WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY AS A PREDICTOR OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND STRESS RESILIENCY

Abstract

In a pragmatic response to synchronic psychological, social, and organizational realities workplace spirituality, psychological well-being, and stress resiliency are some of the key issues which have received prominent attention by corporate and academia. The available corpus on workplace spirituality strongly argues that workplace spirituality plays a vital role in promoting psychological well-being and stress resiliency of employees. However, a clear empirical substantiation has been lacking in this direction. Therefore, the present study is an endeavor to fill this lacuna by exploring the relationship between workplace spirituality, psychological well-being, and stress resiliency in a sample of 224 employees working in different Indian organizations. Data have been collected through questionnaire based survey instruments by using spirituality at work scale (Ashmos and Dunchon, 2000), psychological well-being scale (Ryff, 1989), and stress resiliency scale (Thomas and Tyinon, 1994). After establishing the reliability of the scales, data have been analyzed by applying correlation and regression analysis with the help of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Results of the study indicate that workplace spirituality and its dimensions (meaningful work, sense of community, and alignment of personal values with organizational values) have significant and positive relationship with psychological wellbeing and its dimensions (autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self- acceptance). It has also been found that dimensions of workplace spirituality have significant relationship with three dimensions of stress resiliency, namely, deficiency focusing, necessitating, and skill recognition. Moreover, the study reveals that workplace spirituality can be recognized as a key predictor of psychological well-being and stress resiliency of employees. Results may be helpful to organizational leaders, executives, and HR practioners to instill workplace spirituality in organizational vision, mission, and policies in order to make employees psychologically well and stress resilient which would ultimately lead to organizational pemformnance. The study contributes to the existing discourse of workplace spirituality with some conclusions, implications, limitations, and future research directions.