The relationship between leader spiritual behaviours and subordinate work attitudes: an exploratory empirical examination

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine empirical support for 18 hypotheses specifying relationship between leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates and subordinate work attitudes of job satisfaction, job involvement and affective commitment. It also does concept specification, scale development and a preliminary scale validation for leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates. Design/methodology/approach Using a survey design, this study assesses support for 18 hypothesized relationships between leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates and three forms of subordinate work attitudes and also provides preliminary evidence on the construct validity of the new leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates scale. Findings The results are mostly supportive of the hypotheses and also demonstrate the validity of leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates scale in terms of an interpretable factor structure, high reliability level and convergent and discriminant validity. Research limitations/implications The study provides a scale for leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates. It also outlines meaningful directions for future research. Practical implications The positive relationship of leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates with three work attitudes in this study and already established relationship between these work attitudes and employee performance suggest that managers’ practice of leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates can potentially enhance employee performance. Social implications The study results suggest that leader spiritual behaviours can enhance positive employee work attitudes and potentially employee performance, and thus can make organizations both spiritual and productive. Originality/value This is, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the first study to formally specify the concept and components of leader spiritual behaviours towards subordinates and to demonstrate its positive relationship with three forms of subordinate work attitudes.