دانلود رایگان مقاله معنویت به عنوان سابقه اعتماد و شبکه تعهد

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of spirituality in network commitment and trust building through a focus on the specific network context of Anatolian Tigers from Turkey. Despite the previous research employing utilitarian perspectives to explain the antecedents of commitment, the aim here is to understand the role played by spirituality, a higher-order dimension of human life, in commitment at a network level. The study adopts a survey approach. A hundred and twenty questionnaires were conducted through face-to-face meetings with owners/managers of the sample firms. A partial least squares (PLS) path modelling approach is employed to examine relationships through a ‘soft-modelling’ analysis, using SmartPLS 3. The results empirically confirm that spirituality operates as a significant antecedent of network commitment and trust in the context of networks among Anatolian Tigers. Furthermore, it is found that neither the length of membership nor the firm size has any significant effect on network commitment. The paper contributes to the understanding of antecedents of network commitment by going beyond traditional economic perspectives whose argument, historically, has been that commitment is driven by utilitarian, profit- and utility-maximizing motivations and economic self-interests.

6. Discussion and conclusion

6.1. Theoretical contribution The results support the three hypothesized relationships between spirituality, trust and network commitment. Firstly, spirituality was found to be a significant driver of both trust and network commitment. Secondly, trust positively affects network commitment and also partially mediates the relationship between spirituality and network commitment. Our findings at the network level show that spirituality positively affects network commitment, which is congruent with the studies that empirically investigated the relationship between spirituality and employees’ organizational commitment (Milliman et al., 1999, 2003; Rego & Cunha, 2008). Unlike the previous studies, our findings reflect the role of spirituality at the network level, which has previously been overlooked. The finding on the positive impact of spirituality on trust at the network level is consistent with previous research indicating that spirituality leads to trust in organizations (Jurkiewicz & Giacalone, 2004; Krishnakumar & Neck, 2002; Wagner-Marsh & Conley, 1999). Moreover, our findings indicate that trust fosters network commitment, which is in line with the previous research (Achrol, 1991; Dwyer et al., 1987; Moorman et al., 1992; Morgan & Hunt, 1994). However, unlike the previous studies, this research confirms that both network commitment of and trust among the network members are driven by spirituality. Moreover, it is also found that trust partially mediates the relationship between spirituality and network commitment. This research contributes to management research in several ways. First and foremost, as emphasized previously, the management literature lacks research addressing ‘particular antecedent conditions that give rise to commitment in networks’ (Clarke, 2006, p.1185). In order to respond to this clearly identified research gap, we imported spirituality into our research context and investigated its relationships with trust and particularly with network commitment, which has not been addressed before. Previous studies investigating the relationship between spirituality and commitment have typically stayed at the organizational level, while research focusing on the antecedents of network commitment has mostly been dominated by utilitarian and instrumental approaches.