Spiritual Well-being at Workplace and Its Relationship with Organizational Commitment and Turnover among Textile Industry Employees in Qom, Iran

Article Notes: Received: Oct 16, 2019 Received in revised form: Nov 10, 2020 Accepted: Nov 28, 2020 Available Online: Jan 06, 2021 Background & Aims of the Study: Recently, there has been a surge of interest in spirituality and spiritual well-being due to their numerous beneficial organizational outcomes. Organizational commitment and turnover have been considered as positive and negative factors, respectively, in the success and productivity of organizations. Given the relationship among spiritual well-being, organizational commitment, and turnover, this study investigated spiritual well-being at the workplace and its relationship with organizational commitment and turnover among the employees of the selected textile companies in Qom province, Iran in 2016. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 222 employees of selected textile companies in Qom province. The participants were selected using the stratified sampling method. The required data were collected using three questionnaires, namely a demographic characteristics form, Spiritual Well-Being Scale by Ellison and Paloutzian, and Allen-Meyer Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. It should be mentioned that the validity and reliability of the Persian version of these questionnaires were confirmed. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, one-way analysis of variance, and Chi-square in SPSS software (version 20). Results: Based on the findings, the mean values of total spiritual well-being and organizational commitment of employees were 98.26±14.92 and 105.23±18.6, respectively. There were positive correlation coefficients and significant correlations between total spiritual well-being and organizational commitment (P˂0.01). In addition, the results showed that turnover had negative significant correlations with all aspects of spiritual wellbeing and organizational commitment (P˂0.01). Conclusion: Based on the results, it is possible to optimize workplace conditions and productivity by improving the spiritual well-being of the employees.

and broad concept in human evolution and its achievement is the main goal of healthcare policymakers. For decades, health was defined solely in terms of its physical, mental, and social aspects until 1979, when the World Health Organization identified spiritual wellbeing as the fourth aspect of health. Afterward, it was confirmed by the European governments in the Copenhagen Convention on Social Development. Currently, spiritual well-being is recognized as one of the aspects of health along with the physical, mental, and social aspects (1, 2).
Over the past decade, workplace spirituality has developed in both academia and the workplace (3). Spirituality provides people with strength and hope and improves their well-being (4). Spiritual well-being is also defined as "a state of life in which a person is able to deal with everyday problems in a way that leads to the internal realization of all their potential and gives their life meaning and purpose" (5). Spiritual well-being consists of two aspects, namely religious and existential (6). It is recognized as a key element in the development of societies and plays a significant role in mental health (7). Spiritual well-being helps people live better lives and interact more effectively with the world around them. Currently, there is a consensus on spirituality as a real phenomenon, unlike in the past (8).
Based on the previous studies about organization and management, the concept of spirituality and workplace spirituality is able to reduce organizational issues, such as alienation, stress, excessive compromise, and depersonalization of the employees. Accordingly, nowadays, most employees develop spirituality in order to increase their loyalty and overcome difficulties (9). Improvement of spiritual wellbeing helps people to develop adaptability skills; moreover, spirituality improves one's attitudes towards the world, reduces negative feelings and tensions, and creates a sense of independence and power (10). Life is meaningless without work and feeling passionless about one's occupation can destroy one's life; therefore, people are interested in experiencing spirituality in personal matters as well as their occupations and other aspects of life (11). Consequently, the separation of the work life of employees from their spiritual life reduces their passion for work since these two are practically inseparable (12). Spirituality is also associated with professional behavior in the form of occupational satisfaction, occupational performance, attitude, occupational ethics, spirit, and management (9).
Nowadays, organizations have a high and important position in the structure of a society; therefore, it is important and necessary for organizations to be healthy and efficient. Many factors are involved in the success and productivity of an organization, including consideration of the human resources and employees (13). Organizations need human resources as one of the driving factors of the organization in order to move fast and stay upto-date, accurate, and efficient (9). Human resources play a very important role in the effectiveness of the organization since they support the competitive qualities of organizations through teams of employees (14).
Organizational commitment is defined as the psychological attachment of employees to their organizations (15,16) and refers to a state in which an individual considers the organizational goals as their representative and wishes to remain a member of that organization (12). It is the degree to which an employee wants to maintain their membership due to interest and connection to the goals and values of the organization (16). Organizational commitment has three distinct components, namely affective, continuous, and normative commitment. Emotional commitment refers to adaptation, engagement, and emotional attachment to the organization, meaning that employees with strong emotional commitment work in the organization based on their will. Continuous commitment is based on the knowledge of employees of the costs associated with leaving the organization. Normative commitment refers to the commitment to the organization based on a sense of duty (14)(15)(16)17).
Organizational commitment seems to develop slowly but steadily over time since people tend to think about their relationship with their employer. Organizational commitment has become one of the most popular work attitudes studied by doctors and researchers due to its significant impact on organizational outcomes, including occupational performance (14). As management researchers believe, committed employees are more disciplined, stay longer in the organization, and work harder (18). Turnover is another important organizational factor that can be detrimental to the performance of the organization since the cost of replacement and training of employees as well as the required time is often very much. In addition, the retainment of talented employees is a priority for human resource professionals and organizations (19).
According to the results of previous studies, there is a positive relationship between spiritual well-being and organizational commitment which means that enhancement of spiritual wellbeing increases organizational commitment (20,21). On the other hand, more committed employees care more about the values and goals of the organization, will play a more active role in the organization, and are less likely to leave their job for new opportunities (22). Accordingly, the results of some studies on turnover intention have shown that employees with higher organizational commitment are less likely to leave their jobs (23,24).
Therefore, based on the results of previous research, there is a possible relationship among spiritual well-being, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. Moreover, it is important to have a better understanding of the root causes of turnover considering its negative effects. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies in this area, especially in the textile industry in Iran and abroad. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate spiritual well-being in the workplace and its relationship with organizational commitment and turnover intention among employees of selected textile companies in Qom province, Iran in 2016.
This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 222 employees of four selected textile companies in Qom province. The inclusion criteria consisted of the activeness of the company, number of employees, willingness and cooperation of management and employees, and usage of a system for the registration of work-related information. It should be mentioned that the participants were selected using the stratified sampling method. The required data were collected through three standard questionnaires. The first one was a demographic characteristics form which included the age, marital status, education level, organizational position, and work experience. The second instrument was the Spiritual Well-Being Scale by Ellison and Paloutzian with 20 items divided into two subscales, namely existential (n=10) and religious (n=10) well-being. This scale was scored based on a six-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree and had a score of 10-60.
The odd-numbered and even-numbered phrases were about religious and existential well-being, respectively. The total score of spiritual well-being is the sum of the scores of these two subcategories which will be between 20-120. In phrases with positive verbs, the "strongly agree" and "strongly disagree" are scored six and one, respectively. Furthermore, in phrases with negative verbs, the "strongly agree" and "strongly disagree" are scored one and six, respectively. After translation of this questionnaire into Persian, its validity and reliability were calculated at 0.85 (25) and 0.82 (11) through content validity and Cronbach's alpha, respectively.
The Allen-Meyer Organizational Commitment Questionnaire was also used which consisted of 24 items with seven choices and three subscales that were scored based on a seven-point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. It includes three subscales, namely effective, continuous, and normative (26) each of which included eight items. The minimum and maximum possible scores in this questionnaire are 24 and 168, respectively. Moreover, items 24,21,19,18,17,16,15,10,9,8,6,5, and 4 were reverse scored.
Validity and reliability of the Persian version of this questionnaire have been confirmed in studies conducted in Iran and its overall validity coefficient was calculated at 0.709 (27). The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 20) using descriptive statistical tests, such as Pearson correlation coefficients, one-way analysis of variance, and Chi-square test regarding the independent and dependent variables. It must be noted that all of the tests were performed at a 95% confidence interval.
The results obtained from the descriptive statistical tests related to the demographic characteristics of the subjects are summarized in Table 1. Based on the findings, the majority of subjects were married (91.2%), within the age range of 30-40 years old (49.1%), with high school education or below (80.2%), and had work experience of more than 10 years (42.8%). Table 2 tabulates the results regarding the range and mean values of the aspects of spiritual well-being, organizational commitment, total spiritual well-being, total organizational commitment, and turnover among the subjects. Table 3 summarizes the results of the Pearson correlation coefficient statistical tests regarding the relationship of the aspects of spiritual well-being with organizational commitment components, frequency of accidents, and turnover. Table 4 shows the results of the statistical-   Based on the obtained total spiritual wellbeing levels, only a low percentage (0.5%) of people had a low level of spiritual well-being (≥40). Moreover, 44.6% and 54.5% of subjects had moderate (41-99) and high (≤100) levels of spiritual well-being, respectively. These results could be due to the prevalence of religiosity and inclination to the human and spiritual values in our society. Accordingly, based on the findings of the other studies conducted in Iran, spiritual well-being levels were moderate and high (28)(29)(30).
Regarding the correlation between the aspects of spiritual well-being and those of organizational commitment components, the results revealed that there was a positive significant correlation in all cases, except for continuous commitment. In addition, there was a positive significant correlation (0.319) between spiritual well-being and overall organizational commitment (P<0.01) ( Table 3). These results are in line with those of other studies in the field of spirituality and organizational commitment (21,(31)(32)(33).
Given the positive correlation and significant relationship between spiritual wellbeing and organizational commitment, it can be said that employees with higher spiritual well-being levels demonstrate higher levels of organizational commitment. According to the definition of spiritual well-being, people with spiritual tendencies respond better to various situations they face in life. Furthermore, they can overcome their problems and believe that the organization cares about them. Therefore, people align their values and goals with those of the organization which increases their commitment and conscientiousness in the workplace.
According to the results, the turnover intention had a negative significant relationship with the aspects of spiritual well-being and total spiritual well-being (P˂0.01). Accordingly, the increase of the levels of spiritual well-being aspects and total spiritual well-being led to a reduction in the turnover intention. The correlation coefficient values of turnover intention with religious well-being, existential well-being, and total spiritual well-being were -0.311, -0.294, and -0.315, respectively (Table  3). This negative correlation could be due to an intrinsic motivation created as a result of spirituality and spiritual well-being of individuals which reduces stress and undesirable emotions by increasing motivation, confidence, and responsibility, and thereby decreases the turnover intention.
Results of the present study are in line with those of some studies conducted in the field of spirituality and turnover intention or the desire to stay (34)(35)(36)(37). However, they are inconsistent with the findings of the research performed by Narehan et al. in Malaysia about religious beliefs and turnover intention (38). These contradictions could be due to cultural differences and the effect of religious and spiritual values and beliefs of individuals in different countries and societies.
Based on the findings of the present study, the turnover intention had a negative significant relationship with the organizational commitment components and overall organizational commitment (Table 3). Accordingly, with the increase of the scores of organizational commitment components and overall organizational commitment, there was a decrease in turnover intention. The correlation coefficients of the turnover intention with normative commitment, continuous commitment, affective commitment, and total organizational commitment were -0.373, -0.373, -0.475, and -0.514, respectively (Table 3). Given that the desire to remain a member of an organization can be considered as one of the elements of organizational commitment and an indicator of the loyalty of employees, the increase of organizational commitment results in a decrease in turnover. These results have been confirmed by those of other similar studies (39)(40).
However, based on the findings of some studies, spiritual well-being has a significant relationship with gender, marital status (42), age, and education level (52). Moreover, according to previous studies, organizational commitment has a significant relationship with age and education level (53), and turnover intention has a significant relationship with age, gender, marital status, education level, and work experience (50). This inconsistency could be due to religious and cultural variations which lead to different values, personal characteristics, and social conditions. According to the results, the subjects had a desirable level of spiritual well-being, organizational commitment, and turnover. Moreover, the relationship between the studied variables revealed a positive significant relationship between spiritual well-being and organizational commitment. In addition, the turnover intention had a negative significant correlation with spiritual well-being and organizational commitment.
Committed human resources are very important and unfavorable working conditions and turnover intention of employees can be very costly for the organizations. Given the results, it can be concluded that spiritual well-being has a positive impact on such factors; therefore, it is necessary to enhance the spiritual well-being of employees in order to improve work environments and increase productivity. In addition, the findings of this study can contribute to the existing knowledge about the impact of the studied variables on industry employees; however, the generalization of the obtained results requires further studies.