The Influence of Spirituality

Abstract

Spirituality and its relationship to leadership and organizational behavior has been of increasing interest to researchers, but inadequate scales have limited rigorous quantitative studies. Spirituality is complex and involves experiential, emotional, and transformative dimensions that create dynamic cycles of expectancy, behavior, and attitudes that evolve, rendering many existing spiritual practice behavioral measures inadequate. An instrument developed to capture the broader concept of spiritual engagement, the Spiritual Engagement Instrument (SpEI), is presented. Through an overview of SpEI development, and demonstration of SpEI research, a primer to advance spirituality-based organization and leadership research is offered. If spiritual engagement is a transformative cycle, understanding and measuring the phenomena in context will better inform leadership and organization development policy. Toward a theoretical and practical understanding, this chapter guides the researcher in exploring the potential of spirituality in organizations.