Workplace Spirituality and Job Performance in Higher Education

Abstract

Building on the social exchange theory, this paper proposes a model of the effects of workplace spirituality on job performance through the mediation effects of work engagement, affective commitment, and organizational trust. This quantitative-based research relies on structural equation modeling as an analysis technique. Data were collected from 207 faculty members working in the Palestinian higher education sector. Significant mediation effects of work engagement, affective commitment, and organizational trust were found in the relationship between workplace spirituality and job performance of academic staff. This research is original in two ways. First, very few studies examine the impact of workplace spirituality on job performance, a variable that has received less attention in the spirituality literature than organizational performance. Second, the study advances the literature on workplace spirituality by examining the concept in a non-Western academic context.