Workplace spirituality as determinant of affective commitment and moderating role of religiosity among employees of rural development agencies in Malaysia

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between workplace spirituality (according to its three dimensions of meaningful work, sense of community, and value alignment) and affective commitment among employees in four different Rural Development Agencies. The study also examined the possible moderating effects of religiosity on the relationships between workplace spirituality dimensions and affective commitment. Data were gathered using self-administered and a cross-sectional survey questionnaires from a sample of 263 employees selected based on proportionate stratified random sampling. Three measuring scales were used: 1) 21 items spirituality at work scale by Milliman et al. (2003) to measure workplace spirituality; 2) the revised version of the six items affective commitment scale developed by Meyer, Allen and Smith (1997) to measure employees' affective commitment; 3) the 10-item Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSORF) by Plante and Boccaccini (1997) to measure employee’s level of religiosity. Employees' affective commitment was conceptualized using the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR). The theory explains that spiritual resources can foster employees’ positives attitudes including affective commitment. To test the hypotheses of the study, this study was conducted a correlation analysis and applied a structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques by Amos 22. The results of analysis shows that only one meaningful work) out of three dimensions of workplace spirituality has a significant relationships with affective commitment. However sense of community and alignment of values dimension have a low and non-significant relationships with affective commitment. For moderation analysis, the study found that there is moderation effect of religiosity on the overall model. However, for the individual path, religiosity only moderates the relationship between meaningful work and affective commitment. The study concluded that employees’ affective commitment is influenced by meaningful work. The study also concluded that the employees’ affective commitment was varied in the workplace by religiosity level, particularly those who are experiencing meaningful work. In terms of practice, the organization that promotes employees to experience workplace spirituality would lead to a positive impact including employees’ affective commitment towards the organization