol.1 (pp76-170). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting psychology press.
Kennedy, M.H. (2002). Spirituality in the Workplace: An Empirical Study of this Phenomenon… DBA. Nova Southeastern University press.
Kinicki, A.J., McKee-Ryan, F.M., Schriesheim, C.A., & Carson, K.P. (2002). Assessing the construct validity of the Job Descriptive Index: A review and meta- analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 14-32.
Kinjerski, V., & Skrypnek, B.J. (2006). Measuring the Intangible: Development of the spirit at work scale. Paper Presented at the Sixty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Atlanta, GA, 16 pp.
Krishnakumar, S., & Neck, C.P. (2002). The \"What\", \"Why\", and \"how\" of spirituality in the workplace. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 17(3), 153-164.
Langelaan, S., Bakker, A.B., Schaufeli, W.B., & Van Doornen, L.J.P. (2006). Burnout and work engagement: Do individual differences make a difference? Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 521-532.
Llorens, S., Bakker, A.B., Schaufeli, W.B., & Salanova, M. (2007). Testing the robustness of the job demands -resources model: Erratum. International Journal of Stress Management, 14, 224-225.
Milliman, J., Czaplewski, A.J., & Ferguson, J. (2003). Workplace spirituality and employee work attitudes, an exploratory empirical assessment. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 16(4), 426-447.
Mitchell, M.L. & Jolly, J.M. (2007). Research designsexplain. Thomson Wads Worth, USA: Sixth ed.
Mitroff, I.A., & Denton, E.A. (1999). A Spirituality Audit of Corporate America: A Hard Look at Spirituality, Religion, and Values in the Workplace, Son Francisco: CA. Jossey-Bass.
Motowidlo, J.S. (2003). Job performance: Handbook of psychology. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 12, 39-55.
Naylor, J.C., Pritchard, R.D., & Ilgen, D.R. (1980). A theory of behavior in organizations. New York: Academic Press.
Neck, C.P., Milliman, J.F. (1994). Thought self-leadership: Finding spiritual fulfillment in organizational life. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 9(6), 9-16.
Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(1), 25 – 41.
Pfeffer, J. (1994). Competitive Advantage through People. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Rich, B.L. (2006). Job engagement: Construct validation and relationships with job satisfaction, job involvement and intrinsic motivation. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Thesis, University of Florida.
Salanova, M., Agut, S., & Peiro, J.M. (2005). Linking organizational resources and work engagement to employee performance and customer loyalty: the mediation of service climate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 1217–1227.
Schaufeli, W., & Bakker, A. (2003). UWES Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Preliminary Manual [Version1, November 2003]. Utrecht University: Occupational Health Psychology Unit.
Schaufeli, W .B., Bakker, A. B. & Salanova, M. (2006). The measurement of work engagement with a short questionnaire: A cross-national study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66, 701-716.
Schaufeli, W.B., & Bakker, A.B. (2004). Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement: A multi-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior,25, 293–315.
Smeank, R.A., Hance, J.A. (2005). The relationship between job involvement, job satisfaction and task performance. Journal of Vocational behavior, 81, 190-208.
Steve, Y.W. Lam and Conrad, H.W. Tang. (2003) Motivation of Survey Employees in Construction Projects, Journal of Geospatial Engineering, 1, June, 61-66.