This chapter is made up of two sections. The first section includes the discussion of this study and the implications for theoretical and practical fields .The second section includes the limitation of this study as well as the suggestions for the future research.
Discussion
First, it is important to examine the first hypothesis. Hypothesis 1 predicted that workplace spirituality is positively associated with job involvement. More specifically, individuals with a higher degree of workplace spirituality have higher levels of job involvement. The result of this study indicated that when an individual considers their work as a meaningful part of their life, they are willing to build the connection with the people that they are working with and have the consistency between their core values and organizational values. Thus higher job involvement results. This demonstrates that people consider the components of their work to be as important as the job itself, which is why employees with a high level of workplace spirituality align themselves with the organization’s values, staff, and core competencies. In this way the employees are extending the breadth and depth of their connection to the company by increasing their involvement to include all facets of the organization.
In order to understand Hypothesis 1 more clearly, it is best to define the origin of workplace spirituality. By definition, the sense of workplace spirituality is mostly developed based on the person himself/herself. A person’s motivation and attitudes are important in evaluating their development of workplace spirituality. Additionally, the degree of job involvement that is also created depends on the employees themselves. Hence, when one demonstrates a closer relationship with the organization, the more devoted they can be in their workplace.
After establishing the first hypothesis and the positive association workplace spirituality
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has with job involvement, the next step is to examine the second hypothesis related to perceived organizaitonal support. Hypothesis 2 predicted that perceived organizaitonal support had a moderating effect on the relationship between workplace spirituality and job involvement. As shown from the results of data analysis, the interaction effect (workplace spirituality and perceived organizaitonal support) were positive and significant to job involvement. The degree of perceived organizaitonal support moderated the relationship between workplace spirituality and job involvement. The finding not only confirmed Hypothesis 2 but also indicated that individuals who received support from the organization usually perceive that their organization is giving them certain level of concern. In this way, it is almost a reciprocal relationship between the employee and employer that is based on the employee’s perception of organization’s attitude and concern for their own well-being. This characteristic of perceived organizaitonal support generated the employees to have higher degree of job involvement than the employees did not receive the support from the organization.
Also, the control variables that discussed above were also being examined, however the experienced time showed no impact on job involvement. The possible reason might because employees take their job seriously regardless the organizational change; they only determined to just focus on their work itself. In contrast, company type showed the significant effect on job involvement. The organizational climate that foreign and domestic companies formed are dissimilar, this creates different influence on the employees. The organizational culture might develop different impact on employees’ job involvement.
Implication
In this section, theoretical implications and recommendations for future management were provided.
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Theoretical Implications
Human capital has been considered to be an important asset in an organization. However research based on workplace spirituality toward the work attitude, job involvement is lacking.
In short, job involvement is the variable that has long been viewed as significant in examining a worker’s psychological reaction toward the workplace and merits further study.
To contribute to the theoretical perspective, this study not only explored the relationship between workplace spirituality and job involvement but also tried to explore the moderating effect of perceived organizational support on the relationship between workplace spirituality and job involvement. According to the result of this study, workplace spirituality has been examined it is positively correlated to job involvement. In the other words, when individual developed high workplace spirituality, the higher job involvement resulted. Furthermore, the result of this study also showed that there is a positive moderating effect of perceived organizational support on the relationship between workplace spirituality and job involvement with the participants who has experienced M&A process.
Management Implications
This study provided the evidences showing that workplace spirituality positively associated with and perceived organizational support served as a moderating link between workplace spirituality and job involvement. According to participants in this study were the employees who have been through M&A circumstances. Hence, this study advises that organizational management and human resource practitioners can look close on this finding.
The finding could reflect employees’ reaction when they were facing uncertainty and a dynamic working environment the organization decision brought. It has been proven that employees are more dedicated and involved in their work when they build a strong connection with their organization and self- approve of their current work, feel satisfied with their work and remain positive while facing the challenge their organization brings.
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In practice, when the company recruits new talent. It is ideal to enroll the candidates who share the same or similar values as the organization. Since workplace spirituality has been proven to have a positive relationship with job involvement, it implies the individuals who align their personal value with the organization are more likely to engage themselves in their work. To increase the profit and save the cost for the company, it is better for the organization to bring in the people who consider their work is meaningful and agree with the vision of the organization.
Although the concept of workplace spirituality begins with the individual himself/
herself, the result also indicated that perceived organizational support played an important role in this relationship of workplace spirituality and job involvement. When the organization is being supportive to their employees, the relationship between workplace spirituality and job involvement is strengthened. It can also help the individual to align their core values with their organizational value in order to create a better profit for own and for all.
Compared to the other studies, it is unique that the participants in this study were employees who had the experience of M&As. It gave an insight for the organizational management and human resource practitioners when the M&A strategy has become one of the trends that cannot be ignored in the business world. The findings in this study can be taken as a reference when making the organizational management plan when facing a M&A circumstance.
The result might be different applied on different group of participants, it is highly likely that the degree to which the employees felt unsure from the M&A strategy was a main reason making organizational support became so important. With different background of the participants, the degree of importance of the factors might produce a different result.
Research Limitations and Suggestions
This study focuses on the relationship between workplace spirituality and job
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involvement as well as the moderating effect of perceived organizational support on the relationship between workplace spirituality and job involvement. There are some limitations in this study. The limitations are listed as below:
Firstly, the problem of common method variance (CMV) might have occurred in this study since all the measurement scales were put into one questionnaire and the independent and dependent variables were answered by the same respondents at the same period of time.
To prevent common method variance, three methods were adopted to solve this problem in advance. First, the 5 point and 7 point Likert scales were used in the questionnaire. Second, the research purpose and variables were not explained in the questionnaire. Lastly, several reverse items were being placed in the questionnaire to prevent participants from filling the questionnaire randomly. Harman’s single-factor test was conducted, and the largest factor only explained 46.70% of the variance, which showed that the items did not load on a general single factor. And it indicated there is no serious CMV problem with the measurements since is lower than 50% (Podsakoff, Mackenzie, & Podsakoff, 2003). However, some model fit indexes such as χ²/df and RMSEA still did not be able to reach the standard of the requirement from Byrne (1998).
Due to the sensitivity of the M&A issues in the business, there existed a certain level of difficulty to approach the employees who had been through the M&A process and continued to work at the same firm. Hence, any employees who had this specific experience could response the questionnaire. However, there might have some bias when the respondents were recalling their memory back to the time M&A happened. Also, due to the fact that questionnaire responses were self-reported, there was the risk that they might misrepresent themselves and it might impact the result of this study.
At last, although the study did not ask the respondents to provide the industry they were working in, most of the respondents were working in the insurance and banking industries These two industries happened to be the industries that utilize M&A strategy the most. For
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the future research, the researchers can target different kinds industries to observe the differences within them. Also, the case study in specific company which has recently adopted M&A strategy has also been suggested if the study want to get into more thorough details.
Since M&A has always been considered as a confidential and sensitive topic in the organization, it will be better to have a strong connection within the company that can provide the help if the researcher wants to study on this subject.
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