Relevance of Spiritual Intelligence: Evidence from Airline Industry of Pakistan

Abstract

Spiritual intelligence is gaining universal recognition and spiritual values are becoming increasingly integrated into organisational behaviour and psychology. Despite the significance of spiritual values on work behaviour, spiritual intelligence in Pakistan has yet to be examined extensively. This study investigates the impact of employee’s spiritual intelligence (sense of meaning, sense of community and wisdom) on organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in the Pakistani aviation industry. Using the survey method, 316 responses were collected from three airline companies. This study used structural equation modelling (SEM) with the PLS approach to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that spiritual intelligence has a positive relationship with employees’ OCB. The research found that wisdom, sense of community and sense of meaning influenced organisational behaviour in the form of helping behaviour and employee loyalty. Theoretically, this study offers a comprehensive understanding of spiritual values in workplace settings and suggests that spiritual intelligence is a missing link in organisational behaviour and the human resource development process. The findings have implications for developing holistic human resources in organisations. The limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.