From "doing alone" to "working together"-Research on the influence of spiritual leadership on employee morale

Juan Jiang; Zhixiao Ye; Jing Liu; Wasi Ul Hassan Shah; Zahid Shafait

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.992910

From "doing alone" to "working together"-Research on the influence of spiritual leadership on employee morale

Front Psychol. 2023 Mar 15:14:992910. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.992910. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Juan Jiang¹, Zhixiao Ye², Jing Liu³, Wasi Ul Hassan Shah⁴, Zahid Shafait⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Financial Management, Business School, Ludong University, Yantai, Shandong, China.
² Property Management Department, School of Management, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
³ International Economy and Trade Department, Business School, Ludong University, Yantai, Shandong, China.
⁴ School of Management, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
⁵ College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

Spiritual leadership is a beneficial attempt to implement organizational strategy and sustainable development by improving employees' personal spiritual needs, stimulating employees' intrinsic motivation, sense of responsibility, and calling in the work process. We theoretically illustrate that spiritual leadership has a significant positive impact on employee morale. The factors of personal self-efficacy and interpersonal trust play an intermediary chain role in this process. SPSS 24.0 and Process3.5 were used to test the mediating effect using multilevel regression analysis and the bootstrap method. Survey data collected from 278 employees from Chinese organizations supported our proposed hypotheses. The research verifies it is necessary to pay attention to improving the spiritual needs of leaders and employees in organizational development. Through the cultivation, spiritual leadership not only can stimulate the cohesion of the organization and the intrinsic motivation of the employees, but also is of great significance to enrich the spiritual life of the organization members.

Keywords: employee morale; interpersonal trust; self-efficacy; spiritual leadership; sustainable development.