Correlational study of individual personality differences and spirituality at workplace

Transcription

1 Correlational study of individual personality differences and spirituality at workplace *Dr. Puja Khatri, **Pragya Gupta *Professor of Management, USMS, IP University ** Research Scholar, USMS, IP University

2 ABSTRACT Organizations worldwide including India; have been plagued by tumultuous business conditions triggered by factors like economic recession, downsizing of workforce, distrust in management and likewise. In such times, a growing number of organizations and employees are finding solace in thepositive outcomes associated with a workplace that augments fulfilment of the spiritual needs of the workers. India, despite being considered the seat of spiritualism, does not have many empirical studiesrelated to the topic of fostering spirituality at workplace. On the other hand, personality psychology reveals that spiritual and religious beliefs are distinctive components of an individual and they have the potential to shape a person's life and personality. The study of relationship between personality traits and spirituality can bring new insights to the research on benefits associated with implementation of spirituality at work. This is an attempt to understand the link between various personality domains and the dimensions of workplace spirituality to highlight its positive payback. Keywords: workplace spirituality, spirituality at workplace, Big five model, personality factors, personality domain, individual differences

3 INTRODUCTION The importance of the study of workplace spirituality in management research is gaining momentum increasingly. The last fifteen years has seen a spate of interest in spirituality at workplace among academic research, mainstream newspapers, commercial media, magazine articles, academic conferences, etc.(milliman et al., 2003; Biberman 2004; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003; Karakas, 2010).Businesses are gradually realizing that the human beings are spiritual in nature and this nature has immense prospects in business (Mitroff & Denton, 1999; Ashmos & Duchon, 2000; Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2003; Smith & Rayment, 2007; Marques, Dhiman & King, 2007).Although spirituality, spiritual practices and spiritually-embodied values have not been existent as variables in the organizational research, scholars like Heermann (1997) have believed them to be the most powerful variables related to personal as well as organizational effectiveness. The importance of spirituality in the workplace was noted scholars like Dent et al. (2005), who stated that workplace spirituality offers the possibility of increasing individual effectiveness resulting in organizational performance improvement Research in USA have shown that only 50% of the Americans are happy with their jobs; the contributing factors include massive layoffs, unethical corporate activities, declining job satisfaction, technological advancements, increase in contractual jobs, threats of terrorism, job insecurity, stress and burnout, etc. The reports from Indian workplace is not much different; the news of various scams and rising corruption rate have disconcerted many in India. The rise of workplace violence, the latest witnessed at Maruti Suzuki Plant in Manesar, Haryana have raised several question marks on the seething conditions of the workplaces in India, which is ready to violently erupt at any time. The changes in social, economic and workforce demographic patterns have highlighted the necessity of practicing spirituality at workplace to mitigate some of the maladies of the modern lifestyle. It thus makes sense to scientifically examine the impact of practicing spirituality at workplace for creating conducive work environment and better workplace culture. Scholars have argued that workplace spirituality is constructed out of two inner elements, viz., the individual view and the organizational spirituality (Marques, Dhiman, and King, 2006; Kolodinsky, Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2008). Marques (2006) demonstrated that the spirituality is essentially drawn from individual's inner self at both the individual and organizational level, implying this that organizational spirituality is initiated at the individual front. Milliman et. al., (2003) firmly believed that individual experiences greatly influence workplace spirituality. Nichols (1994) in Harvard Business Review has argued in favour of the need of the organizations to find ways to enable soul searching on the job and incorporate it for mutual benefits being brought to organizations and individuals. It is therefore critical to study the individual differences in the study of workplace spirituality. However, most of the claims made by researchers are frequently supported only by personal experience, anecdotal evidence (Gotsis & Kortezi, 2008) or inductive logic (Poole, 2009). A multitude of important areas of study is still left to be explored; one of which is how individual personality characteristics correlates to existence of spirituality at workplace. Authors like Helminiak (2006) and Pargament (1999) believed that the topic of spirituality is inherent in the psychology of religion and some others like MacDonald (2000) and Piedmont (1999) found its close association with the 5- factor model of personality. This study intends to fill this gap by bringing forth significant findings and meaningful insights, especially in the context of Indian companies. The theoretical framework of this study includes the big five personality factors viz.,extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness on one hand and examines its relationship with spirituality at workplace as defined by the dimensions like Inner life, Meaningful work, Sense of community, Values alignment and Transcendence (Ashmos & Duchon, 2005; Kinjerski & Skrypnek, 2006). These dimensions have been chosen after a careful review of all the dimensions mentioned in the literature. L ITERATURE REVIEW Spirituality at Workplace : meaning and definitions Notwithstanding swelling interest in workplace spirituality, there has not been much substantial progress towards developing a more rigorous and empirically informed science of workplace spirituality. Workplace spirituality as defined by Mitroff and Denton (1999)is the effort of an individual to find one's ultimate goal in life, to develop a strong bonding with the co-workers and others as well as have an alignment between his (or her) personal values and the values exhibited by the organization (s)he is associated with. Ashmos & Duchon (2000) believed that workplace spirituality is the acknowledgement of the fact that employees have an inner life that promoted and is sustained by having meaningful work accomplished in the context of community. Their spirituality at workplace model comprised of three levels; the personal level, the work- unit level, and the organizational level. The paper by Kolodinsky et al. (2008) gave the following three distinct thoughts on workplace spirituality- Application of personal spirituality at the workplace, implying assimilation of individual spiritual values and beliefs at work Organizational spirituality as individual perception o f t h e s p i r i t u a l values e m b o d i e d w i t h i n organizational boundaries Interactive workplace spirituality involving the interplay between spiritual values of the individuals and the organizational values. 40 DIAS TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 12 NO. 2 OCTOBER MARCH 2016

4 Kolodinsky et al. (2008) believed that the above way of postulating workplace spirituality fits the concept of personorganization fit, that is, the match between workers' spiritual values and their perceptions of the spiritual values exuded by the organization. Some parallels with the above line of thought can be drawn from the traditional Indian wisdom of Vedanta that speaks of at man (soul or spirit) as our 'real self', which is the consequence of self-awareness, thereby making us more relaxed, filled with positive energy and more commitment (Pandey & Gupta, 2008). In fact, this is the potential which every human being is born with and people who discovered these truths led the fruitful lives and were the ones who sat on thrones and were in command of armies. The teaching of Bhagwad Gita (3-35) further disseminate the term 'Dharma' which in its religious connotation means rectitude, duty, etc. as 'swadharma' which is the ideal of human existence. Performance of swadharma essentially is the deeper connectedness with work which provides maximum joy and satisfaction to an individual. Similarly, in western philosophy, Dhiman (2000) describes spirituality as the cognizance of the basic principle of our existence as demonstrated by the individual efforts to live in perfect harmony with nature. Spirituality at work is just an extension of this thought of getting in alliance with this divine principle in the context of workplace. In our study, we have taken the definition of spirit at work as given by Kinjerski & Skrypnek (2006): (1) engaging work considered as feeling of well-being, an individual belief of being engaged in meaningful work and having an alignment between one's own values and beliefs with that of organizational values characterised by the work content and how it is being performed; (2) a spiritual connection represented by a feeling of belongingness to something greater than oneself; (3) a sense of community distinguished by a feeling of connection with others and common purpose and (4) a mystical experience categorised by a positive state of energy or vitality, a sense of perfection, transcendence, and experiences of contentment. This definition is closest to what we think should outline the individual-focused approach to spirituality at workplace. However, we have also attempted to include organizational spirituality as defined by the extent to which an employee perceives of having an aligned relationship with their organization by considering how well their own goals and values are akin to their organization. Concept of Personality, The Five factor model of Personality and Spirituality Personality psychology views personality as a collection of emotional thoughts and behavioural patterns exhibited by an individual consistently over a period of time. Costa (1989) defined personality as the persistent experiential, psychosomatic, interpersonal and behavioural styles of individuals' way of conduct in diverse situations. Funder (2001) argued that personality is an individual's characteristic pattern of thought, emotion and behaviour, together with the psychological mechanisms behind these patterns. One popular approach to study personality is by viewing it as a combination of stable internal characteristics which define the individual and motivate their behaviour in different situations (Allport, 1961).One of the most prominent models prevalent in psychology is the five factor model of personality, often referred to as the 'Big Five' (Ewen, 1998) includes neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness. Interestingly, most early studies related to religion and spirituality have focused on the established domain of individual personality dimensions in the form of Five-Factor model given by McCrae (1992).The FFM holds personality to be comprised of five primary factors, ordomains, under which the variety of individual characteristics that comprise the unique substance of personality can be located (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The FFModel of personality being a welldefined psychological construct has been suggested as a valuable reference point from which spirituality could be explored. Kinjerski and Skrypnek (2006) proposed that the individual spirit at work may be fostered by the different but integrated individual personality traits. Further they were especially intrigued by the similarities drawn between the integrated spirit at work (isaw) personality profile and the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality(mccrae & Costa, 1999) with one major exception. They believe that what is left unexplained by the FFM Model is the tendency of individuals exhibiting high spirit at work having a spiritual predisposition. The authors postulated that spirituality appears to be that unexplored dimension of personality which makes the individual experience of spirit at work inimitable which implies that a spiritual bend is responsible for the individual spirit at work and transformation. People believe in having an association with something beyond self, the search for eternal meaning and the self-transcendental predisposition towards the spirit at work seems to lead to the individual transformation. Utilising the FFM model of personality as the springboard, Piedmont (1999) and MacDonald (2000) have even gone ahead to the extent to proclaim that spirituality may constitute the sixth personality factor. However, this positioning of spirituality as the sixth personality factor have not yet been accepted by all in the psychological community as having sufficient evidence to be definitively and conclusively established. MacDonald (2000) examined eleven prominent measures of spirituality tapping consructs of religion, spirituality, mysticism, transcendence and analysed different world views to identify core factors of spirituality common to all measures. The resultant expressions of spirituality scale (ESS) was analysed with NEO PI-R scale to reveal that neuroticism facets had strong, negative correlations with ESI scale and the other domains E, O, A and C show a weak although significant correlation. However it remains debatable whether his theoretical construct was achieved by disparate merging of religion and spirituality. DIAS TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 12 NO. 2 OCTOBER MARCH

5 Saroglou (2002) in her meta-analysis of 13 studies published between 1986 and 2000 that measured spirituality, religiosity and the Big Five factors of personality found small but significant correlations between religiosity /spirituality and five personality traits. His analysis showed that E, O, A and C demonstrated a consistent pattern of positive relationship across religious and spiritual measures, while N (neuroticism) demonstrated low or negative associations. Another study by Chavers et al. (2012) (quoted in Chavers, 2013)found correlations that are similar to those cited previously. They found that the personality domains of E, A, and C demonstrated medium to large size coefficients that were significantly and positively correlated with higher spirituality scores, while N demonstrated a negative correlation with spirituality. Our study will utilise the established framework of Five Factor Model of Personality as a basis for understanding individual spiritual tendencies and its effects pertaining to spirituality at workplace. It may be interesting to note that no research article could be found that highlighted individual personality differences and their effects on the workplace spirituality in the Indian scenario. So, the present study may be pioneer in examining this relationship and see how the two constructs relate. R HYPOTHESES ESEARCH QUESTIONS This research aims to answer the following research question: To understand the relationship between Big Five personality traits and spirituality at workplace. Based on the above research question and literature review, the study attempts to test the following hypothesis: H : There exists a significant and positive relationship between 1 the extraversion personality type and Spirituality at Workplace H : There exists a significant and positive relationship between 2 the agreeable personality type and Spirituality at Workplace H : There exists a significant and positive relationship between 3 the conscientious personality type and Spirituality at Workplace H : There exists a significant and positive relationship between 4 the open personality type and Spirituality at Workplace H : There exists a significant and negative relationship 5 between the neurotic personality type and Spirituality at Workplace R Table 1: Reliability of the instruments used in the study ESEARCH METHOD A comprehensive questionnaire was developed for data collection on the topic of study. Part A of the instrument has been designed to collect demographic details while Part B mapped the individual personality type and the spirituality at work individual and organizational. The questionnaire consisted of following measures: Big Five Personality questionnaire given by Rammstedt, Beatrice and John, Oliver P (2008) measuring the five personality dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism & extraversion. Individual Spirituality at Work (I-SAW) by Kinjerski & Skrypnek (2006) scale measuring the four components of spirituality at work Engaging Work (EW ), Mystical Experience (ME), Spiritual Connection (SpC) and Sense of Community (SoC). The organizational spirituality was measured by using Alignment of organizational values scale (adapted from Ashmos & Duchon, 2000; Milliman et al., 2003) which depicts the match between workers' spiritual values and the spiritual values exuded by the organization. The questions were rated on Likert scale of five points ranging from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest level of response (strongly agree) and 1 being the lowest (strongly disagree). The selfconstructed questionnaire was sent for expert review and their inputs have been incorporated accordingly. Reliability of the questionnaire is as given below in Table 1. Nunnally (1978) has recommended a reliability of 0.70 and above for the instruments used in empirical research. The sampling in this study was proportionate stratified random sampling wherein two organizations each from IT/ ITES, Banking and Insurance sectors were shortlisted based on select parameters the organization is based out of Delhi- NCR, minimum number of employees in the organization must be 500 and the organization must have been established for at least five years. The list of level-wise employees was taken from the HR department of each of these six organizations and a final list of names of 50 was prepared from the initial list based on random sample number generator, ensuring to include each hierarchical level in proportion to the size of that level. A web-based survey was prepared and an online link was shared with all the chosen set of employees. Name of the scale Author No. of items Cronbach's Alpha Big Five Personality Questionnaire John (2008) Individual Spirituality at Work (I-SAW) Kinjerski & Skrypnek (2006) The organizational spirituality scale Self-Constructed DIAS TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 12 NO. 2 OCTOBER MARCH 2016

6 After a month of launching the web-survey, we received 193 usable responses out of 300, signifying a response rate of 64.33%. Responses where more than 50% of the data was missing were not included, ultimately only 193 cases were used for the purpose of data analysis. S TUDY FINDINGS Prior to administering the questionnaire, a short description of the concept of workplace spirituality was provided to the respondents for their understanding. In addition, the respondents were assured of the anonymity of the survey being conducted and their prior consent was taken. Findings and Discussions To achieve the objectives of this study, Pearson' product moment correlation coefficients have been obtained between personality factors and workplace spirituality and its dimensions (Table 2). Extraversion and the other four dimensions of SAW such as Engaging Work (EW), Mystical Experience (ME), Spiritual connection (SpC) and (Val-align) and total score of SAW.So, H1 is partially accepted. Further, the results show moderately high relationship of the personality factor agreeableness with all the dimensions of SAW; viz., engaging work (r = 0.215, p 0.01), mystical experience (r = 0.213, p 0.01), sense of community (r = 0.318, p 0.01), spiritual connection (r=0.242,p 0.01) and organization values alignment(r = 0.302, p 0.01). It also displayed a significant and positive relationship with the total SAW score (r = 0.322, p 0.01). At the most basic level, agreeableness factor of personality relates to the continuum of attitudes and skills relevant to facilitating or impeding interpersonal intimacy. On the high side of A, individuals are more likely to be helpful and sympathetic vis-à-vis on the low end of A, individuals tend to be skeptical and critical (Costa & McCrae, 2000). The theory of agreeableness fits in suitably with the definition of SAW as given by Kinjerski & Skrypnek Table 2: Correlations between Big Five Factors of Personality and Workplace Spirituality BFI_Extraversion BFI_Agreeableness BFI_Conscientiousness BFI_Openness BFI_Neuroticism SAW_EW.157*.215**.376** ** SAW_ME.146*.213**.229** * SAW_SoC.253**.318**.370** ** SAW_SpC.155*.242**.371** ** SAW_Val-Align.160*.302**.292** ** SAW_Completeset.204**.322**.396** ** *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). The first hypothesis H1was to evaluate the relationship between the extraversion personality type and spirituality at work. A positive but weak relationship between Extraversion factor of personality and all the factors of spirituality at work including engaging work (r = 0.157, p 0.05), mystical experience (r = 0.146, p 0.05), alignment with organization Values (r = 0.160, p 0.05) and a moderately high positive relationship with sense of community (r = 0.253, p 0.01). It also displayed a significant and positive relationship with the total SAW score (r = 0.204, p 0.01). Extraversion traits are associated with the quality and quantity of interpersonal relationships, energy level, and enthusiasm. On the other hand, sense of community as defined by Kinjerski & Skrypnek (2006) is an interpersonal dimension characterized by a feeling of connectedness to others and common purpose. So, individuals with high scores on extraversion tend to value workplace associations more than the others and thus are more inclined towards fostering quality interpersonal relations at work. The results are in line with the findings of Kimberly (2011) who found a significant, positive relationship with spirituality at work (r = 0.244, p.001) and he suggests that is possible because individuals high on spiritual orientation tend to be extrovert and enjoy the company of others. The findings given by MacDonald (2000); Sarglou (2002); Chavers et al. (2012) are also in sync with the results. However, no significant correlations were found between (2006) as individuals with high score on A would be more prone towards demonstrating high levels of spirituality at workplace and positive outcomes associated with it. In the meta-analytic reporting of 13 different studies, Sarglou(2002) identified significant correlations of E, A and O with spirituality/ religiosity. Similar findings have also been reported by other eminent scholars like MacDonald (2000) and Chavers (2012). Hypothesis H2is thereby accepted. The correlations between the third personality factor conscientiousness and SAW was found to be positive and significantly high with all the dimensions of SAW such as engaging work (r = 0.376, p 0.01), mystical experience (r = 0.229, p 0.01), sense of community (r = 0.370, p 0.01), spiritual connection (r = 0.371, p 0.01), alignment with organization Values (r = 0.292, p 0.01) and total score of SAW (r = 0.396, p 0.01). Conscientiousness personality domain measures the continuum of individual differences in tendencies to plan, organize, and execute tasks (Costa& McCrae, 1992). Individuals high in C are punctual, reliable, hardworking, strong-willed, self-motivated, and determined. Such individuals would not only foster workplace friendships but would be totally engaged to their work; they would have more sense of belongingness to their work and seek more satisfaction out of it. The results are consistent with the DIAS TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 12 NO. 2 OCTOBER MARCH

7 findings put forth by MacDonald (2000), Piedmont(2000) and Sarglou (2002). So, hypotheses H3 is accepted. Openness personality factor considers a general sense of openness to and curiosity about, the world (Costa & McCrae, 1992). A person high on O is seen as someone willing to entertain novel or unconventional ideas and opinions, who appreciates variety and aesthetics, and has a higher level of overall intellectual curiosity. Contrary to what was reported in the studies by other scholars (MacDonald, 2000; Sarglou, 2002; Chavers, 2013) correlations as depicted in table 1 shows no significant relationships on any of the dimensions of SAW with O. Kossel (2011) believed that those higher in spiritual orientation appear to be more open and curious about the world and have a tendency to experience their lives and emotions more richly than those lower in O. It is difficult therefore to explain the reasons for the non-existence of any correlations. However, one explanation of this could that possibly spiritually-oriented individuals identify some elements of spirituality that helps them maintain a sense of self-perseverance especially since presence of neurotic tendencies was established in the present sample. So, H4 gets rejected as openness personality dimension demonstrated no correlations with any dimension of SAW. The neuroticism personality domain assesses the "the general tendency to experience negative affects" and a general level of emotional stability. In our study, neuroticism was found to be having significant and negative relationship with all the dimensions of SAW such as engaging work (r = , p 0.01), mystical experience (r = 0.167, p 0.05), sense of community (r = 0.296, p 0.01), spiritual connection (r = 0.217, p 0.01), alignment with organization Values (r = 0.273, p 0.01) and total score of SAW (r = 0.332, p 0.01).Individuals who are higher in N are more inclined to be impulsive, have poor coping skills, and experience irrational ideas, on the other hand those lower in N tend to be more emotionally stable, relaxed, and able to face stressful situations without becoming overwhelmed (Costa & McCrae, 1992). So, neuroticism fares a negative relationship with manifestation of SAW. Practically all the scholars working on these two variables reported negative associations of E with spirituality, with the exception of Sarglou (2002), who interestingly found significant positive relationships with spirituality/extrinsic religiosity. However, he attributed this deviation to the Spanish student sample which he studied. C ONCLUSION The study of individual personality factors is an intense field of research with some real world implications. Several researches in the field of organizational sciences have shown that individual personality traits play an important role on a host of workplace related issues. On the other hand, spirituality is a growing stream of topic in management; still struggling to find common grounds in its definition. Further there is dearth of workplace spirituality research dealing with personality facets at work. According to some researchers, spirituality is supposed to be transcendent of individual personality differences. Researchers like Piedmont (1999)contends spirituality as a unique dimension of personality factor which helps us to better understand individual behaviour and work outcomes. Evidences supporting spirituality as a representative of existent personality dimensions would definitely open up new avenues of research needing further development. MacDonald (2000) further admits that Five Factor Model of personality is incomplete, lacking a domain that addresses spirituality. Ashmos and Duchon (2000) believe that in the significance of wholesome development of individual employees (both intrinsic and extrinsic aspects) to achieve increased performance, organizational effectiveness and productivity. Overall, findings in the current study appear to support the debate that spirituality and personality are related in a multidimensional manner. With the exception of openness, the study found significant correlations of all the personality domains E, A, C with all the dimensions of SAW as well as the total SAW score, at a significance level of p<.01. This endorses the view that spiritual development starts with an individual; thereby implying that one can hope of implementing spiritualty at workplace only by bringing about changes in individual employees which in turn positively influences the organizational context as a result of spiritual changes in the individual employee. This study is particularly important in the ongoing filed of research in SAW as no significant research was found dealing with individual personality traits and their effects on manifestation of spirituality at work. While the study revealed statistically significant correlations between four of the five factors of the five factor model, it remains unclear if spirituality is a construct which represent a previously unidentified sixth dimension of personality (MacDonald, 2000; Piedmont, 1999). 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