Impacts of spirituality, intrinsic religiosity and Islamic work ethics on employee performance in Morocco: the mediating role of intrinsic motivation

Purpose Given the growing importance of spirituality and religion-related factors in the workplace, this paper aims to analyze the effects of spirituality, intrinsic religiosity and Islamic work ethics (IWE) on employee job performance. Design/methodology/approach Building on these theoretical concepts and perspectives, the authors hypothesized that employee intrinsic motivation mediated these proposed effects. To verify these propositions, the authors examined data collected from 224 full-time employees working for various organizations in Morocco. The authors conducted structural equations modeling (SEM) analyses using the AMOS 24 platform and Bayesian analyses to investigate direct and indirect effects. Findings First, the authors found that only IWE has positive and significant direct effect on job performance. Second, the findings indicate that employee intrinsic motivation does not mediate the relationship between the independent variables of spirituality and intrinsic religiosity and the dependent variable of job performance. These results may be because of the fact that Islamic principles and values are implemented and more reinforced in the Moroccan workplace than new and modern concepts such as intrinsic religiosity and spirituality. Research limitations/implications The present paper used a cross-sectional methodology, which did not allow testing causation between the constructs under study. Practical implications Organizations and managers alike ought to resort to IWE insights with the objective to increase the performance of their Muslim members. Originality/value This paper is novel as it represents a study on spirituality in a non-Western context. It also uses a relatively sizeable sample (N = 224) of full-time employees in the workplace.