Whether Prayer Among Polish Employees Is Related to Egoism at Work: The Moderating Role of Employees’ Perception of Their Relationship With God and the Mediating Role of Humility

Abstract

AbstractPrayer can provide some benefits at work, but only if it is connected with strengthening the person’s close and truthful relationship with God. There is a lack of research regarding the role of this religious practice in antisocial behavior at work and the mechanisms explaining these links. The aim of this study was to examine the mechanisms underlying the association between prayer and egoism at work, taking into account the perception of the relationship with God as a moderator and humility as well as lack of haughtiness as mediators in this connection. The study sample consisted of 754 full-time Polish employees. The mechanisms underpinning the association between prayer and egoism at work were shown. Only for those employees with the highest results in their perception of their relationship with God was prayer positively related to humility and lack of haughtiness and negatively related to egoism at work. Moreover, only in a group of employees with higher than average results in their perception of their relationship to God was a moderated mediating effect noticed. In representatives of this group, prayer was positively related to humility and a lack of haughtiness, which in turn negatively predicted egoism at work. The benefits of prayer at work—humility and a lack of haughtiness and egoism—were confirmed, but only for employees with a perceived close relationship with God. In Polish employees who perceive that they have a close relationship with God, prayer is recommended for cultivating humility and reducing haughtiness as well as egoism at work.