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Home / Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, Volume 3, Number 4

Spirituality in Practice: Relationships Between Meaning in Life, Commitment and Motivation

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Increasing numbers of people are searching for meaning and spiritual significance in the workplace. Research in the field of psychiatry has consistently shown a sense of meaning in one's life to be an important correlate of mental health and well-being. In this study, we examined the relationships between a person's sense of meaning in life, with life orientation variables, biographic variables, work commitment and work motivation. Through testing six hypotheses, we found significant associations between sense of meaning in life, positive work orientations, career commitment and work motivation. Our findings point to a spiritual source of work motivation and commitment, a more fundamental source than covered in existing motivation theories—commitment and motivation can also be expressions of a sense of meaning in one's life. This study improves understanding of workplace spirituality in practice.

Keywords: Meaning in Life; Spirituality in the workplace; Work Commitment; Work Motivation

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: University of Pretoria,

Publication date: January 1, 2006

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  • The Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion (JMSR) now in its twenty second year, is the leading journal in this subfield of scholarship, housing the largest collection of academic work linking the disciplines of business, management and organization, religious studies, practical theology and philosophy, as well as the social sciences more generally. A truly interdisciplinary bridge journal, JMSR is highly regarded, listed in five categories by Scopus at the 96th percentile (Scopus 2024); at the top 10% of journals in its category (33/340) in Clarivate Journal Citation Indicator (Clarivate, 2024) and at 0.884 impact by Cabells (out of a maximum of 1.00). A hybrid journal, JMSR offers a Gold Open Access option to interested authors, but otherwise submission and publication are free of charge. JMSR thrives to fulfil its pivotal role as a bridge journal between business & management, the social sciences and the humanities, as the prime forum for disseminating empirical data, developing theory, reporting best practice, and for the exchange of ideas and debate.
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