International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

Is workplace spirituality associated with business ethics?

Baker Ayoun Louis Rowe Fatima Yassine
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Baker Ayoun Louis Rowe Fatima Yassine , (2015),"Is workplace spirituality associated with business
ethics?", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 27 Iss 5 pp. 938 - 957
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IJCHM
27,5
Is workplace spirituality
associated with business ethics?
Baker Ayoun
Hotel and Restaurant Management Program, Auburn University, Auburn,
938 Alabama, USA
Received 12 January 2014 Louis Rowe
Revised 18 March 2014
10 August 2014
Economics Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Accepted 1 September 2014 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, and
Fatima Yassine
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Department of Financial and Administrative Sciences,

Irbid University College, Al Balqa’ Applied University, Irbid, Jordan

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the potential association between
spirituality and business ethics in a hotel workplace.
Design/methodology/approach – A scenario-based quantitative approach was used to collect data
from 165 practicing professionals in the hotel industry.
Findings – The results show that spirituality, as measured by the Spiritual Transcendence Scale
(STS), did not correlate significantly with measures of ethical perception, ethical judgment, ethical
intention or perceived moral intensity. There was, however, evidence to suggest that spirituality may be
able to contribute incrementally to future research.
Research limitations/implications – This study demonstrates that the dynamic associations
between spirituality and ethics may produce different outcomes in different industry settings.
Practical implications – If hotel companies focus on developing ethical standards, the effects on the
business ethics of managers could be considerably greater than relying on the spirituality of managers
or the encouragement of expression of spirituality in the workplace.
Originality/value – Although the relationship between spirituality and ethics seems to be sensible,
the empirical assessments on how managers’ workplace spirituality relate to their business ethics is
notably lacking. The present study sought to fill this gap in literature.
Keywords Hospitality industry, Spirituality, Religiosity, Workplace spirituality,
Hospitality business ethics, Spirituality in the hospitality industry
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Spirituality and religion have exerted considerable influences on the attitudes and
behaviors of people in every part of the world throughout recorded human history.
Human remains and bones of hunted game have suggested the possibility that some of
International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
humanity’s earliest ancestors, those who walked the earth during the ice ages, believed
Management in a higher power or a supernatural force (Maringer, 1960). Religion and spirituality
Vol. 27 No. 5, 2015
pp. 938-957
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0959-6119
This research project was partially supported by a grant from the Auburn University Competitive
DOI 10.1108/IJCHM-01-2014-0018 Research Grant Program.
 have since appeared throughout history in different forms; some lost forever, and others Workplace
lasting into the present day, making an undeniable impact on world events. Despite their spirituality
importance, many previous research publications have noted that, until recently,
writings on the role of spirituality and religion in business settings virtually did not
exist (Mitroff and Denton, 1999). Although religion and spirituality have yet to drive
universal changes in the corporate world, they have emerged in the past two decades as
fairly significant areas of interest among management researchers and educators, as 939
well as industry practitioners (Mitroff and Denton, 1999). The significant increase in
new books, articles, meetings, conferences, special journal issues and cover stories of
popular business magazines, combined with special courses offered in business schools,
all attest to this increasing attention to spirituality and religion in the workplace
(Cavanaugh, 1999; Korac-Kakabadse et al., 2002; McLaughlin, 2005; Mitroff and Denton,
1999; Neal and Biberman, 2003; Ruhe and Lee, 2008).
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While religion has been approached with caution in the workplace, spirituality
appears to be more acceptable (McLaughlin, 2005; Mitroff and Denton, 1999; Morgan,
2004), even though spirituality has historically been rooted in religion (Cavanaugh,
1999). Incorporating religion into the workplace requires managers to navigate legal
risks and complicating factors, while spirituality is generally perceived to be less risky
(Morgan, 2004). Spirituality, as defined by Giacalone and Jurkiewicz (2003, p. 87), is “the
individual’s drive to experience transcendence, or a deeper meaning to life, through
the way in which they live and work”. Regardless of past perceptions about it, the
incorporation of spirituality in the workplace appears to be unavoidable. Studies have
suggested that it is becoming a necessity for work–life balance (Cavanaugh, 1999;
Mitroff and Denton, 1999), and it is a potential aspect of the workplace that could boost
performance and productivity if properly addressed by leadership (Fairholm, 1996;
Korac-Kakabadse et al., 2002; Milliman et al., 2003).
Up to the present time, a sizeable body of literature has generally sought to
understand the effect of religion on ethical behavior (Kennedy and Lawton, 1998; Ruhe
and Lee, 2008) and the linkages of spirituality with moral behavior (Cavanaugh, 1999;
Fairholm, 1996; Korac-Kakabadse et al., 2002; McCormick, 2013; McLaughlin, 2005).
While this research provides a number of important insights, especially at the
conceptual level, it devotes limited attention to exploring whether spirituality is
associated with a person’s ethicality in the workplace (for exceptions, see Baumsteiger
et al., 2013; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003; Issa and Pick, 2011). Business ethics refer to
the moral principles that define right and wrong in business that go beyond legal issues
(Ferrell, 2004). In particular, empirical research on how managers’ workplace
spirituality relate to their business ethicality is notably lacking. This relationship is
conceptually and practically interesting because it bridges two timely domains (i.e.
workplace spirituality and work ethics) that have been hypothesized to be related but
seldom empirically investigated. The present study seeks to fill this gap by examining
the association of spirituality with the ethicality of hotel managers in the workplace. In
addition to contributing to the literatures on workplace spirituality and business ethics,
the study provides renewed insights into the hotel business ethics, an area of inquiry
that is commonly known to have been relatively under-researched in the hospitality
literature (Beck et al., 2007).
Due to, partially, the very nature of the hotel business of directly serving large
numbers of people every day of the year, managers in the hotel industry face numerous
 IJCHM potential ethical concerns in their work. Some of these concerns include sexual
27,5 harassment, fraudulent transactions and resource mismanagement (see Yeung, 2004).
Ethical issues are growing concerns in this industry (Beck et al., 2007; Lee and Tsang,
2013), and managers are reporting that ethical dilemmas are everyday incidents in their
hotels (Vallen and Casado, 2000). Importantly, few industries are as multi-culturally
diverse as the hotel industry. Given this cultural diversity, wider differences in
940 perceiving ethical situations can be expected as a result (Kraemer, 1995). The growing
emphasis given to social responsibility, protection of the environment and human rights
in the hotel context contributes to the susceptibility of the business to the range of
potential ethical problems. It is reasonable to assume that if spirituality were to
positively affect how work is done morally, it would be evident in managers who are
working in such an industry. This study will assist managers in understanding the
extent to which spirituality may affect their own as well as others’ ethicality, and
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whether spirituality is a variable they need to consider in their quest to understand

ethical managerial decision-making.

2. Literature review
2.1 Spirituality defined
Previous studies have defined spirituality using terms that reach for a level of being that
is beyond the purely physical, emotional or even cognitive. For example, Mitroff and
Denton (1999) stated that if spirituality had to be defined in one word, it would be
“interconnectedness”. In the search to find a working definition, however, McCormick
(1994) raised a point of caution in that some spirituality studies apply the term to
emphasize team cohesiveness or a shared workplace experience instead of anything that
relates to an individual’s relationship with the sacred. Fairholm (1996) echoed this
observation and cited dedication, mission or vision as examples of terms that leaders
and researchers have often confused for spirituality. This confusion is understandable,
as different spiritual perspectives have influenced current leadership theory, including
many books and ideas that are currently popular for managers (Korac-Kakabadse et al.,
2002). For example, and although both constructs are still in the initial concept stage of
development (Fry, 2003), there seems to be a consensus among several researchers that
spirituality and leadership overlap considerably (Fry, 2003).
Piedmont (2001, p. 5) state that spirituality is “an individual’s efforts to construe a
broad sense of personal meaning within an eschatological context”; that is, humans are
aware of their own mortality and strive to develop a sense of purpose and meaning for
their lives. When developing the Spiritual Transcendence Scale, Piedmont (1999)
included three subscales:
(1) Prayer Fulfillment, describing the feelings of joy and contentment that result
from personal encounters with a transcendent reality.
(2) Universality, describing a belief in the unitive nature of life.
(3) Connectedness, describing a belief that one is part of a larger human orchestra
whose contribution is indispensable in creating life’s continuing harmony.

Piedmont’s (1999) concept of spirituality also agrees with the ongoing

interconnectedness aspect championed by Mitroff and Denton (1999). Both recognize the
connected nature of all things when formulating the basic concept of spiritual
transcendence itself.
 Differentiating between religiosity and spirituality has been established in literature. Workplace
Religiosity has been described in terms of organized system of beliefs, practices, rituals spirituality
and symbols. Adeyemo and Adeleye (2008) refer to religiosity as having belief in and
reverence for God and the participation in activities and practices in that faith, such as
attending service/worship regularly and participating in social activities with people
who share the same religious denomination. An individual who belong to a particular
religion engage in activities prescribed by his/her religion, such as praying and/or 941
fasting. In contrast, spirituality is highly individual and intensely personal, and not
necessarily tied to denomination (Mitroff and Denton, 1999). It describes the drive by the
individual to experience transcendence, or a deeper meaning to life, through the way in
which the individual live and work (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003).

2.2 Spirituality and ethics in the workplace

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Several existing spirituality studies have focused on business leaders because they
establish rules and guidelines for appropriate behavior and have a profound effect on
workplace atmosphere and daily performance. A popular phenomenon is the spiritually
charged chief executive officer (CEO), a leader who draws inspiration from his or her
spiritual or religious beliefs when running a company (Cavanaugh, 1999; Korac-
Kakabadse et al., 2002; McLaughlin, 2005; Mitroff and Denton, 1999). The CEO,
however, is just the visible tip of the corporate iceberg. Fairholm (1996), for example,
found that mid-level managers could also benefit by working with spirituality in the
workplace. Korac-Kakabadse et al. (2002) suggested that leaders who incorporate
spirituality and embrace lessons from many faiths might also gain an advantage by
improving their ability to fully engage their employees. Consequently, a vision of the
“spiritual leader” who emphasizes principles to subordinates and embodies service and
stewardship has emerged (Fairholm, 1996).
The combined interest in spirituality from both leadership and individual levels
show that spirituality is present in the modern workplace. For many, it is such an
integral part of their being (Fairholm, 1996) that it will inevitably affect attitudes
(Cavanaugh, 1999; McLaughlin, 2005; Milliman et al., 2003) and actions taken on the part
of managers and leaders (Cavanaugh, 1999; Fairholm, 1996). This reasoning implies that
spirituality could affect a manager in any work situation, including those that are
ethically sensitive. When spirituality and religion intersect with other fields, McCormick
(2013) asserts, the most important link is with ethics. Cavanaugh (1999, p. 193)
commented on this relationship when he observed that spirituality could potentially
improve the understanding of business ethics:
Business ethics has become a major concern of most business people over the last few decades.
Yet the spirituality in business movement has developed largely independent of this related
movement. This lack of connection is not surprising in our fractured culture; but it is ironic,
since the two movements could support one another, and there are many parallels in goals and
inspiration.
However, since Cavanaugh’s (1999) observation, only a handful studies have
specifically focused on the influence of spirituality on this important aspect of
workplace conduct. Giacalone and Jurkiewicz (2003) focused on the effect of spirituality
on the perception of ethical issues and found evidence to support their hypothesis that
spirituality would correlate with higher perceptions of ethical breaches in cases where
the legality of a given issue is unclear. The researchers found statistically significant
 IJCHM relationships between higher spirituality and perceptions of ethical problems,
27,5 specifically:
• Non-universalizability, describing situations that arise from situation-specific
standards that differ with respect to locations or conditions.
• Natural environment, describing situations that could affect natural resources.
942 • Privacy, describing situations that involve monitoring of employee activities.

The remaining factors that grouped situations with more apparent legal violations
either did not produce statistically significant results, such as the factors of ethics–legal
interface and blatant legal infractions, or the analysis produced statistically weak
results, such as the personal integrity factor.
In another study, Issa and Pick (2011) examined factors of spirituality and
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aesthetics to determine how they are related to business ethics. They used
quantitative data to identify eight components affecting business ethics, and
describing an inner world of the respondents: aesthetic spirituality; religious
spirituality; optimism; harmony and balance; truth seeking; pursuit of joy, peace
and beauty; making a difference and professionalism. Of these eight initial factors,
aesthetic spirituality and religious spirituality were the strongest predictors in
variance of business ethical practices.
Baumsteiger et al. (2013), on the other hand, surveyed over a thousand college
students in a US university with the goal of investigating whether religiosity and
spirituality influence moral reasoning. The study found that religiosity and spirituality
positively correlated with moral idealism, whereas spirituality negatively correlated
with moral relativism. The researchers concluded that religiosity and spirituality,
however, accounted for very little variability in moral reasoning, suggesting that they
do not directly influence moral reasoning.
To sum up, though the conceptual link between spirituality and business ethics
appears to be plausible, empirical investigations that may inform the literature on
their potential relationships are just starting to emerge. These studies have not yet
produced concrete evidence. The limited empirical research that is currently
available suggests that further empirical investigations may contribute to an
understanding of the association between the two domains. Based on the relevant
literature, the results of the studies presented above, as well as the important
variables identified by previous research on business ethics, the following
hypotheses are proposed concerning the association between workplace spirituality
and business ethics of hotel managers:
H1. Higher levels of managers’ spirituality will be positively associated with their
perceived moral intensity.
H2. Higher levels of managers’ spirituality will be positively associated with their
ethical perceptions.
H3. Higher levels of manager’s spirituality will be positively associated with
ethicality in their judgment.
H4. Higher levels of managers’ spirituality will be positively associated with
ethicality in their intentions.
 3. Methods Workplace
3.1 Measurements spirituality
This survey-based approach used three scenarios adopted, with minor word changes,
from hospitality-based studies by Damitio and Schmidgall (1993) and Stevens and
Fleckenstein (1999) to assess spirituality and hotel business ethics (see Appendix). The
scenarios addressed the general issues of compensation inequality, potential conflict of
interest and improper disclosure of confidential information, all in the hotel industry 943
context. The ethical issues addressed by these scenarios were reported to be of high
value in their original sources. For example, in Damitio and Schmidgall’s (1993) study,
hospitality professionals were found to believe that using organization for personal
financial gain is most unethical. Two practicing hotel managers (a General Manager
[GM] and human resources manager) were also involved in the scenario selection
process, adding more relevance to the study.
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Spirituality was measured using the Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS) developed
by Piedmont (1999). The spiritual transcendence construct measured by the STS was
created to be independent of existing personality models, and at the same time provide
incremental validity to improve measurements of personality factors when included
(Piedmont, 1999, 2001). The STS was validated with both self- and observer ratings,
showing that the results from the scale could be verified and have predictive value
(Piedmont, 1999, 2001). Given that the hotel industry is very diverse, and that this study
involves hotel managers belonging to various cultures, a measurement scale of
spirituality that is pertinent to diverse groups of individuals is particularly relevant.
The STS scale has been subsequently shown to demonstrate suitable applicability
across nationally and with groups of various faiths (Piedmont, 2007; Piedmont and
Leach, 2002; Piedmont et al., 2009). The scale has been utilized in various studies
(Griffiths et al., 2006; McCullough et al., 2002). The STS measures spirituality with three
main factors: Universality, Prayer Fulfillment and Connectedness. The present
study used a direct application of the STS, as developed by Piedmont (1999):
Prayer Fulfillment and Universality were measured using nine items each, while
Connectedness was measured using six items. Example items of Universality are “I
believe there is a larger meaning to life” and “I feel that on a higher level all of us share
a common bond”, and example items of Prayer Fulfillment include “I have experienced
deep fulfillment and bliss through my prayers or meditations” and “Sometimes I find the
details of my life to be a distraction from my prayers and/or meditations”. Example
items of Connectedness include “I am a link in the chain of my family’s heritage, a bridge
between past and future” and “I still have strong emotional ties with someone who has
died”. The exact wording of the items used was the same as Piedmont’s (1999) study. All
items were rated on a five-point Likert-type scale.
When it comes to business ethics, previous research has identified important
variables and developed scales to measure the variables. Jones (1991) argued that every
issue can be represented in terms of its moral intensity, which in turn may considerably
vary from an issue to another. In this study, perceived moral intensity was measured in
a similar method to that used by Singhapakdi et al. (1996, 1999), although this study
used three of the original six components of the construct proposed by Jones (1991) and
developed into question form by Singhapakdi et al. (1996). Specifically, magnitude of
consequences (defined as the sum of the harms – or benefits – done to victims – or
beneficiaries – of a moral act in question); social consensus (defined as the degree of
 IJCHM social agreement that a proposed act is evil – or good); and probability of effect (defined
27,5 as a joint function of the probability that the act in question will actually take place and
the act in question will actually cause harm – or benefit), were included because of their
relevance to the present study. Previous empirical studies produced inconsistent
findings related to the support of the six components of moral intensity (McMahon and
Harvey, 2006) or the relative role each component play in ethical decision-making
944 (Barnett, 2001). The three items were combined to form a single perceived moral
intensity measurement for analysis, as the selected items served as an approximation of
the full perceived moral intensity construct. Jones (1991) also suggested that moral
intensity items might have interactive effects, which would be expressed in the
combined measurement. Each of the three components were assessed using a system
developed by Singhapakdi et al. (1996) and used by Singhapakdi et al. (1999), who used
a single question that was rated using a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (completely
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disagree) to 9 (completely agree).

The recognition of a moral issue involved in a situation by a person is referred to as
ethical perception (Jones, 1991). A person who does not recognize an ethical issue will
tend to use criteria other than ethical schemes when making decisions (Jones, 1991).
Ethical judgment can be described as individual’s personal evaluation of the ethicality
of a behavior (Sparks and Pan, 2010). Both ethical perception and judgment precede
moral intent (Hunt and Vitell, 1986), or, making a decision to act on the basis of moral
judgment (Jones, 1991). Ethical perceptions, judgments and intentions were measured
using three items (one for each variable) for each scenario. The item measuring
perception, “The situation described above involves an ethical problem”, was developed
by Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990) and subsequently used by Singhapakdi et al. (1996)
and Singhapakdi et al. (1999) to test ethical perception and conduct a manipulation
check. The “manipulation check” was used by Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990) to follow
the positive ethical theory set forth by Hunt and Vitell (1986), asserting that if the
individual does not perceive some ethical content in a problem situation, subsequent
elements of the [ethical] model do not come into play. Following the example of
Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990), this study checks the mean ethical perception score for all
respondents to verify that the respondents (as a group) perceive the situation as an
ethical problem (see also Singhapakdi et al., 1996).
Ethical judgment was tested with the statement: “To what extent do you agree/
disagree with the manager’s action depicted in the above scenario?” Part of the basis for
this question can be found in Hunt and Vitell’s (1986) recommendations for testing
perceptions of alternatives, though the present study only allowed the respondent to rate
a single course of action. The main benefit of the ethical judgment item is that it allows
for a second rating of ethical perception that detaches the respondent from the situation,
thus reducing a bias toward a socially desirable answer (Kennedy and Lawton, 1998).
Finally, ethical intention was measured with the item used by Singhapakdi et al.
(1996) and later used by Singhapakdi et al. (1999) that states: “I would act in the same
manner as the manager did in the above scenario”. This item is based on the theory from
both Hunt and Vitell (1986) and Jones (1991) that moral perceptions and judgments are
separate from moral intent. In other words, ethical judgment does not automatically lead
to a corresponding action. Following the method used by Singhapakdi et al. (1996, 1999),
all three variables (ethical perception, ethical judgment and ethical intent) were
measured on a nine-point Likert-type scale.
 Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to determine the reliability of the instruments used Workplace
to measure the variables. The nine-item Prayer Fulfillment subscale measured 0.899, the spirituality
nine-item Universality subscale measured 0.898 and the six-item Connectedness
subscale measured 0.677. Initial trials conducted by Piedmont (1999) showed Prayer
Fulfillment, Universality and Connectedness achieving reliability levels of 0.85, 0.85 and
0.65, respectively.
945
3.2 Sample and research procedure
Members in the Global Hoteliers’ Community (http://ehotelier.com) were contacted by
electronic mail and invited to participate in an online survey. The Global Hoteliers’
Community is an extensive worldwide network created to benefit hospitality industry
professionals. Involving a wide range of hospitality businesses, the network provides an
online community for worldwide interaction and networking. For this study, only those
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businesses related to the hotel segment were targeted. E-mail addresses were obtained
from individual Web sites of businesses listed in the Community’s directories. The
original e-mail was sent to 717 potential participant managers. The use of the
online-based survey allowed the researchers to reach a population that is both widely
dispersed geographically and difficult to reach through more conventional survey
methods.
Given the sensitivity of the topics investigated in this study, and instead of asking
those managers to provide the researchers with contact information about potential
respondents in their professional networks, the instructions asked the managers to
forward the link of the survey to other eligible individuals that might be willing to
participate. This procedure helped in preventing any breaching of confidentiality or an
invasion of privacy.
Similar to the network sample used by Giacalone and Jurkiewicz (2003), the use of a
snowball sampling technique is concerning because it reduces the control that a
researcher has on the sample, but if precautions are taken, it can provide a larger sample
than would otherwise be possible. To ensure a good sample was obtained, the initial
distribution of the surveys specifically targeted hotel managers to start the snowball
sample in the desired population. Any forwarded surveys to expand the sample had a
good chance of reaching valid respondents, as the target population was flexible enough
(including CEOs, GMs and mid-level managers from a variety of different departments
in the hotel industry) to accommodate minor variations in dissemination. Further, as an
extra precaution, the first question of the survey requested the respondent’s job title to
ensure that the person was from a management position, and the fifth question
requested the respondent’s functional background. Another benefit of the snowball
sample for this study is that it could possibly encourage participation: a survey that
measures sensitive subjects like spirituality and ethics may be better received from a
friend or familiar colleague than a foreigner. Giacalone and Jurkiewicz (2003) achieved a
notable response rate when they used a similar network sampling technique where
MBA students identified potential respondents.
The snowball sample in the present study initially reached 717 hotel professionals
with valid e-mail addresses. Following two reminder messages, 165 analyzable
responses were received and used in the analyses. The number of respondents compares
favorably to other studies related to ethics and the job titles the respondents hold,
especially because no students were used as respondents or recruiters. For example,
 IJCHM Mitroff and Denton (1999) recruited 131 participants of a potential 2,000 respondents
27,5 (a 6.6 per cent response rate); studies by Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990), Singhapakdi
et al. (1996, 1999) averaged 478 participants (for a 23.9 per cent response rate). Issa and
Pick (2011) were able to recruit 223 active participants (a response rate of 48 per cent).
As presented in Table I, the sample is overwhelmingly male (84.2 per cent), and
approximately 85 per cent of the sample is over the age of 35 years. Of the sample,
946 77 respondents (46 per cent) claimed to have Bachelor’s degrees, 28 (17 per cent) claimed
Master’s degrees and 24 (14.5 per cent) claimed Associate’s degrees. The group was
fairly diverse from a nationality perspective even though about one-third of the
respondents reported their nationality as American.
Table II shows the occupational characteristics of the sample. Approximately 16 per
cent of the respondents indicated they are the CEO or chairman, 26 per cent hold the title
of GM or owner/GM, approximately 8 per cent vice president and 43 per cent hold other
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job titles, such as assistant manager, revenue manager, consultant, hotel director, F & B
director, business development manager and executive chef. Most of the participants
come from operational backgrounds with 30.3 per cent in hotel operations and 22.4 per
cent in food operations. Functional backgrounds relating to business operations made

Demographic variables Frequency (%)

Gender (n ⫽ 165)
Male 139 84.2
Female 26 15.8
Age (n ⫽ 165) (years)
Under 25 2 1.2
25-35 22 13.3
36-45 48 29.1
46-55 54 32.7
56 or over 39 23.6
Education (n ⫽ 164)
High school or less 13 7.9
Associate degree (2 years) 24 14.5
Bachelor (4 years) 77 46.7
Master’s degree 28 17.0
Doctoral degree 8 4.8
Other 14 8.5
Nationality (n ⫽ 158)
American 51 30.9
British 7 4.2
Dutch 7 4.2
Chinese 7 4.2
Canadian 11 6.7
German 14 8.5
Table I. Swiss 11 6.7
Demographic French 7 4.2
characteristics of the Australian 6 3.6
respondents Other 37 22.4
 Occupational variables Frequency (%)
Workplace
spirituality
Job title (n ⫽ 164)
CEO/Chairman 26 15.8
Vice president 13 7.9
General manager (GM) 34 20.6
Owner/GM 9 5.5
Assistant GM 11 6.7
947
Other 71 43.3
Functional background (n ⫽ 164)
Marketing and sales 12 7.3
Human resources management 5 3.0
Hotel operations 50 30.3
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Foodservice operations 37 22.4

Engineering 1 0.6
Finance and accounting 14 8.5
Other 45 27.3
Business location (n ⫽ 158)
North America 61 37.0
Europe 26 15.8
Asia Pacific 41 24.8
Middle East and Africa 16 9.7
Latin America 5 3.0
Other 9 5.5
Industry experience (n ⫽ 156) (years)
Less than 1 1 0.6
1 to 5 6 3.6 Table II.
6 to 10 7 4.2 Occupational
11 to 15 21 12.7 characteristics of the
More than 15 128 77.6 respondents

up most of the rest, with 7.3 per cent in marketing and sales, 8.5 per cent finance and
accounting and 3 per cent in human resources management. The significant majority of
the respondents (77.6 per cent) indicated they have over 15 years of industry experience.
Respondents working in North America made up 37 per cent of the sample. Respondents
working in Asia Pacific and Europe were also well represented, making up 24.8 and 15.8
per cent, respectively. The Middle East and Africa were less represented with 9.7 per
cent, as was Latin America with 3 per cent.
The sample characteristics are similar to previous studies that have targeted
international hotel managers. Research by Zhou et al. (2007) focused on business
strategy (customer and competitor orientation) and used a sample from the Global
Hoteliers Club. Their sample achieved a 32.9 per cent response rate and consisted of 72.7
per cent GMs and 27.3 per cent remaining as senior managers, and they had an average
of 24.3 years of industry experience. An older study by Wei et al. (2001) focusing on the
“uses of the Internet in the global hotel industry” focused on the Global Hoteliers and
achieved a 21.4 per cent response rate. Their sample consisted of 68.7 per cent
respondents who were GMs, the majority of their sample (80.0 per cent) was between
 IJCHM 36 and 55 years of age, and 98.8 per cent of their sample had over six years of industry
27,5 experience. The sample for this study differed slightly in that fewer respondents
claimed to be GMs. Unfortunately, there were no statistics available for hotel managers
worldwide, but the studies by Wei et al. (2001) and Zhou et al. (2007) suggest that the
respondents for this study were similar to previous efforts to analyze the target
population of international hotel managers.
948
4. Results
The mean perceived ethical problem scores for the three scenarios (S1 ⫽ 5.96, S2 ⫽ 7.11
and S3 ⫽ 7.18) showed that the respondents generally viewed the scenarios as those that
describe an ethical problem. This is similar to the checks performed by Singhapakdi and
Vitell (1990) and Singhapakdi et al. (1996). Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990) found scores of
6.03 and 5.55 on a seven-point Likert scale for their two versions of a scenario featuring
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an ethical and an unethical company, and Singhapakdi et al. (1996) found mean
responses ranging from 6.25 to 8.42 on a nine-point Likert scale.
The variables for STS components, ethical judgment, ethical perception, ethical
intention and moral intensity were analyzed using a correlation analysis. Demographic
variables for gender, age, education and functional background were also included. The
correlation analysis (see Table III) indicated that spirituality showed weak correlations
with ethical perception (S1 ⫽ 0.045, S2 ⫽ 0.084 S3 ⫽ 0.148), ethical judgment (S1 ⫽
⫺0.145, S2 ⫽ ⫺0.053 and S3 ⫽ ⫺0.144), ethical intention (S1 ⫽ ⫺0.265, S2 ⫽ 0.014 and
S3 ⫽ ⫺0.084) and perceived moral intensity (S1 ⫽ 0.008, S2 ⫽ 0.080 and S3 ⫽ 0.175).
The directions for all correlations were the same for each variable with the single
exception of scores measuring ethical intention on the second scenario. With the
exception of the ratings for ethical intention on the first scenario, neither the combined
STS score nor its three components achieved a statistical significance at an alpha level
of 0.05 or lower for their respective measurements of the three-component
approximation of perceived moral intensity (H1) ethical perceptions (H2), ethical
judgments (H3) or ethical intentions (H4), providing no support for the four hypotheses.
Compared with spirituality, moral intensity showed much stronger results.
Perceived moral intensity strongly correlated with ethical perception (S1 ⫽ 0.257, S2 ⫽
0.421 and S3 ⫽ 0.381; all p ⬍ 0.01), ethical judgment (S1 ⫽ ⫺0.683, S2 ⫽ ⫺0.657 and
S3 ⫽ ⫺0.651; all p ⬍ 0.01) and ethical intention (S1 ⫽ ⫺0.552, S2 ⫽ ⫺0.680 and S3 ⫽
⫺0.507; all p ⬍ 0.01). Higher perceptions of moral intensity were related to stronger
disagreements with the scenario manager’s actions and lower intentions to act in the
same manner. Higher perceived moral intensity did correlate with higher perceptions
that the scenarios presented an ethical problem. All intra-scenario correlations were
strongly supported statistically at an alpha level of 0.01 or lower.
Demographic variables were analyzed using Kendall’s Tau correlation for gender
and Spearman’s rho for age, education and years of experience; both measures are fairly
common techniques (Huck, 2008). Gender showed a non-significant correlation with the
STS ratings for spirituality (rtau ⫽ ⫺0.065), but was strongly correlated with years of
experience (rtau ⫽ ⫺0.362, p ⬍ 0.01). A further analysis of response means for the
categories showed that males were generally older than the females that responded. Age
demonstrated a significant association with responses for years of experience (rs ⫽
0.561, p ⬍ 0.01), perceived moral intensity for the third scenario (rs ⫽ ⫺0.197, p ⬍ 0.05)
and ethical items related to the second scenario: ethical perception (rs ⫽ 0.284, p ⬍ 0.01),
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No. Variables n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 STS 107 1.00

2 Prayer full. 109 0.934** 1.00
3 Universality 111 0.948** 0.834** 1.00
4 Connectedness 111 0.715** 0.502** 0.599** 1.00
5 Gendera 165 ⫺0.065 ⫺0.066 ⫺0.065 0.013 1.00
6 Age␪ 165 0.036 0.025 0.052 0.026 ⫺0.136*** 1.00
7 Education␪ 164 0.090 0.129 ⫺0.022 0.055 0.127*** 0.079 1.00
8 Years of experience␪ 163 ⫺0.011 ⫺0.042 0.000 0.099 ⫺0.362** 0.561** 0.046 1.00
9 Ethical perception (S1) 132 0.045 0.024 0.008 0.080 0.093 0.040 0.247** 0.016 1.00
10 Ethical perception (S2) 125 0.084 0.070 0.067 0.091 ⫺0.026 0.284** ⫺0.056 0.138 0.142 1.00
11 Ethical perception (S3) 120 0.148 0.098 0.116 0.154 ⫺0.097 0.097 ⫺0.014 ⫺0.015 0.120 0.314**
12 Ethical judgment (S1) 134 ⫺0.145 ⫺0.124 ⫺0.158*** ⫺0.036 ⫺0.058 ⫺0.132 0.129 ⫺0.062 ⫺0.312** ⫺0.090
13 Ethical judgment (S2) 126 ⫺0.053 ⫺0.053 ⫺0.025 ⫺0.094 0.122 ⫺0.252** 0.120 ⫺0.138 0.014 ⫺0.537**
14 Ethical judgment (S3) 120 ⫺0.144 ⫺0.090 ⫺0.149 ⫺0.120 0.058 ⫺0.023 0.159*** 0.061 ⫺0.039 ⫺0.227*
15 Ethical intention (S1) 134 ⫺0.265** ⫺0.238* ⫺0.221* ⫺0.191* ⫺0.019 ⫺0.066 0.023 ⫺0.123 ⫺0.343** 0.011
16 Ethical intention (S2) 124 0.014 0.030 0.020 ⫺0.069 0.033 ⫺0.238** 0.156*** ⫺0.183* ⫺0.026 ⫺0.463**
17 Ethical intention (S3) 119 ⫺0.084 ⫺0.001 ⫺0.097 ⫺0.114 ⫺0.009 0.051 0.054 0.186* ⫺0.101 ⫺0.005
18 Moral intensity (S1) 131 0.008 ⫺0.058 0.029 0.041 ⫺0.014 0.033 ⫺0.182* 0.084 0.257** 0.095
19 Moral intensity (S2) 124 0.080 0.096 0.054 0.099 ⫺0.105 0.103 ⫺0.160*** 0.214* ⫺0.072 0.421**
20 Moral intensity (S3) 118 0.175*** 0.127 0.188*** 0.136 0.032 ⫺0.197* ⫺0.109 ⫺0.190* 0.004 0.022
(continued)
a
Notes: All gender-related stats calculated with kendall’s Tau-b; ␪ Spearman; * p ⬍ 0.05; ** p ⬍ 0.01; *** p ⬍ 0.10

Table III.
949
spirituality

and correlations
Workplace

Summary statistics
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27,5

950
IJCHM

Table III.
No. Variables 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

1 STS
2 Prayer full.
3 Universality
4 Connectedness
5 Gendera
6 Age␪
7 Education␪
8 Years of experience␪
9 Ethical perception (S1)
10 Ethical perception (S2)
11 Ethical perception (S3) 1.00
12 Ethical judgment (S1) ⫺0.183* 1.00
13 Ethical judgment (S2) ⫺0.252** 0.095 1.00
14 Ethical judgment (S3) ⫺0.433** 0.205* 0.068 1.00
15 Ethical intention (S1) ⫺0.131 0.808** 0.079 0.119 1.00
16 Ethical intention (S2) ⫺0.178*** 0.090 0.880** 0.096 0.108 1.00
17 Ethical intention (S3) ⫺0.543** 0.211* 0.055 0.627** 0.170*** 0.158*** 1.00
18 Moral intensity (S1) 0.105 ⫺0.683** ⫺0.065 ⫺0.216* ⫺0.557** ⫺0.125 ⫺0.125 1.00
19 Moral intensity (S2) 0.126 ⫺0.001 ⫺0.657** 0.013 0.089 ⫺0.677** 0.087 0.104 1.00
20 Moral intensity (S3) 0.381** ⫺0.151 ⫺0.035 ⫺0.651** ⫺0.086 –0.077 ⫺0.549** 0.183* 0.108 1.00
 ethical judgment (rs ⫽ ⫺0.252, p ⬍ 0.01) and ethical intention (rs ⫽ ⫺0.238, p ⬍ 0.01), Workplace
but not the measure for perceived moral intensity (rs ⫽ 0.103). Education only showed spirituality
significant correlations for the first scenario measurements of ethical perception (rs ⫽
0.247, p ⬍ 0.01) and for perceived moral intensity (rs ⫽ ⫺0.182, p ⬍ 0.05). Overall, no
robust patterns related to demographic variables were identified across the three
scenarios.
To further validate the results, a regression analysis using the three components of 951
STS, specifically Prayer Fulfillment, Universality and Connectedness, was conducted
for the ethical perception and perceived moral intensity for the three scenarios. The
regression models for the measurements of ethical perception were not statistically
significant for any of the scenarios: The F scores were not significant (S1 ⫽ 0.456, p ⫽
0.714; S2 ⫽ 0.383, p ⫽ 0.765; S3 ⫽ 1.091, p ⫽ 0.356) and no beta values for the three STS
components were statistically significant in any of the scenarios. The same lack of
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statistical significance was observed for the measure of perceived moral intensity as
well: The F scores for the models lacked statistical significance (S1 ⫽ 0.777, p ⫽ 0.510;
S2 ⫽ 0.371, p ⫽ 0.774; S3 ⫽ 1.782, p ⫽ 0.155); no beta values for the measurements of
prayer fulfillment, universality or connectedness were statistically significant.

5. Discussion and implications

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the association between workplace
spirituality and business ethics in the hotel industry. No statistically significant
correlations were found that linked spirituality to the four variables measuring ethics
(perceived moral intensity, ethical perception, ethical judgment and ethical intention)
using a scenario-based survey with 165 hotel manager respondents. It is important,
however, to recognize that all but one of the spirituality correlations reflected the
anticipated relationships to the ethical variables as they were worded; negative
correlations were observed for the ethical variables that required higher marks for
the approval of unethical conduct (ethical judgment and ethical intention), and positive
correlations were observed for ethical variables that required higher marks for
increased awareness of ethical problems (ethical perception and perceived moral
intensity). Although the direction of the relationship was observed, it was not strong
enough to achieve statistical significance. In addition to concluding that religiosity and
spirituality may have limited influence upon moral reasoning, the study by Baumsteiger
et al. (2013) revealed that there was more variability within groups than there is between
groups, suggesting that the strength of religiosity or spirituality is most indicative of
individuals’ moral reasoning styles. The findings of this current study of spirituality in
the workplace are in line with these results, indicating that spirituality in the workplace
has a smaller incremental role in explaining attitudes toward ethically questionable
situations.
Much of the proposed relationships between spirituality and ethics are based on
conceptual studies with broad focus, and these relationships do not automatically
translate into conclusive evidence or effective business practices. The processes by
which these relationships occur remain poorly understood, which gives empirical
evidence a strong role in studying the relationships. Further rigorous research in the
future is needed to clarify the extent to which and the means by which spirituality
affects ethics. Alternate explanations, however, for the results obtained in this study
cannot be ruled out. A comprehensive investigation of a causal relationship is beyond
 IJCHM the scope of the present study, and there may be variables excluded that further explain
27,5 the relationships. The importance of such an elusive variable such as spirituality and its
effect on ethics may vary widely based on the rigorousness of the research design and
analytical approach. The relationship of spirituality to business ethics may also be quite
different for various populations of participants as well as the sample sizes. Our
empirical results imply that the role of spirituality in business ethics cannot be fully
952 understood by relying only on intuitive assertions.
A positive ancillary finding of this research is the confirmation of variables
measuring the ethical perceptions of hotel managers. Similar to the previous findings by
Singhapakdi et al. (1999, 1996), this study found that ethical perception and ethical
intention correlated with factors of perceived moral intensity. Ethical judgment also
correlated significantly with the three perceived moral intensity factors that were
examined. The results provided more evidence supporting Jones’s (1991) concept of
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moral intensity, and extended the application beyond general marketing (Singhapakdi
et al., 1996, 1999) to the hotel management field. The additional findings concerning
ethical perception, which was emphasized in a positive analysis of business ethics by
Hunt and Vitell (1986) and later used by Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990), Singhapakdi
et al. (1996, 1999), further demonstrated the applicability of this simple yet important
step in evaluating ethical decisions. These findings are very encouraging, as they have
provided a method with a firm psychological and empirical foundation for evaluating
ethical situations in future research in hospitality management.

5.1 Theoretical implications

This study contributes to the literature in multiple important respects. The study
advances the literature on spirituality and ethics in workplace by demonstrating that
the dynamic associations between spirituality and business ethics may produce
different outcomes in different industry settings. Participants in this study were slightly
more specific than the managers and technical professionals assessed by Giacalone and
Jurkiewicz (2003), and differ from the professionals in the health and community
services and education sectors assessed by Issa and Pick (2011), or the students assessed
by Baumsteiger et al. (2013). As noted earlier, the hospitality industry is susceptible to a
unique range of potential ethical problems. While other industries are afflicted with
several of these problems, the lessons may be applicable to a lesser or larger extent in
other business situations. Being the first in the hotel industry, this study presents
industry-specific linkages between the two domains of spirituality and ethics. Secondly,
examining the relevance of spirituality to various aspects of business ethics is
an emerging line of inquiry that has produced a reasonable foundation for continuing
empirical investigations. The very few empirical assessments, which only began
to emerge in the past few years and in various contextual settings, have yielded alternate
perspectives and inconclusive results. The present study incrementally adds to this line
of inquiry, moving the field closer to a future in-depth critical examination of these
empirical studies that have assessed the relationships between spirituality and business
ethics in various contextual settings. Differences in views and results could be
attributed to research design and measurements more so than to the nature of the
original relationships. Incremental contributions to this emerging yet difficult topic to
study can substantiate our understanding of the relationships between spirituality and
business ethics.
 5.2 Practical implications Workplace
The results of this study can enable hotel companies to decide more effectively which spirituality
routes to take in their efforts to build an ethical climate for managerial decision-making.
The results of this study were not strong enough to confidently assert that spirituality
should be valued as a source for ethical strength or ethical direction in the workplace.
Therefore, if hotel companies focus on developing ethical guidelines for their managerial
staff, the effects on the business ethics of the managers could be considerably greater 953
than relying on the spirituality of the managers or the encouragement of expression of
spirituality in the workplace. Hotel companies, for example, are reported to lag behind in
terms of establishment of ethical codes (Stevens, 1997). Even when ethical standards
exist at some hospitality companies, employees have expressed their dissatisfaction
with the frequency and the way ethical standards are communicated and discussed
(Stevens, 1999). Clearly, hotel companies need to focus effectively on the establishment
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of ethics standards, such as those related to gift giving, fairness, bribery and corruption
and developing a communication plan of those standards to their managers and
employees. The results of this study also lead to placing an emphasis by hotel
companies on a training that educates managers and employees to recognize possible
ethical dilemmas in the workplace and to understand the full consequences of their
decisions and actions. As the results of this study imply, such training should be of value
to all employees in the hotel, regardless of their age, gender and educational level.
Mandating spirituality practices in the workplace in the hope that it will build ethical
managerial decision-making is both difficult and controversial. However, hotels can
benefit from being willing to accommodate the spirituality of its managers in their
workplace. As human beings, managers are spiritual and, therefore, have spiritual
needs (Ashmos and Duchon, 2000), and although spirituality is not correlated with
business ethics, as revealed by this study, it could enhance other measures of
organizational performance. Importantly, it is possible that impeding managers and
employees from embracing their spirituality while at work may negatively affect the
ethical environment in the organization. Research evidence as to whether the absence of
spirituality is related to unethical practices is still lacking.

5.3 Limitations and future hospitality research

An investigation into the relationship of workplace spirituality and business ethics is a
difficult endeavor that will be constrained by numerous limitations. A research
limitation can be found in the definition and measurement of spirituality itself. As many
have previously observed (McCormick, 1994; Milliman et al., 2003; Mitroff and Denton,
1999), a formal definition of spirituality has not been established, which constrains the
measurement and comparability of this study to similar studies. Furthermore, the study
of the dynamic associations between spirituality and business ethics can be approached
with various research questions, designs and hypotheses. The results of this study,
therefore, require careful interpretation to ensure that overreaching conclusions are
avoided.
Only three scenarios representing the general issues of compensation inequality,
potential conflict of interest and improper disclosure of confidential information were
used in this analysis. Other observed studies that have researched ethics have used
between one and four scenarios (Kennedy and Lawton, 1998; Singhapakdi and Vitell,
1990; Singhapakdi et al., 1996, 1999). While still acknowledging that his study did not
 IJCHM capture the full range of the relevant ethical concerns, Yeung (2004) included 39 ethical
27,5 issues in his study of the hotel industry perspective on ethics curriculum. As respondent
fatigue must be taken into consideration, all studies are limited and cannot be expected
to cover every possible ethical situation. Furthermore, these scenarios were adopted
from Western sources, which may provide a probable unintended bias toward the
Western context. Although a notable number of respondents in this study were
954 Westerners, this observation must be taken into consideration when interpreting the
results. Including cultural and religious background variables in future research may
improve our ability to more fully understand the nuances of spirituality influences on
business ethics. Of particular importance would be to empirically analyze the exact
nature of the influence of these variables and their individual relative effect and
potential interactions among them.
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6. Conclusion
Although a consensus over a definition of spirituality is yet to be reached, literature on
spirituality in the workplace generally imply that companies should expect a
constructive influence on business ethics as a result of encouraging expression of
spirituality by organizational members. Empirical testing of these assumptions is
starting to emerge, and have so far produced inconclusive results. The present study
was set out to investigate whether spirituality in the workplace is associated with
business ethics, in the hotel industry context. Although the relationship between
spirituality in the workplace and business ethics may seem intuitively positive, the
findings of the present study indicate that overemphasizing workplace spirituality as a
foundation for ethical direction would leave hotel companies with little positive
outcomes. In lights of these findings, it seems clear that hotel companies would benefit
more by pursuing other strategies instead, such as the establishment of ethical
standards and investing in ethical training. While contributing to forming an empirical
foundation for future research, especially in the hotel industry, findings in this study
will benefit from future investigation that overcome the several limitations of any
research done in this challenging line of inquiry.

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 Appendix Workplace
spirituality
Scenario 1 Damitio and A hotel manager has just received a 20% increase in her annual salary,
Schmidgall (1993) to $95,000. However, the property’s board of directors refused to
increase the hourly employees’ average pay of $5.25 because the
property was in “financial strain”. The manager decides to quietly
accept the pay raise
957
Scenario 2 Damitio and The hotel property needs a roof. Three bids are obtained. The lowest
Schmidgall (1993) bidder suggests privately that he would be willing to roof the
manager’s personal residence, which just happens to need the attention,
for half price. The manager finds references indicating the low bidder
does excellent work. The property’s roof is replaced, and the manager’s
house is also roofed, by the lowest bidder
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Scenario 3 Stevens and A manager at a luxury hotel located in a large city received a call from
Fleckenstein (1999) a friend whom she met on the job, but who now works at a competing
hotel. The friend called the manager at the hotel to ask for some
proprietary information, admitting that she had requested the
information from several other people, and had been turned down
because the information would be useful to the competitor. However,
the former employee called asking the manager to provide her with this
information as a “friend”. The manager agreed to honor the request and
shared some of this information
Table AI.
Note: All scenarios stated reflect minor changes from their original sources Ethical scenarios

About the authors

Baker Ayoun is an Associate Professor in the Hotel and Restaurant Management Program at
Auburn University. His research and teaching interests focus on hospitality strategies,
international hospitality operations and hospitality education. He has published on these topics in
a number of professional journals, including International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education and International Journal of
Hospitality Management. Baker Ayoun is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:
bma0002@auburn.edu
Louis Rowe holds a Master’s degree in hospitality management from the Hotel and Restaurant
Management at Auburn University. He is currently a Doctoral student of Economics at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Fatima Yassine is an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Financial and
Administrative Sciences in the AL Balqa’ Applied University in Jordan. Prior to joining AL Balqa’
Applied University, she served on the faculty of the Department of Marketing at Jerash National
University, Jordan. Her research expertise is in the areas of business intelligence, working capital
efficiency and adaptive leadership in marketing. Her publications have appeared in such journals
as the European Journal of Business and Management and the Interdisciplinary Journal of
Contemporary Research in Business.

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