Abstract
Issues regarding workplace spirituality and spiritual leadership have received increased attention in the organizational sciences. The implications of workplace spirituality for leadership theory, research, and practice make this a fast-growing area of new research and inquiry by scholars. The purpose of this research was to test a dynamic relationship between the revised spiritual leadership model, consisting of inner life, spiritual leadership (comprised of hope/faith, vision, and altruistic love), spiritual well-being (i.e. a sense of calling and membership), and key organizational outcomes in a sample of Baldrige Performance Excellence Program award recipients. With structural equation modeling, results revealed a positive and significant relationship between spiritual leadership and several outcomes considered essential for performance excellence, including organizational commitment, unit productivity, and life satisfaction. These relationships were explained or mediated by spiritual well-being. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
The Research
Many of the original CEO Study findings (Latham, 2013) appear consistent with the concepts found in spiritual leadership as described by Fry (2003) and Fry & Nisiewicz (2013). Specifically, we found that spiritual leadership concepts were linked directly or indirectly with 21 of the 35 top-level concepts in the leading transformation framework (Latham, 2013, p. 33). This research project brings together leading transformation framework and spiritual leadership, two of the research “streams” that I call for being combined in Latham (2014).
To test the connection between spiritual leadership and organizational excellence, we conducted a quantitative study of Baldrige Award recipient organizations. The purpose of this research was to test a dynamic relationship between spiritual leadership and spiritual well-being (i.e., a sense of calling and membership) and key organizational outcomes in a sample of Baldrige recipient organizations. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), results revealed a positive and significant relationship between spiritual leadership and organizational commitment, unit productivity, and life satisfaction. These relationships were explained or mediated by spiritual well-being.
Article
Fry, L. W., Latham, J. R., Clinebell, S. K. & Krahnke, K. (2017). Spiritual Leadership as a Model for Performance Excellence: A Study of Baldrige Award Recipients. Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion 14(1). | Download
