ABSTRACT
Workplace spirituality is a new management paradigm that elicits
workers’ self-imposed willingness to act and perform their task productively in
an organisation due to their perception of the meaningful nature of work in an
egalitarian community that allows self expression.
However, the role of workplace spirituality and employee commitment to trigger
high performance among employees in
Nigerian Universities has not been explored. Therefore, the
purpose of this study was to comparatively investigate the effect of workplace
spirituality and employees’ commitment on performance in Ajayi Crowther
University (ACU) and Federal University Technology, Akure (FUTA). As a result,
the three dimensions of workplace Spirituality: meaningful work, Inner life,
and Sense of community and two elements of employee commitment: affective
commitment and continuance commitment were used to examine their effects on
employee performance.
Based on this, a survey design was applied, and questionnaires and
interviews were used to gather data from a total of 363 Non-Academic employees
in ACU and FUTA in the categories of Administrative, Technical, and
Secretariat. While the instrument was validated by experts, its reliability
test carried out revealed an average result of 0.8 Cronbach’s Alpha. In
analyzing the data for this study, simple percentage count and linear
regression analysis were used as statistical tools.
The findings revealed that the three dimensions of workplace
spirituality and two aspects of employee commitment have positive and
significant effect on employee performance in both private and public
institutions. The only exception to this was meaningful work with
P=0.085>0.05 that showed no significant effect on employee performance in
the private institution. A test of perceptual difference between private and
public Universities on workplace spirituality and commitment on employee
performance was conducted. The result indicated that employees from both
institutions perceived workplace spirituality and commitment differently.
The study concluded that workplace spirituality and employee
commitment which are strong determinants of employee performance should be
intentionally encouraged by Human Resources Managers, Head of departments,
Policy makers and Management practitioners since it can cause a positive and
significant change in the performance of employees in an organisation. As a
result, an environment that makes employees to have a felt belongingness, and
perception of job as vocation for self-expression should be encouraged.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Organizational
spirituality elicits workers’ self-imposed willingness to act and perform their
task productively in an organisation. This is orchestrated by workers' judgment
and perception with reference to their job meaningfulness, growth oriented, and
fulfillment in the context of a social and egalitarian community (Kinjerski
& Scrypnek, 2006, Tagavi & Hamid, 2014).
Many organisations in the world today are
having challenges in building an environment that is community-oriented and
capable of engendering the commitment of individual employees to express and
demonstrate their inner capacity in the performance of duty. Employees long for
a workplace that is conducive for their alignment of personal values with that
of the organisation so as to experience a purposeful, meaningful and enjoyable
responsibility. These categories of workers that find fulfillment and meaning in
their work are the types that can help to accomplish and sustain the
performance of organisations even within the current fierceness of competition
among organisations in the world today. However, while competitive pressure has
been discussed extensively in literature (Collins, 2002; Fred, 2006; Kaplan
& Newton, 2006; Porter, 1980; 1985), the role of organizational
spirituality and commitment to trigger higher performance is less investigated
(Ajala, 2013; Dharmarajan, Kaushik,
Nilari, Ruchika, & Israel, 2011; Karakas, 2010).
Nevertheless, scholars like McGregor, (1960);
Armstrong (2006), Daniel (2010), and Tagavi and Hamid (2014), have explored
several approaches to make organizational environment more humanistic and
task-oriented. The old but relevant Hawthorne study of Mayo (1927-32), Maslow
(1954), and other modern approaches have been used to treat employees for
optimal organizational outcomes (Bullock, 2009; Harrington et al, 2001; Steele
& and Daniel, 2010). Despite these approaches, it was keenly observed that organizational spirituality;
organization's spiritual practices, spiritual values, and commitment were
absent in organizational research (Beheshtifar
& Zare, 2013). The robustness of the aforementioned approaches was
orchestrated by context construct with reference to team, group, motivation and
organizational outcomes. Nevertheless, the inclusion and combination of
workplace spirituality has been recently recognized as an essential area in
academic research towards adding meaning and value to workers’ workplace
effect, quality of work life, and meaningful work experience (Petchsawang &
Duchon, 2009; Wainaina, Iravo, and Waititu, 2014).
Employees' emotions, inclusiveness and
felt-belonging are spiritual attributes that stimulate fulfillment and implicit
satisfaction when brought to bear on the workplace. In the other way, a
dispirited workplace manifests discontent, low morale, high turnover, low
performance and non committed attitude to the organization (Rostami, Dini, & Kazem, 2015; Hira &
Shilpee, 2014). Therefore, optimizing employees’ performance will necessitate total
inclusion and involvement of one's commitment in terms of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs
(Petchsawanga & Duchon, 2012).
Interestingly, scholars like Daniel (2010);
Nicou (2002); and Hira and Shilpee (2014) have observed through research that
constructive attention to workers’ spirituality reduces work related stress,
enhances creativity and improves interpersonal relationship and trust which
Petchsawanga& Duchon (2012)
sustained. Nicou (2002) added that beyond improved productivity, workers'
spirituality helps to boost employee well being and quality of life. It provides employees a sense of
interconnectedness, social capital, interdependency, and community (Beheshtifar
& Zare, 2013). Workplace
spirituality, according to Geigle (2012) promotes individual feelings of satisfaction through transcendence and
egalitarianism.
From its communal construct, organizational
spirituality is a culture that enables the individual worker to fully
understand the purpose and meaning of work and stimulates workers' passion to
work with others in order to achieve organizational goal. This perspective recognizes
employees’ inner life that nourishes and been nourished by meaningful work that
takes place in the context of community (Ashmon & Duchon, 2000). According
to Daniel (2012), employees want meaning and passion in what they do and not
just the extrinsic settlement like fringe benefits and paycheck. Based on this
premise, research studies outside the boundaries of Nigeria have been directly
focused on relationships between various aspects of organizational
spirituality; meaningful work, sense of community, and inner life and
organizational outcomes such as commitment and performance (Ashmon &
Dunchon, 2000; Bosch, 2009 Howard, 2002). Hence, there is need to improve the
protracted declining status of employees’ performance in the Nigerian tertiary
institutions. Thus, this study will be carried out by exploring the effect of
the three aspects of organizational spirituality and commitment and their
effects on employee performance in Ajayi Crowther University (ACU) and Federal
University Technology, Akure (FUTA).
Ajayi Crowther University is a faith-based
institution of learning privately owned by the Supra Diocesan Board of the
Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Though this university was established
in 2005 in Oyo town, its origin, however, transcends beyond this period to 1853
when it started as CMS Training Institution in Abeokuta before it was relocated
to Lagos between 1868 -1896. Similarly, Federal University Technology, Akure is
a public university owned by the federal government of Nigeria. It was
established in 1981 with the noble aim of encouraging both practical and
theoretical knowledge of technologies in the universities. Therefore, carrying
out this study in these two Universities with varied background and orientation
will help to ascertain whether it will have an influence on the comparative
outcome of this research.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In many countries of the world, workplace spirituality and
commitment have been discovered to be a strong determinant of organisation
outcomes. As a result, it is believed that workplace spirituality is linked
with increased morale of employees to perform, enhanced workers’ sense of
personal fulfillment, job commitment and organizational performance. In Nigeria
however, a steady but surreptitious decline of employee performance in academic
institutions has been observed (Folorunso, Adewale, & Abodunde, 2014). The
decline could have resulted from workplace stress and burnout, social
exclusion, work overload, salary discontent, lack of commitment and management
insensitivity. Further, the rate of this decline has assumed some serious
dimensions in recent times that it now invokes an urgent attention in order to
sustain the goal of educational institutions in Nigeria. However, the causes
identified by literature which include, lack of improvement and development
programs for employees, incessant restructuring of employees, and other forms
of workers’ quality of life abuses, and their recommendations have not remedied
this lingering phenomenon.
From a cursory observation, it seems that expected results are yet
to be achieved. It then suggests that there is a missing link among the causes
and recommendations for remedying the problems, which has not been fully
attended to or brought into focus. The missing link seems to be workplace
spirituality and employee commitment which is instrumental to performance in
workplaces. The extent of employees’ turnover, low commitment, and performance
as well as their causes suggest that workplace spirituality and commitment are
seriously limited in some academic institutions. Hence, the research examined
the element of workplace spirituality and employee commitment with reference to
performance of employees.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The main objective of this study is to comparatively investigate
the effect of organizational spirituality and employees’ commitment on
performance in Ajayi Crowther University and Federal University of Technology,
Akure. The specific objectives are to:
1.
evaluate the effect of meaningful work
on employees performance in Ajayi Crowther University
and Federal University of Technology, Akure;
2.
assess the effect of inner-life of
worker on performance of employees in Ajayi Crowther
University and Federal University of Technology, Akure;
3.
examine the effect of sense of community
on employees performance in Ajayi Crowther University
and Federal University of Technology, Akure;
4.
determine the effect of continuance
commitment on performance of employees in Ajayi
Crowther University and Federal University of Technology, Akure;
5.
evaluate the effect of affective
commitment on employees performance in Ajayi Crowther
University and Federal University of Technology, Akure and
6.
examine the difference between private
and public university on workplace spirituality and worker’s commitment on
their performance.
1.4 Research Questions
1.
What effect does meaningful
work have on employee performance in Ajayi Crowther University and Federal
University of Technology, Akure?
2.
What effect does inner-life
of workers have on employee performance in Ajayi Crowther University and
Federal University of Technology, Akure?
3.
How does sense of community
affect employee performance in Ajayi Crowther University and Federal University
of Technology, Akure?
4.
How does continuance
commitment affect employee performance in Ajayi Crowther University and Federal
University of Technology, Akure.
5.
What effect does
affective commitment have on employee performance in Ajayi Crowther University
and Federal University of Technology, Akure.
6.
What is the perceptual difference
between private and public university on workplace spirituality and worker’s
commitment on their performance
1.5 Hypotheses
The research work
will be guided by the following null hypotheses.
H01.
Meaningful work does not have effect on employee performance in Ajayi
Crowther
University and Federal University of Technology, Akure.
H02.
Inner-life of workers does not have effect on employees’ performance in Ajayi
Crowther
University and Federal University of Technology, Akure.
H03.
Sense of community does not affect employee performance Ajayi Crowther
University and
Federal University of Technology, Akure.
H04.
Continuance commitment does not affect employee performance in Ajayi
Crowther University
and Federal University of Technology, Akure.
H05. Affective
commitment does not affect employee performance in Ajayi Crowther
University and
Federal University of Technology, Akure.
H06. There is no significant perceptual difference
between private and public university
on workplace
spirituality and worker’s commitment on their performance.
1.6
Significance of the Study
Every organization longs to have suitable
environment that positively enables employees to actualize their full
potentials in promoting overall organizational performance. This is because a
dispirited organizational climate is likely to be enclosed with
dissatisfactions, interpersonal problems, lack of trust, and eventually,
workers’ turnover. The study of workplace spirituality helps provide
satisfactory information to leaders, professionals and human resources managers
about the condition within which their employees are working.
Studying workplace spirituality provides some
benefits for both the organisation and the employees. For example workplace
spirituality helps to provide the organisation with a better understanding of
the organizational mood and how it affects its objectives. This could help the
organisation to know how to formulate policies and programs that may help to
provide good environment for better performance of the workers. Also, the study
of workplace spirituality may help employees have a deep understanding of
oneself and align his/her personal values with that of the organisation.
Scholars like Ajala (2013), Ahiauzu and Asawo (2012)
have observed that unlike countries in the west, there is dearth of research
studies on workplace spirituality as it affects organizational behaviour in
Nigeria. It is based on this premise that this study examined the influence of
workplace spirituality on workers’ commitment and performance in order to
relatively increase the sparsely existing literatures in the country. In
addition, the study has constituted a resource material for students,
researchers and Human Resources Managers to obtain useful information for their
academic purpose, and for application at the workplaces.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The phenomenological issues of workplace
spirituality are so pervasive and beyond the scope of this study. As a result,
this research was limited to the following area of study: Workplace
spirituality and its effects on employee commitment and performance. The
non-academic staff of Ajayi Crowther University and
Federal University of Technology Akure, working in the categories of the Administrative,
Technical and Secretariat were the main focus of this study.
This study reviewed the concepts of
spirituality in the workplace, employee commitment, and performance in the
organisation. Three dimensions of workplace spirituality (sense of community,
meaningful work, and inner life), two aspects of employee commitment (Affective
and Continuance commitment) and two areas of employee performance (task
performance and contextual performance) were the focus of the study. The review
also included theoretical and empirical explanations of the phenomena under
study and an evaluation of the review.
1.8 Operational Definition of
Terms
Spirituality: In this
study, spirituality is operationally defined as the unconscious
feeling that energizes workers into action in relation to providing quality
service in the organisation without inducement. Spirituality often is
characterized by a need to feel connected to other people and the environment.
Organizational/Workplace Spirituality: In this
paper, the definition of Ashmon and Duchon (2000) was used. They defined
workplace spirituality as the “recognition that employees have an inner life
that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the
context of community.” It is an experience of
interconnectedness among those involved in the work process, initiated by
reciprocity and personal goodwill which is engendered by a deep sense of
meaningful organization’s work that elicits greater motivation and
organizational outcomes. In this paper, other concepts that will be used
synonymously with workplace spirituality are organisational spirituality,
spirituality at work, and spiritual workplace.
Sense of
Community: This is defined as one’s experience of a deep sense of connection
with other people and other people’s work. It means one’s feelings as part of a
community and can identify with the group’s common purpose.
Meaningful
work.
Meaningful work implies in the paper as one’s experience that work is a
significant and meaningful part to life. Indeed, one feels that work has
meaning that is beyond the material rewards.
Individual
Inner life: This implies in this study as the feelings that
individuals derive from self perception and how it affects their activities and
benefits others
Commitment:
In this
study, Commitment is viewed in the following dimensions:A strong belief in and
acceptance of the organization’s goals and values; a willingness to exert
considerable effort on behalf of the organization; and a strong attachment and
desire to remain and maintain membership in the organization.
Performance: Employee
performance is implied in this study as the behaviour of the employee that
makes a meaningful and sincere contribution to an organisation which is driven
by the employee’s wellbeing, connectedness and sense of meaningful work within
the organisation.
1.9 Organisation/Plan of Study
In every organisation, employees have been
adjudged to be the most valuable assets that can meaningfully contribute to the
progress and accomplishment of organisational vision. As a result, the
examination of workplace spirituality in relation to employee commitment and
performance becomes apposite since it can help to engender mutual understanding
and relationship of both the employees and the employers/leaders to have a
common focus of achieving the objective of their institution. Therefore, this
study is going to be carried out under the following outlay.Chapter one contains the background
introduction and the direction of the entire study as it encompasses the objectives,
research questions, hypothesis, the significance of the study and operational
definitions.Chapter two which houses the literature review gives a vivid
clarification of concepts, theoretical review and empirical review. This
chapter ends with appraisal of the review and gaps identified in the review
which this study is likely to fill.Chapter three is the Methodology of the
study which gives a detailed procedure of how the objective of this study can
be scientifically achieved. So, this chapter includes the research design, data
collection and how the study intends to analyze the data generated in the
course of the study.Chapter four includes the presentation of data, analysis
and interpretation. The findings here will be exemplified in retrospect with
the initial hypotheses and assumptions in relation with the relevant theories
that have featured in the previous chapters.Chapter five epitomizes the summary
and conclusions of the research, as well as the recommendations which are
deductions from the study.
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