Abstract:

In today’s intensely competitive business environment, employee advocacy has emerged as a strategic imperative, particularly among Generation Z employees who value meaning, voice, and ethical alignment at work. Despite its growing importance, few studies have explored how organizations can promote employee advocacy through the work environment. In response to this knowledge gap, the study probs into examining the impact of workplace spirituality in promoting employee advocacy, through the lens of self-determination theory. It also examines the mediating effects of psychological empowerment and moral efficacy between workplace spirituality and advocacy behavior. Additionally, the study explicates despotic leadership as a contextual boundary condition moderating these relationships. Employing structural equation modeling using the lavaan package in R, data was collected from 402 frontline Generation Z employees working in the hotel industry. The findings reveal that workplace spirituality has a significant positive effect on employee advocacy. Psychological empowerment and moral efficacy fully mediate the relationship between workplace spirituality and employee advocacy. Furthermore, despotic leadership moderates the relationship of psychological empowerment and moral efficacy, with employee advocacy, weakening their positive effects. This study adds novelty to the literature by pioneering in exploring the influence of workplace spirituality on psychological empowerment, moral efficacy and advocacy among Gen Z employees, in the hospitality industry. By identifying both motivational mechanisms and leadership boundary conditions, the study advances theory and offers actionable insights for organizations seeking to cultivate advocacy in values-driven, ethically aligned workplaces.

Please choose your submission type: Full Paper

Primary Track: Organisational Psychology

Keywords: Employee Attitudes and Motivations   ;Positive Organisational Psychology    ;Cognition in organisations    ;Critical perspectives in organisational psychology   

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Dr. Tapas Bantha