Faculty engagement, quality of work-life, organizational commitment and spiritual leadership – examining the mediation and moderation effects

Purpose Based on positive organizational scholarship, this study aims to examine the role of faculty engagement in mediating the relationship between quality of work-life (QWL) and organizational commitment. The paper also analyses how spiritual leadership moderates the relationship between QWL and faculty engagement. Design/methodology/approach The data was collected through structured questionnaires from undergraduate and postgraduate teachers working in various business schools across major cities in India. The sample was selected through the snowball sampling technique. The sample size was 486, and analysis was done through the structural equation modelling approach using the bootstrapping method. Findings Findings indicate that faculty engagement mediates the relationship between QWL and organizational commitment among teachers. Furthermore, results show that educational institutions that practice spiritual leadership support higher positive psychological and emotional states of engagement. Research limitations/implications The paper provides an integrated model of engagement, commitment and QWL through a study of mediation and moderation effects and adds value to the psychology and workplace spirituality literature. There is the future scope for further generalizations of the model in different geographical contexts to analyse the influence of other leadership styles. Practical implications Furthermore, it would help educational institutions to design QWL strategies for engaging teachers psychologically, emotionally and cognitively by accelerating employees’ positive emotions and behaviours. Finally, the paper shows implications for developing the QWL strategies to create a committed and engaged workforce through spiritual leadership. Originality/value The paper contributes to the academic literature by investigating interrelationships among variables from a positive organizational scholarship perspective. The paper would help practitioners to comprehend the importance of spiritual leadership in educational institutions.