Workplace spirituality and employee engagement in selected hotels in Kilifi County, Kenya.

Abstract

Employee engagement has been credited with numerous organizational benefits, but the hospitality sector faces workforce challenges that may potentially hinder it. Despite many studies focusing on abstract, intrinsic factors influencing engagement, limited research explores the impact of workplace spirituality on employee engagement in Kenya's hospitality industry. The main objective of the study therefore, was to determine the effect of workplace spirituality on employee engagement in selected hotels in Kilifi County. Specific objectives were to examine the effect of inner self, meaningful work and sense of community on employee engagement. The study was guided by Spiritual Leadership Theory, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the Social Exchange Theory. Explanatory research design was employed targeting 702 employees from 10 registered hotels from which a sample size of 260 employees was drawn. Purposive sampling was used to select the study area, census method for hotels, while stratified and simple random sampling techniques selected respondents. Structured questionnaires were utilized to gather data which was analysed using multiple linear regression. Regression results indicated that workplace spirituality explains 47% (R 2 = .47) of variation in employee engagement. Furthermore, inner self (t =5.709, p˂0.001), meaningful work (t=2.027, p=0.044) and community (t=2.660, p=0.008) were all found to significantly (p˂0.05) affect employee engagement. The study concluded that inner self, meaningful work and community all affect employee engagement. Furthermore, results suggested that employees who have their inner self respected at work, find meaning in their job and feel that they belong to a community at work tend to have positive sentiments toward the tasks they carry out. It recommended that hotel managers should encourage employees to express their inner self at work, foster an environment whereby employees find meaning in their roles and cultivate a culture that fosters a sense of community within the organization ultimately promoting engagement. The findings thus contributed to knowledge on the relationship between workplace spirituality and employee engagement in hospitality industry.