The conceptualisation, development and validation of an organisational spiritual leadership measure within the ambit of African management philosophies

Abstract

Organisational spiritual leadership has been proposed as an alternative to lead a generation where personal values and beliefs are central to employee contentment, and organisational success. However, some suggest that a standardised or homogeneous applicability of organisational spiritual leadership is misplaced and empirically flawed. The aim of this study is to develop an organisational spiritual leadership instrument that is contextualised to our South African organisational realities using African management philosophies. In this research, knowledge was drawn from two bodies of scholarly literature, namely Spiritual leadership (SpL) and African management philosophies (AMP). Literature is systematically reviewed, focusing on three aspects of the body of knowledge, namely concepts, definitions, and typologies (elements). Text analyses were used to expose themes, and these were compared and analysed. A mixed method research approach was adopted, where Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA) and quantitative sampling using a questionnaire were used to collect and analyse data. The IQA process involved 8 participants who were identified using the power-relationship dynamic for purposive sampling. The results of the IQA process yielded a model that was used in a quantitative survey. This empirical study was based on a quantitative positivist paradigm, utilising a cross sectional design. A total of 5308 participants completed the self-administered survey from organisations in both the public and private sectors. The quantitative analysis included basic item screening, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), testing for common method bias (CMB), and determination of convergent validity and invariance analysis (configural, metric, and scalar). The results yielded a reliable and valid organisational SpL instrument that was invariant with regards to the private and public sectors used in this study. It was also found that the results of the study were not influenced by CMB, as most heuristics for assessing model fit were passed. The practical and academic value of this research is the newly developed SpL instrument for the context of SA organisations. The research has the propensity to bring a modern and fresh approach to understanding organisational leadership in South Africa and the subtleties of indigenous spirituality and cultural nuances. This advanced understanding can improve organisational leadership practices by enabling organisations to scale their leadership strategies, styles, and development programmes. Empirically and practically the research contributes to the South African field of organisational leadership. It can thus be used with confidence by organisational researchers and academics within the SA organisational context in both the private and public sectors